Rusty Egan: Presents… Blitzed! Signed Edition Deluxe
Rusty Egan: Presents… Blitzed! Signed Edition Deluxe Packaging
Rusty Egan Presents Blitzed!
Includes limited edition signed print
Rusty Egan: Presents… Blitzed! Signed Edition Deluxe Packaging
Includes limited edition signed print
Compilation curated by Rusty Egan, DJ of the club Blitz in London which was ground zero for the New Romantic movement. It’s an excellent selection of synth driven Germanic pop drama. Baritone voices, spare synth, eurodisco, cabaret gender fluid vibe. Some of my favorites from that era included are Kraftwerk Radioactivity, Iggy Pop Nightclubbing, Ultravox Passing Strangers, Sparks The Number One Song in Heaven, Walker Bros No Regrets (from 1975 later covered by Midge Ure), Grace Jones La Vie en Rose, Cerrone Supernature, Giorgio Moroder Chase, Visage Fade to Grey. All classics just to name a few on one compilation. How great is that?
Compilation curated by Rusty Egan, DJ of the club Blitz in London which was ground zero for the New Romantic movement. It’s an excellent selection of synth driven Germanic pop drama. Baritone voices, spare synth, eurodisco, cabaret gender fluid vibe. Some of my favorites from that era included are Kraftwerk Radioactivity, Iggy Pop Nightclubbing, Ultravox Passing Strangers, Sparks The Number One Song in Heaven, Walker Bros No Regrets (from 1975 later covered by Midge Ure), Grace Jones La Vie en Rose, Cerrone Supernature, Giorgio Moroder Chase, Visage Fade to Grey. All classics just to name a few on one compilation. How great is that?
A delight for the ears
This album contains so many iconic tracks and stuff that has had less exposure over the years. If you love 80s music then this needs to be in your collection.
Lurking in Australia, I was fascinated by the reports I saw in the media about Blitz. As an avid reader of NME I had some awareness of the music associated with the scene, but nothing to set a clear cultural context. This compilation does much to establish a clear musical overview of the scene: the choices are eclectic, and at the same time paint a clearer picture of the musical directions that were in the Blitz melting pot. Various strands of post-punk cultures rub shoulders with cerebral electronica; disco; pop; and even glam. The apocalyptic nightmares of Throbbing Gristle (Hamburger Lady) and Magazine (Permafrost) share the floor with the cheerful hedonism of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s ‘Electricity’ and La Dsseldorf’s Rheinita. Grace Jones restrained and sublime ‘La Vie en Rose’ glowers at the hyperactive ambitions of Skids ‘Animation’
This is not a traditional compilation album, but then Blitz did not set out to be a traditional club: one only has to look at the musical progeny, notably Visage and Spandau Ballet to see that. Are there omissions? Yes, in exploring this era it is inevitable that there will be licensing issues. However, in building this compilation Rusty Egan has done an excellent job in providing an overview of one of the most influential club scenes in the UK. Given the relatively short life of Blitz, this is all the more astonishing.
This is it!
If, like me, you think Thomas Leer’s Private Plane is a crack in the aural eggshell that let the sound of the future into the world then this compilation is for you. I am only sorry that this is just 4 CDs worth of the most glorious music from a man who has impeccable taste. Sounds culled from across Europe and presented so that you just wish you had been there at the time, done up like a peacock and rubbing shoulders with the bands that shaped the 80s and beyond.
Groove like no one is watching, put on a bit of eyeliner if it helps and close your eyes and be in the Blitz Club.
Superb
"Sign" of the times? It's a Blitz!
Ok, here goes…
If you are looking for a ” Now that’s electronic 80s” mainstream box set,this is not it.
If however,you are looking for something very special, obviously compiled with care and attention, choc full of absolutely brilliant tracks, then this is for you.
Much is not instantly familiar,yes some big name groups are recognisable, but their tracks here are not. In saying that, you will get a pleasant surprise as these lesser known tracks are absolutely brilliant !
It comes with a brilliant booklet too.
A lot of detail in it plus some brilliant pose photos.
Particularly brilliant is Midge Ure dressed and looking like a double glazing salesman!
The best of all is a brilliant one of Rusty who’s transformed himself into a 1930s Flash Gordon lookalike!
in the photo he looks uncannily like the actor who played Flash Gordon, Larry “Buster” Crabbe, great stuff!
I watched a recent Rusty interview where he talked about the hard work and joy he had in putting this box set together. He stated that he has many many more tracks that may be released, I hope he does, this is easily 1 of the year’s best releases!
Oh, regarding signed copy,mine wasn’t signed,but,you know what? It’s no big deal, I’m just so glad to have a brilliant enjoyable box set. Well done Flash! Erm sorry I mean Rusty !
So I was about 18 when all this hit and being born in Liverpool, we didn’t have the Blitz Club which was in London but there were a few great venues there too .
My favourite was ‘The Hartington Bar’ which I originally assumed was named after Steve Strange’s birth name but was rather disappointed to discover ir was because it was located in Hartington Street !
Anyway that was a divey but exciting place (still there today , but still vacant because of modern standards like toilets and fire exits ) and quite a few of the tracks on this amazing compilation were originally heard by me and my mates in there over Pernod and Orange (followed by a lot of lager in plastic ‘glasses ‘ – I know)!
This completion is awesome, most of which is not on any other completion – probably two thirds of this contains tracks I have never heard before.
Anyway, Rusty thank you for putting this together. It is unusual in both bringing back great memories of probably the best days of my life and some WTF moments in regard to ‘how the hell did this pass me by ‘?
I am 61 now but this set is amazing and the kick up the backside in terms of innovation , imagination and sheer balls that today’s pop and club swill could well do with .
Alas I think that’s not happening.
But we can dream, as we did back in those amazing days . You want to buy this !
Superb cheers Rusty
Where do i start well packaged, informative , track listing to die for overall a terrific 4x cd set . I was only 14 then when this was all going on but loved the aspect of it all from music especially to what it was about . So good on you Rusty on bringing out something to remember the era by and hopefully for many more to like that time right now . Top class
This is a great collection for those of us who lived through the short but eclectic Blitz Kid/Futurist/New Romatic period. But I feel that some of the tracks on here are just filler. There is a disclaimer about some tracks and artists being omitted due to licensing issues. So maybe that has a lot to do with it. But Magazine’s “Permafrost”? Really? The lyrics are disturbing and have no place on a collection with no “explicit Content” warning.
And any of you wondering where your signed print is – if you have a squiggle like the one in my photo, then thats your “signature”. Yeah, pathetic isn’t it?
Maybe the shortcomings will be addressed in a “volume 2”, if it ever happens.
The signed edition IS signed - but only just.
The music is really good – lots of tracks that don’t usually appear on compilations of this sort. It’s expensive for a 4CD set but I felt a signed version was worth having.
Like the previous reviewer I thought mine wasn’t signed and was going to return it. Then I saw a black felt pen squiggle on the right hand side. I don’t think Rusty’s heart was in the signing task! Perhaps he should have channeled some of the energy spent promoting the box into signing it at least half legibly!
Either way I love his stuff and this is an exceptional compilation.