Wednesday, 3 October 2018

The Gordons ‎– "Volume 2" (Gordons ‎– GORDONS 3) 1984


Hmmm a classic example of the 'difficult' second album, up there with The Adverts and The Damned,whose follow up albums destroyed their careers. Whereas, those two records are now thought of as rather good, The Gordons second ,isn't. Mainly because they lost their main man Alister Parker, and replaced him with someone called Pinker, whose singing style stinks of rock orthadoxy,and whose guitar playing was far too considered. This record wanted to be liked, and thats what makes it unlikeable.....this ain't no Adverts 'Cast Of Thousands', this is The Dead Boys', terrible, "We Have Come For Your Children" standard, but without the hits.

Tracklist:
A1 Quality Control 3:04
A2 Reactor 5:41
A3 Lead Room 5:29
A4 Red Line 3:42
B1 Identity 3:48
B2 Mono Flo 3:26
B3 Gone Machine 4:19
B4 Joker 2:26
B5 Mentus Fugit 2:12


Tuesday, 2 October 2018

The Gordons ‎– "The Gordons" (Gordons ‎– GORDON 2) 1981 + "Future Shock EP" (GORDON 1)1980



I may have mentioned that I reckon these are probably the greatest couple of records to come out of New Zealand. Somehow The Gordons managed to sound like a US Post-Hardcore band several years before stuff like The Phantom Tollbooth, Bitch Magnet and other such Homestead style groups flooded the market;they even outflanked early Sonic Youth.
In some ways the isolation of being trapped on an island in the arse of the planet serves the creative process in the same way that the Galapogos Islands developed weird and wonderful beasts found nowhere else. A bit like West Germany in the seventies, and Japan in the nineties. The fact that this LP+EP evolved independantly of direct american/uk influence is a testament to that sweet isolation.

Tracklisting:

Spik And Span
Right On Time
Coalminers Song
Future Shock
Sometimes
I Just Can't Stop
Growing Up
Laughing Now
Machine Song
Adults And Children


Monday, 1 October 2018

Jandek ‎– "When I Took That Train" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0778) 2005

IT'S JANDEK MONDAY MOANDAY........☺

You should be on the stage......the next stage outta here!
Or, you could take the Train? But, as this cover photo is clearly from the mid 80s in a rainy London at christmas, i wouldn't bother; because it was still under the auspices of British Rail in the era when the 'wrong kind of snow' halted services, along with 'Leaves On the Line',among other excuses for inefficiency.......but we now want those good ol' days back.
The image of Jandek eating a British Rail sausage in economy class wearing his stetson makes me misty-eyed with awe.Obviously he didn't travel alone, or was this candid photo taken by a helpful passer-by? It seems unlikely.
Kurt Cobain once said,"Jandek's not pretentious, but only pretentious people like his music.".....our Kurt may have made some god-awful rock music, but I'll give him his due, he was a very astute music fan......but pretentious?..Moi et Toi?....that comment made me wanna send him more K-Mart Ammo for his shotgun.
Sure I'm pretentious, but at least i'm not pretending I'm NOT!?
Compared to Jandek ,Nirvana are Daniel O'Donnell....in fact Daniel O'Donnell would have been a far more left-field frontman than the cliché ridden corpse Nirvana became.
If Cobain had the guts to actually reveal his apparent 'Demons' in a Jandek Style he probably would be still alive.....so luckily he didn't.Mainly because he wouldn't sell anymore records and no longer be the pop-star he craved to be despite his whinging about corporate rock whores and so-on and so-on(he just needed a slap really).
I dunno what train Jandek took that day, but it must have been a terrible journey listening to the slow agony of the songs in this collection.Like being waterboarded by a gang of pinned-up junkies,in a dark alley, but without the fun.Jandeks third class railway journey through life's darker moments has almost reached its Terminus.......whats so pretentious about that?

Tracklist:
1 I Talked To You Today 4:07
2 When I See You Again 2:52
3 The Image Of You 3:27
4 Close To You 3:22
5 You Took Me For A Ride 4:13
6 What Else Is There 2:16
7 Wouldn't You Agree 3:22
8 You Made Me Know It 2:45
9 Angel Moves 3:43
10 Thing Called Me 5:43
11 My Escape 6:50


Saturday, 29 September 2018

The Dead C. ‎– "43 Sketch For A Poster" (Diabolic Root) 1987


The Dead C are Dead good ain't dey?
On their second C-30 of 1987, each member seems to be playing in isolation inside their own cardboard box. Scraping their instruments as if the definition of music was left blank in the dictionary, replaced by a description of what a song might be, written in the blood of a deaf mute.Filling the vacuum with toxic primordial gases.
Its Pol Pot Pop,a Khymer Rouge version of rock, stripped back to a single cell organism playing dead underneath the corpse of Punk Rock in the Killing Fields of Rock'n'Roll.Thats what this is. 

