Formed in 1977 by Tony Mansfield, a former member of The Nick Straker Band with bassist Tony Hibbert and drummer Phil Towner, New Musik’s first single, ‘Straight Lines’, was released in 1979, and their debut album, From A to B, followed in April 1980.

From A to B entered the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart and contained their most commercially successful single ‘Living by Numbers’ plus two other hit singles: ‘This World of Water’ and ‘Sanctuary’.

The band’s second album, Anywhere was released in 1981 and reached No. 68 in the UK following which, Towner and Hibbert departed, and Mansfield cut the next album, Warp, with the assistance of studio musicians.

After the demise of their label GTO Records, the band released Warp in 1982 on the Epic label. Warp was almost entirely electronic, and one of the first albums to be recorded primarily with digital samplers and emulators, resulting in a more experimental sound than their previous releases.

Mansfield went on to achieve success as a producer with After The Fire, a-ha, Aztec Camera, The B-52’s, The Damned, Captain Sensible, Naked Eyes, and Mari Wilson.

New Musik: From A To B – The Sony Years is a 4CD box-set bringing together all of New Musik’s three studio albums as well as a disc of B-sides, single edits and remixes.

It also contains a booklet featuring an interview with Tony Mansfield by Record Collector’s Daryl Easlea.

CD 1:
From A To B (1980)
1. Straight Lines
2. Sanctuary
3. A Map of You
4. Science
5. On Islands
6. This World of Water
7. Living By Numbers
8. Dead Fish (Don’t Swim Home)
9. Adventures
10. The Safe Side

The first of the four discs opens with From A To B (AKA Straight Lines) and for me, is one of the best, and most influential, electronic LP’s of the ’80s. Its keyboards may sound dated, but there’s a freshness to these charming, unpretentious songs that hasn’t been spoiled by technological advances in computerized instrumentation.

With robot precision/We’re gonna be doin’ just fine, sings Tony Mansfield (guitars, keyboards, vocals) with geek sincerity on the exhilarating Straight Lines.

The tracks on the LP are structured like traditional pop songs with choruses catchy enough for the Beatles, a band whom New Musik would cover later on, for me, 1982’s disappointing Warp. There are no love ditties, but tracks like the soaring On Islands generate warmth and the group often utilizes acoustic strumming to prevent everything from seeming too mechanical.

And where Science is nerdy sci-fi dance music, coined years before Thomas Dolby came on the scene, their most commercially successful single Living by Numbers, is one that still lives rent free inside my head today!

CD 2: Anywhere (1981)
1. They All Run After the Carving Knife
2. Areas
3. Churches
4. This World of Walter
5. Luxury
6. While You Wait
7. Changing Minds
8. Peace
9. Design
10. Traps
11. Division
12. Back To Room One

The next disc opens on one Anywhere, once again, if only for me, one of the best albums of the music soon-to-be-known-as Synthpop, just wonderfully chock full of amazing masterpieces from start to finish.

With stand out tracks such as They All Run After the Carving Knife, This World of Walter, and, for me, both Traps Division, the whole album comes together as still an incredibly appealing sound.

Indeed, and some might venture somehow, the archaic synthesizers aren’t embarrassing, even today. Instead, the years have preserved their coolness, if you will, and brings forth oodles of creative fantasy in the songs: pitched voices, ring modulators, multi-layers, reverse audio and so forth.

CD 3: Warp (1982)
1. Here Come the People
2. Going Round Again
3. A Train on Twisted Tracks
4. I Repeat
5. All You Need Is Love
6. All You Need Is Love
7. Kingdoms For Horses
8. Hunting
9. The New Evolutionist (Example ‘A’)
10. Green And Red (Respectively)
11. The Planet Doesn’t Mind
12. Warp

This third disc opens on the, for me, lesser musically inspired of the albums on show here in this new box-set, Warp. Indeed, if the tracks on Warp sound familiar, it’s probably because the album’s chilly keyboards and mechanical percussion helped to form the blueprint for ’80s synth acts such as Depeche Mode and, perhaps even, the electronica artists that followed in the ’90s like the Crystal Method and the Prodigy.

That doesn’t mean they’re entirely original though. Here Come the People opens up with funky riffs prevalent among club-oriented new wave bands from the early ’80s; its robotic vocals having been snagged from Kraftwerk. Tony Mansfield (vocals, keyboards, guitars) has a thin voice that sometimes recalls Tim Finn of Split Enz, but unfortunately, Mansfield sings without emotion and his often cryptic lyrics are repetitive and un-involving here.

And whilst a lot of the tracks here do involve the aforementioned cryptic lyrics, stand out tracks such as A Train on Twisted Tracks, I Repeat, and even The Planet Doesn’t Mind, don’t need comprehensible lyrics; they may not have much heart, but it can be fun listening to the lads play with their high-tech gadgets, nonetheless.

CD 4: B-Sides / Edits / Extended Versions
1. Straight Lines – Single Edit
2. While You Wait – Single Edit
3. The Planet Doesn’t Mind – Single Edit
4. Sad Films – B-Side Living by Numbers
5. Missing Persons / Tell Me Something New – B-Side This World of Water
6. She’s A Magazine – B-Side Sanctuary
7. Chik Musik – B-Side Sanctuary
8. Magazine Musik – B-Side Sanctuary
9. Twelfth House – B-Side All You Need Is Love
10. From The Village – B-Side While You Wait
11. Guitars – B-Side While You Wait
12. The Office – B-Side Luxury
13. 24 Hours from Culture (Part 2) – B-Side The Planet Doesn’t Mind
14. While You Wait – Extended Version
15. Here Come the People – Remix

The fourth, and sadly final disc in this quite fabulous box-set, features a few Single Edits, but more importantly a wealth of B-sides that if you never purchased the 7 inch singles back then, you might not have ever heard until today.

Stand outs for me include the three B-side cuts from the 12 inch of Sanctuary, the free flowing, twinkling synth of She’s A Magazine, the Disco-edged, funk guitar instrumental, and the soaring synth instrumental Magazine Musik, the eclectic instrumental 24 Hours from Culture (Part 2); the B-side to The Planet Doesn’t Mind, and a brilliant Extended Version of While You Wait [although an extended remix of Living By Numbers would most definitely have been welcomed].

Official 4CD Purchase Link