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

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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!

The Killjoys - " Demos,Peel Sessions, Live, and Singles 1977-78" (a Die or DIY? Compilation)

As previously mentioned ,Birmingham spawned two reasonably well known second wave punk groups in 1977; the excellent Prefects, and the somewhat less excellent Killjoys, fronted by one of the few punk frontmen with naturally curly hair.
The killjoys managed one pretty decent single on the near perfect Raw records, and a couple of other tunes for the label compilation "A Raw Deal", but quickly descended into trying to write 'competent' pop songs like the ones in their second Peel Session from 1978.
This was a nasty habit that infected Kevin Rowland for most of the eighties and beyond, as he became the living embodiment of the oft used phrase; "like punk never happened".
Especially during Dexy's hillbilly phase! Probably thee worst ever band image ever imposed on the listening public, alongside "Come On Eileen" being admissible for evidence for crimes against humanity in the international court of human rights.
OMFG!? Rowlands throaty whine fills me with an unstoppable desire to slice my ears off and fill the remaining holes with sound absorbent insulation foam.
Hard to believe that our Kevin was once the angry looking sneery focal point for Brum's second ever punk band. 
Not only did the vocalist go on to create great aural evil, the female bass player, Ghislaine, went on to commit more crimes against rock in New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Band 'Girlschool'!! .....terrible stuff.

Track Listing:

01 Naive(Raw Single 1977)
02 Johnny Won't Go To Heaven(Raw Single 1977)
03 At Night(Alternative Take 1977)
04 Recognition(alternative Mix 1977)
05 At Night (Rough Mix 1977)
06 Back to Front[Peel Session 11-10-77)
07 Naive[Peel Session 11-10-77]
08 Recognition[Peel Session 11-10-77)
09 At Night [Peel Session 11-10-77]
10 Spit On Me[Peel Session 01-02-78]
11 Smoke Your Own[Peel Session 01-02-78]
12 All The Way[Peel Session 01-02-78]
13 Ghislaine[Peel Session 01-02-78]
14 Recognition[Studio Demos 18-10-1977]
15 Back to front[Studio Demos 18-10-1977]
16 At night[Studio Demos 18-10-1977]
17 Is That What She Said (Live 1978)
18 Johnny Won't Get To Heaven (Live 1977)
19 At Night (Raw Deal compilation 1977)
20 Recognition (Raw Deal compilation 1977)
21 Naive (Unedited Version)
22 Johnny Won't Get To Heaven (Unedited Version)

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The Prefects - "Peel sessions 1978-79" (a Die or DIY? compilation)

The Nightingales were ,of course, once, non-stereotypical 'punk' Group, The Prefects. They even got a birth on The Clash's 'White Riot Tour',with the Slits,and The Subway Sect.The tour that more than anything else spread the seeds of Indie music to fester. Mainly thanks to the Prefects and Subway sect rather than the Clash.

As punk groups from Birmingham went, we had The Killjoys, who sang in a cockney accent(?), and The Prefects, who sang in that classic slovenly brummy drawl, complete with rounded consonants.Its a rule that local Punk groups should sound like where they come from.Its Fook Off rather than Fak Off.

They never released a record in their lifetime, except a posthumous single on Rough Trade that was culled from these Peel sessions.

They obviously were too intelligent to carry on in the limiting 'Punk' groove, and went on to greater, and less popular things in the magnificent Nightingales. 

Tracklist:
01 Things In General (11-08-78) 3:09

02 Escort Girls (11-08-78) 1:37

03 Bristol Road Leads To Dachau (11-08-78) 10:08

04 Agony Column (11-08-78) 2:59

05 Going Through The Motions (08-01-79) 5:02
06 Faults (08-01-79) 1:35

07 Total Luck (08-01-79) 4:21

08 Barbarellas (08-01-79) 1:34

09 625 Lines (Live 1978 Bonus) 1:30
10 VD (Live 1978 Bonus) 0:13

DOWNLOAD under orders from your internet prefect HERE!

The Nightingales ‎– "Pigs On Purpose" +all the classic early Singles (Cherry Red ‎– BRED 39) 1982

Wow! How good is this classic debut album from The Nightingales. Its got the lot; cheap sounding weedy guitars played with amphetamine fueled  strumming, repetitive bass-lines, busy speedy drumming, intelligent and funny lyrics delivered amateurishly by that weird 'bloke next door' himself Robert Lloyd.
I remember "The Crunch(12" version)" being played in my local Goth club circa '83, and the dance floor was full of black clad whirling dervishes; I wish one had a smart phone back in those days!?....then it was back to The Sisters of Mercy and Alien Sex Fiend, and things calmed down(Yawn!).

