Flipper ‎– "Gone Fishin' "(Subterranean Records ‎– SUB 42) 1984

We're takin' a bit of a detour as I'm Goin' on Vacation; so appropriatly Flipper's least popular album "Gone Fishin'" will be here on the front page for nigh on a week.

Where am I goin', no-one is askin'?

So I'll tell ya.

During WW2, my father baled out of a crashing Bomber over the coast of Brittany, France, after bombing those darn Nazi Submarine Pens at St. Nazaire. He landed under darkness on Belle Ile, a small island in the Bay of Biscay.The rest of the crew weren't so lucky, as they crashed into the sea,all killed;the tail gunner having also parachuted, but landed in the ruthless waters of the ocean, in February, and perished.

Daddy Zchivago, was avoiding Nazis for three days, then they got him, and locked him up in a castle called 'the Citadel'.After interrogating him for three days they shipped him out to Poland.

The 'Citadel is now a Hotel, so thats where I'm-a-stayin'.So i'm testing my genetic memory for any feelings of deja-vu!?

I can also pay my respects over the graves of the fallen members of my fathers crew.....mostly Canadians I may add.

Also i get to hang out at the monolithic Submarine Pens for some WW2 ghoulery. Passing by Oradour-sur-Glane on the way too.....major league atrocity site.
Flipper are one of those conventional groups that you sorta like, but there's something uncomfortable and contrary about them....like The Fall. Anyway i've grown to like this album a lot,including its inherant unlikeability factor, which is always essential in great art.

Oh yeah......here's the tracklisting and Download link for the Flipper Album.....:


Tracklist:

Comin'
The Light, The Sound, The Rhythm, The Noise
First The Heart
In Life My Friends
Survivors Of The Plague 

Goin'
Sacrifice
Talk's Cheap
You Nought Me
One By One

DOWNLOAD to go fishin' HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "8 From '80. A Carlisle Compilation". (Matchbox Classics ‎– MC3) 1980

One stopped off in Carlisle on the way to Glasgow, and I can recall the place captured in the picture featured on the cover as if it was yesterday......dunno why, it just stuck in my brain,possibly because of the weirdly quiet and gloomy atmosphere of the place.
The groups featured are all definitely not weird, or quiet, or even gloomy. Its all a standard run through of some new wave type power pop and post punkiness.All very listenable,and very much of its time....ie 1980.....but don't read that as 'Dated'.

Tracklist:

1–Spivs Maybe - It's Different
2–Pedestrians - Walk It
3–Mr.Bulder - She Knows
4–No Support - Prophetic Justice
5–Veldt - Bleak
6–Toolbox Murderers - Alco
7–Kirsty And The Husbands - Sitting In A Disco
8–The Limps - So Nice

DOWNLOAD 8 from 80 from 2018 HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "A Trip To The Dentist" (Skeleton Records ‎– SKLLP 1) 1980

Lets take that Ferry 'cross the Mersey to Birkenhead. Only been there a cople of times, to see Leicester City play Tranmere Rovers.Memorably, during an uninspiring 0-0 draw in the play-off semi-finals around 1994-ish, I remember clearly my girlfriend being hit in the face by a large inflatable dolphin with 'Blue Army' written on the side of it.She was press-ganged by me to go in the first place as we were accidently on purpose driving by the region....so she was far from a happy bunny on that ocassion....'LOL!' Another time me and my footy mates were looking for parking near the ground, and a nice scouse lady ran out into the street and directed us into her driveway.......no it wasn't a naughty scouse strategy to rob us; she was just displaying some famous Northern hospitality.The car was still intact after we beat them!?
Not sure the people from Birkenhead call themselves 'Scouse' at all,but everyone else does.One suspects thats only a term applied to inhabitants of neighbouring Liverpool, but I'll have to do my usual 'Scouse' jokes to brighten the day up a bit?????.....No?
Ok...What do you call a Scouser in a white shellsuit?.......The Bride!
2- Whats a Scouser in a Suit called?.....The Accused?
3- A scouser in a Semi-Detatched house is a what?......That's right....a Burgler!
Funny stuff eh?.....just like all those hilarious(not) Scouser comedians, like Ken Dodd, Stan 'The Geeeermans' Boardman, and Tom O'Connor (Who????)
I suppose this is a local band from Birkenhead compilation masquerading as a Skeleton Records promo disc.Lots of suitably melodic power pop and New Wave, from a bunch of scallies living under the dark shadow of Gerry and the Pacemakers;whom i had the pleasure of witnessing supporting Ken Dodd at the Skegness pier theatre in 1974.....the next band I saw was Suicide at Leicester Granby Halls in 1978,supporting the Clash.Now,.... Suicide supporting Ken Dodd would be something? I'd pay plenty dollah to see that, if only the main protagonists weren't very dead! Only Martin Rev survives from that fantasy double bill from the right kind of Hell.

