1980s

Jesse Johnson – Jesse Johnson Revue/Shockadelica/Every Shade Of Love

Posted on by jbass508

Jesse Johnson – Jesse Johnson Revue/Shockadelica/Every Shade Of Love

Robinsongs

2CD/DL

Out now

Reissue of Jesse Johnson’s trio of albums from the 1980s, plus five bonus tracks. Included is former Time man’s collaboration with Funk legend Sly Stone Crazay. Ian Canty writes…

Rock Island’s own Jesse Woods Johnson started playing guitar while still at school and after showing a marked talent on the instrument, he joined up with a few of the local Funk outfits. However, a move to Minneapolis at the age of 20 would provide the turning point in his musical career. There he encountered Morris Day and joined Day’s band, which in turn would lead to Johnson becoming guitarist in Prince Rogers Nelson’s sometime backing aggregation The Time.

Just after Prince made a global mark on the back of Purple Rain album and film, Johnson left The Time as he didn’t just want to be seen as a sideman. He wished for his own solo career and in 1984 A&M, possibly hoping for a little of the Prince magic to carry over onto his bandmate, signed him up. Jesse’s material was basically working the same area as the Purple One too, i.e. modern Electro Funk/Dance grooves that came with a happy knack for real Pop appeal.

His self-penned debut album Jesse Johnson Revue came out in the following year and made a decent impact in the US, particularly on the R&B charts. JJR starts off this new set and a bouncing bassline and thumping rhythm helped to make opening track Be You Man a number four hit single on the R&B listings. Though perhaps sounding a little “of its time”, there’s plenty to enjoy on this LP. Johnson was more than capable of pulling out a convincing slower number I Want My Girl alongside out and out floor-fillers like She Won’t Let Go and a synth-heavy Let’s Have Some Fun, which adds nicely to the variety on show.

The simple but effective Can You Help Me was another fairly successful 45 and a frosty Special Love veers attractively towards Electropop. A satisfying first album concludes with the solid Funk moves of She’s A Doll, where Jesse gets ample opportunity to show off his six string prowess.

Respectable sales for Jesse Johnson Revue meant for a quick fire follow-up as Shockadelica hit the shops a year later. This was to be Johnson’s best selling album and owed some of its success to the single that trailed it, a collaboration with the legendary Sly Stone called Crazay that canily fused fashionable Hip Hop beats with driving Electrofunk. Despite not cracking the Billboard Top 50, it nearly topped the R&B charts and was a hit in New Zealand too. Shockadelica ensues with the full-on handclapping Funk attack of Change Your Mind and exotic percussion powers a cool Baby Let’s Kiss.

A Better Way is Gospel-tinged R&B reimagined for the 1980s, with Do Yourself A Favor’s skipping Pop thrust shaping up a treat. Addiction sets forth as an inventive, invigorating sound with a steady hook and hectic Dance jam Burn You Up certainly brings the Funk. Shockadelica, in rather ungainly fashion, has its final track Black In America carried over to start disc two of this set. It’s a minor quibble, but as the song provides such a neat, uplifting climax to the record, it is a shame the LP couldn’t have been included complete on one disc here somehow.

Jesse opted to wind down his solo career after A&M decided not to renew the contract that was concluded by 1988’s Every Shade Of Love compendium. This album received another respectable rather than outstanding commercial reception, but perhaps less so its predecessor which may have influenced that decision. It is another solid showing of 80s Funk thrills though that completes a trio of impressive long players included in this set. A snappy and catchy Love Struck, the album’s big single, gets things off on the good foot and lets Jesse do his thang on guitar into the bargain.

From there a busy but fairly standard Funker So Misunderstood takes things on. But the tinkling machine electronics of I’m The One feels like a more subtle use of the technology of the time and then Color Shock draws from an even more “Art Of Noise” kind of musical palette. The title track thrives on a sunny sax sitting atop the same kind of thing to good effect, with Johnson’s world-weary vocal fitting the bill for this, the LP’s other single. Everybody Wants Somebody To Love sounds like it could have made a good 45 too. The LP wraps itself up in the form of the pairing of the smart change of emphasis on assured Slow-Jam ballad I’m Waiting For You and Stop – Look – Listen, which motors along swimmingly.

The final part of this set collects some of Jesse’s odds and sods from the 1980s. Heart Too Hot To Hold, Johnson’s contribution to the soundtrack of The Breakfast Club, is as 1980s as it could be but still very good too. This is followed by a chilled remix of She Can’t Resist from Shockadelica and a longer cut of Crazay. Drive Yo Cadillac comes with a big serving of Pure Pop appeal and these bonuses are rapped up by a radically reshuffled take of Love Struck.

There is a slight sense on Jesse Johnson Revue/Shockadelica/Every Shade Of Love that Jesse struggled to fully emerge from the shadow of his erstwhile bandmate. But that’s a pretty big umbra for anyone to escape from and it is to JJ’s great credit that he created three highly enjoyable modern Funk albums that still come over as fresh and attractive all these years on. After a lengthy break, Jesse returned to the studio to cut the Verbal Penetration LP in 2009. But on this set it is made clear he cut a real dash in the 1980s.

Jesse Johnson’s website is here

Chase down a copy of Jesse Johnson – Jesse Johnson Revue/Shockadelica/Every Shade Of Love here

The Dream Academy – Religion, Revolution & Railways

Posted on by jbass508

The Dream Academy – Religion, Revolution & Railways

Cherry Red Records

7CD/DL

Out now

7CD set that includes all three albums by The Dream Academy, plus four discs of single sides, rarities and remixes. Ian Canty writes…

The roots of The Dream Academy lay in Nick Laird-Clowes’ late 70s Power Poppers The Act, at the point when new keyboard player Gilbert Gabriel joined up. Nick and Gilbert hit it off and even supported The Act as a duo called The Politics of Paradise, so it was a natural step to pair up when their parent band split up. In between the end of The Act and The Dream Academy recording, Laird-Clowes stepped away from performing to work a stint as a presenter on Channel 4’s musical flagship The Tube.

But when former member of The Ravishing Beauties Kate St. John bumped into Nick at a party, the idea he had of including “non-Rock & Roll” instrumentation as a part of his new outfit began to solidify. Her proficiency on oboe, accordion and cor anglais was added to by talent with the piano, sax and voice. The duo became a trio called The Dream Academy. Through the auspices of Rough Trade’s Geoff Travis, they caught the interest of the US arm of Warner Brothers, who signed them up. In the UK it was Travis’ WEA-distributed fake Indie Blanco Y Negro that would put out their records.

Moving onto the band’s self-titled debut album that is featured as disc one of this set, what is presented is a odd but not unappealing mix of low-key Post-New Wave Pop allied to a range of late 1960s influences. Straight out of the traps comes the song that would introduce the band to the world in 1985, Life In A Northern Town. Its wordless, rhythm-driven refrain was so instantly memorable that it becoming the band’s first single release was always on the cards and as a 45 it duly became a hit in both the UK and US.

This was The Dream Academy’s calling card in effect and marked them out as offering something a little different. The Edge Of Forever came next on the LP and set itself up as a more typical 80s Pop tune for the times, whereas the lightness of touch on (Johnny) New Light is accomplished and assured. The World starts with a “White Riot” police siren, but couldn’t be further from The Clash’s debut sonically. It was the band’s second single, but didn’t repeat their debut 45’s success. Having said that, it is a pretty melody, if rather slight.

Bound To Be, a more up-tempo Funk number, is ok but doesn’t really feel like what the band is all about and the production by Dave Gilmour (the link with The DA being that his brother Mark was in The Act with Nick) and others is on occasion a little indistinct. The Love Parade restored The Dream Academy to the UK and US single charts and it successfully crosses a breathy vocal style with a purposeful momentum. Acoustic guitar helms a bright effort called The Party and The Dream Academy LP ends with the short One Dream, which owes a bit to early Aztec Camera. It is a record of its times and I couldn’t help but feel they should have leaned further into their interests in the field of Psychedelia. Definite promise is shown here though.

Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want, a minor UK hit cover of The Smiths song, was The Dream Academy’s last charting 45 a year before the Remembrance Days LP emerged in 1987. This collection makes up disc two of Religion, Revolution & Railways. Indian Summer sat in the Life In A Northern Town position on this one and to some extent followed its formula. A gently evolving beauty is finely portrayed and this tune deserved to make more of a mark when it was issued as the first single taken from the album. The Lesson Of Love was the follow up 45 and an appealing number that also might have made some headway on the charts.

Next Humdrum comes over as the band’s best attempt so far to update late 60s Pop songwriting and the delightfully fresh opening to Hampstead Girl could even be said to pre-empt St Etienne’s work a decade on. Next Here overlays synth drones onto a pastoral Baroque Pop beat and In The Hands Of Love works in some neat R&B inflections. After these two, Doubleminded’s modern Pop Funk seems to belong to another timeframe. A cover of The Korgis’ Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime and the multi-part In Exile (For Rodrigo Rojas) wraps things up for this disc.

Four years would pass before the final LP by The Dream Academy A Different Kind Of Weather appeared and the shuffling electro beats on the version of the John Lennon song Love soon alerts the listener to the fact we’re in the Post-Baggy 1990s. It was another unsuccessful single, but the Psych touches really fit what The Dream Academy were aiming for. Mercy Killing’s steady rhythmic pattern sounds like single material too, even if the title’s darkness doesn’t exactly scream radio airplay. The following song, an alluring Lucy September, builds up a head of steam well.

Waterloo, heralded by train noise sound effects and needless to say not the Abba tune, comes with slow, slow electric shimmers to add to the emotional pull. St. John’s work here is excellent and vital. The swinging, pure Pop number of Twelve-Eight Angel opened up the second side of the vinyl album and a second and final cover in Tim Hardin’s It’ll Never Happen Again is endowed with a dreamlike quality. The production on this record by the returning Dave Gilmour really fits, drawing beauty out of the churning guitars on Forest Fire and Lowlands, the latter of which features the kind of big chanted hook that goes right back to the band’s beginnings. The acoustic Folk of Not For Second Prize puts a tidy full stop on A Different Kind Of Weather.

Disc four moves towards the part of Religion, Revolution & Railways may attract hardcore DA fans, featuring a selection of non-album single sides and alternate takes. This begins with the US mix of The Love Parade and the aforementioned Smiths cover that also cropped up in the Ferris Bueller soundtrack LP. B side Girl In A Million, about Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick, is one of their most convincing efforts and In The Heart, only issued as a single in Japan, ably draws on Folk motifs.

A bright number The Chosen Few gleams with warm Pop appeal, with Hampstead Girl’s backing vocal mix being for me even better than the full version. Sunrising, at this point in time the last Dream Academy single A side, exhibits an easy, sunny pull, with 1989 flipside The Demonstration’s acoustic Folk touches entrancing. Two different cuts of The Last Day Of The War, the first an instrumental preamble, end a disc that stacks up well against the band’s LPs.

Next we have the Be-Sides disc, which despite its name also collects up some demo or unissued versions. The Day It Rained Forever is launched via a queasy synth line, but still carves out some strange Pop majesty and a genuine flipside in a soaring Poised On The Edge Of Forever if anything owes even more to Electropop. Test Tape No.3 comes across as touchingly wistful and not unlike The Teardrop Explodes’ lighter moments, with Things We Said Today also being rendered in similar fashion. I really enjoyed this part of the set and couldn’t help but wish The Dream Academy had stuck with this sound.

Living In A War clunks with electronics, whereas Immaculate Heart is filled with a woozy warmth. This disc ends on the unreleased House Of Heartache, where a slow and steady tempo is buffeted by odd swoops and the band’s assured vocal chops. Again this disc is a real positive for Religion, Revolution & Railways.

We launch into the instrumental side of The Dream Academy on disc six, where vocals are expunged from most of the 13 offerings. Without the vocal Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want actually was heard on screen in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and it gets this disc underway in a nicely understated fashion. Power To Believe work beautifully stripped back and Kate’s lyrical way with the cor anglais really comes over on Here. In The Hands Of Love comes with plenty of vocals to buck the theme, with In Exile then prospering without vocals. Instead of instruments, massed voices are manipulated well on In Suspendium, the brief closing item of this disc.

The final section of this set is called Love Etc and features six versions of that song. An extended Life In A Northern Town is a good place to start and a very 80s sounding Angel Of Mercy 12/8 mix comes with a solid percussive thump. B side Mordechai Vanunu has a pared-down musical palette, something which helps the song flourish and my favourite of the Love mixes was the thoroughly club-orientated Dream House cut. The Love Whales In Love take also works very well in taking things right down. The trippy strings of Heaven Pts 1/2 act as the parting shot to the disc and Religion, Revolution & Railways.

It is a shame that Nick Laird-Clowes’ liner notes in the booklet that accompanies this set only really cover the early activity of the band. It would have been good to have read how they went on after the debut LP was released, but otherwise the presentation here is suitably lush. The Dream Academy showed flashes of real inspiration and made three good to fair albums. For me, the unissued material included here on the whole makes out a better case for them than the stuff released during their lifespan. The extras not only provide a fuller picture, but are some of the real highlights here. This helps to put forward Religion, Revolution & Railways as a pleasingly thorough rummage through The Dream Academy’s archive.

Get a copy of The Dream Academy – Religion, Revolution & Railways by clicking here

Various Artists – Moving Away From The Pulsebeat

Posted on by jbass508

Various Artists – Moving Away From The Pulsebeat

Cherry Red Records

5CD/DL

Out now

Subtitled “Post-Punk Britain 1977-1981”, this new 5CD includes contributions from Siouxsie And The Banshees, Joy Division, PIL and The Clash. Ian Canty writes…

Despite still being a huge fan of the inspiring, tearaway music that made up 1977 UK Punk, I have to concede its single biggest impact was the impulse toward making one’s own statement without compromise. Make your art and if record companies, music press etc weren’t interested, well sod them and do it yourself. This opened up a whole new range of possibilities, a fresh space to work in with no limit to what you might attempt and also one that was no longer fashion-based and/or London-centric. It set in motion a spirit which is just as relevant if not more so today.

It wasn’t just about the music of course, but Moving Away From The Pulsebeat looks sonic efforts that delved into different areas after 1977’s high tide. One thing that is important to remember though, in an age where Post Punk seems to automatically mean “good”, that for every Pop Group there was there the “Play For Today” dramatics of Toyah and for every Magazine there was the likes of the lumpy Prag Vec. All are featured at some point across these five discs, but luckily enough the quality level is for the most part fairly high on the first part of this set.

The Soft Boys’ Wading Through A Ventilator is at once an odd and an apt place to start. Coming at us from early Punk label Raw was super sped-up Psychedelia, courtesy of Robyn Hitchcock and Co. This shows how much had changed in a matter of months, as even at the beginning of 1977 people would have been less receptive. Rough Trade announced themselves as not just a shop with the thrilling French Electro Punk of Metal Urbain’s Paris Maquis and loveable Solihull scamps The Swell Maps’ Rather imprint debuted with Read About Seymour, a 45 that had their track here Black Velvet on the flip.

I had almost forgotten just how bracing it was to witness early Subway Sect on vinyl for the first time. Hearing Don’t Split It afresh made me recall how I manage to find the Nobody’s Scared single in the early 1980s second-hand and was utterly blown away by its breath-taking, spidery rush. Buzzcocks’ timeless, looping title track still feels utterly modern and a little later on comes Hong Kong Garden, the first record I went into a shop and purchased. I remember being at puzzled and then invigorated by the B side Voices and that mystery is retained here.

Labels sprang up all over the UK, with Edinburgh’s Fast Product coming quickly out of the traps with the clipped, anthemic New Wave of All Time Low by 2.3 and Gang Of Four’s debut EP. The souped-up and shaken R&B fizzer Armalite Rifle is extracted from that record for this disc. The majors wanted a piece of these strange new bands too though, with Swindon’s XTC and Howard Devoto’s Magazine both signing to Virgin and being represented by a manic Existential and the Give Me Everything 45 respectively. However Alternative TV didn’t want any part of of the commercial merry-go-round, issuing the excellent but already over a year old Life on their own Deptford Fun City near the end of 1978.

