The Stranglers

Where's my credit card.........

Magazine - Rhythm of Cruelty 7'' (1979)

I guess since I'm talking about John McGeoch it's only fair to post one of his finest moments. Here it is.

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I must have worn out 50 record player needles on this one 7'' alone.

Punk Lives issues 1-11 (a long time ago)

Seems like yesterday......as it says; Punk Lives issues 1-11.

Punk Lives!

John McGeoch - 25/8/1955 - 4/3/2004

I've said it a couple of time before that I get hooked on certain artists who I'll follow throughout their career; John McGeogh was one of the first I hooked onto as a teenager. From the first moments I heard Magazine I was drawn into the guitar and many, many years later I was still following that guitar.

John is one of the best kept secrets in music as far as I'm concerned and that is a tragedy; this guy should be lauded as a guitar hero, he's certainly one of mine. Look at the bands he was in and check out their best moments, he's there in all of them, sometimes not in their initial peak, but definitely within their resurgence. Some of the ones I love are: -

Magazine
Siouxsie & the Banshees
Generation X
The Armoury Show
PIL

Four of those bands are hugely influential, but mention his name to music fans and most will say "who?"; it's criminal. He had such a deft touch, but with a really strong distinctively melodic sound. I could listen to his work for years and not get bored. The link below is a radio broadcast made earlier this year as a tribute to John and is something that is long overdue.

This is a seriously good listen and is 60 minutes well spent if you download it; people from those bands take part.

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The Showbiz Kids - She Goes to Finos (1980)

Before the Toy Dolls there was The Showbiz Kids, this is Olgas first band of note. They played around '78 - '80, but Olga had left sometime earlier. The band continued and relesed this 7'' in 1980; they called it a day soon after. Their drummer would later rejoin Olga in the Toy Dolls.

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Jam - Demos

Sez it all really.

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Red Cross

The same night and Off!

CH3 - Live (1982)

Live in '82.

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MDC - Thanks for Giving Me What I didn't Want 7'' (1993)

I travelled to Sheffield in '82 to see the Dead Kennedys play the Lead Mill with Peter & the Test Tube Babies and the UK Mau Maus.....luckily we got the see MDC who were also supporting. I remember standing outside in the cold waiting for the doors to open as we'd got there about 8 hours early. Sometime later Jello walked past and stopped dead in his tracks to see my mates bikers jacket with Minor Threat on it; he was shocked we knew who they were. 

We'd also discovered MDC and their first album was a major hit with most of my friends, so to see them live was incredible. They, and the DK's, put the UK bands to shame; they looked so tame in comparison.   

The merchandising stall was selling the fledgling Maximum Rock n Roll fanzine and I grabbed a copy of issue 1 and 2. I got Dave Dictator to sign issue one later in the night. I still have that somewhere. I'd give my left nut go travel back in time and witness that gig again.

Here's an out of print 7'' from '93.

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Tool

As I've said by the early 90's I'd embraced a far wider range of new music due to many of the punk bands treading a formulaic path. Tool were one of the bands I was lucky enough to catch onto very early and was even luckier to see them a few times with 100 or so people the first time 200 the second and 400 the third. The next time was a crowd of a thousand and the last time was five thousand.

I clearly recall seeing them so close their sweat was splattering me and I was transfixed....they were incredible up close. This is a youtube find that has a link to download an earlyish live appearance. I was a huge Tool fan before they lost their edge, but I still love their early work.

There's another guy on youtube posting this but he's disabled embedding so the above film isn't his but the text below is: -

I uploaded this to megaupload for you all to download. It is the best quality version available and will look better than what you see here.
Download the two (2) files and join them with hjsplit.

Download both of the files:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2P98A0W6
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YM48922E

Join the files with:
http://hjsplit.en.softonic.com/download

Lost Cause - Born Dead 7'' (1981)

Lost Cause were formed in early 81' by five young punks and disbanded in mid '82 which was all too brief a period for a good band. Way back when my band used to cover this song....very badly I have to say. They were: -

Johnny Ernst - Vocals
Steve Young - Guitar/vocals
Scott Mitchell - Guitar
Helmut Zarth - Bass
Danny Oberbeck - Drums

They hailed out of California and went on to record an album in early 1982 before splitting up.

