Death By Milkfloat – "Sense And Nonsense" (Di Di Music – DI DI 120) 1987

Another group who should have been but never was,as in wasn't,on Ron Johnson Records, would be Death By Milkfloat. An amphetamine fueled Mackenzies type mental indie funk rush that couldn't be criticised for its low energy levels.

They also field another candidate for the fastest guitarist in the west,competing with the guitar wielders from the Wedding Present and The Nightingales;at a time when we all thought it had to be that bloke from Napalm Death,or other daft Grindcore nonsense from some silly sausage in Solihull.....drop the 'Soli' part and you'd be close,as Death By Milkfloat came from the lost city of Kingston Upon Hull.It rises from the sea smog of the Humber Estuary like a Brigadoon of functional architecture appearings like a grey ghost as one approaches across the Humber Bridge. 

It is said that once you go to Hull you can never leave,that's it, It's all over;due to the confusion spread by the Ministry of Defense Listening and early warning station.....Fun Fact: Hull is the nearest point in the UK to Russia.

Right now there are dozens of grey men and women hacking Russian soldier's phones for evidence of Genocide, and infiltrating slavic computer systems with false information...and they're doing it in Hull.

This would explain the manic high speed choppy style of probably, Hull's bestest group....not counting Fat Boy Slim of course,and certainly not counting Coum Transmissions aka ...Throbbing Gristle;especially now every trendy worth his spots think TG are the Dopest group to namedrop to his bearded chums in the nominate your own price coffee bar in the bohemian quarter.

Tracklist:

A1 What
A2 (What's Your Name) Roger Murray
B1 Man With A Dog
B2 Never The Same
B3 Fishlake

DOWNLOAD by milkfloat HERE!

The Great Leap Forward – "Controlling The Edges Of Tone" (Ron Johnson Records – ZRON 20) 1987

It all started to go WRONG with Ron Johnson Records, previously Thee perfect record Label, when bIG fLAME broke up,leaving us with Singer and Bassist Alan Brown's (a pop star's name if ever there wasn't one?) new poppier vehicle "The Great Leap Forward".

Firstly the band name rang alarm bells warning of trendy left wing alignment, to keep open ambitions to join the second coming of any potential "Red Wedge" tour with such like-minded righteous soap boxers as ex-tory Paul Weller's Style-less council, and the brain cell crushing awfulness that was,and sadly still is...Billy Bragg.....who incidentally had a song which went by the same name as Alan's new pinko pop chartbound flops.

As far as i was concerned,having eagerly purchased the debut EP "Controlling The Edges Of Sound", this was more the Great Leap Backwards from the cubist pop perfection of bIG fLAME. 

Right-on lefty lyrics aside,the music is a kind of B-movie version of Haircut 100's bastard child with Josef K.....which sounds quite promising,does it not?.....but it didn't even achieve that.Quite disappointed I was.

Listening to it again,removed from such idealistic times....its not bad....it really does sound like Haircut 100 grafted on to everyone's favourite Kafka cloned Edinburgher's.

Amusingly dated references to the E.E.C.(if only it stayed like that instead of the unwieldy soopah state of today's EU?) and the Common agricultural policy (C.A.P.),which gave us Wine lakes,Butter mountains, and Grain surplus's bigger than the Sahara desert.What would we all give to have that kind of resource at hand today with this idiotic war going on?

Yep...let's Jive While We're Still Alive.....i'm currently tapping my foot to this,so there's still hope.

Tracklist:

Side Head:
A1 Hope's Not Enough, Son - Ask Your Parents 3:17
A2 If The C.A.P's Flat, Than Waive It 3:58

Side Arrow:
B1 Let's Jive While We're Still Alive 2:42
B2 My Grandfather's Cluck 4:31

DOWNLOAD while you're still alive HERE!

Various Artists – "Ideal Guest House" (Shelter) 1986 & "The First After Epiphany" (Ron Johnson Records – ZRON 21) 1987

As I received a request for a Ron Johnson compilation,it reminded me of the official comedian attached to this shambling Ron Johnson style stuff, Ted "I was Walking Down the Road" Chippington. I'm not sure if he was into this kind of popular music,but he was enlisted to be the compare of this trendy compilation cassette to support homeless charity "Shelter"; which is rather apt as we are facing the largest homeless crisis in Europe since world war too. Its time to start world war Free (dom) innit? I am of course referring to the current Invasion of Ukraine by that nice Mr Putin man....just in case you are part of the uninformed majority,or living in Russia....in which case i have to inform you that your army has been committing War crimes against your Slavic brothers in the west.....basically you're fucked.

