Artists from Black Sabbath to Broadcast and from The Streets to Steel Pulse feature on a new virtual album of the West Midlands’ best music.
UB40 and The Spencer Davis Group also feature on the 21-track playlist which came from B-side, a nationwide campaign by Visit Birmingham, the city’s official leisure tourism programme, to celebrate the musical creativity of the city region.
Duran Duran, Led Zeppelin and The Move are three notable absentees from the playlist, which spans six decades and myriad genres including heavy metal, reggae, electronica, jazz, R&B, ska and pop.
See the full line-up here:
Laura Mvula, Horace Panter of The Specials and Pete Paphides were amongst the panel of singers, musicians and industry experts who met at Town Hall Birmingham on July 9, to create the virtual album.
BBC 6Music presenter Matt Everitt, who chaired the panel, said: “Birmingham’s musical output is often looked at in simplistic terms, but what we’ve tried to do, in my mind successfully, is capture some of the inventiveness, diversity, humour, passion and flair that the area has produced.
“The remit wasn’t just to pay lip service to the obvious names, nor champion the unsung or promote the next generation – but to create a playlist of amazing music regardless of age or genre. A collection of songs that you’d love to listen to regardless of its geographical birthplace.”
A long list of tracks was drawn up through public nominations, celebrity ‘selfies’ and suggestions on Twitter, which was then discussed and distilled into the final ‘album’ by a panel of industry experts, all of whom have a connection with the region.
Laura Mvula said: “As a product of the city myself, I was delighted to be involved; I’ve learned so much – it’s been the ultimate music lesson – every school should have one of these.”
The album playlist can be heard on Spotify and on YouTube, although, due to licensing issues, a handful of tracks are unavailable.
And, if you wondering what was on the long list of 150 tracks, you can find out here.
* See an interview with Apache Indian in this week’s Post Life
