Well, that was (un)expected. My 80s synthpop playlist project is now a quadrilogy.
I’d been thinking since the last one that I did have quite a few loose ends left over from Tomorrow, mostly on the Space and New Age themes, but it’s taken me several months to find enough puzzle pieces in Youtube’s junk drawer to be able to fit something together that worked for me, thematically and musically. And again maintaining the ‘concept playlist’ fiction that it’s a soundtrack to a cyberpunk science fiction film series that was never made.
But yay, we have liftoff at last! This one really does bring the project to a close, I think: I have Tomorrow, sort of generalised widescreen space opera, which then unpacks into a thematic trilogy on nuclear war, rebellion, and transformation. 16 tracks each (because it’s synthpop, it has to be a power of 2) at about an hour each, 48 tracks in total. Until the tide washes in and the Youtube sandcastles fall.
This one is a little slower and more meditative, due to its more New Age themes, but there’s still a pop and Italo Disco thread running through it.
If you missed the first post with the other three, here they are:
1. Radiant Energy (64 minutes)
2. Solid State Revolution (55 mins)
and
4. Now They Are Dreams (57 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuCIog0EPao&list=PLMRcNPXFEbAE9ndvlrSrQ8k6GrVYLzriH
01. Instant Music – Everybody’s Gotta Mutate (1981, Germany)
02. Synthi and Gert – Sister Susie’s Synthesizer (1978, Germany)
03. Blondie – Fade Away and Radiate (1978, USA)
04. Freur – Doot-Doot (1983, Wales)
05. Daemion – Human Arcade (1982, England)
06. Delia Derbyshire – Mattachin (1963, England)
07. Eurythmics – It’s Alright (Baby’s Coming Back) (1985, England)
08. Spectral Display – You Don’t Know (1982, Netherlands)
09. Donna Summer – I Feel Love (1977, USA)
10. The Techno Orchestra – Mechanical Ballet (1982, England)
11. Monsoon – Wings of the Dawn (Prem Kravita) (1982, England)
12. Planetary Peace – Medicine Wheel (1980, USA)
13. Telepathic – We Are Telepathique (1982, France)
14. Suzanne Ciani – System 55 (2015, USA)
15. Peter Schilling – Major Tom (Coming Home) (1982, Germany)
16. Katrina and the Waves – Love Shine A Light (1997, England)