Tracklist:
A1 Crazy I Know
A2 3 Years
A3 Polio
B1 Retune
B2 Light My Fire
B3 3 Years
B4 Crazy I Know


Friday, 28 September 2018

The Dead C ‎– "The Dead See Perform M. Harris" (Diabolic Root) 1987


Comfortably the best band from New Zealand are, obviously, The Dead C. Roundly disliked by musicians everywhere, they perfected the art of sounding incredibly awful, which isn't as easy as it sounds.
I remember,possibly inaccurately, a Dead C member responding to a question about why their records were so badly recorded; to which he replied, "They're not,they are extremely professional and accurate recordings of what we actually sound like."
This C-30 of live rehearsals from early in 1987, is a typical scratchy improvised deconstruction of rock music into somekind of musical no-mans land,strewn with bomb craters full of dirty water,bone fragments and rusty barbed wire. The vocals are inaudible, the guitars sound like they replaced their plectrums with hacksaws,and it all sounds like they were playing in the next room.Perfect.

Tracklist:
A With Help From Max Harris
B Beyond Help From Max Harris


Thursday, 27 September 2018

Terrorways ‎– "Short-Haired Rock And Roll (1978-80)" 2008


Another AK:79 band, The Terrorways, were a kind of Pub Rock/Punk Covers Band hybrid.
Heavily reliant on Chuck Berry riffs, and covers of UK punk bands,(The Boys, and ATV seem favourites).They were the kind of band that, if they existed today, could make a healthy living playing at 'Old Folks Homes'.
They also have a good line in doing cover versions of cover versions;eg The Saints "lipstick on your collar" and "River deep Mountain High",The Drones "Be My Baby" and The Rezillo's doing Fleetwood Mac's "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight" being prime examples of this illusive genre.
They also dabbled in writing some rather Iffy original songs too,like the title track; but its their amped up cover versions that make this a jolly good wheeze for any septagerian Punk Rock Party.
One especially likes the 100Mph version of 'Borstal Breakout', that one could even get me pogoing ?......but only when me mums gone out.

Tracklist:

1 Short Haired Rock And Roll (1980)
2 Never Been To Borstal (1979)
3 She's A Mod (1979)
4 Love Lies Limp (1980)
5 Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In (1978 Bedroom Demo)
6 Be My Baby
7 Things Go Wrong
8 Lipstick On Your Collar
9 Some Kind Of Fun
10 Why Don't You Do Me Right
11 Sick On You
12 First Time
13 Leave Off
14 Love Lies Limp
15 She's A Mod
16 Short Haired Rock And Roll
17 Get Outta My Pagoda
18 I Don't Care
19 Walk The Plank
20 Ask About You
21 Never Been To Borstal
22 River Deep Mountain High
23 Suspect Device
24 Borstal Breakout


The Scavengers ‎– "The Scavengers" (Action Records) 1978/2003


Also from the AK:79 album comes this posthumous album from The Scavengers, recorded in 1978.
Its that pubrock/original Punk Rock template of speeded up Chuck Berry riffs.....a style I can't get enough of. It also has that sweet whiff of those Outsider Punk groups from the arse-end of the UK, which gives it some much needed authenticity.
Things went downhill terminally for at least one member (Ronnie Recent/Brendon Perry), as he joined Dead Can Dance!!!!? As Ronnie was born in Whitechapel,London, he was probably responsible for the cockney inflections heard in the vocals.
A rather amusing addition to this album are the excerpts from a TV report on Punk Rock from the New Zealand media.Pure Gold.

Tracklist:

A1 Mysterex
A2 Born To Bullshit
A3 True Love
A4 Twentyone
A5 Brick In The Wall
B1 Money In The Bank
B2 Routine
B3 Supported By The State
B4 Violence
B5 Mysterex (Alternate Version)


Wednesday, 26 September 2018

Toy Love ‎– "Toy Love" (Deluxe Records ‎– Z 20008,) 1980


One of the better New Zealander New Wave groups was Toy Love(as featured on AK:79); Uk equivalents are possibly The Flys(?) I suppose,purely as a point of reference.
I like this kinda stuff, melodic and unchallenging music to prepare a meal to.New Wave/Power Pop was 1980's folk music for me.

Tracklist:

I Don't Mind
Swimming Pool
Death Rehersal
Bride Of Frankenstein
Toy Love Song
Photographs Of Naked Ladies
Bedroom
The Crunch
Ain't It Nice
Cold Meat
Don't Catch Fire
Green Walls
Pull Down The Shades
Frogs
Fast Ostrich


Tuesday, 25 September 2018

Various Artists ‎– "AK•79" (Ripper Records ‎– RPR 1) 1979



When we think of 'Punk Rock', one doesn't immeadiatly think of New Zealand does one?
The 'punk' on the cover looks like he's wearing someone elses clothes,seems well nourished, and has the look of a financial advisor letting go at the weekend.
I'm sure life was a struggle in the land of the Kiwi, but it was hardly the decaying wasteland that the UK or New York was.So, better than just being angry at life because you ain't go no future, the Kiwi's were obviously in it for the music rather than anything else.
And lets face it, The Damned and The Clash weren't gonna be playing anywhere very soon, so yer average antipodean punk had to do it themselves. There was no Auckland branch of Seditionaries, so, yes, you had to sew your own zips on yer trousers, and actually buy yer Ramones biker jacket from a motor cycle shop, paid for by your well paid job in the bank.
So appeared this compilation of New Zealander Outsider Punk,crammed with plenty of rather charming Auckland punkers giving it to the man.
The New Zealand branch of family in fact moved back to the UK in 1979, and stayed with us on our cramped grey council estate. They asked me if i had any requests gift wise. I has seen a picture of The Suburban Reptiles in 'Sounds', and said 'Any NZ Punk records would be great'. Instead of the Suburban Reptiles, the youth of the family had selected something called 'The Citizen Band', which he said was 'New Wave', but sounded like something an american would have liked,and one of the blokes had a full beard!!!!?? Cousin Nigels ears were soon opened to the otherworldly joys of Public Image Limited and Throbbing Gristle,but he still retained a stubborn and unhealthy obsession with Kiss.....no-ones perfect, I have the same problem with 'A Flock Of Seagulls'.

