Germs- GI (1979)

Germs Incognito, the sole LP offering of the Los Angeles band. Singer Darby Crash committed suicide by heroin overdose on December 7, 1980.

Darby Crash- vocals
Pat Smear- guitars, backing vocals
Lorna Doom- bass, backing vocals
Don Bolles- drums, backing vocals

Flux of Pink Indians- Strive to Survive Causing the Least Suffering Possible (1983)

I've posted this before, a dodgy rip.
Here's a vinyl rip @ 320.
A classic of its kind.

The Dead Kennedys

Fair play- there's a couple of clips from this session on Youtube- and to my mind they represent the high point of the punk genre.

Siouxsie and the Banshees- Once Upon A Time/ The Singles (1981)

Lovely!

Erazerhead- Shell Shock 7" (1982)

Ramones clones from London. The A-side is a little too long at two minutes thirty...Keen eyed readers will notice that Erazerhead spelled their name differently from the title of David Lynch's dark masterpiece Eraserhead. In case he sued, apparently.

Celia and The Mutations- Mony Mony- You Better Believe Me 7" (1977)

Manager of The Stranglers sees a 'posh' woman singing in a restaurant. Thinks wouldn't it be funny - posh woman dirty macho band combination? 2 singles (only JJB on the second; fuck knows who the other 'Young' or 'Fabulous' Mutations (as they were billed ) were). Great punk name, actually derived from Ben Johnson's Volpone(1606) - typical Stranglers- nothing quite what it at first appears. Records not too bad- shortish, fastish, R&B ish- The Stranglers instantly recognisable of course...

The Clash- Black Market Clash 10" (1980)

I've been listening to this record for two thirds of my life now- and a fair number of low grade stylii have ploughed their way around it. This is a vinyl rip of the Epic Nudisk USA 10" import.

Crass- The Feeding of the 5000 The Second Sitting (1981)

A nice clean vinyl rip of a record that sounds surprisingly fresh. This was a repressing of the 1978 debut that included the previously surpressed Asylum.


So, with our entire stage set on record... the music press were able to commence on the barrage of attack that has followed us throughout the years. They hated it and us and their loathing positively overflowed. It is not grandiose to claim that we have been one of the most influential bands in the history of British rock, true we have not greatly influenced music itself, but our effect on broader social issues has been enormous. From the start the media has attempted to ignore us and only when its hand has been forced by circumstances has it grudgingly given us credence. It's all fairly simple, if you don't play their game, that is commercial exploitation, they won't play yours.

Penny Rimbaud

Who? What? Why? When? Where? (1984)

Printed on the cover: There is absolutely NO reason for this LP to cost more than £3.50...
When, in 1984, Conflict left Crass to establish their own Mortarhate label they carried on many of the traditions of their mentors, providing gritty anarcho punk at pocket money prices and giving vinyl exposure to smaller, often D.I.Y bands.

What we have here is a very good compilation LP.

Along with the usual frenzied thrash we have Moet the Poet with something resembling synthpop, the angry feminist jazz of Toxic Shock and Know the Drill with a more gothic sound that should appeal to fans of Southern Death Cult. But if its the original crusty stuff you're after there's flagons of it here.

This is a vinyl rip of the 1984 release. I gather that there was a CD issue in 2003, same tracks but with a tidy booklet. No booklet here but the authentic crackle of the cider fuelled wrath of the Thatcher years. Firm historical orientation is provided Conflicts opener, Cruise, which I'm sure some people will insist was about the diminuative star of 1983's Risky Business rather than the ballistic missiles that President Reagan planted in the UK.

Punk

Punk anthologies tend to be flawed in the following ways:
They exclude important acts such as The Clash, The Sex Pistols and The Ramones (contractual reasons are usually cited).
They don’t know where to begin.
They don’t know where to stop.
They include a lot of ‘new wave’ pop music that whilst touched by punk was not really punk (what is punk? submit your definitions here please…).
Seriously- let's have some debate on this folks...
This compilation is pretty good. Here I state opinion as though it was fact.
Its real strength lies in the presence of a lot of proto punk, plus there are tracks from 'all' the major bands of 76-78.
The point is stretched when it comes to the inclusion of Joy Division- but that’s about as far off on a tangent as we are taken. Having said that Steel Pulse are here, but I can understand the inclusion of a reggae track as reggae was a vital part of the punk scene.
There’s no Oi (unless you count Sham 69), nothing gothic, no anarcho punk and none of the so called second wave stuff.
This was released as a companion to a book .

