Patrik Fitzgerald ‎– "Grubby Stories" Small Wonder Records/Polydor ‎– 2383 533,) 1979

Bought this on my 15th birthday with the record token my Auntie Joan sent me from Skegness.A town where I bought a lot of my albums in the late 70's,during my summer holidays which were always spent in Skeggie. The Clash,Stranglers,Damned etc.....and by default Patrik Fitzgerald,as this shop was where my Auntie always bought those 'Record Tokens' from. 'Herrick-Watson' was almost equal in stature to 'Revolver' in Leicester for my youthful purchases.
A family business that provided Records and Televisions to this bleak seaside town for 87 years.Sadly I have just discovered that it has now closed its doors since november 2019, as the owners are retiring,and no-one wants to buy a record shop anymore. Boo-Hooo!
This was Patrik's 'sell-out' album,and included the song that summed up his entire musical career, the post-Ironic "All The Years Of Trying".
As Woody Allen said, "80% of Success is just turning up", which I am a great subscriber to.
Just bang away and eventually, you will get some reward.Regretably U2 understood this principle only too well. Just stick at it, until superior rivals fall by the wayside, and you will be the only ones left. Thats why U2 are still making records,and Echo and The Bunnymen do nostalgia tours.
In Patrik's case,he's still trying and appears to be the exception to this rule.He's still virtually ignored,but not on Die Or DIY? he ain't.
As Pat points out in "All The Years Of Trying", the first word in Success is 'Suck'.He was all too aware that as a consequence of his attempt to 'make it',risked alienating his fan base.....and it did.
Swiftly given the boot by Polydor when the LP failed to shift enough units to be number one,he formed a group that didn't include the punk stars that helped out on the album,and didn't sound like the album on the tour.This probably lost the few fickle fans that he had left. He then faded into the background for a couple of years until indie label Red Flame signed him up for three albums.
The first of which "Gifts and Telegrams" was another unpopulat shift in style,far from the acoustic urban troubador to a purveyor of down beat minimal synth cold wave. This was about as popular as a dose of gonorrhea,and fell between several stools.So much so that redFlame didn't release his next,and best, album "Drifting Towards Violence" and licensed it out to avoid another loss.

You can download and read what shit i had to say about "Gifts and Telegrams" HERE!


Tracklist:

A1 As Ugly As You
A2 Nothing To Do
A3 All My Friends Are Dead Now
A4 Adopted Girl
A5 Don't Tell Me Because I'm Young
A6 When I Get Famous
A7 Little Fishes
A8 Lover's Pact
A9 All The Years Of Trying
B1 But Not Anymore
B2 Suicidal Wreck
Written-By – Fionna Norris
B3 My Secret Life
B4 Conventions Of Life
B5 Parentgames
B6 No Fun Football
B7 Make It Safe
B8 Your Hero

DOWNLOAD to make your life grubbier HERE!