Various Artists - "Roksnax" - (Guardian Records N' Tapes – GR C80) 1980

 

Was this label the NWOBHM arm of the Guardian newpaper,otherwise known in the satirical toilet as the Grauniad for its vast talent for misspelling as did Slade once or twice, and that metal band mentioned previously, Panza Division.

The correct spelling aside,which,for the record should have been 'Rock Snacks',The Guardian is now the foremost liberal lefty pinko news source on the planet whom Donald Jennifer Trump undoubtedly  hates viscerally all the lofty pinko's who read the Grauniad . Not that Trump can spell either, or read,or write for that matter,'Guardian Records'N'Tapes' have now sunk without trace,leaving a lengthy legacy that includes  this rather excellent shared NWOBHM  compilation. Hopefully the Orange one will sink without trace one day soon too, leaving only a fluffy yellow wig oozing its way to the surface amidst a small,foul smelling Toxic Orange Slick to further damage the ailing sea life he helped towards extinction.

Whether 'Guardian Records'N'Tapes' was sued out of existence by Trump's legal team because their boss thought it WAS the actual Guardian itself and had it removed for being Nasty Horrible people and terrible journalists, or it simply didn't sell enough copies of the bizarrely named Roksnax compilation.

Who cares why anyway,when one has this rocking fragment still in circulation.

Not a weak track amongst the 9 donated by the three hairy groops from the North East of England that we find being immolated by a cartoon dragon on the rear cover.

This record label,were also in fact responsible for the local band compilation, cheekily called "Compilation N.E.1?"....which thankfully is not a London postcode but just a jokey frolic signifying that this is a band collection from the North East of England,specifically the Sunderland area. This will undoubtedly emerge as a free download here sooner or later to add to the vast Local Compilation section on these here pages of pointless drivel.

As long as The Toy Dolls aren't on there I'll post it here soon.....oh fuking no!?......yes,just checked,they fuking are!? 

Tracklist:

A1 Samurai – Die Or Deliver
A2 Hollow Ground– Rock On
A3 Saracen – Speed Of Sound
A4 Hollow Ground– Fight With The Devil
A5 Samurai – Temptress
A6 Saracen – Fast Living
B1 Hollow Ground– Flying High
B2 Saracen – Feel Just The Same
B3 Samurai)– Knights In Painted Castles

DOWNLOAD and grab a snak HERE!

Various Artists - "New Electric Warriors" (Logo – MOGO 4011) 1980

 

What the Effing Fuck was Logo records? Seemingly without any clue as to what The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal was about, which was mainly hanging out with fellow unwashed male adolescents with greasy collar length hair,dressed like the Ramones, and head-banging with a cardboard guitar. The music was a bit punkified,making the pistols (Sex) tempo challenge Black Sabbath as the inventors of Doom.

A lickle bird tells me that Logo used to be the Translantic label, home of all those great British Folk Revival records from the turn of the decade. I guess they had to distance themselves from anything hippy,so the Punks and Metalheads wouldn't turn their snotty noses up at the connection. They obviously missed out badly on the Punk years,the proof of which comes from the sad fact that the only New Wave band they could get was the truly awful "Tourists", you know them?....Annie Lennox and that other bloke.

Having done some research,Logo, did however has an impressive array of Novelty hits.One of which I own myself, namely "Toast" by the Streetband.....blue eyed Soul singer Paul Young provides us with the cockney-speak vocalisms....the best thing he ever did.

The boss of Logo would have told the A&R department not to miss out on this new Heavy Metal stuff, or get the elbow. Lets start with a mid-priced Compilation.....Put a motorbike and some headbanging fans on the cover, and we should be sorted?.....No?......yep that's right...NO!

I can't imagine Rob Halford riding onstage astride a green trials bike however,the Priest being an obvious influence for many of those rearranging the Marshall stacks aboard this particular sinking ship.

What those grebo-esque air guitarists are doing in the background I shudder to think, especially out in the countryside?....Maybe its the future site of the Monsters Of Rock festival....i'm thinking Donnington and East Midlands Airport here?...and how are they gonna get home in time for their Tea's.....there's only one Bike!?

Record labels are completely clueless as we all know, and, although the NWOBHM on offer here, is not half bad, but I have doubts this shifted many units in 1980. But, one does have a soft spot for anything as uninformed or oblivious as this.....especially ,the artwork.

If I was,somehow in a Metal Band, I think I'd like it to be called Vardis,who open side B with "If I Were King",the main Riff allegedly stolen by Metallica and 9 inch Nails.....whoever they are? ...the court case is ready to roll.

Tracklist:

A1 Turbo – Running
A2 Buffalo – Battle Torn Heroes
A3 Streetfighter– She's No Angel
A4 Stormtrooper – Grind 'N' Heat
A5 Tarot – Feel The Power
A6 Bastille – Hard Man
A7 Oxym– Hot Rain
A8 Dawnwatcher– Firing On All Eight
B1 Vardis– If I Were King (N.E.W. Take)
B2 Silverwing– Rock & Roll Are Four Letter Words
B3 Rhabstallion– Chain Reaction
B4 Colossus – Holding Back Your Love
B5 Workin' Nights
B6 Warrior – Still On The Outside
B7 Kosh – The Hit
B8 Race Against Time – Bedtime

DOWNLOAD and charge these new electric warriors HERE!

Various Artists – "The Art Of Solving Problems" (RAM LP 001) 1980

And now, from the capital of Goth,....that's right.....Leeds,.... we bring you more local post-punk rockers, that actually includes some half descent tchoons.

That aside,i should mention Leeds United got promoted,and i won't go on with my usual Leeds bashing and signal my congratulations...we'll see you again after you get relegated next year....but....i have other fish to fry....eg,How'd you solve a problem like Donald?

I would like to suggest something terminal,but the last time I started mentioning assassination my text disappeared immediately,and i'm now living like a dawg waiting for the new FBI to knock on my door brandishing an extradition order for me to join my other MS13 buddies in El Salvador. The saddest thing about that is its not beyond the realm of possibility to be true and certainly NOT fake news.

I've been working on my Trump impression, and it's getting good,but not as good as this guy:

 
I dunno about you,but I'm frightened!? we need a wall to keep them out. Built around Europe to keep the illegal MAGA American out.A questionnaire will be provided to determine the ideologically in line Americans who will be allowed in to visit Buckingham Palace,although supervised by UK's unrivaled camera surveillance systems.

