There are way too many words that are overused these days. ‘Unique’ is certainly one of them. Another two are ‘ground breaking’. ‘Trailblazing’ may be another one (or is that one two as well?).
Today’s cassette ‘Some Bizzare Album’ is certainly all of these things and more. Compiled by Stevo, it’s much more of a showcase than a compilation, with ground-breaking (there it is again!) early recordings by Depeche Mode, The The, B Movie, Blancmange and Soft Cell and many others.
In some cases (Depeche Mode’s fantastic, poppy ‘Photographic’ and Blancmange’s heartbreaking instrumental ‘Sad Day’) it’s obvious that the acts were destined for greatness. In others (an untitled track by The The for example) the impending greatness was a little harder to predict.
Soft Cell’s ‘The girl with the patent leather face’ is, as we later came to expect from Marc and David, a great electronic sleazy delight.
Of course as it’s a compilation (or showcase) there are also some lower points musically, but all are hugely relevant from a cultural point of view.
Of course many of these acts were already on the very early stretches of the road to success at this point, but it may not be exaggerating too much to think that without the ‘Some Bizzare Album’ we may also have missed out on ‘Speak and Spell’, ‘Construction Time Again’, ‘Upstairs at Eric’s’, ‘Happy Families’, ‘Mange Tout’, ‘Non-stop Erotic Cabaret’, ‘Soul Mining’ and ‘Infected’ to name just a few.
Label – Some Bizzare (cat. no. BZMC1, or BZLP1 if you have this on vinyl)
Year - 1981
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