The drole monotone self-elected worst comedian in the world ever Ted,links together a bunch of shambling C86-era,Johnson related groups in his characteristic stoic manner...at times he's even funny!?

Its got Bog-Shed and bIG fLAME on it, what more could you want or need?......just ignore the Chumbawamba track,...oooooh, they didn't like Neil Kinnock.....edgy stuff not, nuff said.

Tracklist:

A1 Big Flame– Man Of Few Syllables
A2 The Wedding Present– You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends (alt Version)
A3 The Soup Dragons– Fair's Fair
A4 The Creepers– Sharper And Wider
A5 The Shop Assistants – Home Again (Live)
A6 The June Brides– This Town (Accoustic)
A7 Rob Grant with Yeah Yeah Noh– Mr. Hammond Has Breakfast In Bed
B1 Stump– Kitchen Table
B2 The Legend!– Everythings Coming Up Roses
B3 Pigbros– Barren Land
B4 Stitched Back Foot Airman– The Deadly Spore
B5 BMX Bandits– Sad?
B6 Bog-shed – Jobless Youngsters
B7 Chumbawamba– Kinnochio

DOWNLOAD and give these tracks a home HERE!

Oh Yeah!...here's that Ron Johnson sampler LP "The First After Epiphany" that i mistakenly thought had no exclusive tracks on it, and you could get them from the other official releases on the blog if you search for Ron Johnson Records. I was wrong, There's at least a Twang! track that one can't get elsewhere,and maybe an errant Splat! number,or anything else with an exclamation mark in it's name:

"The First After Epiphany"
Ron Johnson Records – ZRON 21 (1987)

Tracklist:

A1 Splat!– Mistook
A2 Big Flame– XPQWRTZ
A3 A Witness– Dipping Bird
A4 Stump– Big End
A5 MacKenzies– Man With No Reason
B1 The Shrubs– Blackmailer
B2 The Ex– Knock
B3 Twang – Here's Lukewarm
B4 The Nose Flutes– Bodyhair Up In The Air
B5 The Great Leap Forward– Drowning Speechless
B6 Jackdaw With Crowbar– Crow

DOWNLOAD this epiphanal moment HERE!

The Shrubs – "Vessels Of The Heart" (Public Domain Records – DOM 2) 1988

Looking back in Die or DIY? blog history, i was astounded at my omission of quite a few Ron Johnson Records type recordings that I inexplicably left out. Of course everything possible by Bog-shed is there,and they weren't even on Ron Johnson;whereas,The Shrubs, were!? The missing second album,released after Ron Johnson went bankrupt.....it was only a matter of time of course....must now be sent forth into the digital domain.Something that i am not aware has happened to the medium of the Digital Compact Disc concerning The Shrubs.

At the time I was not aware of any second album being released,having assumed that the rest of the 'Shambling' stable had succumbed to the perfect storm of Ron Johnson disintegration and the impending awfulness of Madchester and white boy idiot dancing. Breakbeats and funky wah-wah guitars were not The Shrubs thing. So they disappeared,and I will have to admit through clenched buttocks,that I was shamefully swept along with all that Indie Dance shit.....'twas either that,or be billy no mates on a Friday night.I am,however, particularly proud of the fact that I was ejected forcefully from the Happy Mondays gig at Leicester Polytechnic in 1989 for projectile vomiting over the bar.I remember nothing of the evening in question apart from that.......I blame the music and the worst ever clothing fad since the Bay City Rollers.

Nick Hobbs.....not Mick Hobbs I may add to avoid confusion, did posses an uncanny ability to get on one's proverbial Titz with his wailing vocal style, but that's all part of their endearing charm innit?

Musically,like the rest of the unrelated bands in this 'Shambling' category......us 'Normals' need categories y'know.....has that alluring bouquet of "Trout Mask Replica" style dueling discordant guitars and dueling time signatures;with,of course, that J J Burnel bass sound  as played by that bloke from The Rezillo's.(RIP).Maybe even hinting at some Rockette Morten four string influence,which can't be bad?....The Drums?......the rhetorical answer to which has to be.... "Drumbo"?

