Wednesday 30 July 2014

The Wet Taxis - "Taxidermy" (Terse Tapes TRS008) 1981

The Wet Taxis are from Australia, although you'd never guess it. No hints of sporting prowess here, no beach culture, surfing or mention of Barbecues!
They sound like a sort of antipodean ,less funny, version of Danny and the Dressmakers, but more tooled up in the instrument department.
They later turned into a very competent garage rock combo......how boring.
But this tape is up there in the pantheon of chaotic bedroom rock recordings, competing with "200 Cancellations" as the most sprawling epic of DIY cassette rock.
The best tape I've heard from OZ.

Apparently this was Assembled from bits off 1,000 Cassettes! This makes the Homosexuals seem to have the production rate of Scott Walker!

Classic DIY Instrument List:
Compurhythm - Guitar + Effects - Bass + Effects - Vocals - Minipops - Noise? - Kazoo - Clarinet - TV Game - Wineglasses + Tapes - Piano - Utensils - Home Made Oscillators - Amp Hum

Track Listing:


A1 Dare You (Live)
A2 But Mono Never Dies
A3 Wind Up Toys
A4 Max And Peter Marmite Jar
A5 Felate Your Baby
A6 Miniamata
A7 FP219
A8 Theme For A Bitch
A9 The Worm Has Turned
A10 Untitled 1/2/3
B1 Vomit
B2 Nun Strike
B3 Cerebral Damage
B4 My Boy Lollipop
B5 Untitled (Live)
B6 Make Cake (Live)
B7 Boom (Live)
B8 Rhythm
B9 Doll Hospital
B10 Polio Baby
B11 Fingernail Biter
B12 Rubber Balunes
B13 I Must Have Drunk Too Much Rum


DOWNLOAD some taxidermy HERE!

Anne Cessna and Essendon Airport - "Talking To Cleopatra" (Innocent Records 7" NON 3) 1980

I noticed that Essendon Airport were on the Terse Tapes compilation , "One Stop Shopping", and this in turn reminded me of the classic one-off electrolurch single, with Anne Cessna. An absolute classic if ever there was one. Crackling circuit board bending outsider dance classic.Released in a Limited edition of 500.
"A hit single with no target to hit. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship." according to official Australian Innocent label 1981 catalogue.
I like their attitude.

Track Listing:

A
Talking To Cleopatra

B
Lost In Madagascar

DOWNLOAD this Aussie Classic HERE!

Tuesday 29 July 2014

Various Artists - "One Stop Shopping" (Terse Tapes TRS009) 1981



This is Terse Tapes version of Monty Python's 'Instant Record Collection Idea', again only matched in shear scale and ambition by Danny and the Dressmakers massive conceptual rcok (sic) opera '200 Cancellations'.It also reminds me of the 'Deleted Funtime' compilation on ,yes, Deleted Records.......and if anyone has a copy of that tape could they please either sell it to me or donate some mp3's to this blog. My copy was taped over sometime in 1985....this happened then, it all seemed so disposable!?
This collection is worth it just for the band-names (eg, The Somersaulting Coincidences,The Alan Bamford Musical experience, etc), which display that illusive wanton lack of ambition, which we at Die or DIY? prize very highly as the only honest way forward for human creativity.
As much as i admire artists who release hundreds of albums, all sounding pretty much the same; there's something attractively enigmatic about the acts that briefly exist for one single moment, buried away on an impossibly obscure comp like this. Like a sub-atomic particle sparking into life in the Hadron collider for a nano-second then disappearing back into the darkness as a mathematically proven entity.
And Yes, I wish I'd called my group The Jean Paul Satre Band !!!

Download the full booklet, Slug Fanzine, and newspaper articles in a convenient PDF file here!

(NB, Download the tapes at the bottom of this post)

Credits: Compilation arranged by Tom Ellard 1980-1981
5 album equivalent.
In a Festival of Quasi-Normalcy.
Booklet by Terse Tapes - Slug Magazine
Released as two C90 cassettes, and one C60 cassette in March of 1981 wrapped in a photocopied catalogue made by John Laidler of Slugfuckers/Bleeding Arseholes/Rhythmyx Chymx fame. A three-cassette survey of the Australian post-punk, and experimental underground. Roughly 900 hand dubbed copies were made.
On the cover of the magazine there are some misspellings; Ernie Althoff is listed as Ernie Altoff, The Oroton Bags are listed as Ze Oroton Boys.

