Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Xdreamysts - 1980 - Xdreamysts LP (UK)
Xdreamysts - 1980 - Xdreamysts LP (UK)download
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Northern Irish Rock/Pub rock band with some punk/new wave moves, active for several years in the late 70s and early 1980s. They debuted on the legendary Good Vibrations label in 1978 and were signed by Polydor Records in early 1979 along with Protex, who were scouted at the same gig.
They released three singles on Polydor which failed to set the world alight and the band was dropped in 1980. The last of these singles was "Stay The Way You Are" which was later covered by Paul Young & The Q-Tips on a single in 1981 (released on Chrysalis Records, CHS 2518). The Xdreamysts had supported Paul Young & The Q-Tips when they played in Northern Ireland, which is how they came to hear it.
Unlike Protex, The Xdreamysts did manage to get their album out on Polydor though it was only released in Holland. The album includes all six tracks from the singles plus six new tracks. It has become hard to find and is a minor collectable.
Roe Butcher was later in the Mighty Shamrocks. Two members later turned up in Codie playing sweet country music.
They released three singles on Polydor which failed to set the world alight and the band was dropped in 1980. The last of these singles was "Stay The Way You Are" which was later covered by Paul Young & The Q-Tips on a single in 1981 (released on Chrysalis Records, CHS 2518). The Xdreamysts had supported Paul Young & The Q-Tips when they played in Northern Ireland, which is how they came to hear it.
Unlike Protex, The Xdreamysts did manage to get their album out on Polydor though it was only released in Holland. The album includes all six tracks from the singles plus six new tracks. It has become hard to find and is a minor collectable.
Roe Butcher was later in the Mighty Shamrocks. Two members later turned up in Codie playing sweet country music.
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source Irish Punk & New Wave Discography (link)
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Roller Ball - 1977 - Savage Eyes [7''] [192k] (BE)
Roller Ball - 1977 - Savage Eyes [7''] [192k] (BE)download
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No, nothing to do with the "Teach Me To Rock'n'Roll" lot, it's way more important than that. This Rollerball was a pre-Elton Motello thing involving Alan Ward and Mike Butcher (Jet Staxx). If Mike himself hadn't tipped me off about this then I'd still be in the dark about it. Here's what Mike revealed...'Rollerball was just a one off, with me on guitar, Alan on vocals and 2 studio assistants, Alex on bass and his brother Pascal on drums. Pascal also played the drums on the Jet Staxx singles. We never played a gig and I don't think we even got many radio plays.'"Savage Eyes" and B-side "Lay You Down", both Ward/Butcher compositions, were recorded late 1976 in their adopted home of Brussels, Belgium (the mecca of pseudo punk), with a production credited to Rollerball as a band. It seems that it was only released in Holland on CNR Records in the first half of 1977 with the Dutch copies also being distributed in Belgium.The B-side is a decent rock number with a few New York Dolls moves, but the real action is on the glorious glam/punk of "Savage Eyes". Considering who was behind this record and how great it is, it's a total mystery why it's remained unknown for over 30 years.
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source Worthless Trash (link)
Brutality,Religion And A Dance 7'' (1977) (UK)
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Brutality,Religion And A Dance 7'' (1977) (UK).
"Brutality Religion and a Dance Beat" was a 7" single compilation of two songs. It contained the songs "Big in Japan", by eponymous band Big in Japan, and "Do The Chud", by The Chuddy Nuddies (later Yachts), both groups formed in the 1970's punk scene of Liverpool. It was released by the Eric's label in September 1977.
The side-A song, "Big in Japan", was an eponymous song of the band Big in Japan. It was a power-pop/punk oriented song, in which the singer, Jayne Casey, sang saying only the song name, plus a chorus. The band comprised future and past successful musician then Jayne Casey, guitarists Bill Drummond (later with The KLF), Ian Broudie (later of Care and The Lightning Seeds) and Clive Langer (of Deaf School), bassist Kev Ward and drummer Phil Allen.
The side-B song, was "Do The Chud", by The Chuddy Nuddies, who later changed their name to Yachts. The song was a bit synthpop oriented, with a synthesizer use, which only was a style of The Stranglers.