Music

The Crewd - Gather Round (1983)

One of the reasons I love SoCal.
One of the reasons I love hardcore.
One of the reasons I loved 1983.
One sided etched 12''.
One you need to get.

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Genius

Off! .....

The 3rd one...

Off!

One more new video to come on the 15th

Rebel Truth - st 7'' (1983)

I'd never heard this 7'' before I received it, but threw it on my wants list after reading a review in some fanzine. My list was a little A5 booklet that I posted to anyone willing to trade records and some kind person sent me this pretty soon after it was added.

A Californian band whose sole legacy was this 7'' until a few years ago when a compilation cd was released with lots of extras; this is really worth tracking down. The 7'' came with a lyric sheet and a sticker of their logo; my copy had the outer circle coloured in red pen and it sat on my bass guitar for years.

For some people Rebel Truth aren't as instant as some bands, I loved them from day one. I still play this in my car today and I've never grown tired of it.

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Raw Power - Wop Hour 7'' (1985)

I saw this lot supporting someone, but my failing memory isn't letting me recall who at the moment. I do remember how much they impressed. When these guys were taking off MMR was in full swing so word of them had reached people before their first release came out, 1983, but they never seemed to get the recognition they deserved.

An Italian hardcore punk band formed around the Codeluppi brothers, Mauro and Guiseppe; vocals and guitar respectively. The rest of the band was a pretty revolving door of personnel. They signed a deal with Toxic Shock in '85 and released a great album, Screams from the Gutter, and this 7'', which is fantastic. "I do what I like" is pure gold...the 7'' was produced by Paul Mahern of Zero Boys fame.

They still continue to this day, but with Mauro as the only surviving original member; his brother suffering a fatal heart attack in 2002.

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Big Boys - Fun, Fun, Fun 12'' (1982)

What a year 1982 was for hardcore, so many classic releases came out that year; nearly 30 years later I'm still hooked on 90% of them. The Big Boys came out of Austin, Texas like a storm into my music world and, at first, I had no clue what to make of them. Should I like, or hate, them...I decided on the former and it didn't take many listens before I was chasing every Big Boys release on day one.

A band who mixed Funk, Punk, Soul and hardcore into one vibrant concoction were always going to impress. Reading about their gigs made me so envious; gigs where the entire crowd danced, not slam danced/moshed, etc, but danced and sang along to the songs. It seemed like a party atmosphere, I wanted in. I never made it.

I'd have loved to have seen this lot live and was hopeful of a reunion at some point, sadly, cirrhosis of the liver due to untreated hepatitus C took Biscuits life a few years ago.

They left behind a great back catalogue that should be grabbed with both hands and enjoyed for what they were; a truly extraodinary punk band the likes of which we'll never see again.

The band comprised : -

Randy (Biscuit) Turner - Vocals
Tim Kerr - Guitar
Chris Gates - Bass
Fred Schultz - Drums (although they had a number over the years)

I can no longer update this post with a download

Bands website

Battalion of Saints - Fighting Boys 12'' (1982)

It probably seems strange now, but one of the things that excited me about record collecting all those years ago were the differences between UK and US records. The UK albums/12'' were printed cardboard that was fairly flimsy, whilst the US was sturdy enough to use as roof tiles. The US also printed the cover art on paper and then stuck the paper onto thick cardboard on many of the early releases.

I remember getting this 12'' in the post and just being blown away by the entire package, the thick cardboard, the cover design (Mad Mark Rude), and then the songs....just wow! Being a sucker for a good guitar riff I was destined to adore this band; I did, and still do.

BoS have been compared to Spinal Tap over the years, rather cruelly as both bands, one real and one fictional, suffered by the deaths of various band members. Chris Smith was one of a number linked to BoS who died way too early.

There's not one release by the Battalion of Saints that isn't, like their name, great.

Music

Naked Raygun when they were young........

Butthole Surfers

Love this song.....

