It’s the 25th anniversary of the release of this Edge compilation. It’s pretty damn solid, too.
Back in the day when money flowed like water through the music industry, radio stations, record labels, and record stores teamed up to create special compilations that could be sold across the country. The most famous of these projects was MuchMusic’s Big Shiney Tunes collections, several of which sold around a million copies.
We at 102.1 the Edge did the same sort of thing, too. On May 21, 1996, this disc came out. Ex-CFNY music director Ivar Hamilton, then working at Polygram, curated the whole thing. I remember writing the liner notes. (Via Scot Turner)
I wish I could say that this is now a collector’s item but Discogs.com says that the most anyone will pay for it is $14.46,
Tracklisting:
- Charlatans, The Only One I Know
- Love and Rocks, Yin and Yang and the Flowerpot Man
- James, Laid
- New Order, Let’s Go
- Happy Mondays, Step On (91 Mix)
- Pixies, Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
- Quicksand, How Soon is Now (Smiths cover)
- Dead Can Dance, The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove
- The La’s, There She Goes
- Joy Division, Love Will Tear Us Apart
- Bauhaus, Bela Lugosi’s Dead
- Catherine Wheel, The Spirit of Radio (Rush cover commissioned especially for this collection).
I bought this at the time because it was about the only place to find the Quicksand Smiths cover. But yes, a solid compilation to be sure!
Yes – that is a very solid compilation. This is something I’d have bought had I been the area of release. Our local station 99X here in Atlanta used to do their own ‘unplugged’ kind of thing called ‘Live X’ and would gather the highlights from their shows (and presumably other acoustic versions provided by the labels) and release compilation CDs for sale or as promotional items. Each one had a few things that you just could not get anywhere else so they were fun to collect.
99X was a powerhouse back in the day!
It’s sad to think that Edge 102 doesn’t play any of those songs anymore. You’re more likely to Mumford & Sons and 21 Pilots.
There’s like maybe one songs that I’d skip by. (I can’t place the Love & Rockets or New Order songs.) But for a 12-song compilation there’s 10 (at-the-time) MUST HAVES! And it’s SOOOOO British, even the American contributions have English overtones… Smiths covers and England’s love of the Pixies.
For the life of me I can’t remember if I had this, and I think no, because I never got Catherine Wheels Rush cover until they buried it on Cats And Dogs.