Track Listing:

A01     Agent Orange  –     We Eat For You        
A02     Agent Orange  –     Now        
A03     Alan Bamford Musical Experience –  An Old Joke        
A04     Ernie Althoff –     Free Form Vocal Trio        
A05     Art Throbs –     Room With A View        
A06     Bathroom Beansi –     Little-Washer-By-The-Ford        
A07     Bathroom Beansi –     The Visitor        
A08     Bleeding Arseholes –     Funky Number        
A09     Bleeding Arseholes –     Nice Song        
A10     David Chesworth –     Be Mine Or 13        
A11     David Chesworth –     Piece For Chord Organ        
A12     Graeme Davis –     Cassettes Are Driving Me Crazy        
A13     Disneyland –     Pineapple        
A14     Disneyland –     Giligan's Island        
A15     East End Butchers –     Butchers        
A16     East End Butchers –     Assassins        
A17     East End Butchers –     Psychiatrist Takes Wine        
A18     Essendon Airport –     Guitar Duet        
A19     EST –     Fascinating Womanhood        
A20     Graeme Gerrard –     Rotations
       
B01     Holiday Funn –     Near Enough        
B02     Holiday Funn –     The Bells The Bells        
B03     Holiday Funn –     Saying Prayers        
B04     Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed Up Zombies, The –     Space Is The Place    
B05     Institute Of Dronal Anarchy –     7 Rare Dreamings Extract        
B06     Invisible Boys –     Oh Baby        
B07     Invisible Boys –     Song For The Deaf        
B08     Invisible Boys –     Pretty Void        
B09     Invisible Music –     Finished Stavinsky And Funky Havanis        
B10     2 Johnnies, The –     Experience        
B11     2 Johnnies, The –     Advice To A Dead Marxist        
B12     2 Johnnies, The –     Truckdriver        
B13     J.P. Sartre Band –  Songs Of Dead Philosophers        
B14     Junk Logic –     Yellow Bean        
B15     Klu, The –     Weekend In Warsaw        
B16     Laughing Hands –     Untitled        
B17     Lazlo Toth –     Kilgamesh        
B18     Lazlo Toth –     Ghost Train        
B19     Limp, The –     Tombeii The Mist        
B20     Limp, The –     True Hawaii        

C01     Lunatic Fringe –     Daddy        
C02     Mice Against God –     Untitled        
C03     Mindless Delta Children –     Go South        
C04     Mindless Delta Children –     Snappy Tom Time        
C05     Multiplicative Inverse –     Untitled        
C06     Music4 –     Biorhythms        
C07     Negative Reaction –     Untitled        
C08     Painkillers  –     Disney Punk March        
C09     Pastel Bats –     Arabise        
C10     Person Brothers –   Worried Man        
C11     Pissy Relay Switches –     Ho! These Teeth        
C12     Pissy Relay Switches –     Telephone Man        
C13     Pissy Relay Switches –     Animal Einstein        
C14     Rhythmyx Chymx –     Summer Song        
C15     Rhythmyx Chymx –     Throb        
C16     Saxophone Caper –     He'll Never Be Logical        

D01     Scattered Order –     Fun        
D02     Paul Schütze –     Untitled        
D03     Severed Heads –     Untitled        
D04     Shane Is Dead –     Untitled        
D05     Slugfuckers –     Gormange        
D06     Somersaulting Coincidences –     Untitled        
D07     Stutgarters –     No Fixed Address        
D08     Sunday Painters –     Terminal Ward        
D09     Swinging Hogs –     I Got Brains        
D10     Sydney Quads –     Untitled        
D11     Systematics –     Sunny        
D12     Systematics –     Marine Boy        
D13     Tame O'Mearas –     Collision        
D14     Tame O'Mearas –     Bah!        
D15     Teese And Tattersall –     Duets For Violin And Clarinet

           
E01     Peter Thin –     Tesseract        
E02     Tch Tch Tch –     Entertainment Division        
E03     Paul Turner  –     Austerity Measures        
E04     Use No Hooks –     Passion In My Feet        
E05     Wet Taxis –     Brown Owl        
E06     Wild West  –     Locking        
E07     Wild West  –     Pelican        

F01     Mesh  –     Untitled        
F02     Oroton Bags  –  Spontaneous Combustion        
F03     ZGlutz –     Warts        
F04     Nervous System –  Bertolucci        
F05     Nervous System –  One        
F06     N-Lets –     Untitled        
F07     A Word From The Editor –     Untitled 


DOWNLOAD Tape one HERE! or HERE!
DOWNLOAD tape two HERE!  or HERE!
DOWNLOAD tape three HERE! or HERE!

