"It was all about creating something new and fresh that broke the rules without being crass," writes
Chris Sullivan (
Blue Rondo a la Turk) in his liner notes for
Music for New Romantics,
Cherry Red's deep dive into the style and culture of Britain's late-'70s underground nightclub scene. In 1978 and 1979, at clubs like the Wag and the Blitz, a subset of England's youth had moved on from punk, ditching its harshness while borrowing its D.I.Y. ethos to help foster a wild "anything goes'' scene that embraced fashion, frivolity, and fun. The New Romantic movement, as it was later dubbed, merged facets of glam rock, disco, funk, and electro pop into fashion-forward music that was creative, stylish, and danceable. Anthologized here over three heaping discs,
Music for New Romantics segues from mid-'70s forebears like
David Bowie and
Roxy Music onward through the artful club sounds of
Donna Summer and
Giorgio Moroder and finally into the movement's early-'80s peak when impressively coiffed synth pop acts like
the Human League,
Japan, and
Heaven 17 notched mainstream hits. Lodged in between the flagship artists are more niche players like
the Normal (
Daniel Miller's brittle early version of "Warm Leatherette"),
Flying Lizards (their delightfully daft take on the '60s Motown classic "Money"), and
Glaxo Babies (the thin and funky "Shake [The Foundations]"). While Britain may have birthed New Romanticism, there is plenty of Stateside representation here, including
Tom Tom Club's classic "Genius of Love" and
Lipps Inc.'s international smash "Funkytown." More of an attitude than an outright genre,
Music for New Romantics brings together a seemingly disparate crew, from
ABC to
Alice Cooper, who valued style as well as (and sometimes in place of) substance. It doesn't hang together quite as well as some of
Cherry Red's myriad compilations, but there is a lot of fun to be had inside this box. ~ Timothy Monger
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