Flying Nun Retrospective Compilation: Getting Older 1981-1991 CD - Import

Originally released in 1991, this ten-year retrospective of Flying Nun's formative years is a fantastic collection - now remastered and repackaged and available on CD for a nice price! 2004.

The Flying Nun label was instrumental in getting New Zealand's unsigned underground bands above ground, and The Flying Nun Retrospective Compilation: Getting Older 1981-1991 documents this objective quite wonderfully while simultaneously exposing the growth of the label in its first decade. Because of the limited amount of professional recording studios on the south island of New Zealand, where the label is located, much of the Flying Nun's early output was recorded by Chris Knox and Doug Hood on four-track reel to reel, which gave the Auckland label, by accident, a uniform sound that helped cement the image of New Zealand rock being an alternate universe to the slick recordings of the Teardrop Explodes, Echo & the Bunnymen, and the slew of U.K. bands that defined what is now called post-punk. Because of this, The Flying Nun Retrospective Compilation: Getting Older 1981-1991 is a great addition to lend some depth to the understanding of what '80s rock was comprised of outside of the U.K. and U.S. and a fantastic introduction to such New Zealand icons as the Tall Dwarves, the Chills, Bailter Space, and others. ~ Gregory McIntosh

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. ~ Kathleen C. Fennessy