Smiley Culture ‎– "The Original Smiley Culture" (Top Notch Records ‎– TOP LP 003) 1986

America had Patti Smith and the Sugarhill gang, or was that the Anthill Mob, I dunno....in fact i don't care, because the Uk Had Smiley Culture at the year zero of the 'not being able to sing' movement.
Oh christ, we had Linton 'Boring Bastard' Kwesi Johnson, and his offspring, Michael Smith....the one that got murdered....and the one that didn't get murdered....Benjamin Zephaniah. Not entertaining,and a rather too serious. 
Of course the Irony was that Smiley, that loveable rogue who brought blacks and whites together efortlessly,who incidently are both people of colour ,cus if they weren't they would be invisible would they not?...oh yeah, the Irony,the Irony....the Irony was that the toaster/rapper/ranter of novelty Hit "Police Officer" was believed to have died of a single stab wound during a visit by the Metropolitan Police to his home in march 2011?...whom weilded said knife it is not clear;but smiley smiled no more.
But he did bequeth a selection of very entertaining tunes that light-heartedly disected life in Britain for everyone in 1986.
"Cockney translator" and "Police Officer" are classics that LKJ could only dream of.
These are the dancehall mixes of his best tunes,and correctly, he never really made any others.This is Pop!

Tracklist:

A1 Cockney Translation 6:28
A2 Slam Bam 6:05
A3 Shan A Shan 6:10
B1 Police Officer 6:54
B2 Roots Reality 6:25
B3 Entertainer, Entertainer 6:20

DOWNLOAD this life translator HERE!

Benjamin Zephaniah ‎– "Dub Ranting" (Radical Wallpaper Records ‎– RAD WALL 005) 1982

Birmingham's own Benjamin Zephaniah was another 'Ranter' on Radical Wallpaper records.Label mate with Attila The Stockbroker, and Seething Wells,he was the only,as far as I know, Dub-Ranter on the planet. According to the man himself on the Patrik Fitzgerald documentary "All The Years Of Trying",it was Fitzgerald's first EP that turned him on to the possibility of Poetry,after hearing "Work, Rest, Play,...Reggae" from the "Safety Pin Stuck In My Heart EP".It was the first time that he heard that a white man could like reggae (not that I'm sure thats exactly what Patrik meant...he was being slightly Ironic methinks),nonetheless,it opened the possibilty in BZ's mind that maybe we ain't so different.And obviously, Linton Kwesi Johnson, was a major motivation to inflict these clumsey poems upon us innocent white kids.So this is his attempt at fusing English Ranting and Jamaican Toasting,which he called Dub-Ranting.This has to be applauded,but.....at the risk of being accused of prejudice, i can't stand it. The poetry is borderline moronic, and the politics....oh,the politics!!...are simplistic at best.
He's at his best when he sticks to social commentary,like describing a riot in progress,very good. "I Don't Like Dat Gurl",is his synopsis of Maggie Thatcher.....oh please!And ,Oh yeah, he didn't like Regan either.
I think that some of these poems are supposed to be funny? If they are, then maybe i don't have a sense of humour?
Nevertheless, he seems like a nice chap,and he's still going at it today,and in the running for the next Poet Laureate,for which he will have an advantage Ironically,'cus he is Black'!


Tracklist:

A1 Now Right Now 2:00
A2 I Don't Like 2:09
A3 Uganda 1:21
A4 War 1:30
A5 I Love 0:58
B1 African Swing 1:19
B2 13 Dead 1:32
B3 Fantasy Poem 1:37
B4 Riot In Progress 3:24

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The Pop Group ‎– "Y" (Radar Records ‎– RAD 20) 1979

To wrap up this brief sojourn into the seedy underbelly of post-punk Bristol, we end logically at the beginning, with The Pop Group's rather marvelous "Y" album.
Along with PiL's first two albums and anything by This Heat, this magical record loomed large in my teenage years. Everyone who reads this blog must be familiar with it(surely?),but it can't hurt by posting it again!? 
I hardly noticed the overbearing politics when i was a yoof, but without doubt they must have crept in by osmosis, because I'm the same kind of pain in the arse as Mark Stewart is.......but at least i recognise it and occasionally shut the fuck up!......i do describe my self as a Nihilist these days though,which is a nice cop out for me.
There are so many classic tunes on here, but what i like the best about it is they never thought twice about mangling them up completely, with the help of Brit-Dub producer Dennis 'Blackbeard' Bovell .
"We Are Time" has that classic, 'surely it had been written before' vibe that all classic tunes have.....could have been a hit if Echo and The Bunnymen had released it in its straight form; but with admirable,and fashionable for 1979, anti-commerciality, they walked the walk and rendered it unsellable.Nearly perfect in it's imperfection.....Y?.....because i say so! 