Anorexia ‎– "Rapist In The Park ep" (Slim ‎– SJP812) 1980

Talking about The Fatal Microbes in the previous Pete Fender Post, reminded me of this similar sounding masterpiece by Anorexia.
Political correctness kills punk rock, full stop (check out the Die or DIY? politically incorrect  compilation , "Wrong Songs and Banned Bands" by clicking here!). Its not just the powers that be, that constitute the evil brain police of this reality, its the multitudinous Tom Robinson-alikes that infiltrate what the REAL people are doing that represent such a danger. Therefore I reckon it is my duty to push forward a fine politically unworthy specimen of incorrect tunage, such as the magnificentAnorexia's - "Rapist in the Park" symphony. 
Not only is the group name punishable by imprisonment in today’s thought controlled environment, but the subject matter of the title track is something also to be swept under the shagpile carpet.
Thanks largely to some early exposure of John Peel's Radio 1 program, "Rapist in the Park" (released on the band's own Slim -- geddit? -- Records) earned the band some fans and made it possible for Anorexia to draw crowds around the South of England for a short while. Bizarrely, an early incarnation of George Michael's Wham! opened for the band on several occasions before evolving into that aural atrocity that we all know and hate.
As naively naughty as the title track is, the charm levels are increased ten fold by the closing track on this ep,"Pets", which includes such poetic delights as "Cats give me the Frights,/ I like cats in the night./I want a cat with purple 'air / Then it will be,..... very rare!"
Almost Shakespearian? Click on Pets for a sample of this almost Shakespearian genius.

Track Listing:


1 - Rapist in the Park
2 - I'm a Square
3- Pets(mp3)


Download Anorexia's Greatest moment Here!

Pete Fender ‎– "Four Formulas (For The Eradication Of Microbes)" (Xntrix ‎– XN 2002) 1980



As far as child groups go,punk rock gave us Eater, The Prats, and The Fatal Microbes.All excellent combo's,but the band that produced the best kiddie-punk tune was The Fatal Microbes, with that unforgettable anthem of youthful disillusionment, “Violence Grows”(mp3)(just beating “Inverness” by the Prats?). Oh my god, they told the bus conductor to “Push Off” when asked for their,half price,bus fare! How charming.
I had the fortune to inherit this record for 10p from my violent mate(he made me be his friend!), who jumped the Punk Rock ship for a sicking Northern Soul obsession in 1978! I could only play one side because he had glued it to his bedroom ceiling for its aesthetic effects. This way I had a small collection of one-sided indie punk singles for around a quid fifty; not bad.
But I digress.
14 year old Guitar Player for the wonderful Microbes(youngest member 12!?), was one Peter Fender(which also included under-age sex siren Honey Bane on vocals; apparently this was all legal in the seventies!).
Post-microbes, Fender went on to the sartorially awful Rubella Ballet, to compete with that other Ballet, Spandau, as the worst dressed bunch of wankers in Pop.
Inbetween, now 16 years old, Peter went down to Fuck Off Records HQ at Street Level (on the 17th, 29th, 30th September, 1980 incidentally), and knocked out this Buzzcockian spiral scratch knock off;alluding to the fact that he wanted to erase his previous band from his C.V. ? A charming buzzsaw power pop collection it is indeed, but not in the same league as his previous group i'm sorry to say......now.......”PUSH OFF!”

Tracklist:

A1 Promises, Promises
A2 London Homicide
B1 I'll Never Believe You
B2 Nothing To Say


Friday 25 July 2014

The Entire Cosmos with Here & Now -"The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Entire Cosmos" (CND Benefit Cassette) 1980 + "Live at Acklam Hall 18/10/1980"


An Extremely rare, but pretty appalling quality, cassette that was found in a readers attic after hiding away for thirty years.Hence the poor quality, but important document from one of the Fuck Off records stable.
To make up for the underwater lo-fi of this cassette, we have managed to find a high quality live recording from Acklam Hall,London 18/10/1980;'a legend to those who saw them live',it says on the insert.
Sharing members with communal improv space rockers Here and Now,(who contribute two tracks to "The Hitch-Hikers guide...."),
The Entire Cosmos played a blend of skilfully played punky space rock, with a splash of hippie improv chucked in. Kind of a cross between ATV, Here and Now and Planet Gong.  