Ed Gein's Car - Brain Dead Baby (1984)

In 1984 as hardcore was descending into metal, out of New York City came Ed Gein's Car to smash you in the face with a great slab of old style, sing-a-long punk. This was their first 7'' and was closely followed by their long player "Making Dick Dance". Both are as catchy as hell and are "must haves". They released a live album and then disappeared for years until '91 and a new 7'', Naked Man, appeared.

They still play shows to this date.
 
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Crucified Barbara

Gotta thank John, again, for alerting me to this band.

Coming out of Stockholm, Sweden, Crucified Barbara Started as a punk band in the late 90's but morphed into a metal, and some say glam, band fairly quickly. Steer clear of this post Kenny; you'll hate them :)

They have two albums so far, both great, the first one being harder and more punky...ish. Comprising: -

Mia Coldheart (Karlsson) - Vocals, lead guitar
Klara Force (Ronnqvist Fors) - Guitar
Ida Evileye (Stenbacka) - Bass
Nicki Wicked (Jannicke Lindstrom) - Drums

I'm not a huge metal head, but I like some and these girls are right up my street, they play hard, uncheesy and catchy songs. Devil horns all round \o/

I could watch this one on repeat for days; Ida's bass playing is hypnotic, great tone.

Oh yeah, let's spend the night
We'll crucify you with no pain, yeah right
Four pieces of dirt and lust
Goddamn it, in distortion we trust

Run fast, you're going down
We are the superstars from Sheep Valley town
The noise will blow your speakers away
If you don't like the shit you don't have to stay

Wicked sounds on the gasoline drums
The Evil eye is watching you
Strings of steel Forces you down
The Crap is mad and it's shouting out loud

L-Seven - Insanity (1982)

I've always loved this 7'', it's trashy, poppy punk. Released in '82 on touch and go records, although it was listed as touch and go special forces. This was a way of differentiating between the "normal" hardcore on T&G and the more poppy punk of L-Seven. The band comprised: -

Larissa Storlarchuk - Vocals
Dave Rice - Guitar
Scott Schuer - Guitar
Frank Callis - Bass
Kory Clark - Drums

This is the bands only release and they split in '83. Larissa would later play guitar in the Laughing Hyenas with ex members of Negative Approach and, later, the Necros. Sadly she died in 2006. Kory Clark went on to front Warrior Soul. Both these bands are ones I like; Warrior Soul especially.

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G.I.S.M.

Defcon Zero

Damn fine band imho.......

Their album's really good...brutally good.

Gastunk - st (1985)

There's something about Japanese punk/hardcore that always grabbed me, they seem to be able to take many musical elements and totally fuck them up into something appealing. Gastunk were/are one of the premier league bands and this is their first 7'' from '85.

Formed after baby left Execute, they went on to influence a large number of Japanese bands. They've split and reformed a number of times over the years.

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Sub Second Rocket - Horsepower (2001)

Not punk warning!

By the early 90's I'd kinda given up on a lot of punk as too much of it seemed to be very closely based on bands who'd gone earlier; especially the power pop bands who based themselves on Bad Religion via Green Day. I like Dookie and early Green Day, but there's only so much of them, and their copyists, I can take. So consequently there wasn't anywhere near the quantity of new punk being added to my list as the previous two decades.

Other routes became far more appealing for me to travel. Bands like Mother Love Bone, Janes Addiction, Tool, Dub War, Tad, Solice, Flaw, Earshot, Alice in Chains, K-line, Helmet, DAD, Manifesto Jukebox, Ministry, RATM, Masters of Reality etc etc were knocking spots off the bubblegum punk bands imo....Blink 182.....please!!!

Sub Second Rocket were part of the Stoner Rock scene and fucking good they were as well. Hailing out of Sweden and consisting of: -

Peter Magnusson - Vocals
Patric Ifverson - Guitar
Daniel Melkersson - Bass
Ola Sundström - Drums

They, sadly, didn't last too long, but managed to spit out some fine releases; this one being a 4 song promo for their long player.

They formed in 1998 and by 2004 they were gone, another band killed in the Napster cull. A real shame as they could kick some stonking riffage. I had the pleasure of chatting to Daniel some years ago and he sent me a few demos; nice guy.

