Stats
Year: 1980
Country: U.S.
Genre: New Wave
Purchase
My first knowledge of Rough Trade came from the store in Williamsburg, tucked into a nondescript warehouse on the waterfront, an the uber-trendy locale marked by food festival Smorgasurg. I was a teenager at the time, but I was well aware that this was the hotspot of the hipster elite. I fell in love with the space, a cavernous playground covered in old Cure posters and fitted with its own concert venue and custom photo booth. The shop had already been deemed an corporate lambast by vinyl purists and “real music fans,” but I was young and bored and enjoyed the spectacle. Rough Trade was the last place to embodied that Empire Records fantasy for the Gen Z-er's who weren’t even alive to experience it. The Williamsburg location closed in 2021, and has since reopened in a smaller retail space in Rockefeller Center, even more dead-eyed than before. Everything is slick helvetica, and a brand new photobooth, clean and shiny, for the next generation of budding trend-chasers to pine after.
Of course, Rough Trade’s American retail space is only a small part of its widespread impact and legacy. First a London shop in 1976 and two years later a record label, Rough Trade became on of the biggest distributors of indie and alternative music through the 1980s, growing to an international size. And yet despite the labels many compilation releases, none of which are valued at much, they’ve become quite difficult to come across on the American resale market. Perhaps the recognizability of the label makes its releases into collector’s bait, like happens with some of the other big indie darlings, or their releases didn’t get a lot of U.S. distribution. On that front, this particular release is an outlier. Catalog number “ROUGH-US 3” is 1980’s Wanna Buy A Bridge? (A Rough Trade Compilation Of Singles), one of the first releases on Rough Trade’s first U.S. offshoot. It’s pretty clear that this comp is meant to serve as introduction of the label to American audiences, jam-packed with hits and featuring a map of the U.K, pointing to each band’s place of origin. Three colorways of the first pressing were released, in blue, green, and brown, with a matching color-printed sleeve. I was able to pick up the blue copy, which I believe is the most common of the three, yet there’s no difference in content between versions so I doubt it matters much. Wanna Buy A Bridge? is a really strong overview of Rough Trade’s catalogue, featuring some of the best singles from their new wave years, as well as a few unexpected cuts. The mix of bands here fall around the same level of notoriety, with a few on the more obscure side, but not enough to distract from the group. This comp’s greatest achievement is in gender diversity: six of its thirteen bands are led by women, and in my opinion, all six are essential to the canon, a very rare feat for any compilation at the time.
Content
I have a lot to say about this compilation because pretty much every song is a winner. Stiff Little Fingers’ ”Alternative Ulster” is a smart choice of opener, perhaps more traditionally punk than the rest of its Wanna Buy A Bridge? cohorts, but the song sets a baseline level of knowledge for the work to come. I love the way its opening solo riff is so clear it could cut through the chatter of any unfocused crowd, yet quickly changes its tune to the scratchy yet catchy.
Moving swiftly into the dance punk that shined through this era, Delta 5’s “Mind Your Business” is a shows the new places that bands were sonically exploring. I am convinced the version on this record is just a tad faster than the one I’m used to, but I feel like this happens often on compilations to make sure everything fits. Either way, that bass line is delicious. The band continued to release singles through Rough Trade throughout the rest of 1980s, but by ‘81 they had moved on to the short-lived PRE Records for their only LP, which lacked their biggest hits. For such a groove-based band however, their longevity through singles makes sense, able to keep the dancefloor moving round and round.
The Slits pair well with Delta 5, switching from the bass-centric to percussion-heavy. “Man Next Door” is a John Holt cover, following their popular album “Cut” with some additional reggae stylings. The track was actually released twice in the same year, Rough Trade’s being the first, with a alternate long version on the B Side. The second single was put out Human Records, a re-recording, as bassist Tessa Pollitt was hospitalized during the original session. I doubt the two recordings sound all that different each other, but I can’t seem to find the second one online. Slits mega fans please let me know.
Now taking a turn towards the brass is some no wave nonsense led by an ex-X-Ray Spex saxophonist Lora Logic. Essential Logic’s “Aerosol Burns” rocks incredibly hard with abrupt stops and starts. Logic’s uniquely sharp style of singing even sounds like the saxophone in the way she opts to break her voice for emphasis.
Like the prior trio of loud and loose leading ladies, the next few bands featured all have a bit of style in common. Guys who are softer in sound but ever-so critically biting. T.V. Personalities lead with their most famous single, “Part Time Punks” a sing-song style lambast on scenesters who only follow styles for the social clout. The irony comes from the fact that Rough Trade never released this single, and in fact, the song names the original Rough Trade store as a frequent hipster locale. Some things never change. T.V. Personalities put out their first EP on the in-house Kings Road label in 1978, and began working with Rough Trade in 1980, the same year this comp was released. It appears the label had a good sense of humor about all this, expertly choosing the next track based on some more “Part Time Punks” lyrics. Swell Maps’ “Read About Seymour” is one of the singles the wannabes want to buy, due to John Peel airplay. The joke once again is only self effacing, as guitarist Jowe Head played with both bands. Here the concept of sing-along style to greater speeds than T.V.P, clocking in their first ever song at a swift 1:28.
