1979–2019

Overview
As the title of compilation suggests, it's a retrospective of Dave Ball's musical carrier spanning in 40 years, between 1979 and 2019. It contains tracks that are related to Ball, in terms of writing, composing, arrangement, performance or remixing, including being a part of bands such as Soft Cell or The Grid. The final track, “Nighthawks”, is the newest one and was written and recorded especially for Electronic Boy box set.

Release
The CD and its sister 7″ EP were released under A Big Frock Rekord label, within limited Deluxe box set edition (about 500 copies) of Dave Ball's autobiography Electronic Boy on 25 June 2020. The EP contains 3 tracks off this compilation – two Soft Cell demos and brand new track, which are exclusive to both releases and don't appear anywhere else.

Artwork
The CD is contained in a simple carton sleeve. The track list is printed on separate paper sheet with notes on each track. The sleeve and CD itself replicate the appearance of box set: against plain black background, a logotype of analog VU meter with stylized ‘daveBall’ name replacing standard ‘VU’; the stylization is an obvious node to Decibel (dB) unit. Underneath the logo is ‘1979–2019’ title. The author of design is unknown.

Track listing
All featured tracks in this compilation are written, composed or remixed by Dave Ball, himself or in collaboration.

* The final track contains hidden bonus song: “Nighthawks” lasts for 3:41 and is followed by silence, then at 5:58 starts extended edit of Dave Ball's vocal version of Soft Cell's “Cleansing Fanatic” demo.

Personnel

 * Compiled – Chris Smith