The Secret Affair – So Cool CD and vinyl compilations via Demon are likely to be of interest to both completists and those new to the band.
A Secret Affair compilation isn’t new. You can pick up a budget one on CD right now for just £4 on Amazon. But this is a bigger set, and perhaps more importantly, it offers more depth on the CD and also throws in some new imagery for the collector.
Available in a longer CD and a ‘highlights LP, So Cool is a new career retrospective curated by original fan and Acid Jazz Records’ founder Eddie Piller. There’s also input from guitarist and songwriter Dave Cairns, as well as rare and previously unseen photographs by Paul Calver alongside the sleeve notes by Eddie.
The 34-track CD is probably the best place to start if you are new to the ’79 Mod revival band (although that label doesn’t really do justice to Secret Affair, who offered much more), taking in the key moments from their very first recordings at the historic ‘Mods Mayday’ event in May ’79 up to their 2016 take on Frank Wilson’s soul classic ‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’. And much in-between.
If you want to know exactly what, I’ve added the track listings below. Both versions are pre-orders right now, with the releases scheduled for 2nd September 2022. The CD is priced at £12.99, and the 14-track LP, which is pressed on 140g black vinyl, sells for £21.99.
More on the LP at the Amazon website
More on the CD set at the Amazon website
CD1:
1. Glory Boys
2. Time For Action
3. Let You Heart Dance
4. Going To A Go-Go
5. Shake And Shout
6. Soho Strut
7. One Way World (US Remix)
8. Don’t Look Down)
9. Sorry, Wrong Number
10. I’m Not Free (But I’m Cheap)
11. My World
12. Sound Of Confusion
13. Life’s A Movie Too
14. Streetlife Parade
15. What Did You Expect?
16. So Cool
17. When The Show’s Over
CD2:
1. Looking Through My Eyes
2. I’m A Bullet
3. Do You Know?
4. Lost In The Night (Mack The Knife)
5. Dancemaster
6. Hide And Seek
7. The Big Beat
8. One Day (In Your Life)
9. Follow The Leader
10. Soho Dreams (Live at The Bridge House, Canning Town 7 May 1979)
11. Walk Away
12. Turn Me On
13. Land Of Hope
14. Love’s Unkind
15. I Don’t Need No Doctor
16. All The Rage
17. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
LP:
1. Glory Boys
2. Sound of Confusion
3. My World
4. Don’t Look Down
5. So Cool
6. Time for Action
7. Lost in the Night (Mack the Knife)
8. Let Your Heart Dance
9. Do You Know?
10. I’m a Bullet
11. Soho Strut
12. All the Rage
13. Soho Dreams
14. When the Show’s Over
