Cleaners From Venus ‎– "Living With Victoria Grey" (Man At The Off Licence) 1986

Such Melodious joy!As if one was listening to one of those Bam Caruso records that were so popular in 1986. There are a fair few classic Psych tunes on this C40, sparkling with jangly splendour,as befits these 60's obsessives. I heard they got signed to RCA after this, the dirty sell outs. The only thing I don't like about this tape, is the authentically awful jokey bits; which you got on many an original Psych period LP. There's nothing worse than Psychedelic Humour; its like being held hostage in a sixth form common room with all the rich kids re-enacting the 'Parrot Sketch'.Please Kill Me Now! But, the songs are ALL great, especially the title track ,and "Follow The Plough ";although that track is spoiled by a thirty second intro of the dreaded jokey bits!You can easily edit it out if you can be arsed.I certainly can't be,but I quite enjoy being pissed off in a perverse kind of way.Its all part of life's bitter sweet pageant ain't it? 

Tracklist:

A1 Victoria Grey (1) 
A2 Ilya Kuryakin Looked At Me 
A3 Clara Bow 
A4 Follow The Plough 
A5 Stay On 

B1 What's Going On (In Your Heart?) 
B2 The Mercury Girl 
B3 Armistice Day 
B4 Pearl 
B5 Victoria Grey (2) 

DOWNLOAD a grey victorian HERE!

DOWNLOAD with victoria Grey in FLAC  HERE!

Cleaners From Venus ‎– "Midnight Cleaners" (Man At The Off Licence ‎– MAO 005) 1982

To quote the notes on the insert:"This is the cleaner's third tape. Anti-fashion but pro-pop." Couldn't sum this fantastic tape up better if I tried; but I will try. Firstly this contains my favourite Cleaners track, in a new improved version from the one on "Blow Away Your troubles"; "Wivenhoe Bells II". Which is a superb misty eyed reanimation of a lost England using a lost style of English pop; Whimsical Psychedelia. Secondly, this whole album is full of similarly post psychedelic/post punk classic pop song-writing.It is,simply, the best CFV album,in my opinion; and, not that you give a flying shit, I love it! Also ideologically sound, as betrayed on the insert: "No rights reserved. If you have money, buy it, if you don't copy it. If you do copy it write to us (S.A.E. please) for a cover." I approve! 

Tracklist:

Pop Side 

A1 This Rainy Decade 
A2 Time In Vain 
A3 Only A Shadow 
A4 Corridor Of Dreams 
A5 Wivenhoe Bells II 

Art Side 

B1 Midnight Cleaners 
B2 Factory Boy 
B3 A Wretched Street 
B4 Don't You Worry About The Ads 

DOWNLOAD a clean midnight for yourself,'cus you deserve it HERE!

Cleaners From Venus ‎– "Under Wartime Conditions (A Collection Of Pop Songs)" (Man At The Off Licence ‎– TAO/008) 1984

The covers are getting lazier, but the songs are getting better. "Under Wartime Conditions" pushes "Midnight Cleaners" as the Cleaners best tape. Side A starts off with the childhood nostalgia-fest of "Summer in a Small Town",and "Johnny the Moondog is Dead"; two absolute classic pop songs full of wistful melancholia. The rest of the tape doesn't reach these great heights, there ain't no fillers on here. This a great argument in favour of poverty as motivation for great art or craft;and Martin Newell and cohorts are definitely craftsmen from a dying breed of musician. "Song for Syd Barrett" betrays their roots as from that generation caught between the sixties and the new wave, too young for psychedelia,and too old for punk rock. Ironically, Punk Rock made it possible for "Piper" Pink Floyd to dump their "Dark Side of the Moon" records,and revisit the three minute experimental pop song. Even as J.Lydon wore his modified Pink Floyd T-Shirt down the Kings Road, Syd Barrett was always held in high regard by the more intelligent spikey tops. This lead to the inevitable underground revival of jangly psychedelic pop,of which The Cleaners from Venus were undoubtedly the first on the Trolley(note clever reference to the Cleaners first alter-ego, The Stray trolleys)borrowing  some much needed reality and social comment in the lyrics from their unkempt cousins in the bondage gear. The Wartime Conditions ,which the title refers to, is clearly a reference to life in recession hit Thatchers Britain; it weren't much fun being young outside of youth culture in 1984. A  bit like the modern era, with deliberately engineered economic collapse,creating debt and poverty to control the proletariat, and create potential vast profits for the elite when their stocks recover(after earlier selling them on the eve of the "Credit Crunch". These bastards should have their assets nationalised, without compensation; but that would need a free government to impose, rather than the puppet regime we have had for at least the last 200 years.......no Ed Miliband is not the answer,as Barack O'Bomber wasn't. Check out We Are Change.org and Occupy Wall street.org While you listen to this very human,non corporate,optimistic sounding cassette. Die or DIY? Freedom isn't FREE, but life is. 

