Search - Various Artists :: Postpunk Chronicles: Left Of The Dial

Left of the Dial is a telling title for a CD that begins with a track from the ultimate college-radio band. One of three in the Postpunk Chronicles series by Rhino (also including Scared to Dance and Going Underground), this compilation launches with R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe" and includes the big "hits" from some of the most important college-rock bands of the '80s, including Joy Division, New Order, the Chameleons, and Cocteau Twins. Some unexpected tracks also surface. Modern English's compellingly eerie "Smiles and Laughter" is chosen over the infamous "I Melt With You"--the single that put the band in the purgatory of one-hit wonderland. Thomas Dolby's wistful "Airwaves," meanwhile, makes the cut over his MTV-storming "She Blinded Me with Science." Many of these selections contain residual musical and lyrical punk themes, but these songs are safer, softened by reverberating guitars, keyboards, and lyrics that aren't as angry as they were politely desperate. It's music that raises a collective middle finger to the world, though that digit was begloved in red leather, tilted by a wrist surrounded by Swatches. --Beth Bessmer