C86: Deluxe Edition

Fantastic collection, any fan of 80s British post-punk, twee or new wave will find something to love here. I've been an avid fan of music from this era for about 10 years, and was delighted to find scores of great bands I'd never come across before. The brilliantly curated comp features dozens of underheard gems like the June Brides, Primatives and Bodines- every bit as iconic as their better known contemporaries like Orange Juice, Josef K, and Jesus & Mary Chain. The detailed liner book is terrific too, the interviews and show flyers offer a nice snapshot of the time. Highly recommended!

Incredibly complete collection of 80's jangle pop from the UK. Tons of obscure and influential bands. Exceptional liner notes booklet and a handsome cardboard outer box. For completists only. That said, this compilation is the creme de la creme of the '86 indie scene in the UK.

Some really good bands on this comp. I also purchased the C87 set and anticipating the release of C88.I highly recommend this series to anyone who is a fan of 1980s music.

I finally got this along with the C87 compilation. It's too bad that some of these groups didn't last longer, but it was a competitive time in music; a lot of talent. Great sounds and song-writing.

The is what the bar is. Everything else is under this. This is the real deal.

good

After many years of existing on semi-obscurity, Cherry Red Records has stepped up and given us the mail order only NME cassette comp that influenced many artists to come. Although many of the acts on the tape never achieved lasting major label status (expect Primal Scream and a few other songwriters in a different guises), nearly every track featured on it was very individual, if not brilliant. Its power and charm lay in the fact that each song sounded like the best foot forward for the group that made them. Listening to the selections today, one can hear the C86 sound that is so prevalent to the works of current artists (i.e.  The Pains of Being Pure at Heart , Twerps , etc..). It was like audio instruction manual of where indie rock could go at the time.Prior to this reissue, the only big outing on CD that comes to mind is the CD86 put out by Sanctuary records in 2006. Although that contained a healthy collection, it had only 3 of the original songs from the C86 release, which just wasn't the same. A bootleg of the cassette has been floating around the net for some time now, but with this release the sound has been cleaned up considerably, although I cannot say what source the remastering was culled from. Sweetening the deal, Cherry has expanded the reissue to 2 more CDs containing like-minded or spirited bands of the same time period which prove to be as interesting a listen as the original collection itself. The printed booklet accompanying the set is very illustrative on the scene of 1986 and how the creation of cassette came into being by former NME staff writer Neil Taylor, who had a hand in creating the compilation.So bottom line is that this is an essential set for those that have any interest in indie music, let alone the British scene. Pick this up and listen to a history lesson that still never sounds like one. As the years go by, how many new compilations have come out and had the same effect?

Love the C## collections . Always well curated.

I turned 21 in 1986, and regularly purchased the NME, and the cassettes which it was famously associated with during the period.This one took on a life of its own at the time, and still has a special place for those of us into the music of the time.The original tracks are all here, from the cassette and later vinyl issue, but this is expanded out to a three CD set which allows many other excellent bands to be added to the snapshot of the time. Critics will point out that some of the selections aren't perhaps what we might choose if there were no licencing restrictions. Others will insist much of the content is twee and lightweight. Both are arguably true, but the C86 period wasn't really just about the music, but was the time when the indie scene took the promise first generated by punk and grew it into lots of small labels and cottage industries. It only lasted for a few years at most, but it was a fantastic time, when virtually every concert turned up a gem, and the fanzines and their flexi-disc offerings gave a genuine new take on what was around. It can probably never happen again, what with the internet and all it's media offerings, but I still look back on it fondly, and this reminds me that it isn't just rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia - there are some real gems here.72 tracks with a wide variety of sounds, all packaged in a nicely fitting cardboard box with a superb booklet.Cherry Red are the kings of this, and this is one of their best.