The purge has already started on this side of the beautiful Ocean,The AfD has been named as an Extremist organisation in Germany, Tommy Robinson, not of Tom Robinson Band fame, is in a UK Jail,probably permanently,we're completely secular, and the French courts have dealt with Marine Le Pen. It can't happen here.

A non-recyclable Plastic curtain has descended across the globe.

I will volunteer,George Orwell,but not Hemingway style, for the international brigade when the Civil war kicks off my American Brothers.

Please someone, place an explosive Golf ball in the tiny handed Orange rapists Golf bag and send him to the nineteenth hole (Hell) in a flaming golf buggy/handcart.....Kash Patel(apparently this Cunt is the nu Stasi chief)....you taking notes Kash? There's a billion surveillance robot apps ready to rock on your  (not so) Smartphone.

It should result in some beautiful music anyways?

Nah! He ain't so bad,Trump ain't...At least he'll relieve Americans, even the radical leftists, from the inconvenience of voting.

Paranoid?....Moi?...probably NOT this time unfortunately.

But Yankee fear not, Europe and China will send food parcels,and other assistance....we'll get the Israelis to run that stuff,so no problem there then?

Beat Track:"The Motivators– Miss Demeanour"

 
Tracklisting:

A1 The Forst– I’m A Mess
A2 The Motivators– Miss Demeanour
A3 The Gimmicks – He’s Only 25
A4 The Cat – Heather Weather
A5 Side Effect – Chain Reaction
A6 The Beans – Clouds Over The Moon
B1 The Beans – Getting On The No. 9
B2 Side Effect (– Pin Stripe Suit
B3 The Cat – Evil Way
B4 The Gimmicks – Three Separate Ways
B5 The Motivators– An Eye Opener
B6 The Forst– Doing Nothing

DOWNLOAD problem free HERE!

Various Artists – "Bouncing In The Red - A Birmingham Compilation" (Odeon – EMC 3343) 1980

 

Top notch production values on this one......DAG NABBIT! now you wait a cotton picking minute there boy!....did one spy an EMI logo attached to this trendsetting local comp?...sure did.Essex Music Industries desperately trying to get the Kids to pick the next hit makers for the ensuing run up to Spotify.

Heavily diluted Reggae of course will always score you points of the Kool kind, but Steel Pulse...nah..,anemic new wave friendly sedative;almost as dull as UB40,who also feature here.

No one dare say it.....Reggae mooziq certainly sucked balls,especially this 'Roots' stuff. Whenever Misty in Roots came on the John Peel show, a nationwide groan could be heard emanating from beneath a million duvets.

Then we have apologists like Moby telling us that the best Hardcore Punk album ever was clearly "Bad Brains"......er, except the Reggae tracks, he added????

Gladly its not all 'racist...moi(?)'....inclusive kool brownie point scoring boredom.

"D'you Like Reggae Son?"

"You can go to the front of the queue".

Dangerous Girls and The Quads make up for it among a bit of Pub Rock funk,some truly horrible big band Jazz and Steve Gibbons' American accent.Did anyone actually buy this?

Lets not forget,the last time i said i didn't like some Reggae, I was subjected to the inevitable accusations of Racism......I might be black as far you know .After all,I'm not racist but......Hey,some of my best friends are Black.....i'm deliberately digging a deeper hole here aren't I?.....after all, no-one likes being labelled a 'racist'do they?....Especially Racists.

Tracklist:

A1 Steel Pulse– Biko's Kindred Lament
A2 Wide Boys – Forty Million
A3 Fashion– Let Go
A4 Dangerous Girls– Clinically Dead
A5 Denizens– Small Wonder
A6 UB40– 25%
B1 Steve Gibbons Band– Sunny Day
B2 Ferrari– Rio
B3 Ricky Cool And The Icebergs– Wait A Minute Baby
B4 Rainmaker – Cruisin'
B5 Mean Street Dealers– I Don't Want To Die Young
B6 Quads – In The Night

DOWNLOAD cheques bouncing into the red HERE!

Various Artists – "Brum Beat Live At The Barrel Organ!" (Big Bear Records – BRUM 1) 1980

We cheekily mentioned the 1974 Birmingham Pub Bombings in the previous posts on Belfast,so the logical progression must be to hear some music from a pub in Birmingham,UK,not Alabama.The alleged Bombers were all arrested, basically for being Irish, and soundly beaten up until they confessed.

They were all pardoned and released some years ago now after serving 16 years at her majesties' pleasure. 

Of course you all know that Birmingham,the UK's second city)....pronounced Birmin-gum in Brummy(the local accent_, and Birming-haaam in the United states (twats....boycott them!)...has a very strong argument in the richly contested arena as to who was the most important city in the British rock'n'roll stakes,and therefore also in The World. The undisputed birthplace of all Heavy Rock,also can boast Moody Blues,ELO, the Move,Led Zeppelin,Black Sabbath,...er...Duran Duran, the worlds best selling Reggae band...UB40....Napalm Death,Traffic, Judas Priest, The (English)Beat), Dexy's,Swell Maps, Spencer Davis Group....I could go on...shit,I forgot Slade!?
Nothing like that steller list on this local compilation, but one of the groups (The Lazers), had ginger chanteuse,T'Pau's Carol Dekker on vocals!...we are definitely worthy.
This is essentialy Birmingham's version of "Hope and Anchor \front Row Festival" with it's Pub Rock sensibility, rather than the cutting edge post-punk vibes one would expect from Brum's own Nightingales. Nowt wrong with that however, me being a big digger of said scene.
Love Pub Rock me,so i do......this really was Punk before Punk in my humbles.
It does boast an act that had a single in John Peels' special box of fav singles....namely The Quads, who recorded the rather splendid "There Must Be Thousands" single that said venerable DJ,and mucky minded lady fiddler played to death in 1980.

