C81 was a cassette given away with the British magazine New Musical Express in 1981 (hence (C)assette 81) and released in conjunction with the record label Rough Trade. Intended to mark the first 5 years of the independent label movement in the UK record industry and Rough Trade itself, it was the first in a series of many cassette releases from the paper. Probably the best known (and derided) was its belated follow up C86. Publishing a tape was also an acknowledgement of the flourishing self published cassette culture of the time that the NME had been supporting in its short lived Garageland column.
The NME were overwhelmed by the demand for the tape as over 30,000 readers sent off £1.50 for a set of 24 remarkably diverse tracks ranging from jazz (James Blood Ulmer), poetry (John Cooper Clarke), ska (The Beat) and 'Canterbury Scene' (Robert Wyatt). Simon Reynolds called it "post punk's swan song" noting the appearance of 3 acts from Scottish independent label Postcard and the emerging new pop tendency of bands like Aztec Camera and Scritti Politti alongside post-punk luminaries as Cabaret Voltaire, Subway Sect, Red Crayola and The Raincoats.
Download:
http://www.indie-mp3.co.uk/2006/02/c81-tape.html