{"product_id":"the-bristol-and-bath-pop-explosion-the-80s","title":"The Bristol and Bath Pop Explosion  The 80s","description":"\u003cp\u003eThere has always been a broad picture in general of the scope of music \nthat has come out of the Bristol and Bath areas at the west\/south west \nend of the M4 and M5. The boys (and girls) from the region have always \nmade a right old variety of noise! It hasn’t always been accompanied by \nmainstream acceptance with the resulting sales. It may surprise \nobservers that some of that heady creativity included the more \ncommercial end of straight up pop music and the ‘take’ that could be put\n on it, with the hope that acclaim and more could follow. The ‘take’ \ncould also take the genre into new dimensions. Did it lead anywhere, or \nhave any merit? Were they, the acts, any good? Did they get any exposure\n and recognition? If not, why not?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n\nThis questioning prompted the long-time music industry creative and \njournalist, Dave Massey and Bristol Archive Records owner, Mike Darby, \nto go through their extensive archive of local music and see if there \nwas an album that could be compiled of those pop\n acts tracks that could be regarded as ‘lost hits’. From their archive \ntrawl Massey and Darby uncovered pop gold. Bristol Archive has done a \nsimilar exercise with ‘lost gems’ by reggae, punk, post-punk, mod, goth \nand rock acts from the west and released several well researched and \nbeautifully presented themed vinyl ‘Explosion’ compilations. Now is the \ntime for the pop acts. \n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll kinds of strategies were used by acts and their managers to promote \nthemselves. Tracks were circulated on cassette tapes in order to solicit\n interest from an industry drowning in pop. Some went further and \nactually got as far as putting out independent releases. Gigs were done \nin ‘unusual’ venues. Videos were made in whatever surroundings would \nwork. These acts have stories of ‘got so close’ and ‘what might have \nbeen’. Many of the acts were seen live, reviewed and interviewed for the\n weekly music press by Massey and other local journalists, featured on \nlocal, and in some instances national radio, and some made it on to \nlocal and national TV. Utilising the industry contacts Massey had built \nup through his writing he even ended up managing a couple of them for \ndiffering periods of time.\n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt would see an end product for some of the musicians down the line. \nSeveral of those in or contributing to a given acts’ recordings had gone\n on to work or have links with major mainstream icons such as Queen, \nBros, Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, Lisa Stansfield and \nSimply Red, or influential and acclaimed successful acts such as \nGoldfrapp, Portishead and PJ Harvey. Many of the creators of these great\n tunes were involved as writers, producers or session players, or new \ncareer directions led to them running their own prosperous businesses, \nand even down to one of their number chairing and running a local \nChampionship level football club!\n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDig a little deeper into the western region’s musical history and the \nacts from the area weren’t alone in ploughing a furrow into the field \nmarked ‘80’s Pop’. It was no wonder. The ground in that decade was \nfertile for sowing the seeds of possible pop perennials. Even down the \nroad in and near Bath, they had plenty of music emigres who settled \nthere and in the West Country having seen major league national and \ninternational success. The likes of Peter Gabriel, Midge Ure and even \nStranglers front-man Hugh Cornwall made their homes and mark in the \narea. \n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut the most prominent of the acts to have been born, raised and emerged\n from, and later lived more opulently in or near the city of Bath \nitself, were Tears for Fears in the 1980’s. It begged the question for \nMassey and Darby in their initial considerations that if Tears for Fears\n could ‘make it’ big, did any other pop-orientated acts from the region \ncome through, and if so what happened to them? \n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDave Massey was right in the thick of it when this West Country pop was \nbeing made in the 1980’s. He was covering this and the many genres of \nmusic in his capacity as a Bristol and West country regional \ncorrespondent. As the decade progressed, somewhat uniquely, he did so \nfor each of the weekly music papers in turn – firstly the NME, then \nSounds, followed by Melody Maker. These papers all had massive \nreadership and circulations at the time. \n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\nIn the end the 18 tracks on the CD and 11 on the vinyl editions of the \ncompilation do the ‘talking’. They are worthy contenders to be heard on \nday-time radio, in a top line club, blasting out of a TV screen or from \nin a car with the windows wound down on a sunny summer’s day, and just \nlistened to by any pop fan through whatever means they choose to enjoy \ntheir music.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s a treasure trove of glorious commercial, but savvy and sexy pop music. Get into the groove of this wonderful west of England sonic pleasure feast! \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSIDE A:\n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e01.\tBush \u0026amp; Clarke ‘I’m Satisfied’ \n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e02.\tWadi Vision ‘The Place to Be’(demo) \n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e03.\tGreat Naked ‘Narrow Bed’ \n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e04.\tVicious Circle ‘Sorry’ (demo) \n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e05.\tHey Belaba ‘Can’t Stop Running’ (live) \n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSIDE B:\n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e01.\tTania Lloyd ‘New Boy (At Number 48)’ (demo) \n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n02.\tLovetrain ‘The Way of All Flesh’ (demo)\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n03.\tThe Sidneys ‘Rage’(demo) \n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n04.\tFrame by Frame ‘Promise Me This’(demo) \n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e05.\tUmo Vogue ‘Just My Love’ (demo) \n\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e06.\tShrine of 8 ‘We All Hurt Inside’  \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bristol Archive","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50543732359499,"sku":"2226714","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50543732818251,"sku":"2226715","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/a4181407235_10_0627a46e_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728313388","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/fr\/products\/the-bristol-and-bath-pop-explosion-the-80s","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}