Man Of Energy

Patrick Cowley - School Daze [DE-052 USA 2013 24-Bit FLAC]

As a young straight man in mid-eighties Britain from a middle class suburban family with a grammar school education, and a love for indie-pop and obscure musical alternatives, it was unlikely that the individual works of Patrick Cowley would come anywhere near my radar. I had frequented a few low ceiling-ed smokey, sweaty & dark nightclubs in Manchester where his influence boomed from over-stacked PAs but I was not wary and only knew of his popular hits with Sylvester etc.

These days, Cowley is rightfully revered as a electronic pioneer, blending his influences from seventies German electronica and seventies American disco to develop a style which went on to breed a whole swathe of eighties synthpop bands, many of whom we still all love today. Yes, some of Cowley's song titles, images and lyrics were a little risque, but it is his music which should be treasured. 

The Dark Entries label has done splendid work to dust off and bake off many of Cowley's reel to reels, gathering together a series of compilations of soundtrack work, unreleased recordings and lost gems. School Daze is one of those ...and possibly my favourite.  Have a listen to Zygote, the first of eleven pieces gathered together for this double album, these are all evidence that there was much more in Cowley's creative juices than just dirty disco. These are the works of a true genius of electronica plying his trade in the studio.

A1 Zygote
A2 Mockingbird Dream
A3 Nightcrawler
A4 Pagan Rhythms
B1 Seven Sacred Pools
B2 School Daze
B3 He's Like You
C1 Journey Home
C2 Out Of Body
D1 Primordial Landscape
D2 Tides Of Man

Enjoy!