The Stranglers - "Demo's 1974-76" (a Die or DIY? Compilation)

This comes under the category of groups who were social suicide to admit you like back in the halcyon daze of the Punk Rock wars of 1977. Basically they were obviously a lot older than a Punk Rock group should be,they had a keyboard player,and half of them looked like the kind of Pub trash you'd find in 1975,mustaches,suits and beards,like background extra's on the Sweeney.......not stylish Sweeney extras like Dr Feelgood,or The Pirates,but the ones who'd get beaten up by Jack and George to get information.

This may not sound like it, but this is an obvious attempt a a tribute for erstwhile Stranglers drummer and Ice Cream saleman, Jet Black, who passed away yesterday-ish at the remarkable age of 84!? He was older than Paul McCartney,and was 40 in 1978! This guy lived through the entire history of Rock'n'Roll! That's him with the beard and portly stance...was this the only Beard in Punk Rock?

Yeah, I secretly dug the Stranglers, most especially JJ Burnel, whose Bass sound and playing launched a tidal wave of Lead Bassists on the country, and made Post-Punk a reality. Unbeknownst to me Jean Jacques was an accomplished classical guitarist before he fatally thumbed a lift from Jet Black in his ice cream van,and ended up in The Stranglers in 1974. Yes that 1974, which Ramones fans always quote as evidence that they were indeed the very First Punk group......they did "I wanna be your Boyfriend" and the Stranglers did "Go Buddy Go" that year,and displayed uncomfortably long hair,....but, the Stranglers had less long hair,and were noticeably more aggressive.

They were in fact part of a very Proto-Punky movement,which fit their image far more than the glammed up MC5 or The Stooges, Pub Rock....of which one could argue that the Damned,Clash and The Pistols were also part of.

Nowadays, as Jet's Guardian Obituary states, The Stranglers were (accidently) the very First Post-Punk band, as well as tenuously the First Punk Band, with their "Darker" album, "Black and White",from 1978, beating previous favorites , Magazine, and Siouxsie and the Banshees to the title....which is a recently tendered attempt at rewriting history,by burks like John Robb and his equivalents  ,while forgetting  in retrospect,all this was still referred to as 'Punk'music at the time,and only later were things reassigned,depending on your definition of what its supposed to be.

For me, it was always the music that came after the first wave which obviously wasn't three chord Punk,like XTC,Devo,Talking Heads etc...which also included the 'Darker Side' like Joy Division ,Bauhaus, Pere Ubu etc.

"Punk Rock said Fuck You, and Post-Punk said I'm Fucked" has become the catchphrase these days.

So allow me to pick my own first Post-Punk album, and it ain't the Stranglers,or Television.....it's obviously Ultravox innit? "Ha! Ha! Ha!" from 1977....ticks all the boxes for me.

So to celebrate Jet's very understated underplayed drumming as part of one of the most un-categorisable  group from the Punk Rock era, here's a load of slightly dodgy pre-punk demo's from the magical year of 1974 onwards!?

I once thought "Go Buddy Go" was cover version when one first heard it,and was sure it had to be a UK R'n'R classic by someone like Johnny Kidd,until i knew better.....a JJ Burnel composition no less!?

Also the first time I saw a 'Punk' group on the telly was Stranglers doing 'Go Buddy Go' on Top of the Pops....the A-side,Peaches, was banned of course....tee hee hee...they swapped instruments.....and there may have been a rather naughty expletive on Burnel's T-shirt. However,JJ's hair looked a bit too fluffy for my liking,obviously just had a shampoo in the BBC make-up dept before the performance.

Jet, as always stayed in the background,gently miming his drums,which always sounded mimed anyway,so why bother?

Tracklist:

1. Charlie Boy*

2. Chinatown*

3. Make You Mine*

4. My Young Dreams*

5. I Know It*

6. White Wedding*

7. Country Chaser*

8. Bouncing man*

9. Wasted*

10. Go Buddy Go*

11.Strange Little Girl*

12.Bitching#

13.Peaches#

14.Tomorrow Was the Here after#

15.Down In The Sewer#

16.Grip#

*1974

#1976

DOWNLOAD a demostration of jet's ability to not be black HERE!

The Hammersmith Gorillas – "Gorilla Got Me" (Big Beat Records - CDWIKD 185) 1999

 

This is what CD's were invented for....surely?....,Primarily so we could get all of The 'Ammersmiff Gorilla's non album work in one place.

If you look closely at the sartorially elegant gentlemen on the cover,you may have noted that two of them were last seen in proto-Punk flag bearers Crushed Butler. Sporting a fine set of muttonchops would be rockin' warhorse Jesse Hector, with the late Alan Butler himself (he fell off a horse),sporting a rather fetching Steve Marriot on heat haircut.

Alongside, Eddie and the Hot Rods,Doctor Feelgood,Ducks Deluxe and the Bishops, The Hammersmith Gorillas helped keep alive the Rock and the Roll for the poor kids who, sadly, came of age post Sgt Pepper, as part of the Pub Rock circuit around 1974,which basically served the same purpose as the Ramones/Heartbreakers end of the arty New York CBGB's/Max's scene; but with a lot more Rock'n'Roll and a lot less pretentious bohemian prancing involved.Out of which sprang forth most of the 'Punk' groups. Basically,the formula reads something like this Pub Rock plus Ramones,plus Glam plus the Sex Pistols management created what was now called Punk Rock in 1976....unsquared. A formula, if left unchecked,or applied incorrectly, will lead to a New Wave of British Heavy Metal....which it did.

The Gorillas,as they were known,in their contracted Punk Rock form,were certainly a mixture of Glam, which had its own more nostalgic revival of Rock'n'Roll going on and the hooligan friendly Slade inspired Bovver Rock of the pre-punk period.

These chaps certainly know their Rock history,selecting to cover the two main precursors on how to be a punk Rock group,namely "You Really Got Me" and "Wild Thing"....that's where the seeds were sown,maybe cross-pollinated with a bit of "Johnny BeGoode" and "Louis Louis",from here sprung hither the mutant.

Whatever, the Gorillas had great Haircuts and recorded for legendary Punk Label Raw Records, straight outta Cambridge.

Tracklist:

The Hammersmith Gorillas
1 You Really Got Me
2 Leavin' Home
3 Eleanor Soapdodge
4 I Live In Style In Maida Vale
5 Luxury

The Gorillas
6 She's My Gal
7 Why Wait 'Til Tomorrow
8 Gatecrasher
9 Gorilla Got Me
10 Move It
11 Song For Rita

The Hammersmith Gorillas
12 Moonshine
13 Shame Shame Shame
The Gorillas
14 Feel It Easy
15 Miss Dynamite

The Hammersmith Gorillas
16 You Can't Judge A Book (By Looking At The Cover)
17 Leavin' 'Ome
18 Come On Down
19 Jailhouse Rock
20 Wild Thing
21 Keep On Chooglin'
22 Foxy Lady

23 It's My Life (Raw Single)

24 My Son's Alive (Raw Single)

25 I'm Seventeen

DOWNLOAD a 'gorillas' without a single damon albarn in sight HERE!

Kosmose – "Kosmic Music From The Black Country" (Sub Rosa – SRV394) 1973-78/2015

Straight from the "Black Country" in the dark ages of the mid-seventies came Kosmose's kraut-a-like improvisations; but for us English, the Black Country means grim hell-holes such as Stoke-on-Trent,the home of D-Beat punk,like Discharge and GBH. If you were caught listening to some Belgian Kosmiche music anywhere in the black country of the UK, you'd have been beaten up and called a "PUFF!" in no uncertain terms.There was no sanctuary,and everyone usually bore an uncanny resemblance to Quasimodo's uglier brother,and that was just the women(I know i've used that joke before, but it's a good one!).Although that observation was based on a particularly grim section of Stoke City fans I have encountered on many an occasion,so I may be wrong....even though Robbie Williams grew up there,if grow up is the right word in relation to Mr Williams......he was a Port Vale fan,from the weirder side of town,so one never got to visit vale park too often as they rarely appeared in the higher divisions during my Hooligan career.

