Shoehorned onto this page because there's now a parallel DVD, which means this compilation of Volumes 1 and 2 (Cherry Red 1982-84) counts as a soundtrack, okay? The label's reissue of its golden age revels in the courage to be slightly twee. It's the sound of Englishness, only without the mindless violence. Art-rockers like Monochrome Set and Fantastic Something stand up well, having first politely checked that nobody minds if they do. Morgan Fisher's version of "Un Homme Et Une Femme" shrugs coolly, while Felt's "Penelope Tree" carries a torch for Television.
Rough Trade Shops is releasing a compilation album of the best music released by the indie label over the past 40 years.
Entitled Recorded At The Automat: The Best of Rough Trade Records, the album, which is released March 23, will cover the early years of Rough Trade, when Geoff Travis first started the label in 1978, later to be joined by Jeannette Lee. It includes the likes of Swell Maps, Robert Wyatt, The Fall, The Raincoats, The Smiths, The Strokes, the Libertines, Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens.