Tracklist:

A1 Summer In A Small Town 
A2 Johnny The Moondog Is Dead 
A3 Hand Of Stone 
A4 Drowning Butterflies 
A5 Radio Seven 

B1 Fracas On West Street 
B2 Lukewarm Lovesong 
B3 A Blue Wave 
B4 A Song For Syd Barrett 
B5 The Winter Palace 

DOWNLOAD some wartime conditions HERE!

Cleaners From Venus ‎– "In The Golden Autumn" (Man At The Off Licence ‎– Frau 006) 1983

More psych tinged jangly pop genius from Wivenhoe's DIY legends, Cleaners from Venus. Doesn't reach the melodic highs of "Midnight Cleaners" or "On Any Normal Monday", but still a brave manifestation of 1967 vintage British pop for a 1983 audience. Politically astute 80's psychedelia that présaged the oncoming C86 garbage,with a total lack of feyness and/or fringes! All this produced with an apparent total lack of commercial ambition,an attitude that would save us all from oblivion,and starve the Illuminati of its power source. Don't pay your taxes,quit your job,picket your former place of slavery,close your bank account and share your stuff.The underlying philosophy behind DIY culture,as epitomised by Cleaners from Venus,is Individualism in a sustainable,non profit,non greed, environment.Mass Civil Disobedience is the true Democracy. The sound of freedom. 

Tracklist:

 Way Side:

A1 Renée (Who's Driving Your Car?) 

A2 A Holloway Person 

A3 Ghosts In Doorway 

A4 Don't Step On My Rainbow 

A5 Balloon Drop Shadow   

Sea Side:

B1 Krugerrand Gladiators 

B2 Golden Age Saturday 

B3 Marilyn On A Train 

B4 Sandstorm In Paradise 

B5 Victorian Society 

B6 A Fool Like You

DOWNLOAD this autumnal gold HERE!

DOWNLOAD this autumnal gold in FLAC here!

Cleaners From Venus ‎– "On Any Normal Monday" (Man At The Off Licence) 1982

The thing about Punk Rock/DIY ethos, is the assumption that anyone can do it. If you wanna make an Industrial record, this is as simple as getting a few recordings from off the Tele, a cheap synth and and an FX unit set to the echo setting; read some W.S. Burroughs, and try to sound like Throbbing Gristle. You will invariably end up with a half decent 'Industrial' cassette to release on your own label. Now, what is really difficult, and actually takes (cough), some talent!?......is writing melodic pop songs. You can't shit out a memorable melody line just like that you know! You need that famous X-Factor,'songcraft'; and Cleaners from Venus had this in buckets. Nearly every song on their first four or five cassettes was a Lo-fi pop classic; some more classic than others, but definitely superbly crafted Pop music. The fact that these songs were hidden away on a bunch of obscure, hand coloured DIy cassettes, make them even more admirable. This is, for want of a better genre, 'Proto-Indie', but still retaining those DIY Punk ideals. They could have been The Smiths if it weren't for some obvious scruples; although these seemed to go missing around 1987, when they re-recorded some 'greatest hits' for RCA!........nobody's perfect? 

Tracklist:
   
Light Side 

A1 Night Starvation 
A2 Tukani (Monday Is Grey) 
A3 A Girl With Cars In Her Eyes 
A4 I Can't Stop (Holding On) 
A5 Living On Nerve Ends 
A6 I Wanna Do That   

Heavy Side 

B1 European War 
B2 Hungry Day 
B3 F.U.N. 
B4 Be An Idiot Pop Star 
B5 Spirit Of Youth In Flames 

DOWNLOAD on any normal monday HERE!

Cleaners From Venus ‎– "Blow Away Your Troubles" (Man At The Off Licence ‎– WOW/002) 1981

As some of you regular readers of this cyber-rag will know, I can't abide "Too clever by 'arf'" bands, like Deep Freeze Mice,The Cardiacs, and The Legendary Pink Dots. The Cleaners From Venus fit nicely into this category, but, I'll have to admit I love 'em. It wasn't always like this; just the merest nano second from any CFV track, would have me looking for something to smash up. Alas, with a more mature outlook, and the need to revisit these cassettes for the purposes of this blog, I have to reassess the merits of this group; and I can now let it be known that I LOVE this band! It may have sounded like the work of some Syd Barrett fans who were so absorbed by The Lord of the Rings and the I Ching, that they missed Punk Rock! But, if one listens a bit deeper, this is a natural progression of classic English Psychedelia,mixed with a, probably, sub-conscious absorption of the contemporary cultural climate. Which, included the oft' mentioned, 'DIY ethic', of which the CFV are a exemplary exponent, which = Punk Rock. Included on this fine C60 of classic socially observant song-craft, includes, among its many eclectic moments, what is now, one of my new favourite songs of all time; with its classic misty eyed portrayal of a lost England, "Wivenhoe Bells". A very 1980's version of 1967 style English whimsy. All this, and the obligatory(for the early 80's) awful whiteboy Reggae number, all recorded in glorious Mono; as Mr Newell says on the cover: "All selections recorded between nov. '80 and april '81 in marvy* mono on a steam-powered hand-cranked-mud-cooled reel to reel." *Note extremely Dodgy use of hippie humour in the word "Marvy" in there, so it ain’t perfect, but pretty close. ps, thanks to Peter Jolly for this superior rip of this tape.Mine was just shite!  

