Your opinion, please: 366-band, 411 track 1981 box set

Thanks, man. Copies straggled out as early as Nov. 2004, but most were in 2005. With any luck, someday in 2006 there'll be more. I've still got the list--but it's grown to over 250 names, and besides being too busy and too poor to get out ahead on material costs, I just got a little daunted.

Mark --

Not sure I know what you mean. Hopefully there wasn't a defect in the pressing. I doubt I would've edited a Bad Brains track. . .

Piscesboy --

I had plans to do 1982 or 1979, but real life caught up with me. I think a fellow here started up a 1979, but I think real life caught up with him, too. I've been sitting on a 3rd edition of '81 that's got 460 bands, 480 tracks, but haven't been able to do anything with it. If you do a search for "soundslike1981" on myspace.com, you might come across the smaller mixes I post there.

I'm not typing in the contents here tho.

spotify playlist please

This thread is one of the "most read", don't you know?

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/1979_ice.jpg

Coming soon. . .

Oh hello.

*drools*

The year of my birth! Excited for this.

Then it turns out it's a headfake and it's 366 bad bootleg remixes of a certain Smashing Pumpkins song.

ooh (bookmarks thread)

Alright, it's all done I think. Slightly smaller affair--seven mixes, no 'briefcase'. But given that at 37 I didn't have the months I had when I was 23 and made '1981' to search out and buy scores of records, cull and re-cull, sequence twenty ways for each mix, and go in and hand-remove every little dust pop, it's been a lot of fun to revisit this music I haven't really listened to as much over the last decade. I hope the results will be enjoyed.

Actually, I had made a 3-disc '1979' back in 2002/2003, before '1981,' only made about five copies I think. I found the old tracklist and realized I selected a lot of the same tracks this time!

I'm going to spend a little more time with it making sure everything is working, and hope to have it up soon. Hope when it's up folks will spread the word.

Looking forward for sure.

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/folder1.jpg

Want

Want

Here's the final artist list:

A Certain Ratio · Adam & The Ants · Alternative TV · Animals & Men · Au Pairs · Bauhaus · The Blackouts · Blondie · The Boys Next Door · The B-52's · The Beat · David Bowie · British Standard Unit · Buzzcocks · Cabaret Voltaire · James Chance & The Contortions · Chrisma · Chrome · The Clash · Comsat Angels · Elvis Costello & The Attractions · The Cramps · Crass · Cult Hero · The Cure · Holger Czukay · The dB's · Delta 5 · Devo · Door & The Window · The Durutti Column · Echo & The Bunnymen · The Embarrassment · Essendon Airport · Essential Logic · Fad Gadget · Marianne Faithful · The Fall · Family Fodder · The Feelies · The Flying Lizards · John Foxx · Frank Sumatra · Gang of Four · Gina X Performance · Glaxo Babies · Half Japanese · The Homosexuals · The Human League · Richard Hell & The Voidoids · Industry · Joe Jackson · The Jam · Japan · Josef K · Joy Division · Killing Joke · L Voag · Lizard · M · Magazine · Material · Lizzy Mercier Descloux · Monochrome Set · Anthony Moore · Martha & The Muffins · The Mekons · Metal Urbain · Mo-Dettes · New Musik · Noh Mercy · Gary Numan · The Only Ones · Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark · P-Model · Pere Ubu · Plastics · Iggy Pop · The Pop Group · Pylon · The Raincoats · Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers · Rosa Yemen · Scritti Politti · The Selecter · Simple Minds · Siouxsie & The Banshees · The Slits · Patti Smith Group · The Soft Boys · The Sound · The Specials · Spherical Objects · Squeeze · The Static · Walter Stedding · Suicide · Swell Maps · Talking Heads · The Teardrop Explodes · Theoretical Girls · This Heat · Throbbing Gristle · Urinals · Vice Versa · Voigt 465 · Wipers · Wire · XTC · The Years · Yellow Magic Orchestra · Young Marble Giants

Omfg

Ok everyone--sorry it took a while (13 years. . .) but the follow-up to the '1981' box is finally done: the '1979: Post-Punk' digital box set, with seven tightly themed mixes, 112 artists, and just over eight hours of post-punk's best as it really got going. It's up for streaming or download, along with a one-hour "sampler" mix for the post-punk-curious to get hooked by. ILMers really addicted me to the mix-making thing, because it was such a joy to think of helping such passionate music people revisit old favorites or find new ones. I've been doing my Musicophilia mix blog for nine years now, and it's been a lot of fun.