With Everybody’s On Revolver Tonight Ed Ball’s O Level captured the times with pinpoint accuracy. But elsewhere new paths were being forged by the experimental buzzsaw of Strontium by The Crazies, a short-lived outfit from Adrian Borland of The Outsiders pre-The Sound and paranoid synth-chill meets thrashy guitar on Listen To The Sirens by Gary Numan’s Tubeway Army.

The final three items on this initial section showed the spread of music out from narrow Tin Pan Alley confines out into the provinces. The 60s Garage weirdness of Camera Camera by Teardrop Explodes came from Liverpool’s Zoo. Bristol’s bustling scene yielded Stay Awake by Glaxo Babies on Heartbeat, something that in its more downbeat Punk/Dub moments might just have a sliver of what Portishead hit on a decade later. Finally the sound of Belfast is heralded by SLF and an edgy and atypical Closed Groove.

Disc two starts in Bristol too, with The Pop Group’s incredible debut 45 She Is Beyond Good And Evil. Scars’ Fast Product single Adultery continues this hot start and then a charming Adventures Close To Home was an early sign of the unique magic of The Raincoats. Essential Logic will always be dear to my heart and the bright kick of Wake Up I found a source of constant joy, with Joy Division’s insistent bass monster Disorder following on. A few years back I was lucky enough to see the Cult Figures and Disco Zombies on the same bill and they are represented here by the crunchy zing of Playing With Toys and Greenland, a fuzzy but cool ride.

It is often forgotten these days what a vital band Brum’s Au Pairs were in the aftermath of Punk. A spikey You makes the case better than most and a few tracks on The Slits’ Ping Pong Affair finds them in Funk/Punk experimental mode, but very accessible and enjoyable as well. S.U. S. by The Ruts retains the blazing fire all these years on. sure they were more a Punk band than anything else but are always good to hear.

Soon there is a rum piece of sequencing though, where The Associates, Art Attacks and Human League follow each other. All are worthwhile of course; Billy Mackenzie and Alan Rankine’s creation Mona Property Girls is strange and wonderful like most of their output, but the excellent Rat City that follows by The Art Attacks seems like it belongs to another world. The icy electronica of Path Of Least Resistance, which comes next, is another sharp turn and the disc concludes with Essential Bop’s rhythm-driven sparkler Chronicle and the Marmite sound of Killing Joke and Nervous System from their first EP.

The third disc of this sets starts with PIL’s Poptones, proving that John Lydon’s latter-day deluded ramblings can’t really put a dent in what he did back when he mattered. But any momentum gained by it and Scritti Politti’s endearingly slapdash Hegemony is then stymied by Tabletalk, a run of the mill Adam And The Ants number. Having said that, John Cooper Clarke’s material made with The Invisible Girls has always fascinated me and Sleepwalk is full of unusual twists, with The Fall’s Fiery Jack deftly building a head of steam and packing a fearsome punch.

Co-Optimist by Again Again from Portsmouth does an odd but creditable trick in crossing scratchy Post Punk and Psych Pop and although I won’t argue that A Forest was an excellent single, perhaps something less known out of The Cure’s back pages could have made the cut here? The Flowers’ Ballad Of Miss Demeanour is an impressively tight number with hints of The Slits and the mighty Cravats are typically fantastic on the paranoid creep of Who’s In Here With Me. Artery’s tune Unbalanced is neat weirdo Pop and The Puppet by Echo & The Bunnymen offers plenty of proof of their potency at this point in time. There’s some fine offerings on this disc, but not as many as on the first two and humdrum items are easier to come by into the bargain.

Talking of the erstwhile Johnny Rotten, it has been rumoured that The Jam’s muscular album Scrape Away was brickbat aimed firmly in his sarky direction. Throbbing Gristle pioneered “out there” Electro more than being Post Punk per se and the pulses and synth squeals of Something Came Over Me bear that out, with Theatre Of Hate’s first single Original Sin still coming over as a true statement of intent. Leeds’s own Girls At Our Best on shone only briefly but so brightly, as is evidenced on the blinding It’s Fashion and neighbours Sisters Of Mercy grants us the brisk march of Watch, a long distance from their Goth future.

Normal Hawaiians, hailing from Orpington, were fronted by Guy Smith, who previously sang with the local Punk band The Tarts back in 1977. Their gritty, off key Jazz Punker The Beat Goes On makes a good mark. After leaving The Wall Ian Lowery formed Ski Patrol with Nick Clift and others and they crop up here with the well-judged slow build of Agent Orange. On a different planet than You Spin Me Round, the alluring, swirly strangeness of I’m Falling is a tantalising glimpse of what Pete Burns’ Dead Or Alive could do on a good day.

I’ve always enjoyed 4AD band In Camera’s PIL homages and Fragments Of Fear, which features here, is no exception, but a thrashy, Buzzcocks-style Where Are My Hormones by Avant Gardeners is really a trip back to 1977. After that this disc kind of tails off, though the crazed mayhem of Virgin Prunes’ Twenty Tens is worthy of your attention.

After a couple of so-so platters, the final section of Moving Away From The Pulsebeat delivers better, though it is a stretch to call Robert Wyatt’s marvellous Born Again Cretin Post Punk just because it was on C81. I’m always up for hearing a blast of Young Marble Giants, even if the bouncing bass instrumental of Click Talk misses Alison Statton’s beautiful vocal stylings. Proof that The Nightingales were inspired from the off comes with Seconds and the Dub Punk Funk of Another Baby’s Face by 23 Skiddo broods along smartly.

Edinburgh’s Josef K are a band I have always loved since getting The Only Fun In Town LP back in 1981 and Pictures is an ample serving of their edgy guitar-led charm, with You’re Welcome by The Undertones being a delicate late-period treat. The Fire Engines’ Meat Whiplash is Psychedelic where you wouldn’t expect it, but for the most part an energy-filled blast and Jah Wobble, recently given his PIL marching orders, sets about the eerie, experimental Nocturnal (Edit). The manic pacing of Ludus’ Mother’s Hour adds to the air of otherworldliness that the band operated under and Blackpool’s Section 25 come up trumps on the assertive, rhythmic thud of Je Veux Ton Amour.

Being the height of hipness possibly impacted negatively on Rip, Rig And Panic, as their records stand up to scrutiny today. The unbridled brio of Go, Go, Go! is a simple of hit of pure elation. The bland name The Reflections hid Mark Perry and Karl Blake, kicking up a gritty fuss on Tightrope Walker and fellow Punk old hands The Outcasts fizz through Programme Love. I’m not going to mention THAT TV show again, it’s enough to say that It Goes Waap! by The Higsons is still a whole heap of fun all these years on and John Robb’s Membranes close things out with the chant-tastic All The Roads Lead To Norway.

Moving Away From The Pulsebeat has a lot of top rate sounds contained on it, but arguably it could have lost a disc or even two and had a better impact. The first two and the fifth are for the vast majority first rate, but towards the middle of this set it loses focus and piles on more than a few inconsequential entries. But perhaps in doing that, Moving Away From The Pulsebeat manages to capture UK Post Punk in all its multifaceted, varied glory.

Find out more about Various Artists – Moving Away From The Pulsebeat by clicking here

Kissing The Pink – Anthology 1982 – 2024

Posted on by jbass508

Kissing The Pink – Anthology 1982 – 2024

Cherry Red Records

5CD/DL

Out now

5CD set that brings together the first three albums Synthpop/Post Punkers Kissing The Pink, along with single sides. remixes and rarities. Does this set send Ian Canty snooker loopy? We’ll see…

Last Film, Kissing The Pink’s fourth single, was a 1983 UK Top 20 hit single and probably most people’s point of entry to the band in Blighty. On first hearing, one could be forgiven for thinking this was just another super-serious, austere New Romantic offering. The dramatic introduction of military drums and whistles screams angst, but the tune carefully builds into something memorable and stops just short of toppling into a complete send-up. It certainly was out of the ordinary.