This may be their best long playing record methinks.

Tracklist:

A1 Papa Chaperon 3:08
A2 Cole 3:54
A3 Resurrection Chain 3:17
A4 Ballet Gorilla 1:41
A5 Cashregister Brain 4:23
A6 Mass Mental (Long Abusive Rental) 2:54
B1 Villa Burgher 2:40
B2 Shawl Blight Zone 3:44
B3 Myth Night 3:43
B4 King Urn 2:52
B5 Sullen Days Are Over 3:13
B6 Mistress Of The Moral Ground 3:43

DOWNLOAD into the vessels of your heart HERE!

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

A devastating loss to the pop world was the break-up of Bog-shed sometime in 1987/1988-ish during the last flowering of classic British independent pop. An even greater loss was the life of erstwhile lead warbler and unheralded absurdist poet of the aforementioned Bog-Shed group, Mr Philip Hartley;who left this mortal coil during October 2006.Swiftly followed by drummer Tris King (Brain Tumor),who also moonlighted with those other classic mid-eighties Ron Johnson types,the equally cursed, 'A Witness';whose guitarist managed to fall off a mountain in 1989.

Sometimes one suspects a record company conspiracy to put a permanent end to any bands,slash,music, that appeals to those who require more than just lovesongs and peado-propaganda from their unpop-pop.

Where did they all go when Bog-Shed dissolved,one wonders? One of them's an illustrator and the sole 'success story' in the ranks;and of the others,only Phil Hartley made a short attempt to carry on the legacy.There was obviously an album's worth of new material, and it sounds like...er....Bog-Shed.

A Peel Session was made,live appearances,and Demo's.....then.....nothing!

“This week the score draws are plentiful!” (Slave Girls)......he liked that line apparently,and very representative, it is, of the current musical situation we find ourselves trapped in.

There were no studio recordings made before Phil disappeared somewhere,and died of something unspecified.

A notable unrecorded gem, captured live in 1989, was "Dirty Filthy Pop Presenter", where Jimmy Savile is name-checked.....just when you thought serial silly-billy John Lydon had a monopoly on outing the vile Sa-vile, after mentioning it once ,vaguely, in an interview,did nothing about it,then claimed to be the only moral human in the UK....although I think rather,that Phil Hartley was sort of fulfilling his weird absurdists fantasy of being one of those awful TV pop Presenters from decades past.He had a history,name-dropping former Basil Brush sidekick Roy North in an early Bogshed song,"The Amazing Roy North Penis Band"which was also the working title of the first Bog-Shed incarnation around 1985.

Here's the great Roy North singing his version of Tenpole Tudor's "Swords Of A Thousand Men" back in 1981.....you really couldn't make this up!

I am assuming that Roy did not indulge in the same depraved pastimes that kept the blindingly obvious sex monster Savile entertained for decades.....but his sing-a-long versions of charts hits places him well above suspicion.He was from Hull anyway,which is a crime against humanity in itself,so we'll let him off any reluctant investigations in to potential dark doings in 1981 he may,or certainly is NOT, responsible for.

Tracklist:

1. Regulation

2. Lord Smutty Lips (Demo Version)

3. Can I Use The Phone?

4. Have You Done Your Chores?

5. Teenager

6. You All Look The Same

7. Lord Smutty Lips (Peel Session 13/11/88)

8. Inspector of Crime (Peel Session 13/11/88)

9. Prepare to Change Sandals (Peel Session 13/11/88)

10.Purchase Nicely (Peel Session 13/11/88)

11.Are You Real (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

12.Who Are The Sane (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

13.Prepare to Wear Sandals (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

14.Inspector of Crime (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

15.Master Life (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

16.Purchase Nicely (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

17.Yeh Yeh (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

18.Teenager (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

19.Dirty, Filthy, Pop Presenter (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

20.Lord Smutty Lips (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

21.You Are, You Are (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

22.Say No (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

DOWNLOAD this dirty filthy pop presentation HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "C-86" (New Musical Express ‎– NME 022) 1986

Amazingly,five of the Ron Johnson stable appeared on the Iconic 'Indie' compilation "C-86", as released/compiled by the NME.

