If a compilation LP perfectly captured the time it was released in, Modern Dance was that album.

Released in 1981 on K-Tel (catalogue number NE 1156) the album is very much a Virgin Records heavy affair, featuring no less than than six artists from that label (OMD were on Dindisc, but this was a subsidiary of Virgin).

OMD kick off proceedings with the haunting Joan of Arc, a number 5 hit for the band, and their second longest charting single, spending 14 weeks in the charts. Quiet Life by Japan follows, released twice by their original label Hansa, the second time around to capitalise on their later success with Virgin.

Next up are The Human League and their first top ten hit Love Action (I Believe In Love) and Heaven 17’s Penthouse And Pavement, the latter being formed by 2 former members of THL. 

The album takes a break from Virgin with Depeche Mode’s first top 20 hit New Life. The departure of Vince Clarke, would see Mode begin shedding their pop song skin, for something much darker and global domination.

Taken from Sons And Fascination/Sisters Feelings Call, Sweat In Bullet by Simple Minds, was the third and final single release, peaking at 52. Next up is John Foxx, formerly of Ultravox, he had left to pursue a solo career. Having already released Metamatic in 1980, The Garden came along in September 1981. Europe After The Rain the first of just two singles released from this album, peaking at 40.

Feeling slightly out of place, despite being synth heavy, the Cure follows with Charlotte Sometimes. Released as a stand alone single in the October of 1981 it peaked at 44.

Side 1 ends with Gary Numan, and She’s Got Claws. The only single to be lifted from Dance, the song peaked at number 6, the album marked a change in sound for Numan, and included guest appearances from Queen’s Roger Taylor, Nash The Slash and the late great Mick Karn of Japan.

Side 2 starts with the synth classic Fade To Grey by Visage, a track that 40 plus years later, still sends goosebumps up my spine. Formed by Rusty Egan and Midge Ure to produce new music, to play in clubs where Rusty and Steve Strange were DJ-ing. The single peaked at 8 in 1980.

Landscape are next with their incredibly catchy Einstein A Go-Go. Peaking at 5, the band had been going since 1974, playing jazz rock, until they started experimenting with electronic instruments. Richard James Burgess the vocalist and drummer also produced Spandau Ballet.

Fashion with Move On follow. The Birmingham four-piece released 3 albums in a 5 year period, with this single from the second Fabrique (Arista). This was also the first single on Modern Dance that hadn’t charted.

Next up is the second single to be taken from Japan’s second album release on Virgin. Visions Of China (VS 436) reached 32 in the chart although still managed 12 weeks. Tin Drum would spawn a further two singles including the classic Ghosts.

Track 5 on side 2 is somewhat of an anomaly. I’m sure I wouldn’t be alone in thinking at the time, who were The News? A World Without Love wasn’t a bad track, it however failed to make any impact on the chart. The News had had a previous single Audio Video reach 52, a third Hole In My Shoe didn’t trouble the charts either. Whilst flicking through internet pages for research, Wikipedia states that one Sal Solo left The News to join Classic Nouveaux, the same band? The dates of the singles released under The News overlap with CN releases so one can only wonder?

Modern Dance reaches the home straight, and back on Virgin for the last four singles. First up is Love Song by Simple Minds. Released before Sweat In Bullet, Love Song charted 5 place higher at 47, and similarly, following track Heaven 17’s Play To Win was also released before Penthouse And Pavement and faired better, reaching 46 as opposed to P&P’s 57.

Released in 1980 OMD’s Enola Gay became the groups first top ten single. The songs heavy subject refers to the plane, a B-29, that dropped the first atomic bomb. The only single to be taken from their second album Organisation, this proved a massive international hit, including top spot in Italy. Last up is Open Your Heart by The Human League, released in October 1981 (VS 453), it would peak at 6. Dare was released later in the same month.

The compilation isn’t perfect though. The glaring omissions of any Ultravox (mk 2) singles, nothing by Spandau Ballet, an absent Soft Cell, even Kraftwerk (although that may have been a licensing demand too far), means it’s not the complete story for two fine years of electronic music.

So then, Modern Dance, a near perfect compilation album that still sounds as fresh when played today, as it did in 1981.