Going back to the start, Kissing The Pink formed during 1980 in London, with the various members coming from art student backgrounds. Their first single Don’t Hide In The Shadows emerged a year later (thereby falling outside the remit of Anthology 1982 – 2024) and was produced by none other than Factory Records legend Martin Hannett. Magnet Records, home of UK chart stars Bad Manners and Darts, pounced after the good reception to this 45 and signed them up. At the time of Kissing The Pink’s debut album Naked, they numbered Steve Cusack on drums, Pete Barnett doubling up on bass and violin, Nick Whitecross on guitar, Jon Kingsley Hall and George Stewart both on keyboards, Sylvia Griffin on vocals and finally Josephine Wells on Sax.

On Naked, that starts off this set, Last Film is followed by the speedy vocoder-voiced Electropop of Frightened In France. Watching Their Eyes then comes across somewhat like Depeche Mode were doing at the time and in truth struggles to stand out, with follow up single Love Lasts Forever, which stopped outside of the UK Top 75, being busy but not especially distinctive.

The sparkling All For You, an Electro ballad, works far better and Last Film is then returned to for a “Hymn Version”, which could give one the notion that Kissing The Pink were a bit light on material for this LP. An extended mix also features among the six bonus efforts on this disc. This was the only Kissing The Pink album to feature the vocals of Sylvia Griffin and she makes some telling contributions, like on the charming Desert Song. A stylish In Awe Of Industry and Mr Blunt, a catchy diatribe based around the Philby/Burgess spy ring, end Naked on a positive note.

On balance Naked is a decent first stab at a long player from a band clearly still finding their feet. But to be fair it is very listenable. Among the bonuses, Sylvia’s vocal talents are put to good use on Mr Blunt’s flipside Water In My Eye and Shine also works well. The disc ends with a nervy goodie in Garden Parties.

By the time of 1984’s What Noise collection, Kissing The Pink had undergone a reshuffle with Griffin leaving and Simon Aldridge coming in on guitar and bass. The big, near-Hip Hop beats of The Other Side Of Heaven sets the album in motion, one of the two singles extracted from the album, with Funk moves of Radio On being the other. Captain Zero moves jauntily enough with some surprisingly thrashy guitar and a percussion-led, anthemic Greenham again shows KTP often delved into the kind of intriguing subject matter not generally pursued by mid-80s Pop acts.

A smoothly accomplished, doomy Each Day In Nine confirms the bright start of What Noise and the samples-enhanced Martin is a well-observed character piece. Some of the paranoid shivers of Footsteps then tantalise. After the frantic chant of Love & Money, this collection ends with the title track. This ensues with a kind of distorted acapella, before arriving at a driving, percussive tempo. There are four bonuses on this disc, extended takes of The Other Side Of Heaven and Footsteps being joined by an abridged The Rain It Never Stops and Celestial, where Kissing The Pink rely on their massed vocal smarts on what amounts to a scaled back take of The Other Side Of Heaven.

What Noise seems to me proof of real progress on from their debut, but sadly neither the LP or the two singles made any headway in the UK. However, Kissing The Pink would gain commercial ground Stateside with the 45s from their third opus Certain Things Are Likely, which makes up the bulk of disc three here. They officially scaled down their name for this one to KTP and shrunk down to a four piece of Whitecross, Hall, Cusack and Aldridge, but many session players also contribute and to be honest this was a double-edged sword. On the positive side, despite their track record in the US only consisting of number 87 Billboard hit Maybe The Day back in 1983, extracted 45 One Day hit the Top 5 of the US Dance chart.

The aforementioned tune starts of Certain Things Are Likely the album and it is easy to see why it appealed to US Dance fans, being solidly based in the MOR/Pop field. It certainly is difficult to reconcile the commercial Pop of Never To Late To Love You with their previous work though and that is also the case of title track, though it buzzes along quite well like a Poundland Big Audio Dynamite. That dispenses with the three US hit singles and from here on for the greater part it is downhill all the way. The LP sort of drifts by without making much of an impression, being gimmicky in pursuit of a “modern sound” and loud, but also faceless and forgettable.

It is a shame for a band that showed promise of being something fresh now coming over as firmly stuck in the middle of the road. Finding signs of life is tough, even the use of bagpipes on Can You Hear Me cedes to a bland singalong. A big noise is made and it was a lucrative move for KTP, but ultimately the result was pretty thin gruel.

Perhaps a case can be made for the more-pared back One Day? Elsewhere it is more of the same with very little subtlety exercised and to be honest it sounds like a completely different band to what we have heard previously. The five bonuses tunes on this disc are made up of different mixes of the singles, plus the naff cod-Reggae of Michael.

If you weren’t much taken by disc three of Anthology 1982 – 2024 like me, it is unlikely that you will relish the next platter either. 11 of the 13 tracks are remixes of One Step, Never To Late To Love You and Certain Things Are Likely, which are all are examples of unadventurous 1980s version mania. The odd ones out are instrumental cuts of an urgently-paced Underage and Water In My Eye, both of which are a mark above anything else here and probably would have made more sense being attached to disc one.

Disc five finishes up with yet more remixes and thankfully some new material. Stand Up (Get Down), a 1988 single very much in the style of the third Kissing The Pink LP, gets reworked a further three times. I Can’t Wait was one of that 45’s 12″ flipsides and is full of 80s production tricks, with the Funk approach on No One’s On The Same Side (Mixedub) appearing a little more diverting.

A new master of Spying On Me heads up the fresh material that makes for the other half of this final CD and has a good rhythmic pulse to it. A couple of new items in the laidback groove of Imagine Everyone and an icy Electronica item Satellite impress. Two radical choral re-cuts of Last Film feature Henrikes and one further remix of One Step and a live version of each from W-Fest, close out Anthology 1982 – 2024.

On this set it seems to me that Kissing The Pink started out with promise on Naked and truly hit their stride on What Noise. Though Certain Things Are Likely was commercially successful for them in the USA, it marked a loss of identity. The fourth disc of remixes I found hard going to be honest and though disc five has some bright new material, I wondered if this anthology would have been improved by instead including some of tracks that were on the previous reissues of the first two albums that have been missed off here. It would have been good if space could have been found for the band’s 1981 debut single too. Overall there’s plenty for fans of mid-1980s Electronic Pop, but for me interest tailed off after disc two.

Get hold of Kissing The Pink – Anthology 1982 – 2024 by clicking here

Through The Past Darkly – Ellen Foley – Night Out & Spirit Of St. Louis

Posted on by jbass508

Through The Past Darkly – Ellen Foley – Night Out & Spirit Of St. Louis

Lemon Records

2CD/DL

In an irregular feature, we cast our minds back to the two albums former Bat Out Of Hell vocalist Ellen Foley cut in 1979 and 1981 respectively, with the latter finding her backed by The Clash. Ian Canty writes…

The Ellen Foley story really got started with one massive success. She was the featured vocalist on Paradise By The Dashboard Light and backed up Meatloaf elsewhere on the mega-selling Bat Out Of Hell album in 1977. In June 1979, she stepped out into the spotlight herself with the Night Out album.

Bearing in mind The Clash connection on Spirit Of St. Louis, it is easy to see the Night Out as a makeweight of the pair included on this set. But the fact that Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson were on hand to produce and play on the LP provides a sense of symmetry, with them both being vital in the pre-Punk musical adventures of one Mick Jones.

Night Out begins with the grandstanding opening track We Belong To The Night, a fine attempt to meld the bombastic sound of her recent past with something that tapped into stylish, big production 1960s Pop. In fact it could perhaps have been a better choice as a single than What’s A Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You), even though that number is a creditable effort and did reasonably well as a 45.

Phil Rambow’s Night Out is a tense beauty that finds Ellen on seductive form and his Young Lust is later allied to a sturdy Rock beat. The Graham Parker songbook is dipped into for Thunder And Rain, which comes complete with some sawing guitar heroics. Hideaway races on a pounding rhythm, the most “New Wave” item here and co-producer Ian Hunter’s emotional ballad Don’t Let Go finishes up proceedings.

I have to concede that most people interested in this set would be so because of The Clash connection on Spirit Of St Louis though. In some ways this album could be seen as the missing piece in the jigsaw between Sandinista! and Combat Rock. Mick Jones had become romantically involved with Ellen in 1979 and an artistic collaboration also ensued when she sang on and co-wrote The Clash single Hitsville UK. A year later, along with Joe Strummer’s pal Tymon Dogg and various Blockheads, The Clash and Foley returned to the studio together for the Spirit Of St. Louis LP.

