Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs Present: The Tears of Technology (Double Gatefold LP)

 
Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs Present: The Tears of Technology (Double Gatefold LP) cover
$60.00 Low Stock add to cart

Various Artists
Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs Present: The Tears of Technology (Double Gatefold LP)

[ Ace Records / 2 LP ]

Release Date: Friday 28 August 2020

Should this item be out of stock at the time of your order, we would expect to be able to supply it to you within 4 - 7 business days.

At the turn of the 80s, a new generation of musicians appeared who saw synthesisers not as dehumanizing machines but as musical instruments that could be coaxed into creating modern, beautiful and decidedly emotional music. It was almost as if the musicians were intentionally creating this music to prove the doubters wrong.

Compiled by Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, "The Tears Of Technology" celebrates this brief period when scruffy synth duos from the provinces broke through and took over British pop. Like mellotrons before them, synths could project a strange and deep emotion; listen to OMD's 'Sealand', or the Human League's 'WXJL Tonight', and it was clear that something in the wiring had an inherent melancholy.

In the 60s and 70s, the synthesiser had mostly been regarded as either a novelty or a threat. Tomorrow's World warned us that the cold, heartless synth would soon make orchestras redundant. But by 1980, Korgs, Moogs and Rolands were becoming affordable for all, and post-punk had created a safe place for new groups to experiment with these new toys.

The influence of Kraftwerk - who had made a landmark appearance on Tomorrow's World in 1975 - is all over this collection. Big names rub shoulders with obscurities by Turquoise Days, Electronic Circus and Illustration, all highly prized recordings among 'cold wave' and 'minimal synth' afficionados. There are pioneers like John Foxx and Thomas Leer, alongside unexpected synth sadness from Simple Minds and the Teardrop Explodes.

Tracks:

Side One:
1. Jean Walks In Fresh Fields - China Crisis
2. Grey Skies - Turquoise Days
3. Real To Real - Simple Minds
4. Tidal Flow - Illustration
5. An Evening In The Ray - Care
6. The Winds - The Turquoise Swimming Pools

Side Two:
1. Youth - Soft Cell
2. Europe After The Rain - John Foxx
3. Personal Loss - Patrik Fitzgerald
4. Lights Of April - Eyeless In Gaza
5. Sealand - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

Side Three:
1. Private Plane - Thomas Leer
2. Direct Lines - Electronic Circus
3. Unless - The Pale Fountains
4. October (Love Song) - Chris & Cosey
5. A Map Of You - New Musik

Side Four:
1. WXJL Tonight - The Human League
2. Christiana - Paul Haig
3. Tiny Children - The Teardrop Explodes
4. Behind The Shades - Oppenheimer Analysis
5. Feather Bed - Trevor Bastow