Friday, September 17, 2010

Swingers, The - 1980 - One Good Reason 7'' (NZ)

Swingers, The - 1980 - One Good Reason 7'' (NZ)
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The Swingers are one of the great "one-hit-wonder" (or in this case, two-hit wonder) bands of the early eighties. Formed in New Zealand in 1979 by Phil Judd (formerly of Split Enz), Dwayne "Bones" Hillman (currently in Midnight Oil) and Buster Stiggs, their song "One Good Reason" made the Top Twenty in NZ. Developing a sizeable Antipodean following, they hit their peak in 1981 with their number-one hit "Counting The Beat". They disbanded in 1982, after an album, several singles and some personnel changes


The Swingers 
In December 1978 the Suburban Reptiles mutated into a two headed monster, for their final gig, the premiere of David Blythís "Angel Mine" movie (for which they provided the track "Rosie"). One half, a band formed around Billy Planet & Jimmy Joy performed as The Suburban Reptiles, then the other half, with Buster Stiggs, Zero, Bones Hillman and Phil Judd performed, also as The Suburban Reptiles. This second lot, by early 1979, minus Zero, had become The Swingers, and were resident at Liberty Stage in Symonds Street, where they were hugely popular, although more with the Ponsonby/Freemans Bay-villa-renovating crowd than punks. Nevertheless, they released a killer single (their best?) on Ripper, "One Good Reason", contributed 2 tunes to AK79, and did a tour with Split Enz before heading to Australia to count the beat. Of course Bones ended up in Midnight Oil, and has probably made more money than everybody else on this album combined. It couldnít have happened to a nicer guy.

Lineup: Phil Judd (guitar, vocals), Bones Hillman (bass), Buster Stiggs (drums) 
Tracks: A Certain Sound (Judd/Stiggs/Stevens) 
Baby (Judd/Stiggs/Stevens) both recorded at Mascot and produced by Phil Judd. Taken from AK79.
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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Toy Love - 1980 - Bride of Frankenstein 7'' (NZ)

Toy Love - 1980 - Bride of Frankenstein 7'' (NZ)
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Toy Love was a New Zealand alternative/punk rock band fronted by Chris Knox. Other members were guitarist Alec Bathgate, bass player Paul Kean, drummer Mike Dooley, and keyboard player Jane Walker. The band developed out of the earlier punk band The Enemy in Dunedin, New Zealand, and are often regarded as the progenitors of the Dunedin Sound movement.
Toy Love were together for less than two years (1978–80) and spent a large part of that time in Australia. They released just one (self-titled) album, however the band members were apparently appalled by the mixing of the tracks which took the edge off the band's deliberately raw sound. In April 2005, this album was remastered and released along with a bunch of demos and unreleased tracks as a double CD entitled Cuts.
After Toy Love broke up, Bathgate and Knox remained together as the Tall Dwarfs.
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source Wikipedia (link)