I've included a load of bonus tracks alongside the original LP, including The Suburban Reptiles, in the File.Available for downloading below.


Tracklist:

1–The Scavengers - Mysterex
2–The Terrorways - Never Been To Borstal
3–Proud Scum - I Am A Rabbit
4–The Scavengers - True Love
5–Proud Scum - Suicide
6–The Terrorways - She's A Mod
7–The Swingers - Certain Sound
8–The Primmers - Funny Stories
9–Toy Love - Squeeze
10–The Swingers - Baby
11–The Primmers - You're Gonna Get Done
12–Toy Love - Toy Love Song


Monday, 24 September 2018

Jandek ‎– "The Place" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0772) 2003


(Said in the voice of Marvin the paranoid Android): "Oh Goody, Its Jandek Monday Again. Life? Don't talk to me about life!...Oh God I'm soooo depressed!"

Another shop window dummies album cover to twin up with the bridal version for 'The Gone Wait' from the same year.This time Jan....can I call him 'Jan'?....swaps from detuned bass back to detuned acoustic guitar.
The weapon has changed but the effect stays the same. Like being hit across the face with a wet fish loaded with steel chains. Is life really this bad?.......i'm tempted to say 'Yes', or 'worse', but i'm sick of being labelled a cynic.....so I won't.....Yeah the existential torment of being an intelligent beast is great.....really, really good fun. That Jandek oughta lighten up a bit?.... Scheeech!
I'm going out dancin' now to express my Joy, while you miserable bastards stay in your bedrooms listening to Jandek moaning about shit we'd rather forget.

Tracklist:

1 The Picture 9:25
2 The Place 7:03
3 The Highway 6:28
4 The Answer 4:31
5 The Stumble 8:55


Sunday, 23 September 2018

Various Artists - "Dunedin Double" - (Flying Nun Records ‎– DUN 1) 1982


From Dundee to Dunddin one goes effortlessy.
New Zealand was made for this kind of Proto-Indie music.Everyone looks and dresses like they should be in an Indie band. Side partings, finges,cosy sweaters,sensible slacks and suede shoes,all topped off with that popular generic face that sets them apart from the slightly inbred look that Australians have. Like that bloke from Crowded House who was in Split Enz.
This album is more of a shared effort rather than a compilation,but there's not a duff track on it. 13 prime cuts of 1982 style proto Indie,when Indie didn't even have a name.Very tuneful, with jangly guitars strumming atop the melodious cry of a angst ridden but polite geeky lead singer. They all listened a lot to later period Velvet Underground without doubt.Which is no surprise, as VU were undoubtedly the very first 'Indie' band. (Discuss).

Tracklist:

A1 –The Verlaines - Angela
A2 –The Verlaines - Crisis After Crisis
A3 –The Verlaines - You Cheat Yourself Of Everything That Moves
B1 –The Stones - Something New
B2 –The Stones - See Red
B3 –The Stones - Down And Around
B4 –The Stones - Surfs Up
C1 –The Chills - Kaleidoscope World
C2 –The Chills - Satin Doll
C3 –The Chills - (Frantic) Drift
D1 –Sneaky Feelings - Pity's Sake
D2 –Sneaky Feelings - There's A Chance
D3 –Sneaky Feelings - Backroom


Friday, 21 September 2018

The Scrotum Poles ‎– "Revelation (Expanded cd-r version)" (Rightback Records) 2009




For those of you who don't know, The Scrotum Poles claim to fame was their self-financed ep from 1980, which contained five tracks of charmingly naive sounding proto indie pop,in the style of the TV Personalities and hints of Subway Sect.
This is the expanded CD-r version with the bonus tracks released in  2009.
It comes with sleeve notes explaining everything included above if you can read them.

Tracklist:

1 Why Don't You Come Out Tonight? 3:56
2 Night Train 2:51
3 Pick The Cat's Eyes Out 3:06
4 Helicopter Honeymoon 1:45
5 Radio Tay 1:40
Bonus Tracks
6 Put An End To It All 1:37
7 On The Street Where You Live 2:23
8 Eye To Eye 2:51


