Saturday, September 13, 2008

Unwanted, The - 1984 - Shattered Silence

Unwanted, The - 1984 - Shattered Silence
download
.
One of Winnipeg's most important and influential early punk bands. They formed out of a gang of St. James kids called the Medullites, after their collective mispronuncian of the sticker on Jim Nostril's bass, which was actually Medussa. All these kids watched us practice in the basement all the time.Along with the Stretch Marks, the Unwanted were the first purely hardcore crew in Winnipeg. But right from the start, they also had a heavy metal streak in the mix, that everyone else seemed to pick up on 3 or 4 years later.
.
source Punk History Canada (link)

Rivals, The - 2007 - If Only (1978-1980)

Rivals, The - 2007 - If Only (1978-1980)
download
.
Long awaited debut album featuring eight bonus tracks from this Punk outfit who released two classic singles in the late '70s but never got around to releasing a full album. Now, 27 years later, their album is finally unleashed upon the world featuring both sides of their singles ('Future Rights' and 'Here Comes The Night') plus 16 unreleased recordings from 1978-81. Comes with a superb glossy booklet with full liner notes and rare photos. The Rivals' drummer, Paul Daley, went on to find success 20 years later with Leftfield!
.
source Amazon (link)

D.O.A. - 1979 - Disco Sucks 7''

D.O.A. - 1979 - Disco Sucks 7''
download
.
Vancouver's D.O.A. were an early and extremely influential punk rock band. Formed in 1978, they quickly got down to business by releasing the Disco Sucks EP on singer/guitarist Joey Shithead's own Sudden Death label. Along with other early pioneers, they blazed the trail to a North American punk scene by putting out records and touring with virtually no existing 'scene' infrastructure to rely on. Early shows included clashes with audience members and police, and they can attest that police riots at punk shows were not strictly an LA occurrence.
The original D.O.A. lineup was Joey, bassist Randy Rampage, and amazing drummer Chuck Biscuits. Their first full length came out on Friends records in 1980, and was soon followed by 1981's seminal Hardcore '81 LP. The latter is commonly sited by the first wave of "hardcore" bands as a catalyst and namesake for the that movement. Following this record both Randy Rampage and Chuck Biscuits left the band. Chuck joined Black Flag and began his long career as a punk rock band slut (Social D, Circle Jerks, Danzig). His brother Dimwit took over for him, and Wimpy from the Subhumans joined on bass. D.O.A. jumped to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label for the War on 45 EP and most of their subsequent records (short stints at Frontier and Enigma didn't last). War on 45 record found them attempting to ditch the punk straightjacket by interjecting funk, reggae, and a cover of Edwin Starr's Motown classic "War" into the mix. Apparently it actually charted in Billboard.
While D.O.A. shared the political commitment of Jello's Dead Kennedys or fellow Canadians the Subhumans, they also cultivated a party band image (exemplified by the cover of their 1985 effort, Let's Wreck the Party). Their manager Ken Lester billed them as a "populist" band. Joey has kept at it with various backing bands over the years, putting out a 1995 album on a Virgin subsidiary before revamping the Sudden Death label for a few albums and reissues.
.
source Kill from the Heart (link)

Friday, September 12, 2008

Bastards - 1979 - Schizo Terrorist

Bastards - 1979 - Schizo Terrorist
download

Avengers, The - 1977 - We Are The One 7''