Indeed we also find Bogshed nestled in amongst such pale floppy fringe wearers as The Wolfhounds, the Bodines and other jangly foppish nonsense.

I'm surprised to discover that the tape that defined an Indie Era of jingly jangly tweedom, did in fact have some very non-jangly groups included.

Primal Scream open up the proceedings sounding, for all the world exactly like the very shit Stone Roses, three years in advance of all that 'Madchester' crap.

Of course Primal Scream would become one of those very same ,terrible bandwagon jumping combo's of 1989. Of the rest only The Soup Dragons would join them in making dance/indie crossover awfulness; which is a shame because I quite liked early Soup Dragons......I'll admit......in fact i quite enjoyed a lot of this tape!?....which is strange, as I regarded this stuff (Ron Johnson acts excepted), as the enemy,rather than the NME.

30 years removed,one now finds this jangly indie pop refreshing,and charmingly youthful.Unlike me.

Tracklist:

1–Primal Scream Velocity Girl 1:22
2–The Mighty Lemon Drops Happy Head 2:42
3–The Soup Dragons Pleasantly Surprised 2:05
4–The Wolfhounds-Feeling So Strange Again 1:41
5–The Bodines-Therese 3:09
6–Mighty Mighty-Law 3:40
7–Stump-Buffalo 4:30
8–Bogshed-Run To The Temple 3:28
9–A Witness-Sharpened Sticks 2:30
10–The Pastels-Breaking Lines 2:59
11–The Age Of Chance-From Now On,This Will Be Your God 3:12
12–Shop Assistants-It's Up To You 2:38
13–The Close Lobsters - Firestation Towers 1:48
14–Miaow-Sport Most Royal 2:54
15–Half Man Half Biscuit-I Hate Nerys Hughes (From The Heart) 3:46
16–The Servants-Transparent 2:36
17–MacKenzies-Big Jim (There's No Pubs In Heaven) 2:34
18–Big Flame-New Way(Quick Wash & Brush Up With Liberation Theology)1:37
19–We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It-Console Me 1:24
20–McCarthy-Celestial City 2:59
21–The Shrubs-Bullfighter's Bones 3:48
22–The Wedding Present-This Boy Can Wait 4:00

DOWNLOAD to see and hear 1986 HERE!

The Membranes ‎– "The Gift Of Life" (Creation Records ‎– CRELP 006) 1985

The ironically titled "The Gift Of Life", was, funnily enough, an early release on Alan McGee's  nascent Creation Records.....Yes, the label responsible for such crimes against culture as Primal Scream, The Boo Radleys,and the despicable Oasis, yet also responsible for such Modern Pop wonders of the world like the early JAMC singles and MBV's "Loveless".
What The Membranes were doing on a label such as that I can but guess; part of McGee's 'throw enough shit at the wall then something will stick' philosophy.....then when it sticks(Oasis), he could sell out his independent spirit to some awful conglomerate.
I Once met McGee doing an embarrassing DJ set in Manhatten, and I managed to pass myself off as that bloke from the Boo Radleys to ponce free drinks......sucessfully I may add.Also embarrassingly, my cohort in Scouts Of Uzbekistan slipped him an early Scouts demo cd, which he promised to listen to......needless to say we weren't signed up to his new 'Poptones' label.....thank fuck. 
Also on that night were Poptones' new signing 'Outrageous Cherry', who played a set with the lady bass player obliviously unplugged for the first four tunes...one of the evenings highlights.
As for The Membranes, they still sound like they are trying to turn some very ordinary post-punk tunes into some deliberately detuned shambles, and call it noise; the Florence Foster Jenkins's of Post-Punk Britain.
As for "The Gift Of Life",both the album and the state of the human existence; it's the kind of gift you'd want to come with the receipt included so you can get your money back.
Luckily, the download is free, unlike actual Life itself.

Tracklist:

Shot By My Own Gun 4:49
I Am Fish Eye 3:19
Dreadful Sound Engine 4:19
Green And Ghostly Land 8:27
More Skin And Bone 5:30
Mr. Charisma Brain 3:49
Barbed Snake Fish Thing 5:17
Chewing The Fat 3:05
Typical Male Penis 2:44
Fireface 1:30
Gift Of Life 6:39

DOWNLOAD this gift of membranes HERE!

