Ultimate tribute to indie bands in Manchester
From Buzzcocks to Britpop, Manchester North Of England is the ultimate tribute to the independent output of that most important and iconic of musical cities, with 143 tracks across seven CDs in a deluxe box set.
Compiled by the team behind other Cherry Red box sets (Scared To Get Happy, Still In A Dream, Millions Like Us, Action Time Vision,), it tells the story of how indie music exploded in Manchester after the rush of Punk and the seminal release of the Buzzcocks’ Spiral Scratch EP.
With exhaustive sleeve-notes by the city’s leading music journalist of the era, Mick Middles, and a foreword by Mark Radcliffe, Manchester North Of England includes many of the key bands from the late 70s to the early 90s – Joy Division, The Fall, New Order, James, Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, Morrissey, John Cooper Clarke, 808 State, A Certain Ratio, Durutti Column, The Charlatans and last but not least, Oasis.
Also included is a track by Mirrors Over Kiev, a band fronted by TheBusinessDesk deputy editor Nick Jackson.
Although the scene was dominated by blokes with guitars, which is reflected here, Manchester North Of England also doffs its cap to reggae, soul, singer-songwriters, hip-hop, avant garde, techno/industrial and dance music.
Inspired by Bop Cassettes’ 1988 compilation (name, cover image), the box set is being presented in conjunction with MDMA (Manchester District Music Archive).
Many of the tracks appear on CD for the first time, from the Punk explosion through Factory Records, post-punk, the jangly C86 period, Madchester, Indie-Dance and the early 90s transition into what would become Britpop.