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/1979.gif?w=624&h=624&zoom=2

And you can download or stream it here at Musicophilia. Thank you!

And here's the tracklist:

1979 | Box Set Sampler

01 [00:00] A Certain Ratio - “Do the Du (BBC)” (BBC - ‘Early’ compilation)
02 [02:40] The Pop Group - “Thief of Fire” (‘Y’)
03 [07:14] Talking Heads - “I Zimbra” (‘Fear of Music’)
04 [10:22] Gang of Four - “Damaged Goods” (‘Entertainment!’)
05 [13:46] The Slits - “Love und Romance” (‘Cut’)
06 [16:11] This Heat - “Horizontal Hold” (‘This Heat’)
07 [23:02] Scritti Politti - “Double Beat” (“4 ‘A Sides’” EP)
08 [26:43] Josef K - “Chance Meeting (Early)” (Unreleased - ‘Young & Stupid’ compilation)
09 [29:36] Wipers - “Is This Real?” (‘Is This Real?’)
10 [32:12] The Raincoats - “No Side to Fall In” (‘The Raincoats’)
11 [34:00] Yellow Magic Orchestra - “Technopolis” (‘Solid State Survivor’)
12 [38:15] Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - “Almost” (“Electricity” single)
13 [42:00] Blondie - “Dreaming” (‘Eat To the Beat’)
14 [45:02] The Cure - “Boys Don’t Cry” (“Boys Don’t Cry” single)
15 [47:39] Japan - “Alien” (‘Quiet Life’)
16 [52:36] Joy Division - “24 Hours (BBC)” (BBC - ‘Peel Sessions’ compilation)
17 [56:43] Wire - “40 Versions” (‘154’)

[Total Time: 1:00:07]

1979 | Fire

01 [00:00] A Certain Ratio - “Do the Du” (BBC - ‘Early’ compilation)
02 [02:38] David Bowie - “African Night Flight” (‘Lodger’)
03 [05:25] Material - “Process/Motion” (“Temporary Music 1” EP)
04 [09:55] The Durutti Column - “Sketch for Summer” (‘The Return Of’)
05 [12:50] The Selecter - “The Selecter” (“The Selecter” single)
06 [15:46] LIzzy Mercier Descloux - “Fire” (‘Press Color’)
07 [20:54] Holger Czukay - “Cool In the Pool” (‘Movies’)
08 [25:56] The Flying Lizards - “Her Story” (‘The Flying Lizards’)
09 [30:27] The Pop Group - “Thief of Fire” (‘Y’)
10 [35:02] Lizard - “T.V. Magic” (‘Lizard’)
11 [38:19] Industry - “Ready For the Wave” (“Industry” EP)
12 [42:02] Blondie - “Atomic” (‘Eat To the Beat’)
13 [46:36] James Chance & The Contortions - “Designed to Kill” (‘Buy’)
14 [49:20] Gary Numan - “Random” (Unreleased - ‘78/79’ compilation)
15 [53:01] Joy Division - “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (BBC - ‘Peel Sessions’ compilation)
16 [56:21] The B-52’s- “Dance This Mess Around” (‘The B’-52’s’)
17 [60:54] The Beat - “Tears of a Clown” (“Tears of a Clown” single)
18 [63:30] Talking Heads - “I Zimbra” (‘Fear of Music’)
19 [66:39] Japan - “Quiet Life” (‘Quiet Life’)

[Total Time: 1:11:29]

