Various Artists ‎– "Blackpool Rox E.P." ( Vinyl Drip Records ‎– drip 001) 1980

George Formby once sang,suggestively, about his 'little stick of Blackpool Rock'...then...nothing, until John Robb sorted out this EP of Bands from Blackpool.
Naturally featuring The Membranes, with their best ever tune in all its DIY glory, and the most famous doomy dance band from Lancashires premier seaside resort, Section 25....being suitably 'Doomy'.
The other two groups are yer standard New Wave power pop combos of which there were several in any UK town ,village or linear settlement that you'd care to mention.
My UK Seaside resort of choice was always Skegness, mainly due to its geographical location to Leicester(my birthplace,if you didn't know,or care?).....i'm not sure if there was ever a compilation of local Post-punkers from Skeggie,but there should have been.They did have a disco called 'Spangles' after all?
Its catchphrase was,amusingly, "It's Bracing", due to the high winds that whipped up a sandstorm every summer on the beach. I say 'Beach', but it was more like a sewage farm.At low tide me and me sister had to negotiate the untreated sewage and fully intact human turds (not the holiday makers, actual Turds!), to get to paddle in the rancid brown waters of 'The Wash'/North Sea.
A rather 'gay' looking plump fisherman called 'the Jolly Fisherman' was the local mascot to pull in the working class punters from the East Midlands of England and fleece them of their hard earned L.S.D...pounds, shillings and pence to those of you decimalised types....absolutely NOT Lysergic Acid.No drugs in Skeg in those days....or should I say no Skag in Skeg?
Believe it or not, I enjoyed it all immensely(Noooo,not the Drugs, the amusement arcades and stuff!)!?.....we're such a bunch of spoiled brats these days!
I saw all the legends at the Pier Theatre; Tommy Cooper, Ray Allen and Lord Charles, Ken Dodd,Norman Collier, and Norman Wisdom,to whom my mum dragged me to get the autograph of after the show....sucessfully I may add.The only other act I ever got the signature of were Napalm Death!? Also, the Skegness Pier Theatre was the place where i saw my first Pop Group....yep..it was Gerry and the Pacemakers!? This magical place was sadly swept away into the sea by a severe gale in 1978; along with the traditional British summer holiday.
Blackpool seemed like Las Vegas to me and my family.....those bloody bourgeois Northerners didn't know how lucky,or otherwise, they were.No wonder they all moved to London.

Tracklist:

A1 –The Membranes - Ice Age
A2 –Section 25 - Red Voice
B1 –The Kenneth Turner Set - Overload
B2 –Syntax - Dot Dot 

DOWNLOAD a little stick of blackpool rock HERE!

The Membranes ‎– "The Gift Of Life" (Creation Records ‎– CRELP 006) 1985

The ironically titled "The Gift Of Life", was, funnily enough, an early release on Alan McGee's  nascent Creation Records.....Yes, the label responsible for such crimes against culture as Primal Scream, The Boo Radleys,and the despicable Oasis, yet also responsible for such Modern Pop wonders of the world like the early JAMC singles and MBV's "Loveless".
What The Membranes were doing on a label such as that I can but guess; part of McGee's 'throw enough shit at the wall then something will stick' philosophy.....then when it sticks(Oasis), he could sell out his independent spirit to some awful conglomerate.
I Once met McGee doing an embarrassing DJ set in Manhatten, and I managed to pass myself off as that bloke from the Boo Radleys to ponce free drinks......sucessfully I may add.Also embarrassingly, my cohort in Scouts Of Uzbekistan slipped him an early Scouts demo cd, which he promised to listen to......needless to say we weren't signed up to his new 'Poptones' label.....thank fuck. 
Also on that night were Poptones' new signing 'Outrageous Cherry', who played a set with the lady bass player obliviously unplugged for the first four tunes...one of the evenings highlights.
As for The Membranes, they still sound like they are trying to turn some very ordinary post-punk tunes into some deliberately detuned shambles, and call it noise; the Florence Foster Jenkins's of Post-Punk Britain.
As for "The Gift Of Life",both the album and the state of the human existence; it's the kind of gift you'd want to come with the receipt included so you can get your money back.
Luckily, the download is free, unlike actual Life itself.

Tracklist:

Shot By My Own Gun 4:49
I Am Fish Eye 3:19
Dreadful Sound Engine 4:19
Green And Ghostly Land 8:27
More Skin And Bone 5:30
Mr. Charisma Brain 3:49
Barbed Snake Fish Thing 5:17
Chewing The Fat 3:05
Typical Male Penis 2:44
Fireface 1:30
Gift Of Life 6:39

DOWNLOAD this gift of membranes HERE!

The Membranes ‎– "Crack House" (Criminal Damage Records ‎– CRI MLP-105) 1983

The Nightingales and The Membranes were probably the earliest flowering of the Ron Johnson template. The Membranes being closely associated with fellow outsiders Bogshed.

Mike Bryson of Bogshed once explained their approach to the noble art of songwriting as "We start out being totally out of order and out of key and we turn things like that into a pop song. Most people try to do it the other way round."

The Membranes fitted very comfortably into the latter, 'Most people try to do it the other way round', category.

I was never very keen on The Membranes.They never seemed to have that genuine off-kilter x-factor that the other bands effortlessly had; they always seemed to be trying too hard to be shambolic.

Also John Robb wore,and still does to this day, his shirt collars up,like Eric Cantona and Tony Grieg!?....something that always invokes suspicion.

Tracklist:

Get A Head 4:45
The Throat 4:08
Attraction For The Easy Life 4:46
Myths And Legends 6:37
Kick Out 3:44
Kafka's Dad 4:34

DOWNLOAD through the semi-permeable cyber membrane HERE!