About this Blog
In the 1980s, the NME released a series of “paid for” cassettes that provided a musical education that has rarely been matched.
This blog showcases those cassettes and provides links to as many of the tracks as I could find!
A labour of love that may take some time …..
If you spot any broken links, please tell me!
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NME Cassettes ...... Redux 
Great site. I own most of these cassettes. The NME did an amazing thing in the 1980s with these collections, compiling amazing hard-to-find tracks (Mark Murphy’s version of Honeysuckle Rose? Earl Bostic’s Flamingo long before that trend to old lounge), lost indie classics (Kas Product Pussy X, weird anyone?) and forgotten covers like Eurythmics Satellite of Love. But nothing was quite as brilliant as their C&W comps, the brilliant Neon West and the spectacular The Tape With No Name. Having said all that there is one cassette which I’ve compiled to CD about six times and still has legs: Low Lights and Trick Mirrors.
Thanks for doing this. Hopefully someone who never listens to R&B or Reggae or Jazz or Blues will discover classics they’ll never hear on radio (satellite or other). And thanks to the diehards at NMW back in the day.
Hi, I’m a writer for Pitchfork, and I’m working on a piece about the ’80s NME cassettes. I was wondering if I could get your permission to use one of the scans of the cassette inlays that you’ve posted here. If you could let me know as soon as you can via email at jasonmheller@gmail.com, it would be much appreciated! Of course, I’ll be linking to your blog in my article and pointing out that it’s a great place to learn more about the ’80s NME cassettes. Thanks in advance.
Hi Jason
I’m a huge fan of Pitchfork so this is a real honour! I have simply scanned the images of my own copies of the cassette artwork so don’t own any underlying copyright, etc. More than happy for you to link to my images; this blog was pretty self indulgent and never intended for any sort of commercial gain! I know there are quite a few broken links that I will be trying to fix over the summer holidays!
Trevor
Any chance of a link to the article?
https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/368-beyond-c86-the-forgotten-gems-of-nmes-cassette-series/
Great! What a find! I have 019 & 035 … both bootlegged! Sadly tape player is not set up, so appreciate this. Thanks.
You asked for broken links – NME 019 – A1, A8, A9, B7
Sadly some due to copyright infringement. I suppose only right as such musicians have little income, but I suspect the companies get most… For this kind of thing It’s a pity there isn’t free access, and it’s unlikely we’d be ale to post our own copies on Youtube or Myspace etc….
Found one – 019 A1 – Here …
https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/368-beyond-c86-the-forgotten-gems-of-nmes-cassette-series/
A few years back I stumbled across Dancing’ Master in a London second hand store, totally unaware that this was just one cassette of a huge series. Later on I found Jive Wire which again was awesome which led me to hunting around for the rest. I now have all of those listed here (thanks to a job lot on eBay) as well as a few from the later years (Brat Pack etc) I’m also the lucky owner of the mini cut-out booklets that accompany the first five! I’m working through them one by one and making digital copies in order to preserve them, and I have to say that the collection is stunning. The sound on many of them is amazing too although I’ve come across a couple that are a bit dried and may need replacing. Love this blog, thank you for your work!
Thanks Danny, I need to fix a pile of broken links! The lockdown might provide the ideal opportunity! Stay safe!
Amazing! I only had 8 or 9 of these tapes (hopefully still do, boxed away somewhere), but those I had introduced to me a whole new range of music. My introduction to jazz, blues, soul and a shitload more began here. I’d forgotten all about them until yesterday when I came across a link on google search. Collecting them is now on my bucket list. Actually it’s the only thing on my bucket list. Thank you for putting this blog together, an obvious labour of love.
Thanks Richard! Reminds me that I need to fix a lot of broken links on this site! If you haven’t tried Discogs.com, that’s a good place to find these cassettes!
Thanks for all the info here. I bought these when they first came out. They have been sitting in a storage box for years. I have now started to digitise them, but have found about 10 stick and no longer play. I’m going to try transferring them to another cassette & see if that works. But it’s been great to listen to the rest again.
thanks great effort to get this all together.. I moved to London in the early eighties and managed to get a few cassettes .. yes such a great collection of music…
Thanks for putting this blog together (grat job). I used to own all of these cassettes, they were well used and eventually the tapes stretched and died. Still have Department of Enjoyment tape though. Being in my teens in the 80’s these tapes definitely influenced my taste in music as far as R’n’B, Jazz etc goes. Having looked at your tracklistings I have just put together these as playlists on my Spotifiy account (minus a few omissions that Spotify don’t have). Great to hear this music again.
Thanks for making the effort to do this … As I bought the tapes as the time but also lost them…
So much seminal music (Soulseek is the revelator for tracks and compilations that are MIA)