So there’s this style of music, right, that some people call Balearic Revival. “Balearic” refers to the Spanish Balearic chain of islands - of which Ibiza is one. Ibiza: Mixmag! 1996! Ecstasy! Bonfires! Is that what’s being revived?
Not quite, apparently. Others call the style Space Disco, as in this article in the SF Bay Guardian, or Pacifica in reference to Dream Chimney artists, specifically Hatchback/Windsurf/Sorcerer - three bands which all involve a combination of the same people.
So my interest was engendered by this thread on ILM, and there someone posted a list of the top 25 Balearic (pre-revival) songs as voted by members of DJ History. Some of the winners surprised me; Kate Bush? Richie Havens? The Flash & The Pan song sounds like a schizoid reaction to punk and Double - The Captain of Her Heart is straight-up yacht rock. Some of it is rrl terrible - I could live forever and not need to hear anything by It’s Immaterial ever again. Still! I wanted to get this out there.
1 Tullio de Piscopo - Primavera (Stop Bajon) (Bagaria, 1984)
2 William Pitt - City Lights (Public Sound, 1986)
3 Elkin & Nelson - Jibaro (CBS, 1986)
4 Chris Rea - Josephine (Magnet, 1985)
5 Herb Alpert - Rotation (A&M, 1979)
6 Manuel Goettsching - E2-E4 (Inteam, 1984)
7 Mandy Smith - I Just Can't Wait (Cool & Breezy Jazz Mix) (PWL, 1987)
8 Dizzi Heights - Would I Find Love (Parlophone, 1986)
9 Art Of Noise - Moments In Love (Island, 1983)
10 It's Immaterial - Driving Away From Home (Virgin, 1986)
11 Carly Simon - Why (WEA, 1982)
12 Sebastien Tellier - La Ritournelle (Lucky Number, 2005)
13 Donna Summer - State of Independence (WEA, 1982)
14 Laid Back - Fly Away/Walking In The Sunshine (CBS, 1983)
15 Kate Bush - Running Up The Hill (EMI, 1985)
16 Cure - Lullaby (Fiction, 1989)
17 Linda Di Franco - TV Scene (WEA, 1985)
18 Flash & The Pan - Walking In The Rain (Epic, 1978)
19 Izit - Stories (ffrr, 1989)
20 Fleetwood Mac - Big Love (Arthur Baker Remix) (Warners, 1987)
21 Double – The Captain Of Her Heart (Polydor, 1985)
22 The Beloved - The Sun Rising (WEA, 1989)
23 Enzo Avitabile - Blackout (EMI, 1986)
24 Mike Francis - Features Of Love (Concorde, 1985)
25 Richie Havens - Going Back To My Roots (Elektra, 1980)
178mb zip, Megaupload link. (I didn’t include E2-E4 because I think they meant the whole album.) Massive thanks fly out to Andy for his intense Slsk connections.
If you’re interested in what’s going on with the revival, I urge you to start with Sorcerer (maybe their remix of LCD Soundsystem Us Vs. Them for maximum accessibility) and A Mountain of One.
ps. New mixtape coming soon!
4 Comments
art of noice, cure, kate bush…hmmm sounds like a vanity project: let’s take all these artists/songs and make them a new genre
You’re dead right. I wrote Andy, when he was helping me compile the tracks “This ‘balearic’ label is totally retrospective and made up, of course. It’s almost irresponsible to call a nascent genre a ‘revival’ and then rush out lists of what it might be a revival of.”
…that said, I think the tracks on this list are there because of their specific sonic qualities; they’re not standing in for a given artist’s entire body of work.
I’ve always loved that State of Independence song. I posted this in a mefi thread last year -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX-bJOCgI4s
with michael jackson, dionne warwick, christopher cross, stevie wonder, michael macdonald and others singing backup.
The Pretenders also did a cover.
thanks Litwack.
Eddie,
That is dope!! Thanks for the link!