The Record Shop - 'Thirty Years Of Rough Trade Shops' (V2) Released 02/10/06

2006 marks the thirtieth anniversary of Rough Trade Shops and what better way to celebrate this fact than with the release of a double CD charting the history of this pioneering musical institution. Established in London in 1976, Rough Trade Shop spawned the independent record label of the same name. The two parted company in 1982 but have remained closely linked ever since. Initially specialising in European post-punk, Rough Trade branched into alternative rock in the late ‘70’s and continued to grow throughout the ‘80’s handling the careers of many influential acts and musical movements in recent years, most notably, that of The Smith’s.

Stretching 30 tracks over two CD’s is no easy task at the best of times, especially when combing and mixing such diverse genres as indie, hip-hop, acid, jungle, post-rock, electronica, folk and a whole lot more. However, the track selection has been handled perfectly, with each being hand picked by some of the shop’s more famous patrons including Domino’s Laurence Bell, Mute’s Daniel Miller, Bjork, Thurston Moore, Jarvis Cocker, Bobby Gillespie, DJ Mark Moore, architect David Adjaye, designer Paul Smith and the shop’s most loyal and regular customer, Essex farmer Spazom.

The list of contributing selectors is as eclectic and diverse as the track listing itself. Kicking off with ‘Pablo Picasso’ by the somewhat overlooked yet hugely influential US punk rockers The Modern Lovers, it’s chirpy piano, dancing guitar and rambling musings about how “Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole” illustrates Rough Trades open minded thinking and dedication to independent music. From here on in it’s a no holds barred, free for all of musical delights, guaranteed to open your senses to a largely unmapped world of audio brilliance. From the shouty feminine punk of Kleenex’s ‘Hedi’s Head’, to the Eastern mantra’s of Holger Czukay’s ‘Persian Love’, the harmonised neo psychedelic rock anthem ‘I Wanna Destroy You’ courtesy of The Soft Boys and Africa Bambaataa’s 1982 electro-funk standard ‘Planet Rock’. On CD one, Rough Trades early years are laid out in true representative style, with unabashed pride and rightly so, plotting their progression and development from 1976, through to the 1989 Pixies classic ‘Here Comes Your Man’. And who can argue with that.