Thursday, 20 September 2018

The Scrotum Poles ‎– "Auchmithie Forever" (Dulc-I-Tone ‎– TT 012) 2009

With the state of crumbling modern Britain, and the rise of this Xenophobic Brexiteer nonsense which has permanently split the UK,the opening track of this LP becomes strangely topical...... in the words of the mighty Scrotum Poles "It Just Aint Fucking Funny".
Watching the "Democratic" Football Lads Alliance marching in their tens and dozens, even less, against Islam, made me wanna vomit....as much as i wanted to laugh at the ugly wall of aging skinhead gammon provoking the Police, i'm afraid it really is NOT fucking funny!
Now i've got that off my chest, I can type about some stuff we in the UK can actually be proud of.......you guessed it,the kings of Scottish DIY, The Scrotum Poles.
They liked The TV Personalities and Subway Sect, rather than the stupider end of the market, aka future Football Lads Alliance members.
Any band who can pen a number like "Helicopter Honeymoon" can do no wrong for your faithful scribe.So to discover a vinyl release of a selection from the Poles DIY cassettes was like unpacking my Scalextrick set at Crimbo as a kiddie.....but this time the dodgy transformer works.
All I wanted for christmas as a sad excuse for an adult was a Scrotum Poles LP, and now i've got one! Much better than a Dukla Prague awaykit for me Subbuteo set.
So, we've got alternative versions of "Pick The Cats Eyes Out" and ,of course "Helicopter Honeymoon", plus many unheard proto-indie bedroom classics.

Tracklist:

A1 It Just Aint Fucking Funny
A2 Just Another Number
A3 Be No More
A4 Pick The Cats Eyes Out
A5 On The Street Where You Live
A6 This Is Love
A7 The Smile
A8 Pillars
A9 Roadrunner
A10 Apocalypse
A11 Swing Baby
B1 Helicopter Honeymoon
B2 Fast Changes
B3 You Cant Say Anything Nowadays
B4 Undivided Loyalty
B5 Circumstances
B6 Pick The Cats Eyes Out
B7 Hold Me Tight
B8 City Limits
B9 Cocaine
B10 Birthday Boy
B11 Put An End To It All


Wednesday, 19 September 2018

Various Artists ‎– "Messthetics #105, Scotland 1977-81" (Hyped To Death ‎– Messthetics #105) 2007


Sorry, No Deacon Blue here.
It's the Messthetics Scotland compilation innit?
Its got all the classics on here, The Fakes, The Exile,He's Dead Jim, Scrotum Poles,plus bonus tracks, plus many many more.
Not Avalable in shops.
File under UK DIY.

Tracklist:
1 –Scrotum Poles- Helicopter Honeymoon 1:42
2 –Fire Engines- New Thing In Cartons 3:39
3 –35mm Dreams- More Than This 2:15
4 –The Exile- Jubilee 77 3:03
5 –Commercials- Simon 2:18
6 –Fakes- Sylvia Clarke 2:37
7 –Metropak- You're A Rebel 3:33
8 –Tony Pilley- Waiting For The Man 2:29
9 –Visitors - Moth 2:22
10 –Article 58- Event To Come 2:41
11 –Radio Ghosts- Falling Into Darkness 2:40
12 –Rapid Dance- Hidden So Well 3:29
13 –Strutz- Break Point 4:09
14 –Metropak- Looking 3:24
15 –Vertical Smiles- New Clash Single 2:12
16 –Ettes- A Conversation 1:45
17 –Restricted Code- New Messiah 1:51
18 –Radio Ghosts- My Room 4:50
19 –Brills- Gang Of One 2:30
20 –Rhythm Method - Insight 2:20
21 –Dirty Reds- Bad Sex 2:53
22 –He's Dead Jim - Towel On The Radiator+Lampshade Lampshade 2:55
23 –Jazzateers- Blue Moon Over Hawaii 4:02
24 –Paul Reekie- Lovers 6:10
25 –35mm Dreams- Suburbia Sheikhs (First Demo) 3:11
26 –Commercials- Speeds The End (Demo) 3:16
27 –Friction - Mystery 3:59
28 –International Spys- Baby Don't Go (Demo) 2:21
29 –Restricted Code- Then There Was You (Demo) 2:00
30 –Article 58- Idol (Unreleased) 1:28
31 –Vertical Smiles- Carnal Knowledge (Radio Airthrey Demo) 3:05
32 –Cats Eyes - Guilt (Demo) 3:35
33 –Scrotum Poles- Put An End To It All (A Shot In The Dark Go Pop Session) 1:34


Tuesday, 18 September 2018

Various Artists ‎– "Sad Day We Left The Croft" (Adult Entertainments ‎– ADD 1LP) 1981


"Sad Day We Left The Croft" is a compilation of punk and new wave pwer pop combo's from,of all places, the Scottish Hebridean island of Lewis, recorded in 1980 and released in 1981.
There's so little to do on Lewis, that all the bands seem to have had plenty time to rehearse the art of being 'Raw' to perfection. Also they must have had only one record to listen to, namely Stiff Little Fingers' "Inflammable Material", and maybe a couple of Buzzcocks Singles too. 
Noise Annoys could easily be mistaken for Jake Burns and crew, especially that trademark affected shouty singing.All this despite having a snare drum that sounds like its a full biscuit tin. The Rong also have that popular SLF timbre to their tracks,but not the songs.
Its not all copycat power punk stuff however, The Bruce Wayne Band, seem like a fine bunch,and The Bland had obviously managed to tune into Radio One after 10pm inbetween the storms and the fog.
Disturbingly, Addo With Mission,conspired to become Dire Straits somehow? Their track 'Ocean Of Love' is basically "Sultans Of Swing"(Part 2)!!!!!.....disturbing yes, but that quaint kinda disturbing that Dire Straits lacked enormously.
All this adds up to the best Scottish local compilation by a country mile.