I notice this double disked forensic investigation into all things Brummy seems to be sponsored by Ansells Bitter, not,an alcoholic tipple of choice for your average London Punk Rocker,who always seemed to have a can of Colt 45 glued to their hand; and where is Colt 45 now eh?....gone!...just like all the bands featured here....yes, even The Quads are gone and forgotten.Life is harsh innit? That such beauty could come from such a grim shithole as Birmingham is nothing short of amazing.However grim conditions are often touted as the very reason all this great art was created in the first place,an escape route so to speak.Following the Beatles to mansions in Surrey as soon as possible.The fabs couldn't wait to get out of Liverpool, and who can blame 'em?...trouble is the list of groups on this LP are patently stuck in one the world's oldest and grimest industrial conurbations.see this music as a cry for help. 

Tracklist:

A1 Bright Eyes – The Lonely Ones
A2 Bright Eyes – Casablanca
A3 The Lazers– Headache
A4 The Lazers– Rivet
A5 Willy & The Poorboys– My Babe
A6 Willy & The Poorboys– Hoy Hoy Hoy
B1 The Quads – When Everything Is Said & Done
B2 The Quads – Wonders Never Cease
B3 Rockers – It Takes A Thief
B4 Speed Limit – Alright On The Night
B5 Speed Limit – CJ
C1 Dansette Damage– All Little Girls Taste The Same
C2 Dansette Damage– Invaders
C3 Mayday – Moving In Time
C4 Mayday – Standing On The Edge Of The World
C5 Dangerous Girls– Demolition
C6 Playthings – Sally Daydream

D1 The Thrillers –To The Top

D2 The Thrillers – Breakout
D3 Spoonfull – On Your Trail
D4 Spoonfull – Nine 'Til Five
D5 Eclipse– Enjoy Yoursef

DOWNLOAD from the UK's sickened city HERE!

Various Artists – "Belfast" (Shock Rock – SLR 007) 1980

 

Put down yer Molotov Cocktails,stop throwing those Bricks,as the "Troubles" seem to have fueled one of the very best Local Band compilations in the united kingdom here.
Up there with Bristol's "Avon Calling", "Sent from Coventry",and that one by the Hackney Musicians Collective,and/or "East Of Croydon", to name some obvious candidates.
Such was life dodging ricocheting rubber bullets,and icy blasts from the water cannon,being creative during an insurgency was not,easy.

In fact just leaving home to walk to the subsidized recording facilities was literally risking your life,never mind finding somewhere secure,and free of religious bigotry, to play live.
Not many bands from other parts of the UK took the risk, except The Clash,and Crass,
So the only other option was....here we go again....Do It Yourself.
The crystal clear sound production,and great rock'n'roll guitar sounds,seem to suggest there may have been some local,or maybe even national, financial assistance going down here.
There are a couple of naff ones,but overall,this compilation ROCKS,by bands never to be heard of again.

Indeed,from certain areas of the stinkernet, these bands are Crisis Actors, and Northern Ireland never existed.....which most of us in the UK wished to be true at the time, until those kindly Americans came and sorted it all out for everyone.....and they are still doing it today.It would never have happened under the the Orange man,and he/it would have fixed it in 24 hours. this is why the Orange Men of the Orange order march in tribute to King Donald every year,causing a shitload of trouble(s).

Beam me the fuck UP Scottie!!!!

Tracklist:

A1 Stage B– Recall To Life
A2 Strike – Radio Songs
A3 Ex-Producers– The System Is Here
A4 Ezy Meat– Sexy Lady
A5 Reflex Action– Spies
B1 Strike – Running Past
B2 Reflex Action– Recession
B3 Stage B– Light On The Hillside
B4 Ezy Meat– Soho Escapade
B5 Ex-Producers– Behind The Door

DOWNLOAD fast without any troubles HERE!

Various Artists– "Springtime In Belsen" - (Sadist Records – SIB 001) 1998

Like some time-warped anti-matter west-end Juke Box musical,this insults on every level.For example The Yodler Killers ,from Switzerland, has the one and only Dr Josef Mengele on drums.....this is a little known fact about the original 'Angel Of Death' himself.

Luckily I like my Punk Rock irreverent,beyond Stupid,and played by a bunch of musically incompetent politically incorrect continental European burks....;don't we all? 

This is the factor that made the Stranglers stand out from the otherwise 'woke' before their time punk throng.Mainly thanks to having a Franglais classical guitarist and karate black belt in their midst,arriving via Guildford.

Frankly, anything with a track by Italian retardo's 'Tampax' on it, has to be worth a quick track skipping listen.

I have reviewed... gulp...."Tampax(in the cunt)" before.......(OMG?)....I paraphrase myself...it's an ultimate example of the kind of retarded sexuality last mentioned in Spinal Tap. Giggling in the classroom, unthink rock by repressed catholic boys who've just heard that ladies have a menstrual cycle, and....giggle....they use tampons....giggle,titter.
This tune is very probably the zenith of Stupid as we understand it. Download it and appall your Woke friends, especially if you don't want them to be your friends anymore;........unless they're the kind of lowdown pond-dwelling fuckwits that Tampax are, then they'll want to be with you forever.

The K9's are the cred giving English Punk band here,even giving Tampax a serious challenge in the ignoramus stakes.

There's even a Noo Yawk 'punk' band too,who sound like an English Punk band????

What The Prats, from Scotland, are doing on here is almost insulting,them being one of the greatest groupz wot ever existed...right?

SEHR SCHNELL do a blatantly plagarised version of Wire's "Lowdown",probably lifted from an imported copy of the "Live at Roxy" Album?

The punk thievery stops not there, as Japanese punk by numbers band ,"The Stalin", do Blitzkreig Bop for us, just in case you've never heard it...which i think they secretly hope you haven't...but we have,so...?

I guess this is someone trying to do something like one of those Killed By Death compilations,which sell in their thousands, and the profits go to some hidden Finnish bank account.

However its fantastically stupid stuff, and full of the kind of things that may get you Cancelled.....a nobler cause I can not imagine.

It's Banned from being sold on Discogs...what more glowing a recommendation do ya need?

Altogether now....."Its Springtime for Belsen and Anarchieeeeee" 

Insert with notes included.