1979 | Amplifier

01 [00:00] Gang of Four - “Damaged Goods” (‘Entertainment!’)
02 [03:25] Iggy Pop - “I’m Bored” (‘New Values’)
03 [06:07] Glaxo Babies - “This Is Your Life” (“This Is Your Life” EP)
04 [09:08] Buzzcocks - “You Say You Don’t Love Me” (‘A Different Kind of Tension’)
05 [11:58] The Cure - “10:15 Saturday Night” (‘Three Imaginary Boys’)
06 [15:37] Pylon - “Cool” (“Cool” single)
07 [18:56] The Blackouts - “Make No Mistake” (“528 Seconds” single)
08 [23:27] The Clash - “The Guns of Brixton” (‘London Calling’)
09 [26:31] Rosa Yemen - “Larousse Baron Bic” (“Rosa Yemen” EP)
10 [28:03] Wipers - “Mystery” (‘Is This Real?’)
11 [29:49] Crass - “Mother Earth” (‘Stations Of the Crass’)
12 [33:58] Wire - “The 15th” (‘154’)
13 [37:01] The Boys Next Door - “After A Fashion” (‘Door, Door’)
14 [41:36] Comsat Angels - “Independence Day” (BBC - ‘Time Considered...’ compilation)
15 [44:54] The Sound - “Deep Breath” (Unrelased - ‘Propaganda’ compilation)
16 [47:36] The Fall - “Dice Man” (‘Dragnet’)
17 [49:19] The Raincoats - “Fairytale in the Supermarket” (‘The Raincoats’)
18 [52:17] The Cramps - “Human Fly” (“Gravest Hits” EP)
19 [54:26] The Mekons - “Like Spoons No More” (‘The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strnen’)
20 [56:31] Au Pairs - “You” (“You” single)
21 [59:21] The Embarrassment - “After The Disco” (Unreleased - ‘Heyday’ compilation)
22 [62:54] Noh Mercy - “My Wild Love” (Unreleased - ‘Nōh Mercy’ compilation)
23 [65:39] The Soft Boys - “Do The Chisel” (‘A Can of Bees’)
24 [68:42] The Slits - “Love und Romance” (‘Cut’)

[Total Time: 1:11:08]

1979 | Brain

01 [00:00] This Heat - “Horizontal Hold” (‘This Heat’)
02 [06:50] Alternative TV - “Facing Up to the Facts” (‘Vibing Up the Senile Man’)
03 [10:37] The Static - “Don’t Let Me Stop You” (“Theoretical Record” single)
04 [15:45] Talking Heads - “Drugs” (‘Fear of Music’)
05 [20:49] Siouxsie & The Banshees - “Playground Twist” (‘Join Hands’)
06 [23:45] Frank Sumatra - “The Story So Far” (“Te Deum” EP)
07 [27:23] Public Image Limited - “Poptones” (‘Metal Box’)
08 [35:08] Joy Division - “She’s Lost Control” (BBC - ‘Peel Sessions’ compilation)
09 [39:18] Hector Zazou - “5’. . . Et Quelque De Bonheur. . .” (‘La Perversita’)
10 [44:53] Scritti Politti - “Double Beat” (“4 ‘A Sides’” EP)
11 [48:33] Pere Ubu - “One Less Worry” (‘New Picnic Time’)
12 [52:20] Gang of Four - “Natural’s Not In It” (‘Entertainment!’)
13 [55:24] Art Bears - “The Summer Wheel” (‘Broken English’)
14 [58:02] The Pop Group - “We Are Time” (‘Y’)
15 [64:29] XTC - “Complicated Game” (‘Drums & Wires’)

[Total Time: 1:09:17]

