C86 Box Set (Deluxe Edition) (2014)

Back in May/June 1986, the New Musical Express released one of their regular mail-order cassettes. Reflecting the latest trends in Indie music, C86 was a 22-track cassette which was inspired by the NMEs C81 tape from half a decade earlier. Aside from a few name bands (The Pastels, Primal Scream, the Wedding Present, the Mighty Lemon Drops), most acts were relatively unknown beyond the back pages and gig listings of the weekly music press. A few hadnt even issued a record! C86 slowly but surely became the NME's best-selling ever compilation, selling an estimated 40,000 copies and eventually being reissued on LP and cassette by Rough Trade the following year. C86 prompted a week of shows at the ICA and would come to embody a whole musical style and era. This deluxe expanded edition of the original C86 cassette adds some 50 bonus tracks. The box set is curated by original compiler Neil Taylor and has the endorsement of the NME. Neil has chosen tracks which could conceivably have been on the original C86 package: all the recordings were made between mid-1985 and mid-1986. Neil wrote about many of the bands at the time.

3CD set. Seminal 1986 compilation of UK indie-pop curated by the NME, reissued with 50 BONUS tracks from the era! Features Primal Scream, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Primitives, BMX Bandits, That Petrol Emotion, The Wedding Present, Pop Will Eat Itself, H