Hoosier Daddies

Posted on March 22, 2013 by

gizmos1Our regular readers may recall the earthy (and unearthly) delights of last summer’s Crap Punk Reggae Week, and given the high quality material we’ve served up since then I feel a stinker is in order. The imaginatively-titled Reggae Song by The Gizmos will do very nicely.

These flared-trousered nincompoops surfaced from the garages of Bloomington, Indiana in 1976 to inflict their brand of frat boy pillockery upon the record-buying public with the likes of Muff Divin’, Gimme Back My Foreskin and Pumpin’ to Playboy, and boy howdy, I wish they hadn’t. The sort of bottom-of-the-barrel bandwagon jumpers often held up as ‘proto-punks’ because they sang slightly risqué songs before the Sex Pistols became famous, The Gizmos could perhaps be described more accurately as an inept Lynyrd Skynyrd.

gizmos2By contrast to much of their other material, 1980’s Reggae Song is actually not that bad, though it is by no means what you would call ‘good’ either. The overall impression is that of a track that started out as a piss-take and turned into a semi-legitimate stab at reggae somewhere along the way.

gizmos3

It is unclear as to when this band of merry men finally called it a day, though at some point in the early 80s main Gizmos Eddie Flowers and Rich Coffee relocated to LA to pursue careers in various low rent garage bands associated with the Sympathy for the Record Industry label.

Probably a safer bet than their reggae outings, at any rate…

(Dread Zed)

And here is a freshly shorn and tight-trousered Gizmos with a punked up version of Al Green’s Take Me to the River from 1977 (gotta love the bike in the foreground):

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Thatcher In The Rye

Posted on March 12, 2013 by

dole1I’m afraid a dangerously busy few weeks on our respective continents have rendered Tom and me neglectful of our SBB duties – but as this is largely down to our creating skanky sounds of our own, I hope we can be excused.

In accord with our recent spiky dread adventures Out West, I think that one more slice of Thatcher-baiting roots wizardry from Bristol is in order before we move on to new climes, this one brought to us by the palpably capable boys of Talisman.

dole2Probably the most commercially successful of the Bristol reggae groups, Talisman seemed to wow virtually everyone they came into contact with, a talent which earned them some savvy management, numerous TV appearances, and gigs/tours with everyone from The Clash to The Rolling Stones.

Maddeningly for them however, their rise to prominence occurred just as major labels were starting to close their doors to new reggae acts, and the deal the band had once thought inevitable would, sadly, never materialize.

dole3Apt then, perhaps, that the record on our punky reggae turntable for today is Talisman’s achingly poignant paean to hard times – 1981’s Dole Age. Beginning as the protagonist’s weary plea for free entry into a gig, and eventually giving way to outright condemnation of darling Maggie as a ‘criminal’, Dole Age all too perfectly encapsulates the hopelessness of youth at a time when youthful hopelessness was very much the order of the day.

With its languid one-drop beat flanked by melancholy horns and merry-go-round organ, the music of Dole Age alone suggests a weary smile and two fingers in the face of adversity, imbuing the track both with great strength and almost heartbreaking fragility.

dole4Unsurprisingly the song’s themes resonated deeply with punks as well as reggae fans at the time and Talisman swiftly gained popularity in the punk community, frequently sharing bills with the likes of Killing Joke, Bauhaus, Bow Wow Wow and The Damned.

Despite a turbulent working relationship – the result of which was an almost constantly revolving door of band members – Talisman managed to outlive most of their reggae contemporaries, and kept the fires burning until 1991 before finally calling it a day.

dole5As of 2011 the band is back together, with an album of new material scheduled for release very soon. For today however, we present their fabulous maiden single – in many ways just as relevant today to the political climate as it was then. Enjoy.

If you liked that, you’ll love the extended dubbed-out version:

And finally a belting live version of the b-side, Free Speech, circa 1984:

(Dread Zed)

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A Flux In 3D

Posted on February 7, 2013 by

3D1I’ve been meaning to delve back into Bristol’s richly-appointed reggae cache for a while now, and since I recently uncovered a record which concerns both Bristol and riots this seems like the perfect follow-up to Tom’s last entry.

Given reggae’s profound influence on Bristolian punk it was inevitable that some cross-pollination would occur, and there are few finer examples of this than Riot by the woefully short-lived 3D Production.

3D2Something of a minor supergroup, the band included members of renowned roots outfits The Radicals and Black Roots, though with very little info available about their 3D incarnation it’s hard to say what inspired them to collaborate.

Opening with a cacophony of breaking glass and the ubiquitous police siren, Riot sets an uncomfortable journey through war-torn Babylon to an insistent steppers rhythm reminiscent of some of post-punk’s darker dub explorations (Sir Horatio’s brooding Sommadub in particular springs to mind).

3D3The infamous disturbance that is the subject of 3D’s one and only single was a so-called “race riot” that took place in the largely Afro-Caribbean community of St. Paul’s roughly one year into Milk-snatcher Thatcher’s reign – though, as is often the case, race had far less to do with it than the rampant poverty and inequality that would continue to plague the area until very recently.

It is often said, however, that great art is born out of unrest, and let me tell you – this one’s a corker:

And here’s the equally corking dub on the flip. Despite the title, it appears to be a dub of a completely different track:

(Dread Zed)

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