1980s 458 Items

Limited edition repress on bone vinyl of cult-favorite Captured Tracks release, including bonus flexidisc featuring a rare cover of Free's "All Right Now". Saada Bonaire. The fantastic German disco/world music project from Bremen which never was meant to be. Formed by Bremen DJ Ralf Behrendt in 1982, Saada Bonaire was a unique concept band centered around two sultry female vocalists (Stefanie Lange and Claudia Hossfeld) and dozens of local musicians culled from the local immigration center. Originally signed to EMI in 1982, their first and only single, "You Could Be More As You Are" was produced by legendary Matumbi, Slits and POP Group producer Dennis Bovell in Kraftwerk's studio in Cologne. Its fusion of husky female vocals, Eastern instruments, dub and African music aesthetics, drum computers and synthesizers remains unique to this day. EMI cancelled the project upon its release. Saada Bonaire compiles two songs from the original EMI single plus eleven previously unreleased songs recorded between 1982 and 1985. Also included are never before published photos and in depth interviews with band members and a full gate fold cover for those dedicated vinyl buyers. Saada Bonaire. A bizarre mix of Kraftwerk, Grace Jones, and Marlene Dietrich. These lost recordings from the early eighties still sound fresh on today's dance floor.

Synth pop trio Bronski Beat's 1984 debut The Age of Consent is a rarity in musical history - an album that both defined a generation and challenged the status quo. Its four singles, and particular lead single 'Smalltown Boy', have endured with astonishing resonance, offering home to all listeners dreaming of escape from their familiar surroundings and situations.

Every track on the album places the listener 'in the room': they are in it, living it, rolling inside each song's thematic meaning. Through the blue-eyed wonder of singer Jimmy Somerville's vocal pirouettes, they too take the punch of hate in 'Why?', question the bible with alongside a male voice choir on 'It Ain't Necessarily So', and watch the same crappy TV advertising on 'Junk'. They are part of the trade-off between lust and commerce in 'Love and Money' and the heated near climax of 'Need A Man Blues.'

40 years later and The Age of Consent remains as prescient and vital as ever as it did on its original release; truly transgressive - defiant, queer, and laden with hooks. To celebrate this important anniversary, London Records revisit the album across a series of expanded formats, uncovering sonic archival gems, new mixes, essays and more.

TRACKLISTING:

DOUBLE VINYL
VINYL 1 : THE AGE OF CONSENT (2018 REMASTER)
SIDE ONE
1. WHY?
2. IT AIN'T NECESSARILY SO
3. SCREAMING
4. NO MORE WAR
5. LOVE AND MONEY
SIDE TWO
1. SMALLTOWN BOY
2. HEATWAVE
3. JUNK
4. NEED A MAN BLUES
5. I FEEL LOVE / JOHNNY REMEMBER ME

VINYL 2 : HUNDREDS & THOUSANDS (2024 REMASTER)
SIDE THREE
1. HEATWAVE (HARVEY GOLDBERG REMIX)
2. WHY (HARVEY GOLDBERG REMIX)
3. RUN FROM LOVE (DOMINIC MAITA REMIX)
SIDE FOUR
1. HARD RAIN (HARVEY GOLDBERG REMIX)
2. SMALLTOWN BOY (HARVEY GOLDBERG REMIX)
3. JUNK (HARVEY GOLDBERG REMIX)

Operation Sole like the summer, hopefully, imminent; “Operazione Sole” like the 1967 song by Peppino Di Capri, considered, perhaps wrongly, the first ska in Italy, but certainly the first to talk about Jamaica and upbeat rhythms. The record you have in your hand is intended to be a testimony to how much the sounds born in Kingston between the '60s and '70s had a significant influence on local pop. With the first explosion of reggae in England between 1968 and 1970, as well as with the rise of Bob Marley to a worldwide cult phenomenon, parallel to the all-English phenomenon of Two Tone and the ska revival, Italy, always attracted by the new trends not only English, he certainly couldn't stay on the sidelines. Therefore these innovative and unknown upbeat sounds, derived from the blues of the 1950s and mixed with a Caribbean sauce, have also taken hold in the Bel Paese. It began as early as 1959 with the song “Nessuno” by Mina, considered to all intents and purposes a Jamaican shuffle, to arrive in a few years at blue-beat (I4 di Lucca, Claudio Casavecchi) and ska (Margherita, Peppino Di Capri , Silvano Silvi, Renzo and Virginia) and be exposed to the first reggae (for example Jo Fedeli and his Italian version of “Israelites” by Desmond Dekker). Thus, we quickly reach the end of the decade of the economic boom and the culture, styles, references change: everything becomes more busy (on a cultural, artistic and political level). After a stalemate phase that lasted more than five years, Bob Marley's reggae (considered a sort of new Messiah) conquers the planet, including Italy: the producers and artists, even at a high level, for a few years do not remain at all indifferent to this novelty and decide to introduce the "upbeat", primarily reggae, into the various pop repertoires: well-known names such as Loredana Bertè, Mario Lavezzi, Rino Gaetano, Ivano Fossati, Ilona Staller, Adriano Celentano, Edoardo Bennato throw themselves headlong into new sonic adventures, in a pioneering way, but often with excellent results. The "Operazione Sole" collection wants to take the credit, instead, of proposing and discovering lesser-known artists (with the exception of Gino Santercole, former associate and relative of Il Molleggiato), often real meteors in the Italian musical panorama, who have tried to achieve (or achieve again) success by adapting the pop that was so popular in those years to the new black sounds prevailing in the West. We are in the early 80s and we range from the most classic reggae, to Italo-disco contaminated by dub up to the true Neapolitan style which, on more than one occasion, in its being endemically "black" and full of groove, has wrung out the watch out for agreements made in Kingston and London. “Operation Sun”: a pleasant philological work, but surrounded by an equally pleasant aura of disengagement.

CHBB was a project by Beate Bartel and Chris Haas that developed from their collaboration in 1981, while working on the self-titled album 'Liaisons Dangereuses‘. They released their music only on four limited cassettes.

This compilation presents the complete works of Chbb, including all recordings from their original cassettes alongside previously unreleased tracks produced by both artists.

Dark Entries returns to Mexico with Back Up Dos: Mexican Tecno Pop 1982-1989. Following 2021’s Back Up compilation, Back Up Dos delivers 10 more tracks of synth-pop and New Beat, 7 of which have never before appeared on vinyl. From mutant drum machine beats to irresistible synthesizer hooks, fans of the fringes of the 80s will find songs to stir their cold, dark hearts. But Back Up Dos does more than mine retro kitsch; it documents the development of a rich DIY music scene that is still underexplored. As affordable samplers and digital synths spread throughout the decade, post-punk and new wave gave way to more aggressive EBM and cyberpunk sounds. The scene also developed in opposition to the political climate of the times: the rise of the drug cartels and a reactionary turn in national politics. Using home recording techniques, these bands took cues from the electronic wizardry of the Human League and Wax Trax Records while reflecting the vibrant and chaotic Mexican cultural landscape of the era. On Back Up Dos, impeccable pop anthems from Casino Shanghai and Los Agentes Secretos sit alongside gnarled obscurities from Ford Proco and María Bonita, showcasing a decade of sly deviance and enthusiastic experimentation. This album comes housed in an 80s-inflected neon sleeve designed by Gwenael Rattke and includes a 12-page booklet with photographs, lyrics, and notes. Back Up Dos compiles synthetic music produced in Mexico at the crossroads from Tecno Pop to Post-Industrial, nourished by culture shock and stories of dystopian worlds.