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!

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!

Mackenzies ‎– "A Sensual Assault 12" EP" (Ron Johnson Records ‎– ZRON15) 1986

When one purchases a MacKenzies record, one doesn't intend to purchase an Art Of Noise/Trevor Horn remix atrocity.......but thats what you get with this EP. Massive and extremely dated digital drum machine sounds, and stereo panned gated reverb nonsense. Almost the worst release on Ron Johnson, only bettered, or worsened, by The Sewer Zombies LP.
They weren't the only group on this label to fall into the eighties 'remix' trap. A Witness and Twang! bid it too......but not quite to this extent of awfulness.

Tracklist:

A1 Mealy Mouths
A2 Trouble
B1 Mealy Mouths (Radio Edit)
B2 Jim Jam

DOWNLOAD this sensual insult HERE!

MacKenzies ‎– "New Breed (Ron Johnson Records ‎– ZRON 9) 1986

Incredibly this is the only official release of the original MacKenzies style, before they lost interest and chased some disco cred with the follow up.The fact that they failed to see that they already made very danceable  tunes is nothing short of unbelievable and tragic.
The Indie/Dance crossover tracks they did after this solitary single, were far less danceable in my opinion,and incredibly dated and boring.
Ironically this single is far less dated and the very opposite of boring.....a classic.

Tracklist:

1 New Breed
2 Dogs Breakfast

3 bonus track from c-86 compilation - "Big Jim(There's No Pubs In Heaven)

DOWNLOAD the mackenzies official recorded career HERE!

The MacKenzies - "The Legendary Peel Sessions of 1986" (a Die or DIY? Compilation)

Whereas I was complaining that The Shrubs put too much on one record, The MacKenzies didn't put enough stuff on any recorded music format....until now!
Their entire vinyl output was an excellent 7" single, and a not so excellent 12" EP of naff  eighties dance remixes of 'Mealy Mouths'.
They did, however,record two Peel sessions before they broke up; the first of which was so admired by the venerable DJ that he repeated it a record seven times!?
A tragically under-recorded and long forgotten, late flowering of the Postcard sound was The MacKenzies. Fast choppy indie-funk, that made those pale young men just wanna dance,even without the aid of a fistful of disco biscuits.
The MacKenzies would fall victim of the ensuing 'dance' revolution,but not before releasing, a fine single,and one of the very rare 'shit' records on Ron Johnson. The Peel Sessions are the only place where this fine group's well-oiled machinery was ever captured in action.
The bastard offspring of the Fire Engines and Josef K,this group flickered into existence only briefly like a man made heavy element in a particle accelerator.Whose existence can only now be proved by mathematical theory as we wait for the next unstable creation to form.If they had stayed around like an inert gas,or The Fall,they would have been a cult element on the periodic table of pop. Like number 117, Ununhexium, or Uuh; which some lunatics believe is the basis of an anti-gravity system that could propel mankind deep into the cold heart of empty space,where only the most distant stars inhabit.....rather like the music star system.Its best to stay earthbound rather than reach for the stars only to find out that they harbor no life,and confirm that we are,after all, alone!
What I am saying is, that it's best to stop before one does something you're gonna be ashamed of artistically and personally.
If Dire Straits had stopped after their first single, we'd have thought that they were a pretty good group.....but no;and the rest is a tragic example of why one should bow out well before the crest of the wave starts to form.

Track Listing:

01 New Breed (10-2-86)
02 Man with No Reason (10-2-86)
03 Give Me Everything (10-2-86)
04 Gobstopper (10-2-86)
05 Milk (30-7-86)
06 Big Jim (30-7-86)
07 Mealy Mouths (30-7-86)
08 Jingle (30-7-86)

DOWNLOAD the legend HERE!