The Bristol And Bath Pop Explosion: The 80's - Various Artists

Preorder due for release 7th February

There has always been a broad picture of the scope of music that has come out of the Bristol and Bath areas. It may surprise observers that some of that heady creativity included the more commercial end of straight up pop music. Did it lead anywhere, or have any merit? Were they, the acts, any good? Did they get any exposure and recognition?

This questioning prompted the long-time music industry creative and journalist, Dave Massey and Bristol Archive Records owner, Mike Darby, to go through their extensive archive of local music - from this archive trawl Massey and Darby uncovered pop gold

All kinds of strategies were used by acts and their managers to promote themselves. Tracks were circulated on cassette tapes in order to solicit interest from an industry drowning in pop. Some went further and actually got as far as putting out independent releases. Gigs were done in 'unusual' venues. Videos were made in whatever surroundings would work. These acts have stories of 'got so close' and 'what might have been'. Utilising the industry contacts Massey had built up through his writing he even ended up managing a couple of them for differing periods of time.

It would see an end product for some of the musicians down the line -  several had gone on to work with major mainstream icons such as Queen, Bros, Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, Lisa Stansfield and Simply Red, or influential and acclaimed successful acts such as Goldfrapp, Portishead and PJ Harvey.

Dave Massey was right in the thick of it when this West Country pop was being made in the 1980's. As the decade progressed, somewhat uniquely, he covered the region for each of the weekly music papers in turn - firstly the NME, then Sounds, followed by Melody Maker. These papers all had massive readership and circulations at the time.

It's a treasure trove of glorious commercial, but savvy and sexy pop music. Get into the groove of this wonderful west of England sonic pleasure feast!

SIDE A:

1. Bush & Clarke 'I'm Satisfied'

2. Wadi Vision 'The Place to Be'(demo)

3. Great Naked 'Narrow Bed'

4. Vicious Circle 'Sorry' (demo) 

5. Hey Belaba 'Can't Stop Running' (live)

SIDE B:

1. Tania Lloyd 'New Boy (At Number 48)' (demo)

2. Lovetrain 'The Way of All Flesh' (demo)

3. The Sidneys 'Rage'(demo)

4. Frame by Frame 'Promise Me This'(demo)

5. Umo Vogue 'Just My Love' (demo)

6. Shrine of 8 'We All Hurt Inside'