Jimmy Smack – "Death Is Certain" - (Knekelhuis – KH040) 1982-83 / 2022

Hmmmm, Nice Arse.

Electric bagpipe drone weirdness from LA deathrock outsider Jimmy Smack. 'Death is Certain',aww and there's me thinking I was gonna live forever, is assembled from two self-released 7"s and a similarly self-released twelve incher from 1982/3.

Looking at him I sense he prefers a good 12 incher to a nice seven incher any day, but then again don't we all?
There aren't many records that can boast an electric Bagpipe, but this one does,so its already automatically good,never mind the Suicidal tendencies, as in that Rev and Vega kind of minimalism.

Always keep at least one hand on yer bagpipe kiddies.

Slapping on the corpse paint well before all those Scandinavian Death Metal drongos,Jim reminds one rather of a scotch Alien Sex Fiend,or Fad Gadget.

Is he trying to frighten us or something?....I really think he is!?

Although he was unhealthily obsessed with Death, he soon decided to quit after receiving an opportunity to find out what Death was really like when he received several Death Threats.Apparently he wasn't too popular with the LA Deathrock audience,regularly booed off and and a hate target.Worried for he and his families safety,....Yup, he had a wife and Kids!?.."he bailed right after the death threat thing. Stopped,and sold his pipes(how much did he get for them?)." Went back to his day job permanently,that's right he was a Ballet Dancer,and even more incredibly....NOT GAY!?

Smack, not his real name i'm guessing, was a multi-disciplined artist,so when he wasn't donning death mask war paint,he was preaching the gospel of Cold War nihilism; or channeling paranoia with great urgency through the howling banshee screams of electrified Celtic bagpipes.Or,doing The Nutcracker on Broadway?

At least we can now reassure ourselves with the knowledge that Smack never struggled for work,and I quote:"I was in the theatre all the time, my whole life. I had the Hollywood Free Theatre and then the Star Theatre. I was just always on stage doing something. Worked with all these clowns, we were all clowns so I became a clown — I was Jimbo the clown.”.....interestingly Not Smacko the Clown?

If only Johnny Rotten became Jimbo The Clown after Wobble left PiL, then the world would have been a marginally better place......if slightly creepier.

Tracklist: A1 Anguish 9:51 A2 Hating Life 3:12 A3 Depression 2:09 B1 Souls 1:26 B2 Cybernetic 1:38 B3 Death Is Certain 1:56 B4 The Scarlet Beast 1:38 B5 Batty 2:31 B6 Anguish (Instrumental) 8:51 DOWNLOAD smacko the clown HERE!

Various Artists – "Tickled Pink" (Peeved Records – PV021) 1986

One of a few Cambridge compilations from Peeved Records, unfathomably based in Southampton?

It kicks off with some mannered Indie Pop by, according to Discogs, one of the 96 other bands called "Spike". If that was out of a hundred it would correlate with the fact that 96% of all bands in the UK sounded exactly like this in 1985 to '86. Marking the era when everyone had a Portastudio, nice equipment,and knew how to use it. As a result everyone sounded the same.

It was all 'well played' ,enhanced with cheaply available effects unit,and they all thought they were gonna 'make it'. The result is really rather dreadful, as they themselves would have found the DIY stuff from earlier in the decade, which these self-tutored pop stars in their own lunchtimes would have scoffed at, and binned off in favor of sounding like Aztec Camera....WRONG!

Its rather like a teenagers painting, when they try their upmost to be a sophisticate;leaving the real genius of their earlier years gathering dust in the garbage bin. Only a few get to make art decent enough to break through to win the poverty that awaits them.

Although missing the point entirely, the end result is actually rather quaint? Awwww, bless 'em.

The High Tech Pagodas win the silliest name prize,and also the best track award....what on earth were they doing?

Tracklist:

A1 Spike – I Feel You
A2 Spike – Any Choice
A3 The Force – Sweet Little Girl
A4 The Force – Crazy Affair
A5 Vanishing Point– From The Heart
A6 Vanishing Point– Face To Face
A7 The High Tech Pagodas– Free
B1 The Lovely– Aniel I Said
B2 The Lovely– Catherine
B3 Strange Brew – Don't Wanna Be Lonely
B4 Strange Brew – Normandy Sunset
B5 Worlds End Band– The Party
B6 Worlds End Band– The Party Of Light
B7 The Lonely – Nervous Hand
B8 The Lonely – Something Happened Today

DOWNLOAD and have your pink bits tickled HERE!

The Associates - "Sulk (40th Anniversary Edition) 1982/2022

I'm in a sulk.....there are no associates left. 

Rankine died peacefully a few days previously, which is ironic as Sulk is one of the least peaceful Pop records ever made.Its full of several kitchen sink's worth of suffocating Pop genius. There's so much going on that one needs a crowbar to get the album out of its high viz glossy,but nameless,package.

None of yer average pop consumers knew what The Associates looked like, hence the need for the annoying sticker that fucked up the garishly botanical cover,and was impossible to remove.

There are few stranger records than "Party Fears Two" or "Club Country" that entered the top ten of the UK Charts.Right Up there with PiL's "Death Disco" and "Flowers Of Romance" as the weirdest singles to both chart and appear on Top Of The Pops.Subversive moments both.The associates also got on Top of The Pops with "18 Carat Love Affair", using chocolate guitars,which melted as Alan Rankine mimed playing them,and got eventually eaten by the audience,including the Spare one....Pop eating itself in action.

I'm supposed to write something else aren't I?..but i've been drinking some hard medicine,and i've become lost listening to this work of genius.Food?...who needs it?

One of my few claims to fame by proxy, is that I had an aggressively jealous Scottish girlfriend,who came from Dundee/Glasgow,and went for a night out with Billy mcKenzie!?...a predictably crazy and wild night was had by all accounts.Although if I went for a night out with Billy Mckenzie i'm sure she would have been less generous,and i would have received a few glancing blows from the flying crockery heaved in my general direction.But.....