Track Listing:

Side 1:
1) Vampire Feast (3:30)
2) Looking For You (7:45)
3) Created Order (13:00)
4) Willy The Pimp (4:00)


Side 2:

1) Acid Arcadia (3:45)
2) Russian Roulette (2:31)
3) You Said You Loved Me (2:20)
4) Moving On (6:38)
5) Festival Of Light (8:25)
6) Juliette (2:37)
7) Oh I Cried (3:33)

Live at Acklam Hall 18/10/1980:

1) Intro
2) Forever
3) Vampire Feast 
4) Looking For You
5) The way you love makes me nervous
 

Wednesday 23 July 2014

The Astronauts ‎– "Peter Pan Hits The Suburbs" (Bugle Records) 1981

Some of you will be pleased to know that this is the last Astronauts post on Die or DIY? Not everyone's folk/punk of choice. I myself, don't know whether they are shite or just reasonably good third division anarcho punk. Its an acquired taste, but I think I've acquired it somewhere, 'cus I like this LP, somewhat.  Lyrically Mark Astronaut is rather talented, but he is hindered by one of those irritating voices,akin to a rocking librarian. A good comparison is that bloke from the Deep Freeze Mice,or Shirley/Steve from the Spherical Objects; but compared to those two aurally offensive nightingales, Mark is Susan Boyle?

Tracklist:


A1 Everything Stops For Baby
A2 Protest Song
A3 Sod Us
A4 The Traveller
A5 How Green Was My Valley
B1 Still Talking
B2 Baby Sings Folk Songs
B3 How Long Is A Piece Of String
B4 Amplified World
B5 Midsummer Lullaby

DOWNLOAD the suburbs hitting and hopefully killing peter pan HERE!

Monday 21 July 2014

Patrik Fitzgerald ‎– "Gifts And Telegrams" (Red Flame ‎– RF8) 1983 + "Peel Session 10th April 1979"


Nothing to do with the Astronauts,but their “Pranksters in Revolt” EP reminded me of this minimal electronic urban folk classic.

There are few artist's work who I would say I was a giggling “Fan” of;maybe PiL mark 1, Joy Division, Beefheart,.....Danny and the Dressmakers (?), and ….....funnily enough, Patrik Fitzgerald. The troubled troubadour of squatland himself, who finds himself listed among such venerable luminaries as......er......Danny and the Dressmakers!?

Why Fitzgerald isn't mentioned in the same breath as rediscovered folky genii as Bill Fay, Judee Sill, and Nick Drake I will never understand. Maybe because he didn't die an early death,or be championed by some boring pop star,who knows?

His disastrous career can be summed up in his song “All the Years of Trying(mp3)” from his souped up major label début “Grubby Stories”.(He was dropped when no-one bought it)

“Gifts and Telegrams” however,is the opposite of “Grubby Stories”,there are no new wave illuminatti backing him up, just a few cheap bontempi organs and a crap drum machine. Gone also is the trademark battered solo acoustic guitar, but, most importantly, the negative pessimistic lyrics remain. This belated second album,released three years after the Polydor debaclé on indie label, Red Flame; couldn't sound more different to his previous recorded output. A Career resurrection this would never be. A minimal, bitter, downer of an LP, that would probably lose whoever bought the first album, if they remembered him at all, and further alienate the remainder of the “public”.

As a poet,(he was hyped as a”Punk” poet in his early days) he is an uber-realist ,concentrating on the taboo's of the human condition, the hopelessness, pointlessness of existence.

A cover of Jacque Brel's “My Death” fits in nicely with his perspective. But, unlike Brel, life's high's are edited out of his own songs. This is really a version of Patrik's “hero”, David Bowie('s) solo spot on the Ziggy Stardust tour. Almost replicating Bowie's version exactly, which is a low point on this ,otherwise, great LP.

In the file I have included PF's Peel session from April 10th 1979, which is in the very same style as this recording. So he was developing this style for three years before “Gifts and Telegrams” finally surfaced to universal intransigence.