Six Strummer/Jones composition feature, beginning with The Shuttered Palace, an excellent starter with maybe a little in common with Joe Strummer’s Walker soundtrack, The 101’ers’ Sweet Revenge and perhaps a tad of Spanish Bombs. Torchlight reveals itself as perhaps the most Clash-like thing on the whole record when the guitars slam in and Tymon Dogg’s Beautiful Waste Of Time, with some parping sax from the great Davey Payne, is given a lovely treatment.

One of the more obscure Strummer/Jones songs would have to be The Death Of The Psychoanalyst Of Salvador Dali. But Ellen is in her element here, teasing out the oddball imagery with a natural aptitude for dramatic tension and next M.P.H. comes flying out of the blocks with a ball of good-time energy.

My Legionnaire actual dates back to pre-war France when it was written as Mon Légionnaire by Raymond Asso and Edith Piaf songwriter Marguerite Monnot. This takes the sound towards musical theatre again admirably on a pared-down sonic landscape of just voice and Mickey Gallagher’s keys. Penultimate Joe and Mick tune Theatre Of Cruelty is led by up front percussion and Ellen’s own Phases Of Travel juggles great vim with touching vulnerability.

Tymon Dogg’s archive provides Game Of Man and Indestructable, which both show the depth and variety of his work. Foley gives a pitch perfect reading of the former and the choral build on the later is one to savour. In The Killing Fields, written by Joe and Mick, ends Spirit Of St. Louis in short but strident marching mode.

I think that Spirit Of St. Louis proves itself as of much more interest than just being a mere footnote in the career of The Clash. This is Ellen’s album above all and she shines on it and material and the cast of musicians fulfil their roles with aplomb too. Along with the decent showing on Night Out, this set represents a boon for not just long-term Clash addict, but also anyone who enjoys a good composition performed in stirring surroundings by a fine, clear voice.

You can still pick up Ellen Foley – Night Out & Spirit Of St. Louis here

The Jack Rubies – Clocks Are Out Of Time

Posted on by jbass508

The Jack Rubies – Clocks Are Out Of Time

Big Stir Records

CD/DL

Out now

New 12 track LP on Big Stir Records by five piece band The Jack Rubies, who originally emerged during the post-C86 era. Ian Canty writes…

The Jack Rubies released their first collection the mini-album Witch-Hunt In Lotusland in 1986 on Reading’s Criminal Damage label. They were part of a stacked roster that at the time also included The Membranes, Mighty Ballistics Hi-Power and Them Howling Horrors. Their line-up consisted of singer and guitarist Ian Wright, Lawrence Giltnane on percussion, bassist Steve Brockway, drummer Peter Maxted and SD Ineson on guitar. From memory, they carried a bit more weight than the standard Indie Pop crowd, not afraid to brandish spiky guitars and thunderous drumming on occasion.

Subsequent to Witch-Hunt In Lotusland’s issue, two more LPs followed Fascinatin’ Vacation and See The Money In My Smile in 1988 and 1990 respectively. But after that the trail ran cold until this new release Clocks Are Out Of Time, which finds the band truly back in business.

An assertive Hark immediately reveals The Jack Rubies as a still vital force all these years on since their previous outing. The sturdy rhythm section is set in place to provide the canvas on which to build an inventive air of mystery and this is further enhanced by effective use of drop out to just vocals midway through. I found this first number positively tantalising, a great introduction to the LP.

Next Heaven Shook Me supplies more proof of the band’s renaissance, being cast on some glittering guitar work and with powerful, spiralling momentum. Hidey Hole makes up the third of the opening “H” titled trio, this time trimming back to a louche R&B template and the line “In the belly of the beast there’s gonna be a feast” is just a sample of The Jack Rubies’ ear-catching wordplay.

The choral, slightly unearthly introduction to Angeline Soul is seasoned by harmonica, before the band crash in on a song that weaves an intriguing tale of fatal attraction that is cut with a firm R&B-tinged base. A simple but edgy structure backs some more quality riffing on the dreamlike Chandelier. This one’s title appears to be a simile for complicated relationships, with a punchy Corrupted following on in unstoppable fashion. It’s a wonderful strut of a tune, full of hyperactive attitude and the percussion expertise of Giltnane really pays off here.

In contrast, Terrible Crime strips things back a little. Ian’s voice and guitar do the lion’s share, until the rhythm section clocks in as the song works towards the chorus. Poltergeist is lighter still, a bouncy beat backing the playfulness that The Jack Rubies always brought with them. Skilful use of the backing vocals are a great touch which help to marks the band’s on this LP sound out. Then Read My Mind fizzes itself into earshot, with the fuzz guitars breaking like waves on a beach. The vocal sits above the crafted musical landscape, narrating a twisted tale of the dangers of obsession.

Nothing is rushed here and the gradual ramping up of tension works marvellously. Shark Attack brings home the value of the production and arrangement on the album, the guitars stab with maximum impact, drums pack real punch and the vocals are always clear and confident with good reason. After all when you have songs this strong, you have to make every effort to make them connect.

As we reach the denouement of Clocks Are Out Of Time, Heaven initially bristles with tasteful 50s Rock & Roll guitar soling and Jazz percussion, with the words hanging provocatively in the air. Soon this offering gathers both speed and power to become what is perhaps the best “Pop” moment on the album. The finale is a beautiful sound in I’ll Give You More, where jangle rings appealingly and the carefully plotted rhythmic path that this effort takes shows the true craft at work here. Again the backing vocals work a treat. Given the six-string heroics throughout, this record ends on a wry note with some keyboard tinkles.

Clocks Are Out Of Time is a real achievement, a superb record by anyone’s standards. Memorable melodies abound and are paired with convincing and often spine-tingling performances. The Jack Rubies’ own brand of macabre humour and lyrical insight gives it a heavy amount of depth too. 34 years in the making, Clocks Are Out Of Time proves to be well worth the interminable wait.

The Jack Rubies are on Facebook here

Get The Jack Rubies – Clocks Are Out Of Time here

Laibach – Nova Akropola

Posted on by jbass508

Laibach – Nova Akropola

Cherry Red Records

3CD/DL

Out now

Reissue of Laibach’s second album from 1986, along with two discs containing live renditions of the album’s offerings from the 1980s, 1990s and the 21st century. Ian Canty writes…

Laibach, based out of the mining town Trbovlje in Slovenia, became a fixture in Independent circles after their second album Nova Akropola was issued by Cherry Red Records in the UK during 1986. They had initially emerged six years beforehand and from the off they sought to confront some uncomfortable truths about the nature of government. Even the band’s name was controversial, with it being German for Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The negative connotations dating from the Second World War of this moniker were heavy in a pre-Glasnost Slovenia. Added to that, a visual image of militaristic uniforms and esoteric iconography meant early performances often ended in chaos.

Band members hid behind the one word pseudonyms of Eber, Saliger, Dachauer and Keller and this added to the assimilation of stern-faced totalitarianism that was core to Laibach’s methodology. The idea may have been to mirror elements of all societies in their attempts to regulate behaviour. But that is only a sheer guess, as they have stayed fairly tight-lipped of the course of 40 plus years about their true motivations, letting the project stand on its own.

One could see Laibach’s music as just a part in the whole scheme of their overall plans, but they put together a sound that was thudding and austere and at the electronic end of Industrial. After debuting with a self-titled long player in 1985, Nova Akropola was released a year later. As mentioned above, the LP was more widely distributed than its predecessor, with its issue on Cherry Red leading to a spot on the then important UK Independent Chart.

I have to confess the reissue of that album that we have here is my first real introduction to Laibach. I might have heard the odd snatch of their work here and there (probably their cover of Opus’ Life Is Life), but nothing long form like this. That it comes loaded with significance, poker-faced puns and homages to other art is almost without doubt, well as far as you can be certain with anything connected with Laibach. It took me more than a few listens to tune in, to be honest. Opening item Vier Personen gave me the kind of scurrying, restless feel that might come from The Residents in one of their more regimented moods.