Tracklist:

She Is Beyond Good and Evil

Thief Of Fire
Snowgirl
Blood Money
Savage Sea
We Are Time
Words Disobey Me
Don't Call Me Pain
The Boys From Brazil
Don't Sell Your Dreams

3:38

DOWNLOAD Y and all the other letters of the post-punk alphabet HERE!

Mark Stewart and the Maffia ‎– Learning To Cope With Cowardice" (On-U Sound ‎– ON-U L.P. 24) 1983

There are times when I think that anybody with an opinion shouldn't be allowed in front of a microphone,even worse, in front of a microphone connected to a P.A. system. Politicians are bad enough, but pop stars who think they are politicians,or even, a....gulp!... leader(!?), are far worse.Its a kind of fascism to be screamed at at high volume with no right to reply in a crowd all with the same opinion and dress sense......sound like anything we encountered before,like in Nuremberg for  example?
Having heard about some 'street' accented ginger bird 'tellin' us like it is' at the annual Glastonbury middle class convention, called Kate Tempest (uh?) last weekend.I thought i'd check this rant out on youtube (click here if you ain't seen it). Her scowling Brits academy face turning pink with the strain of projecting her spittle soaked views on how terrible things are. Like one was trapped in a corner being shouted at by a ruddy faced hairdryer. .....yeah I sort of agree with her,but whats the point in that? If she'd have done the same at the local Conservative club she'd have been bottled off the stage. Preaching to the converted was never anything more than a pointless exercise in futility. She don't look a barrel of laffs either.
I used to think the same of Mark Stewart until i saw him on that BBC documentary on Post-Punk, and he seemed like a rather lighthearted and amusing fellow.
The constant barrage of Politics was a major reason that the Pop Group split up.....he just never gave it a rest.He was never going to convert anyone.Those who bought (Yes they sold things,Ma Thatcher would have approved) Pop Group records were already either going to be leaning in that direction politically, or, completely apolitical. An occasional change in subject matter would have strengthened his message tenfold. Really I don't care what an artists Political opinion is,especially if they hammer the same nail for decades......change the fucking record please?.....or in Kate Tempest's case,please don't enter my world again.
On a more interesting subject, "Learning To Cope With Cowardice" is classic abstract inter-racial Dub,that within its existence, conveys a much stronger message than any barked rant. The ironic version of 'Jerusalem' is a fine example of how political music should be; subtly subverting a 'Last night of the Proms' classic, reclaiming it from the Hooray Henry's and giving back to the people it was written for, the serfs of feudal Britain. Very appropriate in this new era of debt driven neo-feudalism that we are trapped inside.......Yes I agree with Mark Stewart on ALL his points(If you're interested???....I wouldn't if I was you!), but I don't like being preached at, even if I am one of the converted.

Tracklist:
1.Learning To Cope With Cowardice
2.Liberty City
3.Blessed Are Those Who Struggle
4.None Dare Call It Conspiracy
5.Don't You Ever Lay Down Your Arms
6.The Paranoia Of Power
7.To Have A Vision
8.Jerusalem

Learn to cope with DOWNLOADING a rar file HERE!

Jackdaw With Crowbar ‎– "Monarchy Mayhem And Fi$hpaste" (Ron Johnson Records ‎– ZRON24) 1987

From the mean streets of Leamington Spa sprung forth this bizarre quartet of lunacy on the great Ron Johnson Records in 1987. The year before the end of rock's Golden era.
I don't remember Jackdaw With Crowbar ever stooping to shaking a Tambourine, wearing a stripy top and dancing like an idiot in order to remain relevant.....oh no....they just disappeared along with every other great band in the Ecstasy haze. Probably a shadow government plot to finally silence dissent and subversion......and it worked.
Just have a listen to "Crow" and imagine what that would have sounded like in the hands of those awful Rave DJ gods post '88's '2nd' summer of love nonsense; the Andy Weatherall mix. That fucking James Brown funky drummer loop shuffling away behind the clucking chicken, with some black female gospel session singer busting a blood vessel in the background, and a velvet underground clone dancing like a prat shaking a pair of maracas.......by faaaaaar the worst era in modern music.When 'The Chav' really took over.They always flock willingly to any Nuremberg rally that will have them. 
Apart from the inappropriate 'Dub' track that ends this EP, this is as far away as you can get from government inspired homogeneity.
My mouth still drops open whenever I hear "Crow". Foghorn Leghorn and Captain Beefheart's bastard son; it is completely Nuts.