Of course "Sulk" is one of the greatest ,most perverse Pop Lp's ever made.And Bill remains one of the greatest vocal acrobats ever.

Rest in noisy peace Bill and Alan. This album is your epitaph.

Sulk:

CD1-1 Arrogance Gave Him Up
CD1-2 No
CD1-3 Bap De La Bap
CD1-4 Gloomy Sunday
CD1-5 Nude Spoons
CD1-6 Skipping
CD1-7 It's Better This Way
CD1-8 Party Fears Two
CD1-9 Club Country
CD1-10 Nothinginsomethingparticular

Outtakes, Monitor Mixes & Rarities:

CD2-1 Ulcragyceptimol - Demo
CD2-2 I Never Will - Demo
CD2-3 Club Country - Demo
CD2-4 Me, Myself And The Tragic Story - John Leckie Recording
CD2-5 Australia - John Leckie Recording
CD2-6 Skipping - Monitor Mix Instrumental
CD2-7 It's Better This Way - Monitor Mix
CD2-8 And Then I Read A Book - Alternative Version
CD2-9 Ulcragyceptimol - Alternative Version
CD2-10 It's Better This Way - Alternative Version
CD2-11 The Associate
CD2-12 A Girl Named Property
CD2-13 Grecian 2000
CD2-14 Party Fears Two - 7"
CD2-15 Club Country - 7"
CD2-16 18 Carat Love Affair
CD2-17 Love Hangover - Extended Version

Associates Live - The Peel Sessions:

CD3-1 Me, Myself and the Tragic Story
CD3-2 Nude Spoons
CD3-3 A Matter Of Gender
CD3-4 It's Better This Way
CD3-5 Ulcragyceptimol
CD3-6 Waiting for the Love Boat
CD3-7 Australia
CD3-8 Love Hangover
CD3-9 A Severe Case of Career Insecurity
Associates Live - Gigant, Apeldoorn 10/01/81
CD3-10 Arrogance Gave Him Up
CD3-11 A Matter Of Gender
CD3-12 Nude Spoons
CD3-13 Paper House
CD3-14 No
CD3-15 And Then I Read A Book
CD3-16 Gloomy Sunday
CD3-17 It's Better This Way
CD3-18 Skipping
CD3-19 Australia

DOWNLOAD on this very gloomy sunday HERE!

Public Image Ltd – "Commercial Zone" (PiL Records Inc. – XYZ-007) 1984

Recently Deceased  alleged guitar genius Keith Levene (alleged by himself mainly) who was responsible for stealing the tapes for Public Image Ltd's dodgy follow-up to the classic 'Flowers Of Romance' LP.,and remixing the results to make himself look even more like the feckless junkie he really was. The accepted wisdom is that "Commercial Zone" is far superior to the awful dross that was the official PiL fourth studio album, clumsily entitled, "This is what you want...This is what you get".....which I can now reveal to be incorrect.....we wanted Metal Box 2 but got "This is what you want...This is what you get" and "The Commercial Zone",in other words, the same album twice. (get Metal Box deluxe Edition Here!)

As horrified as I was back in 1984,as to how unapologetically 'Bad' this record by one of the greatest groups to have ever stalked this Earth ,was. I now have changed my mind. They are both quite awful in 1984 terms,but in 2022, they both sound rather otherworldly,and have aged like a budget bottom shelf wine.They just don't make 'em like this anymore! 

What on earth is that singer doing? A horrible throaty hi-pitched whine that seems to be singing the same tune in every song.Wasn't he in Those Sex Pistols once upon a time? How did it get to be like this?

The music IS Disco,but a Disco that no-one wants to dance to....which is,in fact, the best kind of Disco.

Keith Levine stole and released "Commercial Zone" after he was sacked from PiL so as not to endanger the group's lucrative Japanese tour due to his severe drug addiction. Revealing an album with no hits,even though "This Is Not A Love Song" was a massive worldwide smash,it really shouldn't have seen the light of day when comparing it to little Johnny Rotten Band's previous work.

However, having not listened to these two different versions of the same record after a good thirty years abstinence,I now find myself enjoying this confusingly disconnected art school drop-out funk ...with a singer who seems to be taking the piss out himself and the record buying public in general.

Previously, my opinion of John Lydon, and his post-1981 work followed, somewhat, the general direction of this rather malicious review of "This is what you want...This is what you get", by the NME's Biba Kopf, who got his/her claws out ruthlessly back in good ol' 1984:

"Dear John, the big kiss off:

This is what you want? Carry On Picking The Carrion Part Umpteen? Starring Johnny Rotten as Little Miss Understood, the world’s most self-righteous schoolmarm, whose once shrivelling, presently shrivelled, wit has tightened to a contstipated bowel that slowly and painfully emits squeaky sarcasms only capable of raising tears in 11 year olds? Or the frightening faithful class creep Martin Applecheeks back in line?
This is what you’re left with when you make a career of going against nature (only to be defeated by your own): a fixed scowl, a very limited public image indeed, intuition dried up, refinement beyond grasp, reduced by sloth to hiring studio morticians to cosmetise the corpse of a long dead idea, because you no longer care or have energy enough to be invigoratingly careless.
Now bored with testing the world against your whims you blame it, anyone else but yourself-it can never be your fault, can it? - for your loss of interest, loss of words, loss of vision; for your very deafness… But surely even you can feel the cheapness of the horrortronics permeating this record with the stink of the stale and the secondhand. Sudden sax squalls and thunderous drum breaks are hardly the things to blow it away.
For one whose chief pride has always been remaining true to yourself, I’m surprised your conscience so readily accepts your feeble reasoning. Just because you write a love song, there must be something wrong with the form? Obviously. And because your dwindling legion still stand by to watch the waning moon of your rotten talent, believing it will rise again, they must be thoroughly abused, thereby disabused of that sentimental notion? Naturally.
With you on the last point, Johnboy, and will reluctantly admit you a piddling victory. Your idiot finger wagging rhythm ’n’ entropy, exemplified by the bicker banter of the title ‘This Is What You Want This Is What You Get’, is crass and mediocre enough to complete your self-willed, pointless martyrdom. Congratulations. You’ve earned our contempt. Here it comes:
Wot a bloody stupid cackleshit asshole coyote lied-to done-in-good ’n’ rotten put-upon no-hope lumpenlard jackal knucklehead trickletalent pile of jokepuke you turned out to be. There ain’t enough copographers in the world to swallow your PiL in quantity enough to justify the cost any longer.