A1 taken from 'Rattenloch EP' 7" (Ratt Records, 1979)
A2 taken from '1990's Pop E.P.' 7" (Rough Trade, 1980)
A3 taken from 'Son Of Sam' 7" (Kapitalist Records, 1977)
A4 taken from 'Bunker' 7" (Another Swiss Label, 1979)
A5 taken from 'Life Of Rian' 7" (Sånn'ja Records, 1980)
A6 taken from 'Me Myytiin Itsemme' 7" (Poko Records, 1979)
A7 taken from 'スターリニズム' 7" (Political Records, 1981)
A8 taken from 'Silvias Unge / Hitlers Barn' 7" (Kloaak, 1978)
A9 taken from Hitler SS / Tampax split 7" (Compact Cassette Records, 1979)
B1 and B9 taken from 'Jacot Masturbette' 7" (Zaki Records, 1979)
B2 taken from 'The K9 Hassle' 7" (Dog Breath Records, 1979)
B3 taken from '3-Spor EP' 7" (Krakk, 1979)
B4 taken from 'Only Fools Pretend To Be Happy' 7" (Sweet Harmony, 1979)
B5 taken from '1980' LP (CBS, 1980)
B6 taken from 'Hot Love / Die Wüste Lebt!' 7" (Periphery Perfume, 1977)
B7 taken from 'EP' 7" (Savage Music, 1979)
B8 taken from 'Vaihda Vapaalle' 7" (Love Records, 1979)

Tracklisting:

A1 Dirt Shit– Discoscheisser

A2 Prats*– Disco Pope

A3 Chain Gang– Gary Gilmore In The Island Of Dr. Moreau

A4 Technicolor*– Bunker

A5 Norgez Bank– Springtime In Belsen

A6 Ypo-Viis– Me Myytiin Semme

A7 Stalin– Buta Ni Shinju

A8 Kriminella Gitarrer– Hitler's Barn

A9 Tampax– Tampax In The Cunt

B1 Yodler Killers– Jacotte Masturbette

B2 K9's– Sweeny Todd

B3 Oslo Bors– Smukke Folks Born

B4 Checkmate – Weekend

B5 Brats– Punk Fashion

B6 Nasal Boys– Die Wuste Lebt

B7 Young Identities– Positive Thinking

B8 Sehr Schnell– Vaihda Vapaalee

B9 Yodler - KillersSoussolrock

DOWNLOAD the four seasons of stupid HERE!

Lemon Kittens - "Live 1980/81) (a Die Or DIY? product) 1980/81

A prolonged absence may have been noted by your faithful scribe,but i have been an unwilling victim of a Co-Vid variant!Despite having been vaccinated thrice, It fucked me over.and I was visited by the ghost of Christmas Future during my virus ravaged stupor.I was even planning how to keep the blog running after my imminent death!?

I's Still a bit fucked up,but managed to think of something to write about.....The Lemon Kittens of course?...i really don't know what i have been doing in the preceding weeks,but i'm already forgetting that terrifying dying feeling.Shit man, i was panicking about my estate rather more than yer actual fear of death. Soooooooo......!?

In the lengthening history of 'Out There' during the Rock'n'Roll era, there has been, actually, a gaping dearth  of genuinely fucking weird groups this side of the grand canyon of 'Out'. You've either got it or you ain't,and 99% of 'Weird' just ain't is it? There's trying (embarrassingly Hard) to be weird,Volcano The Bear (one lp on that NWW bloke's label!?) spring to mind, and there's just plain old. Weird. 

Early Residents were effortlessly weird until they discovered computers. Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica is the epitome of Weird ,but he couldn't repeat it!....nah....'Decals' is 'trying' not 'being',like all his post bat chain puller stuff, pretentious, like his shite Art works;but hey we all need to make a living don't we? We also have 'Ill' weird, like Jandek, Daniel Johnston,and anything Outsider. You have to be Normal (conforming to general standards of 'Normal) to qualify as achieving 'Weird' status...like Moondog?

There are plenty of early industrial acts who sound weird,but are far toooo normal to fool me....like the bloke from Nurse With Wound*...but his public schooled mate David Tibet knew he was far too fucking normal, and spent his career languishing in,slash exploiting,the truly weird,and wonderful ocean of Dark Folk...now that certainly IS weird shit brother,but we is talking the world of 'pop' here,and Lemon Kittens qualify as being within the 'pop' format, like Don Van Vliet before them, even though they were regularly featured on 'Industrial' compilations.

"We Buy A hammer For Daddy" (also on that NWW bloke label!?) is easily the equal of "Trout Mask Replica" on the pantheon of Weird,with a better follow up to boot.

I won't bust a blood vessel listing albums I reckon are effortlessly weird,but that list would be a slim volume indeed,dangerously treading on pamphlet territory.

Yup, The Lemon Kittens were effortlessly so.

So,in the light of a lack of new material,here's a quickly cobbled together volume of very rare recordings of Dax and Blake supporting This Heat at the ICA....the bootlegger obviously arrived late and missed most of the Lemon Kittens set...twat....and another one supporting ...erm...Modern English!?...dunno what their fans thought of of it all?

That first Modern English LP was rather good I remember?....certainly Not weird,but classic British pop music;just like Lemon Kittens were classic British Weird.

It's a fascinating subject is Weird innit?

Asking what is the Weirdest Album of all time is akin to asking what is the worst album of all time. Mostly, the same record tops both charts, and maybe even tops the Best Album Charts too.....this has happened to "Trout Mask Replica".Alas "We Buy A Hammer" is far too obscure to feature in any chart,even the Obscure Chart....and dare I say, far too Weird?

*once upon a time, That Nurse With Wound bloke,was selling his first LP to the record shops in Camden,when he approached the infamous Ted Carroll of 'Rock On'.Ted asked what kind of music it was.

"Sort of 'Weird'said MWW bloke.

"Nah!" said Ted, that ain't weird....This is WEIRD!"..and proceeded to play The Human League's, "Being Boiled",newly released on Fast Product.

Y'know what I agree with Ted.

Tracklist: 

1.Intro (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

2.Up In Arms (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

3.Popsykle (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

4.Morbotalk (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

5.Small Mercies (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

6.Bookburner (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

7.Funky 7 (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

8.(unknown) (end cut) (The Venue, London 08/09/1981)

9.Afraid Of Being Bled By Leeches (ICA London 27-12-1980)

10. PVS (ICA London 27-12-1980)

11. This Kind Of Dying (ICA London 27-12-1980)

DOWNLOAD this kind of trying HERE!