The side-A song, "Big in Japan", was an eponymous song of the band Big in Japan. It was a power-pop/punk oriented song, in which the singer, Jayne Casey, sang saying only the song name, plus a chorus. The band comprised future and past successful musician then Jayne Casey, guitarists Bill Drummond (later with The KLF), Ian Broudie (later of Care and The Lightning Seeds) and Clive Langer (of Deaf School), bassist Kev Ward and drummer Phil Allen.
The side-B song, was "Do The Chud", by The Chuddy Nuddies, who later changed their name to Yachts. The song was a bit synthpop oriented, with a synthesizer use, which only was a style of The Stranglers.
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source Wikipedia (link)
Thursday, March 26, 2009
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Monte Cazazza - 1979 - To Mon on Mother's Day 7'' (UK)
Monte Cazazza - 1979 - To Mon on Mother's Day 7'' (UK).
Monte Cazazza is an American artist and composer best known for his seminal role in helping shape the early landscape of industrial music through recordings with the London-based Industrial Records in the mid-1970s.
Cazazza, based primarily in San Francisco during his early career, is credited with coining the phrase "Industrial Music for Industrial People". This was later used to encapsulate the record label and the artists representing it. Later, the noise collages and experimental sound manipulation coming out of Industrial records came to be known as industrial music. Cazazza had built up an underground reputation as a particularly volatile performer with a potentially dangerous and antisocial aesthetic. Re/Search Magazine's Industrial Culture Handbook described his work as "insanity-outbreaks thinly disguised as art events". The Futurist Sintesi show near the end of 1975 was heralded on a promo flier as "Sex - religious show; giant statue of Jesus got chainsawed and gang raped into oblivion".
Cazazza did not limit his "performances" to the familiar dynamic of stage, audience and audience reaction. Much of his work involved acts designed for maximum shock value. In a well known incident, while a student at the Oakland College of Arts and Crafts, Cazazza created a cement waterfall that permanently disabled the main stairway of the building. He once created a 15'x15' screw-together metal swastika and was known to visit his friends with a dead cat and formaldehyde that he would use to set the cat alight.
Much of his early work is considered obscene and virtually impossible to find. He worked with both print and sound collage, film, performance, and presentation. He was also heavily involved in the "Mail art" movement of the mid-1970s to early '80s. His recordings with Throbbing Gristle in early 1977 are highly regarded among collectors and continue to be esteemed as some of the most significant to come out of that period. Some of his early output was collected and released by The Grey Area of Mute in 1992 under the title, The Worst of Monte Cazazza.
Cazazza worked frequently with Factrix, an early industrial and experimental group from San Francisco, and recorded soundtracks for Mark Pauline and Survival Research Laboratories. More recent activity has included co-creating the independent distribution and film company, MMFilms with Michelle Handelman and various soundtrack recordings.
Cazazza sent out photos of himself in an electric chair on the day of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore's execution. One of these was mistakenly printed in a Hong Kong newspaper as the real execution. Cazazza was also photographed alongside COUM Transmissions/Throbbing Gristle members Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti for the "Gary Gilmore Memorial Society" postcard, in which the three artists posed blindfolded and tied to chairs with actual loaded guns pointed at them to depict Gilmore's execution.
Cazazza did not limit his "performances" to the familiar dynamic of stage, audience and audience reaction. Much of his work involved acts designed for maximum shock value. In a well known incident, while a student at the Oakland College of Arts and Crafts, Cazazza created a cement waterfall that permanently disabled the main stairway of the building. He once created a 15'x15' screw-together metal swastika and was known to visit his friends with a dead cat and formaldehyde that he would use to set the cat alight.
Much of his early work is considered obscene and virtually impossible to find. He worked with both print and sound collage, film, performance, and presentation. He was also heavily involved in the "Mail art" movement of the mid-1970s to early '80s. His recordings with Throbbing Gristle in early 1977 are highly regarded among collectors and continue to be esteemed as some of the most significant to come out of that period. Some of his early output was collected and released by The Grey Area of Mute in 1992 under the title, The Worst of Monte Cazazza.
Cazazza worked frequently with Factrix, an early industrial and experimental group from San Francisco, and recorded soundtracks for Mark Pauline and Survival Research Laboratories. More recent activity has included co-creating the independent distribution and film company, MMFilms with Michelle Handelman and various soundtrack recordings.
