Wreckless Eric - "Wreckless Eric" (Stiff Records - SEEZ 6) 1978

I always wanted a Brown 10 incher in my hand, and the chance came in 1978 when my school mate said he was sick of 'Punk' and wanted to sell all his 'Punk' records. I managed to cobble together a fiver, and bought XTC's "White Music", The Heartbreakers "L.A.M.F" and this magnificent debut mini-album by the great Wreckless Eric.
My school chum is now dead! Threw himself under an arriving train at Leicester station in the nineties.....not because he regretted selling me this record though I may add.
A muddy rainbow of Pub Rock legends adorn this magnificent 10 inches of fecal brown vinyl,including Davey Payne and Larry Wallis, to cast their magic over some fine and witty songwriting by everyone's favourite new wave drunk.

Tracklist:

Reconnez Cherie
Rags + Tatters
Waxworks
Grown Ups
Rough Kids
Personal Hygiene
Brain Thieves
There Isn't Anything Else

(I have included the extra tracks from the 12" version"Telephoning Home","Be Stiff",plus "The Whole Wide World" , "Semaphore Signals" single.....one of thee most covered songs from the Stiff repertoire.....didn't Cliff Richard cover this?)

DOWNLOAD in colourless ,odourless digital  form HERE!

Mickey Jupp ‎– "Mickey Jupp's Legend" (Stiff Records GET 2) 1978

In the early seventies no-one played proper Rock'n'Roll, except the MC5 ,Flamin' Groovies, and Mickey Jupp. So here we have a compilation released to cash in on its greater relevance in the post Pub Rock era, of Mickey's late sixties Proto-Pub Rock band 'Legend'. He was doing this before everybody in the UK Pub Scene.
Yes he obviously loved Chuck Berry, but whats wrong with that? No likey Chuck Berry, you no Likey Rock'n'Roll. No Likey Mickey Jupp, you is weird!

Tracklist:

Shine On My Shoes 2:48
My Typewriter 2:53
In My Pocket 2:07
Another Guy 3:27
Heather On The Hill 2:08
Georgia George 2:17
Don't You Never 2:55
Captain Cool 2:36
Cheque Book 3:20
City 2:09
Cross Country 3:25
Lorraine 2:55
Anything You Do 3:06
Five Years 3:00
Nature's Radio 3:23

DOWNLOAD the legend of Jupp HERE!

Mickey Jupp ‎– "Juppanese" (Stiff Records SEEZ10) 1978

Only a slightly offensive cover adorns this Chuck Berry riff recycling Pub Rock Legend's first solo LP for Stiff.
Having been around playing basic rock'n'roll since the Hippy days of 1969, with his group 'Legend'.....he was a Pub Legend after all?
The tune "Old Rock'N'Roller" kinda sums Michael Jupp....upp.

Tracklist:

Making Friends
Short List
Old Rock´N´Roller
School
If Only Mother
Down In Old New Orleans
You´ll Never Get Me Up In One Of Those
Pilot
S.P.Y.
The Ballad Of Billy Bonney
Partir Cést Mourir Un Peu
Brother Doctor, Sister Nurse

DOWNLOAD a juppanese up HERE!

Roogalator - "Danny Adler - The Roogalator Years" (1977)

One of the great forgotten Pub Rock bands were Roogalator, featuring errant american-born muso Danny Adler. 
Formed in 1972, and Playing a type of smoothly performed tight funk; they formed a bridge between the terrible country rock of Brinsley Schwarz and the R&B of Dr.Feelgood.
By all accounts they were a hot proposition in a live environment, and rumour has it that pub rock monsters, The Sex Pistols, refused to go on stage after Roogalator at one of their earlier gigs. It was easy to be intimidated by the shear musicality of Danny Adler and the boys, even if you were in one of the most intimidating groups of all time.They could have been The Average White Band, but they had short hair and more than just two good tracks in the can.
From their bio: "They knew that time was passing them by. Dexterous funk wasn't "in" anymore.The punks stole Roogalator's 
thunder,and Costello stole Adler's geek in glasses persona."(As well as playing a Fender Jazzmaster.)

This compilation features tracks recorded in 1977 for their sole (not Soul) album "Play it by Ear", and their three singles for three different labels.

Tracklist:

1 Zero Hero (Do It 7" 1978) 3:07
2 Tasty 4:18
3 Cincinnati Fatback 5:59
4 Water 2:58
5 Sweet Mama Kundilini 2:56
6 Sock It To My Pocket 3:50
7 All Aboard!! 4:54
8 Humanitation 4:59
9 Change 5:06

10 Cincinnati Fatback (Stiff b-side 1976) 6:19

11 Tasty (2) 4:44

12 Water (2) 2:59

13 Love And The Single Girl (Virgin 7" 1977) 3:09

14 All Aboard (Stiff 7" 1976) 5:46

DOWNLOAD from that funky smelling pub HERE!