Track Listing:
  
Straight Side:

A1 Swinging London 
A2 A Blue Wave 
A3 Union Lads 
A4 Modern T.V. 
A5 Marilyn On A Train 
A6 Kool Of The Night 
A7 Marathon 
A8 Urban Jungle 
A9 Minimal Animal Bent 

Bent Side:

B1 I Fell In Love With A Cleaner 
B2 So This Is Modern Jazz Is It? 
B3 Wivenhoe Bells 
B4 Change Change Change 
B5 Hey Dreamer 
B6 Alien 
B7 At Home With Myself 
B8 Winter In The Country 
B9 Helpless 
B10 University Challenge 

DOWNLOAD your troubles HERE!

DOWNLOAD your troubles in FLAC HERE!

Beating Hearts - "The First Three Hours" (demo cassette 1981)

Tim,sporting that ultimate punk rock fuck you prop...a beard!

The next instalment in the Keine Namen, Controls, saga that tracks punk rock's evolution from the primeval soup of punk's year zero, to the new prog of post punk. Here we find The Beating Hearts, as featured on the legendary "Beyond the River" compilation, finding their post punk feet with "The First Three Hours" demo tape.This was sent to Chris Green, latterly of the excellent Criminal Damage label, but then of the equally excellent X-Cassettes.(check out some x-cassetes compilations here and Here). The music is sort of like Section 25 as recorded by Martin Hannett with none of his legendary equipment, except a cassette deck with inbuilt condenser mike, and a reverb unit made from a damp cardboard box. Not unlike a live Joy Division bootleg, except with even less people in the audience.( yes, everyone's seen Joy Division haven't they? ....I once made the mistake of turning down Joy Division, supporting the Buzzcocks, to go and see The Slits, and the Subway Sect, on at a rival venue. By the reports I received of the gig, everyone was in the bar when J D were on,and came out when the Buzzcocks played! Oh, the choices of entertainment you had in 1979!). I'll let Tim, previously referred to as 'The John Boy Walton of Punk' in these unhallowed cyber-pages, fill you in on the Beating Hearts story(Active:  late-1981 to late 1982):

"After Controls (Mk 2) called it a day in early-81, Tim Naylor and Kerry Kirk formed a short-lived outfit called Heartbeats with a girl guitarist (Tina) that rehearsed a few times but never played live.  Tim then joined a Farnborough-based four piece band called Spod (also the name of the girl vocalist) as bassist, but left after six weeks as he wanted to put his own outfit together.

Through contacts at Kingfisher Music in Fleet (“The West End Store in the Sticks” according to the Pearl & Dean style ad that used to run at the local cinema), a series of revolving door auditions started in late 81 for a band Tim provisionally christened Beating Hearts and a number of jams around a song (Listen to the Heartbeat) gradually whittled the wheat away from the chaff. 

One promising line-up featured Jim Rump on vocals and Kerry from Controls with a former mod guitarist Steve Gerry, but that failed to take off.  Gerry recommended Simon Baggelley as a guitarist and Tim invited former Control guitarist Jon Monks to come and try out on keyboards (Jon’s preferred weapon of choice). He also auditioned a young drummer Richard Jennings who had been playing in an anarcho-punk inspired outfit with Sean Burt who later vocalised with Black Easter.  This line-up crystallised into Beating Hearts, with Tim on lead vocals and bass. 

Tim brought a clutch of songs to the first two ‘official’ rehearsals and in a brave move these were recorded live to cassette with barely any time for the band to learn them, which Jon then took away and edited into a demo called ‘First Three Hours’.  This comprised two post-punk pop songs ‘Being There’ and ‘Forget about Debbie’ (the latter appeared twice on the demo for some reason), the Joy Division-ey ‘New Pride’, another lengthy version of Listen to the Heartbeat (which was actually two parts rather inelegantly edited together),  a song dating from Controls Mk 2 called ‘You tore my heart out’, and an extended ten minute instrumental jam based around an echoed bass and synth line which Tim improvised some lyrics over called ‘Beauty Fades’.

This live demo was packaged up by Tim and dispatched to a few indie labels including the X-Cassettes supremo Chris Green who was in the throes of establishing a vinyl label (called at that stage Open Eye Records, but eventually changed to Open Door Records).  Green was exceptionally enthusiastic and offered the band a place on the ‘Beyond the River’ vinyl compilation. 

Meanwhile, Beating Hearts made their live debut with a Saturday night gig at the Function Suite at Farnborough Recreation Centre, playing to a small crowd of Controls fans.  One new track ‘Wrap me Up’ stood out as the obvious candidate for Beating Hearts to record, and the band went into a local four track studio and produced a breakneck rough and ready version which was duly dispatched to Reading and Open Eye Records.   This was rejected as being in the wrong format for mastering, so the band booked into Matinee Music, Reading in April 82 with Chris Broderick at the helm.  A more sedate version of the track was re-recorded and eventually appeared as track 4 on Beyond the River (Open Door Records OD001)."