Patrik has had a increase in profile in recent years,apparently he's big in Norway,where a small label assembled big names acts to record a Fitzgerald covers album, including Jello Biafra amongst others. Also I was amused recently to observe a demonstration outside the Boomtown Rats gig at the Roundhouse,where Patrik was supporting said awful group, urging Patrik NOT to play in apartheid Israel!? As much as I agree that Israel should be Isolated from the civilised world, there must be other richer,higher profile,targets to harass. A Racist Zionist's money is as good as anybody's when you're broke.(Mmmmm,but then again.....?......ahh, just leave him alone will ya!?)



Tracklist:


A1 One Little Soldier

A2 Exist

A3 Personal Loss

A4 Travel Through Dark Though Scented Country

A5 Grey Echoes

A6 World Is Getting Better



B1 Solve

B2 My Death

B3 Work

B4 Gifts And Telegrams

B5 Punch

B6 Island Of Lost Souls

Peel session 10th April 1979:

1. Suicidal Wreck
2. Improve Myself 

3. Tonight
4. All The Splattered Children
5. Dance Music/Late Night





Sunday 20 July 2014

The Astronauts - “Pranksters in Revolt EP” & “The Astronauts EP” (Bugle records BLAST 5 /BLAST 1) 1979/1980



The Astronauts first two ep's.
The eponymous debut is their standard sound,post-punk with a folk flavour. Featuring studio versions of the sounds heard on the live compilation “Back to sing for Free again soon”. The classic 'All night Party” being the stand out track here.

Prankstersin revolt” is a different beast altogether. A minimal folk-synth classic to rival Patrik Fitzgeralds' brilliant “Gifts andTelegrams” (which i'll post next because its sooooo good!).
I don't know whether the group were being deliberately obtuse here, but to turn from the expected sound is something to be applauded. Like it says in the second track on this fine EP, “Moderation is Boring”, especially when applied to music; though not when applied to narcotics and other stimulants. In fact for those secret state sanctioned/supplied population control weapons, TOTAL abstinence is the ideal goal. Being strung out in a dope cloud stupor is definitely fucking boring; like one of those anarcho-punk festivals. A real danger to society are drugged up and drunk white rasta's falling over in a ditch in the countryside. They Talked the Talk, but couldn't even walk, never-mind 'Walk the walk'!*

*This doesn't apply to the Astronauts by the way.




Friday 18 July 2014

The Astronauts - "Only Fools And Optimists" ( Anarres - ASC 001) 1982


The Astronauts were another group from the melodic 'Folk'-tinged end of the anarcho-punk spectrum. As, in my opinion, Punk Rock is Folk music, this is something quite natural.
Long naturally curly haired Mark Astronaut, had the standard anarcho-office clerk kind of voice that was so popular with most of these awful groups; but the Astronauts stood apart. They had good socially aware and insightful lyrics, some interesting songs,and didn't dress in washed out black with 'i'm in the Anarchy Club' badges splashed everywhere like medals.This stuff is genuine Folk music,not affected by fashion and hive-like behaviour.
Don't let the Folk/Punk label put you off, this ain't the Levellers or ,if possible, worse. Think more in line with a more lightweight Zounds;and if you haven't heard Zounds,they're quite trad melodic post-punk punk with a folk-flavour to the lyrics.......in fact like The Astronauts, but a bit punkier!?

Here's what it says on The Astronauts website:

This cassette is a rare treat indeed. Side 1 has the added bonus of having two tracks featuring the superb soprano saxophone playing of Lol Coxhill. This side consists of 6 songs recorded in a 16-track studio by various combinations of The Astronauts. They are all professional quality recordings intended for future release on vinyl. Side 2 is a bonus for those of us who have followed Mark's work over the years. It also contains 6 songs, 5 of which were recorded in the more informal surroundings of the various Astronauts domiciles. Obviously, the recording quality on this material is not of the same high standard as Side 1, but nonetheless the songs themselves are of enormous quality* and interest* and we felt we could not pass up the opportunity to release these rare tapes."

*even though they say so themselves!?

The songs on side 1 went on to become side 1 of 2nd album proper,"It's All Done By Mirrors".