One therefore assumes that "The Black Country" in this incidence is none other than Belgium.The place that is the butt of the dumbest jokes in France,by the dumbest Frenchmen,where it is understood that Belgians are stupid,and the French are far superior. This misnomer is made even more ridiculous when one realises that it should be the other way around.....especially when it comes to Beer, Chocolate,and...music.Even the famous 'French' singers turn out to be actually Belgians in disguise, like Johnny Hallyday,Jacques Brel and Plastic Bertrand; or collaborating Nazi Whores like Edith Piaf. Quite like Canadians were in the USA,with such luminaries as Leonard Cohen,Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young to name but three...although I have it on the strictest confidence that Joni Mitchell was NOT,and indeed, NEVER WAS a Nazi Whore!

Of course Belgium's golden years were still to come half a decade after 1973.It was left to the French to make the prog,which preceded a steady decline into the laughing stock of western Europe they are now.Magma excluded.

However, these archive tapes of what must have been Belgium's premier Prog band,prove that kraut-style prog was alive and vibrant north of the Maginot line.

In a country as compact and bijou as Belgium,which was twice used as a short cut to get at the British Expeditionary Force, it was the synth and drum machine that propelled the local populous into the 'very good file' of early eighties pop music.Forming a solid buffer zone,for once, between Germany and France.A battle of the Belge that the Belge actually won. Helped vastly by the actions of one Alain Neffe,founder of DIY cassette culture label Insane Music.

Neffe was also indeed a founder member of Kosmose,and deserves some kind of medal (The Golden Cassette) for the excellent resurrection job he made of these dusty old tapes.

The music is a heady mix of kraut style kosmiche,free jazz,with hints of CAN and most other things Krauty.Absorbed through a semi-permeable membrane by the musical process of Kosmosis,which one assumes is what the gist of the band name is?

Tracklist:

The Second Untitled Track / B.93.1 6:40
The Third Untitled Track / B.30.4 9:30
The Fourth Untitled Track / B64 4:20
The Fifth Untitled Track / B.40.9 5:45
The Ninetieth Untitled Track / 10 Reverb 9:00
The Tenth Untitled Track / 30.2 9:10
The Eleventh Untitled Track / 31.1 8:40
The Sixth Untitled Track / B.80.3 13:30
The Seventh Untitled Track / B.101.2 22:40
The Twelfth Untitled Track / 102.3 28:00
The Eighth Untitled Track / KS 18:56

DOWNLOAD by kosmosis HERE!

Heldon – "Electronique Guerilla" (Disjuncta – 12/13) 1974

I'm very proud to announce that I have not been awarded a Damehood in the corrupt yet meaningless ongoing joke that is the Queen's New Years honours list, neither for sevices to stealing intellectual property,or spreading corrosive cynicism and being a moaning ol' bastard. Joining the likes of ....is this a joke?....Mel B!!!?  late of the spice girls, Joanna Lumley who was in the New Avengers and something else on TV?Then there's Ashley Banjo for services to bloody awful street dancing,and for being the nearest thing they could find to a Black person,apart from Mel B of course.

The French,of course, don't go in for this kind of stuff.....er...wait a minute they do don't they.That beyond daft Legion d'Honneur silliness. Didn't Patti Smith get something like that for being a self-confessed poet? Celine Dion for singing in French....y'know, stuff like that.

No French Prog innovators are on either the British list or the French list,to my limited knowledge.

So Richard Pinhas, guitar wielding French Progger has none of these dubious Honors.

However he did make some rather interesting self-released LP's under the guise of Heldon, that combined Fripp and Eno with Berlin school style electronics,such as this.Casting himself as some kind of electronic freedom fighter.

There were,and are, of course, many Electronic Terrorists committing crimes against music everywhere on the planet. Jean Michel Jarre and Howard Jones being but two incredibly guilty culprits.But Richard doesn't seem to be one of them.At least not on the evidence of this fine record. 

Tracklist:

1 Zind
2 Back To Heldon
3 Northernland Lady
4 Ouais, Marchais, Mieux Qu'en 68 (Ex : Le Voyageur)
5 Circulus Vitiosus
6 Ballade Pour Puig Antich, Révolutionnaire Assassiné En Espagne

DOWNLOAD a guerilla into the room HERE!

Seesselberg – "Synthetik 1" (Seesselberg Self-released)

 Oh Christ!.....this is on the Nurse With Wound List...Groan! It's one of those self-released German Electronic avant-garde albums,but this time without structure.This has more in common with the Early electronics of the fifties and sixties than Tangerine Dream or any of the tuneful Kosmiche Kraut musiks of the 1970's. Yeah that's right it gets on your tits....but don't show it or your 'I'm weird I am' cred will lose half a star. 

We're always being judged these days,whether its as a Host on Air B'n'B,or a struggling craftsman on Etsy, (like moi!),or, be it by your Weird mates, who obsess over the ultimate in binaural trainspotting, The fucking Nurse With Wound List. If you don't dig this then you're out of the klub.

This could have easily been the soundtrack to "The Andromeda Strain 2" when Sylvester Stallone, as Rambo, napalms the shit out of that mother fucking virus from outer space, annihilating at the same time half of China and Russia...the new, but old, communism. Goddam Atheists!

This album is of that ilk where the creatures higher up the evolutionary ladder,humans, try to sound like a couple of chimps let lose on a bunch of synthesizers,and is recorded,packaged and sold back to the higher apes who think they are intellectually superior to most everyone.....even chimps. Humans are rather arrogant creatures,who think that they have been chosen by an even higher being to receive eternal life!? The lower apes would never waste their time on such a concept.The answer to life is have a good time....allll the time (Viv Savage, Spinal Tap). So does this mean that the highest form of music is actually Hair Metal, and not random oscillator manipulation that considers itself from a loftier perch on the art chart than Motley Crue? Surely not?

Chimps show little or no interest in either medium.

Does that make me a chimp, or did anyone spot my thinly disguised overtures to Nurse With Wounds fans? Please let me join your Klub!

Did that sound suitably desperate?

Tracklist:

A1 Ouvertüre - "Jeder Ist Heutzutage Glücklich" - If Someone Survives, We Will Have A Return - Match. (Konditionsmusik - 1972) 3:41
A2 Eintrachtkreis-Paranoia (Die 200jahrfeier Findet Nicht Statt - Kondominatsmusik - 1973) 1:02
A3 Verhütungsfreudenwalzer (Kontinenzmusik Für Eine Akademie 1973) 1:27
A4 Speedy Achmed (Verhaltensanweisung 1973) 3:46
A5 Studentenzucker - "Tue Gern, Was Du Tun Mußt!" (Konfektionsmusik 1973) 0:36
A6 "Die Menschen Sind Glücklich, Sie Kriegen, Was Sie Begehren, Und Begehren Nichts, Was Sie Nicht Kriegen Können - Laubsägebastler, Briefmarkensammler Und Brieftaubenzüchter Bilden Das Rückgrat Der Menschheit" (Kondolenzmusik 1973) 10:42
B1 Phönix - 1972 (Filmmusik Zum Film "Phönix" von W.-J. Seesselberg) 10:14
B2 "Was Dir Heute Freude Macht, Das Verschieb Nicht Über Nacht!" (Kondensmusik Aus Einem Konzert Im Gallery-House London - 1973) 4:16
B3 Auszug Aus Einem Konzert In Der Düsseldorfer Kunsthalle 1971

DOWNLOAD synthetikally HERE!

