Sabotage - When The War Is Over

Now I had this one ready to go, but was beaten to the post by Longy on his new and excellent blog "Punk Friction". This was another donation from Stuart Blackaller and is the debut single from Sabotage and the first punk release from Plymouth (unless anyone knows any others). So as Stuart took the time to rip this and scan the covers and I had written this post, I thought why not post it here as well. So check out "Punk Frictions" post and try this one and choose whichever rip you prefer.

Sabotage were a four piece band, with Mark on vocals, Knobby on bass, Rod on lead guitar and Mike on Drums (its all on the back cover). According to Stuart this single did get airplay on the John Peel show, and he liked their second single (hopefully coming soon) so much that he offered them a session, but by then the bass player had left and they literally couldn't be bothered to keep going.

So what do you get, two tracks release on the Optimistic label in 1979. On the a-side you get "When the War Is Over", starts with a classic thumping drum beat and then the guitar riff, and an even more thumping bass (it sounds like Knobby the bass guitarist managed had control of the mixing desk). You even get a bit of echo on the vocals, what more could you want. The b-side "silently screaming" is another gem, not quite as good as the a-side but not far off

Band: Sabotage
Label: Optimistic
Year: 1979
Tracks:
1. When The War Is Over
2. Silently Screaming

Ripped from glorious scratched vinyl.

Sabotage - Subterfuge EP

Another gem from Stuart Blackaller, Sabotage's second and final single is a four track ep again on Optimistic and released in 1980.

This is the one mentioned in the previous post, which impressed John Peel but by the time he offered them a session they had given up playing. Shame they didn't get to the Peel session, but hey two singles is more than many bands from this era achieved.

On this release the band has now grown to a five piece, Mark Davis is still on vocals, Mike Vosper still on drums and of course Knobby still on bass (looks like someone else is looking after the mixing desk this time) and then it looks a though Rod was replaced by Andy Sliwa on lead and Ritichie (no last name) joined on guitar.

So this EP consists of 4 tracks, all a-sides, and the tracks merge into each other so you need to play each side back to back if you want a smooth intro (I have included Stuarts original rips which have each track joined together as well as all four tracks separated for people who like to see them individually in iTunes - sad I know) . This is a much more accomplished recording, but in many ways I prefer the raw and rough recording of their debut single. But you can see why John Peel was taken by this. The stand-out track for me is "Cold Girl", I love the guitar riff and the way it merges in from "Standing Alone", so you try them and tell ASFM what you think of this EP (and of course leave a comment thanking Stuart for sharing this one).

Band: Sabotage
Label: Optimistic
Year: 1980
Tracks:
1. Standing Alone
2. Cold Girl
3. Subterfuge
4. Split Personality

Ripped from Stuarts glorious scratched vinyl.