NEW MUSIK

'New Musik' were an English Synthpop group active from 1977 to 1982.

Contents

Career

Discography

Singles (with chart position)

Studio albums (with chart position)

External links

Career

The lead singer and frontman man was Tony Mansfield, who was also a member of The Nick Straker Band. The group was not very commercially successful, although their 1980 single release "Living By Numbers" climbed high enough in the UK Singles Chart (#13) to land the band on the BBC TV pop programme, ''Top Of The Pops''.
Their debut album; ''From A To B'' (1980) reached the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart and contained four chart singles; "Straight Lines", "Living By Numbers" (their sole top 20 hit), "This World Of Water" and "Sanctuary". They also appeared on ''Top of the Pops'' again in October 1979, with "Straight Lines", and toured the UK in 1980.
Their second album, ''Anywhere'' (1981) scraped to number 68 in the chart, but neither of its singles "Luxury" and "While You Wait" charted.
In 1981 a compilation album, ''Sanctuary'', was released in the U.S., consisting of four tracks from ''From A To B'' and eight from ''Anywhere''. Previous to this release, there had also been a four song 10" vinyl ''Straight Lines'' released by CBS Records in the U.S. as part of their short-lived Epic "Nu-Disk" series, which had also included the Clash's Black Market Clash.
Their third and final album, ''Warp'' (1982) was more experimental and failed to chart. Oddly, it featured a synth version of The Beatles "All You Need Is Love", alongside an identically titled track of their own. Tracks such as "Hunting", "A Train On Twisted Tracks" and "Kingdoms For Horses" showed much promise, but the group disbanded shortly after.
The band specialised in catchy synth-pop with clever, often thought-provoking lyrical content. Tracks such as "Dead Fish (Don't Swim Home)" and "The Planet Doesn't Mind" highlighted environmental issues, still a minority interest in the early 1980s.
Despite a relative lack of commercial success, their music has retained an enduring appeal and has not dated in the way much material from this era has.
Several artists have covered tracks by New Musik, including Camouflage who did a version of "On Islands" in 1989.
Mansfield went on to achieve success in the field of production for the likes of The Damned's Captain Sensible, with the group Naked Eyes one of his most successful projects.
''From A To B'' and ''Anywhere'' were released on CD in 1994, and again in 2001, remastered and with bonus tracks. ''Warp'' was also released (with bonus tracks) on CD for the first time in 2001, in Japan. This remains its only CD release.

Discography

Singles (with chart position)

★ "Straight Lines" (1979) UK #53

★ "Living by Numbers" (1979) UK #13

★ "This World of Water" (1980) UK #31

★ "Sanctuary" (1980) UK #31

★ "Luxury" (1981)

★ "While You Wait" (1981)

★ "The Planet Doesn't Mind" (1981)

★ "All You Need Is Love" (1982)

★ "Warp" (1982)

Studio albums (with chart position)

External links

★ All Music Guide band biography - New Musik

★ New Musik discography