Beat Runs Wild

Beat Runs Wild, or as the title was put on the cover "From A Lowdown Dive To Way Up There This Is A Modern Saga Of Troubadours For Whom The Beat Runs Wild", was a 1986 Mercury Records sampler released commercially on vinyl album and cassette (catalogue: "Mercury WILD 1").

The album, which had the subtitle "9 Tracks, 9 Cats, 9 Lives", was a showcase for new or recently signed acts, and was produced in association with the H&M Hennes Fashion Stores company.

Artists

The following artists appeared on the album:

ide One

*Love and Money - "Twisted" (from the "Mercury MERH 89" album "All You Need is..." )

*Tom Verlaine - "Anna"

*Swing Out Sister - "Another Lost Weekend"

*Hipsway - "Forbidden" (from the "Mercury" album "Hipsway")

*Zerra One - "This Could Last Forver"

ide Two

*Wet Wet Wet - "The Moment You Left Me"

*Brandon Cooke featuring Roxanne Shanté - "Sharp As A Knife" (Club Mix - "remixed by Jeff Young and Mike Sefton")

*Curiosity Killed The Cat - "Ordinary Day"

*Pete Shelley - "My Dreams" (from the "Mercury MERH 90" album "Heaven and the Sea")

*Topper Headon - "Hope For Donna" (from the "Mercury MERH 81" album "Waking Up")

Artwork

The album covers' artwork was by P. St John Nettleton and Globular Studios and fitted and included type and illustrations that would evoke a 1950s hip club era. The idea was to evoke the same kind of beat nostalgia style that was also being shown in director Julien Temple's film Absolute Beginners and in bands such as The Style Council and Working Week, that traded on their jazzy moods.

Other Nostalgia in Mercury Samplers

Whereas the Mercury sampler Beat Runs Wild was released commercially, peaking at Number 70 in 1986, these days it is rare for the label to commercially release a compilation of new acts, with Universal's UMTV division more likely to release themed albums for Valentine's and Mother's Day featuring a range of established acts and records.

However since the 1990s there have been a number of promotional instore samplers from Mercury and Universal Records that have had artwork that traded in nostalgia and designs of the past. One series was designed to evoke memories of a 1960s Children's comic book and another puzzle books of the time, whilst the joint sampler that previewed new records for Mercury and Island would feature the sleeves of some of the albums that would eventually turn up in the Nick DiFonzo book called "The Worst Album Covers in the World Ever" (New Holland Publishers). This range would be packaged so that they did not look like a compilation of new acts, but rather a re-issue of the terrible album as the track listing would feature on the rearside of the cover being only revealed inside the foldout CD case.