You can sample the Beating Hearts contribution to Beyond The River, "Wrap Me Up" (mp3)HERE!

Track Listing:

1. Being There

2 Forget about Debbie take 1

3 New Pride

4 Listen to the Heartbeat

5 Beauty Fade (edit)

6 You Tore my Heart Out

7 Forget about Debbie take 2

8 Listen to the Heartbeat take 2

DOWNLOAD and listen to the heartbeat HERE!

Controls - "Rampant Silliness at the Pavillion" (Stupid Rabbit Tapes) 1979

Is this The Roxy? The Vortex? CBGB's? No, its that hotbed of raw pounding Punk Rock, The Basinbourne Pavillion; the scene of this seminal performance from Controls in 1979.

After Keine Namen came The mighty Controls, which contained the more musicianly elements of their predecessors. Of course,you are all aware of the Controls monolithic (with emphasis on the Mono bit) back catalogue on Stupid Rabbit Tapes?.....if not click HERE to be enlightened.
We thought that was all, but no, from the vast archives of Tim Naylor, head bass abuser of Controls, we have this live document from 1979. They treat us to some cover versions, that are probably better than the originals; in the case of Rebel Rebel at least. There’s even a rare cover version of probably the greatest song of allllll time, “Public Image”; who would even dare to attempt it? In the great DIY tradition, it is deconstructed, and reconstituted as a one and half minutes of barely controlled bass clawing, droning guitar, and drums that sound like cardboard boxes.
Then there’s the original numbers, like the magnifique “I’ll be your Electric Chair”, which is sublime, rock’n’roll in all its raw innocent glory. Apparently, they only played this live once!?
Some people say this is an incompetent racket, but they are blind to honesty, deaf to charm, numb to youthful energy/passion, speak dead words, and most importantly, have no access to the universal energy field that only the truly open can channel. This happens in moments like this, when a ‘crap punk’ (this is a new genre for you genre junkies out there)band lets itself free from the mind forged manacles of the accepted wisdom.
If this sounds like some pretentious prattling about something unimportant, then , in the words of the great Don Van Vliet, “You’ve had too much to think”. Now go away and take a long look in the mirror, and come back and listen with your third ear. Feel the energy that turned the nuclear waste of exploded stars into US! (Ok so i was bored! But it sounds vaguely philosophical dunnit?)......yes this tape is a message from the Godhead.

Tim Naylor says this:

"Rampant Silliness at the Pavilion....
recorded over a few weekends in July and August 1979 - some tracks as three piece some as four piece.  This was the period we morphed from being Bright Young Things to Controls and some of these tracks would have been recorded as BYT, but not the track Bright Young Things , confusingly, because Jon's rhythm guitar is evident.  He also sings Rebel Rebel and plays on an early version of Invited Few.
We did the cover versions as a three piece (best described as enthusiastic interpretations) because we thought it would help us get some gigs because we were writing all our own material and no one wanted to know.  And surprisingly it did the trick... the Albert Street Social Club and Prince of Wales gigs resulted.  The 'Electric Chair' song also appeared here for one time only - we never played it again and had obviously been listening to a PIL a lot that week...There were about twenty copies of this produced and handed out to venues like those above, the local tech and schools and pubs.  It follows the typical Controls sound quality (bee in a tin etc)."

Track Listing:

1 Silver Machine
2 I want to be Your Electric Chair
3 London Lady
4 Public Image
5 Anarchy in the Pavilion
6 Bright Young Things
7 Invited Few
8 Rebel Rebel (Bonus Track)

DOWNLOAD this silliness HERE!

Keine Namen - "The Living Room Tapes" (Superbun Tapes no1/ Year zero records YEAR018) 1978/2012

Something akin to a lost fragment of the Rosetta Stone of DIY Punk.Three chord thrash re-animated as Zero note dirges, or rather a case of playing the right wrong notes. Diametrically opposite to Rick Wakemans' Tales of King Arthur concept album.The only concept of this album is ,'Lets do it 'cus we can', or can't,if one is referring to musicianly abilities.
Imagine the bastard offspring of Half Japanese, The Shaggs, and The Prats, and you'd be half way there. True Year Zero music.

Recorded in Fleet, UK, in the summer of 1978, originally released Suprerbun Tapes as a limited edition of about 10. This has kindly been licensed to Year Zero Records from Stupid Rabbit Tapes. Home of the mighty DIY Punk combo,Controls.

