VARIOUS ARTISTS, THAT SUMMER!, CONSIDERED (1979): Generation defining classics and lesser artists

In a recent conversation, the topic of the MTV channel devoted just to the '80s came up. One of our number gave the reason succinctly, “because in the Eighties they had great songs”.

Simple as that.

And quite true when you think of it.

Aside from a few key examples – Bowie, T. Rex, the odd solo Beatle like McCartney, Elton, Fleetwood Mac, BeeGees and other chart botherers – there was a lot of flab in most of the Seventies.

But then things took a turn to usher in the Eighties: at the end of the decade disco arrived in full force, punk redrew the boundaries in short and sharp songs (a few little more than slogans however) and in short order New Wave with a powerful pop component brought post-punk energy and focused songs back into focus.

And then we were into the Eighties, and hungry like a wolf for pop songs.

Not long after having that conversation this compilation album came to hand, pulled from the shelves at random for reconsideration in this on-going column.

It's actually a soundtrack compilation (the young Ray Winstone's screen debut, Tony London, Emily Moore) for a film directed by Harley Cokliss.

I don't think I've seen it – youth confrontation at Torquay etc – but a quick glance at the cast tells us that John Junkin (who played Shake in the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night) is also in it.

So much for trivia, but the 15 song album is a cracker and brings together classic punk and post-punk songs which run from the unforgettable to absolutely essential.

It includes important American artists/songs, among them Mink DeVille's Spanish Stroll, Patti Smith's Because the Night and the Ramones' Rockaway Beach.

These are generation-defining songs, then you add the British contingent which takes up most of the album: Elvis Costello's I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea and Watching the Detectives; Boomtown Rats with the raucous She's So Modern and Kicks; the Only Ones' masterpiece in miniature Another Girl Another Planet; Undertones' sexual frustration on Teenage Kicks . . .

For good measure it also includes those lesser lights with unforgettable songs: Wreckless Eric (Whole Wide World), Nick Lowe (I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass), Eddie and the Hot Rods (Do Anything You Wanna Do) . . .

And the Zones – who I admit are new to me – with New Life. Out of Glasgow apparently and spilt up soon after this pop-lite ballad appeared (and presumably used in one of those thoughtful scenes when Winstone wanders on a beach?)

How can you not love an album -- in a gatefold sleeve -- which opens with Ian Dury's Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, has all those songs mentioned and closes with Richard Hell's Blank Generation?

In the rearview mirror this was when popular music took a left turn and ushered in the Eighties.

As a snapshot on that period – a very white and guitar-based focus group admittedly – you can hardly go past That Summer!, especially if you use it as a primer for a curious young person.

Or just 45 minutes of enjoyable nostalgia. 

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The album isn't on Spotify in its own right but someone has helpfully offered the same track listing using some more recent remastered versions of a few songs. Check it out here

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Elsewhere occasionally revisits albums -- classics sometimes, but more often oddities or overlooked albums by major artists -- and you can find a number of them starting here.