The title track follows on with a developing air of mystery leading to roars, distorted voice and ominous, slow moving percussion. Krvava Gruda – Plodna Zemlja then uses big, near-Hip Hop beats, before the old fashioned, piano-led and dramatic Vojna Poema aka War Poem and a brief Ti Kizzivaš (Outro), coming with strings and percussion featuring strongly, finishes up the first side of the original vinyl album.

An eerie, forthright sound in the form of Die Liebe sets Nova Akropola back in action and this for me feels like one of Laibach’s more accessible offerings, if such a thing can be said. Država”, translated into State in English, begins with a formal speech from President Tito and appears to be a hymn to the might and right of the establishment. It floats off towards Electro Dance, but all the while stays stern and foreboding. Vade Retro initially offers respite from the intensity, with the blasts of power used more sparingly and Panorama utilises horns to cast a shroud of enveloping claustrophobia. An English spoken voice is heard towards its end, one which seems to spell out the Laibach philosophy.

Nova Akropola comes to an end with a pummelling Decree, where the Hip Hop percussive elements return in force. This LP is a work of near-impenetrable harshness and firmly sets out Laibach’s methodology, but the use of some unexpected features help the less committed listener to retain interest.

You get a sense it was in the live arena Laibach truly flourished, so it is apt we get two further discs that run through rejigged versions of Nova Akropola’s songs caught on stage between the years 1985 and 2021. For the first live selection, we have a disc that was issued as part of a 2LP Record Store Day set.

The Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra are on hand to assist with Vade Retro Satanas, taped in 1997 in Ljubljana and a throaty stop/start version of Nova Akropola follows. This comes from a Zagreb gig 21 years later, but the sounds included ensure there isn’t a real lapse in continuity. The latter segues into Vier Personen from a 2019 Ljubljana date and then two offerings direct from 2021 at EXIT Fest in the darkly pulsing Art Rock of Krvava Gruda – Plodna Zemlja and a stunning Ti Kizzivaš provide this second disc’s highlights. A bright take of Die Liebe and Država, which is given a grand and flowing outing, conclude the second platter of this set.

For the third and final section of this expanded version of Nova Akropola, we turn to nine performances played just before, around the time of and just after the album’s issue in 1986. In fact all but two of these numbers come from a 1985 show played at The Bloomsbury Theatre, London, with Vier Personen in this form ably setting the scene. An extended, almost violently passionate Nova Akropola comes next and the sole cut from a live showing during 1986 at Bay 63 Krvana Gruda – Plodna Zemlja announces itself with clattering percussion, shouts and drones.

We’re then taken back to The Bloomsbury for stripped-down and business-like cuts of Die Liebe and Država and the theatrical touches of Vojna Poema are teased out. From the audience reaction captured here, it sounds like most were fairly stunned by the aural and visual assault. Država – this time subtitled “Let’s Make United States Of Europe First Again!” – figures again to end this disc, this time coming from the QE2 Hall at the Southbank in 1987. I enjoyed this part of the set most of all, as live Laibach seemed to make more sense to me.

I can’t honestly say that this expanded edition of Nova Akropola has turned me from a total newcomer into a Laibach fan, but it is intriguing. This is a very well put together set and the informative liner notes from Alexei Monroe are a godsend in helping anyone new to the band understand their motivations. What is beyond argument really is that Laibach stood out from the 1980s Independent scene – Nova Akropola in this form can help one understand why.

Find out more about Laibach – Nova Akropola by clicking here

The Oppressed – Complete Oi! Studio Recordings 1981 – 2018

Posted on by jbass508

The Oppressed – Complete Oi! Studio Recordings 1981 – 2018

Captain Oi! Records

4CD/DL

Released 20 October 2023

4CD set that anthologises the work of Welsh Oi band The Oppressed, including their debut album Oi! Oi! Music and the Victims/Work Together single. Ian Canty writes…

In retrospect, my adoption of Skinhead apparel in the early 1980s appears decidedly rum. I was never one for gangs, didn’t lust after bovver as I certainly didn’t see myself as some kind of hard case. I think it was Two Tone that first pushed me down the line though and even prior to that I was wearing Fred Perry shirts as I liked the design. As the Ska revival petered out, I preferred to mix and match Punk, Mod and Skin fashions. I never felt entirely at home with one look, but the ultra-smart Crombie coats, Ben Sherman shirts, Harringtons, Loafers, plus a smart suit for evening wear eventually swayed me. It was like an easier to manage version of Mod really, which being on a budget was just the ticket for me and it was attractive that the music on offered was wider in range i.e. Soul and Reggae as well as Punk.

I already had a love of Reggae from my very first musical memories, with Dave And Ansel Collins’ Double Barrel and Israelites by Desmond Dekker making a huge impact on me. It has to be said that at the time I latched on fully to the style the public repute of Skinheads, while never being very positive, was near its nadir. The image of glue-sniffing, racist bullyboys was firmly set in the eyes of the media and the general public – they were the ultimate spoilers of anyone else’s good times, always ready with their fists when the odds were stacked in their favour.

Not all Skinheads were like that of course – I expect a fair few just dug the music and clothes like me and were as embarrassed as me by the antics of these boneheads. I suppose my ingrained stubborn streak made me want to rally against this stereotype, to prove it was possible to wear this gear and still be something of a good egg. It turns out I wasn’t the only one thinking like this.

Of all the Oi! bands Cardiff’s The Oppressed made a real difference, highlighting forward a strong anti-racist stance when it was really important. They also put their money where their mouths were, as lead singer Roddy Moreno started Oi! Records, which featured the early waxings of Anarcho Oi! legends Oi Polloi among others. Prior to Roddy’s involvement, The Oppressed formed in 1981 with a line up of Martin Brennan on vox, the Paynes Ronnie and Ducky on bass and guitar respectively and drummer Gary Tier. It is this aggregation of the band that is first heard on The Oppressed – Complete Oi! Studio Recordings 1981 – 2018, with five lo-fi demo tracks that were later issued on the Fatal Blow LP in 1984.

This early version of The Oppressed appear fast, lively and Punky on Fatal Blow itself and Way Of Life. White Flag by the original band was later recut for the Oi! Oi! That’s Yet Lot LP by an amended line up, with Dom Moreno on bass and Roddy providing extra guitar. That version turns up as tune number 12 on this disc.

By the time of the six selections drawn from the Oi! The Tape cassette, Roddy had moved to vocals on Brennan’s departure and Lee Jenkins had come in on drums. Roddy’s voice brings a more authoritative edge and Riot and Leave Me Alone draw much benefit from this. This section finds The Oppressed fully formed as a band, with real purpose and drive. The anthemic Government and the fairly weak It Ain’t Right are the only tracks not re-recorded for the Oi! Oi! Music album from 1984, which we shall get to soon.

1983’s Never Say Die EP was The Oppressed’s first vinyl of their own, kicking off with a buzzing Urban Soldiers. All three tracks were again pressed into service for the Oi! Oi! Music LP, which makes up the rest of the first disc of this set. This starts with their calling card We’re The Oppressed and though the sound is a bit basic at times despite a good guitar sound and the oddity of employing an electronic drum kit, there are plenty of nicely hard-edged shoutalong diamonds here to savour.

Among the fresh material are the very sparky Violent Society, the bouncy bass-line of Gun Law and Don’t Look Back, which comes over as suitably full-blooded. They also cover Chaos by The 4 Skins and Symarip’s Skinhead Girl, a portent of the version bonanza that characterised much of their later career. But overall Oi! Oi! Music is satisfying and provides a good measure of fun too.

Predating the LP and opening up the second disc here is the excellent Victims/Work Together single, which in my view showed The Oppressed at their very best. Work Together’s none-more-raw sound and message of unity is particularly inspiring. Going back to the release timeline, we have three cover versions taken from a 1984 demo that made up the other side of the Fatal Blow album. These are the final recordings of The Oppressed’s first run and in effect Fatal Blow bookended their career. Their take on The Cockney Rejects’ Bad Man is my pick here. But even though they are all fair attempts, the fact that no self-penned material featured was a sign the band were nearing the end.

The Oppressed returned about a decade on to release the Anti-Fascist Oi EP. This was when the band was a family concern for the Morenos, consisting of a three piece of Roddy, Dom and Adrian on the drums. Here they repurposed other bands’ material for the anti-racist cause. Substitute by The Who works well in this amended form and The Rejects’ Flares And Slippers adapted into a new guise as Nazi Skinhead. The Ops acquit themselves pretty well with a certain amount of brio on this EP after the 10 years lay off.