I'll leave you in the hands of Keine Namen guitarist and vocalist, Tim Naylor,(later bass player in Controls) to explain himself further:

"KN were Dave Mallins drums and me on guitar and voice with occasional member Nevil Ede contributing to these tracks.
None of us could play a note as will become immediately obvious.  I brought a guitar mainly to pose around Fleet with, because just being a punk had lost its gosh-wow factor and I thought ramping it up to 'being in a punk band' was the next step.  Dave decided to buy a drum kit and lo a band was born.  I wrote some lyrics and we spent the summer of 78 thrashing away in the garage of Dave's house as his parents were away in Ireland for three weeks.  A party was held at the house most evenings and eventually we graduated to playing a 'gig' at one of these parties.After Dave's parents returned (some kind of Catholic road trip) Dave's kit was wet when we went into the garage to rehearse... I was accused of gobbing on it. .. it was actually his mum spraying it with Holy water!  Late in the summer we decided to record the handful of songs we had (all bar one about the sisters Dave and I had been dating - the other one being about the same girl we both dated!).  We chucked in an instrumental 'cover' of Buzzcocks Sixteen and a loose interpretation of PIL's 'Theme'.  Nevil - who also could not play guitar - came and 'helped'.  A final track 'White Cars' was recorded by me solo back at my mums flat.I (Tim) designed the cover and packaged the tape up as 'Superbun Tapes No1' (Superbun was  cartoon strip I drew when I was 14) and ran off some copies.  Ten copies were handed out to the band and hangers on."

Track Listing:

1. Can I Have A Light (Part 1)
2. Hawaiian Stomp
3. Hawaiian Stomp Twice
4. (Shut Up) David
5. Can I Have a Light (Again)!
6. We Want To Be Loved
7. Sixteen
8. White Cars

DOWNLOAD this 1978 living room HERE!

Controls - "Late Night Love Songs" -(Stupid Rabbit Tapes 003) 1980

The next exciting episode in the Controls soap opera continues with their fourth cassette release, "Late Night Love Songs". This finds our heroes in a somewhat more tuneful mood, with a guitarist who has obviously been secretly reading a book on chord structure and guitar techniques! Yes, the evil spectre of 'Melody' had entered their world, trying desperately to crush the charm that made Controls mk.1 so....er...charming? But don't worry trash fans, there's still plenty of that youthful innocence pervading these mozart-like pop songs to be worth the price of admission. Including some bonus tracks recorded at that seething Alamo of  punk rock: Church Crookham OAP Home?! Tim, the John Boy Walton of Punk Rock, Naylor, fills us in on what was going on behind the Controls. Take it away Tim Boy......

The Controls (Mark 2) Story:"By summer 1980 Controls had built up a loyal local following and had some good live bookings looming including a showcase gig at the Wooden Bridge in Guildford, a well-known venue that had fostered The Jam and The Vapors.  However, relations were increasingly strained between the band members.Through some contacts on the local Rushmoor council, Controls were booked to play on the roof of the cafeteria at Aldershot Lido as several thousand people attended the 50th Anniversary of the building on the August Bank Holiday 1980.  It turned out to be the original line-ups final gig, and following a massive row post-set, the rhythm section of Tim and Kerry went in one direction and guitarist and singer Melvyn going in the other (via the pool courtesy of Kerry).Bassist Tim said “After a brief brush with punk showbiz the thought of not being in a band was too horrible to contemplate… rather like ending a long relationship.  I needed a rebound band and luckily for me there was a bloke playing his guitar – very loudly – in his garage opposite the Lido.  I marched across the road and recruited him there and then….”Mick Pendleton was ‘the bloke playing the guitar’ and remembers it slightly differently.  “I was pissed off that this rubbish punk group were making so much noise on a Bank Holiday so I went down to my parents’ garage and cranked the old amp up to 11 and knocked out a few Hendrix solos.”“The band finished and five minutes later this harassed looking tall lad walked unannounced into the garage and said “Oi do you wanna be in my band?”.  I replied “Who are you?  Fuckin’ Malcolm McClaren?”.Despite this inauspicious start Mick agreed to come over and jam with Kerry and Tim the following weekend and things clicked pretty much immediately.  Pendleton brought a new dynamic to the band albeit via a traditional rock guitar approach.  Anything but punk, his happy-go-lucky riffing half inched from a grab-bag of Hendrix, Bolan and Bowie cast-offs, with the odd blistering guitar solo thrown in.Now short a singer, the band auditioned a number of hopefuls with Jim Rump – a friend of Pendleton’s and former choir boy – eventually joining on vocals.  A new set was written mainly by Tim with Mick throwing in a few tunes, and several Controls ‘classics’ were reworked… So Soon I forget, Mars Baby, Late Night Love in a Launderette, Caffeinated Housewifes and Videosville.  The fall-out between Melvyn and Tim got more vitriolic when the former heard that the latter was keeping the Controls name and reached Defcon 5 when Melvyn burst in on an early low-key gig for friends of the band (upstairs at Farnborough Recreation Centre) and heard the band playing songs that he had written with the original line-up.  Despite legal letters being sent things eventually calmed down.The new band made its public debut in the unlikely venue of an old people’s home in Church Crookham (a stone’s throw from the band’s Basingbourne Pavilion rehearsal space).  This was recorded live to cassette, but unfortunately someone made the schoolboy error of putting the tape recorder on the bar, leading to some brilliant background chatter inbetween and during songs.  Even so, some demo copies were issued as ‘The Happy Sound of Eating’ and a couple of tracks surfaced on ‘Dance’ (X-Cassettes X-005).In September 1980 the band played a three week Friday residency at a famous folk club (!), the Fox and Hounds in Fleet.  One of these gigs was recorded by Stupid Rabbit’s resident engineer Jon Monks and released in edited form as ‘Late Night Love Songs’ (SRT 003, November 1980).  This release was picked up by Chris Green of X-Cassettes (based in nearby Reading) who contacted the band with a view to releasing material.  Controls became one of X-Cassettes house bands, appearing on the ‘Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour’ (X-002) and ‘Bits’ (X-005) compilations and the 20-track Controls compilation ‘Dance’ (X-003).  This line-up played a number of gigs in 1980 including the Wooden Bridge in Guildford on 8th October, attracting the biggest crowd since the Vapors had played the previous year (according to the venue manager).  Support came from Prisoners of War, with a reverse headline gig taking place in Aldershot later in the month.  