Cazazza sent out photos of himself in an electric chair on the day of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore's execution. One of these was mistakenly printed in a Hong Kong newspaper as the real execution. Cazazza was also photographed alongside COUM Transmissions/Throbbing Gristle members Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti for the "Gary Gilmore Memorial Society" postcard, in which the three artists posed blindfolded and tied to chairs with actual loaded guns pointed at them to depict Gilmore's execution.
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source Wikipedia (link)
Los Reactors - 2004 - Dead In The Suburbs (US)
Los Reactors - 2004 - Dead In The Suburbs (US)download
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Rip Off Records has scored its first archival band of our history, putting out the legendary 1980 Oklahoma band LOS REACTORS for the first time ever on CD. Their catchy keyboard sound has been stolen and copied by numerous bands, and many bands like THE BRIEFS frequently cover their songs, like "Dead in The Suburbs". LOS REACTORS put out a vinyl version of this release out on the Italian Rave Up Records, but this CD has additional songs, enhanced video footage of news clips & interviews of Los Reactors and hilarious footage of the "punk scene" of Oklahoma in the early 80's. The video also has the band performing "Dead in the Suburbs", and a previously unreleased song, "It's a Wonderful Life". The CD has both the classic singles and hits, "Dead in the Suburbs", "Culture Shock", "Laboratory Baby", along with a live set from the band. If you want to hear what the original new wave of bands sounded like, instead of the current crop of imitatation "keyboard" bands buy this enhanced CD of a truly legendary band.
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source Rip Off (link)
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Suburban Reptiles - 1977 - Megaton 12'' (NZ)
Suburban Reptiles - 1977 - Megaton 12'' (NZ)download
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The Suburban Reptiles and The Scavengers were the first punk bands to form in New Zealand.
The Suburban Reptiles were first conceptualised by Auckland students Simon Grigg and Brett Salter in late 1976, with some encouragement from filmmaker David Blyth. Grigg and Salter had originally planned to form a jazz band but Grigg was redirected by Blyth after he saw a live review of The Sex Pistols in the New Musical Express.
Grigg, seeing himself as the manager, explained the concept to Salter, who played the saxophone, and other students, William Pendergrast, bass guitar; Clare Elliot, (Salter's partner), vocals; Trish Scott, guitar; Brian Nicholls, guitar; and Kim Smith, backing vocals, were invited to join. Grigg found a drummer, an apprentice butcher and part time juggler, Des Edwards and the original lineup was complete. This group only lasted the first few practices in a basement in Auckland's inner suburb, Ponsonby, before both Smith and Edwards departed. The first practices however produced a nucleus of a live set with a mix of covers (including songs from Roxy Music, The Damned and The Modern Lovers) and a number of originals.
The only live performance from this lineup was an aborted late night set in Auckland University's Student Quadrangle, with the power being pulled by University custodians after one song to a bemused crowd fresh from a concert by Th'Dudes.
Having thought they were the only punks in town, The Suburban Reptiles had a chance encounter in an Auckland pub, The Globe, that night with The Scavengers, who likewise had believed they were the only ones.
A drummer was now needed and Salter and Elliot had a chance encounter with Mark Hough, who had been playing in a band called After Hours, with Neil Finn. Hough, an art student at Elam (Auckland University's Fine Arts School), was asked to join and the first serious lineup was formed. The members then, in the tradition of punk bands the world over, took stage names: Salter became, initially Jimmy Vinyl and later Jimmy Joy and Lino Clone; Elliot took Sally Slag but quickly became simply Zero (although to the band she was simply Zed); Nicholls was Shaun Anfrayd; Pendergrast was Billy Planet; Scott was Sissy Spunk; and Hough was, initially Buzz, but soon, Buster Stiggs. Grigg used the name Partizan Politik as a management coverall.
The first performances were at a variety of private parties in April 1977, but the first major public performance was in June when they, with The Scavengers, and another newly found band, The Masochists, played a party put on by Grigg and David Blyth, for Blyth's forthcoming film, Angel Mine.
