The Rubens Room: el Records: In Camera (Tapete Records)

Sometimes to inhabit a better world you have to invent it. According to Brian Eno, only 30,000 people bought The Velvet Underground and Nico in its first five years after release - but "everyone who brought one of those 30,000 copies started a band". El Records existed between 1984-8, rarely bothered the charts and has been described by author Jonathan Coe as "Britain's great musical secret". But, to these ears anyway, its aesthetic legacy helped inspire Belle and Sebastian, Saint Etienne and The Divine Comedy, to name but three.

This ‘best of’ compilation LP, curated by hands-on label supremo Mike Alway, shows that you don't need buckets of cash if you have talent and great ideas. The 25 featured tunes cover much musical ground but share a certain tone. This escapist, richly detailed music is made by obsessives for obsessives. Pop-friendly, highly musical but resolutely non-serious, it turns its back on both rock chauvinism and 80s gloss and materialism, conjuring up an eclectic fantasy world equal parts The Prisoner and pre-war Flapper's ball.

It's distinctly anti-macho: pro-women, gay-friendly, poetic. These highly melodic songs eschew finger-pointing and overt politicking (apart from The Monochrome Set's anti-Pinochet blast Jet Set Junta), but implicitly, every note and syllable stands in opposition to the bigotry, narrowmindedness and hypocrisy of 80s Tory Britain. We don't want to live in your word, el says. It's no fun - we're going to dream up our own.

The compilation starts strongly and just gets better. There's not a weak number here, the songs sharing a lightness of touch like a collection of delicious souffles. The tracklisting shows how much ground the label covered, despite sharing certain key characteristics. The first few tracks are pretty chamber pieces with influences from before the rock-n'roll era. Like Momus, who crops up later on, Philippe Auclair, whose five tracks as Louis Philippe begin the album, produced and arranged many of the artists on the record, helping craft a certain house style.

His album opener Anthony Bay is a lovely acapella tune with none-more-English vocals. The tone has been set: these songs are happy to indulge their creators' eccentricity, while striving (and generally achieving) beauty. The artist also proves a dab hand at samba (Like Nobody Do), 60s orchestral pop (Guess I'm Dumb), film soundtracks (the Spanish-tinged, Welles-referencing Touch of Evil and softly plucked ballads (If You're Missing Someone). The two tracks by Anthony Adverse take a turn for the jazzy, featuring a chanteuse with a rather lovely voice. Ulysses and the Siren ("Come, worthy Greek, Ulysses, come...") combines el's love of samba with a fondness for references to classical mythology. Reading books is cool, kids!

The first section's laidback vibes are superseded by the sort of high-end 60-influenced guitar-pop that was having a moment in mid-80s indieland, when The Byrds were Gods (quite right too). Label favourite and polymath Simon Fisher Turner appears first with several songs in his guise as The King of Luxembourg. A Picture of Dorian Gray features the sort of affectedly mockney Anthony Newley vocals that influenced both early Bowie and Damon Albarn. The Rubens Room is highly refined baroque-pop complete with cello, backing vocals (the whole record is full of 'em) and tasteful sax solo. Smash Hit Wonder adopts the time-honoured gambit "write a song about a hit and it'll come true". Being el, obviously that didn't happen, but it's a dancefloor-friendly corker nevertheless.

El are as far as you can get from prog but they appear to have loved a concept album. All three tunes by the female-fronted Would-Be-Goods are from the perspective of a model posing for society photographer Cecil Beaton. Velasquez and I namechecks a host of Old Masters (painting is cool, kids!), while Cecil Beaton's Scrapbook is maybe the album's clearest articulation of the copmpilation's mission statement: making the everyday magical, beautiful and glamorous.

Marden Hill's pieces Curtain and The Execution of Emperor Maximillian are more swoony soundtracks to imaginary films. Bad Dream Fancy Dress are a joy, cosplaying as young schoolgirls discussing crushes on boys (Choirboys Gas, Where Have All the Schoolboys Gone?) and the role of sugary treats in courtship (Lemon Tarts). Choirboys Gas is maybe the first time the more psych-tinged side of the 60s gets referenced here, with startling bursts of loud rock guitar and stop-start rhythms. There are hints of The Incredible String Band's artful naivete here.

The aforementioned Jet Set Junta by The Monochrome Set's skewers people who need to be skewered. Always show their versatility by picturing Cynthia Payne-style English suburban perviness before meshing Giorgio Moroder and John Barry with Park Row's ballsy but successful mix of twinkly 80s synths and spy film guitar. Momus brings his trademark mix of darkness and intrigue to John the Baptist Jones, while his Paper Wraps Rock references Helen of Troy while advising: "If you want to be desired for a thousand years / Keeping it platonic is a good idea". God was Mary's bit on the side, dontcha know?

We go out as we came in, with another beautiful piece of lyric-free music. Simon Fisher Turner brings his classical skills to Umber Wastes, featuring deeply lovely male choral singing. However, for this reviewer, this is only the start. There's a whole host of new back catalogues to explore. This is inspiring stuff: you should do the same. 5/5

NB: The label's history is explored in the accompanying book Bright Young Things - The Art And Philosophy Of Él Records by Mark Goodall. It is published 14th April 2025 by Ventil Verlag.