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Alice in Chains

A classic song from a great band.

Fudge Tunnel

Twisted Nerve - Caught in Session (1982)

A band who, around this time, were lumped in with the bourgeoning goth scene, UK Decay, Southern Death Cult etc....there was so many sub genres then. To me, and my mates, they were just another punk type band.....looking back they probably were goth.

Championed by the mighty John Peel they formed in Edinburgh in '78. They had a number of releases, this being their first 7'', however they had appeared on Mint Sauce for the Masses comp two years earlier. This was a peel session put to vinyl. I only had one more of their releases back then as I'd hit hardcore like a brick wall. I still like this release....takes me back :)

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Front Page - Qualified (1981)

You won't believe how many years I've been searching for this album, well the release date will give you a clue; now I have it, I'm kinda disappointed. Their first 7'' is just staggeringly good, so naturally I wanted this album to be as good and, sadly, it's not.

It starts on a huge high note with the opening track called Summernight Sensation and raises hopes of a joyous trip down the early 80's punk/new wave avenue, but it quickly runs down a cul-de-sac and rarely returns.

Anyway, as I chased this for years and haven't seen it pop up anywhere, not that I'm a huge surfer, I thought I'd throw it out there. It's worth getting for the first track alone btw.

Music

The Go Go's

The Stranglers ......

Just noticed this on their official website...woot!!

"We finally felt ready to start the recording process.

Quite a few ideas had been rejected, others had been kept on the back boiler not quite complete but not totally disposable.

Are these lyrics naff or are they saying something? Is this just a fourth form rant or is it meaningful? Does this melody remind you of anything or anyone? What rhythm can we hang this melody on? Is this song at the right tempo? Does this piece sound like prog rock? Is there enough space in this one?

Well, the first four pieces are underway. Their titles are Freedom is Insane (which many of you wll have heard during the tour earlier this year), Giants , Time Was Once On My Side and Boom Boom (not the John Lee Hooker song).

Watch this space..."

Their last two albums were a REAL return to form and if you haven't seen them live since Paul left...do. They're a fantastic live band again as a four piece, with Baz doing a great job as the other frontman.

The Stranglers.

The Damned - Shadows of the Damned (2011)

Can you believe it....35 years. It seems like two seconds since I was standing around the back of the school buying a second hand copy of Neat ,Neat, Neat.

The Damned remain my favourite band from then 'till now, yet I've not seen them live for years, 1986/87 I think.....that gig was a desperately poor event with Bryn and Roman trying to fill the boots of giants and not managing to do it. The atmosphere was dead, the banter with the crowd was gone and it almost looked professional...a bad, bad thing.

I now avoid them as I'm not a fan of the way Dave sings the old songs....I should cut them some slack and attend this years gig where they'll play Damned, Damned, Damned and the Black Album in their entirety.....hmmmm, I might just do that. God knows, no band has given me more pleasure than this lot.

Anyway...here's an MP3 of a recent song they did for the sound track of a computer game called shadows of the damned. I've no idea what the game's like, but the song's pretty damned good.....I did it again. :)

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Flatfoot 56 - Courage (video)

Being lazy, so another vid....but it's a goody.

Bad Religion.

1981

I stumbled across this band last year and they're an instant hit with me. Hailing from Finland and often being described as anarcho punk or post punk and citing influences like Zounds and the Mob (UK). They've only had a few releases which you can find details of here.

I've managed to track down two of the releases which are on constant rotation. Have a listen to the songs on their Myspace page, "Alone" is so catchy.

True Sounds of Liberty (TSOL)

TSOL swept across my circle of friends like wildfire in the early 80's. From the very first imported release it was obvious this band weren't a run-of-the-mill hardcore band, they had something extra.

For the first few years of their existence they took you on pretty much every ride possible, eventually running of out speed in a sad display that left a bitter taste in my mouth. True to TSOL standards they managed to erase that.....

Formed in the late 70's from the ashes of Vicious Circle their first release was a 12'', on Posh Boy records, which was the first release I got to hear via a taped copy; I was instantly a fan.