Over the next couple of months the band played regularly although Scott and Nicholls left, with The Scavengers' Johnny Volume playing from time to time before Pendergrast moved to guitar and Wayne 'Bones Hillman' Stevens, from The Masochists, joined on bass, the name Hillman coming from the brand of car he drove. Over the period the band was fired from a Catholic Boys School; was pursued and vilfied by a hungry media, repeatedly making the front pages of various newspapers; and were attacked by a vigilante mob at a student arts festival in Wellington.
They also, during this period, recorded their first single, a double A side, 12" (the first released in New Zealand). The first recording sessions were nominally produced by Tim Finn (although he slept through much of the session) at Harlequin Studios in Mt. Eden, and produced four tracks, at the time unreleased. The second session a few weeks later, produced by the band and Doug Rogers, re-recorded two of those songs, Megaton and Desert Patrol, and these, after some gestation came out on Phonogram's Vertigo label in January 1978, selling about 500 copies at the time.
In late 1977 Grigg departed and Hough became the defacto manager, with the band taking on the role of a more conventional touring act thereafter. However, in mid 1978 Zero was arrested for swearing on stage at the Riverhead Rock Festival. The subsequent court case and her acquittal set a legal precedent as to what could be said and where. Over that period, both Tony Baldock and Rolland Killeen played bass for the band at various times.
For the second single, the band brought in former Split Enz guitarist, Phil Judd, to produce and Judd became more and more part of the band over the following months. His arrival caused a great deal of friction between the members who effectively divided into two camps, with Judd and Hough on one side and Pendegrast and Salter in the other, with Zero in the middle. Drug issues also caused problems. However the resultant single, Saturday Night Stay at Home, with Judd's soaring guitar was an instant classic. A Student Radio survey in the early 2000s named it the greatest NZ single of all time.
“ We started off recording on low quality sixes between 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock in the morning, when the recording studios charged the least. As our first songs became popular, we were able to record high quality twenty-fours, in good studios at reasonable times. -Brett Salter ”
It was too late for the Suburban Reptiles however and at the premier of Angel Mine in October 1978 two bands both played under that name. The Hough / Judd led band re-emerged some months later as The Swingers.
Grigg, seeing himself as the manager, explained the concept to Salter, who played the saxophone, and other students, William Pendergrast, bass guitar; Clare Elliot, (Salter's partner), vocals; Trish Scott, guitar; Brian Nicholls, guitar; and Kim Smith, backing vocals, were invited to join. Grigg found a drummer, an apprentice butcher and part time juggler, Des Edwards and the original lineup was complete. This group only lasted the first few practices in a basement in Auckland's inner suburb, Ponsonby, before both Smith and Edwards departed. The first practices however produced a nucleus of a live set with a mix of covers (including songs from Roxy Music, The Damned and The Modern Lovers) and a number of originals.
The only live performance from this lineup was an aborted late night set in Auckland University's Student Quadrangle, with the power being pulled by University custodians after one song to a bemused crowd fresh from a concert by Th'Dudes.
Having thought they were the only punks in town, The Suburban Reptiles had a chance encounter in an Auckland pub, The Globe, that night with The Scavengers, who likewise had believed they were the only ones.
A drummer was now needed and Salter and Elliot had a chance encounter with Mark Hough, who had been playing in a band called After Hours, with Neil Finn. Hough, an art student at Elam (Auckland University's Fine Arts School), was asked to join and the first serious lineup was formed. The members then, in the tradition of punk bands the world over, took stage names: Salter became, initially Jimmy Vinyl and later Jimmy Joy and Lino Clone; Elliot took Sally Slag but quickly became simply Zero (although to the band she was simply Zed); Nicholls was Shaun Anfrayd; Pendergrast was Billy Planet; Scott was Sissy Spunk; and Hough was, initially Buzz, but soon, Buster Stiggs. Grigg used the name Partizan Politik as a management coverall.
The first performances were at a variety of private parties in April 1977, but the first major public performance was in June when they, with The Scavengers, and another newly found band, The Masochists, played a party put on by Grigg and David Blyth, for Blyth's forthcoming film, Angel Mine.