'Armand Schaubroeck Steals – "I Came To Visit; But Decided To Stay" (Mirror Records Inc. – III) 1974

In 1962, after a series of 32 burglaries that included groceries, hardware stores, schools and a church, seventeen year old Armand Schaubroeck was sentenced to three years in jail. He was charged with safecracking and thrown in the Elmira State Reformatory, a maximum security prison in New York. He would get out a year and a half later on parole but the impression would remain vivid in his mind.
...Apparently his imprisonment acted as a catalyst to the birth of his very unique and somewhat deranged rock 'n roll persona- he named his band Armand Schaubroeck Steals and all his music seemed to be a cathartic exorcise to the obsessions that haunted him.

After his release,He and his brothers founded a musical store that is today one of the most successful in New York,which not only provided him with a lucrative living,it allowed him to live out his assumed personality to the max.

Not only did he have relative monetary independence, he also had a whole place full of instruments for himself. He built a studio in the store's basement, created Mirror Records and recorded a handful of albums that were personal, obsessive, ironic,read as self-indulgent,

 and an attempt to be deliberately abusive to public ears.

But,......

Despite the promising cover,and his acquired Rock'n'Roll persona,it reveals that even a reformed safe-cracker needs something else other than money to make a half decent record.A personality is certainly not enough.

The music is that forgettable style of '1974 rock' that John Cale used to force on a public desperate for something wild and dangerous;but what they got was plodding session man rock as heard from above by a classically trained(there's that Phrase again!), composer,and we're told this is the real thing.Lou Reed,who i guess Armand would like to have been, also fits into this category,save one or two tunes.Unlike Cale,who would have loved to be a rocker instead of a neo-classical composer,Lou Reed was a rocker who wanted to be a neo-classical composer and taken very, VERY seriously...but even he got Mick Ronson in to help,and Mick was of course...."Classically Trained".

Armand wasn't clued up enough to hire an arranger, so he churned out a bunch of Lou reed/john Cale out-takes and acted the part of the crazed wild-man in his attempt to gain attention.Look at me Mom I'm Dancin'!

Before all you Velvets/Cale/Reed fans write in hailing this body of work rightly heralded genius,i concede that Cale's lyric are rather good,pity about the backing track,and Lou reed always gave a good interview around 1974. The fact that there was absolutely nothing else around back then probably explains their appeal....you had to be there i suppose,to appreciate it. I wasn't.

All this, we are told......Again....is 'Proto-Punk'.....yeah right.


Tracklist:

Part I:

A1 Father Michael Loves Sister Jennifer 4:20
A2 Baby, Can't Let You Burn 3:25
A3 Auld Lang Syne 3:26
A4 Cry Myself To Sleep 2:25

Part II:

B1 Intro To Bells 0:23
B2 Bells 9:11
B3 Michael Veni Ad Mé 1:08
B4 I Came To Visit; But Decided To Stay 3:23

DOWNLOAD to sample but decided to keep it HERE!

Michael Raven & Joan Mills ‎– "Hymn To Ché Guevara" (Folk Heritage Recordings FHR 054) 1974

There aren't too many openly conservative Folkies. They're all looney left wing, unless you count Johnny Cash as Folk? Well at least in the UK, all Folk musicians were proud exponents in sucking the red end of the political spectrum. Michael Raven may well have the deportment of an off duty Police officer,but his recording career suggested that he was somewhat a frustrated Pinko. Firmly out of the closet by 1974,the title of this crime worshiping album kind of confirms a revolutionary bent.

Making a record in praise of Ché ,a terrorist by modern standards,quite possibly a war criminal by any code of contemporary civilised ethics, and very guilty of crimes against humanity for his role as Minister of Justice in Castro's early government.'Justice' meaning executing enemies of the people,aka, anyone they didn't like.

Very popular on T-shirts,crowned the sixties Jesus, Ché,was more a fashion token rather than someone to base a new world order on. Somehow I can't imagine Joan and Michael having an in depth discussion about Ché's concept of the 'New Man' and the collectivization of farmlands.....saying that ,however, he looked good,and if you have a cool image, crimes against humanity don't count for diddly-squat.

I can just imagine these gentle folkies turning into blood thirsty killers come the revolution, hacking that doom metal fan next door into pieces with a scythe at the slightest wink from the latest Ché-a-like @ Facebook.com. Human's have a track record of stuff like this.

Depending on the blugeoner of course, I wouldn't mind being bludgeoned to death by an acoustic twelve string if it was wielded by Sandy Denny's resurrected ghost......as long as it was in tune mind!

That said, if the would be bludgeoner was some faux-folkie like James "You're Beaudiful" Blunt,or that Ginger twat from X-Factor,then I would willingly surrender my liberty,or even my life, to render them harmless with a couple of lead lined mandolin's. 

Raven and Mills, seem to enjoy singing about criminals in general it seems,because of the misconception that all criminals are the hard done by working class lads'n'lasses featured in many a traditional tune.Or was Raven really a plain clothes policeman after all?

 
Tracklist:

1 Belle Starr & Jesse James
2 Twenty Years
3 Tim Evans’ Dance
4 Melancholy Pavanne
5 Perry Mason’s Maggot
6 Hymn To Che Guevara
7 The Great Train Robbery
8 Magpies In Picardy
9 Little White Donkey
10 Dancing Lady
11 Over The Wall
12 Midnight City

DOWNLOAD the commie book of prayer HERE!

John Faulkner and Sandra Kerr – "Bagpuss: The Songs & Music" (Smallfolk – SMF001) 1974/1999

Zchivago sings holding back the tears,for the finishing touches of his version of "Candle In The Wind" in memory of Sandy Denny....."And I'd like to have known you but I was just a kiiiiid"......

Indeed I was once a kid, believe it or not, and as I may have mentioned before, there was a lot of Folk music about, especially on Kids TV programming.The stand out moment being the thirteen,unlucky for some, episodes of the erstwhile adventures of a saggy old pink and white cat in Emily's lost and found objects shop window.Bagpuss!

Emily would found some old crap someone lost in the street, chuck it in the shop-window display, and leave it there for Madeleine the rag doll (Sandra Kerr) and Gabriel the Toad (John Faulkner), with a Chorus of Mice from the mouse organ, and unhelpful comments from smart arse Woodpecker,Professor Yaffle and,of course a certain Saggy Old Cloth Cat.When bagpuss woke up, everyone else came to life for fifteen minutes, and fixed the piece of crap into something that might refind its previous owner.

Oliver Postgate(RIP),possessor of the finest narration voice on the planet,could lull me into a womb-like situation at the drop of a syllable;like leaning back in the bosom of your dear departed mother once again.

Oliver's folky chums, John and Sandra,were commissioned,which in 1970's BBC terms would mean they got a fiver and a sandwich to do it,and make the music.Which consisted of a bunch of traditional folk tunes furnished with new words for us kids,plus a few originals.

I seem to remember the Uncle Feedle Episode featured a few rather horrific rag dolls, that missus Postgate must have kinted up in a hurry,resembling eyeless zombies more than cute children's characters.I'm sure Madeleine sings that she's Just a Rag Doll made from 'Crap' during this epidsode....reigniting the furious debate about "Captain Pugwash" and the characters Seamen Stains and Master Bates......an urban legend unfortunately!

The thing about folk music is that it can be both dark and twee at the same time,and the music for Bagpuss fits those criteria beautifully....forget Current 93 this and similar cult soundtracks are da real thing man.It hasn't quite gained the kudos of Playchool's dark folk princess Toni Arthur and hubby Dave, but it has its darker moments.

Oliver Postage made all these masterpieces on a budget of a tenner per episode in his garden shed....the ultimate TV DIY......and don't forget this is the man who made the Clangers, and Noggin the Nog too ,among many others.