Velvet Underground- White Light White Heat
Mc5- Kick Out The Jams
Iggy And The Stooges- Search And Destroy
New York Dolls- Personality Crisis
Jonathon Richman And The Modern Lovers- Roadrunner
Kilburn And The High Roads- Rough Kids
Ramones- Blitzkrieg Bop
The Damned- New Rose
The Saints- I’m Stranded
Buzzcocks- Boredom
The Clash- White Riot
Sex Pistols- God Save The Queen
Johnny Thunders And The Heartbreakers- Chinese Rocks
The Vibrators- Baby Baby
Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance
The Adverts- Gary Gilmore’s Eyes
The Stranglers- No More Heroes
Generation X- Day By Day
John Cooper Clarke- Psycle Sluts
The Jam- Modern World



Blondie- Rip Her To Shreds
Suicide- Cheree
Dead Boys – Sonic Reducer
Sham 69- Borstal Breakout
Devo- Jocko Homo
Throbbing Gristle- Zyklon B Zombie
The Only Ones- Another Girl Another Planet
Sid Vicious- My Way
Siouxsie And The Banshees- Hong Kong Garden
The Undertones- Teenage Kicks
Public Image Ltd- Public Image
Subway Sect- Ambition
Stiff Little Fingers- Alternative Ulster
The Members- Sound Of The Suburbs
Steel Pulse- Ku Klax Klan
The Ruts- Babylons Burning
Joy Division- She’s Lost Control
Adam And The Ants- Zerox
The Slits- New Town
James White- Contort Yourself

The Adicts- This Is Your Life (1984)

Remember the TV show This Is Your Life, the red book?

This is a compilation album from Suffolk droogs The Adicts. The Adicts enjoyed great popularity in the early 80's and are one of the bands that have continued to bash out their energetic brand of Oi/ streetpunk for thirty years.

These boys have something of a Clockwork Orange fixation.
This LP brings together some of the the band's earliest recordings from 1978-1980, and includes tracks recorded for John Peel Sessions broadcast in November 1979.

This is a vinyl rip of the 1984 Fallout records release.

Keith 'Monkey' Warren - vocals
Mel Ellis - bass
Pete Dee Davison - guitar
Michael 'Kid' Dee Davison - drums

Гражданская Оборона -Оптимизм (1985)

Recorded at the same time as Поганая молодёжь in a period of frenzied experimentation. One discarded title was История Омского Панка, часть 2-я (History of Omsk Punk Vol. 2).
This is very lo-fi whilst being poppier than its companion LP.
Letov recalled that at this juncture the band’s career was …Ended all by the fact that the group at the end of 1985 was pitilessly driven away by state punitive organs, me they forcibly sent into the crazy house, Kuzma - into the army…
So these guys really did suffer for their art and had to put up with a bit more than sneers from disapproving elders.
Great album.
With thanks to the lovely Natasha.

Егор Летов (Yegor Letov) - voice, guitar, bass, ‘striking’ (a reference to the simple percussion employed – a hi- hat nailed to a plank and one drum);
Кузя УО (Kuzya UO) - bass, guitar, voice;
Валерий Рожков (Valerie Rozhkov) - flute.

гражданская оборона- Поганая Молодёжь (1985)

Гражданская Оборона was formed in the Siberian town of Omsk in the early 1980’s. Yegor Letov (1964-2008), the only constant member in their prolific career, was the godfather of Soviet/ Russian punk music (despite getting to look more like one of the Freak Bros. with the passing years).
The band’s name translates as civil defence and was often abbreviated to ГрОб (coffin), or simply ГO.
Early material such as this, their first album, 1985's Поганая Молодёжь (pronounced poganaya molodej and translating as Nasty Youth) was distributed via magnitizdat, an underground network for sharing music that was officially suppressed.
Early in his musical career Letov was committed to a mental hospital, and later allegedly contended with such obstacles as the KGB cutting off the power supply when he appeared on stage. Western suburban punks could only dream of such things!
The sound here is rough street punk (there’s even a few oi oi ois), with the occasional hints at Russian folk influences (those mournful minor keys). Quality wise it sounds like one of those demo tapes you might have made with your mates in the early eighties, which is essentially what it is.

