Friday 21 October 2016

The Downliners Sect ‎– "Showbiz" (Raw Records- Unreleased RWLP 106 / Sky Records ‎– Sky 301) 1977 / 1979



The Downliners Sect were a British sixties punk band who played rough and ready UK style R&B with a punk attitude.No ambitions towards musicianship or musical advancement, they kept it primitive and never sold out to this day!
Like the 'Pirates' they re-emerged around 1977 recognising fellow spirits in the Punk Rock movement, and got picked up by Lee Woods superb RAW label. They released a single, and proceeded to record the album, but RAW ran out of cash and it remained unreleased. That is until the band stole the tapes and had it released in Germany instead, to total public indifference.

Lee Wood(Mr Raw Records): "I recorded an album with them. I paid many thousands of pounds and then they “stole” the tapes from the studio and sold the tapes to a German record label.
That’s gratitude for you!"

I suppose that's a Punk Rock thing to do?!

Also during 1977 The Downliners Sect were partly responsible for two of the greatest Punksploitation albums of all time, with "The Vacants" and "FU2".....highly recommended, and you can download them from this blog HERE! and HERE!

The 'FU2' album has a few, much improved, souped up versions of songs from this "Showbiz" LP.
The Vacants album is just one of the greatest 'lost' masterpieces of Punk/Pub rock ever.

Tracklist:

Showbiz 4:02
Let's Ride 2:44
Break Up 3:40
Frustration 2:50
Out Of School 3:28
Playing My Guitar 3:03
Richmond Rhythm & Blues 2:28
Loose Ends 3:48
Wild Time 3:21
Red Hot Mama 2:46
Blue Coup De Ville 3:01
Mismanagement 5:37

Bonus Tracks:

Killing Me (Raw Single B-Side 1977)
Showbiz (Original Raw single version 1977)

1 comment:

Ian said...

Apropos of nothing: Frankie Miller. I recall hearing "Down the Honky Tonk" here in the States back in the FM radio days when DJs curated their own sets. I was blessed with a great local station and a fantastic late night DJ named Fitz who played all kinds of stuff he tossed in this one a few times.