A Posthumous knighthood is called for here...give him Jimmy Savilles,it might revive this soiled institution for future good?

Tracklist:

1 The Bony King Of Nowhere 3:27
2 Mouse Round (Here's A Pin) 0:42
3 The Princess Suite 2:36
4 Weaving Song / The Laird Of Drumblair 2:13
5 Uncle Feedle 2:25
6 Ragtime Mice 0:13
7 Turtle Calypso 2:15
8 Brian O'Lynn 2:09
9 Agricultural Jigs 2:18
10 The Town Band 1:13
11 The Miller's Song 3:00
12 I Saw A Ship A-Sailing 2:31
13 Song Of The Flea 3:03
14 Mouse Round (Mending Song) 0:25
15 The Ear Song 1:21
16 Hamish McTavish 1:25
17 The Old Woman Tossed Up In A Basket / Haste To The Wedding 2:43
18 The Porcupine Song 2:32
19 The Oak Tree Reel 2:27
20 Row, Row, Row Your Boat 3:15
21 The Prima Ballerina 2:10

DOWNLOAD some lost tunes from emily's shop window HERE!

Sandy Denny – "Studio Outtakes - Home Demos - Unheard Songs" (2010)

These are the "Studio Outtakes ,Home Demos ,and Unheard Songs" section of that massive 19CD box set of everything Sandy recorded ever!?..which would set you back quite a few hundred quid,mostly for stuff you already have...but not these 127 intimate versions of her future studio work,plus songs that were never heard beyond Sandy's various living rooms.Everything from Fairport to Fotheringay,from the Folk Club years to the record company compliant Adult Orientated rock of 'Rendezvous',is here in a superior, stripped down form with Sandy's perfect Voice whispering in your ears.Its like she's in the room singing you to sleep......i'm welling up now!.....just don't tell me mates!

Early Home Demos:
12-1 Sandy Denny– Blues Run The Game (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-2 Sandy Denny– Milk And Honey (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-3 Sandy Denny– Soho (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-4 Sandy Denny– It Ain't Me Babe (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-5 Sandy Denny– East Virginia (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-6 Sandy Denny– Geordie (Home Demo)
12-7 Sandy Denny– In Memory (The Tender Years) (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-8 Sandy Denny– I Love My True Love (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-9 Sandy Denny– Let No Man Steal Your Thyme (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-10 Sandy Denny– Ethusel (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-11 Sandy Denny– Carnival (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-12 Sandy Denny– Setting Of The Sun (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-13 Sandy Denny– Boxful Of Treasures (Home Demo)
12-14 Sandy Denny– They Don't Seem To Know You (Home Demo)
12-15 Sandy Denny– Gerrard Street (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-16 Sandy Denny– Fotheringay (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-17 Sandy Denny– She Moves Through The Fair (Home Demo)
12-18 Sandy Denny– The Time Has Come (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-19 Sandy Denny– Seven Virgins (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-20 Sandy Denny– A Little Bit Of Rain (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-21 Sandy Denny– Go Your Own Way My Love (Home Demo)
12-22 Sandy Denny– Cradle Song (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-23 Sandy Denny– Blue Tattoo (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-24 Sandy Denny– The Quiet Land Of Erin (Unreleased Home Demo)
12-25 Sandy Denny– Who Knows Where The Time Goes (Unreleased Home Demo)

Sandy Denny Solo And Fairport Convention:
13-1 Sandy Denny– Who Knows Where The Time Goes (Unreleased Home Demo)
13-2 Sandy Denny– Motherless Children (Unreleased Home Demo)
13-3 Sandy Denny– Milk And Honey (Unreleased BBC Session)
13-4 Sandy Denny– Been On The Road So Long
13-5 Sandy Denny– Quiet Land Of Erin
13-6 Sandy Denny– Autopsy (Demo)
13-7 Sandy Denny– Now And Then (Demo)
13-8 Sandy Denny– Fotheringay (Unreleased Version)
13-9 Sandy Denny– She Moved Through The Fair (Unreleased Version)
13-10 Fairport Convention– Mr. Lacey (Unreleased BBC Session)
13-11 Fairport Convention– Throwaway Street Puzzle
13-12 Fairport Convention– Ballad Of Easy Rider (Outtake)
13-13 Fairport Convention– Dear Landlord (Outtake)
13-14 Fairport Convention– A Sailors Life (Alternative Version)
13-15 Fairport Convention– Sir Patrick Spens (Outtake)
13-16 Fairport Convention– Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Take 1)
13-17 Fairport Convention– Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Take 4)

Fotheringay:
14-1 Fotheringay– The Sea (Unreleased Studio Demo)
14-2 Fotheringay– Winter Winds (Unreleased Studio Demo)
14-3 Fotheringay– The Pond And The Stream (Unreleased Studio Demo)
14-4 Fotheringay– The Way I Feel (Unreleased Alternative Take)
14-5 Fotheringay– Banks Of The Nile (Unreleased Alternate Take)
14-6 Fotheringay– Winter Winds (Unreleased Alternate Take)
14-7 Fotheringay– Silver Threads And Golden Needles (Outtake)
14-8 Fotheringay– The Sea (Unreleased)
14-9 Fotheringay– Two Weeks Last Summer
14-10 Fotheringay– Nothing More
14-11 Fotheringay– Banks Of The Nile
14-12 Fotheringay– Memphis Tennessee
14-13 Fotheringay– Trouble In Mind (Unreleased)
14-14 Fotheringay– Bruton Town (Unreleasedl)

Sandy Denny: The North Star Grassman And The Ravens:
15-1 Sandy Denny– The Sea Captain (Unreleased Demo)
15-2 Sandy Denny– Next Time Around (Unreleased Demo)
15-3 Sandy Denny– The Optimist (Unreleased Demo)
15-4 Sandy Denny– Wretched Wilbur (Unreleased Demo)
15-5 Sandy Denny– Crazy Lady Blues (Unreleased Demo)
15-6 Sandy Denny– Lord Bateman (Unreleased Demo)
15-7 Sandy Denny With Richard Thompson– Walking The Floor Over You (Unreleased)
15-8 Sandy Denny– Losing Game (Outtake)
15-9 Sandy Denny– The Northstar Grassman And The Ravens (Unreleased)
15-10 Sandy Denny– Crazy Lady Blues (Unreleased)
15-11 Sandy Denny– Late November
15-12 Sandy Denny With Ian Matthews– If You Saw Thru My Eyes
15-13 Sandy Denny With The London Symphony Orchestra– It's A Boy (From 'Tommy')
15-14 Sandy Denny– The Northstar Grassman And The Ravens
15-15 Sandy Denny– The 12th Of Never (Unreleased Studio Demo)
15-16 Sandy Denny– Sweet Rosemary (Demo)
15-17 Sandy Denny– The Lady (Demo)
15-18 Sandy Denny– After Halloween (Demo)

Sandy Denny: Sandy And Like An Old Fashioned Waltz:
16-1 Sandy Denny– It'll Take A Long Time (Unreleased Demo)
16-2 Sandy Denny– Sweet Rosemary (Demo)
16-3 Sandy Denny– For Nobody To Hear (Unreleased Demo)
16-4 Sandy Denny– Tomorrow Is A Long Time (Unreleased Demo)
16-5 Sandy Denny– Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Unreleased Demo)
16-6 Sandy Denny– Listen, Listen (Unreleased Demo)
16-7 Sandy Denny– The Lady (Unreleased Demo)
16-8 Sandy Denny– Bushes And Briars (Unreleased Demo)
16-9 Sandy Denny– It Suits Me Well (Unreleased Demo)
16-10 Sandy Denny– The Music Weaver (Demo)
16-11 Sandy Denny– No End (Unreleased Alternate Take)
16-12 Sandy Denny– Whispering Grass (Unreleased Demo)
16-13 Sandy Denny– Until The Real Thing Comes Along (Unreleased Demo)
16-14 Sandy Denny– Walking The Floor Over You (Alternative Version)
16-15 Sandy Denny– No End (Alternative Version)