Avengers, The - 1977 - We Are The One 7''
download
.
One of the first and finest bands to emerge from San Francisco's punk scene, the Avengers were together for only a little over two years, and they didn't release an album during their lifetime. But their passionate music and uncompromising viewpoints proved to be a major inspiration in a scene that would grow and flourish long after they broke up, and the handful of singles they left behind document a band of uncommon power and force. Just as importantly, lead singer Penelope Houston was one of the pioneering women of American punk, proving there was a place for female artists in the new music.
The Avengers came together in early 1977, not long after Penelope Houston arrived in San Francisco from her hometown of Seattle, WA. Houston was a new student at San Francisco Art Institute when she met Danny Furious, a recent SFAI graduate who was still a common sight on the campus. Houston was a fan of musicians like Lou Reed and Patti Smith, and she soon discovered that Furious had similar tastes. Furious, who played the drums, was interested in starting a rock band, and he talked an old friend, Greg Ingraham, into coming to San Francisco from Orange County to play guitar. Houston showed up at the fledgling group's rehearsal space one day before the musicians had arrived; after singing along with a stereo through the band's PA system, as Houston put it, "I was so enamored with the power of amplification that I said, 'I'm gonna be your new singer.'"
In June, the Avengers played their first show, opening for the Nuns at San Francisco's pioneering punk venue the Mabuhay Gardens. In August, Jimmy Wisley joined the band as bassist (replacing Jonathan Postal, who went on to form the Readymades), and the Avengers' classic lineup was complete. The band soon became one of the most popular bands on California's budding punk rock scene, though at that time this limited the band to a handful of clubs in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 1977, L.A.'s premier punk label Dangerhouse Records released a three-song EP from the group, featuring "We Are the One," "Car Crash," and "I Believe in Me." The record received enthusiastic reviews and relatively strong sales, but no larger labels were interested in signing the group. In early 1978, the group scored what seemed like a golden opportunity: opening for the Sex Pistols at San Francisco's Winterland on the final date of the notorious British punk band's first American tour. By all accounts, the Avengers delivered an impressive set (stronger than the Pistols, according to many eyewitnesses), and the group struck up a friendship with Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, who agreed to produce a record for the group. But the Avengers first brush with the larger music business left them somewhat disillusioned; Danny Furious later told a journalist, "It was obvious at Winterland — everyone knew how to behave, everyone knew how to spit, how to dress — everyone knew how to pack the place. But it was just sensationalism, a spectacle." Adding to the sting was the breakup of the Sex Pistols days after the Winterland show, which led much of the music industry to regard punk as a spent force, making it all the more difficult for bands like the Avengers to be heard.
In late 1978, Steve Jones did in fact produce a session for the group, which would yield a four-song EP, but 1979 was not destined to be a good year for the Avengers. Tensions had grown between Greg Ingraham and Penelope Houston, and at the end of 1978, Ingraham quit the group. He was soon replaced by Brad Kent, but the band's foundation began to crumble, and in late June, after a pair of sold-out farewell shows, the Avengers called it a day. The Jones-produced EP came out later that summer. After the band's breakup, Houston went on to a career as an acoustic-oriented singer/songwriter, and Jimmy Wisley became a longtime member of Chris Isaak's backing group.
In 1983, a San Francisco-based indie label, CD Presents, bought the rights to the Avengers' material, and released a superb 16-song compilation that collected their vinyl releases to date along with some unreleased studio material. However, when CD Presents went out of business, the group's recorded legacy went into limbo, and for the next ten years Houston found herself often questioned by fans who were eager to obtain Avengers recordings. As a result, Houston began collecting live recordings of the band being traded by fans, and with the help of Greg Ingraham, she compiled highlights of the group's live shows and uncirculated demos into an album, The Avengers Died for Your Sins. Houston and Ingraham decided to cut new studio recordings of three Avengers songs for which they could find no adequate recordings; Wisley and Furious opted not to participate, so Houston and Ingraham recorded them as the Scavengers with Joel Reader on bass and Danny "Panic" Sullivan on drums. In 1999, following the release of The Avengers Died for Your Sins, the Scavengers played a handful of live dates in San Francisco, though Houston and Ingraham parted ways again shortly afterward and there are no plans for a future reunion of the group.
.
by Mark Deming (allmusic)

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Skids - 1978 - Wide Open 7''

Skids - 1978 - Wide Open 7''
.
The Skids, it seemed, picked their moment well. Comprising the songwriting axis of Richard Jobson (vocals) and Stuart Adamson (guitar), together with the rhythm section of William Simpson (bass) and Tom Kellichan (drums), they rode into British consciousness on the new wave backwash to the ebbing tide of punk. The release of their self-financed, attention-grabbing Charles EP came at the time Richard Branson's Virgin label were busy accruing an eclectic roster of post-punk hopefuls. Consequently, with almost indecent haste, the band were tethered to what was to prove an optimistic eight-album deal. On the flip side of their first Virgin single, "Sweet Suburbia" (1978), the band proclaimed themselves to be "Open Sound", which was essentially a description of the soaring histrionics of Adamson's guitar style. When married to the martial rhythms of the drumming and the bellowing, chant-like vocals of Jobson, this sound conspired to lend their repertoire a rousing, anthemic quality. It was heroic music which at its best, as on the first album, Scared To Dance (1979), seemed to capture the drama and turbulence of battle. Unfortunately, the sound was an all-too-graphic reflection of the band's own stormy relationships, a turbulence which was to settle only with the departure of Adamson in the summer of 1981. The Skids' decline was in large part due to the portentous designs of Richard Jobson, who sought to mould the band into a vehicle for his ever more convoluted lyrics. This became most evident in the recording of the second album, Days In Europa (1979). Following the departure of original drummer Tom Kellichan in the traditional rock'n'roll style (i.e. after the first album), the Skids recruited a temporary replacement in the form of ex-Rich Kids drummer and Jobson cohort, Rusty Egan, and a producer in the form of ex- Be-Bop Deluxe man Bill Nelson. Together, both Nelson and Egan contrived to free the band from the strictures of punk-pop in favour of a more polished, almost danceable sound. Ultimately it was a case of too many cooks, and the resultant album proved to be a misguided attempt at redefining the Skids' sound. This in turn alienated a great many fans, and also cost them the services of bassist Simpson during the troubled tour that ensued. For Jobson and Adamson it was back to the drawing board, and 1980 saw a rejuvenated Skids with a new rhythm section in the form of Russell Webb (bass) and Mike Baillie (drums). The resultant album, The Absolute Game (1980), produced this time by Mick Glossop, was a commercial success, giving the band their first and only British Top 10 album. Artistically, too, it heralded a return to form, dispensing with the excess baggage of the previous outing and playing to the dual strengths of Adamson's guitar stylings and Jobson's lyrical bombast. Unfortunately, this rejuvenation coincided with Jobson's increasing commitment to a burgeoning London scene. Adamson's departure had as much to do with geographical differences as to musical and personal ones; a point evinced by Adamson's eventual return to Dunfermline, from where he formed the internationally successful Big Country. Following Adamson's departure, the final dissolution of the band was soon to follow. Unfortunately, however, not before Jobson and Webb issued a dour and ill-conceived concept album, Joy (1981), which served only to illustrate that, when Adamson left, he took all of the best tunes with him. Not surprisingly the album failed to chart, and proved a sorry end to a short career which had begun with so much spark and promise.
.
source Discogs (link)