The Nightingales also released a string of singles to rival The Buzzcocks on Cherry Red/Rough Trade/ and their own Vindaloo records.
Starting with.....:

"Idiot Strength" - (Rough Trade ‎– RT075, Vindaloo Records ‎– UGH4.)1981

"Paraffin Brain / Elvis, The Last Ten Days" (Cherry Red ‎– CHERRY 38) 1982

"Use Your Loaf" (Cherry Red ‎– CHERRY 34) 1982

"Urban Ospreys C/W Cakehole" (Cherry Red ‎– CHERRY 56) 1983

All these frankly Brilliant singles are,of course included in the file ,with just one flick of the trigger finger.

If there is a stand out single from this repertoire,then it has to be "Paraffin Brain" and, the fantastically titled, "Elvis, The Last Ten Days". I have restless nights worrying whether this work of genius actually made it to number one in at least one of the infinite number of universes that theoretically populate the wider cosmos. If there was actually a reason for the existence of the multi-verse (which of course there isn't!) then this single would be it......but then of course there would be a universe where 'One Direction' got to number one and have utter awfulness like The X-Factor,Rap Music and U2.....SHIT!...its this universe isn't it!!!!!????...FUCK IT!

Tracklist:

1 Blood For Dirt 2:59
2 Start From Scratch 2:24
3 One Mistake 2:40
4 Well Done Underdog 1:47
5 The Crunch 4:51
6 The Hedonist's Sigh 2:25
7 It Lives Again 3:01
8 Make Good 2:24
9 Don't Blink 4:03
10 Joking Apart 2:17
11 Yeah, It's OK 5:15
12 Use Your Loaf 2:07
13 Blisters 4:35
14 Idiot Strength 3:11
15 Seconds 2:50
16 Paraffin Brain 3:03
17 Elvis The Last Ten Days 2:56
18 Inside Out 3:01
19 Under The Lash 2:15

20 Urban Ospreys 4:26

21 Cakehole 3:20

DOWNLOAD all this classic anti-pop on purpose HERE!

The Nightingales - "The Complete Peel Sessions 1980-86" (a Die or DIY? compilation)

Two hours of birdsong anyone? Compiled from eight John Peel Sessions, here's every track the 'Gales recorded for the venerable BBC DJ from 1980 to 1986!
The Nightingales were where the 80's started, morphing out of non-aligned 'punk' band 'The Prefects', they set the template for all the non-butch indie groups that followed. Vocalist Robert Lloyd, had NHS glasses years before Morissey even had his singing lessons......one doubts very much that Robert Lloyd ever had a lesson in anything musical, ever;an undoubted advantage for originality in music?
They could also beat any hardcore punk band for speed, with one of the fastest guitarists this side of the Wedding Present,and/or even Napalm Death.
Definitely from The Fall's neck of the woods ethically,but The Fall sound like Heavy Metal compared to The Nightingales. They were like a band who had been locked in a cupboard since birth and then played their interpretation of rock'n'roll as described by their rescuers who hated Rock music......although that is so far from the truth, as these chaps were probably the most clued up and sophisticated exponents of anti-pop in the early eighties.

The Sartorially Elegant Robert Lloyd in about 1982

Track Listing:

01 Start from Scratch[01_10_1980]
02 Butter Bricks[01_10_1980]
03 Torn [01_10_1980]
04 12 Years[01_10_1980]
05 Return Journey[07_06_1981]
06 One Mistake[07_06_1981]
07 Bush Beat[07_06_1981]
08 Inside Out[07_06_1981]
09 Give 'em Time[03-03-1982]
10 Which Hi-Fi_[03-03-1982]
11 My Brilliant Career[03-03-1982]
12 Son Of Gods Mate[03-03-1982]
13 Blood For Dirt[30-06-1982]
14 Joking Apart[30-06-1982]
15 O.K. Chorale _ The Crunch[30-06-1982]
16 It Lives Again[30-06-1982]
17 Urban Ospreys [29_03_1983]
18 Yeah It's OK [29_03_1983]
19 The Bending End [29_03_1983]
20 The Why's Of Acknowledgement [29_03_1983]
21 Only My Opinion [29_03_1983]
22 Look Satisfied[12_05_1983]
23 All Talk[12_05_1983]
24 This[12_05_1983]
25 Not Man Enough[12_05_1983]
26 How to Age[03_03_1985]
27 Heroin[03_03_1985]
28 First My Job[03_03_1985]
29 Part-Time Moral England[03_03_1985]
30 Down In The Dumps[18_03_1986]
31 Coincidence[18_03_1986]
32 Rockin' With Rita[18_03_1986]
33 At The End Of The Day[18_03_1986]

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