Piss off.

Biba Kopf, NME, 4th August 1984"

OUCH!?

Of course this kinda of intelligent funky stuff was ten a penny back in the eighties,and it got swallowed up in the swell of the tsunami,then dragged out to sea.But,all said, the Bad Life/Mad Max video is,and always was,and always will be, one of the best video's ever made,in my humble opinion.

And as much as I agreed with Bibs in 1984, I now have,predictably, the opposite view nowadays. It's a lump of 'lumpenlard jackal knucklehead' cypto-genius is what it is......it went really downhill from here however.

This blurb was supposed to be a tribute to the recently expired Keith Levene,to whom the much over-used word 'Genius' was often applied largely by...er...Mr Lydon a lot, and not by very many others save himself.

As his reputation is intrinsically linked to PiL's first two albums, it is partially true; but he was conspicuous by his smack induced absence on Flowers of Romance,and largely invisible on The "Commercial Zone" bootleg too.However, one must point to his highly unique contributions to "Theme" and "Public Image" (the single),which will echo deep into infinity and beyond with their shimmering perfection, and the inescapable irony of John's lyrics to "Theme"...."I wish I could Diiiiieeee".

Not sure Keef would appreciate the reality of such words wherever he may be in the eternal now,what was, and what should have been.

Rest In Peace Keef.....and hopefully there are no Drugs in paradise to fuck up the after-life too!

Tracklist:

Commercial Zone:

1 Mad Max 4:11
2 Love Song 4:27
3 Young Brits 3:40
4 Bad Night 3:29
5 The Slab 3:36
6 Lou Reed Part I 3:58
7 Lou Reed Part II 2:50
8 Blue Water 3:30
9 Miller High Life 2:38

"This Is What You Want...."

1 Bad Life
2 This Is Not A Love Song
3 Solitaire
4 Tie Me To The Length Of That
5 The Pardon
6 Where Are You?
7 1981
8 The Order Of Death

DOWNLOAD to get what you want HERE!

Fall Of Saigon – "Fall Of Saigon 1981-1984" (Gazul Records – GA8851) 2011

No its not a North Vietnamese Fall tribute band!

It's frenchy Minimalist composer Pascal Comelade,moonlighting with his minimalist pop trio named after a This Heat tune. 

Harboring a knowing glance in the direction of Young Marble Giants,and maybe even..... Weekend? 

Pascal is not shy of wearing his influences on his sleeve....that's him on the right there,with influenced sleeves rolled up,trendily, to the elbows.I remember when the Style Council used to do self-consciously french things like that,such as wearing,(or rather NOT wearing) a cardigan tossed stylishly over the shoulders and tying the sleeves into a loose knot atop a Breton inspired polo shirt.You can take the boy out of Woking,but you can't take the Woking out of the boy.....but you do have to leave Woking if you wanna wear a Breton top....fact!

There also a version of my funeral theme tune on here, The TV Personalities' classic "Part-Time Punks",further emphasizing Pascal's fondness for "les Rostbif pop",especially it seems Kevin Ayers too....which i think stems largely from the fact that posh Boy Kevin had a handy grasp of French thanks to the British Public school system. And as we all know,if you slot anything French or in French into an English pop tune you have a career for life..... in France!...just ask Sting.

However, similarly, the Brit's love to hear a French bird singing in Engleesh, which surprisingly didn't lead to Indie success in grey old foggy Albion.They could have stuck to it a bit longer, but i think Pascal had other things in mind for himself,embarking on a prolific solo career that continues to this day.

The other French musical commandment that has been observed here on this compilation,is the obligatory Doors homage.Every household in France has a Doors Album, or Zer Doorsss as they call them.They all think Morrison was a poet....in fact Morrison thought he was a poet too,maybe even a great poet?So as he died and was buried in Paris,this means that their hero is now French,so Zer Doorsss are forever enshrined in marble and stone among the elect of French art and culture......Would i be out of order to suggest that they can flaming well have him...slash...them? Plenty more where he came from.

Nonetheless, this version of "The End" is actually rather good?

The End!

Track Listing:

1.Visions 2:21

2.Blue Eyes 2:08

3.She Leaves Me All Alone 4:22

4.So Long 2:28

5.On The Beach At Fontana 3:22

6.The Swimmer 2:15

7.The Model 3:21

8.Part Time Punks3:12

9.The End 9:43

10.Andalucia 2:02

11.I'll Never Be Back 4:54

12.Sha La La La 2:58

13.Let It Go 2:41

DOWNLOAD the rise of hoh chi minh city HERE!

Boots For Dancing – "The Undisco Kidds (Sessions,Singles,and Demo's 1980-82) " (A Die or DIY? expanded edition) 2022

Bonnie Scotland were not just responsible for such reasons not to exist as Deacon Blue, The Proclaimers,,and Big Country, they virtually invented Indie-pop the night after witnessing Subway Sect on the Clash's White Riot tour....Josef K, Orange Juice,Fire Engines, Boots For Dancing,and......hold on big man,what was that last one?

Yeah, Boots For Dancing, the celtic cousins of Gang Of Four and A Certain Ratio, so accurately described by Rezillo and Dare-era Human Leaguer Jo Callis as "Schrodinger's crazy cats writhing about in a Faraday cage,all charged up"....couldn't have put it better myself. So  scratchy and funky were they that John Peel once threatened to dance upon aural detection. They did release two singles on Bob Last's legendary "Pop:Aural" label after all...all included here.