Over the next couple of months the band played regularly although Scott and Nicholls left, with The Scavengers' Johnny Volume playing from time to time before Pendergrast moved to guitar and Wayne 'Bones Hillman' Stevens, from The Masochists, joined on bass, the name Hillman coming from the brand of car he drove. Over the period the band was fired from a Catholic Boys School; was pursued and vilfied by a hungry media, repeatedly making the front pages of various newspapers; and were attacked by a vigilante mob at a student arts festival in Wellington.
They also, during this period, recorded their first single, a double A side, 12" (the first released in New Zealand). The first recording sessions were nominally produced by Tim Finn (although he slept through much of the session) at Harlequin Studios in Mt. Eden, and produced four tracks, at the time unreleased. The second session a few weeks later, produced by the band and Doug Rogers, re-recorded two of those songs, Megaton and Desert Patrol, and these, after some gestation came out on Phonogram's Vertigo label in January 1978, selling about 500 copies at the time.
In late 1977 Grigg departed and Hough became the defacto manager, with the band taking on the role of a more conventional touring act thereafter. However, in mid 1978 Zero was arrested for swearing on stage at the Riverhead Rock Festival. The subsequent court case and her acquittal set a legal precedent as to what could be said and where. Over that period, both Tony Baldock and Rolland Killeen played bass for the band at various times.
For the second single, the band brought in former Split Enz guitarist, Phil Judd, to produce and Judd became more and more part of the band over the following months. His arrival caused a great deal of friction between the members who effectively divided into two camps, with Judd and Hough on one side and Pendegrast and Salter in the other, with Zero in the middle. Drug issues also caused problems. However the resultant single, Saturday Night Stay at Home, with Judd's soaring guitar was an instant classic. A Student Radio survey in the early 2000s named it the greatest NZ single of all time.
“ We started off recording on low quality sixes between 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock in the morning, when the recording studios charged the least. As our first songs became popular, we were able to record high quality twenty-fours, in good studios at reasonable times. -Brett Salter ”
It was too late for the Suburban Reptiles however and at the premier of Angel Mine in October 1978 two bands both played under that name. The Hough / Judd led band re-emerged some months later as The Swingers.
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source Wikipedia (link)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
V.A. - 1979 - Tokyo New Wave '79 [LP] (JP)
V.A. - 1979 - Tokyo New Wave '79 [LP] (JP).
tracklist:
01. Sex - TV Easy
02. Sex - Muryoku No Kakera
03. Jisatsu - Zero
04. Jisatsu - Hitotsu
05. Pain - Confusion
06. Pain - Refuse Night
07. 8½ - Mannequin Doll
08. 8½ - Kurai Tokoro E
09. 8½ - City Boy
10. Bolshie - Robot In Hospital
11. Bolshie - Clockwork Arts
12. Bolshie - Nostalgic Boy
Cheese - 1979 - She Said 7'' (US)
Cheese - 1979 - She Said / Kids Don't Mind 7'' (US).
Up to a certain point, Cheese shared with Cheap Trick some influences (Entwistle-esque vrombing bass, pounding drums and clear vocals for a Move-y pop). Those who would have loved to hear Cheap Trick with a rawer sound should consider this 7" which showed off two decent tracks. The single had a rather nice review in Trouser Press, April 1980. Good but nothing astonishing in my opinion.