Track Listing:

1.Noise Annoys: "Living (in the world today)" – 1:28
2.The Rong: "Treatment" – 3:38
3.The Bland: "River Creed" – 4:28
4.Addo: "Deep down inside" – 5:56
5.The Subjects: "Paradise" – 5:14
6.Bruce Wayne Band: "First year fear" – 2:53
7.Dirty Girls: "Love or lust?" – 1:34
8.The Rong: "Union Jack" – 2:29
9.The Bland: "Letters while travelling" – 2:43
10.Addo: "Ocean of love" – 6:07
11.The Subjects: "Coming to save you?" – 4:14
12.Bruce Wayne Band: "Nightmares" – 2:04
13.Noise Annoys: "New heroes" – 1:25

Monday, 17 September 2018

Jandek ‎– "Shadow Of Leaves" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0774) 2004


To herald the return of 'Jandek Monday' ,here's the ginger bard torturing a detuned Bass for forty minutes. Naturally, overlaid with his trademark moan and doom-laden prose that reeks of apathy and pointlessness. This kind of existential honesty rarely shows its ugly head above the water.The opposite of entertainment,but very much an endless tunnel into the black truth of oblivion.
This ain't James Blunt in other words.

Tracklist:

1 Shadow Of Leaves 29:02
2 Find Me Again 6:15
3 I Give You Me 5:04


Sunday, 16 September 2018

Various Artists - "Backlash!" (Playlist records-PLAY2) 1981



The follow up to 'Mint sauce For The Masses' was/is called "Backlash!". More Edinburgh also-rans making up the Post Punk numbers with Five more melody-free ditties from the dustbin of new wave Britain........But thats how we like it down here!
I dunno but the songs titles seem like better band names than the actual band names, and the actual band names would make better song titles?.....or have I just got them mixed up?

Tracklist:

1.Significant Zeros "Stiff Citizens"
2.Factory Poems - "Passion dance"
3.Threats "Pacivity"
4.Victims of What? "Anybodys baby"
5.End Result - "Last Chance"

DOWNLOAD before the backlash HERE!

Friday, 14 September 2018

Various Artists ‎– "Mint Sauce For The Masses" (Playlist Records ‎– Play 1) 1980



Scotland has produced atrocities of Treblinka-equaling proportions in the world of Pop Music; but for every Deacon Blue or Hue and Cry, there's at least two Josef K's or Fire Engines to redress the balance.
Popping along the M8 from Glasgow, to Edinburgh, we find another over-short band compilation, which again alludes to a cash shortage,either reflecting the economics of the region, or the legendary tightness of the Scottish race?
The music lies somewhere between the greatness of Josef K and the toe-curling awfulness of Deacon Blue. I have heard better from this fine city,but these groups were performing on the cusp of the Postcard era, where Scotland really found their own musical immortality. The groups represented here are a forgetable reflection of the accepted musics of the epoch from whence it sprung......which is not a bad thing if that epoch is 1980's Britain.
Although the hook in the Twisted Nerve toon, 'Neutral Zone', is worth the price of admission in itself?..:

"The National Front Have Got It Wrong, That's Why We Wrote This Fucking Song!"

Tracklist:

A1 –Club Of Rome - Bedroom Scenes
A2 –Club Of Rome - Classics
A3 –Flexible Response - The Shortest War
B1 –Fun City - Avalanche
B2 –Twisted Nerve - Neutral Zone
B3 –Twisted Nerve - Vertigo


Thursday, 13 September 2018

Various Artists ‎– "Second City Statik - A Glasgow Compilation" (Statik Records ‎– 01) 1980



Yes,so I went on an extended Holiday. Got a problem with that?
I'll talk about my excursion after I tap out a short synopsis of this mini-album compilation of Glasgow bands.
Winding our way further north in the British Isles from the last post on the subject ,on Carlisle.We find a mini-album of Glasgow talent.
Why Glasgow couldn't cobble together a full length LP of local post punk pop I dunno.....they're poor up north y'know, and tight....in both senses of the word, i.e. ,tight with the money they haven't got, and/or tight as in 'pissed' (the Uk version of the word, not pissed as in Angry).....now have we got that cleared up?....Good, so we'll begin.
Positive Noise acheived a modicum of sucess I guess, but the rest traditionally sank without trace.
Plenty...well...not plenty in this case, of raw Scottish strummy Post Punk.....it should have been an LP.

The last track is called 'The Long March', which my father was forced to do at gun point ,with no food, for a thousand kilometers during WW2......which smoothly gets us back on the subject of my Holiday, tracing the footsteps of pater after he got shot down over st.Nazaire in 1943.
Wanna see some pictures?.......what d'you mean NO?.....well no-one's forcing you are they?
Right!
Here's Zchivago laying on the very same wooden bed that mon pere slept (or not) on during his solitary confinement for a month in the Citadel(Then Nazi HQ) on Belle Isle.
Zchivago at the Nazi Sub Base in St. Nazaire, Wot he was bombing when he copped it:
The ashes of said Dead Dad, scattered with his crew in the War Cemetary at Pornic:
I could have bored you with more touristy shots, so be thankful!
However,If you wanna read the story of what happened to My daddy, Ted to you,on that fateful night and beyond? The relevant chapter is available to download HERE!....its not too long,so indulge me.

If you want the whole book click HERE!