Released in 1981 this record was politically charged and stands up as well today as the day it was released. 

The band comprised : -

Jack Grisham - Vocals
Ron Emory - Guitar
Mike Roche - Bass
Todd Barnes - Drums

 
This would be the consistent line-up for the first few years, and without a shadow of doubt, the best/classic line-up.

The band were all big lads and wouldn't take any shit from the audience, which they often got as they weren't afraid of challenging the stereotype, Jack would often wear makeup on stage.


They were also a band who didn't sit still and with their next release they kicked out a gothic classic, still with the drive of the first 12'', but introducing a much darker sound.

Dance with me was released in 1981, on Frontier records, and could lurch from fast hardcore to the astounding beauty of a song like Silent Scream. If there was any doubt this album made it abundantly clear that TSOL had real talent.

Their next release was the Weathered Statues ep released on Alternative Tentacles and was a good continuation from Dance with Me.

Their second long player is my favourite, and was at the time of release, but was the one that was slammed by fans. To parallel the UK's Punk scene a few years earlier, US bands tried to push the envelope and were dismissed by fans for doing so; The Damned and Adverts second albums were slated as were Bad Religions, Code of Honors and TSOLs.

Released in 1982 on Alternative Tentacles they added keyboards to their sound with Greg Keuhn providing the fingers.

This album is a huge departure from this previous releases and received, at best, lukewarm reviews; you can find some here.

 They appeared in the wonderful Suburbia film around this time.

The band had a torrid time on the road with this album resulting in the sad departure of both Jack Grisham and Todd Barnes. 

Ron and Mike recruited Joe Wood and Mitch Dean as replacements and they released the good "Change Today" album in 1984. The album was more rock and even though Ron was still there it didn't really sound like a TSOL album to me. They then released "Revenge" in 1986, I bought this, but must have played it 10 times since that day.

This is where things started to go very, very wrong for me as they released the terrible "Hit & Run" album, by which time Ron had quit the band. An equally horrible release of "Strange Love" followed in 1990 by which time they'd become a poor second rate hair metal band. Joe Wood did a good job on Change Today, but, to me, he dragged a great bands name through the dirt with sub standard formulaic blues/rock albums and I wouldn't give either of these releases shelf space.

In the 90's the original members of the band started to play some live dates, but the rights to the TSOL name were now owned by Joe Wood and Mitch Dean who prevented the originals from playing under that moniker, so they played as LOST......TSOL backwards. This didn't last long enough to produce anything in the studio, but did result in a live album. Drugs had always played a part of the band and this is why this reunion ended.

This could have been the epitaph for TSOL and it would have been a very unfitting and messy end for a very important band. Happily this isn't the case as in the late 90's the original members fought a legal case for the rights to the bands name and won. Unfortunatly around this time Todd Barnes passed away from a brain aneurysm and was replaced by Jay O'Brien.

The reunited original members then released a great 7','Anticop, followed closely by their first studio long player in nearly 20 years. Disappear was released in 2001 on Nitro records and was a great return to form and is a perfect fit with the first four releases.


In 2003 they released "Divided we Fall", again on Nitro and this has become my 2nd favourite TSOL album. The album is a tour de force that has all the elements of TSOL that I love so much, the swirling, atmospheric guitars of Ron, the melody, the pianos/keyboards, the drive, fiery lyrics, a great back beat of bass and drums, finished off with Jacks great voice. You could pick a number of songs from this album and drop them into the early releases and you wouldn't be able to spot them.

In 2006 it appeared the reformation was over as TSOL played some farewell shows, but in 2007 they played some more shows together and in 2009 they released another new album. "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of free Downloads" was available to download for a period of time in 2009. The title of this opens up a huge can of worms for me and something I'm struggling with atm...time will tell if it develops.

This is a very good album, if a little softer than DWF, but a fine addition to the TSOL legacy.




I'd be hard pushed to choose a favourite American HC singer, but Jack would be top five, if you throw in the charisma and wit then he'd be number one. I love some of his banter in this vid. It's not the best sound quality, but wtf it's TSOL. You can download a copy this video to your harddrive if you follow the "share" link.

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