Unbelievable: The Indie Dance Album (Posh Music For Kids, 1991)

Review
It was an era of one-offs. Posh Music For Kids released Unbelievable in 1991 and nothing else since then. Artwork was by the Artful Dodgers, a Hertfordshire based graphic design company fronted by Keith Peacock, Neil Smith and Michael Faulkner. And curiously, the running order of the cassette differs to the LP and CD – The Full Moon Hotheads track is shifted from the end of side 1 to close side 2. The vinyl crammed 67 minutes of music onto one LP but people will still tell you – with solemn and earnest faces – that it sounds better.

A sprawling and reflective groover, The Shamen’s Hyperreal sets the scene. The fourth single from En-Tact, coming after the rush of Omega Amiga, Pro-Gen and Make It Mine. Sounds like the longer Orbit mix which was the 1991 pressing of the album. It’s followed by the Wolfgang Press and the explosive Time. I just read this week that the Green Party want to reintroduce wolves to Ireland. How queer. Moving on: Mr Reilly at his most techno, the Durutti Column’s intricate Contra Indications lifted from the sublime Obey The Time AKA Vini goes to Ibiza, Vini creates a masterpiece. Introspective in parts, club-like in others. Fitting in afterwards, Test Dept’s doomy and sample-heavy New World Order surely a huge influence on Ministry’s N.W.O. File under industrial percussion.

There’s an Irish connection with Eskimos & Egypt; David Pryde was born in Dublin, 1967. The Power Of G’N’R is moody Manc techno built around the riff from Sweet Child O’ Mine. Elsewhere Sunny & Slam’s Hyacinth House seems to have slipped through the mists of time entirely, a piano-driven slice of dour baggy delivered in a local accent. Likewise for the next song, In The City, coming off like a more lively Flowered Up with more powerful keyboards. Just who were The Full Moon Hotheads? Both tracks have been recorded exclusively for this compilation and did not have single releases or feature on any albums.

From dance to indie. World Of Twist’s Sons Of The Stage is a grand statement that I also wrote about on Beechwood Music’s Forever Changing. Although Unbelievable uses the album version. 100% GROOVY! Who can forget this garish yellow “star” on the cover of Spartacus. Lifted from the album is the brutish shuffle of Very Emotional. The pressing with 12″ EXTRA FREE hung around forever. 33 RPM LP SIZE. And now the great Top, who supported The Farm in 1991, with their NME Single Of The Week, She’s Got All The World. Sun-kissed optimistic 60s psych vibe makes this one of the scene’s underrated gems. Meanwhile Indians In Moscow’ Wrong Love is a pleasant organ diversion which pales beside Illustrious’ hyper groovy Dreaming, Humberside heaven. To the end: the elusive Crystal Trip with Misunderstand, a sparkling sleeper from 1990’s Apoplexy EP.

Favourite tracks
Top – She’s Got All The World

The Durutti Column – Contra Indications

Lest we forget
Illustrious – Dreaming