Cut Me Deep: A Story Of Indie Pop 1985-1989 / Various CD

Four CD set. Stellar Line-Up Includes The Stone Roses, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Edwyn Collins, The Housemartins, The June Brides, The Sundays, The Primitives, The Sugarcubes, The Jasmine Minks, Pale Saints, The Wonder Stuff, The La's, Inspiral Carpets, The Loft, Lush, Milltown Brothers, The Darling Buds, The Lightning Seeds and many more. During the latter half of the 80s a new breed of guitar-orientated bands began to emerge in the UK - armed with an overt pop song craft sensibility, and enamoured with a conflicting post-punk spirit and adoration of the 60s, many of these unlikely acts - all anoraks, Dr Martens and charity shop chic - would go on to become Top 40 regulars and set the tone for music beyond these shores, culminating in 'The Stone Roses', an album that defined a generation. 'Cut Me Deep' - named for a Jasmine Minks track which captured that spirit - presents a snapshot of that time and place, via essential independent labels such as Creation, Sarah Records and 4AD, and their major backed counterparts in Blanco y Negro et al, alongside distribution via Rough Trade and other like-minded outlets. With an electric guitar in hand (no Stratocasters here please), and resplendent in clothes as immaculately and cheaply curated as their record collections, a new generation of British musicians kickstarted what would become the only credible challenge to the increasingly dominant synthesiser pop scene of the late 1980s. Indeed, the entire movement might be understood as a reaction against that, and a return to the aesthetics of The Byrds and the universally adored Velvet Underground. A must for the curious, and an essential addition for any collectors of our previous titles documenting the '80s British guitar pop scene, 'Cut Me Deep' chimes with familiar favourites, long lost curios, major hits and minor also rans, all of which share a pop minded commonality.