The Stranglers And Friends – "Live In Concert, Rainbow,London 1980"

Oooh Look! A one-off collaboration for two 1980 live concerts by The Stranglers from the spring of 1980. Naughty Hugh Cornwell was in Pentonville Prison for drug possession. With two gigs scheduled at the London Rainbow for 3 & 4 April, the management decided to turn things around by approaching a number of well-known artistes to fill in for the absent Cornwell on vocals and guitar.

However,what is notable about the various guest appearances is the number of deceased individuals on one stage.....not deceased at the time one has to note, but recently deceased, as in the case of Jet Black,Nik Turner ,Nicky Tesco and ,my guitar and sartorial hero, Wilko Johnson. 

There are other less recently deceased artistes of course, like Ian Dury and Larry Wallis,but mainly we're concentrating on the new wave of dead pop-stars,wot I have wrote about in the last few posts,with the exception of Wilko Johnson,for whom I couldn't find any words to express this great loss!

He being the only musician I know of who has a spoonerism for his nom des plumes. I also could not find anything (good) he did that I haven't already posted before.....that is, until discovering his guest spot on these live recordings by a Hugh Cornwell-less Stranglers. Nestling uncomfortably alongside Robert Fripp and his terrifying wife, Toyah......later to haunt us all with their insufferable social media appearances....another dreadful consequence of the Co-Vid Lockdown.....among various Pub legends,skids,blockheads and ex-proggers. Sure enuff an impressive turn out,and a more interesting way to listen to the Stranglers back catalogue. One of the few Tribute albums that actually features the band who are the subject of the tribute.

Farewell Wilko.

Tracklist:

1 Introduction by Jet Black 1:53

2 Get A Grip
Guitar – John Ellis, Robert Smith
Vocals – Hazel O'Connor 3:42

3 Hanging Around
Guitar – John Ellis , Robert Smith
Vocals – Hazel O'Connor 4:09

4 Tank
Guitar – John Ellis , Robert Fripp
Vocals – Pete Hammil 3:03

5 Threatened
Guitar – John Ellis , Robert Fripp 3:21

6 Toiler
Guitar – John Ellis , Robert Fripp
Vocals – Phil Daniels 5:19

7 The Raven
Guitar – Basil Gabbidon, John Ellis
Vocals – Pete Hammil 4:30

8 Dead Loss Angeles
Guitar – John Ellis, Wilko Johnson
Vocals – Phil Daniels 2:18

9 Nice'N'Sleazy
Guitar – Basil Gabbidon , John Ellis
Saxophone – Nik Turner
Vocals – Nicky Tesco 6:44

10 Bring On The Nubiles
Guitar – John Ellis, Wilko Johnson
Vocals – Richard Jobson 4:00

11 Peaches
Guitar – John Ellis , John Turnball
Saxophone – Davey Payne
Vocals – Hazel O'Connor, Ian Dury, Toyah Wilcox 4:34

12 Bear Cage
Guitar – John Ellis , John Turnball
Keyboards – Matthew Hartley
Saxophone – Davey Payne
Vocals – Hazel O'Connor, Ian Dury, Toyah Wilcox 4:41

13 Duchess
Guitar – John Ellis
Vocals – Toyah Wilcox 2:44

14 No More Heroes
Guitar – John Ellis
Vocals – Richard Jobson 3:49

15 Five Minutes
Guitar – Larry Wallis
Vocals – Richard Jobson 4:13

16 Something Better Change
Guitar – John Ellis , Steve Hillage
Vocals – Toyah Wilcox 3:43

17 Sewer
Guitar – John Ellis , Steve Hillage
Vocals – Jake Burns 7:36

DOWNLOAD from over the rainbow 1980 HERE!

Inner City Unit – "Passout" (Self-Released Cassette) 1980

Yes, Nik Turner dies,so a  tribute post is almost obligatory in this day and age when celebrities are treated as friends and family more than yer actual friends and family are......that is,if you have any friends and family,which is doubtful if you're reading this.

I never saw Hawkwind with Turner in the line-up, but i feel as i must make a contribution to the memory of anyone who was in Hawkwind up to about 1980. Although I don't think I did anything for Lemmy, or the electronics one. I figure they were rather important, if the adjective 'Important' can be applied to anything 'Pop'. I didn't even really like any of the albums that Nik Turner was on, other than possibly Space Ritual. I'm strictly a Quark Strangeness and Charm man, flesh and blood.

Hawkwind, in all their era's and offshoots, were.....here we go again..."important"? They had obvious DIY qualities, and,more importantly they had a nude dancey lady with pendulous breasts, so obviously somethings gonna stand up to attention within a teenage boys body....that's right, his Ears!

I thought they were hippies until i saw them on Marc Bolan's kids TV show doing "Quark Strangness and Charm"....and Marc liked them, so that's good enough for me......but, again, Nik Turner wasn't in the group by then! Quiet a disagreeable fellow I hear, was Nik, so he had to go.

Therefore, we have Nik Turners Inner City Unit, who made their own cassettes in their early days, and sounded like one of those trendy 'punk' groups!? Although, noticeably,unlike other 'punk' groups with a saxophone in the line-up, Inner-city Unit got away with NOT being labelled Jazz-Punk, along with X-Ray Spex...and er.....Theatre of Hate?......and Neon Hearts...and....oh, in fact all punk groups with a sax except for The Cravats!?

They did some 'punked up' versions of Hawkwind Classics,such as Masters Of The Universe, and Brainstorm,but don't hold that against them.....leave that for the obligatory 'Punky Reggae' number that ends side 2....terrible.

RIP Nik Turner of ICU and Hawkwind,aged 82 !? That's older than Macca and Ringo!?

Tracklist:

A1 Space Invaders
A2 Watching The Grass Grow
A3 Polly Ethylene
A4 Solitary Ashtray
A5 O. B. City Muse
A6 Brainstorm
A7 Cybernetic Love
A8 Cars Eat With Auto Face
B1 Fallout
B2 Nuclear Waste
B3 Master Of The Universe
B4 Amyl Nitrate
B5 Help Sharks

DOWNLOAD some sax led punkadelia,'cus there ain't gonna be no more of it HERE!

