Monday 21 March 2022

Phil Hartley - "Demos,Sessions,and Live (1988-89)" (A Die or DIY? Collection) 2022/1988


A devastating loss to the pop world was the break-up of Bog-shed sometime in 1987/1988-ish during the last flowering of classic British independent pop. An even greater loss was the life of erstwhile lead warbler and unheralded absurdist poet of the aforementioned Bog-Shed group, Mr Philip Hartley;who left this mortal coil during October 2006.Swiftly followed by drummer Tris King (Brain Tumor),who also moonlighted with those other classic mid-eighties Ron Johnson types,the equally cursed, 'A Witness';whose guitarist managed to fall off a mountain in 1989.
Sometimes one suspects a record company conspiracy to put a permanent end to any bands,slash,music, that appeals to those who require more than just lovesongs and peado-propaganda from their unpop-pop.
Where did they all go when Bog-Shed dissolved,one wonders? One of them's an illustrator and the sole 'success story' in the ranks;and of the others,only Phil Hartley made a short attempt to carry on the legacy.There was obviously an album's worth of new material, and it sounds like...er....Bog-Shed.
A Peel Session was made,live appearances,and Demo's.....then.....nothing!
“This week the score draws are plentiful!” (Slave Girls)......he liked that line apparently,and very representative, it is, of the current musical situation we find ourselves trapped in.
There were no studio recordings made before Phil disappeared somewhere,and died of something unspecified.
A notable unrecorded gem, captured live in 1989, was "Dirty Filthy Pop Presenter", where Jimmy Savile is name-checked.....just when you thought serial silly-billy John Lydon had a monopoly on outing the vile Sa-vile, after mentioning it once ,vaguely, in an interview,did nothing about it,then claimed to be the only moral human in the UK....although I think rather,that Phil Hartley was sort of fulfilling his weird absurdists fantasy of being one of those awful TV pop Presenters from decades past.He had a history,name-dropping former Basil Brush sidekick Roy North in an early Bogshed song,"The Amazing Roy North Penis Band"which was also the working title of the first Bog-Shed incarnation around 1985.
I am assuming that Roy did not indulge in the same depraved pastimes that kept the blindingly obvious sex monster Savile entertained for decades.....but his sing-a-long versions of charts hits places him well above suspicion.He was from Hull anyway,which is a crime against humanity in itself,so we'll let him off any reluctant investigations in to potential dark doings in 1981 he may,or certainly is NOT, responsible for.

Tracklist:

1. Regulation
2. Lord Smutty Lips (Demo Version)
3. Can I Use The Phone?
4. Have You Done Your Chores?
5. Teenager
6. You All Look The Same
7. Lord Smutty Lips (Peel Session 13/11/88)
8. Inspector of Crime (Peel Session 13/11/88)
9. Prepare to Change Sandals (Peel Session 13/11/88)
10.Purchase Nicely (Peel Session 13/11/88)
11.Are You Real (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)
12.Who Are The Sane (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)
13.Prepare to Wear Sandals (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)
14.Inspector of Crime (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)
15.Master Life (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)
16.Purchase Nicely (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)
17.Yeh Yeh (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)
18.Teenager (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)
19.Dirty, Filthy, Pop Presenter (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)
20.Lord Smutty Lips (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)
21.You Are, You Are (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)
22.Say No (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

2 comments:

Trader Woody said...

Savile was also outed by comedian Jerry Sadowitz sometime in the mid-80's.

Jonny Zchivago said...

RIP Indeed Dom...no state funeral for our Philip.