Engineers

A wonderful Virgin compilation which I didn't get in 1980 but waited 28 years instead to be able to enjoy the thrill of downloading and finally listening to the damn thing. A mish-mash of electronic-based rock/pop music that was going round at the time all with a Virgin label connection. OMD's opening Messages is still a blinder to this day (perhaps former bedfellows Dalek-I could have done with a decent producer too to whip them into shape), and Numan / Tubeway Army shows us here how far ahead of his time he was. Be blown away with The Human League's massively sexed-up version of Being Boiled (see also Travelogue and Holiday 80), and of course Foxx's seminal Underpass from decade opening and massively influential Metamatic album. The rest is pretty much 'no-wonder-they-never-became-that famous' territory (Leer / Badowski et al where are you now), save perhaps Fad Gadget and Silicon Teens' cult classics. XTC's contribution is a bizzarre closing track but shows us how versatile and creative Partridge and co. were at the time.
A must. Don't wait 28 years chaps like I did....
Get it here newromantic rules