18 track collection culled from the Falling A archives in celebration of the diy cassette. Cassette culture had a significant impact on the post punk era  and independent record label boom of the early 1980's. It has been largely undocumented but our aim is to put this right. The first release in the series covers a diverse selection from a rare version of "Johnny the Moondog" by the Cleaners from Venus to Wavis O'Shave performing a unique cassette version of "The Hard". Sleeve notes are by Martin Newell.

Tracks

1.  Johnny the Moondog - Cleaners from Venus
2. Ascension - Lives of Angels
3. Castles of Ice - The Hiding Place
4. Flowers in their Eyes - White Speed
5. Deathwish - The Modern Art
6. Excerpt from "Centuries" - Paul Kelday
7. Lifetimes - 30 Minutes
8. A Little Late Night Music - Velvet Warrior
9. It was you - We Be Echo
10. Whispers - I`m Dead
11. The Conformist - Chris Schuler
12. The Hoova Song - Peter Ashby
13. A Delicate Talking Mechanism - Tim Jones
14. Price of Love - Jar
15. The Hard - Wavis O` Shave  
16. Airports 1/3 - Allen Densen
17. Romance - the insane picnic
18. Land Punk - Sprayers

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Oxide Revolution volume 1

The diy cassette boom of the early 80's has been largely overlooked in rock music history. This is despite the fact that it is responsible for some of the most adventurous music of the period. The diy tapers produced music that took risks because there were no shareholders to please and none of the insipid desire for fame above creativity that has destroyed the music culture of our current "Pop Idol - Bone Idol" generation. Anyone who has heard the early Cleaners from Venus cassettes will know that this was the cutting edge of pop - so much so that they became known by the media and loyal followers as the diy Beatles. If you've ever heard "Four days in April" by the Insane Picnic, you will be assured that this diy cassette e.p. with a photocopied inlay captured an atmosphere that defined a generation. If you've heard any of the early cassettes by the Modern Art (featuring Gary Ramon - later of Sundial) then you will know that this was the master craftsman of acid pop at work. The Minutemen were first heard on a diy cassette compilation of American punk bands called "Meathouse 1", DAF, SPK & Throbbing Gristle all who defined what was to become the industrial music genre had their early material on cassette. Jah Wobble's first post PiL project was a cassette only release called "The Human Condition".  The innovative sounds of Attrition and Muslimgauze were first brought to you via the medium of the diy cassette, the sparkly pop music of the Pastels and pulsating chaos of the Membranes introduced themselves to the world in the same way. The remarkable Wavis O' Shave released a cassette on the Falling A label, even king of disco Joey Negro (aka Dave Lee) was in a band that released tapes on the Falling A label. We also released a cassette by a band called North which was produced and engineered by Martin Newell - the members of North went on to become members of Modern English, The March Violets & Living in Texas. Martin Newell incidentally wrote the sleeve notes for "Oxide Revolution volume 1" and there's a very rare Cleaners from Venus track to kick it off. These are the roots of the Falling A record label and it's in this spirit that we continue today. We are trawling our archives and doing our best to make contact with friends from the past and in the process compiling a series of CD releases called "Oxide Revolution". To our mind this will be the definitive collection that will finally give this obscure piece of musical history it's deserved place in the annals of rock. This is our "Nuggets" or "Pebbles". We are proud of our heritage and want you to hear it.

Oxide Revolution volume 1 is a CD set documenting the "diy cassette" movement of the early 80's. It  features rare tracks by: - The Cleaners from Venus, I'm Dead, The Modern Art, The Insane Picnic, Wavis O' Shave, Paul Kelday, Jar, White Speed and many others. The sleeve notes have been written by Martin Newell.

Though vinyl was the dominant and preferred format of music purists until around 1990, when compact discs began to make their mark, there is a missing piece to this story. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, cassettes were seriously challenging sales of vinyl. For a short period in the 1980's cassettes were actually outselling vinyl.

The reason for this was portability. The invention of the Walkman helped advance the cause of the cassette and car stereo's found it a much more acceptable format than the 8 track cartridge which had very poor durability. The "boom box" fad enhanced the cassettes profile further.

The cassette tape boom also played a part in the independent music revolution. The new wave, in particular, had caused public interest to include small and independent record labels alongside major labels. The popularity of the cassette format allowed even smaller labels to exist, including labels run as a "hobby", or as a 1-person operation. For the first time, double cassette decks were made for the consumer market. Some had a feature that allowed tape high speed duplication. Anyone with a musical instrument and a tape recorder could make their music available to the public.

There were other new products to help the independent musician. Before the 1980's, any multi tracking would have to be done in a recording studio at a cost that most could not afford or through a very primitive method of linking and synchronising cassette recorders, sacrificing a great deal of sound quality in the process. The invention of the portastudio and the digital synthesizer revolution opened the floodgates for those who had a desire to express their musical talent. The diy musician was born.

Electronic instruments, multi-tracking, cassette duplicating machines, and a public willing to buy cassettes, all led to the bedroom based record label and the phenomenon that became known as the diy cassette. Photocopy machines were becoming more accessible, and computer graphics were becoming available to the public for the first time, making it easier to design packaging for an independent release.

This print media boom also paved the way for a media vehicle through which the "diy tape" could be promoted. Fanzines spurred on by a healthy indie music scene documented the birth and rise of this "Oxide Revolution". All three of the mainstream music papers devoted some space to these home produced cassettes. Sounds even printed a top twenty chart from time to time.

Beyond the music, a community was also born, "would be musicians" trading tapes and convictions about life, the world and everything in between - the post office had never had it so good! In the UK prolific labels such as Falling A, Subway, Music for Midgets & Cause for Concern were selling some significant quantities of these "Obscure oxide delights". By 1985 Falling A had a network that spanned more than 1,000 contacts in 23 different countries. The musical content was extremely diverse but the attitude was one of a "united cottage industry", independents looking out for each other. Had they had access to the Internet at that time who knows where it could have headed and what could have been achieved? So whether it was the melodic acid pop of The Cleaners from Venus, the abrasive rock of The Insane Picnic, the brilliant electronic experimental music of Paul Kelday or the very surreal Ambitious Merchants there was a sense of "we're in it together".

There is little information available on this obscure piece of rock'n'roll history; it faded as quickly as it arrived. Presumably the participants' jobs turned into careers, they started families and did little to pass the baton on. The next generation of youths had much more choice than their predecessors - special effects movies, computer games, mobile phones, video, a fiercely competitive branded clothing industry, the personal computer and it seemed that the uprising was over. Of course the CD-R, digital technology and the internet has provided a renaissance for the diy musician but it does not capture the same spirit as the halcyon days when we naively believed that we would bring the music industry to it's knees (though ironically, it seems that the reality of this happening is in the hands of the internet generation). This set we hope will capture this spirit and finally document it's history.

*This article was adapted from an article written by Allen Densen who runs the Paul Kelday fansite.