Controls were also due to play the now infamous Drayton Labour Hall gig with Dig Dig Dig, Quality Drivel and the Poles but had split up by the time the gig happened in March '81 (although the band appeared on the posters for the gig).

By this time, Tim and Jon were putting their heads together for a new band, the synth driven Beating Hearts…"Controls Mark 2 – Late Night Love Songs:Apprehension:  song written for the new band by Tim.  Re-released on ‘Anything could happen in the next half hour’ (X-Cassettes X002) and ‘Dance’ (X-Cassettes X005)Funky Childhood: Guitarist Mick’s contribution, a glam era influenced guitar pop song.  Only appearance was on Late Night Love Songs.Over Now:  Another original by Tim that also featured on ‘Anything could happen in the next half hour’ (X-Cassettes X002) and the Controls compilation ‘Dance’ (X-Cassettes X005)Shadows & Echoes:  sombre Joy Division influenced number, music by Tim and Mick, lyrics by Jim.Apology to David – Mk 1 song with music by Tim and lyrics by Melvyn – this live recorded Mk 2 version notable for the fluffed ending.  Original version on Don’t Adjust the Controls, this also appeared on ‘Dance’ (X-Cassettes X003)Late Night Love (in a launderette) – original Mk 1 song written by Tim and slated for inclusion on ‘Don’t adjust the Controls’.  Re-released on the Reading-area compilation ‘Bits’ (X-Cassettes X003) and ‘Dance’ (X-Cassettes X003)So soon I forget – faithful cover version appears for the third time on a Stupid Rabbit release.  Original version on Sock it to ‘em Dave, re-recorded for Don’t Adjust the Controls.  Original version also appears on the Controls compilation ‘Dance’ (X-Cassettes X003)Videosville – faithful retread of the Controls original that first appeared on Don’t Adjust the Controls.Secrets – pacier than the Controls original, driven by a bass chord pattern from Tim and Jim’s soaring vocals. (Original version on Sock it to ‘em Dave)Mars Baby – a jerky post-punk Mk 1 Controls love song became a fire-breathing rock monster thanks to Mick’s riffing and Jim’s Ian-Curtis-on-helium vocals.  Original version on Don’t Adjust the Controls, this also appeared on ‘Dance’ (X-Cassettes X003)Bonus Live Tracks recorded at Church Crookham OAP Home:Caffeinated Housewives/Secrets/So Soon I forget/Mars Baby  

Track Listing:

1 Apprehension
2 Childhood
3 Over Now
4 Shadows And Echoes
5 Late Night Love (In A Launderette)
6 So Soon I Forget
7 Videosville
8 Secrets
9 Mars Baby

DOWNLOAD some late night lovin' HERE!

Controls - "Don't Adjust the Controls" - (Stupid Rabbit Tapes SRT002) 1980

 

Read the entire Controls story on the previous post for "Sock it to 'em Dave" 

DOWNLOAD CONTROLS DIFFICULT SECOND ALBUM HERE

Controls - "Sock it to 'em, Dave" (Stupid Rabbit Tapes SRT001) 1980

Controls' debut cassette ep from 1980,as advertised in Sounds' DIY corner.......












.......is a briskly played rendition of classic garage rehearsed,(or in this case Sports Hall rehearsed) post punk pop from 1979. Controls give us four slabs of Joy Division on whizz, with the bass prominant (curtosy of Tim Naylor) in a style that is a melange of Peter Hook and Captain Hook. Quite infectious with its youthful exhuberance and enthusiasm, and the added charm of the toilet block acoustics provided by 1970's low budget,functional architecture.Why can't you find that reverb setting on yer digital effects units?
Such was the power of Sounds and the cassette swapping underground in 1980, that they sold 500 copies of this!!!......that's 500 Quid!!!!...a kings ransom in 1980,and probably more than many chart acts today come away with after the corporate theives that are "record Companies" have finished "recouping" their advances.Its a terrible pity that these contemptable multinational cess-pits are gonna be bankrupt very soon.
