It's the kind of off kilter post-punk-funk that gets the white man's foot-a-tappin' for sure.A style that would crop up on Top Of The Pops in the form of cute but funky plagiarists Haircut 100 and floppy fringed cringe-meisters Modern Romance,with a polished up version of ACR and Boots For Dancing for the great unwashed and the even the less great unintelligentia who form 90% of the 'Public'. 

Undoubtedly, these groups were also a major influence on Ron Johnson acts such as Twang! and mid-80's post-punk Scot-funksters The MacKenzies,until the Kids found different ways to dance post-chemical enhancement after 1988....i'll leave it to you to imagine what that could have been?

Anyway...All the singles,three John Peel Sessions,and some demo's for a future Lp that never materialized,are on here......groovy baby.

"I Like Dancing but I don't Like Disco's" is the manifesto from the debut single back in 1980.....as for me, I don't Like Dancing and I don't like Disco's.....but if i'm drunk i firmly believe I could to this?.....hmmmm, maybe not?

Tracklist:

1. Boots For Dancing (Pop Aural Single 1980)

2. Parachutes (Pop Aural Single 1980)

3. Guitars & Girl Trouble (Pop Aural Single 1980)

4. (Let's All) Hesitate (Peel Session 17.11.1980)

5. The  Pleasure Chant (Peel Session 17.11.1980)

6. Timeless Tonight (Peel Session (17.11.1980)

7. South Pacific (Peel Session 17.11.1980)

8. Stand (Peel Session 13.07.1981)

9. Shadows Of Stone (Peel Session 13.07.1981) 

10.Wild Jazz Summers (Peel Session 13.07.1981)

11.Get Up (Peel Session 14.04.1982)

12.Salt in the Ocean (Peel Session 14.04.1982)

13.Style in Full Swing (Peel Session 14.04.1982)

14.Bend an Elbow, Lend an Ear (Peel Session 14.04.1982)

15.Just the Ticket  (Barclay Towers Studio October 1981)

16.Money (Is Thin On The Ground) (Barclay Towers Studio October 1981)

17.Wild Jazz Summers (Barclay Towers Studio October 1981)

18.Shadows on Stone (Barclay Towers Studio October 1981)

19.Oh' Bop Sh Bam (Barclay Towers Studio October 1981)

20.Hesitate (The Rain Song 7'' Pop Aural 1980).

21.The Rain Song (The Rain Song 7'' Pop Aural 1980)

DOWNLOAD yer dancin' boots HERE!

The Shrubs – "Vessels Of The Heart" (Public Domain Records – DOM 2) 1988

Looking back in Die or DIY? blog history, i was astounded at my omission of quite a few Ron Johnson Records type recordings that I inexplicably left out. Of course everything possible by Bog-shed is there,and they weren't even on Ron Johnson;whereas,The Shrubs, were!? The missing second album,released after Ron Johnson went bankrupt.....it was only a matter of time of course....must now be sent forth into the digital domain.Something that i am not aware has happened to the medium of the Digital Compact Disc concerning The Shrubs.

At the time I was not aware of any second album being released,having assumed that the rest of the 'Shambling' stable had succumbed to the perfect storm of Ron Johnson disintegration and the impending awfulness of Madchester and white boy idiot dancing. Breakbeats and funky wah-wah guitars were not The Shrubs thing. So they disappeared,and I will have to admit through clenched buttocks,that I was shamefully swept along with all that Indie Dance shit.....'twas either that,or be billy no mates on a Friday night.I am,however, particularly proud of the fact that I was ejected forcefully from the Happy Mondays gig at Leicester Polytechnic in 1989 for projectile vomiting over the bar.I remember nothing of the evening in question apart from that.......I blame the music and the worst ever clothing fad since the Bay City Rollers.

Nick Hobbs.....not Mick Hobbs I may add to avoid confusion, did posses an uncanny ability to get on one's proverbial Titz with his wailing vocal style, but that's all part of their endearing charm innit?

Musically,like the rest of the unrelated bands in this 'Shambling' category......us 'Normals' need categories y'know.....has that alluring bouquet of "Trout Mask Replica" style dueling discordant guitars and dueling time signatures;with,of course, that J J Burnel bass sound  as played by that bloke from The Rezillo's.(RIP).Maybe even hinting at some Rockette Morten four string influence,which can't be bad?....The Drums?......the rhetorical answer to which has to be.... "Drumbo"?

This may be their best long playing record methinks.

Tracklist:

A1 Papa Chaperon 3:08
A2 Cole 3:54
A3 Resurrection Chain 3:17
A4 Ballet Gorilla 1:41
A5 Cashregister Brain 4:23
A6 Mass Mental (Long Abusive Rental) 2:54
B1 Villa Burgher 2:40
B2 Shawl Blight Zone 3:44
B3 Myth Night 3:43
B4 King Urn 2:52
B5 Sullen Days Are Over 3:13
B6 Mistress Of The Moral Ground 3:43

DOWNLOAD into the vessels of your heart HERE!

Phil Hartley - "Demos,Sessions,and Live (1988-89)" (A Die or DIY? Collection) 2022/1988

A devastating loss to the pop world was the break-up of Bog-shed sometime in 1987/1988-ish during the last flowering of classic British independent pop. An even greater loss was the life of erstwhile lead warbler and unheralded absurdist poet of the aforementioned Bog-Shed group, Mr Philip Hartley;who left this mortal coil during October 2006.Swiftly followed by drummer Tris King (Brain Tumor),who also moonlighted with those other classic mid-eighties Ron Johnson types,the equally cursed, 'A Witness';whose guitarist managed to fall off a mountain in 1989.

Sometimes one suspects a record company conspiracy to put a permanent end to any bands,slash,music, that appeals to those who require more than just lovesongs and peado-propaganda from their unpop-pop.