Tracklist:

A1 –Geisha Girls Doctor
A2 –Afraid Of Mice I'm Not A Fighter
A3 –Attempted Moustache No Way Out
A4 –Walking Boys Don't Worry
A5 –Luminous Beings Myself And My Heroes
A6 –The Relations One More Record
A7 –Stopouts Just For You And Me
A8 –Wayne Hussey And The Dance Goes On
B1 –Luminous Beings T.V. Can Kill
B2 –Afraid Of Mice Trans-parent
B3 –Walking Boys Leave You Alone
B4 –Zorkie Twins Little Arthur
B5 –Upsets I Don't Know Why
B6 –Luminous Beings Shadows Of Giants
B7 –Windows When The Music's Over

DOWNLOAD this compilation of scouse extraction HERE!

Various Artists - "Pumf The Magic Dragon/More Things Weird and Wonderful" (Pumf Records and Tapes Pumf 126) 1988

Many a Ceramic Hobs record was released on a completly disinterested world by Pumf Records.Mainly because pStan of said group, ran it.
A label not renowned for their classy artwork, Pumf, from Blackpool, have been around since the mid eighties, and continue to churn out reams of aurally unpleasant sonic terrorism in this very awful modern arena that we are captives within.
This compilation from the most terrible year on record.....88....also,incidently the number of keys on a piano, including both ebony and ivory.....ebony and ecstasy more like. What a shit drug for music or what?
There are no idiot dancing anthems on this compilation,thankfully,as Pumf remained an oasis of sanity throughout that very shit epoch.
To recommend this tape further, it has Yximaloo on it,and I dunno if the 'Ball' listed here is Kramer's Band of the same name from the same era? Apart from that its full of hopelessly obscure nutters and weirdos from North West England......and there are a lot of 'em up there!

Tracklist:

1. Cyclic Amp - "Kill"
2. Troll - "An Apple and some Crumpets"
3. Yximalloo - "When The moon Is Full"
4. Howl In The Typewriter - "Water yr Plants"
5. Henry - "Howards Cookery Book"
6. Ball - "Poking In The Jungle"
7. Culture Shock - "Pressure"
8. Dandelion Adventure - "Preacher"
9. Def-A-Kators - "War's a Bore"
10.Xipe Totek - "Untitled"
11.Tracey Metroplis - "Grapevine"
12.Barbara Dwyer - "Dinners on the Table"
13.Ball - "3D Sound"
14.Yximalloo - "Sway Of the Spirit"
15.Howl In The RTypewriter - "Touch"
16.Cyclic Amp - "Him"
17.Henry - "lets Sack City Hall"
18.Dandelion ASdventure - "1997"
19.Troll - "Sun Dial"
20.Culture shock - "Don't Worry About It"
21.Tracey Metroplois - "Its Not Unusual"
22.Yximalloo - "Ring Of Horror"
23.Ball - "Lucy in Disguise With Diamonds"
24.Xipe Totek - "untitled"
25.Barbara Dwyer -"Hey Lawman what gives"
26.Def-A-Kators - "I'm Only Happy When I'm Killing My Grandma"

DOWNLOAD someting weird and wonderful HERE!