What follows is the "COMPLETE" history of Controls, provided by the mighty pen of Tim Naylor. This is what REAL life was like for us "punks" back in the 70's,pretty much the same as what the pioneers in the wild west had to go through.
Anyway,I'm surprised he's got any fingers to write with left after playing bass for Controls, but here goes:

"Controls were formed in 1978 from the remnants of three bands - the Grunties (the areas first punk band to play a gig), Keine Namen (Fleet-based one gig wonders) and The Fastnets (local Grammar school kids).

Ex-Grunties Melvyn Crawford (gtr) and Kerry Kirk (drums) originally wanted to audition Keine Namen’s Tim Naylor as a replacement singer when original vocalist - Tim Freeman (later of Frazier Chorus) - left due to ‘musical’ differences. Various hybrids of the Grunties and Keine Namen rehearsed over a few weeks around Xmas ’78 with the lineout stabilising around Melvyn who also took on vocal duties, Kerry on drums and Tim on bass and a bit of shouting. Keine Namen drummer Dave took on the manager’s mantle. Meanwhile, The Fastnets guitarist Jon Monks took on duties engineering the band’s sound and documenting various recordings, eventually joining the band as second guitarist.

Following a party debut at Ewshot Village Hall, a couple of private gigs and some endless self-promotion, Controls went public at the Prince of Wales pub in December 79 followed by a gig supporting LonesomeNoMore at the Tumbledown Dick in Farnborough.

Various school, college, club and pub gigs followed, including arguably Controls finest performance at what became known as the Crondall Village Hall Riot. A selection of notable events follows;

May 79 – Ewshott Village Hall (3 piece + 1)

Then playing under their original name of ‘Bright Young Things’ this was a private party attended by circa 200 people. The whole gig is taped for posterity and includes an interlude mid-set where manager Dave plays drums for one number (Videosville). It is also the source of the ‘Sock it to ‘em Dave’ heckle that became the name of Controls first musical endeavour (see below)

Set list: BYT/Funny Bunny/She’s so Dirty/ Videosville/Biggest Bomb-Marriage/Pipes/Commuter/Pricktease. Encore - Funny Bunny / BYT

June 79 – Private party Aldershot (3 piece)

Set list: similar to Ewshott and again played as Bright Young Things.

A party for trainee journalists at an expensive property in Aldershot (Arthur English was a neighbour). Set included a lengthy 12-bar blues jam (a different version posted as video ‘wastin’ on Tim’s YouTube account. Again gig was taped which documents the band’s increasingly pointed displeasure at being ignored by the small throng of punters. It’s not often you hear a band heckle the audience…

Dec 5th ‘79 - Prince of Wales, Fleet (4 piece). Short matinee pub gig

Set list - ‘Nobody’s daughter’, ‘Mars Baby’, ‘So Soon I Forget’, ‘Invited Few’, ‘Bright Young Things’.

A brief warm-up gig for the Tumbledown gig the following week….

Dec 11th 79 – Tumbledown Dick (4 piece)

Set list - Included ‘Nobody’s daughter’, ‘Mars Baby’, ‘So Soon I Forget’, ‘Invited Few’, ‘Now Metal’, ‘Bright Young Things’, ‘Posing Down the Dik’, ‘Caffeinated Housewives’.

The band that played the Prince and the Tumbledown was far removed from the original Bright Young Things (which really had been The Grunties Mk 2, using mainly Melvyn’s material and a couple of Tim’s earliest efforts).

For a start the band was a proper four piece with the addition of Jon on rhythm guitar and had written an entire new set of material and adopted the name Controls at Tim’s behest. While Melvyn continued to be the lyricist, the songwriting axis had started to move away from Melvyn and Tim to Jon and Tim (and would continue to do so even when Jon was not playing fully with the band), and the band was tightly drilled and rehearsed. Which makes the complete cock-up of the Tumbledown gig even harder to understand. No sound engineer, no fold-back, usual story. Near-comatose from alcohol rhythm guitarist barely coaxed onto stage didn’t help either.

The Tumbledown Dick

The Tumbledown Dick had a long tradition as a live venue going back to the sixties and early seventies – the Jam played there many times in 1975. In late 79 the venue staged a small season (approximately half a dozen gigs) featuring named punk/new wave acts -Angelic Upstarts, Purple Hearts, The Wall, The Nips, Classix Nouveaux - with established local acts as support (The Mode, Thieves, Impulse, Virginia Doesn’t,). Then repeated the trick using the established local acts as headliners with ‘new’ local bands supporting (Between Pictures, Controls, Lopez).

Jan 80 - ‘Sock it to ‘em Dave’ released. Controls unwitting pioneering approach to releasing indie cassettes of their material got the band noticed. A short mention in Sounds resulted in around 500 sales of this 4 track cassette featuring ‘So Soon I Forget’, ‘Secrets’, ‘Nobodies Daughter’ and ‘Invited Few’, as well as numerous fanzine pieces and distribution offers.

