Various Artists - "A Bagfull of Angst" (Unknown Label BOOB 005) 1980

Here we have a “Bagfull of Angst” , on an umarked cassette label run by Dean Poole from South Wales. A fine selection of Street Level and Deleted Records artistes, recorded in glorious Mono, harking back to the halcyon mono days of Dr. Feelgood. A fine compilation, so I won’t rant on  about the purity of this music, instead you get an uninspired running commentary of the tracks contained within this compact package of UK DIY classics.
The Instant Automatons kick off the proceedings with a live rendition of Humberside Delta Reggae classic,“Peter paints his Fence” fused with “Scared to be alone”. I assume they were fused together deliberately as they share the very same pre-programmed el cheapo drum box beat;....and why not? A surprisingly unsparce sprinkling of mild applause follows!
Mark Automaton continues to hog side one with “side” project, 391, with "Living in a Factory", which is an ethereal meeting of Joe Meek and a ring modulator.Then , some classic anti-sunshine pop with the post ironic "I'm so Happy"; followed by a de-nazified version of Beethoven's Nineth via a Scunthorpe working mens club band on a cocktail of Laudenum and Peyote. A touching peon to the Fashionable Trousers cassette label winds up Mark Automaton's contribution very nicely indeed.After Instant Automatons mate Mic Woods' muffled hippie punk, we get the chance for Protag's side project Merz, to provide us with a fuzzy flange-fest of Automatic Music, before we end side one with the chaos of The Bombay Ducks, about whom I know little, but I do recognize the familiar honking of that saxophone; I suspect I have heard that horn on one, or several, of the Instant Automatons recordings!
Side 1 is an almost perfect compilation, but side Two does start with what seems like a recording of some awful hippie warbling with some kind person accidentally leaning on the erase button after ten seconds into the song. It doesn't get any better for the whole of the Missing Persons 5 song contribution! I'm sure they weren't as bad as this on the other stuff of theirs that I've heard! "Besides myself with laughter", the fifth tune from said band, is without doubt one of the most annoyingly unfunny tunes I've ever had the misfortune to be exposed to! But if you like the sound of long haired sixth form students mucking about in the common room in between Genesis albums, then this is undoubtedly for you!
Not for the first time we are saved by Leicester DIY legends The Midnight Circus, hammering out a couple of anthems on their cheap guitars and their ,unbettered, plastic bucket and boxes rhythm section.
The bizarrely named The Original Child Bomb, follow with a couple of Fuzz punk monoliths that verge on the realm of Fireball XL5 at times; but that's good isn't it?
Coventry's sole reason for existence has to be the Digital Dinosaurs? If the Luftwaffe tried to flatten those sweeping concrete flyovers, and tasteless shopping centres, we'd all applaud, but no force on the planet can erase the classic songs from those Donovan devotees that gave us "Baby Snakes"; now come on, even Hitler would get down to this little number....surely?

Track Listing:

 Side 1:
1 The Instant Automatons - " Peter Paints His Fence" / "Scared of being Alone"
2 391 - "Living in a factory"
3 391 - "I'm So Happy"
4 391 - "En Die Freude"
5 391 - "Requiem for fashionable trousers"
6 Mic Woods - "Martin's Out-Take"
7 Merz - "Automatic Music"
8 The Bombay Ducks - "Croonin' 'bout my baby
Side 2:
1 Missing Persons - "Fly away Peter"
2 Missing Persons- "The secret Diary"
3 Missing Persons- "Marie-Claire"

4 Missing Persons- "Towards the Forest"
5 Missing Persons - "Besides myself(with Laughter)

6 Midnight Circus - "Me and Debbie"
7 Midnight Circus - "A Child in the Sun"
8 The Original Child Bomb - "Alone...."
9 The Original Child Bomb - "Interruption"
10 Digital Dinosaurs - "Baby Snakes"

DOWNLOAD a bagful of angst HERE!