Various ‎- Class Of 81 (1981)

Simon Grigg put this out on Propeller, and over on his site he gives heaps of info on this comp, the neglected little brother of his massive AK79. This copy has a small amount of surface noise, but there's a bit of popping particularly on the the first three tracks of side two. The Class Of 81 is a collection of the vast numbers of new and unrecorded bands around New Zealand, and Auckland in particular, at the end of 1980. The bands themselves were inspired by the anyone-can-do it attitude that the punk and post punk global revolution had encouraged. By the end of 1980 there were hundreds of young bands playing gigs all over the country, and, in particular, every garage on Auckland's North Shore seemed to be home to an aspiring bunch of pop stars. The album as such held together fairly well, partially because there was a definite generic New Zealand sound developing, a sound not a long way removed from what, a few years later, became known as the Flying Nun sound. There was an angular quirky feel, almost jangly, to much of this. But unlike the Nun sound, the Auckland bands had a slightly more dubby, a looser & funkier feel. The album, despite plans and a steady stream of requests over the years, has never made it to CD. Regardless of that, Class Of 81 has attained a rather legendary status now as an album that clearly defined its era in New Zealand, and in particular, Auckland, Rock & Roll. For fans of The Chills, The Clash, and The Cure.

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