Jandek ‎– "The Gone Wait" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0773) 2003

NO....Jandek Monday hasn't ended....yet.The wait for the resumption has well and truly ....er.... Gone?
A poignant cover photo of dummy Brides for sale presages a grim future for human relationships...so say I!......Jandek, however, is more concerned with the 'waiting' aspect of existential human suffering. The spectre of death, or even worse, the spectre of eternal punishment, or even worse, eternal simpering lovliness incarserated in some an insipid prison posing as some kind of sick paradise. Fuck that, gimmie peaceful oblivion, gimmie escape from existence, gimmie Jandek in his detuned bass phase.
This is a great album, even by normal standards......but who wants 'Normal'????...thats the stuff Heaven is made of......like I said before...FUCK THAT!


Tracklist:

1 I Went To Hell 6:39
2 I See The Open Door 6:04
3 I Was A King 10:24
4 I Just Might Go Now 10:27
5 I Found The Right Change 6:00

DOWNLOAD after a long wait HERE!

The Ceramic Hobs ‎– "Disturbing 'Boxing Ring' Fantasies" (Pumf Records And Tapes ‎– PUMF 133) 1988

Classic UK DIY madness from Blackpools 'Ceramic Hobs'.One of the few,if not the only,original perps of cassette based affronts to musicianship and common decency that are still doing it today!
A C-60 jam-packed with no-fi third generation cassette-to-cassette overdubbed psychopathy like it was recorded off a cheap television in a lounge room full of soft furnishings.
Anything that has a song about my favourite British seventies sit-com, 'On The Buses', has to be good?
These silly boys NEVER sold out.......and nor should you!

Tracklist:

A1 What Can You Do ? (Excerpt)
A2 This Is Egg !
A3 Meat Is Tebbit
A4 Big Frog
A5 Exceedingly Good Weasels
A6 On The Buses
A7 Pineapple Protest
A8 Futile, Ron
A9 Cupcakes
A10 Antisocial Insecurity
A11 The Truth About Carrots
A12 Bob Holness Must Die
A13 Toast From The Piggy-Bank
A14 Louie Louie Bleriot
A15 Apricot Quilt
A16 Tortured By Sparklers
A17 Kiss Me, Hardy
A18 Toffee Apple Death
B1 Happy Hour
B2 Occasional Drizzle
B3 The Bucket Filled Twice
B4 Sperm From The Ayatollah
B5 Knockout Honeycomb Pituitary Gland
B6 The Yew Survives From The Ancient Woodland

DOWNLOAD and disturb your fantasies HERE!

The Ceramic Hobs ‎– "Psychiatric Underground" (Pumf Records And Tapes ‎– PUMF 322) 1998

So who was/is the 'best band from Blackpool'?........Tempted to say Section 25, but they went disco......therefore it's obviously 'The Ceramic Hobs' innit?
They are a kind of alternative Danny and the Dressmakers,but unlike the dressmakers, they didn't sell out and make 'proper' music. They have been going since the early 80's,still releasing genre liquidising nailed together nonsense to this very day.
This one's only 20 years old,so its vintage mid-period Hobs,rather than classic cassette-era Hobs from the eigthies....but its as if technology never happened,and each member seemed to have the very special talent of being incapable of improving as musicians.....all in the traditional sense of course.

Tracklist:

1 Vigil
2 Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
3 Atomic Clock
4 Amplified Sorrow
5 Meeting The Summertime
6 Hospital Detective
7 Thsi Sore And Broken Blackpool Legacy (Germ Mix)
8 These Dead Things
9 Pirate Night For Karen Morgan
10 Hey Lads Hey
11 Dick Whittington, Turn Back (Expose Your Eyes Mix)
12 Mr Vicar
13 Say Goodbye To The President
14 Robin Blood
15 Crash And Burn
16 Irreversible Liver Failure
17 Used Goods/Damaged Goods
18 Winterbottom Speaks
19 Love Letters Read Like Suicide Notes
20 Long Black Limousine
21 Tomorrow
22 Total Disarmament By June 1st 1983
23 Castrol GTX
24 Mr Vicar Fills His Head With Rock
25 Take Fewer Puffs
26 Parrot Night For Caprtain Morgan
27 Psychiatric Underground
28 Low Alcowipe

DOWNLOAD from the psychiatric underground of blackpool HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "Blackpool Rox E.P. No.2" (Vinyl Drip Records ‎– VD 010) 1983

Blimey, there was a second 'Blackpool Rox EP"????....the space of three years between the two EPs illustrates the difference between the class of 1980 and !983....as in nearly everything in 1980 was brilliant, and nearly everything in 1983 wasn't very good at all.
Four bog standard post-punk tunes from four also-rans in the stakes to be the fifth best band in Blackpool.

