{"product_id":"various-artists-all-young-droids-synth-pop-1978-1985-cd","title":"Various Artists: All The Young Droids - Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 (2xCD)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cJ7nt6kQYnE?si=nPeJN0LnWRC3pjj4\" height=\"300\" width=\"full\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAll The Young Droids - Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985\u003c\/em\u003e is a new compilation that charts the underbelly of the epoch-defining sound of the synthesiser in 80s popular music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCompiled by Philip King (previously seen compiling All The Young Droogs, Glitterbest and Boobs - The Junkshop Glam Discotheque), the music here connects the dots between DIY synth enthusiasts grappling with new, cheap synthesisers at the tail-end of punk and wannabe, jobbing songwriters enthral to the new music pioneered by Gary Numan, Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller’s Mute Records.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeaturing rare tracks of auto-didactic progressive pop music, proto-techno punk, shoot-for-the-stars-land-in-the-gutter chart flops and heralded, underground synth classics, School Daze paints a picture of beautiful failure. Complete with extensive sleeve notes written by King and never before seen imagery, all 24 tracks were remastered by RPM in-house engineer Simon Murphy, many from vinyl copies due to lost master tapes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story told on \u003cem\u003eAll The Young Droids...\u003c\/em\u003e is one of the dawning opportunity presented by both the emergence to the market of cheaper analogue synthesisers and the distribution networks plus indie labels that exploded with the advent of punk music in 1976. While the music that sprouted out all over the globe in the wake of these factors was decried as fake, plastic, a refutation of punk’s guitar-led revolution, it’s telling that much of the music on \u003cem\u003eAll The Young Droids\u003c\/em\u003e... was created in bedrooms, ramshackle studios and home-made set ups with often borrowed equipment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the era of record labels jumping to capitalise on the success of The Sex Pistols, The Clash (both on major labels, of course) these artists struggled to stand out from a new gold-rush with next to no budget or PR team. With radio and labels desperate for the new Yazoo, what resulted was a testament to necessity being the mother of invention.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the time, the synthesiser was the music of the future, a shiny new machine that could paint like an orchestra with a single finger and a 4 track. In the hands of Manchester avant-pranksters Gerry \u0026amp; The Holograms it’s a pulsing, sardonic weapon.. the only instrument on the Messthetics classic lampooning of New Wave fashion. In Hamburg, a 16 year old Andreas Dorau used it to write and record (with his female classmates on vocals) a global smash in 'Fred Vom Jupiter' (later licensed to Mute Records). The hard-to-find English version ('Fred From Jupiter', natch) is included here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMany artists with already-storied careers caught the bug and recorded synthesiser-fuelled peons to space, computers, the future and, of course, love-interests. Harry Kakoulli, late of Squeeze, recorded a solo album in 1979 that included the incredible power-synth-pop smash-that-never-smashed 'I’m On A Rocket'. Similarly, Ian North of Neo and American Power Pop stalwarts Milk ’n’ Cookies bought a Korg MS20 and used a tape machine to record 'We’re Not Lonely', an absolute lost-classic of minimal synth pop. 'We’re Not Lonely' also features on the Junkshop Synth Pop sampler 7” twinned with John Howard unreleased track 'You Will See', released April 12th 2025.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesign - Premonition\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVision - Lucifer’s Friend\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRichard Bone - Alien Girl\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJohn Howard - I Tune Into You\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIan North - We’re Not Lonely\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSelwin Image - The Unknown\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHarry Kakoulli - I’m On A Rocket\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRich Wilde - The Lady Wants To Be Alone\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBilly London - Woman\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAlan Burnham - Science Fiction\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Microbes - Computer\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Goo-Q - I’m A Computer\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGerry \u0026amp; The Holograms - Gerry \u0026amp; The Holograms\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Warlord - The Ultimate Warlord\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDie Marinas - Fred From Jupiter\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDee Jay Bert \u0026amp; Eagle - I Am Your Master\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePeta Lily \u0026amp; Michael Process - I Am A Time Bomb\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSole Sister - It’s Not What You Are But How\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAlasdair Riddell - Do You Read Me?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKarel Fialka - Armband (The Mystery Song)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJohn Springate - My Life\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIncandescent Luminaire - Famous Names\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDisco Volante - No Motion\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDream Unit - A Drop In The Ocean\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e","brand":"Night School","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53955513975130,"sku":"RVSN003CD","price":13.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1481\/5374\/files\/various-all-good-droids_96676740-ca59-469e-95ba-44abc5511138.jpg?v=1778438894","url":"https:\/\/freebirdrecords.com\/products\/various-artists-all-young-droids-synth-pop-1978-1985-cd","provider":"Freebird Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}