Various artists
Digging Your Scene: New Pop And All That Jazz 1982-1987
CHERRY RED
Among other things, the English label Cherry Red is known for box sets that focus on an artist, an era, or a style of music. One of its latest, Digging Your Scene, is a four-disc collection of what the compilers call "new pop and all that jazz." More specifically, Digging Your Scene documents the period in the '80s when American jazz and soul influenced the pop music pouring out of the UK. It's an era I find particularly interesting for several reasons—one being that my first trip to England, as an exchange student, was in 1984. So I heard some of these tracks when they were first released.
Digging Your Scene includes a total of 73 tracks across its four CDs. They are housed in a clamshell box and accompanied by a booklet of vintage photos and extensive liner notes by John Reed, who also compiled the set. Beyond offering track-by-track information, Reed gives us a sense of the scene out of which New Jazz emerged. Chris Sullivan—who formed the group Blue Rondo A La Turk and opened the London club The Wag—was a prime catalyst. Like so many other genres of the era, New Jazz was an offshoot of the punk rock revolution that had taken place half a decade earlier.
As with any collection, this one takes a fairly broad definition of the genre at hand. Most of the music here is not straight-ahead jazz—though there is some of that. Rather, it's pop music with jazz undercurrents and influences. A few tracks find the compilers stretching the definition a bit, but they're the exception. The artists themselves range from household names to hopelessly obscure acts, with everything in between. The only artists allotted more than one song are former PiL bassist Jah Wobble and the great husband-and-wife duo Everything But the Girl. That said, many of the same names pop up repeatedly throughout the box. Like many scenes, New Jazz was fairly incestuous. Quite a few musicians played with more than one band, produced other artists, or made cameo appearances.
For those who believe box sets are always front-loaded with the best material, rest assured that's not the case here. To these ears, the best of the four discs may be disc three. Between songs by A-list artists Sting and Dexys Midnight Runners, you'll find the wonderful obscurity "Mellow Moods" by Pressure Point, featuring singer Lydia Gayle. Also included on disc three are selections by Vic Godard, The Style Council, Fine Young Cannibals, and The Blow Monkeys, whose smash hit gives this box its title. All in all, Digging Your Scene is indispensable for fans of New Jazz or '80s music in general.