Track listing:

A1 New Dixieland Blues 4:58
A2 Seagull Mania 3:06
A3 Blood 2:42
A4 Gold at the Top 5:17
A5 Behave Yourself 3:35
A6 Typically English Day 2:57
B1 Sorry 4:50
B2 Political Stances 3:57
B3 Problems 2:37
B4 New Drummer Boy Blues 3:32
B5 Bodies in the Bath, Part 2 4:13
B6 Behave Yourself Dub 3:32



Thursday 17 July 2014

The Mob ‎– "Ching" (Self-Released) 1981



Anarcho Punk from the hippie heartland of Yeovil, Somerset, close enough to Stone 'enge for the adolescent Mobsters to have been recruited at a young age into this unattractive tribe.

Luckily, in amongst the simplistic politics and sixth form lyrics, the Mob adhered to the more melodic side of the movement. Thankfully closer to the Zounds side of things “Anarcho”, rather than Crass.

This excellently muddy self-released tape from 1981, reveals a minimal and repetitive protest punk style that is very effective indeed. Most importantly it retains a charming naive innocence in its optimist youthful idealism. The vocals can be a bit cringingly teenage pop band competition stuff at times,and a lot of these tunes seem to be exactly the same, but that’s what we like here innit?

They have now reformed after thirty years,probably playing free festivals with Zounds and The Astronauts. Worth seeing if you don't mind roughing it with a crowd full of sixty five year old white rasta's with male pattern baldness drinking special brew.

Tracklist:

The Gates of Hell
No Doves Fly Here
What's Going On
Slayed
White Niggers
I Hear You Laughing
Youth
I Wish
Never Understood


Wednesday 16 July 2014

Alternative TV/ The Good Missionaries ‎– "Scars On Sunday" (Fuck Off Records WEIRD 1) 1979




Heres ATV's Fuck off tape that catalogues the
transition from ATV to The Good Missionaries.
There's even a nasty sounding riot at the end
of the ATV side.The public could turn violent
if they don't get what they want you know.In
this case they wanted hard hitting punk rock.
Instead they got band members playing each
others instruments, songs with no chorus, or
structure, and no hits!
The elongated silences at the end of each track
make the stunned silence at the end of 
Belsen was a Gas, from the pistols last gig,
seem like a nano second.
This is confrontational art at its very best,
and also probably ATV's best album?

Scars On Sunday     W001    Spring 79/May 79


SIDE ONE
1. Nasty Little Lonely         
2. Release the Natives         
3. Radio Story/Lost In Room   
4. Fellow Sufferer
5. The Force Is Blind
6. Good Missionary/Total Disregard
 For The Greenwich Theatre
SIDE TWO
1. Bottom Of The World
2. The Good Missionary Goes For a Walk
3. The Morning They Took Me Away
Side one is the penultimate Alternative TV gig at the Greewich Theatre in Spring 1979. It features the very shaky drums of Dave George and vocals from Anno Wombat. Line-up

Mark Perry   : vocals/guitar/keyboards/wind instruments/percussion
Dave George  : drums/percussion/special effects
Dennis Burns : bass guitar
Anno Wombat  : vocals/wind instruments/percussion
Side two is the very first Good Missionary concert in "Bottom Of The World" a jam recorded at the "Gig of the century" in the Lyceum ballroom May 1979. The other two numbers are also largely improvised and were recorded on the "Pop Group" tour summer 1979.

Mark Perry     : vocals/guitar/wind instruments
Dave George    : guitar/vocals/chime bars/effects
Dennis Burns   : bass guitar
Gillian Hanna  : vocals/wind instruments/percussion
Suze Da Blooz  : vocals/wind instruments/percussion
Anno Wombat    : vocals/wind instruments/percussion
Henry Badowski : drums/saxophone
CAUTION!
This is the first in Fuck Off records "Weird Experiments In Noise" collection and is a serious attempt to blow your mind with sound. As you may have noticed the long drawn out 'hypnotic' pieces (otherwise known as the boring bits) are necessary to bring out the sheer power of the noisy bits inherent in this type of music. While every attempt is made to ensure perfect audio reproduction, we must admit we quite enjoy that 'fucked up' sound. The Good Missionaries is a natural progression from Alternative TV. ATV in the beginning were a pretty hard hitting if not intriguing sort of punk group. However as time has passed, various members have joined and left the band until the final line up (recorded on side one) decided that the music had changed so much and lots of people were still coming to the gigs expecting the older line ups, that changing the name would be a good idea. About the time of this penultimate gig the music had got so weird that hardcore heavy punks had taken to throwing bottles at the band, on one occasion Mark was knocked unconscious by one, and during side one the tension in the air is easy to spot, as is the final destruction of the equipment by band and audience alike, after the PA is switched off mid-set. Side two starts with a jam recorded on the first Good Missionaries gig, a tentative affair where the group performed in masks, it was all meant as a bit of a laugh really but the band enjoyed the relief from not having a name to live up to, subsequently the content is less strained. The rest of side two feature two performances on the most recent Pop Group tour featuring the newest line-up. These additions and changes aid Mark in his former capacity as lead instrumentalist by stopping up a lot of gaps he used to have to run around the stage to fill all by himself. And generally I think it will be agreed that these later recordings show the band at their most relaxed and productive to date.
Sleeve note


