The Key of Lost Things

Hymn Binding has a musty scent that rises up from its ink-stained pages (or inky bars of music) once opened, but it has an inner strength, and an inner resolve, in spite of its age-old music. Solemn strings openly roam through its shadowy tracks, searching for something lost – they have known heartache and the desperate tug of despair – but the ill-light only deepens their disappointment as the unfulfilled strings return home with empty hands. Aged piano melodies perform a melodic ballet beside the strings, and occasionally a clearer electric guitar will cut through the low, overcast clouds. From The Mouth of the Sun’s third album – and their first for the excellent American label, Lost Tribe Sound – has a gloomy, mournful air to it, but its music weakly stands up to the slow freefall of gradual decline. Systems are failing. Everything looks to be crumbling, fencing the music in, but its rust still darkly gleams. The piano is dusty and creaking, but wise, and the strings seek them out.

Ace are delighted to continue with Jon Savage’s highly respected year-by-year series documenting the music scene on a world stage, which began with a volume based on his successful 1966 book for Faber. A genre-spanning two-disc array of pivotal singles, extended mixes, context-providers, scene-stealers and lost gems from disco, b-boy, new wave, rap, indie and synth: these are the decks that defined the dawn of the 80s, captured the mood and crystallised Jon’s personal experiences of these years. Artists include the Associates, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, the Human League, Grace Jones, New Order, Yello, the Peech Boys and Zapp.

This box set is the ultimate pop collection, 43 albums featuring many of the biggest hits performed on the legendary pop music chart BBC TV programme Top of the Pops, which ran for a record shattering 42 years from January 1964 to July 2006! The show totalled an amazing 2205 episodes and at its peak attracted 15 million viewers per week! This complete set features a total of 875 tracks, including over 600 top ten hits and over 150 number one's!