Side 2 of a cassette compilation, recorded on 2nd December 1989 by my friend Stuart as a 19th birthday gift.
Revisiting mixtapes from my teenage years is a reminder of a simpler time, when my friends and I had much smaller music collections - vinyl or cassette, very few CDs at this point - but knew them inside out and loved them deeply. As my head bobs slightly above the surface of a sea of music, when pretty much anything from the last 100 years is accessible with a few taps of a keyboard, clicks of a mouse or a voice instruction, it can be overwhelming.
I loved this compilation, so much so that it got packed with a bunch of other cassettes and joined me on my travels Down Under in 1990/1991 and was pretty much a staple of the in-car stereo playlist during my second attempt at a college education in the early 1990s. It survived more or less intact throughout that decade and into the 2000s, until years of excessive play and poor storage in a succession of damp flats did for it. Thank goodness for MP3s, Audacity software and music blogs then, eh?
What is immediately apparent (to me, at least) from the track listing of Sides 1 & 2 is that:
1) Stuart was (and still is) a huge fan of R.E.M. and was determined to educate his largely ignorant friend in their brilliance (it worked);
2) We both loved The Doors; I'd got the first two albums, Stuart got the rest, including their final proper album with Jim, the two best-known songs appearing on this C90;
3) We also both loved Talking Heads and between us had all of the albums from 77 to Naked;
4) Architecture & Morality by Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark was also a pretty important album for us both;
5) Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week! by The Sugarcubes was only a few months old at that time and we were both in agreement that it was even better than the debut album;
6) Fools Gold / What The World Is Waiting For had been released a few weeks before I got this cassette. Stuart (& I) clearly blown away by it; I'd heard both on the radio but I think this might have been the first time I'd heard anything by The Stone Roses.
I adore the opening live version of Vicious from Lou Reed's 1975 album, the inspiringly-titled Lou Reed Live. It sets the pace for what is a rollocking ride through music that has since become so important to me. Incredible to believe now, but listening to this cassette was probably the first time that I heard Catapult or Don't Worry About The Government...
You might be hard pressed to find anyone who would name Automatic as their favourite album by The Jesus & Mary Chain. The album had been released on 9th October 1989, Stuart and I saw them live in concert at the Studio in Bristol on 14th November 1989 and I got this cassette around 11th December 1989, so Automatic was fresh and new at that time and I loved it. It's not my favourite JaMC album either, but it will always have a special place in my heart for all of the above reasons.
Timing issues were always a challenge when compiling cassettes, especially trying not to leave a massive gap at the end, an anathema to being out with friends and a battery-powered ghetto blaster. I might imagine that Stuart may have originally intended to end on a high with track 10, added (arguably) a R.E.M. album filler (which I still love, by the way) and then cursed at seeing a sizeable chunk of reel remaining. Hence, the inclusion of a U2 B-side from a limited edition double 7" of The Unforgettable Fire. For all you Bono fans out there, stand down, it's an instrumental. I like it, and even more in the context of the compilation and the decades of repeat listens that have passed.
Stuart opened the compilation with a cheeky edit of Paul Hardcastle's 19 muscling in on Pixies. Suffice to say, Black Francis gets his revenge - and the last word - at the end of Side 2.
1) Vicious (Live @ Howard Stein's Academy Of Music, New York): Lou Reed (1973)
2) Catapult (Album Version): R.E.M. (1983)
3) L.A. Woman (Album Version): The Doors (1971)
4) Superman (Album Version) (Cover of The Clique): R.E.M. (1986)
5) Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town: Talking Heads (1977)
6) Fools Gold 4.15 (7" Version): The Stone Roses (1989)
7) Tidal Wave (Album Version): The Sugarcubes (1989)
8) Here Comes Alice (Album Version): The Jesus & Mary Chain (1989)
9) She's Leaving (Album Version): O.M.D. (1981)
10) Don't Worry About The Government: Talking Heads (1977)
11) Underneath The Bunker: R.E.M. (1986)
12) Sixty Seconds In Kingdom Come / Outro: U2 / Pixies (1985)
1971: L.A. Woman: 3
1975: Lou Reed Live: 1
1977: Talking Heads: 77: 5, 10
1981: Architecture & Morality: 9
1983: Murmur: 2
1985: The Unforgettable Fire EP: 12
1986: Life's Rich Pageant: 4, 11
1989: Automatic: 8
1989: Fools Gold EP: 6
1989: Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!: 7
Side One here
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