Compass Kumpas

Compass Kumpas
Studio album by Dalek I
Released	May 24, 1980
Recorded	Rockfield Studios, Monmouth; Amazon Studios, Liverpool
Genre	Synthpop
Length	40:14
Label	Back Door/Phonogram
Producer	The Blitz Brothers
Dalek I chronology
Compass Kumpas (1980) Dalek I Love You (1983)
Compass Kumpas CD re-release Fontana 1989

Compass Kumpas (aka Compass kum'pəs) was the first album from Dalek I Love You, shortened to Dalek I for this album and accompanying singles. It was released on May 24, 1980 by Back Door/Phonogram records.

Under their full moniker Dalek I Love You, the band went on in 1983 to record a second self-titled album Dalek I Love You.

In 1989 Compass Kumpas was reissued on CD (Fontana 836 894-2) with 4 bonus tracks.

Reception

Sounding like a combination of early Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Gary Numan and Brian Eno, the album received fairly good reviews upon its release. The NME called the album "refreshingly wry and friendly". However, Red Starr, writing in Smash Hits, described the album as a "characterless, colourless collection.^[1]

It reached #54 on the UK pop charts.

The album was ultimately ignored outside of the UK, and before long, Alan Gill left the band to join The Teardrop Explodes, although he returned in 1981.

The album still maintains a reasonable cult following, and the single "Destiny (Dalek I Love You)" remains popular among Doctor Who fans for its oblique lyrics referencing the show's menacing villains, the Daleks.

Track listing

All tracks written by Gill and Hughes; except "You Really Got Me" by Ray Davies
Side 1 – Topsy

1. "The World" – 2:27
2. "8 Track" – 2:27
3. "Dalek I Love You (Destiny)" – 3:37
4. "A Suicide" – 2:53
5. "The Kiss" – 2:00
6. "Trapped" – 4:00
7. "Two Chameleons" – 3:18

Side 2 – Turvy

1. "Freedom Fighters" – 2:08
2. "You Really Got Me" – 1:56
3. "Mad" – 1:48
4. "Good Times" – 2:07
5. "We're All Actors" – 2:52
6. "Heat" – 3:11
7. "Missing 15 Minutes" – 5:36

The 1989 Fontana CD re-release featured the following bonus tracks

1. "Astronauts (Have Landed on the Moon)" – 3:27 (B-side to Heartbeat)
2. "Happy" – 2:33 (B-side to 1980 Dalek I Love You single)
3. "This is My Uniform" – 3:13 (B-side to 1980 Dalek I Love You single)
4. "Heartbeat" – 4:01 (1981 Single)

Album credits

Members:

• Alan Gill
• Dave Hughes

Guests:

• Chris Hughes: Additional drums, percussion and fx
• Hugh Jones: Bass on 'Heat'
• Ken Peers: Drums on 'You Really Got Me'
• Dave Bates: Additional backing vocals

Recorded at Rockfield Studios, Monmouth and Amazon Studios, Liverpool, by Hugh Jones and Frazer Henry.

Turvy 2, 7 produced by Dalek I for God Productions

References