DOWNLOAD some scars for sunday HERE!

Tuesday 15 July 2014

Various Artists - "Folk In Hell : Alternative Rubbish from West London" (Fuck Off Records FO 008) 1980


This is a re-post, but Folk in Hell! This re-edited,remastered,320kbps version is rather good.
There's not much bad musicianship on offer here,but there are plenty of varied but competent compositions for all, in clear sounding lo-fi.splendour.
Beginning with the flawless Mark P's robotic peon to the easy life,”Make it easy” yeah! Followed by two or three ,fashionable in 1980 ,white reggae/ska hybrid things,even including one by The Astronauts!? Tuneful Anarcho-punk from the excellent Mob, DIY anti-popcraft from The Instant Automatons, Electronica by Steve lake,nu folk-punk by the Celebrated Workmen, hippie kraut prog crossover from Here and Now, and even ten minutes of full-on Jazz Fusion improv by Grosse Catastrophe (any Gong members in this one par chance?).
Probably the most consistent Fuck Off Records compilation,just lacking a Danny and the Dressmakers, or an 012 to make it perfect.

Track Listing: 

Side One:
MARK PERRY - Take It Easy / A PENCIL - The Advertiser / THE MOB - No Doves Fly Here / THE ASTRONAUTS - Behave Yourself / IMPOSSIBLE DREAMERS - After Dark / TASMIN - Sailor / VINCE PIE AND THE CRUMBS - My Gal
 

Side Two:
NO COMMENT - Did You Really Think / CELEBRATED WORKMEN - Blackleg Mine / ANDROIDS OF MU - Jungle Beast / STEVE LAKE - Dancing / INSTANT AUTOMATIONS - Gillian Is Normal / MURPHY FEDERATION - Lynch Party / HERE AND NOW - Nudge Up Double Delux / GROSSE CATASTROPE - Dinosaur Sandwich / SIR ALIAS - A Is For Artist


Monday 14 July 2014

Various Artists ‎– "What Happens When We Sing A Song?" (Music For Midgets/ LMU ‎– M.F.M.14 / Free 001) 1980



The Glitteratti ,or, the Shiteratti, of the London Musicians union take us through the paces of their roughly hewn semi-improv styles, for free,on this free cassette of live recordings of free music.

The london Musicians Union, was the UK capital's equivalent of the Manchester Musicians Collective, and The los Angeles Free Music Society.

And what an array of UK DIY prime movers we have captured on tape; The Door and the Window, David Toop, Bendle, nag,Giblet,Mark Perry, Dennis Burns,and much more; definitely not available in shops.

Worth the zero pence price of admission alone, are the two exclusive tracks from ATV's Mark Perry, which were probably improvised specially for this performance.

A sense of humour is always present with any UK DIY release, a proud national trait, and its most evident with Nag's ,unrecognisable,solo covers of “Oh Bondage! Up Yours” and “Why Don't We Do It In The Road?”. Mischievously slaying two sacred cows with one performance, The Sixties and the New Wave. Rip it up and start again, in practice.

As it says on the cover:
"This Tape may be copied,swapped,or sold(at cost price) by anyone."

Now in 320kbps lo-fi hi-fidelity!

Tracklist:

A1 Door And The Window       Pokerville
A2 Nag Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
A3 Nag On Bondage Up Yours
A4 Casual Labourers Eanna's Returning
A5 Casual Labourers Out Of Control
A6 Casual Labourers Something From Nothing
B1 Mark Perry Death Looks Down
B2 Mark Perry Sound Of Music
B3 Mark Perry Sorrow Cried Blood
B4 Door And The Window Lust
B5 Door And The Window Swinga