A second Oppressed album, the all covers We Can Do Anything, followed. Again it is a pity no new material was on offer, since whilst the band always put a lot into their covers, their own work was superior. Sham 69, The 4 Skins, Cockney Rejects and The Last Resort all provide four of the songs each and these recordings are all reasonably faithful to the originals. While enjoyable enough, this collection is hardly essential. Llanrumney Chorus is the odd track out here, which is mainly a mob acapella repurposing of Those Were The Days.

Next was 1995’s Fuck Fascism extended play. In stark contrast to their other reformation recordings thus far, this was made up of three tunes penned by The Oppressed. The title track’s mid-pace hoarseness is a real taste of what The Oppressed were all about. Sleeping With The Enemy, which would also crop up on the band’s third LP Music For Hooligans on disc three of this set, is also well accomplished and the band’s classic Work Together is dusted down successfully. Ending this second disc is another go at The 4 Skins’ Evil retitled Evil In Magaluf, retooled in just voice like Llanrumney Chorus. This came from the 5-4-3-2-1 extended play, with the Manfred Mann-written, Bootboy-enhanced title track also being part of Music For Hooligans LP.

MFH kicks of disc three with the freewheeling sound of CF3 and That’s Alright, which also benefits from some renewed vim. Living With Unemployment draws from The Newtown Neurotics subverting of The Members’ Solitary Confinement, with Skinhead Times being a flowing and addictive slice of Skin life. When I Was Young is a rueful, wise look back and they unexpectedly cover The Farm’s Baggy anti-war tune All Together Now.

No Justice feels musically like The Business’ early moves, where the lead guitar of Steve Floyd is given licence to solo and The Maytals’ Pressure Drop is Punked up a stage further than when The Clash did it in the late 70s. The title track is truly rousing and overall Music For Hooligans, although perhaps having still a few too many covers and previously issued material aboard, is a much more satisfying collection than We Can Do Anything.

Disc three continues with the Strength In Unity 7 inch, consisting of three covers and a tearaway recut of C.F.3., which is the highpoint of this quartet. Proving the dichotomy that whilst you can’t really go wrong with Holder/Lea numbers you can seldom better Slade’s initial efforts, comes The Noise EP. Of the three Slade hits versioned here, The Oppressed do the best job on a stomping take of Gudbuy T’ Jane. Two tracks from of joint record with US band The Fat Skins follow, with suitably anthemic The AFA Song being accompanied by a cover of Eddie And The Hot Rods’ 1977 hit Do Anything You Wanna Do. Finally on this disc we have Solidarity, The Oppressed’s contribution to We Are The People, the Angelic Upstarts tribute LP.

For my money The Oppressed really hit their stride during their second run with their three tracks from 2004’s Skinhead Unity LP. They start off the final disc of this set. United We Stand’s breakneck pacing, dirty guitar and catchy refrain immediately make a good impression, with Nobody’s Fool and Paedophile taking up the baton with aplomb. Next come the four numbers from The Insurgence 45, well only two really as I Don’t Wanna (not the Sham tune) and Blue Army are doubled up, with a Spanish language version of the former and an instrumental cut of the latter joining the original takes.

This was a decent showing and was followed by yet another extended play Football Violence, where the terrace bravado of the title track and a guitar heavy Remember stand out. S.H.A.R.P. As A Razor was a collection split with The Bois, with a cover of Los Fastidios’ Antifa Hooligans leading the way. The Oppressed also dip into The Maytals’ songbook again for Monkey Man and somewhat usually do a version of Brother Louie, originally recorded by Hot Chocolate.

A couple of pretty run of the mill Ramones covers in I Wanna Be Sedated and Blitzkrieg Bop were offered up for the 2 Generations split with Germany’s Wasted Youth, but better was their side of Skins ‘N’ Punks Volume 6, issued on the revitalised Oi! Records imprint. White Flag is recorded here with Roddy finally on lead vocals and Drunken Skinhead, a song by The Prowlers (who took up the other side of the vinyl LP), is a spin on the aged What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor? sea shanty. Earl Vince & The Valiants’ tune Someone’s Going To Get Their Head Kicked In gets versioned in shouty fashion and The Great Cardiff Rip Off is The Rejects’ tune revised in a Welsh setting.

Reiterating their hometown pride come the two self-penned numbers Cardiff Born and Bluebirds Unite and they finish their side of the LP with SHARP Anthem. Though Oi! emerged mainly from the East End of London, the way The Oppressed adapt it with a Welsh flavour is crucial to their appeal. The final four tracks are drawn from 2018’s FCK FSCSM (This Is Anti-Fascist Oi!), a multi-band album. A sparky Crucify The Police makes for a good intro and The Machine’s gutsy, hard rockin’ sound cuts the mustard. All things considered, this record showed The Oppressed in pretty fine form approaching their 40th anniversary.

Whilst listening to this set I was put in mind of The Clash’s oft-quoted, rather silly strapline “The Only Band That Matters”. The Oppressed did matter and mattered at a time when the actions they took were vital. I still love them for it. Not everything here is brilliant and there are a lot of covers, but their message and the best of the songs shine on through, undiminished by the years.

The Oppressed are on Facebook here

If you wish to get hold of a copy of The Oppressed – Complete Oi! Studio Recordings 1981 – 2018, click here

Nuclear Assault – Radiation Sickness

Posted on by jbass508

Nuclear Assault – Radiation Sickness

Dissonance Records

CD/DL

Released 13 October 2023

11 track live album taken from a show played at Hammersmith Odeon by New York Thrash Metal band Nuclear Assault during their first full-blown tour on this side of the pond. Ian Canty writes…

In the middle of the 1980s something unprecedented happened, in that two musical genres that were previously seen as at loggerheads came together as one. Punk in the US had by this time mutated into superfast Hardcore and shorn of that scene’s political/social comment lyrics, this increase in tempo was pressed into service by Heavy Metal bands that wished to give themselves fresh impetus.

The US version of Anthrax had been one of the new Crossover scene’s pioneers in melding Hardcore speed to the Metal staples of expressive vocals and expansive guitar soloing. When bass player Danny Liker left that band after their first LP, he soon put together an outfit of his own called Nuclear Assault. A key piece of recruitment was introducing singer, guitarist and former Anthrax roadie John Connelly into the band’s ranks. Liker and Connelly were joined by drummer Glen Evans and the lead guitar of Anthony Bramante in the initial Nuclear Assault line up, which sought to take what Liker’s previous outfit had been doing a stage further.

It is this aggregation of Nuclear Assault that features on the new release from Dissonance Records entitled Radiation Sickness. A document of a show at Hammersmith Odeon that the band played during their European tour of 1987, one senses that this was probably the best way to experience the band’s full-blooded and brutish attack. Featuring a set that was drawn from their debut album Game Over and an EP entitled The Plague, Nuclear Assault blast their way through 11 numbers that gives one barely the opportunity to gasp for breath.

A sawing guitar style heralds Radiation Sickness’ opening gambit Betrayal, where Connelly’s vocal stylings seesaw between Gillan-like squeals and a more considered bark. Furious fretwork and pummelled drums pulse the tune onto the end, with Stranded In Hell consequently picking up a similarly hectic pace. There are some decided Hardcore Punk roots to this one, with the following number Nuclear War being set in a slightly more sedate gallop, not that the word sedate and Nuclear Assault really belong in the same sentence.

Buttfuck, the band’s acid missive directed squarely at Motley Crue’s Vince Neil, runs at quite a rate before slowing into a Bluesy sludge and then Justice begins with some extensive guitar wrangling and Connelly’s screams. A short My America is swiftly despatched and Nuclear Assault confirm they weren’t regular visitors to the UK by enquiring whether or not it was raining outdoors. That question seemingly dealt with, they hurtle through the title track of this collection at a fearsome rate of knots and also After The Holocaust, which is prefaced by a two second effort that jokingly claims to be by S.O.D..