1979 | Cassette

01 [00:00] Scritti Politti - “Messthetics” (“Work In Progress 2nd Peel Session” EP)
02 [01:42] Metal Urbain - “Hysterie Connective” (“Hysterie Connective” single)
03 [04:49] The Feelies - “Fa Ce La” (“Raised Eyebrows” single)
04 [07:03] Walter Stedding - “Landing” (“Get Ready” EP)
05 [08:27] Echo & The Bunnymen - “Read It In Books” (“The Pictures On My Wall” single)
06 [11:22] Theoretical Girls - “Theoretical Girls” (Unreleased - ‘Theoretical Girls’ compilation)
07 [14:14] Voigt 465 - “P” (‘Slights Unspoken’)
08 [15:17] L Voag - “Kitchen” (‘The Way Out’)
09 [17:35] Animals & Men - “Don’t Misbehave In the New Age” (“Don’t Misbehave...” single)
10 [19:37] The Years - “Come Dancing” (“Come Dancing” single)
11 [23:16] Chrome - “Critical Mass” (‘Half Machine Lip Moves’)
12 [25:11] Family Fodder - “Sunday Girl #1” (“Sunday Girls” EP)
13 [27:55] Monochrome Set - “The Monchrome Set” (“The Monchrome Set” single)
14 [33:07] Cult Hero - “I’m A Cult Hero” (“I’m A Cult Hero” single)
15 [36:00] Mo-Dettes - “White Mice” (“White Mice” single)
16 [39:34] Door & The Window - “Dig” (“Production Line” EP)
17 [41:41] Swell Maps - “Midget Submarines” (‘A Trip to Marineville’)
18 [46:14] Josef K - “Chance Meeting” (Unreleased - ‘Young & Stupid’ compilation)
19 [49:07] Cabaret Voltaire - “Silent Command” (‘Mix-Up’)
20 [52:29] Wipers - “Is This Real?” (‘Is This Real?’)
21 [55:06] 1/2 Japanese - “She Cracked” (‘1/2 Gentlemen / Not Beasts’ cassette)
22 [57:00] Urinals - “Hologram” (“The Urinals” EP)
23 [59:08] British Standard Unit - “D’Ya Think I’m Sexy” (‘Hybrid Kids’ compilation)
24 [61:31] The Homosexuals - “Astral Glamour” (Unreleased - ‘The Homosexuals’ Record’ compilation)
25 [63:21] The Fall - “Industrial Estate” (‘Live At The Witch Trials’)
26 [65:15] Spherical Objects - “I Don’t Remember” (‘Eliptical Optimism’)
27 [66:38] The Cure - “Grinding Halt” (‘Three Imaginary Boys’)
28 [69:25] The Raincoats - “No Side to Fall In” (‘The Raincoats’)
29 [71:11] Young Marble Giants - “Brand-New Life” (‘Collossal Youth’ cassette)

[Total Time: 1:14:05]

1979 | Computer

01 [00:00] Fad Gadget - “Back To Nature” (“Back To Nature” single)
02 [05:43] Yellow Magic Orchestra - “Technopolis” (‘Solid State Survivor’)
03 [09:56] John Foxx - “Metal Beat” (“A New Kind of Man” unreleased single)
04 [12:52] Throbbing Gristle - “Hot On the Heels of Love” (‘20 Jazz Funk Greats’)
05 [17:07] Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - “Almost” (“Electricity” single)
06 [20:55] P-Model - “Kameari Pop” (‘In A Model Room’)
07 [24:47] Gina X Performance - “Nice Mover” (“No G.D.M.” single)
08 [29:12] M - “Pop Muzik” (‘New York, London, Paris, Munich’)
09 [34:07] Devo - “Strange Pursuit” (‘Duty Now For the Future’)
10 [36:50] Gary Numan - “We Have a Technical” (Unreleased - ‘78/79’ compilation)
11 [44:46] Vice Versa - “New Girls Neutron” (“Music 4” EP)
12 [46:48] Plastics - “Robot” (“Copy” single)
13 [49:41] Simple Minds - “Real to Real” (‘Real To Real Cacophony’)
14 [52:27] The Human League - “Blind Youth” (‘Reproduction’)
15 [55:41] New Musik - “On Islands” (“Straight Lines” single)
16 [60:05] Suicide - “Dream Baby Dream” (“Dream Baby Dream” single)