Asphalt Jungle - 1977 - Deconnection EP

Asphalt Jungle - 1977 - Deconnection EP
download
.
Famous French Punk band led by Patrick Eudeline. This short-lived group recorded only three singles and broke up in 1978.

Monday, September 8, 2008

A.D. 1984 - 1980 - Race To Nowhere 7''

A.D. 1984 - 1980 - Race To Nowhere 7''
download
donwload@rapidshare (08/02/2012) 

Physicals - 1978 - Skulduggery

Physicals - 1978 - Skulduggery
.
PUNK ROCK'S FIRST SUPERGROUP? Maybe. The Physicals certainly included some of the cream of the punk rock crop. Vocalist/guitarist Alan Lee Shaw (Maniacs), bass player John Towe (Chelsea/Generation X), Alvin Gibbs (Users/UK Subs) and Paul Cook (Sex Pistols) all featured in the line-up. The Physicals existed from 1978 and lasted until 1980. They were London based and began playing regularly at such venues as The Nashville and The Music Machine, soon building a substantial following. As demand for a record grew the band decided on the fastest option and recorded 4 songs live without overdubs onto a 2 track Revox machine. They released it as "All Sexed Up" on their own label Physical Records in September 1978. Despite getting banned purely on the basis of the title by The Independent Broadcasting Authority it sold all 5,000 copies pretty quickly, since becoming a collectors' item.
Steve Jones and Paul Cook heard the demos for the next single and offered to produce it. Steve Jones was busy with other commitments so Paul Cook took charge both as producer and drummer on the record. The single was finished in early 1979 but for various reasons wasn't released until 1980 on Big Beat Records.
During this delay the band toured with Thin Lizzy, did an Irish tour and continued to build on their already substantial live following. With a lull in their activities, Brian James asked Alan to join his band The Brains, and Charlie Harper asked Alvin to join the UK Subs. The other members decided to pursue other projects and The Physicals disintegrated.
.
**Skulduggery contains 17 powerslabs of energy and melody. New Wave with a hint of Glam, Metal and Punk. The tracks are taken from both singles, demos from 1978 and 1979 and two live tracks. 11 of the tracks are previously unreleased. The sleeve is a 12 page booklet containing a detailed band history written by Mike Richmond and includes previously unseen photos.
.
source Amazon (link)

Nips - 1979 - Gabrielle 7''

Nips - 1979 - Gabrielle 7''
download
.
Formed in London in late 1977, NIPPLE ERECTORS are interesting in sheer terms of their history. Singer Shane MacGOWAN and joint founding member bassist, Shanne Bradley , were early faces on the 75, 76 punk scene, the duo associating themselves in particular with The JAM . And with a simple but fascinating twist of fate in fact, nowadays Paul Weller is a prominent face at many NIPS gigs, the besuited figure rating the band aming his favourites. Other Nipple Erectors members are Jerry Arcane - drums, Roger Towndrow - guitar. Their sole release under this monicker was "King Of The Bop/Nervous Wreck" 45. After this they decided to shorten their name to The NIPS to get more gigs.
In 1978, the debut single under their truncated name was "All The time In the world". It made little impression and it was over a year later and with changed line-up, Stan Brennan on guitar and Gavin Douglas on drums - that they returned in 1980 with "Gabrielle", a much more commercial song which made quite an impression in the indie chart. Originally issued on Soho without a picture sleeve, the single was later reissued in picture sleeve by Chiswick. Meanwhile Soho put out their "Only At The End Of The Beginning" album, now very hard to track down. A further period elapsed before they turned with their final release on Burning Rome's Test Pressing label produced by Paul WELLER. With little promotion, the 45 was destined to remain obscure and the band decided to call it a day... Shane MacGOWAN briefly joined an outfit called The Chainsaw but later found fame as lead singer in The Pogues ...
.
source The Modpoppunk Archives (link)