We've been asking club members to recommend compilations that are still widely available that they think will appeal to fellow fans of the kind of music Fruits de Mer specialises in - as introductions to various genres (it was triggered by some rather good Sainsburys exclusive comps curated by Bob Stanley). I'll be posting the first few in the next week
UNDERGROUND NEW WAVE FROM MILAN
Right - let's dive in the deep end...Mark Colwill says that if any FdMers are into cold wave or obscure post-punk synth bands, the compilation,'Milano After Punk:Rare And Unreleased Tracks From Milan's Underground New Wave Scene 1979-1984' needs checking out - and is probably cheaper in shops other than
AMAZON, I was a bit dubious to start with but the track picked out by Mark is by the Italian Joy Division, Blaue Reiter and is well worth a listen...
60s PSYCH/EARLY 70s PROG
Craig Palmer and Till Wolff take us into more familiar territory, Craig with this excellent double LP of psych from Decca; plenty of copies to be found at DISCOGS.
Till goes for compilations based on the Polydor and Island labels - both can be picked up relatively easily, the latter being particularly cheap from AMAZON.
Loads of tasty tracks here, Craig opts for The Attack, Till for Rare Bird and Heavy Jelly
REVOLUTION
Ernie Oakley visits similar territory with 'Revolution: Underground Sounds Of 1968' - a pretty comprehensive and classy summary of the year on three CDs from Esoteric; you can buy it from
AMAZON, and goes for Dantalions Chariot as an introduction to it....
MERSEYBEAT
Dewi Roberts reminds us of the debt we owe to the Mersey bands of the early 60s for all the great music we take for granted today. He recommends the 'Unearthed Merseybeat' series for some rare gems, all three CDs are available from
AMAZON. How about Wimple Winch for starters...
SPIRITUAL JAZZ
Rich Clarke recommends 'If You're Not Part Of The Solution - Soul, Politics And Spirituality In Jazz 1967-1975', which documents Black American jazz coming to terms with love, peace, war and the 70s; you can buy it from
ACE. Rich came up with Funk Inc as his introduction
PEACE AND LOVE
Steve Tansey goes budget label with the hit-and-miss 5CD set '100 HITS PEACE & LOVE 100 PSYCHEDELIC SOUNDS'; it's £7 from
AMAZON, but Steve says you can pick it up from HMV for £2.99! There are some strange choices on the set, but it's great car-journey fodder. Steve selected this as an example from it...
MONGOLIAN FOLK METAL
Yes I know, you're thinking, "not more Mongolian folk-metal.." but wait - Stephen young has come up with a new compilation, 'Sound of the Raging Steppe', which you can hear online at TENGERXCAVALRY
but for starters, he directs us to...
PROGRESSIVE POP
Steve Smith recommends a new 3CD set from Cherry Red, 'New Moon's In The Sky: The British Progressive Pop Sounds Of 1970', which roams wild and free - from Hawkwind to Bill Oddie! Ideally-suited to CDs - you can wallow in the best of it and skip the occasional ..'lapse'.
AMAZON
Steve picks a nicely-obscure hollies track as an example of what's in store
...
GERMAN ROCK SCENE
Ramon Piserra invites latecomers to sample some classic krautrock, starting with an old sampler LP which can be bought relatively cheaply from available from DISCOGS
and what better start-point than Neu!
...
KPM
Alex Seldon invites FdM fans to investigate the seductive world of library music, especially the cult label KPM - many of whose original releases have been repressed on vinyl by
BE WITH RECORDS;
Alex has given FdM followers lots of entry-points, including...
ESTONIAN GROOVES
Zil Bareisis takes a detour to the left and comes up with a CD of Estonian funk, disco and jazz, released by soul Jazz and available from
SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE,
and suggests this for starters...
COUNTRY NOIR
Sean C from Canada goes further afield, but in a completely different direction with Numero Group's reissue of the soundtrack to the film noir 'You're Not From Around Here', from 1964, available from
NUMEROGROUP,
and suggests 'A Song for Mary' by Gene Sikora as a taster - and I think I want to hear more...
PROG ROCKS 4
Nigel Vernon recommends this double CD, which is widely available, including from
AMAZON
and picks out this track by Spirogyra...
VERTIGO - TIME MACHINE
Dave Lovatt recommends this classic-label 3CD set, which is nearly 15 years old but is still available from
AMAZON and probably more cheaply on ebay.
and suggests a bit of Colosseum for starters...
A MONSTROUS PSYCHEDELIC BUBBLE: THE WIZARDS OF OZ
Dave goes a bit further afield with this double CD of Australasian psychedelia/spacerock, which is dirt-cheap from
AMAZON marketplace
and goes for Ash Grunwald to give an idea of what you'll find if you purchase the set...
WINDS OF TIME/JOBCENTRE REJECTS
Andy Butler and David Meiklejohn tests the limits of FdM's musical tastes by going for:
- a 3CD set of NWOBHM, only released about 18 months ago and available from
AMAZON - a new and rather more expensive CD compiling NWOBHM tracks, also available from
AMAZON
Andy suggests two tracks to calm any nervousness about venturing into Heavy Metal territory, by White Spirit and Dark Star, while David goes for Spider...
HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS
Robert Simpson suggests trying some stoner rock, recommending Volume 4 of the Heavy Psych Sounds CD - on sale at
AMAZON
and volunteers Duel as an introduction to the set...