The Membranes ‎– "Crack House" (Criminal Damage Records ‎– CRI MLP-105) 1983

The Nightingales and The Membranes were probably the earliest flowering of the Ron Johnson template. The Membranes being closely associated with fellow outsiders Bogshed.

Mike Bryson of Bogshed once explained their approach to the noble art of songwriting as "We start out being totally out of order and out of key and we turn things like that into a pop song. Most people try to do it the other way round."

The Membranes fitted very comfortably into the latter, 'Most people try to do it the other way round', category.

I was never very keen on The Membranes.They never seemed to have that genuine off-kilter x-factor that the other bands effortlessly had; they always seemed to be trying too hard to be shambolic.

Also John Robb wore,and still does to this day, his shirt collars up,like Eric Cantona and Tony Grieg!?....something that always invokes suspicion.

Tracklist:

Get A Head 4:45
The Throat 4:08
Attraction For The Easy Life 4:46
Myths And Legends 6:37
Kick Out 3:44
Kafka's Dad 4:34

DOWNLOAD through the semi-permeable cyber membrane HERE!

Bogshed ‎– "Brutal" (Shelfish Records ‎– SHELFish 4) 1987

Here's Bogshed's first album part two, aka the second album, but the same as the first. Chock full of 'shambling' discordant alternative pop, executed to perfectly imperfect standards.
I always had a problem with this album,mainly because it had a glossy colour cover. Something that suggested pretensions towards popularity, which of course was total bollocks in the case of Bogshed, who couldn't have been more unpopular, even with John Peel listeners!
"Brutal" is comfortably the equal of "Step On It",there's just too much of it; perhaps Bogshed are another group who should have stuck to EP's? 
Never mind 'Geoffs Big Problem', Bogshed's big problem was how to move on from their formulaic composition's to something else......not that they should have.Their back catalogue is not far off perfect, and they stopped doing it at the correct time.
What did we get in place of all this Ron Johnson style stuff......yep.......bloody 'Madchester'!!!!....we didn't know how privileged we were.

Tracklist:

A1 Raise The Girl
A2 Geoff's Big Problem
A3 Old Dog New Dance
A4 No To Lemon Mash
A5 I'm The Instrument
A6 Oppertunatist Knocks
B1 People Equal Greedy
B2 Sing A Little Tune
B3 C'mon Everybody
B4 Uncle Death Grip
B5 Spring
B6 Loaf

DOWNLOAD brutally HERE!

Bogshed ‎– "Step On It" (Shelfish Records ‎– SHELFish 2) 1986

Bogshed, as brilliant as they were,and like many other similar alternative pop groups,had a tendency to repeat themselves, and very often only had one full length album in them.....and I suppose this is it? The Fall have more or less repeated them/him selves for thirty odd albums,only the constant reshuffling of personnel adding an accidental force for change. This method is not a guaranteed or desirable direction for most artists, so they fizzle out. And Bogshed did "Step On It 2" and fizzled out. 
Endlessly repeating yourself is,however, a sure way of creating a career in anything. Just look at U2,Damien Hirst,J.K. Rowling and van Morrison. Anyone with any integrity would just stop when they've done it.......Bogshed stopped.

Tracklist:

A1 Mechanical Nun 3:02
A2 Run To The Temple 3:31
A3 Adventure Of Dog 1:58
A4 Tommy Steele Record 3:23
A5 Jobless Youngsters 3:05
A6 Tried To Hide But Forced To Howl 2:49
A7 Packed Lunch To School 2:28
B1 Summer In My Lunchtime 2:38
B2 The Fastest Legs 2:18
B3 Oily Stack 2:13
B4 Hell Bent On Death 2:57
B5 Thunderballs 2:23
B6 Can't Be Beat 3:12
B7 Little Car 0:48

DOWNLOAD and step on it HERE!

Bogshed ‎– "Let Them Eat Bogshed" (Vinyl Drip Records ‎– DRIP 2) 1985

Any record with a song called "Panties Please" on it has to be good right?
Bogshed's debut release on John Robb of the Membranes' Vinyl Drip records has six Bogshed classics of the same high standard achieved by all of their rather marvelous tunes.
The cover boasts a couple of typical drawings by Bassist Mike Bryson;who still churns out cartoons and caricatures to this day (check out his site here) ; but nothing surpasses the gravelly disjointed basslines he laid down with Bogshed. 
Such lo-fi but melodic eccentricity the like of which we'll probably never see again, Probably because they've been ignored from the second after they split up,30 years ago, in the face of massive public indifference.