Tracklist:

A1 –Restricted Code-The New Messiah
A2 –Positive Noise - Refugees
A3 –The Alleged - 2 Out Of 3
B1 –The Alleged - Despair
B2 –Restricted Code- Seeing Much Better (With Your Eyes)
B3 –Positive Noise - The Long March


Saturday, 25 August 2018

Flipper ‎– "Gone Fishin' "(Subterranean Records ‎– SUB 42) 1984


We're takin' a bit of a detour as I'm Goin' on Vacation; so appropriatly Flipper's least popular album "Gone Fishin'" will be here on the front page for nigh on a week.
Where am I goin', no-one is askin'?
So I'll tell ya.
During WW2, my father baled out of a crashing Bomber over the coast of Brittany, France, after bombing those darn Nazi Submarine Pens at St. Nazaire. He landed under darkness on Belle Ile, a small island in the Bay of Biscay.The rest of the crew weren't so lucky, as they crashed into the sea,all killed;the tail gunner having also parachuted, but landed in the ruthless waters of the ocean, in February, and perished.
Daddy Zchivago, was avoiding Nazis for three days, then they got him, and locked him up in a castle called 'the Citadel'.After interrogating him for three days they shipped him out to Poland.
The 'Citadel is now a Hotel, so thats where I'm-a-stayin'.So i'm testing my genetic memory for any feelings of deja-vu!?
I can also pay my respects over the graves of the fallen members of my fathers crew.....mostly Canadians I may add.
Also i get to hang out at the monolithic Submarine Pens for some WW2 ghoulery. Passing by Oradour-sur-Glane on the way too.....major league atrocity site.
Flipper are one of those conventional groups that you sorta like, but there's something uncomfortable and contrary about them....like The Fall. Anyway i've grown to like this album a lot,including its inherant unlikeability factor, which is always essential in great art.

Oh yeah......here's the tracklisting and Download link for the Flipper Album.....:


Tracklist:

Comin'
The Light, The Sound, The Rhythm, The Noise
First The Heart
In Life My Friends
Survivors Of The Plague 

Goin'
Sacrifice
Talk's Cheap
You Nought Me
One By One

Friday, 24 August 2018

Various Artists ‎– "8 From '80. A Carlisle Compilation". (Matchbox Classics ‎– MC3) 1980


One stopped off in Carlisle on the way to Glasgow, and I can recall the place captured in the picture featured on the cover as if it was yesterday......dunno why, it just stuck in my brain,possibly because of the weirdly quiet and gloomy atmosphere of the place.
The groups featured are all definitely not weird, or quiet, or even gloomy. Its all a standard run through of some new wave type power pop and post punkiness.All very listenable,and very much of its time....ie 1980.....but don't read that as 'Dated'.

Tracklist:

1–Spivs Maybe - It's Different
2–Pedestrians - Walk It
3–Mr.Bulder - She Knows
4–No Support - Prophetic Justice
5–Veldt - Bleak
6–Toolbox Murderers - Alco
7–Kirsty And The Husbands - Sitting In A Disco
8–The Limps - So Nice


Thursday, 23 August 2018

Various Artists ‎– "A Trip To The Dentist" (Skeleton Records ‎– SKLLP 1) 1980



Lets take that Ferry 'cross the Mersey to Birkenhead. Only been there a cople of times, to see Leicester City play Tranmere Rovers.Memorably, during an uninspiring 0-0 draw in the play-off semi-finals around 1994-ish, I remember clearly my girlfriend being hit in the face by a large inflatable dolphin with 'Blue Army' written on the side of it.She was press-ganged by me to go in the first place as we were accidently on purpose driving by the region....so she was far from a happy bunny on that ocassion....'LOL!' Another time me and my footy mates were looking for parking near the ground, and a nice scouse lady ran out into the street and directed us into her driveway.......no it wasn't a naughty scouse strategy to rob us; she was just displaying some famous Northern hospitality.The car was still intact after we beat them!?
Not sure the people from Birkenhead call themselves 'Scouse' at all,but everyone else does.One suspects thats only a term applied to inhabitants of neighbouring Liverpool, but I'll have to do my usual 'Scouse' jokes to brighten the day up a bit?????.....No?
Ok...What do you call a Scouser in a white shellsuit?.......The Bride!
2- Whats a Scouser in a Suit called?.....The Accused?
3- A scouser in a Semi-Detatched house is a what?......That's right....a Burgler!
Funny stuff eh?.....just like all those hilarious(not) Scouser comedians, like Ken Dodd, Stan 'The Geeeermans' Boardman, and Tom O'Connor (Who????)
I suppose this is a local band from Birkenhead compilation masquerading as a Skeleton Records promo disc.Lots of suitably melodic power pop and New Wave, from a bunch of scallies living under the dark shadow of Gerry and the Pacemakers;whom i had the pleasure of witnessing supporting Ken Dodd at the Skegness pier theatre in 1974.....the next band I saw was Suicide at Leicester Granby Halls in 1978,supporting the Clash.Now,.... Suicide supporting Ken Dodd would be something? I'd pay plenty dollah to see that, if only the main protagonists weren't very dead! Only Martin Rev survives from that fantasy double bill from the right kind of Hell.