Tracklist:

A1 –Fifth Column - Laugh While You Can
A2 –Crack House - Jesus Loves You
B1 –Sign Language - The Killing
B2 –Love 30 - Touchdown

DOWNLOAD a littler stick of blackpool rock HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Blackpool Rox E.P." ( Vinyl Drip Records ‎– drip 001) 1980

George Formby once sang,suggestively, about his 'little stick of Blackpool Rock'...then...nothing, until John Robb sorted out this EP of Bands from Blackpool.
Naturally featuring The Membranes, with their best ever tune in all its DIY glory, and the most famous doomy dance band from Lancashires premier seaside resort, Section 25....being suitably 'Doomy'.
The other two groups are yer standard New Wave power pop combos of which there were several in any UK town ,village or linear settlement that you'd care to mention.
My UK Seaside resort of choice was always Skegness, mainly due to its geographical location to Leicester(my birthplace,if you didn't know,or care?).....i'm not sure if there was ever a compilation of local Post-punkers from Skeggie,but there should have been.They did have a disco called 'Spangles' after all?
Its catchphrase was,amusingly, "It's Bracing", due to the high winds that whipped up a sandstorm every summer on the beach. I say 'Beach', but it was more like a sewage farm.At low tide me and me sister had to negotiate the untreated sewage and fully intact human turds (not the holiday makers, actual Turds!), to get to paddle in the rancid brown waters of 'The Wash'/North Sea.
A rather 'gay' looking plump fisherman called 'the Jolly Fisherman' was the local mascot to pull in the working class punters from the East Midlands of England and fleece them of their hard earned L.S.D...pounds, shillings and pence to those of you decimalised types....absolutely NOT Lysergic Acid.No drugs in Skeg in those days....or should I say no Skag in Skeg?
Believe it or not, I enjoyed it all immensely(Noooo,not the Drugs, the amusement arcades and stuff!)!?.....we're such a bunch of spoiled brats these days!
I saw all the legends at the Pier Theatre; Tommy Cooper, Ray Allen and Lord Charles, Ken Dodd,Norman Collier, and Norman Wisdom,to whom my mum dragged me to get the autograph of after the show....sucessfully I may add.The only other act I ever got the signature of were Napalm Death!? Also, the Skegness Pier Theatre was the place where i saw my first Pop Group....yep..it was Gerry and the Pacemakers!? This magical place was sadly swept away into the sea by a severe gale in 1978; along with the traditional British summer holiday.
Blackpool seemed like Las Vegas to me and my family.....those bloody bourgeois Northerners didn't know how lucky,or otherwise, they were.No wonder they all moved to London.

Tracklist:

A1 –The Membranes - Ice Age
A2 –Section 25 - Red Voice
B1 –The Kenneth Turner Set - Overload
B2 –Syntax - Dot Dot 

DOWNLOAD a little stick of blackpool rock HERE!

Gods Gift ‎– "Pathology 1979-1984" (Hyped To Death ‎– Messthetics #218) 2009

Jandek Monday is sadly cancelled today,due to unpalatable weather conditions!.....he will return next monday,internet willing.
So,to wrap up the subject of Manchester we have......
Another Manchester Musicians Collective band, as heard on "Unzipping The Abstract",who patently wish they were The Fall,but the best they could do was The Fall without Mark Edward Smith...ie 'Ark' (I think they were called)...or even worse, 'Brix Smith and the Extricated'!!!!?
Track one ,however, could have been a stadium yob-rock anthem, a la, Kasabian,and there are plenty of other jolly entertaining DIY alt-pop songs to help one pass a cosy evening when the internet is down....like it was today after a rather voilent thunderstorm.
My village was full of panicing peasants as if an asteroid had appeared in the sky hurtling towards us.....the end of the world....or....Gods gift?