Motörhead ‎– "Leaving Here / White Line Fever" (Stiff Records BUY9) 1977

My first experience of Motorhead was via the "Bunch Of Stiffs" compilation on Stiff Records, and "White Line Fever" was the tune representing them.
Wasn't impressed initially, but I was impressed by their unique image. No-one looked like that in 1977.
In them days I had a limited record collection, so this got played a lot; so naturally it grew on me,and now love it as much as "Overkill", "Bomber" and "We Are The Road Crew"! One of thee top ten greatest groups (before Fast Eddie left) ever.

Tracklist:

A - White Line Fever

B - Leaving Here

DOWNLOAD a few lines HERE!

The Lew Lewis Reformer ‎– "Save The Wail" (Stiff Records SEEZ 16) 1979 (Plus all the Singles 1976-1980)

How cool is this geezer? The lost legend of Pub Rock that is Lew Lewis. Founder member of Canvey Islands 'Southside Jugband' alongside Lee Brilleaux of Dr Feelgood. How more Proto-Punk can you get than that?
That very same Jugband spawned Eddie and the Hot Rods, who enticed Lew into its fold for the first two singles, then he formed The Reformer in 1977.
It gets better......In 1987 our Lew was given a seven-year jail sentence(Lucky seven eh?) for armed robbery, after holding up a post office with a fake pistol, stealing £5,000 and trying to escape on a shopping bike.
This guy walked the walk and Talked the talk......mental breakdown aside of course!
His weapon of choice was the Harmonica which he wielded like a chainsaw in the hands of Leatherface.
Again he was big in France, like most of the Pub Rock fraternity, but lost in his native land.
So, here's his entire recorded output (except the two tracks on the Hope and Anchor R&B album);and you may notice that his self-penned tunes tend to veer in the direction of Bars and Gambling as subject matter.......and why not?

Tracklist:

Do Just What You Want
Wait
Win Or Lose
High Temperature
Mr Bartender
Lucky Seven
Hometown Blues
Photo-Finish
Night Talk
Rider

Singles:

Boogie On The Street
Caravan Man
1-30 2-30 3-35
The Mood I'm In 

Live 1977:

Watch Yourself
One Stop Town
Messin' With The Kid
Out For A Lark 

Live 1979:

Shake & Fingerpop
Romance
Long Grey Mare

DOWNLOAD and be reformed HERE!

Tyla Gang ‎– "Styrofoam" (Stiff Records ‎– BUY 4) 1976

In 1976, the year Punk Rock exploded onto the front page of the tabloid press, there were NO,Zero, records of said hyped genre. Not surprising as there were hardly any 'Punk' bands to make any singles. So we were told who was Punk,and generally they weren't actually.
Stiff provided some 'real punk' with the Damned's 'New Rose' and a licenced Richard Hell single.The Sex Pistols' "Anarchy" was released by EMI, and there were imports of American Glam like The New York Dolls and The Stooges.
There were records by Eddie and the Hot Rods, who were fast enough but looked like a charity shop Bay City rollers. So,in '76 all the kids had to go on were these, some reggae, and Pub Rockers marketed as a bit punky.
One of these would have been the Tyla Gang's first single on Stiff. A typical slice of American flavoured Bluesy Rock, sung in a Faux-american accent. Definitely Not Punk.

This demands a spot of auto-plagiarism (always wanted to use that word).
I wrote the following synopsis, which I will entitle "Punk Never Happened, like." , in the comments section of The Motors first LP post......which no-one reads I guess.
So i'll quote myself, in an exercise of narcissistic glee,and reproduce it below,as it explains the situation in 76/77 very nicely:

"When one looks back at the 'Punk' era, what is remarkable is the actual lack of Punk Bands...so naturally we had to cast our nets wide and bands like The Motors and Motorhead got roped in.With the advent of Punk Revisionism, it is now apparent that there were actually NO Punk bands during the punk years. The Ramones etc were Proto-Punk, Buzzcocks Power Pop, Stranglers Pub Rock, Television retro proto-post punk, the Jam proto Mod revival, 999/Vibrators Bandwagon Punk, Siouxsie and the Banshees Post Punk/proto Goth,Subway Sect proto-indie, Clash/Damned Pub Rock refugees,Patti Smith,Hippie, and even The Sex Pistols were made up of Prog/Glam/Pub rockers molded into an art object by art school svengali Maclaren......who always referred to it all as 'New Wave'. So Punk didn't actually exist outside the minds of the sensationalist media.....discuss." (J.Zchivago, 5/9/2016)

Tracklist:

Styrofoam 2:37
Texas Chainsaw Massacre Boogie 3:39

DOWNLOAD this '76 punk' single HERE!