Tracklist:

A1 –Geisha Girls Doctor
A2 –Afraid Of Mice I'm Not A Fighter
A3 –Attempted Moustache No Way Out
A4 –Walking Boys Don't Worry
A5 –Luminous Beings Myself And My Heroes
A6 –The Relations One More Record
A7 –Stopouts Just For You And Me
A8 –Wayne Hussey And The Dance Goes On
B1 –Luminous Beings T.V. Can Kill
B2 –Afraid Of Mice Trans-parent
B3 –Walking Boys Leave You Alone
B4 –Zorkie Twins Little Arthur
B5 –Upsets I Don't Know Why
B6 –Luminous Beings Shadows Of Giants
B7 –Windows When The Music's Over


Tuesday, 21 August 2018

Various Artists - "Pumf The Magic Dragon/More Things Weird and Wonderful" (Pumf Records and Tapes Pumf 126) 1988



Many a Ceramic Hobs record was released on a completly disinterested world by Pumf Records.Mainly because pStan of said group, ran it.
A label not renowned for their classy artwork, Pumf, from Blackpool, have been around since the mid eighties, and continue to churn out reams of aurally unpleasant sonic terrorism in this very awful modern arena that we are captives within.
This compilation from the most terrible year on record.....88....also,incidently the number of keys on a piano, including both ebony and ivory.....ebony and ecstasy more like. What a shit drug for music or what?
There are no idiot dancing anthems on this compilation,thankfully,as Pumf remained an oasis of sanity throughout that very shit epoch.
To recommend this tape further, it has Yximaloo on it,and I dunno if the 'Ball' listed here is Kramer's Band of the same name from the same era? Apart from that its full of hopelessly obscure nutters and weirdos from North West England......and there are a lot of 'em up there!

Tracklist:

1. Cyclic Amp - "Kill"
2. Troll - "An Apple and some Crumpets"
3. Yximalloo - "When The moon Is Full"
4. Howl In The Typewriter - "Water yr Plants"
5. Henry - "Howards Cookery Book"
6. Ball - "Poking In The Jungle"
7. Culture Shock - "Pressure"
8. Dandelion Adventure - "Preacher"
9. Def-A-Kators - "War's a Bore"
10.Xipe Totek - "Untitled"
11.Tracey Metroplis - "Grapevine"
12.Barbara Dwyer - "Dinners on the Table"
13.Ball - "3D Sound"
14.Yximalloo - "Sway Of the Spirit"
15.Howl In The RTypewriter - "Touch"
16.Cyclic Amp - "Him"
17.Henry - "lets Sack City Hall"
18.Dandelion ASdventure - "1997"
19.Troll - "Sun Dial"
20.Culture shock - "Don't Worry About It"
21.Tracey Metroplois - "Its Not Unusual"
22.Yximalloo - "Ring Of Horror"
23.Ball - "Lucy in Disguise With Diamonds"
24.Xipe Totek - "untitled"
25.Barbara Dwyer -"Hey Lawman what gives"
26.Def-A-Kators - "I'm Only Happy When I'm Killing My Grandma"

DOWNLOAD someting weird and wonderful HERE!

Monday, 20 August 2018

Jandek ‎– "The Gone Wait" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0773) 2003



NO....Jandek Monday hasn't ended....yet.The wait for the resumption has well and truly ....er.... Gone?
A poignant cover photo of dummy Brides for sale presages a grim future for human relationships...so say I!......Jandek, however, is more concerned with the 'waiting' aspect of existential human suffering. The spectre of death, or even worse, the spectre of eternal punishment, or even worse, eternal simpering lovliness incarserated in some an insipid prison posing as some kind of sick paradise. Fuck that, gimmie peaceful oblivion, gimmie escape from existence, gimmie Jandek in his detuned bass phase.
This is a great album, even by normal standards......but who wants 'Normal'????...thats the stuff Heaven is made of......like I said before...FUCK THAT!


Tracklist:

1 I Went To Hell 6:39
2 I See The Open Door 6:04
3 I Was A King 10:24
4 I Just Might Go Now 10:27
5 I Found The Right Change 6:00


Saturday, 18 August 2018

The Ceramic Hobs ‎– "Disturbing 'Boxing Ring' Fantasies" (Pumf Records And Tapes ‎– PUMF 133) 1988



Classic UK DIY madness from Blackpools 'Ceramic Hobs'.One of the few,if not the only,original perps of cassette based affronts to musicianship and common decency that are still doing it today!
A C-60 jam-packed with no-fi third generation cassette-to-cassette overdubbed psychopathy like it was recorded off a cheap television in a lounge room full of soft furnishings.
Anything that has a song about my favourite British seventies sit-com, 'On The Buses', has to be good?
These silly boys NEVER sold out.......and nor should you!

