Tracklisting:
Disc 1
1. Buddy – Snapper (3:40) 1989
2. The Water – Goblin Mix (4:23) 1985
3. Into You (remix) – JPS Experience (3:43) 1993
4. Yesterday Was – The Great Unwashed (2:04) 1983
5. Misirlou – King Loser (3:17) 1995
6. Year Of The Tiger – Look Blue Go Purple (2:33) 1988
7. X – Bailter Space (4:47) 1994
8. Your Heavy Dream (Won’t Fly) – Alec Bathgate (3:31) 1996
9. Supa Day – Betchadupa (4:02) 2002
10. My Love My Life – Bike (3:39) 1995
11. Wet Blanket – The Chills (2:37) 1988
12. Sunken Head – 3Ds (3:45) 1992
13. This Room is Wrong – Tall Dwarfs (3:21) 1983
14. Mothlight – The Terminals (3:03) 1988
15. Down in Splendour – Straitjacket Fits (3:38) 1990
16. Point That Thing Somewhere Else – The Clean (9:17) 2000
Disc 2
1. Killer Clown – Superette (3:53) 1994
2. For the Ride – The Bats (3:45) 1995
3. Others Way – DoubleHappys (3:32) 1984
4. Own Two Feet – The Jean Paul Sartre Experience (3:23) 1986
5. Death Rehearsal – Toy Love (3:22) 1980
6. Amino – High Dependency Unit (5:49) 2000
7. Maybe You Need To Come Back – Sneaky Feelings (4:14) 1990
8. Crazy – David Kilgour (2:56) 1994
9. Go Ahead – Pop Art Toasters (2:07) 1994
10. Witches – Chug (2:37) 1994
11. Hold Me – Able Tasmans (4:32) 1990
12. Joe 90 – Bored Games (4:25) 1982
13. Laughing Now – The Gordons (4:10) 1981
14. Sunflower – The Exploding Budgies (2:23) 1985
15. Ain’t Mutatin’ – Bird Nest Roys (2:45) 1985
16. Doomsday – The Verlaines (4:02) 1986
17. Laughter – Chris Knox (3:32) 2000
FLAC: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
MP3: Here!
For many fans of independent music, the 80s were about record labels such as Creation, Rough Trade, Homestead, SST etc.. For me, it was the Flying Nun label from New Zealand. It took about 3-4 years for their early releases to filter through to the UK, and when they did I was gobsmacked that so much good music was coming from a country I’d never really recognised before on the musical map. From 1981 to the mid 90s this label was, for me, at the forefront of exciting, new, independent music.
You had the lo-fi, and way ahead of it’s time, experimental band Tall Dwarfs (people should check out their Hello Cruel World compilation), the classic pop of The Chills (Pink Frost is down as one of my favourite tunes of all time). Then there was The Gordons, making the kind of music in 1981 which took at least another 3 years for Sonic Youth to even come anywhere near emulating. Check this description of their debut album: “This is a jugganaut of a record . When you put it on not only will your lawn die, your Motorhead albums will shrivel in their sleeves, leaving only a sticky black gel ..”.
You had the jangly pop and wonderful harmonies of Sneaky Feelings (also the first Flying Nun band I ever heard), the snotty brat-punk of Bored Games/Doublehappys (both fronted by Shayne Carter who went on to front the seminal Straitjacket Fits). Then we have The Verlaines: “noted for their angular, ‘difficult’ song structures, wordy and downbeat lyrics, unusual subject matter all contained in often frantic up-tempo playing.”
There have been many Flying Nun compilations released over the years, but I thought I’d add my own personal slant here. A lot of the tunes I’ve selected aren’t the “obvious” classic songs, many are songs that tend to get overlooked on the aforementioned compilations. So while this isn’t neccessarily a “greatest” of Flying Nun, I hope this comes across as a well balanced mix of the more familiar songs amongst some total obscurities.