All this talk of Electro is making me misty eyed. I'm amazed nobody has
mentioned the Electro compilations that came out on Street Sounds records
in the U.K. - for me these were Electro as I was a poor but honest
student at the time and could not afford to buy the original 12 inches.
There was an Electro series, a Crucial Electro series that was a best of
the best and a one off U.K. Electro that highlighted U.K. acts. Most of
the tracks I have seen mentioned are on these albums. These records
changed my life along with "The Crackdown" by Cabaret Voltaire and "Love
Action" by Human League.
Some more classic electro tracks I have not seen mentioned (I think):
Tyrone Brunson "The Smurf"
Warp "Light Years Away"
Warp "Nunk"
Captain Rock "The Return of Captain Rock"
The B-Boys "Two, Three Break" (much sampled)
Imperial Brothers "We Come To Rock"
Boogie Boys "Zodiac"
Pumpkin "King of the Beat"
The VHB "Beethovens Fifth (Street Symphony)"
Cybotron "Techno City" (As sampled by 808 State)
Jonzun Crew "Pack Jam"
Mantronix "Ladies"
Mantronix "Bassline"
Malcolm X "No Sell Out"
Beatmaster "Lipservice"
Afrika Bambaataa "Renegades of Funk"
Egyptian Lover "My House"
Egyptian Lover "Egypt, Egypt"
UTFO "Roxanne, Roxanne"
Unknown DJ "808 Beats"
Chris Taylor "Itchiban Scratch"
Tricky Tee "Johnny the Fox" (Early Mantronix)
MC Craig G "Transformer"
Whilst checking through my old Electro records I checked the dates on
some of my Adrian Sherwood records (Gary Clail, Tackhead, Mark Stewart,
Akabu). This guy was seriously ahead of his time, ambient dub in 1984.
He was also the first person I heard to stick Gregorian chants over a
dance beat (Mark Stewart - "The Waiting Room" 1985).