Diamond Head – "The White Album" (Diamond Head Self-released) 1980

Did someone mention Diamond Head in the previous post?......dunno what's happening to this blog, but at least I'm enjoying myself for once.

Say what you like about the plus's and pitfalls of The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal,but it's early days were as DIY as what yer Punk rockers did. And this Diamond Head self-release was The 'Spunk' of NWOBHM,and came in (Phanar Phanar) many versions of the now yellowing carte blanche sleeve as there were discs pressed.

Fans of this punked up version of seventies Heavy Metal were many,made up of those kids(all male) who were crap at sport,too ugly to get a girlfriend,and not trendy enough to like Joy Division who they secretly thought weren't rockin' enough!?.....They never heard the live side of 'Still' in time to save them from the Debut Iron Maiden LP;who,incidentally,had rivaled Diamond Head'e DIY cred with their own 'Soundhouse Tapes' self-release.

These spotty denim and levver clad oiks got to purge their trauma flashbacks of bullying at school by listening to that exotic beast,previously banned for the previous few years,Thee Guitar Solo,which had now been inserted back into that Pistols 'wall of sound', which along with Thin Lizzy and Motorhead had informed these frustrated outcasts as to the direction they found most comfortable. Punk had either gone weird,funky, or just stopped rocking completely....so in it's place trod the living fossils of Iron Maiden, Saxon, Venom, and other such effrontery to good taste from the provinces of the UK and fill the vacuum left behind by the imploded Pistols.

Basically, take away the solo's,change the lyrics to something vaguely political,add a shouty singer and you've got Punk Rock as last heard on The Damned's "Music For Pleasure" LP. 

Basically its just entertainment for young men made by other young men, like Football used to be. We like to jump around,push each other and shout stuff......simple fun for simple folk.

As has happened to football, girls want to get involved nowadays,so I dunno what this type of male are gonna do in these wonderfully 'woke' times......video games? Suicide? Homosexuality?...the world's an oyster of endless possibilities.....as long as you don't upset anyone.

"Am I Evil?....Yes I fucking well am!" 

Tracklist:
A1 Lightning To The Nations 4:15
A2 The Prince 6:27
A3 Sucking My Love 9:35
B1 Am I Evil 7:39
B2 Sweet And Innocent 3:13
B3 It's Electric 3:37
B4 Helpless 6:52

DOWNLOAD to give the head some relief HERE!

Steve Beresford – "The Bath Of Surprise" (Piano – Piano 003) 1980

Remember all those Slits Gigs you went to in 1980?There was always a geeky bespectacled bloke in the background who made the whole thing stick together.That was Steve Beresford. (see if you can spot him in this Clip,like a post-punk version of 'Where's wally'.).

Apart from making The Slits a slightly more musical offering, there's a vast array of projects that can boast the presence of one of the London Musician's Collective most prolific members.If it made a noise Steve would play it.And he'd do it for countless groups from The Frank Chickens,49 Americans,Flying Lizards,and The Portsmouth Symphonia,to the Hard core of the UK Improvising scene,Derek Bailey,Han Benninck,and Evan Parker.He was in at the deep end,and still is.

This was Steven's debut solo album,as produced and released by DIY Avant-gardist David Cunningham,who was better known as the Flying Lizards,and the man who released and produced This Heat's early records.A seemingly perfect track record?

What are you gonna get on this record? Well,you don't know do you,it's improvised.....the unexpected...I expect?...BUT...having played it to see whats on it, i can tell you everything from toys to tuba's to scraping noises are there...which i suppose is to be expected.... if, you know your free improvisation.If you don't, cleanse yourself in the bath of surprise.

Tracklist:

1 Punctuation
2 Lieutenant Dub
3 Cat Picture
4 What Is A Thing
5 The Bath Of Surprise
6 Concealed Entrance
7 My Old Piano
8 Burning Problems
9 Schlussakord
10 Those Oldies But Goodies Remind Me Of You
11 A Cup Of Tea And A Bun
12 Mr & Mrs. Wu
13 Spring Clips
14 A Continuous Supply Of History

DOWNLOAD these tales of the expected but unexpected HERE!

Alterations – "Up Your Sleeve" (Quartz Publications – !QUARTZ 006) 1980

I said i'd post this in response to a request....which is handy so we can move on from the Synth-Punk thread one was in danger of weaving.Like an escape from Rapunzel's tower,.....did I tell you all about the nutjob in Leicester who built a replica of Rapunzel's Tower in his back garden,as a disguised entrance to his nuclear bunker;fully stocked with cans of Heinz Baked beans and Coke...original flavour of course! Oh How we laughed!?....until now,as he looks like the sane one,and we are in danger of getting irradiated by a nuclear Tidal wave. I didn't ask if the entrance to Rapunzels' Bunker was water tight?I assume it is.

Alas, fear Not, for the Russian threat is but mere fantasy,as there were several under water H-Bomb tests in the fifties,and lo and behold....no Tsunami. Just like all their other 'super-weapons.....they're running out of processing chips.Oh How we Laughed....hang on, haven't i said that before?

There's a Door and the Window reference in there, (I Feel Like a Doris),so this must be something to do with the London Musicians' Collective....which of course it is.It's got David Toop and Steve Beresford on it from the more lauded end of the LMC. 

These chaps were taken seriously,but never by themselves.

If you're an open minded individual, as a rapidly decreasing percentage of the populous is year on year,this non-music is a pure expression of freedom,and anyone who doesn't like it can leave the room,which they would certainly do if encountered in the wrong environment. This is the kind of degenerate art that Putin will be issuing death sentences for in a few years,in the post nuclear wasteland that was once known as the Russian Federation.

The tune "Party Political" by this LMC sooper groop,is,lyrically, thee best most incisive dissection of the Political zeitgeist I have ever heard.....read these words as a manifesto for freedom :

"Don't Listen to Electrical Wholesalers,

Don't Listen to Greengrocers,

Reject their Ideology,

Don't Listen to Wholesale Greengrocers,

Don't Listen to TV Repair people.

REJECT THEM!"

Can't argue against all that...except that TV repair people no longer exist,as buying a new TV is far cheaper than getting it fixed.But all essentially true.