Tracklist:

1 Anaesthetic
2 Clamour Club
3 Jaqueline's Admission
4 No God (12" Version)
5 Discipline
6 The Strong And The Weak
7 People
8 Soldiers (12" Version)
9 Good And Evil
10 People (7" Version)
11 Creeps In
12 Man Of Two Men
13 Then Calm Again
14 Nico
15 Deicide (Their Soul Is Hate)
16 Disturbed 4:31
17 Working Class Man

DOWNLOAD this gift from god HERE!

The Manchester Mekon ‎– "No Forgetting (The Album)" (Discos Transgénero ‎– TRANS-3) 2017

Sticking in Manchester,we got the Manchester mekon,who,as members of the manchester musicians Collective, appeared on the "A Manchester Collection" compilation,on Object Music....as previously featured on these pages.
During the 'Punk Rock Revolution',there was always the visible prescence of flare wearing long-hairs who seemed to carry on as if nothing had changed.....which made them more 'Punk' than the legions of denim and leather clad sheeple that destroyed it all.

The Manchester Mekon was made up of several of such persons,who preferred King Crimson to Eater, and Frank Zappa to Slaughter and the Dogs.

Prog tendancies are indeed revealed on a few of these mostly unreleased tunes;but also a nod in the direction of fey 'indie' style songs that wouldn't have been out of place in the 'C-86' era.

Be yourself, was the mantra during the 'Punk' years,but so few actually did.

Over a period of five years (1977 - 1982) the Manchester Mekon played about fifty gigs in and around Manchester, released seven tracks on local labels and rehearsed once a week. This album covers their entire career, contains the full range of music they played and includes live recordings, studio recordings, home recordings and even rehearsals. Two tracks were previously only available on Manchester Musicians' Collective compilation albums. Some were never released, until this Cd surfaced a couple of years back.

(Check their sole EP HERE!)

"A small but brilliant body of home-spun, humbly-recorded pop and experiment that feels, to these ears, like one of the ultimate representations of the warmth and generosity of the UK DIY era."
- Jon Dale(the bloke who wrote the sleevenotes)

Disco Transgenaro bandcamp link for more stuff click here!
They 'work hard' apparantly!?..see comments

Tracklist:

A1 The Note 3:17
A2 The Idle Gnome Expedition 3:58
A3 The Cake Shop Device 4:57
A4 San Sebastian 2:46
A5 No Forgetting 2:54
A6 Approaching A Russian Caravan (Part I) 1:38
A7 Girl Games 2:31
B1 Book Of Toads 3:30
B2 Must Have More -> Wheels 3:19
B3 Film Music 5:06
B4 Soft Soap 3:00
B5 Ignorance Of The Crunds 5:15
B6 Jonathon Livingston Seafood 3:25

Don't forget to DOWNLOAD it HERE!

Alternomen Unlimited ‎– "Facade EP" (Object Music ‎– OM 06) 1979

The two Stevens', Miro and Solamar, also did this DIY classic EP too.More in line with the popular style of the day, these are conventional post-new wave skewed pop songs;including a peon to the 'Russell Club',home of many a Factory Records night. I think this was also included on the complete Object Singles collection "Objectivity", what you can download by clicking HERE!

Tracklist:
A Facade
B1 For Ever And Ever
B2 Connections

DOWNLOADs unlimited HERE!

Indiscreet Music ‎– "Dubious Collaberations" (Object Music ‎– OBJ 002) 1979

Another,earlier, coll-(aberation)by The Noyes Brothers, aka The Two Stevens, Solamar and Miro."A collage of improvisations full frequency claustrophobic sound", they say.
Basically a bunch of noodlings, improvistaions, and half-formed tunes, all stitched together, 'Faust tapes' style; to form two sides of an LP. Solamar and Miro's pre-punk roots are fully exposed on this one.

Tracklisting:

Side A - Part One
Side B - Part Two

DOWNLOAD this dubious pleasure HERE!