Tracklist:

A1 Panties Please 3:27
A2 Spencer Travis 1:54
A3 Fat Lad Exam Failure 3:08

B1 Slave Girls 2:15
B2 City Girls 1:56
B3 Hand Me Down Father 4:00

DOWNLOAD your panties HERE!

Bogshed - "Demo's and Rareties 1985-87" (a Die or DIY? Compilation)

Then we had the crop of groups who should have been on Ron Johnson Records instead of The Sewer Zombies and The Ex.
The most shining example being Bogshed.
Cheeky northern monkeys who were incorrectly portrayed primarily as a comedy turn in some quarters.Originally called "The Amazing Roy North Penis Band" upon their inception in 1984, one could easily see why they flirted with the 'Novelty Act' category.
Their shambling, bass led sub-discordant modern music hall tunes, were certainly catchy,and could even induce an urge to sing-a-long-a-bogshed.
So here's a collection of demo's, compilation tracks,rare singles and unreleased stuff to prove their part in the 'Death To Trad Rock' story.
Unfortunately on the subject of death, Bogshed Singer and excellent lyricist, Paul Hartley, died over ten years ago, so the prospect of any nostalgic reformation of Bogshed is a sad non-starter; especially as drummer, Tristan King followed him to peel band valhalla a few years later.Don't it make you feel so incredibly mortal?

Tracklist:

01 Hand Me Down Father ('Raging Sun' Compilation)
02 Runner On A Blunder(imminent comp)
03 The Amazing Roy North Penis Band (Cherry Red Comp)
04 Gathering Change(Aborted Cherry red Compilation)
05 Hold Up Your Hands, I'm Coming To The Market (cherry red Comp)
06 Lodger Problem(Aborted Cherry red Comp
07 Porridge In The Clothes(Aborted Cherry Red Comp)
08 Too Many Personalities(Aborted Cherry Red Comp)
09 You Are This(Aborted Cherry red Compilation)
10 Hand Me Down Father (Demo 1985).
11 Packed Lunch to School(Demo 1985).
12 US Bands (Demo 1985).
13 Slave Girls(Demo 1985).
14 Panties Please(Demo 1985).
15 City Girls(Demo 1985).
16 Fat Lad exam Failure (Demo 1985).
17 Spencer Travis(Demo 1985).
18 The Amazing Roy North Penis Band (Demo 1985)
19 Stop Revolving (Unissued Single 1987)
20 Your Science, My Sound (Unissued Single B-Side 1987)
21 Excellent girl (Final Single Release 1987)

DOWNLOAD from the toilet bog to your own private shed HERE! 

Sewer Zombies ‎– "Reach Out And... ("Ron Johnson Records ‎– ZRON 32) 1988

It became clear that all was not well at Ron Johnson records when, in desperation, this pile of crud was licenced and released, to try and compete with local rival label Earache; who had cornered the new wave of abstract hardcore , with Napalm Death and a plethora of similar metal/punk hybrids. Earache, from near-by Nottingham, were not only the fastest growing independent label, they were raking the money in.Every release stormed the Independent charts with careless abandon; whereas Ron Johnson were running out of steam. The Sewer Zombies' flatulent fuzzy US Hardcore,was, along with the hugely disappointing Great Leap Forward (bIG fLAME offshoot), were the final nails in the coffin of RJ records.Comfortably the worst record on this hallowed label.

Tracklist:

Sewer A:

A1 Search
A2 Too Many Police
A3 Executive Execution
A4 They Died With Their Willie Nelson T-Shirts On
A5 Never
A6 Reach Out

Sewer B:

B1 Zheeta
B2 Piss
B3 I Got Something To Say
B4 They Had No Right
B5 Message To The Christian Church
B6 From Below

Bonus Track:

Hcruhc Naitsirhc Eht Ot Egassem

DOWNLOAD this shit into the sewer HERE!

John Walters on Room 101, BBC Radio 5, 4th September 1992.

