I hated the 80's...

I just watched a BBC documentary about UK bands in the US in the 80's and it brought back a lot of the disillusionment I felt during that post-punk period.  Watching old favourite groups like the Ants, Banshees and Human League turning into 'new romantic' pop acts or just losing their edge was depressing.  It did get me trying to remember what I did actually like in the 80's..  Apart from digging back as far as the 30's for interesting music I did still go to quite a few gigs and managed to dig up a bunch of old faves to cheer myself up..

Theatre of Hate.. they grew out of Kirk Brandon's punk band The Pack and expanded on his anthemic approach.  I never managed to see The Pack so made sure I got to pretty much every London gig  TOH did.  They managed to keep enough of the punk edge while expanding their sound.  Got their first 45, 'Original Sin' and flip side 'Legion' from 1980 and still sounding a bit like the Pack  followed by a later single, 'The Hop'.

Theatre of Hate - Original Sin

Theatre of Hate - Legion

Theatre of Hate - The Hop

The other group I really liked back then was the Birthday Party, Nick Cave's early group who moved from Australia to London in the early 80's.  I first caught them in mid '81 and tried to get to every gig I could after that..  Got their best 45, 'Release the Bats' b/w 'Blast Off' here from 1981, 'Bully Bones' from their second Peel session in '81 and 'Wild World' from the 'Bad Seed' EP in 1983.

The Birthday Party - Release the Bats

The Birthday Party - Blast Off


The Birthday Party - Bully Bones

The Birthday Party - Wild World


Onto a different sound.. the friend who got me into the Birthday Party also hipped me to this single by jazz punk nutters Rip Rig & Panic, featuring a young Neneh Cherry.  I never really got into them but always loved this one.. from 1981, crazy noise..

Rip, Rig & Panic - Go Go Go, This Is It

I'll finish this one a mellow note.. singer Carmel did some great jazzy/blues stuff as well as some poppier stuff.  This is her first 45 from 1982, mostly just her voice and acoustic bass.. not like anything else I was hearing back then.

Carmel - Storm

Enough for now.. I may have some more 80's bits and pieces tomorrow unless I get distracted..

Jackie Ross - Hard Times - SAR Records

Got the first 45 by Jackie Ross here, on Sam Cooke's SAR records label from 1962 ('Jacki' on the label).  Jackie went on to have a hit with Selfish One on Chess after this and released some other great 45's but never saw too much success.  I think 'Hard Times' is the best side, a slow, cool number written by Jackie.  'Hold Me' is more of a popcorn/bubblegum number but nice enough (the sort of tune Sam Cooke turned out for fun).

Jackie Ross - Hard Times

Jackie Ross - Hold Me

Big Youth Special

More Reggae today.. 4 classic 45's by Big Youth here.  I never really went for the deejay stuff in a big way back in the 70's but Big Youth makes it work.  His delivery just rolls with the music.  I could have put up a dozen tracks easily.. he worked with most of the best producers in Jamiaca and cut great tracks right through the 70's.  I've pick my 4 favourites..

First up is Ace 90 Skank, an early hit, produced by Keith Hudson on the Mafia label. 

 Big Youth - Ace 90 Skank


Next up is a two sider.. Foreman vs Frazier, a topical hit for Big Youth after the Foreman vs Frazier "Sunshine Showdown" world heavy weight title fight in Kingston, JA in January '73.  Not sure how many boxing records there are but this has to be the best ever.. "biff baff boom..George batter him down".. you can feel those blows!

Big Youth - Foreman vs Frazier Round 1
Big Youth - Foreman vs Frazier Round 2



Next up is Same Some Thing..a real loose, rootsy track.. the studio must have been kinda cloudy when this was recorded..:>)

Big Youth - Same Some Thing


And one last heavy track.. All Nations Bow..just an awesome track

Big Youth - All Nations Bow

 
Jah Youth is still going strong.....

Meet Me At The Corner - the Diplomats and Dennis Brown

Reggae time here.. An old rock steady tune from 1967 by vocal group The Diplomats on the great Caltone label.  I know nothing about the group apart from that they did at least 3 sides on Caltone around '67-'68.  I love the raw, slightly chaotic playing on it, one of those tunes where it's imperfections make it perfect..

The Diplomats - Meet Me At The Corner


 To follow that I have a great version of the tune by Dennis Brown from 1971 on the Impact label.  It's a slowed down version.. really nice vocals.

Dennis Brown - Meet Me At The Corner 



More tunes to come.. I've had a few days off work so have been delving into my old record boxes plus picked up a few nice old 45's recently so will be posting 2-3 tunes a day to get them all out there.

Heat #4 - The Clash in 1977 and loads more..

Here's Heat #4 as promised.  Another great issue of the classic Irish zine from Oct/Nov '77.  This one has 6 pages of the Clash, interviews with the Adverts, 999 and young Irish band the Kamikaze Kids, articles on John Cale and Richard Hell and a review of the Pistols Spunk bootleg plus the usual excellent random news, reviews and bits.  All hand written and pasted together and thoroughly entertaining.

Download Heat #4 

I also came across an interesting blog called Last Rockers with a nice pdf of Heat #1.  I only have a black and white photocopy of it so won't be posting it myself.. check it out if you're after a copy. 
Link to Heat #1 download

Batwoman at last..

DC finally managed to get the new issue of Batwoman out.. worth the wait.  Hopefully they'll be monthly from now on.. I need my regular comic fix!

I'll have another issue of Heat up soon.. just finished scanning #4..

More Heat!.. Heat #3

Due to popular demand (one comment .. (thanks!) and a lot of 'silent' hits), here's another issue of the great Irish fanzine, Heat.  This is issue 3, from Sept 1977.  Another mad mix of punk news and reviews from Ireland and London with features on the Radiators from Space and Boomtown Rats (aka Rads and Rats), a great review of a very early Undertones gig when their set was mostly Stooges and MC5 covers and it sounds Fergel Sharkey was doing his best Iggy impersonation (a long way from 'My Perfect Cousin'..), a picture of a very happy DeeGenerate and a rather naughty young woman and loads more.. check it out.

Download Heat #3