Where did they all go when Bog-Shed dissolved,one wonders? One of them's an illustrator and the sole 'success story' in the ranks;and of the others,only Phil Hartley made a short attempt to carry on the legacy.There was obviously an album's worth of new material, and it sounds like...er....Bog-Shed.

A Peel Session was made,live appearances,and Demo's.....then.....nothing!

“This week the score draws are plentiful!” (Slave Girls)......he liked that line apparently,and very representative, it is, of the current musical situation we find ourselves trapped in.

There were no studio recordings made before Phil disappeared somewhere,and died of something unspecified.

A notable unrecorded gem, captured live in 1989, was "Dirty Filthy Pop Presenter", where Jimmy Savile is name-checked.....just when you thought serial silly-billy John Lydon had a monopoly on outing the vile Sa-vile, after mentioning it once ,vaguely, in an interview,did nothing about it,then claimed to be the only moral human in the UK....although I think rather,that Phil Hartley was sort of fulfilling his weird absurdists fantasy of being one of those awful TV pop Presenters from decades past.He had a history,name-dropping former Basil Brush sidekick Roy North in an early Bogshed song,"The Amazing Roy North Penis Band"which was also the working title of the first Bog-Shed incarnation around 1985.

Here's the great Roy North singing his version of Tenpole Tudor's "Swords Of A Thousand Men" back in 1981.....you really couldn't make this up!

I am assuming that Roy did not indulge in the same depraved pastimes that kept the blindingly obvious sex monster Savile entertained for decades.....but his sing-a-long versions of charts hits places him well above suspicion.He was from Hull anyway,which is a crime against humanity in itself,so we'll let him off any reluctant investigations in to potential dark doings in 1981 he may,or certainly is NOT, responsible for.

Tracklist:

1. Regulation

2. Lord Smutty Lips (Demo Version)

3. Can I Use The Phone?

4. Have You Done Your Chores?

5. Teenager

6. You All Look The Same

7. Lord Smutty Lips (Peel Session 13/11/88)

8. Inspector of Crime (Peel Session 13/11/88)

9. Prepare to Change Sandals (Peel Session 13/11/88)

10.Purchase Nicely (Peel Session 13/11/88)

11.Are You Real (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

12.Who Are The Sane (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

13.Prepare to Wear Sandals (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

14.Inspector of Crime (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

15.Master Life (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

16.Purchase Nicely (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

17.Yeh Yeh (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

18.Teenager (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

19.Dirty, Filthy, Pop Presenter (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

20.Lord Smutty Lips (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

21.You Are, You Are (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

22.Say No (08-03-1989 The Source, Wordsley)

DOWNLOAD this dirty filthy pop presentation HERE!

Cardboards ‎– "Greatest Hits Volume Two" (Mom's Records ‎– MR253) 1981

The synth-punk thing wasn't just confined to California, for a start we had Suicide in New York for the previous decade up to 1981 and beyond,Crash Course In Science were in Philly. In Pittsburgh there was The Cardboards.

No guitars in this ignored group, among the cheap organs and synthesisers......real drums were the only real option in 1981.....they had a tone generator.....how Synth-Punk is that?

Naturally the American angle on Synth's was to make something rocky and exciting, unlike in the UK, who saw another opportunity to make classic 'Pop' and sell it back to the USA. For some reason, this angle didn't occur to American musicians or businessmen.Its the same story for many other American innovations, especially Musical ones.

One can only think of West Germany and maybe Belgium,where there was something synth-punky going on...but not really...the Rocky bit had been never really manifested itself on the Germanic musical chromosome,over-ridden by the dastardly Wagner gene.

Tracklist:

A1 On The R=>Z*
A2 Electrical Generator
A3 Copa Cobana
B1 Gravity's Still Working
B2 Bill's Rap

DOWNLOAD in recyclable digital cardboard HERE!

The Blue Daisies ‎– "Wilt" (Iridescence Records ‎– I-23) 1985

Oh Alright, let's call this 'Art Rock'.

Highly possibly done by unemployed actors as well by the sound of it. Brad Laner played some Drums on this, not the drums that sound like Bobby Gillespie's skinwork in The Jesus and Mary Chain...the more inventive stuff at the end.

I know less than nothing about this band,except that they come from L.A. although I understand that they liked to take their clothes off on stage regularly.......now, if they ain't actors I'll share a dressing room with Kevin Spacey the next time I tread the boards at the Old Vic.

Fairly original abstract,slightly rude, avant-rock is what this is.

Featured on the soundtrack to 1986 movie 'Circle of Violence'(yeah neither have I!) starring long dead child star River Phoenix, who hated both the Blue Daisies and their music apparently.If that isn't a recommendation I dunno what is?

Tracklist:

A1 Anthem/Pillars
A2 Slot
A3 Sack Me
A4 To Be, Continued
B1 100 Tears
B2 Dance Dance Dance
B3 Everything And Nothing At All
B4 Es Amor
B5 Beautiful Kid

DOWNLOAD whatever thou wilt HERE!

Red Asphalt ‎– "Red Asphalt" (Synthetic Shadows ‎– #18) 1981/2014

 I was gonna tie this in with Brad Laner's role as a Synth Punk Pioneer, but its more than that.

There's something 'Prog' about this,but they had a synth player in the line-up, and were active during the Punk epoch in San Francisco between 1978 and 1982, so Synth-Punk it is.

They sound like those groups who were really resting/unemployed Actors who play music as a way to get on a stage, Like MARS,Bongwater, Punishment Of Luxury, and  Shoes For Industry (surely The Tubes had to be frustrated actors too?) among others.

Like an agressive off-broadway musical,they reek of professionalism, in that conceptual album kind of way.

They had their moments,but like if a Saxophone appeared in a Punk group they were automatically called Jazz-Punk, if a synth made an appearence, it was Synth-Punk;orif you were too stagey, you were Prog-Punk, or Prunk as Cardiacs called themselves.

