Various Artists - (1991) Getting Older: Flying Nun 1981-1991

 

Flying Nun Records – FN 209

A household without at least one release from New Zealand's Flying Nun can only be considered woefully inadequate. An exaggeration, perhaps -- but only slightly. The Auckland-based independent pop label has been around for over two decades, and this 20-track retrospective collects singles and album tracks from the first ten years. It includes such highly regarded acts as the Chills, Verlaines, and the Clean, whose 1983 single "Getting Older" provides the title. The best songs, however, are saved for last: Jean-Paul Sartre Experience's shimmering "Elemental" (from 1990's The Size of Food) and Chris Knox's chiming "Not Given Lightly" (from 1989's Seizure). Letting Knox have the last word only seems appropriate as he just happens to be one of the label's -- if not the country's -- foremost musical figures. He is also represented by "Crush" from Tall Dwarfs, his long-running lo-fi partnership with Alec Bathgate (both from legendary punk bands the Enemy and Toy Love), and even recorded several of the tracks on the compilation. 
1. (4:21) The Clean - Getting Older
2. (3:58) Shayne Carter & Peter Jefferies - Randolph's Going Home
3. (2:58) The Stones - Something New
4. (1:51) Headless Chickens - Totalling Dad's Car
5. (5:59) Tall Dwarfs - Crush
6. (2:16) The Gordons - Adults and Children
7. (3:29) The Verlaines - Pyromaniac
8. (3:52) The Chills - Rolling Moon
9. (3:50) Bird Nest Roys - Alien
10. (2:31) The Terminals - Batwing
11. (3:29) Goblin Mix - Travelling Grave
12. (3:52) Able Tasmans - Sour Queen
13. (3:27) The Bats - Candidate
14. (2:51) Look Blue Go Purple - I Don't Want You Anyway
15. (2:38) Stephen - Don't Know Why
16. (3:52) Straitjacket Fits - Dialling a Prayer
17. (3:41) Snapper - Buddy
18. (4:27) Bailter Space - Skin
19. (4:11) The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience - Elemental
20. (5:07) Chris Knox - Not Given Lightly