41 Degrees ‎– "Open Heart" (41 Degrees ‎– 41/001) 1982

Along with the Noyes Brothers,another studio band, from the "Do The Maru" compilation, was '41 Degrees'; featuring ex-member of  'Slight Seconds', K.S.Eden, who were preserved for posterity as side one of the "Waiting Room" shared album.
Strangely I write this at a time when the outside temperature (here in southern France) has hit 41 degrees,and has been hovering around a similar level for months!Even worse I will be working outdoors in this punishing heat as this text is being published......no fun.
Back in 1982, Manchester would have been a lovely grey, rainy, place;instead of the parched dry desert it has been this summer......Its gonna get worse, not better!
Of course I refer to climate change, which should be a similar inspiration for creativity as the nuclear doom which hung over our heads in 1982.....so where is it? With the onset of the new popularism, even nuclear doom is back on the agenda. Com' on kids get it together ffs!
This hopelessly obscure album, features various Object Music backroomers to back up what is essentially a K.S.Eden solo album. (Steve Miro appears,as usual).
Its a self-released and forgotten Post-Punk/Post Prog classic,full of interesting experimental pop that sank before it ever had a chance to surface.

Tracklist:

A1 Paradise Lost
A2 Silent Towns
A3 Tonight
A4 Adaptation
A5 Forgotten Spirits
B1 White Flowers
B2 A Humming Sound
B3 Who Knows Tomorrow
B4 The Spirit Moves
B5 Face To Face (Over And Out)
B6 November

DOWNLOAD 41 degrees of something HERE! 

The Noyes Brothers ‎– "Sheep From Goats" (Object Music ‎– OBJ 009/010) 1980

The Two Stevens, or The Two Ronnies (any excuse to sdd a link to the Fork Handles sketch), of DIY-Garde in Manchester, were Steve Solamar, of The Spherical Objects, and Steve Miro, without his 'Eyes' this time(as in Steve Miro and the Eyes right?). Collectively they called themselves The Noyes Brothers.
As previously featured as side two of the "Do The Maru"compilation,The Noyes Brothers project extended to four sides of vinyl, called "Sheep From Goats".
'Experimental'is the genre this stuff is usually filed under in yer iTunes collection.....not quite experimental enough to earn the golden moniker of 'other' however.

Here's the Brothers, ticking both the 'Good Looking' and 'Youthful' Boxes.

Tracklist:

OBJ 009
A1 Impending Doom
A2 Away We Go
A3 Repercussion
A4 Bo Scat Um I.D.
A5 Marlene
A6 Night Sky Vision
A7 Byte To Beat
B1 Why Did It Fade
B2 I Am You
B3 On The outside
B4 Dream
B5 Archetypal Memory
B6 It Must Be Vibration
B7 Pointless
B8 The Mutant
B9 Ingmar The Dog
B10 Some Times

OBJ 010
C1 Outnuendo
C2 Decision Time
C3 Pnumonia Bridge
C4 Resurrection In Chaos Minor
C5 Do End New Out
D It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

DOWNLOAD here sheeple!

Jandek ‎– "The End Of It All" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0775) 2004

No,It's not the end of it all, it's Jandek Monday, and this is "The End Of It All" CD. It might seem and sound like the end of it all, but the earth and indeed, Jandek himself, carried on existing another 14 years and counting after this baleful whine was recorded.
I quite like the sound of the guitar abuse on this one,which has a grisly metallic chime quility,as recorded in an empty bathroom.

Tracklist:
1 One Of Those Moments 20:15
2 I Hadn't Been There Before 5:49
3 They Don’t Matter At All 5:36
4 I Met You 8:12

DOWNLOAD to the end of this cd HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Do The Maru" (Object Music ‎– OBJ 014) 1981