Tracklist:

A1 What Can You Do ? (Excerpt)
A2 This Is Egg !
A3 Meat Is Tebbit
A4 Big Frog
A5 Exceedingly Good Weasels
A6 On The Buses
A7 Pineapple Protest
A8 Futile, Ron
A9 Cupcakes
A10 Antisocial Insecurity
A11 The Truth About Carrots
A12 Bob Holness Must Die
A13 Toast From The Piggy-Bank
A14 Louie Louie Bleriot
A15 Apricot Quilt
A16 Tortured By Sparklers
A17 Kiss Me, Hardy
A18 Toffee Apple Death
B1 Happy Hour
B2 Occasional Drizzle
B3 The Bucket Filled Twice
B4 Sperm From The Ayatollah
B5 Knockout Honeycomb Pituitary Gland
B6 The Yew Survives From The Ancient Woodland


Thursday, 16 August 2018

The Ceramic Hobs ‎– "Psychiatric Underground" (Pumf Records And Tapes ‎– PUMF 322) 1998


So who was/is the 'best band from Blackpool'?........Tempted to say Section 25, but they went disco......therefore it's obviously 'The Ceramic Hobs' innit?
They are a kind of alternative Danny and the Dressmakers,but unlike the dressmakers, they didn't sell out and make 'proper' music. They have been going since the early 80's,still releasing genre liquidising nailed together nonsense to this very day.
This one's only 20 years old,so its vintage mid-period Hobs,rather than classic cassette-era Hobs from the eigthies....but its as if technology never happened,and each member seemed to have the very special talent of being incapable of improving as musicians.....all in the traditional sense of course.

Tracklist:

1 Vigil
2 Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
3 Atomic Clock
4 Amplified Sorrow
5 Meeting The Summertime
6 Hospital Detective
7 Thsi Sore And Broken Blackpool Legacy (Germ Mix)
8 These Dead Things
9 Pirate Night For Karen Morgan
10 Hey Lads Hey
11 Dick Whittington, Turn Back (Expose Your Eyes Mix)
12 Mr Vicar
13 Say Goodbye To The President
14 Robin Blood
15 Crash And Burn
16 Irreversible Liver Failure
17 Used Goods/Damaged Goods
18 Winterbottom Speaks
19 Love Letters Read Like Suicide Notes
20 Long Black Limousine
21 Tomorrow
22 Total Disarmament By June 1st 1983
23 Castrol GTX
24 Mr Vicar Fills His Head With Rock
25 Take Fewer Puffs
26 Parrot Night For Caprtain Morgan
27 Psychiatric Underground
28 Low Alcowipe


Wednesday, 15 August 2018

Various ‎Artists – "Blackpool Rox E.P. No.2" (Vinyl Drip Records ‎– VD 010) 1983


Blimey, there was a second 'Blackpool Rox EP"????....the space of three years between the two EPs illustrates the difference between the class of 1980 and !983....as in nearly everything in 1980 was brilliant, and nearly everything in 1983 wasn't very good at all.
Four bog standard post-punk tunes from four also-rans in the stakes to be the fifth best band in Blackpool.

Tracklist:

A1 –Fifth Column - Laugh While You Can
A2 –Crack House - Jesus Loves You
B1 –Sign Language - The Killing
B2 –Love 30 - Touchdown

Tuesday, 14 August 2018

Various Artists ‎– "Blackpool Rox E.P." ( Vinyl Drip Records ‎– drip 001) 1980

George Formby once sang,suggestively, about his 'little stick of Blackpool Rock'...then...nothing, until John Robb sorted out this EP of Bands from Blackpool.
Naturally featuring The Membranes, with their best ever tune in all its DIY glory, and the most famous doomy dance band from Lancashires premier seaside resort, Section 25....being suitably 'Doomy'.
The other two groups are yer standard New Wave power pop combos of which there were several in any UK town ,village or linear settlement that you'd care to mention.
My UK Seaside resort of choice was always Skegness, mainly due to its geographical location to Leicester(my birthplace,if you didn't know,or care?).....i'm not sure if there was ever a compilation of local Post-punkers from Skeggie,but there should have been.They did have a disco called 'Spangles' after all?
Its catchphrase was,amusingly, "It's Bracing", due to the high winds that whipped up a sandstorm every summer on the beach. I say 'Beach', but it was more like a sewage farm.At low tide me and me sister had to negotiate the untreated sewage and fully intact human turds (not the holiday makers, actual Turds!), to get to paddle in the rancid brown waters of 'The Wash'/North Sea.
A rather 'gay' looking plump fisherman called 'the Jolly Fisherman' was the local mascot to pull in the working class punters from the East Midlands of England and fleece them of their hard earned L.S.D...pounds, shillings and pence to those of you decimalised types....absolutely NOT Lysergic Acid.No drugs in Skeg in those days....or should I say no Skag in Skeg?
Believe it or not, I enjoyed it all immensely(Noooo,not the Drugs, the amusement arcades and stuff!)!?.....we're such a bunch of spoiled brats these days!
I saw all the legends at the Pier Theatre; Tommy Cooper, Ray Allen and Lord Charles, Ken Dodd,Norman Collier, and Norman Wisdom,to whom my mum dragged me to get the autograph of after the show....sucessfully I may add.The only other act I ever got the signature of were Napalm Death!? Also, the Skegness Pier Theatre was the place where i saw my first Pop Group....yep..it was Gerry and the Pacemakers!? This magical place was sadly swept away into the sea by a severe gale in 1978; along with the traditional British summer holiday.
Blackpool seemed like Las Vegas to me and my family.....those bloody bourgeois Northerners didn't know how lucky,or otherwise, they were.No wonder they all moved to London.

Tracklist:

A1 –The Membranes - Ice Age
A2 –Section 25 - Red Voice
B1 –The Kenneth Turner Set - Overload
B2 –Syntax - Dot Dot