The House Is Burning: The Best of Vivabeat

Collection of sixteen rare tracks from 1980s L.A. based new wave techno-pop band

A collection of sixteen rare tracks from 1980s L.A. based new wave techo-pop band Vivabeat. Formed in L.A. in 1978 as a hybrid of Los Angeles and Boston musicians playing in local punk/new wave bands and was active until the mid-1980s.

Marina Muhlfriedel founded the seminal L.A. punk/pop band Backstage Pass; drummer Doug Orilio was in Boston's Reddy Teddy, and Mick Muhlfriedel and Alec Murphy played with various Boston bands including Human Sexual Response. When he joined the band, lead singer Terrance Robay was fresh off playing James Dean on the London stage. Connie DiSilva was a prodigy synth player and radio DJ.

Their debut album, "Party in the War Zone", included the group's most successful song, "Man from China" -- a tune that first captured Peter Gabriel and Charisma Record's attention. Its haunting whistle hook is said to have inspired Gabriel's "Game Without Frontiers." "Man from China" quickly became an underground classic and a top 20 new wave dance club hit in 1980 in the US, Europe and Asia.

The band continued to record, including an eponymously titled EP featuring Earle Mankey's production and former Japan/Gary Numan/Sinead O'Connor guitarist, Rob Dean. It featured the song "The House is Burning (But There's No One Home)," which appears in the movie Body Double and was featured in the Amazon Prime animated series, The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy. By 1982, Vivabeat found its footing alongside mainstream New Wave bands and spent a few years touring and playing shows with B-52s, Depeche Mode, Gang of Four, Human League, The Thompson Twins, R.E.M., Gary Numan, Wall of Voodoo, and others.

1: The House Is Burning (But No One Is Home)
2: Tents
3: Gray, Gray, Gray
4: Shine
5: Napalm Springs
6: Blue Guitars
7: Man from China
8: Wonder of It All
9: The Last White Man
10: Angry Red Planet
11: City of Industry
12: The Girl the Wind Blows Through
13: Henry James
14: What We Talk About (When We Talk About Love)
15: Dreaming of Tigers
16: 2000 Light Years from Home

Number of Discs: 1

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