[Total Time: 1:06:28]

1979 | Convertible

01 [00:00] Blondie - “Dreaming” (‘Eat To the Beat’)
02 [03:04] Joe Jackson - “One More Time” (‘Look Sharp!’)
03 [06:20] Patti Smith Group - “Frederick” (‘Wave’)
04 [09:23] The Selecter - “On My Radio” (“On My Radio” single)
05 [12:26] Martha & The Muffins - “Insect Love” (“Insect Love” single)
06 [16:33] Elvis Costello & The Attractions - “Green Shirt” (‘Armed Forces’)
07 [19:14] The Feelies - “Raised Eyebrows” (“Raised Eyebrows” single)
08 [22:14] The Cure - “Boys Don’t Cry” (“Boys Don’t Cry” single)
09 [24:51] The Teardrop Explodes - “Sleeping Gas” (“Sleeping Gas” single)
10 [28:31] Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - “Affection” (‘Back In Your LIfe’)
11 [32:38] XTC - “Making Plans for Nigel” (‘Drums & Wires’)
12 [36:47] Devo - “The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprise” (‘Duty Now For the Future’)
13 [39:24] Essential Logic - “World Friction” (‘Beat Rhythm News Waddle Ya Play?’)
14 [42:55] The Specials - “A Message To You Rudy” (‘Specials’)
15 [45:42] Squeeze - “Goodbye Girl” (‘Cool For Cats’)
16 [48:36] Talking Heads - “Heaven” (‘Fear of Music’)
17 [52:39] The Jam - “Strange Town” (‘Setting Sons’)
18 [56:26] The Only Ones - “Flaming Torch” (‘Even Serpents Shine’)
19 [58:43] A. More - “Judy Get Down” (‘Flying Doesn’t Help’)
20 [61:40] Richard Hell & The Voidoids - “Time” (Unreleased - ‘Time’ compilation)
21 [64:41] The dB’s - “Nothing Is Wrong” (Unreleased - ‘Ride the Wild TomTom’ compilation)

[Total Time: 1:08:45]

1979 | Ice

01 [00:00] Japan - “Alien” (‘Quiet Life’)
02 [04:56] Gang of Four - “He’d Send In the Army” (‘Entertainment!’)
03 [08:35] This Heat - “24-Track Loop” (‘This Heat’)
04 [14:27] Adam & The Ants - “Tabletalk” (‘Dirk Wears White Socks’)
05 [19:56] The Durutti Column - “Sleep Will Come” (‘The Return Of’)
06 [21:43] Delta 5 - “Now That You’re Gone” (“Mind Your Own Business” single)
07 [25:53] Pere Ubu - “Kingdom Come” (‘New Picnic Time’)
08 [29:02] Killing Joke - “Turn to Red” (“Turn to Red” EP)
09 [33:01] Bauhaus - “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (“Bela Lugosi’s Dead” EP)
10 [42:36] Essendon Airport - “How Low Can You Go?” (“Sonic Investigations...” EP)
11 [45:55] Chrisma - “We R” (‘Hibernation’)
12 [49:37] Joy Division - “24 Hours” (BBC - ‘Peel Sessions’ compilation)
13 [53:44] Marianne Faithful - “Working Class Hero” (‘Broken English’)
14 [58:22] Magazine - “The Thin Air” (‘Secondhand Daylight’)
15 [62:29] Iggy Pop - “The Endless Sea” (‘New Values’)
16 [67:14] Wire - “40 Versions” (‘154’)

[Total Time: 1:10:40]

I'll chime in and say that I was given the chance to hear all this a few days early -- it's really wonderful.

looks amazing -- excited to dig in.

FUCK YES

wow!

Thrilled! Downloading! And later, listening!

OK, yeah, this is great! I might have to go through and tag each track with the act, though, since I keep running back to the trackless to see what I'm listening to.

Ugh, track list.