Ron Johnson Records were based in Long Eaton, in the East Midlands of England, (Where your author comes from), between Nottingham and Derby.
Funnily enough, this is also the hometown of the late lamented producer of the John Peel Show,the great John Walters. The man who recommended The Fall to Peel, because...'they were even worse than Siouxsie and the Banshees'.
So as Ron Johnson Records were almost exclusively ,only played on the Peel Show, and Walters came from the same town as Dave Parsons. Here is John's appearance on BBC Radio 5's Room 101; choosing his most hated songs, people, and things, to disappear forever into the infamous room from which there is no return.
He didn't choose any Ron Johnson recordings, but he did choose 'The East Midlands', including Long Eaton......and presumably my home town of Leicester.....can't disagree.
He was a great bloke, hilarious, and one of those people you'd want at your dinner party; much missed.

DOWNLOAD from room 101 HERE!

Splat! ‎– "2 Splat! EP's" (Ron Johnson Records ‎– RON 1/RON 2) 1983/84

Splat! ‎– "Splat! EP" (RON 1) 1983 :
Tracklist:

A1 Yeah The Dum Dum
A2 Bookface
B1 Biggles Bloodbath

Splat! ‎– "Splat!" (12" EP RON 2) 1984

Tracklist:

A1 Taxi
A2 Bloom
B1 A Foolish Crawl
B2 Morbius 4

Long Eaton based (which is near Nottingham, for our non-UK subscribers), Ron Johnson Records' founder, Dave Parsons,was in a proto-Ron Johnson type group called "Splat!".

They sound like most of the other groups that appeared later on this label.A kind of a mixture between A Witness and Bogshed; which is a high recommendation indeed.

Much has been said about the inept business acumen of Dave, which led him into bankruptcy; all for the 'love of music'.

I don't think he was alone in struggling to break even with a business model such as this.He was as unlikely to find an indie "Tubular Bells" as anyone else in this trade; but aren't we glad he did it?

Here's an enlightening explanation from the man himself:

"In my defence as the useless money man - I was 21 when I started Ron Johnson and knew nothing about making records or running a business - I just loved music. [censored] of [censored] rough-rided me into agreeing to pay about £6000 out on [censored] - we paid out about £500 on Loudhailer Songs! I was naive and [censored] (nice person though he is) was deluded and the financial morass began there. Their records never sold well. The Ex double-single was a fiasco of Rough Trade's making - they sold it at a price that was lower than the manufacturing cost and because it was reviewed as such amazing product for such amazing price felt that they couldn't put the price up - it sold 15000 copies and RJ lost £15000! Fantastic. The only band who ever made a profit in RJ were A Witness and they have a right to feel slightly aggrieved. I gave 24 hours of my life for 7 years to RJ, lost my house, never made a penny and was eventually bankrupted because I loved the music. Cheers, Dave Parsons".

DOWNLOAD splat and splat HERE!

The Ex ‎– "Too Many Cowboys" (Ron Johnson Records ‎– ZRON 25) 1987

Dunno about Too Many Cowboys for a title? How about Too Many Tracks?
Nothing particularly ground breaking, music wise on this long collection of live and studio cuts, from Ex Van Crass. It sounds like The Ex gave a pretty highly charged Live performance,which is probably where they are the most relevant; otherwise its just standard,and very dated ,mid-eighties protest punk. Time hasn't been as kind to this sort of soapbox punk,but it stubbornly refuses to go away, unlike most of the other groups on the Ron Johnson roster, who nearly without exception broke up in or around 1988. But the music of the quirkier side of the labels output seems far fresher and relevant than The Ex's contributions;and it's The Ex who are still around today.No doubt sounding exactly the same, despite the members pushing sixty years of age.
This is no bad thing?

Tracklist:

1 Red & Black 5:47
2 White Shirts 3:53
3 Adversity 0:30
4 People Again 4:12
5 Knock 2:46
6 Hands Up, You're Free 3:06
7 Ignorance 2:54
8 Butter Or Bombs 4:11
9 Dumbo 3:18
10 How Can One Sell The Air 5:46
11 Business As Usual 5:56
12 Olympigs 4:19
13 Choice 2:58
14 A Job / Stupid 2:40
15 Oops 6:32
16 No Fear 5:04
17 Vivisection 1:19
18 A Piece Of Paper 6:37
19 They Shall Not Pass 3:28

DOWNLOAD the ex, why and ZZZZZZ of protest punk HERE!

