CD86: 48 Tracks from the Birth of Indie Pop is a compilation album of artists from the original C86 era, released in 2006 by Sanctuary Records. It is compiled by Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne. To coincide with its release, the Institute of Contemporary Arts hosted "C86 - Still Doing It For Fun", an exhibition and two nights of gigs celebrating the rise of British independent music.

Background

Released in 1986, the original compilation album C86 became very influential, and is today credited as the birth of indie pop. Stanley notes: "It was the beginning of indie music. It's hard to remember how underground guitar music and fanzines were in the mid-'80s. DIY ethics and any residual punk attitudes were in isolated pockets around the country, and the C86 comp and gigs brought them together". For the original's twentieth anniversary in 2006, Stanley compiled the set of songs that was released as CD86.

Description

CD86 is inspired by C86. Only three of the songs on C86 appear on CD86; fifteen of the original groups on C86 have alternative tracks on CD86. Several tracks were little-known before the album's release.

Reception

Writing in Prefix magazine, Greg Ingber gave the compilation a good review, noting that over twenty years the songs have stood the test of time very well. Ingber argues that while some may see C86 as not much more than a footnote in pop history, the CD86 compilation demonstrates that the scene was more than that. Nitsuh Abebe disapproved of the revised track-list, saying that "Stanley's set actually runs the risk of convincing old indie-pop kids that the music they spent their youths on wasn't that great." Abebe felt that the later compilation's choices were too narrow in terms of genre, and criticized Stanley for not including more of the tracks included on the original C86. Nick Hasted was similarly ambivalent, noting that the revised compilation would never have the influence of the original. Both Hasted and Abebe recognized, however, that CD86 contained numerous good songs.

Track listing

There are 48 tracks on 2 CDs.

Disc 1

Disc 2