Again, partly inspired by a post on another thread.

Two themes in one, really, I suppose:

a) What 'themed' compilation tapes have you made and what did they include?

b) What were some of your earliest compilation tapes like - what did they comprise?

I'm combining these themes because it's one of my tapes in particular that covers both these bases.

Side 2 is a compilation I made called 'Music for Travelling'. You see, strangely, even before I could travel independently, I was a little obssessed by the idea of music that evocative of travelling. Maybe because alot of early 70s & 80s electropop had it as a theme: Kraftwerk, Simple Minds, Japan, Talking Heads - alot of their music was about the idea of travelling and observing. The tracklisting (probably predictable, these days, but I was in my most fertile period of discovery in '81/'82) is as follows:

1. John Foxx: 'Europe - After the Rain'
2. Simple Minds: 'Theme For Great Cities'
3. Japan: 'Life Without Buildings'
4. Simple Minds: 'I Travel'
5. John Foxx: 'Miles Away'
6. OMD: 'Sealand'
7. OMD: 'Architecture and Morality'
8. Kraftwerk: 'Autobahn' (7" version)
9. John Foxx: 'This Jungle'

Not bad, I think, although I can't believe I put two OMD tracks next to each other. I was obviously running out of ideas by the end of the tape.

Meanwhile, Side 1 was, I think, only the second compilation I ever made, being the second lot of stuff I taped off the radio, and titled 'Radio Various A'. I was actually very late into doing that - my schoolmates had all been doing it for years, it seemed. Anyway, the tracklisting for that side went like this:

1. David Bowie: 'Wild Is The Wind'
2. Soft Cell: 'Bedsitter'
3. Duran Duran: 'My Own Way'
4. The Human League: 'Don't You Want Me?'
5. Patrick Cowley: 'Menergy'
6. Kraftwerk: 'Computerlove'
7. Modern Romance: 'Ay Ay Ay Ay Moosey'
8. Phil Lynott: 'Yellow Pearl'
9. (unknown*): 'Don't Stop'
10. Depeche Mode: 'See You'
11. ABC: 'Poison Arrow'
12. Kraftwerk: 'Showroom Dummies'

The stupid thing is, I had alot of those tracks already! I think I was just taping anything familiar as well as stuff I thought I might like. I'm so glad now that I taped that Patrick Cowley track in particular. I think that the tracks here date this tape as being from 1981.

(* - As for track 9, well, I'm ashamed to admit that I've forgoten who it's by! Thus, I need help from my fellow electropopsters out there. SR, Carcass, Disney Girl, Mumpo - any idead what I'm describing here: It's got a fairly cliched 'pumping' Hi-Energy style bassline and the single-line chorus is simply "You should be standing next to me". There are also chants of "Don't stop, don't stop it now". At first (upon hearing it now, for the first time in 25 years) I thought it was Fashion, but having checked Discogs, I don't think it is. I bet it's going to be something really embarrassingly obvious now, isn't it?)

Anyway... over to you lot - what 'themed' tapes have you made and what were your first/early compilations?

QUOTE:
a) What 'themed' compilation tapes have you made and what did they include?

Derek once abused me for starting threads about potential themed mix-tape ideas on OTF. So I started a blog instead. Some of the better mix themes have included New York, Bacharach, Disco-Funk, songs with the word Groove or variations thereof in it, Driving songs, German hits from the 1930s...

QUOTE:

b) What were some of your earliest compilation tapes like - what did they comprise?

They used to be genre based. 70s Soul, 80s New Wave, German Neue Deutsche Welle, that sort of thing.

The band you've forgotten: might it be The Mood? Can't find any audio or video clips of the particular song but they had a single called "Don't Stop" in 1982 and they're similarish to the the other stuff on the tape. www.themood.info

Johanista wrote:

QUOTE:
The band you've forgotten: might it be The Mood? Can't find any audio or video clips of the particular song but they had a single called "Don't Stop" in 1982 and they're similarish to the the other stuff on the tape. www.themood.info

Johnanista, I think you might be right! Thanks. I shall investigate further.

I've just done a themed compilation called "Distant Cousins"

Serge Gainsbourg: Bonnie & Clyde
Urban Species: Listen
MC Solaar: Nouvelle Western
Kylie: Sensitized
Fire Engines: Big Gold Dream
Franz Ferdinand: Take Me Out
Neon Neon: I Lust You (Heartbreak Remix)
Cabaret Voltaire: Hey Hey
Marsheaux: jkl
Yazoo: Situation
NIN: Hurt
Johnny Cash: Hurt

Yes, I kinda bottled it at the end, but Cash's version is sooo good.

Hey, GT - next month's SB might be turning into a mini-OTF-athon, if you're interested? Check thhe SB thread for updates.

Will do.