Sandy Denny - Rendezvous:
18-1 Sandy Denny– Blackwaterside (Unreleased Granada TV Show 1975)
18-2 Sandy Denny– No More Sad Refrains (Unreleased Granada TV Show 1975)
18-3 Sandy Denny– By The Time It Gets Dark (Unreleased Acoustic Demo)
18-4 Sandy Denny– One Way Donkey Ride (Unreleased Acoustic Version)
18-5 Sandy Denny With Jess Roden– Losing Game
18-6 Sandy Denny– Easy To Slip (Outtake)
18-7 Sandy Denny– By The Time It Gets Dark (Demo)
18-8 Sandy Denny– No More Sad Refrains (Unreleased Alternative Version)
18-9 Sandy Denny– I'm A Dreamer (Unreleased Live In The Studio)
18-10 Sandy Denny– All Our Days (Unreleased Choral Version)
18-11 Sandy Denny– By The Time It Gets Dark (Demo)
18-12 Sandy Denny– Still Waters Run Deep (Unreleased Alternative Version)
18-13 Sandy Denny– Full Moon (Unreleased Alternative Version)
18-14 Sandy Denny– Candle In The Wind (Unreleased Alternative Version)
18-15 Sandy Denny– Moments (Outtake)
18-16 Sandy Denny– I Wish I Was A Fool For You (Unreleased Alternative Version)
18-17 Sandy Denny– Gold Dust (Unreleased Alternative Version)
18-18 Sandy Denny– Still Waters Run Deep (Unreleased Alternative Version)
18-19 Sandy Denny– Moments (Unreleased Alternative Version)

Sandy Denny: Home Demos 1974-1977:
19-1 Sandy Denny– The King And Queen Of England (Demo)
19-2 Sandy Denny– Rising For The Moon (Demo)
19-3 Sandy Denny– One More Chance (Demo)
19-4 Sandy Denny– The King And Queen Of England (Unreleased Demo)
19-5 Sandy Denny– After Halloween (Unreleased Demo)
19-6 Sandy Denny– What Is True? (Demo)
19-7 Sandy Denny– Stranger To Himself (Demo)
19-8 Sandy Denny– Take Away The Load (Demo)
19-9 Sandy Denny– By The Time It Gets Dark (Demo)
19-10 Sandy Denny– I'm A Dreamer (Demo)
19-11 Sandy Denny– Full Moon (Demo)
19-12 Sandy Denny– Take Me Away (Demo)
19-13 Sandy Denny– All Our Days (Demo)
19-14 Sandy Denny– No More Sad Refrains (Demo)
19-15 Sandy Denny– Still Waters Run Deep (Demo)
19-16 Sandy Denny– One Way Donkey Ride (Demo)
19-17 Sandy Denny– I'm A Dreamer (Unreleased Demo)
19-18 Sandy Denny– Full Moon 2(Unreleased Demo)
19-19 Sandy Denny– Makes Me Think Of You (Unreleased Demo)

DOWNLOAD to hear the unheard here Folkies!

Bridget St. John – "BBC Radio 1968-1976" (Hux Records – HUX114) 2010

Like I said in the "Ask Me No Questions" review,Peel made sure Bridget would get plenty sessions and radio appearances he having a glad eye for the ladies. So here's the small matter of 40 -odd 'odd' tunes as preserved by the venerable British Broadcasting Corporation;and it's not gone beyond my notice that the final track has a reference to Peel and Wife (the Pig).There's also an amusing anecdote spewed forth by the laconic Peel about how they 'slept' together once.

What strikes me most about these tunes, and especially her spoken explanations of her songs, that is uncannily like Sandy Denny.If i didn't know better, her speaking voice is almost exactly that of the late Alexandra Denny,although her earlier excursions have that splash of Nico's lower register about them that would haunt any review in the music press.She was a better guitar player than Denny (That Bert Jansch influence?),and far less depressing than Nico,but her songwriting has that same seldom used diminished 5th chord so favored by Sandy Denny in her more unpopular songs for it's distinctive dark timbre,as well as that vibrato free folkie singing style that was the ex-Fairport chanteuse's trademark;although obviously not copyrighted.

And, yes, Kevin Ayers makes a guest appearance on a few tracks too.Also interesting to note that Ms St.John is the only one of these names to remain alive,and gigging, to this day.

Tracklist:

1-1 I Don't Know If I Can Take It
1-2 Some Kind Of Beautiful
1-3 Jumblequeen
1-4 Fly High
1-5 Sparrowpit
1-6 Want To Be With You
1-7 Curious And Woolly
1-8 Head And Heart
1-9 Long Long Time
1-10 Come Up And See Me Sometime
1-11 Catch A Falling Star
1-12 Love Lie Easy
1-13 The River
1-14 Song To Keep You Company
1-15 Night In The City
1-16 Lazarus
1-17 Curl Your Toes
1-18 Thank You For...
2-1 Sparrowpit
2-2 Nancy Alice
2-3 Plain And Pearl
2-4 Make Me Whole
2-5 She Used To Play Harmonium
2-6 Crazy, Have You Eton
2-7 Peel 'sleeping Anecdote'
2-8 Bumper To Bumper
2-9 Leaves Of Lime
2-10 City Crazy
2-11 The Pebble And The Man
2-12 Back To Stay
2-13 Song For The Laird Of Connaught Hall - Part 2
2-14 Jolie Madame
2-15 The Spider And The Fly
2-16 The Oyster And The Flying Fish
2-17 To B Without A Hitch
2-18 Ask Me No Questions
2-19 Many Happy Returns
2-20 Hello Again (of Course)
2-21 Rochefort
2-22 Lizard Long Tongue Boy
2-23 The Present Song/Pig & Peel

CD1 1-9 Radio 1 In Concert 1st August 1974; CD1 10-12 Top Gear Session 6th January 1976 CD1 13-16 John Peel Presents Top Gear 1969; CD1 17 Peter Sarstedt Session 1969; CD1 18 Bob Harris Session 22nd March 1972; CD2 1-8 Radio 1 In Concert 3rd May 1975; CD2 9-16 Radio 1 In Concert 31st January 1971; CD2 17-22 Night Ride Session 21st August 1968; CD2 23 Top Gear Session 12th August 1974

DOWNLOAD the bastard offspring of Sandy and Nico HERE!

La Monte Young / Marian Zazeela - "The Theatre Of Eternal Music ‎– Dream House 78'17" ( Shandar ‎– 83 510) 1974

 You want more don't you?

Here we have the mongolian style drone singing of the La Monte Young husband and wife team,with John Hassell joining in the fun on what sounds uncannily like a Kazoo?But i'm reliably informed that it was a trumpet?.....yeah right? I'm not as stupid as I sound,it's a Kazoo!

So technology existed in 1974 that could cram 80 minutes of drone on two sides of one vinyl 12 incher,which makes it all sound even shitter quality,and is rather crackly;which adds to its charm and not only gets rid of the normals from your personal space, but the audiophiles too. Its a win/win situation.

Again we have instructions on how to play your record....thanks 'La':

"For the maximum fidelity on Side B, reduce the treble controls on your pre-amplifier to minimum. Since the sine waves have no harmonic content, and all are below 202.5 Hertz, this will reduce the surface noise which is normal on most discs. Note: Be sure to keep the treble controls normal on Side A."

I did all that and it still sounds shit,but being a fan of Shit-fi I mind not.

So now you know what you've been doing previously is WRONG!...which is not too much of a pity because the Audiophiles have now left the room.....FOR GOOD!