 

Tracklist:

A1 Red Asphalt
A2 Goodbye Sunshine
A3 S.T.A.B.
A4 Jive Puppet
A5 Survival, Evasion, Escape
A6 Peligro
A7 Human Capital
A8 Nuclear Judas
B1 Refugee
B2 Factory Dead
B3 Ghost Town
B4 White Meat, Dark Meat
B5 Phone Call From God
B6 Hurtling Moons Of Barsoom
B7 Gothic Night Summer Dream

DOWNLOAD some theatrical blood on the asphalt HERE!

The Philosophic Collage ‎– "Genius" (American Aesthetic Industries, Ltd.) 1981

 

Angry geeks want to show us jocks how much cleverer than us they really are,and 'look at me now' revenge has been taken...if only the jocks knew about it,which of course they don't...Jocks don't like music,only music for people who don't like music...like Bon Jovi, Nirvana,Techno, Ed Sheeran etc.

The EP title, "Genius", is by no means "Ironic"....in inverted comma's not quotation marks...they actually believe they are bona fide Geniuses,which is the collective noun for genius. I wager the geekier one on the cover thinks that he's the real genius of the group,and the others are just his post-punk servants.

The music is like a cross between Half-Japanese,the ultimate American Geek's Revenge band , and The Diagram Brothers,the ultimate English Geek's Revenge band, except that the singer,slash, Jad Fair impressionist, seems to be recorded from a radio in another room. In the main room they have modern recording equipment to capture the barely falling apart abstract rock in hi-fidelity to annoy both punx and parent alike.Punk is Jock music and parents either want their geeky son to either be good at Football,or a Doctor. Parents are people who never understood the truth that is revealed to humans during their teenage years, and if they did, they forget that 18 years olds really do know everything that needs to be known.

If an angry Geek ever gets into power again....the last one that got in in the west,without winning the popular vote, nearly destroyed the planet (A.Hitler)....they may use the most terrifying Geek tool of all to force us all into death camps,otherwise known as,Facebook.Luckily we have the Donald,who is genuinely too stupid to impose this grim future upon us all...as is Biden by the way,so we're safe for the next couple of years before Biden inevitably dies,and that dodgy vice-president nominee,Ms angry female just enough milk in her coffee geek, gets into office.Nothing will save us then.

Sorry for interferring in American politics, but Putin has video of me at a Bunga Bunga party!!

It was nice knowing y'all.

Tracklist:

A1 Genius
A2 Planned Obsolescence
B1 Toxic Poppies
B2 Headline Deadline

DOWNLOAD this genius HERE!

Pink Section - "Sectioned(1978-1980)" (a Die or DIY expanded edition) 2020

There's something about American culture that just effortlessly produces weirdo's.There's the Dave Grohl type of weirdo who's just so sickenly 'Normal'and Nice that he's ceased to exist;or, there's The Pink section who have ceased to exist because they had created one of the greatest handful of out-rock tunes ever written which are impossible to better...not even by Stevie Wonder!

While other Americans were taking the Devo post-punk route,with the musicianly ability to back it up,The Pink Section had nothing like that in their armoury.They just had something that had to be put before the public,then finish. "Shopping" has to be one of the greatest tunes ever written anywhere in the world?

Having just accidently watched a YouTube video of Dave Grohl listing his ten routes to 'suckess', with my mouth open wide in misunderstanding,telling us to to do 'Bad Ass Rock shows'(whatever that is?) as a certain route to entertainment superstardom;finishing off with him and his sickening group melting into a puddle of slime in a desperate need to be liked in front of a massive stadium crowd,who were lapping it up.Band to audience..."we Looove Yoooou!"

All the advice coming from the third richest drummer on the planet("I did my time stacking supermarket shelves" grins David)....who are the other two richer drummers anyway?.....should all be taken as the opposite route to creative success,retaining a barrel full of self-respect in the process.The Pink Section however did it perfectly,even with a drummer(carl Detweiler) who is likely the third poorest drummer of all time.

Rule number five-ish was 'Be Different'.....er...David????

TRACKLISTING:

1.Tour Of China
2.Shopping
3.Wine World
4.Midsummer New York
5.Flat Dog
6.Part Time
7.Francine's List

8.Safety Instruction

9.Francine's List (live at The Deaf Club 11-3-1979)

10.Jane Blank (live at The Deaf Club 11-3-1979)

11.Been in the Basement 30 Years (live at The Deaf Club 11-3-1979)

12.Lonely Fashionette (Live at Mabhuay Gardens 12-7-1979)
13.Cars Don't Wait For Love(Demo)
14.Jane Blank (Demo)
15.Jane Blank (Cable TV appearence)
16.Shopping (Cable TV appearence)

DOWNLOAD before you go shopping HERE!

Chemicals Made From Dirt ‎– "Ike (1978-83)" (Hyped To Death ‎– Homework #203) 2000

 More hopelessly obscure US Post-Punk quirkiness,or as it is described on the sleeve as "World Class Art-Wave"? A genre within a genre. Just trying to think of other Art-Wave acts who were never referred to as, but were Post-Punk......Talking Heads?...Wire?......things are getting far too complex nowadays! How does an Art-Waver know if he's an Art-Waver or Post Punk?
It used to be far simpler back in the day.....all this was 'punk'.....not even Art-Punk...it was Punk.Heavy Metal was Heavy Metal.There's slow Heavy Metal (Sludge,Funeral,Doom +another 600 varieties), Fast Heavy Metal, (Thrash,Speed,Punk Crossover), Classic Heavy Metal (Judas Priest, Black Sabbath,NWOBHM)...and that's it!

Chemicals Made From Dirt, was a .......they're at it again on these sleevenotes!....a PunkWave.....what the fuck is that?.....Punk?.....from Long Island. So at least they were near the action,rather than some cesspit in Iowa or one of those more medeval states that seemed shut off from the world since the witch trials.

Again we have a group with a name that suggested immediate commercial failure.