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source Bubblegum The Punk (link)
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Los Punk Rockers - 1978 - Los Exitos De Sex Pistols (SPN)
Los Punk Rockers - 1978 - Los Exitos De Sex Pistols (SPN)download
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“Los Exitos de Sex Pistols por Los Punk Rockers” is perhaps the finest shit-fi record of all time (forget that mention of “Sacrilegio” one sentence back). It simply does not get any stupider, stranger, more poorly played, funnier, or nigh-psychotic (and possibly -psychedelic) than this record. Even the most humorless sad-sack must crack a smile when the singer growls and caterwauls incoherently, and in-the-red, in no language known to even the most ardent linguistic anthropologists during “Problems.” So what exactly is this fine piece of shit? Not much is known about the origin of the record, but it seems to follow a pattern that was once relatively common, especially in the, uh, less developed nations of the world: rather than trying to license a hit record for sale in, for example, Spain, a record company paid a studio band to record their own version of it—a covers record, essentially—that would be sold profitably to fans hungry for the real thing, which was completely unavailable. The record didn’t pretend to be the real thing, but if the fans were confused and thought it was, well, no harm in that. The records, and cassettes too, were sold in supermarkets and on roadsides, though not necessarily outside the normal distribution channels of legally manufactured records. (The original LP jacket mentions a cassette version, catalog # NC. 1276, but it was supposedly released under a different band name.) “Los Exitos de Sex Pistols” was released, in two different pressings (!), on Dial Discos, under its Nevada series. The back of the sleeve of one version depicts, as many mainstream 70s records did, various other records available on the imprint, a few of which are possibly in the same style, such as “Los Exitos de Julio Iglesias.” The difference is that Los Punk Rockers managed to outdo the Pistols at their own game, whereas I doubt Mr. Iglesias blushed before phoning his lawyer if he ever learned about the album sold under his name (the cover of which archly includes a silhouette of him, rather than his actual likeness). The back of the sleeve includes Dial Discos’ address, the printer’s address, legal information (ha), and the release date. Every record pictured from the Nevada series includes the reference number for the LP and the cassette. I don’t know what the other sleeve variation has instead of the pictures of the other Nevada releases.
The bootleg of the LP, which is what you’re likely to encounter when you see this record for sale on eBay, has a few obvious differences from the original. It used the version of the sleeve with the other releases on Nevada, but deleted the catalog numbers. Also, on the back in the top right, it says “1978,” but the original does not. The bootleg sleeve, which is also larger than the original, has a printed spine unlike the original (and the cardstock differs, with the original laminated and bootleg varnished). The front of the boot’s sleeve lacks the Nevada logo in the bottom right and the catalog number, ND-1276 ESTEREO, along with the label name. Finally, the colors of the boot’s sleeve are slightly brighter, with the punk woman’s face more ruddy. The vinyl is clearly different (original matrix: ND-1275 A / ND-1276 B followed by a diamond-shaped glyph; bootleg matrix, in Czech Republic pressing style: AE 12759/A / AE 12760/A). The original label is brown and beige, whereas the bootleg is pink and magenta and includes songwriting credits instead of only the song names. As I mentioned, the original LP is extremely rare. When one sold in 2007 at the incredible Wah Wah Records store in Barcelona, it was the first the shop’s owner had seen in something like 15 years. I’ve heard of an insane trade: Opus single for Los Punk Rockers LP. Presumably, both traders thought the other was a complete idiot.
“Los Exitos de Sex Pistols” was obviously recorded in a flash, before the next trend could take hold. The musicians more-or-less learned the songs from “Never Mind the Bollocks,” but the singer must not have spoken much English, because his approximations of Johnny Rotten are complete nonsense. (Here are “Holidays in the Sun” and “Pretty Vacant”.) Even when singing the song title, as in the chorus of “Seventeen,” he seems to be making words up: “I’m a lazy seven.” He does have the snottiness down pat, though. The vocals are clearly the best part of the record, simply because they’re so hilariously terrible. The guitar sound is thin and fuzzy, quite unlike the multitracked wall of guitars on “NMTB”—actually, it’s a lot closer to what one associates today with DIY punk of the late 70s than the Pistols’ sound. Few punk sleeves are as iconic as that of “NMTB,” but this album’s sleeve does fit the music well. It’s dumb. The woman on the sleeve appears to be some random person a photographer pulled off the street and dressed in moderately “punk” duds. (A friend of mine coined the term “calzone” to describe an unfortunate effect extremely tight pants have on luscious hips—check the model’s jeans pockets to see an example.) Some time ago, one of the guys behind Munster Records saw this woman walking down the street in Madrid; he recognized her but didn’t know what to say and she escaped. Me, I would’ve followed her home, in the hopes that she had a stash of LPs under the bed.
When I was in Spain last year, someone told me of gossip that the popular Spanish prog-rock band Asfalto was responsible for this recording. Their legit records, I noticed, are easy to find in Spain. I wonder if the members of the band would admit to having recorded this abomination. Maybe the gossip is not true. I did find, in my research, that Asfalto played London’s Marquee in October 1978, which would’ve been the perfect place to learn about the Pistols. The early-for-the-trend Vibrators, who collaborated with Chris Spedding, the producer of the Pistols’ 76 demo (Spedding may have actually played guitar on it), played the Marquee the following day.
