Various Artists – "Ideal Guest House" (Shelter) 1986 & "The First After Epiphany" (Ron Johnson Records – ZRON 21) 1987

As I received a request for a Ron Johnson compilation,it reminded me of the official comedian attached to this shambling Ron Johnson style stuff, Ted "I was Walking Down the Road" Chippington. I'm not sure if he was into this kind of popular music,but he was enlisted to be the compare of this trendy compilation cassette to support homeless charity "Shelter"; which is rather apt as we are facing the largest homeless crisis in Europe since world war too. Its time to start world war Free (dom) innit? I am of course referring to the current Invasion of Ukraine by that nice Mr Putin man....just in case you are part of the uninformed majority,or living in Russia....in which case i have to inform you that your army has been committing War crimes against your Slavic brothers in the west.....basically you're fucked.

The drole monotone self-elected worst comedian in the world ever Ted,links together a bunch of shambling C86-era,Johnson related groups in his characteristic stoic manner...at times he's even funny!?

Its got Bog-Shed and bIG fLAME on it, what more could you want or need?......just ignore the Chumbawamba track,...oooooh, they didn't like Neil Kinnock.....edgy stuff not, nuff said.

Tracklist:

A1 Big Flame– Man Of Few Syllables
A2 The Wedding Present– You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends (alt Version)
A3 The Soup Dragons– Fair's Fair
A4 The Creepers– Sharper And Wider
A5 The Shop Assistants – Home Again (Live)
A6 The June Brides– This Town (Accoustic)
A7 Rob Grant with Yeah Yeah Noh– Mr. Hammond Has Breakfast In Bed
B1 Stump– Kitchen Table
B2 The Legend!– Everythings Coming Up Roses
B3 Pigbros– Barren Land
B4 Stitched Back Foot Airman– The Deadly Spore
B5 BMX Bandits– Sad?
B6 Bog-shed – Jobless Youngsters
B7 Chumbawamba– Kinnochio

DOWNLOAD and give these tracks a home HERE!

Oh Yeah!...here's that Ron Johnson sampler LP "The First After Epiphany" that i mistakenly thought had no exclusive tracks on it, and you could get them from the other official releases on the blog if you search for Ron Johnson Records. I was wrong, There's at least a Twang! track that one can't get elsewhere,and maybe an errant Splat! number,or anything else with an exclamation mark in it's name:

"The First After Epiphany"
Ron Johnson Records – ZRON 21 (1987)

Tracklist:

A1 Splat!– Mistook
A2 Big Flame– XPQWRTZ
A3 A Witness– Dipping Bird
A4 Stump– Big End
A5 MacKenzies– Man With No Reason
B1 The Shrubs– Blackmailer
B2 The Ex– Knock
B3 Twang – Here's Lukewarm
B4 The Nose Flutes– Bodyhair Up In The Air
B5 The Great Leap Forward– Drowning Speechless
B6 Jackdaw With Crowbar– Crow

DOWNLOAD this epiphanal moment HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "C-86" (New Musical Express ‎– NME 022) 1986

Amazingly,five of the Ron Johnson stable appeared on the Iconic 'Indie' compilation "C-86", as released/compiled by the NME.

Indeed we also find Bogshed nestled in amongst such pale floppy fringe wearers as The Wolfhounds, the Bodines and other jangly foppish nonsense.

I'm surprised to discover that the tape that defined an Indie Era of jingly jangly tweedom, did in fact have some very non-jangly groups included.

Primal Scream open up the proceedings sounding, for all the world exactly like the very shit Stone Roses, three years in advance of all that 'Madchester' crap.

Of course Primal Scream would become one of those very same ,terrible bandwagon jumping combo's of 1989. Of the rest only The Soup Dragons would join them in making dance/indie crossover awfulness; which is a shame because I quite liked early Soup Dragons......I'll admit......in fact i quite enjoyed a lot of this tape!?....which is strange, as I regarded this stuff (Ron Johnson acts excepted), as the enemy,rather than the NME.

30 years removed,one now finds this jangly indie pop refreshing,and charmingly youthful.Unlike me.