Tracklist:

A.1. He Feels Like A Doris Day
A.2. Trail Of Traps
A.3. The Life And Opinion Of Masseur Ichi

B.1. Not So Dumb Deaf And Mute Heroine
B.2. Fear Of Mayonnaise
B.3. Stand By Your Sheep
B.4. Party Political

DOWNLOAD from their sleeves to yours HERE!

Drinking Electricity – "Overload + Singles" (Pop:Aural / Survival) 1980/1982

Inmates of Bob Last's Pop:Aural imprint,whose professed aim was to get a leftfield act into the pop charts by stealth.

Having been robbed of The Human League by Virgin,an independent label who had subverted the Pop Charts many times before already....a fact that went unnoticed in the Last household it seems.It didn't stop him from ruining The Fire Engines,among others, in his quest for Pop mogul-ism in the guise of the hip priest of 80's pop.

Nonetheless, Bob Last was responsible for some the greatest hip-pop failures of the early part of the decade.

Drinking Electricity, from somewhere in downtown Surrey,had the perfect set-up;guy and gurl with tech who weren't too harsh on the eye. A lot of the tunes sound like you've heard them before elsewhere,there's hints of "Assault On Precinct 13" and the main riff of "Being Boiled" appears(I guess that Bob felt it was his property?) ,but transferred to a funky bass guitar.

In all, its a fine collection of wonderfully analogue minimal electronics coupled with spiteful robo-bitch vocals treading on the heavily mined no-mans land of too "kool for skool" territory.....(for a fine dissertation on the pitfalls of being too kool for skool click HERE;)

There's also an irreverent cover of Brit Rock'n'Roll classic, Johnny Kidd's "Shaking All Over", which gives me an opportunity to direct you to a funny story concerning said tune which one had recounted earlier in the vast archives of this blog HERE!

But don't let all this nostalgia divert you from the fact that this Drinking Electricity collection is rather flipping GOOD, Flamin' Nora it is...there's even a Flamin' Groovies cover too?)...Don't wanna sound too enthusiastic,but these kids sound slightly more like a Belgian twosome than UK Synth duo;not that there's anything wrong with that,just two different beasts. the UK version got lots of hits and got rich,but the Belgian equivalent got ignored and poor....mainly because when they sang they sounded like a motor neuron disease sufferer's speech synthesizer;which was briefly novel once upon a time if it was only for a couple of tracks......which Drinking Electricity did conversant as they obviously were in the do's and don't of pop music.....there you go....too kool for skool again!

Tracklist:

1 Breakout 3:25
2 Discord Dance 3:27
3 Good Times 3:34
4 Colour Coding 3:33
5 Fall 3:53
6 Breakout II 1:56
7 Countdown 4:09
8 News Peak 3:46
9 Twilight Zone 3:11
10 Superstition 3:35
11 The Promise 4:11
12 Subliminal 7" 4:08
13 Random Particles 3:23
14 Shaking All Over 3:07
15 China 2:53
16 Cruising Missiles 3:50
17 Shaking Dub 4:15
18 Good Times 12" 4:38
19 Breakout 12" 5:05
20 Subliminal Radical Re-mix 6:12
21 Shake Some Action (Demo Version) 3:30

DOWNLOAD something shockingly good HERE!

The Naughtiest Girl Was A Monitor – "The Best Of The Naughtiest Girl Was A Monitor" (Self-Released) 2014 / 1980-1982

Owner of ,probably, thee very worst band name ever conceived , The Naughtiest Girl Was A Monitor ( TNGWAM ) made some rather uninspired Synth-pop to rival fellow Sheffield pop-synthers Human League's exceedingly crap "Hysteria" album, or anything by the truly terrible Heaven 17.

As they didn't have a bloke with a silly lop-sided haircut,or a pair of utterly talentless Townie dancers, TNGWAM never got whisked into the studio and have all their hits written by Martin Rushent.The result being, no-one remembers them no more outside of Southern Yorkshire....but,by 'eck, maybe a shrewd name change would have helped them commercially? If you want a hit never have a band-name that doesn't bore the punters three words in.A fine example of how not to do it,to be taught in a lecture at one of those ridiculous Pop academies that are replacing really useless stuff like Engineering Degrees at universities all across the western world.

The name, I am Told, comes from a series of children's books written by nasty Nazi sympathizer Enid Blyton.The 'monitor' part being a reference to the poor sods who had to go and collect the Milk and distribute it to the other kids in the class...until Margaret Thatcher stopped this Free Milk for kids nonsense;so not only did Thatcher liberate the miners from the pits,she also liberated the minors from the humiliation of being the Milk Monitor.

I was once press ganged into being the Coffee Monitor for, and by, the staff in the Staff room...don't worry none of the fuckers touched me up or anything;despite the head master being a weirdo god squad nutjob.Luckily i went to a grammar school after my hard time in the primary school system, to attend a strictly secular institution full of us supposedly intelligent kids...so no stupid fuckers to pander to with the patently absurd tales contained within any Holy books.The wheat was sieved from the chaff,and we had science lessons.Who says I'm not Elitist?

Enid Blyton's Tory Propaganda,and civil service training manual for any hooray hennrietta's gulping down the Pimms for throwing Lockdown parties during any future pandemic at number 10 Downing street..... very good for starting fires i've heard

Sheffield, of course, is one of the major gene-pools of Synth pop,post-punk and Industrial culture,so naturally TNGWAM were gonna struggle,and inevitably sank without trace,not even an oil slick left on the vast ocean of popular music;and no-one is gonna be bothered to send a submersible either...for a reason.....which I wager you can guess.

  

Tracklist:

1 All The Naked Heroes 2:30
2 Diary 5:02
3 Front 2:37
4 Is All I Need 2:29
5 Marcella Ball 4:56
6 Sensation / No Sensation 2:54
7 So Far Away 3:12
8 Wax Museum 2:48
9 What We Don't Want To See 3:34
10 Panthea

DOWNLOAD to hear some naughty girls on your monitors HERE!

Boots For Dancing – "The Undisco Kidds (Sessions,Singles,and Demo's 1980-82) " (A Die or DIY? expanded edition) 2022

Bonnie Scotland were not just responsible for such reasons not to exist as Deacon Blue, The Proclaimers,,and Big Country, they virtually invented Indie-pop the night after witnessing Subway Sect on the Clash's White Riot tour....Josef K, Orange Juice,Fire Engines, Boots For Dancing,and......hold on big man,what was that last one?