Now, if you haven't been patronized enough here's an explanation, from 'La' to you:

"Side A. 13 I 73 5:35 - 6:14:03 PM NYC is a sub-section of Map Of 49's Dream The Two Systems Of Eleven Sets Of Galactic Intervals Ornamental Lightyears Tracery, begun in 1966 as a section of the even longer work: The Tortoise, His Dreams And Journeys which was begun in 1964 with The Theatre Of Eternal Music. Performed 17 January 1973 at La Monte Young's private studio."

"Side B. Drift Study 14 VII 73 9:27:27 - 10:06:41 PM NYC Three sine waves. Frequencies and voltages of the sine waves determined and tuned by La Monte Young using oscillators custom designed by Rober Adler to generate specific frequencies and voltages of great stability. Performed 14 July 1973 at La Monte Young's private studio."

Art-Club Rule number one....NEVER EXPLAIN YOUR WORK!

Art-Club Rule number two....NEVER EXPLAIN YOUR WORK!!

Tracklist:

A 13 I 73 5:35-6:14:03 PM NYC 39:03
B Drift Study 14 VII 73 9:27:27-10:06:41 PM NYC 39:14

DOWNLOAD some avant garde seasonal crackling HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "From Czech Electronic Music Studios" (Supraphon ‎– 1 11 1423) 1974

If ever there was a soundtrack to life in a police state then this is it. On State Label Supraphon, with cover art from some twisted nightmarish detention centre inmate after a long spell of sleep deprivation, this musique concréte escapade emits all the joylessness of a lifetime spent under curfew.
Largely involving tape manipulation,and thankfully lacking access to the Soviet Union's state-owned EMS synthi 100 in Moscow, the edited and varispeeded recorded sounds have all the characteristics of a fully furnished subterranean dungeon in Prague.
Each new track is like an interrogator saying "Let's Go back to the Beginning",as it seems we've been here before but still aren't any wiser as to what you did last summer,especially as every day feels like winter.Music that'll make you admit to anything to avoid the 'Bath of Shit' part of the afternoon.Nothing's worth that illegally imported pair of jeans you purchased from that under-cover policeman last July.
Most of Czechoslavakia's prog rock fraternity were locked up in the same interrogation centre that this stuff evokes,but you could get away with it if you achieved the status of of 'Official Musician'. Without the nod from the State you weren't allowed to play music to a paying audience,if at all.Anything 'western' or subversive was an arrestable offence; as the Zappa-esque Plastic People Of The Universe found out. 
The composers of these creepy early electronic cattle prod-a-gogo instruments of aural torture,were,of course, possessors of pieces of paper that allowed them the distinction of being official 'State Composers', so they were safe in their state provided accomodation.....undoubtedly bugged,but its a rent controlled roof over one's head, where subversive thoughts could be encrypted into indecipherable weird noises and passed off as 'Avant-Garde'.


Tracklist:

1 –Zbyněk Vostřák - Scales Of Light (1967) 13:55
2 –Miloslav Ištvan - Isle Of Toys (1968) 9:25

Two Parts From The Kinetic Ballet (1968)

3 –Václav Kučera - The Labyrinth 14:00
4 –Václav Kučera - The Spiral 7:35

DOWNLOAD the sudetenland of electronics HERE!

Various Artists ‎– Anthology Of Dutch Electronic Tape Music: Volume 2 (1966-1977) (Composers' Voice ‎– CV 7903) 1979

They have funny names, wear clogs, take drugs openly,ride bicycles,have childrens stories about putting fingers into Dykes...and if that wasn't enough to recommend that you move to Holland, then how's about all this early electronic music then?
They're so liberal over there that all of this was probably state-funded. If the government did that in the USA the Rednecks would start lynchin' people of colour again,if they ever stopped?
There's something about all this early electronica that is far more disturbing that it's younger,trendier, sibling Industrial Music,which tried far too hard to be unsettling.This is the same as the difference between those scary movies where you saw nothing except what your own mind imagined,and shit yourself.Industrial Music was more like a Slasher move where nothing was left to the imagination. The human mind is capable of indescribable horrors,and this musique concrete stuff gives the mind the space it needs to create the terror of real life,or rather reveal the terror of real life. 
Fucking Hell, we're all gonna die!?Why wasn't I TOLD!!!?


Tracklist:

1 –Jacob Cats - Cadence-1 6:10
2 –Tera De Marez Oyens - Safed 7:33
3 –Jos Kunst - Extérieur 9:39
4 –Gilius Van Bergeijk - D.E.S 7:46
5 –Frans Van Doorn - Minnuet 9:05
6 –Thomas Arras - A.B.C. 8:33
7 –Simeon Ten Holt - I Am Sylvia 15:30
8 –Victor Wentink - Discours 13:20
9 –Louis Andriessen - In Memoriam 5:06
10 –Peter Smith - Étude-1 8:58
11 –Tony Van Campen - Sintering 9:55

DOWNLOAD with lashings of chocolate sprinkles HERE!

Kraftwerk ‎– "Autobahn" (Philips ‎– 6305 231) 1974

Yeah I know,yawwwn....It's Kraftwerk, that unappreciated electro-motorik krautrock fourpiece from Dusseldorf.Everyone keeps banging on about how influential they were,but,predictably I'm not having it.

Afika Bambatta says he heard Trans Europe Express and blah blah blah. Well, Trans Europe Express was basically a remake of "Autobahn",using the same mechanical electronic rhythm to suggest travel by various horseless carriges. The darker side of it all is the Trans-Europe Express as the Iron Horse that sped jews to their deaths thirty years earlier via Auchwitz and the semi-mythical Treblinka.

A theme also explored by Steve Reich's 'Different trains' was it not?(The minimalists also had a great influence over all this repetitive German music too don't forget). It helps that Kraftwerk had a better image in 1974 than their later showroom dummies period,when they looked, basically, like Nazi's.

"Autobahn" is also the album that inspired the UK proto-synth popsters like The Human League,Ultravox,but not apparently Tubeway Army,who insisted that he(Gary Numan) had never heard of Kraftwerk.

The reason this album was Kraftwerk's most influential was because they performed this on primetime BBC popular science programme,Tomorrow's World;which also incidently was broadcast in the slot before Top Of The Pops on a thursday evening.Just when the uk youth were sitting in front of the idiot box. then they had Delia Derbyshire's Doctor Who Theme to absorb every saturday tea-time.

Because of "Autobahn"s sucess, they repeated themselves with the next album....so much for experimentation then fella's?

The obvious 'Synth-Pop' album was "The Man Machine", which came out the same time as The Human League's own version of Synth-Pop 'Being Boiled',so that can hardly be called the first Synth-Pop album either.Then Gary Numan appeared at slightly later in the day,claiming no other influence than...yes....Ultravox!Whose 'Systems Of Romance' album of the same year was very synthesizer based.

Personally I prefer the early Kraftwerk,Krautrock period, from 1970 to 74, but you have to admire the beautiful glacial but phat and warm synth noises they committed to tape from 1978 to 1981. "Computer world" was their best synth-pop album,but in 1981 everyone was doing it by then.The year of Human League's "Dare",which involved much more danceable beats and no-one dressing up as silly Robots.

The most influential part of their canon was the compact portable tech.That's what Hip-Hop took from this honky music. And the less portable,but syncable tech is what influenced the producers of House and Techno,that, and the small matter of Georgio Moroders "I Feel Love".....technology has a lot to answer for!

By 1981, Kraftwerk had ran out of ideas,in fact, by 1978 they had ran out of ideas.You could have found most of their ideas in the works of Tangerine dream and Klaus Schulz anyway,mostly from before "Autobahn".