The final inclusion on Side A is “We Are All Prostitutes” from The Pop Group, demonstrating what happens when political strife gets funky. It’s an aggressive and nasty take on the genre, between the snarling vocals, jammy bass, and straining sax. It also makes standing up to fascism sound fun? Of course, without the single’s label epithet there’s no getting at the full message:
UF: Yes, any kind of entertainment in a capitalist society is made to rebuild the work force, so you have fun, then you are ready for 10,000 years of exploitation. The function of entertainment is just that.
So have fun for now kids, cause the labor awaiting in your imminent future is having to get up and flip the record to Side B.
We pick back up with the only group from this compilation that I hadn’t heard of before: Spizz Energi. Also known under other “spizz” affiliated aliases like Spizzoil, Athletico Spizz 80, and The Spizzles, their inclusion “Soldier Soldier” keeps up with the energy set by the previous acts. Another politically charged track, but here infuses a bit of rock n roll style for those still acclimating to the new wave. The song is incredibly ambitious in its exploration of style and instrumentation and never stays set in one place, just like their name.
Although Wanna Buy a Bridge? was released the same year as Swiss Wave The Album, the first comp I covered in this column, common band Kleenex had already lived multiple lives. Technically, their Rough Trade feature “Ain't You” was released in 1978, their debut single as a band. By 1980, however, they had to change their name to LiLiPUT due to a legal dispute with the Kimberly-Clark brand, who owned the Kleenex tissue trademark. They appear on this compilation with their original name, despite the change, and a powerful song not to be confused with their others such as “You,” “You did it,” or “Your’s is mine.” Another essential girl band, the Raincoats, make their appearance with penultimate album track ”In Love.” A fun coincidence is that the Raincoats include drummer Palmolive, who founded the Slits, but had left before they recorded “Man Next Door.” “In Love” features a distinct scratchy violin from Vicky Aspinall, who was trained classically before joining the band, and contributes one of the most memorable parts of their sound.
Cabaret Voltaire are best known for making industrial dance music, but their 1979 release “Nag Nag Nag” takes on a form of D.I.Y. synth punk not so unlike many popular bands today. Although it was the hit that spurred their career, very few of their other releases have the same level of crunch as this.
And now we start to slow things down. Young Marble Giants, a band who spent most of their tenure with Rough Trade, feature here with ”Final Day” from their 1980 EP of the same name. Although released the same year as their only album Colossal Youth, Final Day is unfairly forgotten in the band’s discography. Their threadbare synths and straight-forward songwriting made them a really distinct in an era known for maximalism, and this song continues that legacy just under two minutes.
The longest song on Wanna Buy A Bridge? is Scritti Politti’s “Skank Bloc Bologna” (say that ten times fast.) Its sidewinding rhythms impress without ostentation, sliding up and down scales with the aid of unique percussive elements. It makes me wish the band stayed in this direction, as their later radio hits were straight pop to the point of unrecognition. In fact, I was surprised to hear how post-punk they sounded here as I was only familiar with their weak attempts at being Wham!
Last, but never least the prolific Robert Wyatt, with a disco ballad, of all things, to bring this party to a close. “At Last I Am Free” was originally released by Chic in 1978, and included in Wyatt’s well-known Rough Trade covers compilation, Nothing Can Stop Us. The single version came out two years before the album, but I’m sure the time was well spent crafting the final product. His ““At Last I Am Free” is twinkly and soaring, the emotion in Wyatt’s voice palpable and teary-eyed. And unlike some of the other antics pulled on this compilation, this track is sincere. Amidst the hipsters and the wannabes there’s always a few real ones, and I’m glad that they get the platform they deserve, even if it is on a trendy label.
Other Pressings
Besides the green and brown cover variations (which I’m sure the T.V.P. would scoff at), the only other pressing of Wanna Buy A Bridge? came from Finland. For some reason Rough Trade had a licensing deal with Finnish label Arletty, only for a few releases, but perhaps they thought this American-focused compilation would do well in other place as well. Arletty also had a deal with Radar Records, which is interesting because I’d consider these two clients to be in competition with each other. Arletty’s Discogs page also claims a deal with Stiff Records, but there’s no evidence of a release from this collaboration, at least no within the measly 13 products they put out in between 1978 and 1981.
Score
Variety: 5/5
Quality: 5/5
Cohesion: 4/5
Creativity: 5/5
Final Score: 19/20