At the risk of starting another genre, i'll describe this as that quirky variety of post-Punk which became popular among geeks wanting to form bands in the USA between 1979 and and 1983, approximately between Devo's first album and "Oh No It's Devo".......or Oh No! It's another Quirky Post Punk Band.

Alas, whereas Devo had a compact and memorable name, Chemicals made from Dirt (CMFD....even the acronym is a tongue twister!) had a difficult to remember moniker,if not forgettable.

Me, being a Fan of Quirky Post Punk, or Art Wave, Or art rock in general,beginning with XTC,who were the British Devo/Talking Heads.A face that launched a few post punk novelty acts like The Vapors,but not a wave of the likeminded as in the states.

CMFD left us with 25 songs recorded for posterity back in the day, and put on a disintegrating CD-r by Chuck Warner of Hyped2Death at the turn of the century, and they're all good. Personal fave is "Beatniks Looking For Tourists",'cus I like anything with the word 'Beatnik' in the title.....I'm that deep, that 'arty'.

Let a band spokesman finish off this confused narrative with something sensible:

"We called it an avant absurd experiment...We liked the idea of breaking down meaning to the point of abstraction and then reinterpreting it based on personal associations and meaning rather than having any absolute meaning.".....yep...Artwave alright!

Tracklist:

1 Manikin 2:44
2 M 3:31
3 Hard 3:26
4 Beatniks Looking For Tourists 2:40
5 Protein Pants 2:52
6 Another Dinner 2:41
7 Chemicals Made From Dirt 2:27
8 Panic-No Fusion 2:40
9 Girls My Age 2:40
10 17th Century
11 Communist Calendar Girls 2:41
12 Air Raid Drill 3:04
13 Medicated Elvis 2:09
14 Uh-Oh 1:12
15 Homeless Men 3:25
16 Fast Ocean Puppet 3:05
17 Fly To Work 2:43
18 Multiple Station Wagon 2:15
19 Claus Von Bulow 4:38
20 Dr. Shockley 3:17
21 Lost In The Cave Of Flying Dogs 3:56
22 Barney 4:00
23 Hiding From Bozo 2:48
24 Show World 1:37
25 Rapula 3:39

DOWNLOAD some dirty chemotherapy HERE!

Algebra Mothers/A-Moms ‎– "A-Moms = Algebra Mothers (1977-84)" (Third Man Records ‎– TMR533) 2018

 From the Rock City of Detroit came a bunch of misfits called 'A-Moms',who released a quirky single(get it HERE!) and promptly disappeared....ahhh, but did they? Hence this post-humous compilation cobbled together, minus the single, for Third Man Records a few years ago.

They played all over the massive cosmos,or barren wasteland, that is Detroit, supporting every offshoot of the Stooges or MC5, and Pere Ubu.

Obviously talented musicians, they do have a tendancy to all play at the same time,which 'talented' muscians have an unstoppable drive to do.This is when we need producers to tell 'em what to do.

There is the odd bit of Hendrix-y fretboard wankery,but we can forgive that,for this charming delve into the Archives of another group whose abysmal name probably cost them a larger audience....which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.Personally, I prefer the groups who do their thing then FUCK OFF. A-Moms certainly did their thing,then Fucked Off,so they're at least one up on U2,who didn't.

Tracklist:

1.Carsick
2.In and Out of Order
3.Seesaw
4.Little Mathematica
5.Goo Goo Eyes
6.Ironhead
7.Misfits
8.Nuns in Chains
9.As The World Turns
10.Dance Damage
11.Hollywood
12.Chemical Tastes
13.No For An Answer
14.Swan Song

DOWNLOAD the A-moms of invention HERE!

BOB ‎– "Backward" (Dumb Records ‎– d.7589) 1983

 A fine example of the musical landscape in the USA from 1979 onwards is the ungooglable, 'BOB', from krazy ol'Frisco town.Herky Jerky as fuck are BOB,like Devo if Devo had lived in a nice town like Frisco.

Yeah I know,there'll be loads of Franciscans telling us how hard life is there,like a sub-saharan state transposed to northern California,the seventh richest place on the planet,just six places behind the USA as a whole....poor fuckers.

There were loadsa bands like BOB,with emphasis on the quirky jerky.....i suppose every western country had at least one,overclever,with prog rock style complex time signatures,but with that certain 'Punk' influence. Cardiacs spring to mind for the UK.

I dunno if the name 'BOB' has anything to do with the  guru of the Church of the Sub Genius, J.R. Bob Dodds , but if it does that's ok with me....as is the music. I like Herky Jerky, just not in every other band on the block.

Gimmie some Slack Bob.

Tracklist:

1 Danger City 3:34
2 Insomnia 3:07
3 Who Do You Love 4:04
4 (My Pal) Joe 3:05
5 The Things That You Do 3:50
6 You Know You Gotta 2:14
7 Bye Bye 2:48
8 Dead Animal 3:43
9 Bird Lanes 2:05
10 Voices Calling 5:14

11 Thomas Edison

12 Buddy Boy

DOWNLOAD this sub-genius HERE!

Various Artists - "Here's The Shit!" (Greenwich Performance Collective) 1984

 

Those wacky chaps at the Greenwich Performance Collective were at it again in 1984 with more classic DIY tchoons from all our favourites.

Cancer Club return with another minimal synth masterpiece that could have been a 'Hit' but is content with just being the 'shit',as are we all?

The 'Well Known Wankers' scum up our current political situation nicely with "Government Scum", and 'Your Heterosexual Violence' return with an attempt at sensitive songwriting.....did they ever make an album?...dunno, but, they are on Bandcamp incredibly!?

'Psyco Psyco' are a new GPC act that didn't appear on "Dennis",with the Post-Punk anti-war classic "Headstrong Big War", and the 'Bulbous Skunk Cabbages' show that not only can your bandname finish your career, your songs can too.

But that's not the point is it? Careers are for the others,as are profits too.This selection displays all the lack of ambition, lack of professionalism, and lack of commerciality of a pure independant soul. Property is theft, but sharing isn't.