Larry Wallis ‎– "Police Car" (Stiff Records 7" -BUY22) 1977

The Arch Duke of UK proto-punk ,Larry Wallis's classic single for Stiff, is a medium paced pub punk dirge; where the former Fairies,Motorhead guitarist casts himself in the role of a .....er.....Police Car!?...and why not? 
The b-side's a Pub-rocking version of 'On Parole', and just leaves one wondering what happened to the Larry Wallis solo album on Stiff?

DOWNLOAD a police car HERE!

Various Artists - "Live Stiffs" (Stiff Records - GET 1) 1978

So, consequently, we have the infamous "Live Stiffs" package tour of 1977, and the album of....; containing at least five pub rock legends. Luckily Nick Lowe improved vastly after the demise of the awful Brinsley Schwartz. Ian Dury became the poet laureate of the new wave. Wreckless Eric was a loveable drunk who made a fine debut album. Larry Wallis was in The Deviants, Pink Fairies, and Motorhead,among others, so he can't do wrong. In fact Stiff records did very little wrong in the first three or four years of existence; except sacking the Damned after the second album?...well I thought the second album was rather good. I may have thought different if I knew who Nick Mason was, but luckily i didn't.....I do now, and finally (recently) listened to some post-syd Pink Floyd.....it was all surprisingly enjoyable, except 'The Wall' which was effing terrible!.....very nearly the opposite of Stiff.

Tracklist:

A1 –Nick Lowe's Last Chicken In The Shop-I Knew The Bride
A2 –Nick Lowe's Last Chicken In The Shop-Let's Eat
A3 –Wreckless Eric & The New Rockets-Semaphore Signals
A4 –Wreckless Eric & The New Rockets-Reconnez Cherie
A5 –Larry Wallis' Psychedelic Rowdies-Police Car
B1 –Elvis Costello & The Attractions-I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
B2 –Elvis Costello & The Attractions-Miracle Man
B3 –Ian Dury And The Blockheads-Wake Up And Make Love With Me
B4 –Ian Dury And The Blockheads-Billericay Dickie
B5 –Live Stiffs-Sex, Drugs, Rock 'N' Roll & Chaos

DOWNLOAD the tour of the living stiffs HERE!

Elvis Costello and the Attractions - "Live in Leicester 22/10/1977" (Bootleg)

Just got back from a Holiday in Leicester???????....yes, when one lives in a beautiful sunny climate like here in the southern French countryside, you go to a shithole to regain perspective.
I'm from Leicester, and I love it in the same kind of way a hostage loves his/her captor.....'the Stockholm Syndrome' I believe its called.
I'm being harsh on the town of my birth, it is fact quite a good place these days,lots of fancy new buildings, plenty of entertainment, and a football team that will now go down as the achievers of the single greatest footballing triumph over greed and capitalist oppression in the history of sport!

So, naturally, in this Pub Rock trip we're having, here's Elvis Costello and the boys rocking it up on the 'Live Stiffs' tour of 1977 in this very same city.
He's on top form, its a soundboard recording, the first album tunes are better with the Attractions, and Richard Hell was in the audience. Can't get too much better than that?

Track Listing:

Love Comes In Spurts
No Action
(The Angels Wanna To Wear My) Red Shoes
Blame It On Cain
The Beat
Dr. Luther's Assistant
This Year's Girl
(I Don't Want to Go) Chelsea
Less Than Zero
Whole Wide World
Roadette Song
Neat Neat Neat
Little Triggers
Radio Radio
You Belong To Me
Miracle Man

DOWNLOAD in one spurt HERE!

Elvis Costello - "The Stiff Demos Jan 1977" (Bootleg)

More Elvis......this time Solo Elvis, probably before Stiff renamed him, so, solo Declan.
These recordings emphasize  how important The Attractions were to make him a more, uhumm, Attractive proposition. With them these tunes became rocking classics, without them they are just rather annoying. Its the voice more than anything that gets on ones proverbial 'Tits'. The sneery karaoke americanisms tend to grate somewhat.....but the potential was there to be noted, especially lyrically. From here to 'This Years Model' was a gigantic leap.Full marks to the Stiff Records staff for inventing the new wave Elvis .
Recorded in January 1977.

Track Listing:

1 Welcome to the Working week
2 Blue Miracle
3 Miracle man
4 Waiting for the End of The world
5 Call On Me
6 Red Shoes
7 I Don't Wanna Go Home
8 I Hear a Melody

DOWNLOAD a demonstrative stiff HERE!