Reptile Ranch ‎– "Don’t Give The Lifeguard A Second Chance" (Z Block Records ‎– Z1) 1979

Spike of bland indie soft jazzers Weekend, was in Reptile Ranch. And as well as opening side two on Cardiff compilation “Is The War Over?”,they released the first single on Z-Block Records.

An individually numbered, handwritten and stamped ,classic DIY style seven incher, which bizarrely had the same two tracks on both sides;rather than have each different track on either side like everyone else!?

The music is unremarkable also-ran post-punk;the kind we all love.The A-side,or in this case, track 1 on both sides, has a cheapo organ and a recorder to add an interesting nuance to an already charming and melodic ditty.

Track 2, 'WTB', or 'White Tiger Burning', is less charming. Especially when the singer does an unnecessary impression of Larry The Lamb when singing the hook line.Quite an off-putting affliction.

They thank another Cardiff connected band ,and DIY catalysts,Scritti Polliti on the back cover.Which is a good excuse to do a series of Scritti Polliti posts up until they/he turned shit,i.e. up to “The 'Sweetest' Girl “ single......They/Green, wanted a 'Hit'apparently!??(note use of clever clever quotation marks around the word 'Hit',just like Green did with 'Sweetest')

Tracklist:

A1 WTB 5:15
A2 Lifeguard 3:45
B1 WTB 5:15
B2 Lifeguard 3:45

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Weekend ‎– "The '81 Demos" (Vinyl Japan ‎– TASKCD 47) 1995/1981

Cravats, Ray Bans, beige slacks, stools.....the sitting on variety, not the specimens one provides to a doctor.
Who do these Weekenders think they are?????.....The Style Council?
The Demo's that Weekend made were far less 'jazzy' than their debut LP, and as a result a lot more palatable.Dare one suggest that they sound like a more tuneful and dreamy Young Marble Giants?
These chaps could have easily been The Style Council if they had bothered.Instead they became 'Working Week',which is worse.

Tracklist:

1 Drumbeat 3:29
2 Red Planes 8:56
3 Nostalgia 5:26
4 Summerdays (Instrumental) 3:35

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Weekend ‎– "La Varieté" (Rough Trade ‎– ROUGH 39) 1982

If Young Marble Giants flirted with Testcard music, then Alison Strattons' post-YMG group, Weekend, actually made Testcard music, disguised as parisienne café jazz......which is also Testcard Music I suppose?

Its some type of trendy indie spliced with the kind of limp jazz that plays in the background of pretentious restaurants.Its quite pleasant and inoffensive, but who wants to be that?

Again this is the kind of wet student music that Cherry Red specialised in at this time; the Pillows and Prayers crowd. Rough Trade should have swapped this lot for the Nightingales, who didn't really belong alongside Everything But The Girl and The Marine Girls.

Having said that, being an oficionado of Easy listening, I like it!
If this was a lost volume of Library music from some East-European TV station I would be praising it to the hilt; but as its some kind of attempt to be a retro-cool hybrid, it has to be treated as such. Recycling the past to an audience ignorant of what has gone before is basically a cop-out.If i wanted to listen to some mellow Café chic I'd dig out an old Antonio Carlos Jobim and Astrid Gilberto album.Which is a fuck of a lot better than this pale imitation by some welsh post-punk refugees.To think Spike used to be in Reptile Ranch?
There were lots of sterile bands like this around 1982,Blue Rondo,Carmel,Matt Bianco, Working Week, EBTG.....terrible stuff. This carried on evolving and we ended up with the uber-trendy 90's Acid Jazz format, as an alternative to the endless intravenous feed of House music.Luckily this led onto more interesting area's like Loungecore, Jungle, and the Incredibly Strange Music phenomenon.
As a reaction to Punk and NWOBHM, Weekend scores quite highly. The high point being Alison Stratton's reinvention as the new wave Astrid Gilberto, by singing in exactly the same style as she did in the Young Marble Giants. 

Tracklist:

1 The End Of The Affair 3:05
2 Weekend Stroll 3:23
3 Summer Days 2:53
4 Carnival Headache 2:51
5 Drum Beat For Baby 2:57
6 Life In The Day Of Part 1 3:49
7 Life In The Day Of Part 2 2:23
8 Sleepy Theory 2:52
9 Woman's Eyes 2:49
10 Weekend Off 3:20
11 Red Planes 4:46
12 Nostalgia 3:50

Bonus Tracks:

13 A View From Her Room (12 Inch Version) 8:11
14 Leaves Of Spring 2:40
15 Past Meets Present 3:38
16 Midnight Slows 2:03
27 Drum Beat For Baby (12 Inch Version) 4:17

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Various Artists ‎– "Is The War Over? (a Cardiff compilation)" (Z Block Records ‎– ZA1) 1979

After Cornwalls' king of obscurity, Chorcazade,its only right to stay firmly in the south-west of the uk, and cross the Bristol Channel with another one of those local scene compilations that were definitely 'a la mode' in 1979 on that '...Isle full of Noises'...('The Tempest ActIII, scene II).
'...Be not afeared..."(The Tempest again!....i'm so well read ain't I???)This one is from Cardiff,which is in Wales just over the Severn Bridge from Bristol(where one of the best local comps came from,"Avon Calling").
As with all of these compilations, it is full of plodding student post-punk bands,'missed the bus' punk groups, and various spotty bedroom dwellers.
The lyrics are, naturally,full of sixth form philosophy, and art foundation course politics.The prize goes to The Riotous Brothers with this charming couplet: 
"Let's Blow up the Coloureds, let's blow up the Whites,lets blow up the politicians,just like Airey Neave"....I assume it was some crass attempt at being Ironic? The use of the word 'Coloureds' especially,places this firmly in a past where racism was accepted as part of normal life. At least we knew who the racists were back in them days.
Its not all like the Riotous Brothers on this record however.
Reptile Ranch at least show some competence, with an early Fall/Spherical Objects sound;mainly thanks to the cheapo organ which is always a winner.Its mainly the work of 'Spike', future leader of Welsh Indie-café Jazz crossover muzak legends, 'Weekend';with Young Marble Giants'chanteuse Alison Stratton churning out her classically passionless vocals.
But....of course, the main attraction of this collection are 'The Young Marble Giants' themselves. Post-punk deities, and inventors of 'Slo-Core', a decade before 'Low' were even married to each other.
The two YMG tracks are different,rawer, versions to those included on their Rough Trade album, "Colossal Youth".One of the truly great post-punk groups.....enjoy the silence.

Tracklist:

Black & White Side:

1 –Addiction-Violence
2 –Addiction-Stampede
3 –Addiction-Seek & Search
4 –Mad Dog-Killer
5 –Mad Dog-Someone Here Must Like Me
6 –Test To Destruction-Passive
7 –Riotous Brothers-Airey Neave
8 –Riotous Brothers-No Justice

Colour Side:

1 –Reptile Ranch-Waterhole
2 –The New Form - On The Edge
3 –The New Form - Boy
4 –The New Form - Blockhead
5 –Beaver-Mac The Knife
6 –Beaver-Kleptomania
7 –Young Marble Giants-Ode To Booker T
8 –Young Marble Giants-Searching For Mr. Right

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