Had a lovely break from 1907 listening to 1981 today, and going to have to find time next week to listen to 1979. Can I be cheeky and ask whether there is going to be a 'briefcase' for 1979 too?

So I love listening to this/these as mixes, but is there an easy way/trick to break up and tag the tracks? My 1981 mixes seem to be track-to-track.

well aware that the mix is a large part of the appeal here and that streaming services are missing all manner of these tracks but there's more there than you might expect and I was looking for an easy way to carry this around, so (with apologies) here's a spotify playlist, sans doubles:
https://open.spotify.com/user/forksclovetofu/playlist/0oTOCanI4oeuEks5xaPXoW

Glad you guys are digging it! The Dangerous Minds website picked it up (as they did with the '1981' digital "reissue") and it's getting a lot of listens--hopefully causing the sale of some records (or at least mp3s)!

Mfktz, are you the guy doing the Centuries of Sound mixes? Impressive project!

Josh in Chicago--I made the decision to go to mixed mp3s some time back because I had some guilt about the feeling that by uploading single mp3s in the age of single-song mp3 sales, I was taking money from artists rather than sending it their way. Single-file mixes seem more like a podcast or a DJ set, more obviously in honor of the music and not in theft. Also, I like that it gives me tighter control over the transitions and flow of the mix--these ones aren't truly "mixed" much, but I go into that more heavily mix by mix.

I've looked into ways of making mixed mp3s display artist name/song name info, like a cue sheet approach, and it basically appears there's really no successful cross-platform way to do that. Hence the tracklists with start times--so you can always find out what you like, when you like it.

But I've also tried to accommodate the fact of streaming via the MixCloud site--https://www.mixcloud.com/musicophilia/--and that also does tell you the artist/track name "live". So maybe that's a better option for you, if the mp3s are distracting from the music?

Ulysses, I have to admit I don't *love* reducing the mixes to a Spotify playlist (and missing tracks) given that I do have the aforementioned MixCloud option, which is streamable; and the mp3s, which are portable. I mean, these are mixes, not playlists or folders of tracks. . . But if it helps people get interested in the music, I guess it's OK. I just don't get the fixation generally with Spotify--why use Spotify, when the mixes are available whether your preference is streaming or downloading? But I'm old, and I still buy hundreds of CDs a year (though I keep them as mp3s I rip), and I don't use streaming services, so what do I know.

Oh and Mfktz, I doubt there will be a '1979: Post-Punk' briefcase, as my collection of post-punk from '79 doesn't go nearly as deep as from '81 (and maybe the genre doesn't go as deep). That said, the next mix that goes up on the blog is going to be several volumes of the 'Le Funk du Monde' focused on 1977-1980, that are going to be amazing. If I did a '1979' briefcase, it'd be a collection from all the non-post-punk music I love from the year. . .

I love the mixes as is! You obviously put a ton of work into them, which is why I'm ultimately cool with long tracks. They flooooow.

Also, mixes as mixes make me pay attention.

Josh, thanks for understanding. I really do wish there were a way to get the artists/tracks to show universally from a mixed mp3, but given there isn't I had to stick to the format anyway despite the inconveniences. And I agree--lack of the ability to hit "skip" has often gotten me to slow down and listen more carefully on mixes by others. Thanks!

Most of the time 2004 still feels recent to me, even though that span is a third of my life. But I guess putting this new "digital box set" next to the old physical box set of '1981' makes me realize a lot of time has passed--and even the mp3s of the new one are out-of-date to many. Hopefully the upside is that there's a whole generation who were 5 when the old box came out, who're primed to discover post-punk!

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/79vs81_011.jpg?w=800

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/79vs81_021.jpg?w=800

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/79vs81_031.jpg?w=800

So did someone send back a copy of 1981 to you?

Soundslike- yes, I'm the Centuries of Sound guy. Can understand why you aren't doing the briefcase thing and why you don't want it on Spotify, but your site in general will still be very useful for me in five years or so, so just wanted to say thanks for that. Also really admire the design of your site, wish I had such skills.