Hang The Pope is another souped-up assault and at this point I will say in Nuclear Assault’s favour, the liner note states they were fans of the classic TV film Mr Jolly Lives Next Door. But on the negative side they do reveal themselves as pretty damn thick with the song Lesbians though. I suppose they were trying to outdo others in the Crossover milieu in dumb outrage stakes, a boys club pissing contest that was one of the worst aspects of the genre and which more than a few toyed with at times. Yes, this was a “joke” effort not intended to be taken seriously, but even so it is pretty damn naff.

Listening to it in the present day they depict themselves not as the hip, humourous, “not giving a shit” rebels they probably were aiming for, but more like some kind of gang of idiotic puritans. Liker was recently quoted as saying “it was a stupid song…it was just being obnoxious and provocative”, but that doesn’t make its cartoon homophobia at all palatable in a world where people are still persecuted for their sexuality. Thankfully the powerful rush of Vengeance ends Radiation Sickness’ selection in a less epically moronic fashion. Taking the aforementioned negative to one side, overall this set is a fair example of of the kind of explosive power Crossover could wield in a live setting.

The Crossover Thrash Metal sound was wildly popular at the time, but looking back from 2023 it can often appear very tightly tied into the period when it first coalesced i.e. the mid to late 1980s. Even so, Radiation Sickness comes over as a rough, ready and live document of Nuclear Assault and those days, with their many warts and all included.

More info on Nuclear Assault – Radiation Sickness is available by clicking here

Various Artists – 1982 Screaming At The Nation

Posted on by jbass508

Various Artists – 1982 Screaming At The Nation

Captain Oi! Records

3CD/DL

Released 22 September 2023

New 3CD collection that documents the year that has recently given us the term “UK82”. This set features The Angelic Upstarts, Serious Drinking, The Damned and Southern Death Cult along with many others. Ian Canty writes…

1982 was on reflection a strange year for UK Punk. Now it is celebrated through the slightly daft UK82 term as the peak of the early 1980s wave, but it was also the point when things started to tail off. By the Christmas ’82 there was some serious soul searching taking place and a few of the key bands had already begun to splinter. The labels that had nurtured the scene had their own problems by that stage too. But 11 months or so beforehand, all looked reasonably rosy for the spikey topped set.

UK Punk in the early 1980s was always a mix of bands and individuals that had got their start during the original Summer Of Hate and newer outfits. This is brought home by the fact that this new set 1982 Screaming At The Nation starts with Punk supergroup Lords Of The New Church, Chelsea and The UK Subs. The Lords’ Open Your Eyes is nearly pure Pop really, but Gene October’s boys had rarely sounded more chipper than on their War Across The Nation single.

After the colossal Still From The Heart misstep, The Upstarts bounced right back to form with the Woman In Disguise single, showing that their status as slightly elder statesmen on the Punk scene really rather suited them. Serious Drinking were of course fantastic and should be remembered as one of the great bands of the era and Bobby Moore Is Innocent, their item included here, has one of the best guitar sounds I have witnessed. Moving on, I can recall at the time that some people were baffled that a bunch of skinheads called The Crack won the BBC1 Battle Of The Bands series. But listening back it is obvious why, they just had a ton of great songs like Don’t You Ever Let Me Down, which is present here.

A battering re-recording of early 45 Frustration by NI The Outcasts demonstrates what a potent outfit they were and Gangland by The Violators felt like a quantum leap forward in imagination and verve. It is such a shame that the band split up before before they had got started really, they clearly had so much more to give. The dumb dumb buzzsaw of Sick Boy by GBH feels like a natural cross of Motorhead’s speed and Punk gusto, with the gritty, high speed rumble of The Varukers’ No Masters No Slaves also pointing towards a Hardcore Punk future that would increasingly rely on US bands in just a few months time.

Harlow’s Newtown Neurotics were making steady progress at the time of their very chunky and catchy Licensing Hours single and Dead Man’s Shadow were smart too, with their contribution being the explosive debut 45 A side Bomb Scare. Special Duties’ daft Bullshit Crass wasn’t their best number in truth, though it is pretty funny. In the interests of fairness the Anarcho contingent are represented a bit later on this disc by Conflict, with their self-named call to arms being smashing in all senses of the word.

Solid if unspectacular UK82 fare from The Expelled, One Way System and Mau Maus follow, before the extremely underrated Attak give us one of their mighty tunes, a storming Today’s Generation. It is apt that this disc finishes with The Business’ rallying cry Loud, Proud And Punk, as it paints a vivid picture of how times had changed from 77 to 82 in just a couple of minutes.

Disc two gets underway with 1976 originals The Damned, some years into their first reformation with typically lively flipside I Think I’m Wonderful and then Bristol’s Vice Squad, taking a risk with their fanbase by signing to EMI in time for Stand Strong Stand Proud. Good stuff like Red Alert’s title track to this box and The Partisans’ excellent mid-pace chugger 17 Years Of Hell came via the No Future label. The high energy dash of Destroy The Youth by Charge is thrilling enough, as is a tearaway Burn ‘Em Down by Leeds own Abrasive Wheels.

After a fine start, things falter a bit with some lesser material being included. The System’s Dogs Of War rumbles along with spikey intent and The Threats, who made up part of a Rondelet roster that also included Anti-Pasti and The Membranes, make a good racket on Politicians And Ministers. Cider-pickled West Country types Chaos UK rattle through a headlong rush called No Security and On The Ground by Butcher comes over like The Lurkers reset for the harsh realities of Thatcher’s Britain.

Shelters For The Rich by The Disrupters gets a long intro in, before unwinding into a choppy guitar fest/shoutalong and Icon A.D.’s chunky Face The Facts benefits from some nimble guitar work and vocals. The disc ends with Voice Of A Generation by Blitz from New Mills, as much as any here a true anthem for the time.

Cutting through the swathes of Oi and Crass bands, The Southern Death Cult briefly helmed the quickly developing Positive Punk scene. At the start of the final disc in this set there’s their tribal and moody Moya, which sounds like it owes a debt to Theatre Of Hate That band crop up not much later with The Hop and The Straps sported some ties to TOH, but their belting Brixton single is in a class of its own. Although Chron Gen’s album may have been a let down their singles were usually nifty, as is the case with Outlaw here.

Belfast’s Rudi had moved from Good Vibrations to the Paul Weller/Tony Fletcher concern Jamming! by the time of Crimson, an evocative Punk Pop wonder, with the East End’s answer to Da Brudders Erazerhead on good form on She Can Dance, their contribution to this disc. Religious Wars, all these years on, still provides The Subhumans with a fittingly climatic ending to their always brilliant live shows and fellow Spiderleg recording artists Amebex follow with the brooding chug of No Gods No Masters.

I always felt Major Accident were a pretty good band at the time that were more hampered by their “Clockwork Orange” chic than helped by it. Their 45 Schizophrenic is speedy summation of their Power Pop/Punk strengths. Merseysiders Instant Agony issued no-nonsense pounder Think Of England on their own Half Man Half Biscuit imprint and whatever else The Ejected recorded will always pale in comparison to the Have You Got 10p? 45.

Action Pact were in my mind one of the best and they celebrate/denigrate their home town on Stanwell, part of the great Suicide Bag EP. It’s a shame that a great group like The Gymslips are represented here by a pretty straight cover of Suzi Quatro’s 48 Crash, but The Revillos show all of their one of a kind charm on Bongo Brain. I’ve never really got what was the big deal about The Toy Dolls, but their track Dig That Groove Baby is ok-ish. It is good though that the set finishes up with Attila The Stockbroker’s righteously fierce Contributory Negligence. I would like it if his Ranting At The Nation LP got its own much deserved reissue one day.

There are a few bands that possibly should have been here, like Crass themselves, Discharge and perhaps Anti Pasti, but apart from them pretty much everyone one might expect is in attendance. Although the quality on this set fluctuates, the very fact it does helps to give a satisfyingly full picture of Punk Rock action in the UK during 1982. There’s all the highs and lows, with thankfully the former outweighing the latter by a fair percentage. 80s UK Punk may not have been for everyone, but 1982 Screaming At The Nation reveals plenty of talent at work beneath the fury.

Nip in for a copy of Various Artists – 1982 Screaming At The Nation by clicking here