History: Best Of (Import) (CD)

• Category:  Music  »  Rock & Pop  »  General Rock & Pop
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: April 16, 2001
• Label: EMI Records (UK)
• UPC: 724353256821
• WAPI (Tower ID): 105777832
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• Tower.com Sales Rank: #146180 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #39525 in Rock & Pop (See Top 100 Rock & Pop Bestsellers)
• #26914 in General Rock & Pop (See Top 100 General Rock & Pop Bestsellers)

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New Model Army includes: Justin "Slade The Leveller" Sullivan (vocals, guitar); Stuart Morrow (bass).

Recorded between 1985 and 1991.

Some qualifying dates for History: The Best of New Model Army are important, because before signing to the EMI label in 1985, New Model Army released three 45s on the indie Quiet and Abstract labels. You'll have to hunt the Internet for those, but all the A-sides of their major-label singles are present and accounted for here. The set kicks off with their debut for EMI, the ferocious "No Rest," whose B-side, "Heroin," incidentally, brought the band an immediate ban. However, that didn't stop the Army from storming into the Top 30 regardless. Not that the triumphant triumvirate cared -- the year may have been 1985, but these Army members were still training from the dog-eared pages of the punk manual, and the occasional ban could only cement their street cred. And the Army had plenty of that, delivered up in their blistering live performances, their sarcastic lyrics (as "Brave New World" evidenced), and their strong political stance -- "51st State" has even more bite today than it did back in 1986. At the time, it was Thatcher's kissing up to Reagan that set the Army frothing, but she proved unstoppable, and perhaps realizing their inevitable defeat, the band marched off the battlefield and joined the "Vagabonds" flooding from the cities into the valleys of "Green and Grey." Yet, New Model Army were occasionally roused to rail again, as on the incendiary "Get Me Out," before begging for their home to return to the "Purity" of old, or at least a "Space" they could call their own. The original vinyl release of this set included a bonus 12" single, comprised of four previously unreleased songs/versions. Unfortunately, the CD reissue dispenses with two of them, adding new impetus to the New Model Army collectors' market. One wishes that a second disc bundling up the B-sides had been added as well, but that wasn't to be, either. Fans will have to settle for this: all the hits from Britain's most legendary post-punk punks. ~ Jo-Ann Greene

As History: The Singles 85-91's title makes plain, this compilation bundles up all the group's singles released between these dates. 1985 was a turning point for the band, the year New Model Army relocated from the indie Abstract label to the majors and EMI. Thus fans will obviously have to look elsewhere for their earlier singles, particularly the ferocious "Vengeance," the best of their pre-EMI releases. But the six years bundled up here were just as stellar. The group released a dozen singles during this period, and the A-sides all appear here in chronological order, kicking off with the blind fury of "No Rest," down into the bitter irony of "51st State," through the desolation of science gone insane of "White Coats," across the outcasts' anthem of "Vagabonds," into the nostalgic valleys of "Green and Grey," diving into the barely suppressed rage of "Purity," and ending live in "Space." Americans may be surprised to find that every single one of New Model Army's singles charted in the U.K., albeit outside the Top 25. But that's a moot point; while Britain was in the midst of a Tory revolution that turned much of England's innate culture to dust (Scotland, Wales, and Ulster remained more immutable to their efforts), New Model Army soldiered on, a voice raging in the wilderness. History: The Singles 85-91 sums up the daily battles, the triumphs, and the defeats. It's a stunning collection of hard-hitting songs, further plumped by two new numbers cut for this set. It's the best recruitment tool in their kit and a stellar introduction to New Model Army's militant world. ~ Jo-Ann Greene

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