Yeah, Boots For Dancing, the celtic cousins of Gang Of Four and A Certain Ratio, so accurately described by Rezillo and Dare-era Human Leaguer Jo Callis as "Schrodinger's crazy cats writhing about in a Faraday cage,all charged up"....couldn't have put it better myself. So  scratchy and funky were they that John Peel once threatened to dance upon aural detection. They did release two singles on Bob Last's legendary "Pop:Aural" label after all...all included here.

It's the kind of off kilter post-punk-funk that gets the white man's foot-a-tappin' for sure.A style that would crop up on Top Of The Pops in the form of cute but funky plagiarists Haircut 100 and floppy fringed cringe-meisters Modern Romance,with a polished up version of ACR and Boots For Dancing for the great unwashed and the even the less great unintelligentia who form 90% of the 'Public'. 

Undoubtedly, these groups were also a major influence on Ron Johnson acts such as Twang! and mid-80's post-punk Scot-funksters The MacKenzies,until the Kids found different ways to dance post-chemical enhancement after 1988....i'll leave it to you to imagine what that could have been?

Anyway...All the singles,three John Peel Sessions,and some demo's for a future Lp that never materialized,are on here......groovy baby.

"I Like Dancing but I don't Like Disco's" is the manifesto from the debut single back in 1980.....as for me, I don't Like Dancing and I don't like Disco's.....but if i'm drunk i firmly believe I could to this?.....hmmmm, maybe not?

Tracklist:

1. Boots For Dancing (Pop Aural Single 1980)

2. Parachutes (Pop Aural Single 1980)

3. Guitars & Girl Trouble (Pop Aural Single 1980)

4. (Let's All) Hesitate (Peel Session 17.11.1980)

5. The  Pleasure Chant (Peel Session 17.11.1980)

6. Timeless Tonight (Peel Session (17.11.1980)

7. South Pacific (Peel Session 17.11.1980)

8. Stand (Peel Session 13.07.1981)

9. Shadows Of Stone (Peel Session 13.07.1981) 

10.Wild Jazz Summers (Peel Session 13.07.1981)

11.Get Up (Peel Session 14.04.1982)

12.Salt in the Ocean (Peel Session 14.04.1982)

13.Style in Full Swing (Peel Session 14.04.1982)

14.Bend an Elbow, Lend an Ear (Peel Session 14.04.1982)

15.Just the Ticket  (Barclay Towers Studio October 1981)

16.Money (Is Thin On The Ground) (Barclay Towers Studio October 1981)

17.Wild Jazz Summers (Barclay Towers Studio October 1981)

18.Shadows on Stone (Barclay Towers Studio October 1981)

19.Oh' Bop Sh Bam (Barclay Towers Studio October 1981)

20.Hesitate (The Rain Song 7'' Pop Aural 1980).

21.The Rain Song (The Rain Song 7'' Pop Aural 1980)

DOWNLOAD yer dancin' boots HERE!

The Freshies – "Rough 'N' Ready" (Razz Records – RAZZ CS4) 1980

They could have been bigger than the Buzzcocks,but ended up not quite as good as second album Vapors.They,at least had "Turning Japanese";whereas the best The Freshies could muster was "Yellow Spot",which wasn't even as good as The Buzzcocks' worst single......"Why She's A Girl From A Chainstore",written by the talentless Steve Diggle.......ironically The Freshies closest shot at the charts references that Diggle double A side,called "I'm In Love With The Girl On The Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk",which had a novelty value about it I suppose,and at least they got to play it on legendary but crap kids pop show "Get It Together" with the great Roy North (as previously referenced in the Phil Hartley of Bogshed fame post wot i dun last weeek-ish or so).

This cassette was The Freshies going really New Wave,highly competent,well-crafted,rather too clever, power pop non-hits for the lapsed Blondie fan next door.If they had Chris,the singer,writer etc,in character as his alter-ego Frank Sidebottom,they would have definitely been bigger than The Buzzcocks,well at least bigger than The Vapors....maybe bigger than even 'Department-S'?

You may have noticed that I am referring to all this in the Past Tense as both Frank and Chris are dead actually.So we'll never know beyond visiting the Power Pop Astral Plain where everyone gets to be number one for a day.

Tracklist:

A1 Yellow Spot 2:28
A2 Yeah-No, I Know 2:29
A3 Yesterday/Tomorrow 2:23
A4 Oh Girl 2:05
A5 Photograph 2:26
A6 New Edition 2:28
B1 One To One 1:46
B2 House Beautiful 2:43
B3 We're Like You 2:17
B4 My Tapes Gone 2:51
B5 No Money 4:00
B6 If It's News 1:48

DOWNLOAD ready and roughly HERE!

Two Daughters – "Two Daughters" (Methane Music ) 1980

More Old Skool Industrial chaps ,chapettes and other types of chaps? Anyone whose gender self identity I've not included,write your name and address on a postcard and send it to Vladimir Putin who has recently come out as a Chick with a Dick......no....wait....small error on my part...a bloodthirsty dictator and child killer.Please feel free to add that definition on your postcard.

This cassette was made by a couple of Burkes,Anthony and Paul, who had excitedly just heard about the festive joys of Tape Loops and 23 Skidoo's more ethereal percussive moments. Add to that zesty cocktail a stiff portion of cheap effects and you've got one thick slice of DIY Industrial, 1980 style.The watershed year for popular music.

Suitably analogue and darkly ambient, I could could listen to this in a darkened room for at least an hour,non-stop, breaking only for tea and biscuits and a nice long piss. Hang on, this only runs for fifty minutes, so it's not a shop bought brand name C-60,these Burkes spent money on it!The sell-outs!

Of course, newly rediscovered cassettes like this are lauded as works of near-genius by culture starved geeks hither and yon,but back in 1980, everyone was doing this.....some still are,like a UK Subs of Industrial music.What d'you want?....A Medal?

Tracklisting:

A1 Ladder Of Souls 

A2 Return Call - We Are

A3 Sad Horizons

A4 So I

B1 Return Call

B2 Drums

B3 Air Lair

B4 Aaaaaar

DOWNLOAD and arrange a visit from your daughters HERE!