This LP could demonstrate one way that the transitional period of the first few years after Franco’s death perfectly coincided with the worldwide punk explosion to create music in Spain that stood apart from that of its peer nations. The uneven development of the worldwide capitalist economy is clearly due to factors like dictatorships, which, however market-friendly they were, as Spain’s started to become in the last half of Franco’s rule, still stifled innovation in the introduction of cultural commodities. Unscrupulous business practices have been endemic to popular music since its early days, but they are aided by local economic situations that bear attitudes toward legality out of joint with the larger global system. Thus, bootlegs have flourished in countries with lax regulations of intellectual property. In this LP’s case, however, not only did some apparent legal loophole create the space for it, so too did Spain’s rush to catch up with the rest of Europe culturally after Franco’s death, which included the explosion of subcultures as resistance—a sea change from the types of resistance that flourished before and during the civil war, in the era before the society of the spectacle commodity. The major difference between this record and the “real” punk records from Spain in 1978 is that Los Punk Rockers were not members of a movement. They took from the movement, however loosely constituted it may have been, but they did not contribute to it. Indeed, I am sure the “true” punks, such as members of Kaka De Luxe, if they were aware of this record would have considered it an insulting joke. Some aspects of punk rock, Los Punk Rockers showed, were easy to fake on record, but being a member of an oppositional subculture in a repressive society was not one of them. The Sex Pistols obviously serve as an introduction to nearly everyone’s understanding of punk rock, but I believe a far more accurate representation of the silliness and lack of pretense of punk as it was and is lived by the majority of its practitioners can be found on Los Punk Rockers’ LP. The stakes were far higher for the Pistols or La Banda Trapera Del Río than they are for me and my friends today, as we sit around laughing our asses off while listening to Los Punk Rockers.
The bootleg of the LP, which is what you’re likely to encounter when you see this record for sale on eBay, has a few obvious differences from the original. It used the version of the sleeve with the other releases on Nevada, but deleted the catalog numbers. Also, on the back in the top right, it says “1978,” but the original does not. The bootleg sleeve, which is also larger than the original, has a printed spine unlike the original (and the cardstock differs, with the original laminated and bootleg varnished). The front of the boot’s sleeve lacks the Nevada logo in the bottom right and the catalog number, ND-1276 ESTEREO, along with the label name. Finally, the colors of the boot’s sleeve are slightly brighter, with the punk woman’s face more ruddy. The vinyl is clearly different (original matrix: ND-1275 A / ND-1276 B followed by a diamond-shaped glyph; bootleg matrix, in Czech Republic pressing style: AE 12759/A / AE 12760/A). The original label is brown and beige, whereas the bootleg is pink and magenta and includes songwriting credits instead of only the song names. As I mentioned, the original LP is extremely rare. When one sold in 2007 at the incredible Wah Wah Records store in Barcelona, it was the first the shop’s owner had seen in something like 15 years. I’ve heard of an insane trade: Opus single for Los Punk Rockers LP. Presumably, both traders thought the other was a complete idiot.
“Los Exitos de Sex Pistols” was obviously recorded in a flash, before the next trend could take hold. The musicians more-or-less learned the songs from “Never Mind the Bollocks,” but the singer must not have spoken much English, because his approximations of Johnny Rotten are complete nonsense. (Here are “Holidays in the Sun” and “Pretty Vacant”.) Even when singing the song title, as in the chorus of “Seventeen,” he seems to be making words up: “I’m a lazy seven.” He does have the snottiness down pat, though. The vocals are clearly the best part of the record, simply because they’re so hilariously terrible. The guitar sound is thin and fuzzy, quite unlike the multitracked wall of guitars on “NMTB”—actually, it’s a lot closer to what one associates today with DIY punk of the late 70s than the Pistols’ sound. Few punk sleeves are as iconic as that of “NMTB,” but this album’s sleeve does fit the music well. It’s dumb. The woman on the sleeve appears to be some random person a photographer pulled off the street and dressed in moderately “punk” duds. (A friend of mine coined the term “calzone” to describe an unfortunate effect extremely tight pants have on luscious hips—check the model’s jeans pockets to see an example.) Some time ago, one of the guys behind Munster Records saw this woman walking down the street in Madrid; he recognized her but didn’t know what to say and she escaped. Me, I would’ve followed her home, in the hopes that she had a stash of LPs under the bed.