I remember buying the NME (as well as Sounds and Melody Maker!!) back in the day and this cassette was one of the best ones they gave away. It introduced me to bands that i subsequently adored such as The Wedding Present, The Shop Assistants and The Mighty Lemon Drops.It seems to have subsequently created it's own genre and i would previously have said that would be 'indie guitar jangle pop/rock' but listening to Disc 1 again (which is the same track listing as the original cassette) it's obvious i was a little blinkered in my analysis as although a lot of the bands do fall into that category, many done not e.g Stump, MacKenzies, Age Of Chance & A Witness.As it now comes on 3 CDs with 72 tracks it's certainly a bargain but for most of us who were there at the time i imagine it will be more enjoyable for the nostalgia value, although i still find myself enjoying listening to at least 50% of it, if not more.Some surprisingly good bands that passed me by first time around are Yeah Yeah No, Go! Service and The Enormous Room.It comes with a massive booklet full of historical facts and colour photos but one very minor niggle is that the box won't close properly once the booklet has been read!!By no means perfect of course (nothing with so many tracks could be) but as an historical document of the music of that year (and subsequent ones) it's just priceless.

If I could write and perform a song today, I'd release it on seven inch vinyl in a wraparound sleeve. With insert. And sticker. Not that all of the bands on this compilation did, but that independent ethic, where the whole package mattered, ran strong throughout.C86 became a tag synonymous with the bands on these three discs and their loosely connected scene. Especially so with many of them who would also be described as twee. In fact two of the "twee-est", Talulah Gosh and The Chesterfields, weren't even on the original cassette. But twee was of course a simplistic description as there was always, to borrow from a McCarthy track, a knife between the teeth of these groups. On first listen to this collection in '86/ '87 (together with the first couple of Melody Maker Indie Top 20 tapes) I fell wholeheartedly for the tunes and harmonies. Years later I've still got the piles of vinyl to prove it, from the Soup Dragons to Mighty Mighty, from Miaow to The Close Lobsters, I spent weekends searching second hand vinyl racks across the country and mail ordering. And not forgetting from Talulah Gosh to The Chesterfields. I was hungry for it all.So this variety of tunes formed the basis of my, and probably many others, record collection and musical taste. I can hardly imagine not having listened to the wonderful Breaking Lines by The Pastels (incidentally the only track with a differing version to the original release) or Velocity Girl by Primal Scream. Iconic tracks which surely show it was much more than "twee" or "shambling" or, well even "indie" for that matter, with all the connotations that would later take on.But listening some 28 years later the tunes that excite me almost even more are the more angular ones. For all the presence of bands on labels such as Creation, Subway, 53rd and 3rd or Chapter 22, surely recognition must be given to the mighty Ron Johnson, of which a wonderfully disproportionate number from their stable are represented here. A Witness, Stump and The Shrubs all recorded for the label, along with Big Flame and MacKenzies. And as if that wasn't enough we get the Noseflutes on disc 3. In many ways the magnificent dischord and chaos of these songs show a real independence of spirit. The full force of these is fantastic to hear all these years on. And along with the energy of Bogshed, (a band I would dearly love to see reissued) you know you've made the right choice in buying this set.I struggle to mention favourite songs as I'm so familiar with them all, but apart from the bands I've already mentioned its great to hear early Wedding Present and Half Man Half Biscuit, both of whom have produced a wide variety of music and are still going strong. I've also always been a fan of The Groove Farm, Yeah Yeah Noh, The Razorcuts, 14 Iced Bears and Benny Profane. Not to forget The Hit Parade. But with such a number of songs, everyone will have their own preferences.I can't say I love all of the additional songs on disc 2 and 3, and some of them do sound a bit dated and "samey", but it is a compilation, and for the number of tunes you will like, overall great value. And for disc 1 at least 6 stars are due.So if you're looking for a nostalgic review of your past, or a starting point for indie music in the mid 80s, this is a great collection. And if you're hearing these for the first time be warned, you'll be hunting down more by these bands, which will lead you on to Sarah Records, late 80s and 90s indie scene, back to punk, The Byrds, psychedelia. Your quest will never end. Have fun.

A great collection of tracks but I haven't found a CD player yet that it doesn't skip on. I ended up ripping it to my PC and remastering it onto black CDs... not ideal.

Excellent repackaging and with piles more stuff,originally a Cassette release,later released on Lp in the 1980's expanded with similar music,to a 3 cd box set.