VA - Cut Me Deep, A Story of Indie Pop 1985-1989 [2024] (4 x CDs)

INDIE POP

VA - Cut Me Deep, A Story of Indie Pop 1985-1989 [2024] (4 x CDs)

Over the course of four discs, Cut Me Deep, A Story of Indie Pop 1985-1989 tells a tale of what happened when guitar-based bands in the U.K. decided to leave behind the aggressive approach of post-punk in favor of something more melodic and pop-centric. It sheds light on what led to the legendary C-86 cassette and details what happened afterward when the jangling, noisy sound many of the bands exhibited spun off in different directions. It gathers up familiar groups who were pioneers, like the Jesus and Mary Chain and the Loft, along with loads of wannabes, never-weres, and worthy obscurities. Most importantly, it's another chance for lovers of the era to dig deep into its sounds, and whether one is on a sepia-toned nostalgia kick or a journey of discovery, it's well worth the trip. Each disc delivers a kick of rough-hewn melodic delight that can be psychedelic (the Dentists, Mood Six) or rambling (Happy Mondays), bright and sunny (the Stone Roses, Shop Assistants) or darkly melancholy (the Wedding Present, the Weather Prophets), punkily simple (the Flatmates, Razorcuts), or calmly experimental (Miaow, Revolving Paint Dream). Some of the tracks look back to post-punk in their angular oddness, but more often groups seek to recapture and reclaim the singer/songwriter mantle from the laid-back post-hippies who ruined it in the late '70s or harken back to the early days of punk, only with a trace of the aggression and none of the machismo. The best of the former are those like Biff Bang Pow! or the Servants who add mystery and reverb to their introspective folk-rock tunes; the top tier of the latter inject their sound with humor (the Pooh Sticks), fiery attitude (the Primitives), or empowerment (Talulah Gosh) along the way to reclaiming punk from the mohawk-sporting traditionalists. By the time the decade began to close, the once semi-unified indie pop universe began to head off in all sorts of directions, from spitting noise rock (the Telescopes) and proto-shoegaze (Pale Saints) to genteel pop (the Sundays), glimmering machine-made pop (the Lightning Seeds), and shimmering folk-rock (Milltown Brothers). This is a story that's been told before on numerous other collections -- many of them released, as this was, by Cherry Red -- but that doesn't mean that it's not worth telling again. Even if one were to have all the other comps that cover this territory, there are enough left turns, interesting song choices, and context here to make the set worth checking out. It is one of the great eras of pop music after all, and able to stand up to multiple examinations, especially one that is as interesting and well curated as Cut Me Deep is. (AllMusic review by Tim Sendra)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Lloyd Cole & the Commotions - Lost Weekend 3:17