When I was in Spain last year, someone told me of gossip that the popular Spanish prog-rock band Asfalto was responsible for this recording. Their legit records, I noticed, are easy to find in Spain. I wonder if the members of the band would admit to having recorded this abomination. Maybe the gossip is not true. I did find, in my research, that Asfalto played London’s Marquee in October 1978, which would’ve been the perfect place to learn about the Pistols. The early-for-the-trend Vibrators, who collaborated with Chris Spedding, the producer of the Pistols’ 76 demo (Spedding may have actually played guitar on it), played the Marquee the following day.
This LP could demonstrate one way that the transitional period of the first few years after Franco’s death perfectly coincided with the worldwide punk explosion to create music in Spain that stood apart from that of its peer nations. The uneven development of the worldwide capitalist economy is clearly due to factors like dictatorships, which, however market-friendly they were, as Spain’s started to become in the last half of Franco’s rule, still stifled innovation in the introduction of cultural commodities. Unscrupulous business practices have been endemic to popular music since its early days, but they are aided by local economic situations that bear attitudes toward legality out of joint with the larger global system. Thus, bootlegs have flourished in countries with lax regulations of intellectual property. In this LP’s case, however, not only did some apparent legal loophole create the space for it, so too did Spain’s rush to catch up with the rest of Europe culturally after Franco’s death, which included the explosion of subcultures as resistance—a sea change from the types of resistance that flourished before and during the civil war, in the era before the society of the spectacle commodity. The major difference between this record and the “real” punk records from Spain in 1978 is that Los Punk Rockers were not members of a movement. They took from the movement, however loosely constituted it may have been, but they did not contribute to it. Indeed, I am sure the “true” punks, such as members of Kaka De Luxe, if they were aware of this record would have considered it an insulting joke. Some aspects of punk rock, Los Punk Rockers showed, were easy to fake on record, but being a member of an oppositional subculture in a repressive society was not one of them. The Sex Pistols obviously serve as an introduction to nearly everyone’s understanding of punk rock, but I believe a far more accurate representation of the silliness and lack of pretense of punk as it was and is lived by the majority of its practitioners can be found on Los Punk Rockers’ LP. The stakes were far higher for the Pistols or La Banda Trapera Del Río than they are for me and my friends today, as we sit around laughing our asses off while listening to Los Punk Rockers.
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source Shit-Fi (link)
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Saturday, March 14, 2009
Blitzkrieg Bop - 1998 - Top Of The Bops (comp.) (UK)
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Blitzkrieg Bop - 1998 - Top Of The Bops (comp.) (UK)download
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Blitzkrieg Bop were a punk band formed in Teesside, England in February 1977. They were named after a song by Ramones with the same name. They released three singles: 1) Let's Go/Bugger Off/9 Till 5 (Mortonsound - June 1977) 2) Let's Go (re-recorded)/Life Is Just A So-So/Mental Case (Lightning - January 1978) 3) (You're Like A (UFO)/Viva Bobby Joe (Lightning - September 1978) A collection of all these tracks plus other unreleased material was released in 1998 entitled "Top Of The Bops" (Overground) currently out of print.
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source Wikipedia (link)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Squad - 1979 - Millionaire 7'' (UK)
Squad - 1979 - Millionaire 7'' (UK)download
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Coventry band. Classic single Red Alert / £8-A-Week (Squad 1978) . Sing along a punk with great riff and tune and a touch of 'The Kids In America' style crooning ! The b-side was covered by the Last Resort and is set to a sort of Johnny B Goode style toon. Second single Millionaire / BrockHill Boys (1979 Squad) continued this rock'n'roll style punkiness unfortunately. One other excellent track , 'The Flasher', exists by the band on the 'Sent To Coventry' compilation. The band were formed at the end of '77 and originally featured Terry Hall ( ater of The Specials) who is credited on the label of Red Alert. So many line up changes meant 6 months after releasing the two singles none of the original band remained !
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source punk77.co.uk (link)
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Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
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