A bit more self-indulgence never hurt anyone right?
Punk Rock's main message was that it was possible for anyone to do what they wanted to do,like the Hippies before them; except joe public actually listened the second time around.Mainly because the musicians in the Hippy era were far too intimidatingly good at what they did, so no one had the confidence to do anything themselves.
The Prog Rock era firmly nailed down the lid on any lingering ambition to be a pop star.
Frustrated Proggers were the unlikely beneficiaries of the fall-out from The Sex Pistols debacle, as now they could play the music they loved without having to be a member of 'Yes'.
Doubtless Steve Solamar, founder of Object Music,witnessed The infamous Pistols gig at the Lesser FreeTrade Hall and was inspired to start his record label,and form The Spherical Objects.
This gave him and his chums the chance to be self-indulgent and make a few post-prog workouts,some of which surfaced on Object Music.Back in 78/79 punk punters were so desperate to buy any 'punk' product that virtually everything and anything would sell out.
This shared compilation found Solamar and long time friend and collaborator, Steve Miro,appearing as The Noyes Brothers,to make a side-long synth and beatbox krautrock/punk hybrid, 'Good Question'.
Some bloke called Roger Blackburn, gets to be Mike Oldfield for five minutes at the end of side one, and one of the chaps from 'Slight Seconds' gets to be Manuel Gottsching for ten minutes on track two; preceeded by Solamar himself doing a fine impression of Rick wakeman if he had only one finger.

Tracklist:

A1 –Steve Solamar - Forewarned
A2 –41 Degrees -  Just...My Crazy Mind
A3 –Roger Blackburn - In Memory
B –Noyes Bros - Good Question

DOWNLOAD this maru transplant HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Waiting Room" (Object Music ‎– OBJ 007) 1980

As with most things in the 'Post-Punk' world, the Manchester area seemed to effortlessly get it right. This irreputable fact included Local band Compilations too. We've already had the superb "A Manchester Collection" (also on Object Music), and "Unzipping The Abstract", both featuring bands under the Manchester Musicians Collective umbrella. Now we find another,which is more of a 'shared' album than strictly a compilation; featuring three more Manchester musicians Collective groups.Every track is perfect UK DIY post-punk art rock. The final lengthy track, by Picture Chords, features a recording of an apoplectic neighbour, entering the rehearsal area to demand that they stop,all in a broad manchester accent.Very amusing.

Tracklist:

A1 –Slight Seconds - And ...
A2 –Slight Seconds -  Puppet On A String
A3 –Slight Seconds - Building Bridges
A4 –Slight Seconds - Where Were You?
A5 –Slight Seconds - Slight Seconds
A6 –Slight Seconds - Lost Love
A7 –Slight Seconds - Fallen (Again?)
A8 –Slight Seconds - Chameleon Lens
A9 –Slight Seconds - "Further Down The Line"
B1 –The Mediaters - Silent Battles
B2 –The Mediaters - Ego Drift
B3 –The Mediaters - Time's Your Own?
B4 –The Mediaters - The Waiting Room
B5 –The Mediaters - Mirror Image
B6 –Picture Chords - A Cause Des Voisins

DOWNLOAD without waiting HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Street To Street Volume Two" (Open Eye Records ‎– OE LP 502) 1981

As occurs with Film sequels, they are normally terrible, and up the ante by repeating the good bits from the original over and over again,by adding more of them.Like Jaws 2, where instead of one kid getting munched down in the sea, theres loads of them getting munched down.
As they were awful whiney american middle class teens, we enjoyed that immensly, never mind how shite the film was. I could watch American Teens getting liquidized all day long, its like spending hours in a flotation tank for me.....very relaxing.
Street To Street Volume 2, paradoxically, fails to learn the lessons of Jaws 2, and repeats all the worst bits from volume 1 over and over again, until you're glad there's only 10 tracks to endure.There aren't even any recordings of American Teenagers getting mutilated,to ease the seemingly endless Flock of Seagull-isms and help oneself get over the fact that this is 40 minutes you'll never get back.
I remember thinking that The Cooling Towers were ok,and 'The Thesis' is probably the best track on the album.Their second contribution is ruined by some terrible six-form Ian Cutis-isms,as the compilers try to claw back some post-punk creedence from Manchester.....and fail cluelessly.
The rest are similar in the local scenes attempt to be Section 25's less talented brother, or even Flock of Seagulls less talented cousin's sister.
I don't think the bands on here ever made it to be 'Jaws 3D'? They faded away long before they could inflict that nonsense upon us.
Apart from that i quite enjoyed it really.....I am a Flock of Seagulls fan after all(not Joking!)