02 Hurrah! - This Boy 3:15

03 Grab Grab the Haddock - Wan But Smiling 1:57

04 Woodentops - It Will Come 3:11

05 Fantastic Something - The Night We Flew Out of the Window 3:32

06 Del Amitri - The King is Poor 3:38

07 Dentists - I Had an Excellent Dream 3:35

08 Happy Mondays - Oasis (EP Version) 3:44

09 Loft - Lonely Street 3:04

10 Jesus & Mary Chain - Taste the Floor 2:58

11 Yeah Yeah Noh - The Short-Cut Way to Saturday 2:06

12 Mighty Lemon Drops - Now She's Gone 3:17

13 Jamie Wednesday - I Think I'll Throw a Party for Myself 2:59

14 Housemartins - Sheep 2:17

15 Wedding Present - Once More 3:15

16 We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It!! - Rules and Regulations (EP Version) 2:54

17 Servants - She's Always Hiding (Single Version) 3:08

18 Chesterfields - Love Mountain 2:40

19 Beloved - A Hundred Words 3:56

20 June Brides - This Town 3:07

21 That Petrol Emotion - Natural Kind of Joy 2:47

22 Mighty Mighty - Everybody Knows the Monkey 2:39

23 Razorcuts - I'll Still Be There 2:33

24 Bid - Reach for Your Gun 3:39

25 Anthony Adverse - Eine Symphonie Des Grauens 2:20

CD2

01 Bodines - Heard it All 2:59

02 Band of Holy Joy - Who Snatched the Baby 4:55

03 Wise Acres - So Finally Sweet 2:31

04 Weather Prophets - Naked as the Day You Were Born 5:34

05 Stitched-Back Foot Airman - Some People 3:02

06 Shop Assistants - All That Ever Mattered 2:16

07 J.C. Brouchard With Biff, Bang, Pow! - Someone Stole My Wheels 2:47

08 Gol Gappas - West 14 3:24

09 St. Christopher - Charmelle 2:46

10 Soup Dragons - Head Gone Astray 2:40

11 Pop Will Eat Itself - Runaround 2:06

12 Primitives - Stop Killing Me 2:04

13 King of Luxembourg - A Picture of Dorian Gray 2:34

14 Brilliant Corners - Brian Rix 2:54

15 Hit Parade - I Get So Sentimental 3:26

16 Wolfhounds - Cruelty 2:35

17 Flatmates - Happy All the Time 2:20

18 Hepburns - The Bath House 2:38

19 House of Love - Flow 2:36

20 Passmore Sisters - Every Child in Heaven 3:34

21 Talulah Gosh - Escalator Over the Hill 3:07

22 Waltones - Closest To 3:48

23 Revolving Paint Dream - 7 Seconds 6:28

24 A House - Snowball Down 2:24

CD3

01 Sugarcubes - Birthday 4:00

02 Edwyn Collins - Don't Shillly Shally 3:54

03 Heart Throbs - Make My Day 3:55

04 Sea Urchin - Summershine 4:04

05 Bachelor Pad - Jack and Julian 2:23

06 Mood Six - Flowers and Boxes 3:56

07 McCarthy - The Well of Loneliness 2:29

08 Wonder Stuff - Unbearable (Single Version) 2:27

09 Miaow - Break the Code 3:30

10 La's - Endless 3:09

11 Yeah Jazz - The Girl the Years Were Kind To 2:43

12 One Thousand Violins - If I Were a Bullet (Then for Sure I'd Find a Way to Your Heart) 3:57

13 Blow Up - Pool Valley 2:38

14 Rosemary's Children - WWI 2:26

15 BMX Bandits - Figure 4 4:10

16 Man From Delmonte - Water in My Eyes 2:21

17 King of the Slums - England's Leading Light 2:49

18 Orchids - Give Me Some Peppermint Freedom 2:57

19 Lilac Time - Return to Yesterday (Original Version) 3:50

20 Senseless Things - (All You've Got to Do Is) Stay Together 3:39

21 Vaselines - Molly's Lips 1:45

22 14 Iced Bears - Come Get Me 2:21

23 Cud - Under My Hat 2:45

24 Groove Farm - The Big Black Plastic Explosion 6:19

CD4

01 Jasmine Minks - Cut Me Deep 3:26

02 Darling Buds - It's All Up to You 2:25

03 Ambassador 277 - The Pop Up Man 3:23

04 Pooh Sticks - 1-2-3 Red Light 1:52

05 Rote Kapelle - San Francisco Again 3:43

06 Benny Profane - Rob a Bank 3:27

07 Golden Dawn - My Secret World 2:11

08 Corn Dollies - Map of the World 2:45

09 Inspiral Carpets - Butterfly 2:33

10 Bradford - Dodging Around in Cars 3:28

11 Sundays - I Kicked a Boy 2:17

12 Times - Heaven Sent Me an Angel 4:16

13 Treebound Story - Rain, Rain, Rain 2:36

14 Popguns - Down on Your Knees 3:30

15 Another Sunny Day - What's Happened? 3:00

16 Lightning Seeds - Pure 3:48

17 Stone Roses - Mersey Paradise 2:44

18 Telescopes - Sadness Pale 2:54

19 Bob & Earl - Convenience 3:32

20 Claim - Wait and See 2:57

21 Milltown Brothers - We've Got Time 2:49

22 Mock Turtles - The Willow Song 3:58

23 How Many Beans Make Five - Let's Get This Thing Finished 3:09

24 East Village - Back Between Places 3:19

25 Pale Saints - She Rides the Waves 2:05

26 Lush - Baby Talk 2:19

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