TRACKLISTING:

DOWNLOAD the hits not the shits HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Dennis" (The Greenwich Performance Collective) 1984

 Balancing carefully on the zero degrees longitude meridian ,and therefore at the center of the Earth, The Greenwich Performance Collective were also balancing on the watershed point of the 80's,at the point when the Proles started to get into vintage clothes and buy hit Cardiacs singles....like Punk never happened.Worse was to come with surreal visions of white factory fodder dancing to electronic music and getting Psychedelic. Not that I can imagine 'Your Heterosexual Violence' from the Greenwich Performance Collective (the GPC) ever shaking a tambourine to the funky drummer beat.

This collective compilation is Indie/DIY crossover at its zenith before the unwashed masses heard that the Roland TB303 bassline wasn't a piece of shit after all, oh the purity.

One does suspect that a lot of these marvellously named groups on 'Dennis' contain the same members,but its rather better disguised than some of Jim Whelton's attempts at faux-compilations,like the otherwise excellent, "Psst!Wanna Buy A Tape"

The best part about making music is always making up band names.It's ALL downhill from there.Whether you're in 'The New Catalonian Slipper Boys','The Dandy Lions','Dead Celebrities','0.2.WOT',it's all going the same way. If only Boy George was in 'Cancer Club' and not the sickening concept that we're all in this together and getting on with each other that suggests the name of his own group, then we probably wouldn't hate the fucker's guts anymore....there would have always been the name to raise a smile instead of a small bit of vomit into the buccal cavity.

Basically,my adice to any youngsters who wanna rediscover indie pop,just find a name that makes you laugh,then just keep it at that,forget the music part.

Who wouldn't want to be in a group called 'Your Heterosexual Violence' for chrissakes? An added bonus is that musically they sound like a more incompetant Nightingales.

I also like the fact that there's a group called 'Dali's Car'at exactly the same time of that Neu Romantic/Goth supergroup pairing of Mick Karn and Peter Murphy...also called 'Dali's Car'....unless they are the same entity,in which case mucho respect to Karn and Murphy.Personally I like both of Dali's cars.I also like Dali's moustache,a version of which I now proudly sport on my upper lip.

It's not just DIY and Indie punk on this fantastic cassette, there's stuff for the intellectuals and european music fans,some cosmic and minimal synth stuff,so,sadly, it's not totally offensive to the average music bore.There's also some disco for dancing, and even some white boy Rap.....you may never need another tape?

Tracklist:

A1 –Your Heterosexual Violence - Incredible Story
A2 –The Vinegarettes - Guilded Youth
A3 –0.2.WOT - Skeleton Fields
A4 –Dead Celebrities - Dead Celebrities
A5 –Almonds And Diamonds - Talk
A6 –Malvinas Brothers - Hollywood
A7 –Unknown Colours - Gun In Your Pocket
A8 –Violet Circuit - Ash Wedding Wednesday
A9 –Thee Mystery Trend - Count Down
A10 –Cancer Club - There Is No Fate Worse Than Death
B1 –Adventures In Colour - Cost Of Living
B2 –Replaceable Hedz - I Can't Sing It
B3 –Climbing Frames - The Pick Up
B4 –Dalis Car - Glad To Be Alive
B5 –Spring Hippies - Christ Died In Springtime
B6 –The Ringing - Doctor
B7 –The Dandy-Lions - Engine No.9
B8 –Paul Dunbar - The Regressus
B9 –Ptah Sokar - Pyramid Rise
B10 –The New Catalonian Slipper Boys - B.B.C.
B11 –The Pus - Split The Party

DOWNLOAD a tape called dennis HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Swindon This Is Swindon" (Redbrick Records ‎– RED 00001) 1980

I 've been to Swindon but once, to support my beloved Leicester City against the home team in the second tier of the English football league in about 1993. I'm damned if I can recall the score, but Glenn Hoddle was their player manager...he's the one that got sacked by England for saying that disabled people must have done something bad in a previous life.....so that's him disabled in his next life then?

The other 'bad' thing Hoddle did was manage Swindon Town FC when they beat Leicester in the play-off final at wembley with a contentious penalty after the Foxes had come back from 3-0 down to level the scores. Swindon got promotion to the Premier league and got thrashed every week,never to be heard of again......rather like the Bands on this Local Bands EP.

Hoddle was also incredibly guilty of releasing a pop duet with be-mulleted geordie mate Chris Waddle, called "Diamond Lights",another moment that had to be endured gazing through one's fingers. Don't do it Glenn,we implored,but...too late!!!!

Also the very great XTC came from Swindon.Those slight americanisms in Andy Partridges vocal inflections were actually his local west country accent, not an attempt to mimic those American pop stars we all love.....not that I can name any,they were all Canadian anyway. Probably explains why there's a growing cult stateside for XTC.

Alas,no XTC on this EP however, just a quartet of post-punk and power pop also-rans....y'know the kind of stuff we all love . "Narrow Feint"...wot?....do a deaf glee club party's version of Elton John's "Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting".......i'm in no doubt Sir Reg and Bernie Terrapin would sue if they ever heard this blatant rip off of their terrible yob-glam anthem's chorus. 

The terrible names continue with "Wheelz",whose charming ditty will have you whistling all afternoon;.... whistling what, is another story all together.

'Bantu' treat us to another belter that you're sure you've heard somewhere before....it'll come to me.

'The Early Bathers' (how do their minds work in Swindon?) finish off with a tune you culd have sworn was on "Hicks From The Sticks"....or at least on "Songs From Pigland" which was the LP version of the local yokal post-punkers around Wiltshire.

Its charmingly simple stuff,and we love it.....another UK DIY classic.

Tracklist:

A1 –Narrow Feint - Saturday Night 3:17
A2 –Wheelz - I Can See Everything 2:45
B1 –Bantu - This Time Around 3:35
B2 –The Early Bathers - Impact Adhesive Man 2:46

DOWNLOAD the great rock'n'roll swindon HERE!