Alas, as a piece of prime late period electronic Krautrock, this holds up as the missing link between the Berlin School and Gary Numan.....who was also a major influence on early Electro and Hip-Hop.

Kraftwerk...Good...but not that good.

RIP Florian and Kraftwerk.

Tracklist:

1. Autobahn 22:30
2. Kometenmelodie 1 6:20
3. Kometenmelodie 2 5:44
4. Mitternacht 4:40
5. Morgenspaziergang 4:00
DOWNLOAD from the information super autobhan HERE!

Don Harper ‎– "Homo Electronicus" (Columbia ‎– SCX 6559,) 1974

Don Harper....if ever there was a more Australian name I'd like to know.....luckily,escaped the Australia of the 1970's for the hip recording studio's of the UK. He found ample work for his musical talents within British TV, for both the BBC and ITV, where he was the man who made Dickie Davis groovy with his musical arrangments for those tiresome sporting collages on ITV's World of Sport programme, where he stayed for 15 years!...poor fucker!
He regularly appeared in the Radiophonic workshop, and did a Library electronic album with Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson..."Electrosonic" for KPM.
Don was either making a statement with the title of this solo album, which would explain why he escaped the land of Dennis Lillie,Rod Marsh, and Merv Hughes (celebrated purveyours of the noble art/arse of Cricket) or he was actually referring to the marriage of man, as in mankind, with the blossoming technology of the age.
Releasing an album called anything with 'Homo' in the title could have got you killed in seventies Australia. I suspect that Dennis Lillie,Rod Marsh, and Merv Hughes were probably gay anyway....just look at those moustaches for fucks sake! Freddie Mercury's wet dream.

Some obviously GAY Australian Cricket legends.

Well as a proud...er... member....coff...I could do this all day!....of the Homo Erectus species(Tee-Hee) of modern man, I can proudly announce to the world that I am,unfortunately, Straight....I would love to be Gay but I think Blokes are a bunch of twats without twats, so i prefer the less competitive world of Ladies......no I don't mean I want to be a lady....look,lets not go there, this attempt at humour is complicated enough!?
I dunno if Don was or was not gay, with glee,I just saw the prefix 'Homo' , and went off on one....sorry Don(RIP).
He was ,however,the Stephane Grappelli of the antipodes, and scrapes those violin strings with the spunkiness of a recently de-closeted 'puffda', as Merv Hughes would say, lubing up Brad Pitts bare arse. You'll never hear a funkier version of the Dr Who theme anywhere outside the James Last Orchestra,and the rest of the tracks are classic Library Music standards that wouldn't be out of place in an elevator, which is NO criticism.And, of course, Don whips out his Syntheziser much to the disgust of his former college Ms Derbyshire,whose influence can be heard on every track.
I wasn't labelled a 'Homophobic Fuck' in the pages of Discogs for nothing you know; but there isn't a statue of me to decapitate as of yet, so I don't give a fuck.......here's my chance to unleash the classic Homophobe's non-argument....."Some of my closest Friends are Gay"....you could sub the word 'Gay' for 'Black' too if you're that way inclined.....i've been called a'Racist Fuck' too y'know.
I have to say I do like the new look of the Churchill Statue,its a Brutal post-modernist statement,and could also be the prediction come true of the Space Odyssey Obilisk?.....definitely a case of 'Don't mention the War'.....I let it slip once but I think I got away with it!"....but, of course Fawlty Towers was banned from UKTV as of yesterday.....then apparently reinstated after a lot of moaning.It all depends on who moans loudest it seems!?

            After............and.............before.......Good innit?

Tracklist:

A1 Dr. Who Theme
A2 Cold Worlds
A3 Fiddle Chop
B1 The Blue Book
B2 Nightmare
B3 World Of Sport

DOWNLOAD from down under up HERE!

BBC Radiophonic Workshop ‎– "The John Baker Tapes Volume 2 (1963-75) (Trunk Records ‎– JBH029CD) 2008

I suppose the label this was released on should have been called 'drunk' not 'Trunk' records, as Radiophonic Workshop stalwart John Baker was probably drunk while he made the majority of these novel advert jingles and TV soundtracks.
Compared to his colleagues John was firmly on the musicianly side of composition,and also firmly in the Novelty music section of the workshop. Whereas Delia Derbyshire could make her doomy atmospheres, and Brian Hodgson could spent all his time making weird noises,John was lumbered with making funny tunes from varispeeded shampoo bottle pan pipes for a daytime childrens science programme. No wonder he turned to the evil drink.....but then again so did Delia. Although Delia couldn't keep up with Johns voracious appitite for consuming reams of cigarettes and therefore lived a few years longer.
Delia left in 1973 because the electronics were getting too easy and more conventional, but John Baker was sacked for being Drunk most of the time. The last recording he made before his descent into the dark realms of alcoholism was done at home on his piano in 1975(included here)...probably just before he sold it to buy more booze.He never made music again and died, age 60, in 1997.


Tracklist:

1 – Tempo Counter 0:04
2 – Get Happy 3:54
3 – Electro-Twist MQ LP1/1 1:23
4 – Electro-Suspense MQ LP1/2 1:27
5 – Electro-Rhythm MQ LP1/3 1:23
6 – Electro-Slow MQ LP1/4 1:33
7 – Boy On A Bicycle 4:03
8 – Brass Bandied MQ LP14/1 1:17
9 – Brass Widow MQ LP14/2 1:38
10 – Omo And Giro Adverts 1:20
11 – I Wanna Hold Your Hand Medley 2:33
12 – Electro-Auto MQ LP35/1 1:29
13 – Electro 5/4 MQ LP35/2 1:30
14 – Electro Waltz MQ LP35/3 1:28
15 – Johnny Johnson Jingles 1:25
16 – 1980s Feedback Loop 0:04
17 – Requioso - PIL 9011 2:21
18 – JB Dubs 1:13
19 – Out Of Nowhere 5:23
20 – Electro-Beat MQ LP19/1 1:30
21 – Electro-Weird MQ LP19/2 1:24
22 – Electro-Fugue MQ LP19/3 1:14
23 – Electro-Aggression MQ LP38/1 1:57
24 – Electro-Tension MQ LP38/2 2:27
25 – Jazz Advert 1:38
26 – Brylcreem 0:30
27 – John Baker Goon Advert 0:34
28 – Power Source MQ LP39 3:23
29 – 1980s Tape FX 0:42
30 – Pots 'N' Pans MQ LP48/1 3:24
31 – Banshee Boogie MQ LP48/2 1:45
32 – Feedback MQ LP48/3 2:58
33 – Space Workshop MQ LP48/4 3:12
34 – Piano Concrete MQ LP48/5 2:55
35 – JB Test Tone 0:08
36 – Piano Strokes 2:25
37 – JB At Home On The Piano 0:51
38 – Brief Lives - JB Obituary 1:47
39 – JB 78 RPM - All The Things You Are 2:26

DOWNLOAD some sober sounding novelty tunes HERE!

