Initially, Bustin' Out seems an odd proposition - a post-punk primer with a horrible cover that appears to have slipped through the space/time continuum from the early 21st Century when similar compilations like In the Beginning There Was Rhythm and Nine O'Clock Drop were released. The decade that just ended was dominated by the rediscovery of post-punk, definitively represented by Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up & Start Again: a mass of compilations and reissues have appeared in the wake of this book.

This compilation from Mike Maguire, like the recent ZE-compilation, has a sense of familiarity and seems odd now so much of this era has been rediscovered - certainly at odds with the download/playlist culture in thrall at present. At first I wondered if this was just a random 14 tracks from the 70's-80's - could anyone make their own post-punk comp?

A few tracks seemed familiar from other compilations - Bush Tetras 'Too Many Creeps', Josef-K's 'Sorry for Laughing', and Material's anthem 'Bustin' Out.' In addition, Loose Joints' advance on disco 'Is It All Over My Face' is quite familiar from the posthumous celebration of Arthur Russell, having featured on Soul Jazz's The World of Arthur Russell. Still, it seems churlish to dismiss this material, especially 'Bustin' Out', which fuses Chic and Moroder with elements of funk and the style of guitar Robert Fripp played on Scary Monsters. The Nona Hendryx-fronted single is an anthem from the ZE-scene and New York before it got clean - electronic soul if ever I heard it.

Bustin' Out does make some alternate selections - the Tubeway Army choice side-steps the usual suspects and is a reminder that from Replicas to Telekon, Gary Numan ruled. Rather than the more frequently compiled Cristina, we get another ZE-associated lady, the late Lizzy Mercier Descloux, whose material fits somewhere between the Flying Lizards and Grace Jones (a storming take on Arthur Brown's 'Fire' in this instance). The very early track from Killing Joke was before they really gothed/rocked out and blends Youth's dubby-bass with a synth-riff that is essentially 'I Feel Love' - don't worry, Jaz Coleman still gets to shout paranoid shit over the top of it! An interesting thought to include Dead Can Dance's early demo 'Frontier' (previously located on 4AD's Lonely As An Eyesore) which predicts their later ethnic directions and blends well with 23 Skidoo's 'The Gospel Comes to New Guinea' from Seven Songs (the usual suspect would have been the heavily sampled 'Coup').

There are a few less familiar selections - Chris and Cosey's 'Heartbeat' continues the Kraftwerk/Tangerine Dream-side of Throbbing Gristle, and Carter's lost electronic classic The Space Between , while MOEV's 'Cracked Mirror' sounds like the missing link between early OMD and Dubstar. The one track that does little for me is Front 242's 'Body to Body', which sounds too indebted to the Cabs or TG and is nowhere near their classic 'Headhunter /Welcome to Paradise' single from 1988.

The two highlights towards the end include an obscurity from West-Germany and a cult institution from San Francisco. The former is 'Suicide Commando' by No More which is such a good rip-off of Suicide that it could be mistaken for Rev & Vega - it would fit on their second LP with ease! The latter is the legendary Tuxedomoon, who still aren't as celebrated as they should be - thank goodness their most well know track 'In a Manner of Speaking' isn't included - the selection here is the 7-minute title track from 1981's Desire. This was from the initial line-up of Tuxedomoon signed to The Residents' Ralph Records prior to relocating to Europe - it's the sound of the band in transition, moving from shorter, more recognisably post-punk pieces the longer jazz-inflected form that exists today.

Bustin' Out does what it says on the tin - of course it's impossible to cover such an era in just 14 tracks, though the more I listen to it the more I feel that's what's been achieved. Fine sleeve notes from Kris Needs too...

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