Ambition, Vols. 1-2: The History of Cherry Red Records (1979)

About this title: Cherry Red was a very mixed bag, as this double CD compilation very adequately demonstrates. They hooked up to all kinds of genres, from airy folk to grinding punk to the twiddliest of synth pop; Cherry Red gave a British home to Dead Kennedys, Thomas Leer, the Runaways, even, at one point, Kevin Coyne. It's entirely possible that the sheer diversity represented by the label might well have sealed its eventual fate; these days the label produces soccer-themed compilations and indie-label reissues. The two discs here cut across styles and borders, as well as different levels of quality and ... read more

Tracks:

1. Bored [Asheton/Niagara]
2. Right Now [West]
3. Holiday in Cambodia [Dead Kennedys]
4. Too Drunk to Fuck [Biafra/Dead Kennedy]
5. What Stanley Saw [Johnson]
6. You Scare Me to Death [Bolan]
7. History of Rock & Roll [Partridge]
8. Rangers in the Nightst [Kaemfert/Singleton/]
9. Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? [Stewart/Appice]
10. Celebration [Morgan-Fischer]
11. Hungry So Angry [Lewis/Ryder/Spink]
12. Four Corners of the Earth [Deebank]
13. It's a Fine Day [Barton]
14. Sunbursts In [Bates/Becker]
15. Chenko [Toulson-Clarke]
16. Johnny du Lump [Hiller]
17. Die Liebe [Laibach]
18. Girl [Fankhauser]
19. This Brilliant Evening [Knight]
20. Primitive Painters [Lawrence/Deebank]
21. The Look of Love [Bacharach/David]
22. Psych-Out [Seers]
23. World [Roughley]
24. What's in Your Mind [Budd]
25. Jet Set Junta [Bid/Square/Warr]
26. Night and Day [Porter]
27. From A to B [Bates/Becker]
28. Something Sends Me to Sleep [Lawrence/Deebank]
29. Plain Sailing [Thorn]
30. If She Doesn't Smile (It'll Rain) [Veisa]
31. Letter from America [Leer]
32. Xoyo [Witts]
33. Walter and John [Watt]
34. Your Holiness [Coyne/Kirtley]
35. On My Mind [Lawrence/Deebank]
36. The Mating Game [Bid/Square/Warr]
37. Spain [Hewick]
38. Talking Glamour [Bolan]
39. Foreign Coorespondent [Morgan-Fisher]
40. Penelope Tree [Lawrence]
41. Taboos [Witts]
42. Simply Couldn't Care [Lawrence/Deebank]
43. You Frighten [Bates/Becker]
44. Paraffin Brain [Lloyd]
45. Departure [Watt]
46. How to Die With Style [Crisp]
47. English Rose [Weller]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.