Tracklist:

1–Primal Scream Velocity Girl 1:22
2–The Mighty Lemon Drops Happy Head 2:42
3–The Soup Dragons Pleasantly Surprised 2:05
4–The Wolfhounds-Feeling So Strange Again 1:41
5–The Bodines-Therese 3:09
6–Mighty Mighty-Law 3:40
7–Stump-Buffalo 4:30
8–Bogshed-Run To The Temple 3:28
9–A Witness-Sharpened Sticks 2:30
10–The Pastels-Breaking Lines 2:59
11–The Age Of Chance-From Now On,This Will Be Your God 3:12
12–Shop Assistants-It's Up To You 2:38
13–The Close Lobsters - Firestation Towers 1:48
14–Miaow-Sport Most Royal 2:54
15–Half Man Half Biscuit-I Hate Nerys Hughes (From The Heart) 3:46
16–The Servants-Transparent 2:36
17–MacKenzies-Big Jim (There's No Pubs In Heaven) 2:34
18–Big Flame-New Way(Quick Wash & Brush Up With Liberation Theology)1:37
19–We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It-Console Me 1:24
20–McCarthy-Celestial City 2:59
21–The Shrubs-Bullfighter's Bones 3:48
22–The Wedding Present-This Boy Can Wait 4:00

DOWNLOAD to see and hear 1986 HERE!

Stump - " The Complete Peel Sessions 1986-88" (a Die or DIY? Compilation)

Stump were exactly the kind of group that Peel would love. Quirky, over-clever, slightly irritating,and popular on the campus, primarily with the geekier end of the university chess club.
For some reason I can't remember Peel playing 'The Cardiacs' at all?....they tick all the Peel Band boxes twice over!?
Naturally, Stump did four sessions before they were drowned in infancy by the moozik biz......and here they are......:

Track Listing:

01 Kitchen Table [26-01-86]
02 Orgasm Way [26-01-86]
03 Grab Hands [26-01-86]
04 Buffalo [26-01-86]
05 Tupperware Stripper [24-06-86]
06 Big End [24-06-86]
07 Satisfaction [24-06-86]
08 Bit-Part Actor [24-06-86]
09 Living it Down [13-01-87]
10 Eager Bereaver [13-01-87]
11 Alcohol [13-01-87]
12 Bone [13-01-87]
13 The Song's Remains [13-09-88]
14 Thelma [13-09-88]
15 Seven Sisters [13-09-88]
16 Straight And Narrow [13-09-88]

DOWNLOAD the remains of a once noble tree HERE!

Stump ‎– "Quirk Out" (Stuff Records ‎– STUF/U2) 1986

Then Stump mysteriously appeared in a high gloss sleeved mini-album on some unknown label called 'Stuff Records'. Obviously to anyone with half a brain cell, this label was a crass attempt by major label wankers Ensign to try and resemble an Independent set up so as not to alienate Stump's fan base......which it did. They even had it distributed by The Cartel, so a stealthy,but doomed, effort was indeed made.
The catalogue number was good anyway....Stuff U2!
The tunes are the usual tremolo heavy, herky jerky, slidey quirk out's that the group were synonymous with. The intensely irritating 'Buffalo' is included, along with a decent tune that could have been written by a person skilled in the art of classic songcraft, "Our Fathers".If there was a Beefheart equivalent to this tune, it would be from fan base losing "Blue Jeans and Moon Beams" rather than fan base rebuilding "Doc at the Radar Station"; and benefits greatly from a total lack of.... 'Quirk Out'! 

Tracklist:

A1 Tupperware Stripper
A2 Our Fathers
A3 Kitchen Table
B1 Buffalo
B2 Everything In Its Place
B3 Bit Part Actor

DOWNLOAD and stuff U2 HERE!

Stump ‎– "Mud On A Colon EP" (Ron Johnson Records ‎– ZRON 6) 1986

Peculiar London Based Anglo-Irish combo who sounded like Captain Beefheart's Magic Band fronted by Jimmy Cricket. Slightly annoying and 'clever clever'; these show-offs nearly made it as a chart band!?....They signed to a 'proper' record label and consequently were never heard of again.....the same old story. The fact that they were snapped up by one of the shitter 'proper' record labels (Ensign?!) couldn't have helped their prospects for lucrative longevity.
The original singer was none other than that irritating bloke from The Shrubs, Nick Hobbs, who was sacked for being 'too serious'!? Then he got replaced by the slightly less irritating Mick Lynch (who died earlier this year, RIP).
An EP is about all i can take in one sitting, so luckily Ron Johnson didn't inflict a full album on us...leave that to Ensign.
It didn't help that they used a fretless bass! One of thee most awful instruments ever devised, alongside the soprano sax, and the Yamaha DX-7.
Stump, as a whole, were a kind of hip novelty band, who one struggled to take seriously, even though they weren't at all funny(?)....maybe Nick Hobbs should have stayed on? 

Tracklist:

A1 Orgasm Way
A2 Ice The Levant
B1 Grab Hands
B2 55-0-55

DOWNLOAD that mud from your colon HERE!