John Baker / BBC Radiophonic Workshop ‎– "The John Baker Tapes Volume 1 - rare and unreleased recordings 1963-1974" (Trunk Records ‎– JBH028CD)

John Baker, was a scumbag who lived at the shitter end of my street when I was vilified for daring to win a place at Grammer skool.Being called intelligent was as good as wearing a sign saying 'please kick my head in' for us unfortunate members of the underclass from the oxygenated end of the gene pool. The 'Bakers' all had scoliosis, the word 'Shithouse' was written in dripping black gloss on their toilet door,the eldest male was nick-named 'Igor',and they had a predeliction towards violence and criminal behaviour in general.
The John Baker responsible for the music on this CD, however, didn't live on my street as a kid growing up, but he was an unnamed member of the household through his prolific production of TV Theme tunes and Radio jingles throughout the sixties, seventies and no further, after he got the sack in 1974.
A contemporary of the legend that is Delia Derbyshire, he brought musicianly technique into the Workshop, as well as forty fags a day...thats cigarettes to you americans. He filled the vacancies for the Jazz Musician of the group, as well as the chain smoker. I'm also sure he joined in on the heavy wine consumption that the workshop was also renowned for,especially as wine bottles with various levels of liquid in them were an essential sound source for the staff to record and manipulate.
Many of those bottles no doubt found their way onto many of these jolly little tunes.
John,like Delia,died early from heavy cigarette and Alcohol comsumption in a confined space for too long a period. 
After becoming an alcoholic, Baker recorded no further music after being sacked by the Radiophonic Workshop and later died in poverty.......a life summed up in one dismissive sentence!?
He deserves more than that,thats why we've have three John Baker retrospectives lined up to revive the forgotten man of the Radiophonic Workshop's tarnished reputation.
This John Baker died while the scummier John Baker with the bad posture probably still lives,just, on my childhood street,and 'Shithouse' is probably still written on the toilet door.The wrong one died young,there's still time for that to be put right,if it hasn't been already?But,Justice is something that is rarely doled out fairly in this cruel world.
PS...Igor still lived,by the way, because i saw him down the pub on the night Leicester City won the League Cup back in '97....he gave me a HUG(?).Ahhhh,Association Football....the great leveller!?

Tracklist:

1 Newstime BBC 1+2 0:23
2 Tros Y Gareg (Main Theme) 2:50
3 Tros Y Gareg (Idents) 0:20
4 20th Century Focus 2:22
5 Vendetta: The Ice Cream Man 1:18
6 Woman's Hour (Reading Your Letters) 1:47
7 Many A Slip 0:57
8 Look And Read 0:35
9 Building The Bomb 6:24
10 Au Printemps 2:27
11 Big Ben News Theme 0:33
12 Codename 1:03
13 Decimal Currency 0:20
14 Barnacle Bill 0:21
15 Dial M For Murder 2:25
16 Farm Management 0:30
17 Radio Sheffield (News Idents) 0:45
18 French Science And Technology 0:39
19 Good Morning Wales (Idents) 0:37
20 Heavy Plant Crossing 0:59
21 COI Technology Pavilion 9:30
22 John Baker Interview (Radio Nottingham) 2:33
23 Radio Nottingham Idents 0:34
24 Look North: Newstime 0:50
25 Man Alive: UFO 1:14
26 PM - Computers In Business 0:39
27 Submarines 1:59
28 Oranges And Lemons (Radio London) 2:36
29 Orbit 0:47
30 Places For People 0:47
31 Sling Your Hook 2:27
32 Suivez La Piste 0:49
33 Scene (Never Never) 1:40
34 Diary Of A Madman 3:54
35 The Two O'Clock Spot 0:58
36 Radio London: News Idents 0:25
37 The Caves Of Steel 3:11
38 The Locusts 0:45
39 Square Two 0:29
40 The Tape Recorder 1:11
41 Tom Tom (Theme) 0:42
42 Tom Tom (Idents) 0:15
43 Trial (Opening Theme) 0:35
44 Trial (Closing Theme) 1:22
45 Vendetta: The Sugar Man 2:01
46 Spin Off 0:21
47 Radiophonic FX C 0:10
48 Radiophonic FX A 0:54
49 Radiophonic FX B 0:35

DOWNLOAD the butcher the baker the candlestick maker of musique concréte HERE!

Various ‎Artists – "Test Card Classics: The Girl The Doll The Music" (Flyback ‎– FBCD 2000) 1996

This is musical Heroin for me.
Like lying back in your mothers arms,unless your mother was a violent alcoholic of course, and having all those shitty adult problems melt away like plastic earmarked for recycling in a council incinerator.
This takes me back to those days off sick,when one was left at the mercy of daytime television,or lack of it back then,or when I bunked off school to avoid a test or the shower after basketball,or just to avoid the horrible sport of Basketball itself; then came home when the parents were at work and there was fuck all to do!...so we watched the Testcard!? Which was the equivalent of watching something like "Celebrity Love Island" today, but more entertaining, and lacking the suicides.
Those of you who came from countries with no public service broadcasting organisations will not understand......and that's ok.I won't hold it against you;but here's your chance to catch up.
Basically,You haven't lived until you've bounced yer booty to "Holiday Highway" by the Stuttgart Studio Orchestra.
And the Nu-Right wanna shut the BBC down????....leaving us at the mercy of Facebook and the Flat Earth Anti-vaxxers!.....i'm sure that's an actual band????

Notes for the average Test Card enthusiast:

Compilation of test card music as used by the BBC between 1966-1984. Previously unreleased original recordings.

Tracks 1, 9, 12, 16, 19, 21 and 24 are in mono.
Track 1: Spoken.
Track 2: BBC1/2 1969-84
Track 3: BBC2 1967-74
Track 4: BBC2 1968-72
Track 5: BBC1 1968-84
Track 6. BBC1 1968-71
Track 7: BBC2 1972-75
Track 8. BBC2/1 1967-84
Track 9: BBC1/2 1968-71
Track 10: BBC2 1968-72
Track 11: BBC1 1971-72
Track 12: BBC1 1968-71
Track 13: BBC2 1967-74
Track 14: BBC1/2 1969-74
Track 15: BBC2/1 1968-84
Track 16: BBC1 1969-71
Track 17: BBC1/2 1968-75
Track 18: BBC2 1967-74
Track 19: BBC1 1966-72
Track 20: BBC1 1968-71
Track 21: BBC1 1968-70
Track 22: BBC2 1967-74
Track 23: BBC2 1968-72
Track 24: Tone used on BBC2

Dates diven above are first and last years of transmission, not necessarily consecutively.

Tracklist:

1–John Ross-Barnard -Introduction 0:07
2–The Stuttgart Studio Orchestra -Royal Daffodil 2:17
3–The Westway Novelty Ensemble -Riga Road 2:10
4–The Oscar Brandenburg Orchestra -Angry 3:16
5–The Stuttgart Studio Orchestra -Capability Brown 3:33
6–Unknown Artist -BBC Chimes 0:10
7–The Cavendish Ten -Waltz In Jazztime 2:44
8–The Benito Gonzalez Latin Sound -Bella Samba 2:14
9–Unknown Artist BBC Chimes 0:10
10–The Stuttgart Studio Orchestra -Holiday Highway 2:40
11–Orchestra Heinz Kiessling -Cordoba 2:56
12–The Oscar Brandenburg Orchestra -My Guy's Come Back 2:40
13–The Langford Orchestra -The Lark In The Clear Air 2:25
14–Unknown Artist -BBC Chimes 0:10
15–The New Dance Orchestra -Pandora 2:43
16–The Fernand Terby Orchestra -Firecracker 2:42
17–Unknown Artist -BBC Chimes 0:09
18–Stuttgart Studio Orchestra -Hebridean Hoedown 2:54
19–The Gerhard Narholz Orchestra -High Life 2:29
20–Orchestra Heinz Kiessling -Samba Fiesta 1:48
21–Stuttgart Studio Orchestra -Stately Occasion 3:02
22–Unknown Artist -BBC Chimes 0:10
23–Mr Popcorn's Band -Chelsea Chick 2:46
24–Roger Roger And His Orchestra -Greenland Sleigh Dogs 3:07
25–Unknown Artist -BBC Chimes 0:10
26–The Cavendish Ten -These Foolish Things 2:12
27–Stuttgart Studio Orchestra -March From "The Colour Suite" 3:12
28–Ensemble Roger Roger -Long Hot Summer 2:11
29–The Oscar Brandenburg Orchestra -Going Places 2:52
30–No Artist -440 Hz Tone 0:20

DOWNLOAD the music without the girl or the doll HERE!