Various Artists - In the Beginning There Was Rhythm (CD)

Unavailable for over 20 years, In the Beginning There Was Rhythm was Soul Jazz Records' first foray into post-punk and punk-funk in the UK, capturing the groundbreaking, seminal groups that crossed the divide of punk and dance music for the first time.

First released in 2001, this album is fully remastered, remade and presented once more in its entirety and features A Certain Ratio, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, The Human League, The Pop Group, Gang of Four, The Slits, 23 Skidoo and This Heat.

As Muzik magazine noted on its initial release, In the Beginning There Was Rhythm is a choice selection from the fertile post-punk period when bands thought nothing of combining politics and philosophy with imported dance rhythms and edgy industrial angst.

Most of the bands featured come from the then bleak post industrial North of England - Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds as well as Bristol and London - and yet all show a fascination with Black American rhythms and an experimentation in sound that was completely unique at the time.

The title of the album comes from The Slits track of the same name.

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Tracklist:

1. A Certain Ratio - Shack Up
2. 23 Skidoo - Coup
3. Gang of Four - To Hell With Poverty
4. The Human League - Being Boiled
5. The Slits - In the Beginning There Was Rhythm (Early Version)
6. This Heat - 24 Track Loop
7. Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats
8. The Pop Group - She is Beyond Good and Evil
9. Cabaret Voltaire - Sluggin' Fer Jesus
10. 23 Skidoo - Vegas El Bandito
11. A Certain Ratio - Knife Slits Water