July 80 – Albert St Social Club, Fleet (4 piece – power pulled after four numbers as band were disturbing the regulars in the Snug)

Set List ‘Nobody’s daughter’, ‘Mars Baby’, ‘So Soon I Forget’, ‘Invited Few’, A night of insurrection as Controls bassist Tim started a fight in the club with local hard cases. Ended up with the band walking home followed by a group of around 20 youths threatening them….

June 21 1980 – Don’t Adjust the Controls recording session

The bands second cassette was a ten track ‘LP’ recorded live to a pro- two-track cassette on June 21st 1980. Around 14 tracks were recorded but several were dropped – Caffeinated Housewives, Welcome to Sunday, Nobodies daughter and the full version of Invited Few. June 1980 – Court Moor School Main Hall (3 piece).

Jon had stepped down from playing duties by this stage so the band continued as a three piece. A number of slower Joy Division/Cure influenced numbers had crept into the set – ‘Observers’ and ‘Metropolis’ in particular. Band were watched by around 200 youngsters and played a storming set.

Around this time, Controls used to let a young thrash punk band borrow their equipment after rehearsals every Saturday – this band included Richard Jennings (who would later join Tim and Jon in Beating Hearts), Shaun Burt who became lead singer of anarcho-punk band Black Easter and – bizarrely – Mick Delahunty who went on to minor fame and fortune with one-hit boy band Breathe (Hands to Heaven)


June 80 – Crondall Village Hall (3 piece) (aka the Crondall Riot)

A landmark event in local punk folklore. This was a private party staged by Jon Monks and Bill Tootle who used to play in an early punk band as The Fastnets. Controls provided the PA and backline and co-headlined with Basingstoke punks ‘The Mental’. The Mental had lots of connections with the south-west anarcho punk scene and invited all their mates and told them it was a free festival. Bands started turning up expecting to play, drum kits were being set up in the corner of the hall and everything was getting out of hand.

A quick conference was staged between the headliners and it was agreed that Bill Tootle’s band (Anonymous Sisters) would open, then Controls would play with the Mental headlining…then everyone would sneak out the back door and let the crowd – now around 200 people, most of whom claimed to be in band - get on with it.

A large number of Fleet hooligans had also turned up, who were recruited by Tim as security – an uneasy truce that was never going to last long…

Anonymous Sisters played a short set of quirky pop songs, then Controls got on the small stage. The band had intended playing some of the slower new material, but Melvyn took one look at the by now seething crowd of punks and very deliberately picked up the set list and slowly ripped it in half… ‘We’ll play some old numbers…’ he said and proceeded to shout out titles to Tim and Kerry and the band played on the fly at about 100 miles an hour – Marriage, Vices, She’s so dirty, Commuter, Proximity, Bright Young Things. The crowd went batshit, with scraps breaking out all over and missiles being launched.

One memory seared on the band forever was the sight of around 20 punks trying to force their way on stage, while just one member of the Fleet goon squad holding the door shut – luckily it was a well known local trouble maker who weighed about 20 stone.

The Controls tore through a truncated set then stayed put with the gear as the Mental got on stage. They were equally brief playing around ten short sharp fuzz guitar punk songs… more stage invasions took place and in a moment of balletic chaos one punter was kicked squarely in the chest by Tim because he got too close to the bass amp and sailed gracefully back into the melee… another ventured near to Kerry’s drum kit and was rewarded with a cigarette flicked in his face.

As the Mental finished and sloped off backstage, Controls mobilised themselves and quickly lifted the backline and drumkit out of a sidedoor, stashing everything in the cars and returned to the throng. The crowd in the hall by now realised that everything had gone from the stage and proceeded to wreck the place, before spilling out into Crondall itself – a small rural idyll populated by harrumphing Majors and blue-rinse Tories - and started to destroy the village green. Some of the Mental’s gear also went missing. Jon’s car was stolen and was wrapped around the as yet incomplete Crondall by-pass.

Four days later the local Aldershot News group reported a front page story of the ‘Crondall Village Hall Riot’… A bit of a do all told….


July 80 – Aldershot Lido (café roof gig) (started as 3 piece, ended as a rhythm section)

As Aldershot Lido celebrated its 50th Anniversary someone thought it would be a good idea if Controls played a short set on the roof of the Lido cafeteria. It was a bad idea. Out of the 5,000 people present around 100 watched while the rest studiously avoided the area. The band got all arsy, both with the crowd and each other. Melvyn turned up late, nearly fell off the roof then fell in the pool. The band split up.

Meanwhile a local guitarist had heard all the commotion and was playing in his garage opposite the Lido. Tim – by now in a state of high stress – marched across to where he was playing and told the guitarist (Mick Pendleton) that if he was any good he better get his backside over to Fleet for an audition the next Saturday. He did and a few weeks later following some singer auditions at which Jim Rump was installed, Controls Mk 2 was born. This band was one of the X-Cassettes house bands and appeared on three releases on the label – ‘Anything Could Happen in the Next Half Hour’, ‘Bits’ and ‘Dance’ as well as a Stupid Rabbit Release ‘Late Night Love Songs’."















DOWNLOAD IT WITHOUT PAYING £1:25 HERE!