Anti-Pasti- No Government (1980-1984)

The so called second wave of Punk ( although in reality it was the how manyth wave?) bracketed together a number of diverse bands. Discharge were quite anarcho pacifist and laid the foundations for more extreme genres such as grindcore; The Exploited were mucky Bash Street Kids types... Anti- Pasti were, on reflection, a no nonsense band who had a great name that baffled many. What these groups shared was a three chord up and at 'em approach. No Government by Anti- Pasti became the song for garage bands to cover- simplicity itself.

This is a collection of their singles.

We Do 'Em Our Way (1980)

An anonymous reader kindly pointed out that the link to this was dead- due to an oversight on my part back in March when I was just getting into the swing of this blogging caper.


So here's the whole thing with a fresh link:

Fond memories of this little £2.50 gem, which we played endlessly in my mate Rob's bedroom in 1980. As far as I am aware this was the Music For Pleasure label's only real foray into the world of the 'new wave'*. What we have is a selection of punk and punkish groups, some very well known, some not so well known, playing covers of fifties and sixties hits.

Sex Pistols- Rock Around The Clock
Devo- Satisfaction
The Golant Pistons- Friday On My Mind
Sex Pistols- Stepping Stone
Those Helicopters- World Without Love
The Hollywood Brats- Then He Kissed Me
The Flying Lizards- Money
The Slits- I Heard It Through The Grapevine
The Stranglers- Walk On By
The Hammersmith Gorillas- You Really Got Me
UK Subs- She’s Not There
The Dickies- Nights In White Satin

* I was wrong, of course, they featured Blondie and the Stiff label acts.

The Clash- The Magnificent Seven 7” (1981)

When we came to the U.S., Mick stumbled upon a music shop in Brooklyn that carried the music of Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, the Sugar Hill Gang...these groups were radically changing music and they changed everything for us. —Joe Strummer

The American novelist Thomas Wolfe made the distinction between putter inners and leaver outers. (Wolfe was a putter inner; he died leaving a stack of unsorted manuscripts almost two meters tall). By the time they reached the Sandinista era The Clash had definitely become putter inners.
1977’s The Clash was 35 minutes long, carrying no excess weight. Three years down the road they gave us a three disc 144 minute sprawl. This rather funky single was released in 1981. The bass was provided by Norman Watt- Roy of The Blockheads and Joe Strummer composed the lyrics on the spot.
This is worth downloading just for the authentic pub-jukebox vinyl crackle…

The Only Alternative (1982)

This punk compilation came from Rondolet Records and featured some of the hardcore bands who were coming onto the scene at the time. Pretty raw stuff, bursting with energy, buzzsaw guitars and much vitriol being vented against Thatcher and the cops.
Anti Pasti are the biggest name here. The Fits are bloody great. Amongst all this is a different kind of chaos- a psychobilly number from Catwax.
Ripped from vinyl.

Yr Anhrefn- Seshwn John Peel, Gorffenaf 23, 1986

Yn y tyfiant o ddiddordeb yn Cerddoriaeth Byd yn yr wythdegau, ynghyd ag agwedd John Peel ' I just want to hear something I haven't heard before' fe ddaeth cerddoriaeth Cymraeg I cynylleidfa fwy eiang. Ar Gorffenaf 23 1986 fe gafwyd y seshwn cyntaf yn yr iaeth Gymraeg ar rhaglen John Peel, gan y grwp Yr Anhrefn o Fangor.



Diolch i Rob E Huws.

Llygod Ffyrnig -NCB 7" (1978)

Here we have the first Welsh language punk record.
Llygod Ffyrnig formed in Llanelli in December 1977.
Schooldays= oppression.
Bright spots= things like this record.
A boy with Llygod Ffyrnig written in chalk on the back of his blazer...
For younger readers NCB was the National Coal Board- the state run coalmining industry in the UK from 1946-1994.

Gary Beard- guitar
Julian Lewis- drums
Hywel Peckham- guitar
Dafydd Rhys- vocals
Pete Williams- bass

No Choice- Sadist Dream 7" (1983)

I was going to write that No Choice were a punk band from Cardiff/ Bridgend in Wales, but having done my homework I see that it's are... a surprising number of groups from that era are still around ( hats off to my old buddies Foreign Legion). you can check both these bands out on MySpace...
So:
No Choice are a punk band from South Wales
This cracking 7" could almost serve as a sampler of the punk scene in those apocalyptic times- anarcho pacificist themes and to finish it off a blistering streetpunk number.
There's a tiny brain cell flying around in my head somewhere telling me I saw them supporting UK Subs in Swansea in '83. Also on the bill were Dead on Arrival who later became...Foreign Legion.