Tracklist:

A1 –Egypt For Now - Days On Edge
A2 –Cooling Towers - The Thesis
A3 –Systems - Total Recall
A4 –Chinese Religion - Eden
A5 –Games - Unrest In The Real World
B1 –Games - The Song
B2 –Systems - Glare Of The Lights
B3 –Cooling Towers -  Make This Day End Soon
B4 –Egypt For Now - Soldiers
B5 –Chinese Religion - Chambers

DOWNLOAD to your wheelie bin HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Street To Street - A Liverpool Album" (Open Eye Records ‎– OE LP 501) 1979

Not one of my favorite local compilations is this one,especially listening to it now; it seems even more dated these days,logically, than it did back in '79. 
Liverpool kinda missed the post-punk,and punk rock boats by some distance.Blighted by that weighty  melodic curse of the Beatles' long shadow,and wilting under the heat radiating from the northern powerhouse of Punk/post-punk capital,Manchester.
It starts off with the truly terrible 'Big In Japan',jam-packed with attention seekers ,and 'future members' of more sucessful dross......like a scouse 'London SS',but with members of the 'Bromley Contingent' instead of Generation X* (*er...wasn't Billy Idol one of the Bromley mob?) ,Damned and the Clash. Musically they had more in common with Generation X,no tunes but lots of posing. To paraphrase John Peel from the sleeve notes ,'a Quixotic conerstone' of the Liverpool scene.
Points of interest are, a track by Orchestral Manoeuveres in the Dark, before they were called Orchestral Manoeuveres in the Dark; in this case The ID. There's also an Echo and the Bunnymen track from before they had a real drummer,and used a drumbox called 'Echo';awful stuff.
The rest sounds like demos of minor chart hits from 1974,or some scally reggae numbers or melodic power pop by people who can't write melodies,sung by people who can't sing trying their level best to sing 'properly', ugh!
The only saving grace is that there's No 'Teardrop Explodes' or 'Wah!Heat!' on here.

Tracklist:

A1 –Big In Japan - Match Of The Day
A2 –The ID - Julia's Song
A3 –Jaqui & Jeanette - 194 Radio City
A4 –Modern Eon - Benched Down/70s Sixties
A5 –Activity Minimal - Television Game
A6 –Dead Trout - The Arab
B1 –Tontrix - Screen Love
B2 –The Accelerators - Radio Blues
B3 –Malchix - Crisis
B4 –Fun - I Heared You Call My Name
B5 –The Moderates - I Don't Want To Go Bald
B6 –Echo & The Bunnymen - Monkies

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Various ‎Artists – "Household Shocks" (Stark Products ‎– LPC01) 1980

In July 1980 Paul Singleton and Chris Leaning opened a record shop in Lincoln, England. It opened under the name “All Tomorrow’s Parties” — but later moved to the city center and was renamed “Parade.” Through the growing local music scene their shop became a hangout for the local punks. Then the idea for “Household Shocks”, a compilation of these punk’s bands came into fruition.
Containing rare tracks, including one DIY classic, so rare, called “Radioactive Man” by Fault 151, that it was the only song the band ever recorded;a career path that should have been followed by many other,more sucessful, groups. 
Since then 'Household Shocks' has become a time stamp on a very brief moment in early post-punk.Less than 100 copies of it were pressed on blue vinyl.

Tracklist:

1–Product Of Reason - Active Repetition
2–Thunderboys - Fashion
3–One Gang Logic -  Playtime
4–Sinking Ships - Weight Loss
5–Juveniles - Another Kind Of Guy
6–Mystery Girls - Killing Time
7–Product Of Reason - Five
8–Defectors - You Only Laughed
9–Juveniles -  Scratched Blue Vinyl
10–Sinking Ships - 3rd World
11–Fault 151 - Radiation Man
12–Urbantech - 9-5 Figment
13–Product Of Reason - Your Song
14–Thunderboys - Rich Bitch
15–Thunderboys - F.B.I.
16–One Gang Logic - The Stand

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