Tracklist:
A1 The Night Albania Fell On Alabama
A2 Siren
B1 Crow
B2 Fourth World

DOWNLOAD this clucking classic HERE!

Jackdaw With Crowbar ‎– "Bumper Crop Selection" (Big Turkey ‎– 2) 1986

There have been few groups who have managed to produce my 'What the Fuck was THAT!?' face over the years. Off the top of my head I can think of Napalm Death, The Residents, The Shaggs, Blah Blah Blah's 'In The Army' single....along with a select few others. Among these would have to be Jackdaw With Crowbar.Upon first hearing the track 'Crow' on the John Peel show. They seemed obsessed with different types of Fowl, and making chicken noises through megaphones.These iare the kind of moments we all wait for aren't they?
'Crow' isn't on this self-released cassette unfortunately, but it does contain several early versions of tracks that would appear later on their Ron Johnson releases.
So if you like unhinged Anti-American Turkey, Chicken, and Crow noises, backed up by the Magic Band in Dub, then this is for you.
Personally, i always fast forward the Dub tracks, like I do when I play The Bad Brains; a bit too generic for my tastes.....and fucking boring(unless you're stoned)! The opposite of the genius of 'Crow'; which i will be posting chronologically after this post.
Also I think the noble Crow is my favourite animal,so anything with Crow's on it has to be off to a good start.


Tracklist:

A1 Lies
A2 Ignorant B'$tard$
A3 Albania Alabama
A4 Scrape Dub
A5 Bumper
A6 Curse
B1 New Right Wing
B2 Ice Dub
B3 Great Divide
B4 Slarti
B5 Roll Over Rover
B6 $on Of Bran
B7 Sailor Soul Survivor
B8 Banjoid Festj

DOWNLOAD a bumper selection of compressed mp3 files HERE!

Lifetones ‎– "For A Reason" (Tone Of Life Records ‎– LTM 001) 1983

After This Heat, Charles Bullen, as Lifetones, went in the inexplicable, and safe direction , of White Reggae!? He didn't though, to my knowledge grow dreads, wear over sized wooly hats, and start talking like a native Jamaican; “Ev'ry t'ing Irie mon?” No, 'ev'ry t'ing is not fucking Irie' , especially in the unbelievably depressing cult of the white Rasta. One of the worst examples of the human flocking instinct,aka 'the Hive Mind'.

Having not heard this record for nigh on 30 years, I was expecting to hate its 'right on' guts, but, astonishingly, I worryingly found myself enjoying it?

It's a strange thing indeed, an amalgam of Elevator reggae-lite, sterile dub effects, and Bullen's multi-tracked nasal whine. Its reggae, but not as we know it; I can see this providing background muzak for some bourgeois fondue soirée, as much as a small gathering of white dreads, passing the funny cigarettes from 'de left hand side' in a south London squat. It's lowest common denominator Reggae.

Charles, can I call you Charles? Has only just released another solo project,some thirty years after the first. I wager it ain't white reggae-lite, thank Christ. He does however have a guest appearance list as long as your arm,alongside many production credits; bordering on the prolific even?

This record couldn't be further away from This Heat, who were innovative and ferocious experimentalists. Lifetones just follows the rules inside the musical strait jacket of Reggae's limited scope; but sometimes we just want an unchallenging listen,and relax......'No Problem mon'.......jesus, see w'happen to I'n'I?

Normal service will resume on the next post......and I promise.....No fucking Reggae!

Tracklist:

A1 For A Reason 6:37
A2 Good Side 3:55
A3 Decide 5:24
B1 Travelling 5:08
B2 Distance No Object 6:39
B3 Patience 5:19
DOWNLOAD this heat gone wrong HERE!