NEWS: Gary Crowley Lost 80s 2 CD box set & vinyl

On 25th June, Demon Music Group will release the second installment in BBC Radio London’s Gary Crowley’s Lost 80s series.

Gary continues the musical odyssey he began in 2019, this time digging even deeper to bring the listener a truly wide, wild and eclectic selection of Lost 80s wonders.

Gary cut his teeth as a 19-year-old Capital Radio DJ and running the influential Tuesday Club Night at Bogarts nightclub in Harrow C which was a mecca for London’s club kids, and was frequented by many of whom would go on to become successful recording artists. This put him in the perfect place to absorb and know what was at the cutting edge of the youth culture of the time.

As with Volume One, each disc is themed and takes the listener on a truly revelatory journey through some under the radar classics and forgotten gems of the early 1980s, as well as some lesser-known songs by artists who went on to become some of the biggest artists of the decade, and not necessarily with the groups they appear with on the collection. It’s a testament to one man’s love of ‘pop’ in the widest, most challenging and joyous sense of the word, in the era after punk had torn up the rule book.

Disc one, ‘A Beat Confection’, kicks off proceedings with The Style Council’s ‘Mick’s Up’ (originally the b-side to ‘Money-Go-Round’), a joyous, soulful Hammond-driven boogie featuring keyboard maestro Mick Talbot weaving his magic. This disc then works its way through one of Gary’s stand-out tunes of 1984 the seven-inch version ofWorking Week’s ‘Venceremos (We Will Win)’, Tracey Thorn’s pre-EBTG band Marine Girls’ ‘On My Mind’, Dolly Mixture’s ‘Everything And More’ (released on Paul Weller’s Respond label), one of the ‘80s most successful singles bands, Madness’ ‘Keep Moving’, as well as the Jerry Dammers-produced, Northern Soul-influenced ‘Window Shopping’ by The Friday Club. Other gems include Dee C. Lee’s lead vocal version of The Style Council’s ‘The Paris Match’, Fine Young Cannibals’ soulful nugget, ‘Blue’, and closing this set as we began, with an instrumental C this time from Nick Heyward, with the melancholic ‘Café Canada’.

Titled ‘A Rock And A Dance Place’, disc two shifts proceedings up a gear, beginning with The Higsons’ post-punk-funk classic, ‘I Don’t Want To Live With Monkeys!’ Thereafter, this set rollicks its way through the likes of north London’s punked up rockabillies, The Polecats’ with their final single ‘Make A Circuit With Me’, Bannarama’s cover of Sex Pistols’ ‘No Feelings’ (produced by Paul Cook), The Clash’s Joe Strummer and Mick Jones’ written and produced Ellen Foley track ‘Torchlight’ (which also featured The Clash on backing band duties). Another Mick Jones production here is Theatre Of Hate’s ‘The Hop’, which features Morricone-influenced guitar wizardry from future Cult guitarist, Billy Duffy.

Disc two also features some quirky and interesting pop: Heaven 17’s magnificent ‘Play To Win’, Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy’s effortlessly glorious ‘Icing On The Cake’, This Island Earth’s pop delight ‘Take Me To The Fire’, which segues into a funkier direction with The Kane Gang’s sonic soulful cover of The Staple Singer’s ‘Respect Yourself’ (who themselves appear on disc three with their take on Talking Heads’ ‘Life During Wartime’) with legendary vocalist P.P. Arnold on backing vocals, American band The Untouchables’ Mod/Ska grooves of ‘Free Yourself’ and, closing this set, legendary and hugely influential trombonist Rico (Rodriguez) and The Special AKA’s ‘Jungle Music’.

Encompassing jazz-tinged disco, major Brit-funk and electro pop, disc three’s ‘Ear And Foot Refreshment’ collection will get you aurally hooked and on to the dancefloor. Bringing a touch of 1940’s glamour to the proceedings, Kid Creole And The Coconuts start the disc with their song ‘Latin Music’, which is followed by Brit-soul-funksters Linx’s ‘Throw Away The Key’; one of the first band’s in the UK to pick-up on and utilise the emerging Rap/Hip Hop sounds from NYC, the eight-piece Funkapolitan’s timeless ‘As Time Goes By’; the funk-fueled ear-friendly sound of The Members’ JC Carroll’s The Children Of 7’s ‘Solidarity’; Steve Walsh’s slab of prime-time blue-eyed funk ‘Letters Of Love’; legendary songwriter and producer Dennis Bovell’s technicolor interpretation of Animal Nightlife’s ‘Native Boy’, and the winning fusion of Latin, Jazz, R&B, Cuban, Funk and Soul of Blue Rondo A La Turk’s ‘Coco’.

This disc also features some key exponents of the Electro scene, including Heaven 17’s B.E.F. collaboration with the inimitable and remarkable vocals of the late Billy MacKenzie on a cover of Bowie’s ‘Secret Life Of Arabia’, Blancmange’s extended 12” version of their infectious ‘Feel Me’, and The B-52’s synth and drum machine-driven‘Legal Tender’.

As with Volume One, disc four, ‘The Vinyl Curtain’, comprises some more of Gary’s favourite 12-inchers of the period. Beginning with The Human League’s pop perfection on ‘Hard Times’ (b-side to ‘Love Action’), this disc features exceptional dancefloor fillers, including: Kurtis Blow’s all-time classic ‘The Breaks’, the Rap pioneers Spoonie Gee and early female rappers The Sequence’s ‘Monster Jam’, the bubbling riddims of reggae deejay duo Clint Eastwood and General Saint’s ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, The Valentine Brother’s socially conscious ‘Money’s Too Tight To Mention’, John ‘Jellybean’ Benitez’s Special Dance Mix of General Public’s ‘Tenderness’, and closing the collection, the groundbreaking Big Audio Dynamite’s widescreen and cinematic ‘Medicine Show’.

Gary Crowley’s Lost 80s, Vol. 2 is a must-have collection for serious music fans of the period and, for the uninitiated, an introduction to a rich, exciting and incredibly varied selection of lost classics.

Lost 80s Vol. 2 is a 4CD box set, packaged in a media book. It includes a 32-page book, with extensive, informative and passionate track-by-track sleevenotes written by Gary (available on request) and photos from his personal collection, plus memories of the era from the likes of Style Councillor Mick Talbot, Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17), Corrine Drewery (Swing Out Sister), Dr. Robert (Blow Monkeys), Andy Polaris (Animal Nightlife) and Dan Donovan (B.A.D.).

Tracklistings:

DISC ONE A Beat Confection