The Ex ‎– "1936, The Spanish Revolution" (Ron Johnson Records ‎– ZRON 11) 1986

Apparently, this was one of the great loss makers for Ron Johnson Records......I quote Dave Parsons (Mr Ron Johnson)....."The Ex double-single was a fiasco of Rough Trade's making - they sold it at a price that was lower than the manufacturing cost and because it was reviewed as such amazing product for such amazing price felt that they couldn't put the price up - it sold 15000 copies and RJ lost £15000! Fantastic."

The Ex were a Dutch Crass basically, but had a little more imagination with their limited musical ability.
The soapbox nature of their political ideology, if it can be called an ideology, gets a tad tiresome, as does the endless bleating of Crass.
Personally if you follow any political dogma, and constantly bang on about it, you're as much an enemy as those pricks who feel a need to control other peoples lives.
For me Anarchy should be as politicianless, as much as leaderless; but as always there's always someone, some Human, who wants to be the leader, unopposed if necessary, to crush our collective spirit in a different, but the same, way.
The Ex, in my opinion, were not a Ron Johnson band,and like the Sewer Zombies later on,I cannot explain their appeal!?
Tracklist:

A1 They Shall Not Pass 3:47
A2 El Tren Blindado 3:06
B1 People Again 4:30
B2 Ay Carmela 3:13

DOWNLOAD some stuff glorifying the anti-franco anarchists of 1936 by some 'anarchists' from 1986 HERE!

Stump ‎– "Mud On A Colon EP" (Ron Johnson Records ‎– ZRON 6) 1986

Peculiar London Based Anglo-Irish combo who sounded like Captain Beefheart's Magic Band fronted by Jimmy Cricket. Slightly annoying and 'clever clever'; these show-offs nearly made it as a chart band!?....They signed to a 'proper' record label and consequently were never heard of again.....the same old story. The fact that they were snapped up by one of the shitter 'proper' record labels (Ensign?!) couldn't have helped their prospects for lucrative longevity.
The original singer was none other than that irritating bloke from The Shrubs, Nick Hobbs, who was sacked for being 'too serious'!? Then he got replaced by the slightly less irritating Mick Lynch (who died earlier this year, RIP).
An EP is about all i can take in one sitting, so luckily Ron Johnson didn't inflict a full album on us...leave that to Ensign.
It didn't help that they used a fretless bass! One of thee most awful instruments ever devised, alongside the soprano sax, and the Yamaha DX-7.
Stump, as a whole, were a kind of hip novelty band, who one struggled to take seriously, even though they weren't at all funny(?)....maybe Nick Hobbs should have stayed on? 

Tracklist:

A1 Orgasm Way
A2 Ice The Levant
B1 Grab Hands
B2 55-0-55

DOWNLOAD that mud from your colon HERE!

Twang! ‎– "Sharp" (Ron Johnson Records ‎– ZRON14) 1986

Here's another version of 'Sharp' by the very sharp and funky post punk disco combo Twang! One of their very few official releases from a very short career......other groups should learn by their example and split up, especially any group, or relations of, from 1990 onwards(except a few very rare exceptions of course).

Tracklist:

A Sharp
B Eight At A Time

Bonus track:

"Whats the Rub?" -from some free flexi disc what came with a magazine or something in 1986.

DOWNLOAD sharpish HERE!

Twang! ‎– "Kick And Complain" (Ron Johnson Records ‎– ZRON22) 1987

Twang!'s razor sharp post punk funk gets the Ron Johnson treatment as it falls off the cliff into near total obscurity.
The choppy lead/rhythm guitars sit in the foreground of the mix, and slash through that absurdly massive gated snare drum nonsense that dominates the midfield, like a bacon slicer attacking a rabid  mousse aux chocolat!
The eighties fashion for creating drum sounds that suggest a Norwegian Icebreaker being dropped onto a Nazi submarine pen ruined a  lot of records dynamics; but this one manages to negate the claustrophobia by keeping the lead instruments sharp and free of those horrible early digital effects units.

Tracklist:

A1 Cut Candidate
A2 Cold Tongue Bulletin
B1 Sharp
B2 Every Home Should Have One

DOWNLOAD before someone complains for kicks HERE!