Demonstration Tapes

Dolly Mixture had one final release up their collective sleeves. In 1984 they released a very limited double lp set in a plain white sleeve, handstamped and autographed with four solid sides of various demos they'd recorded over their four year existence. A solid thousand were released into the wild. I've never seen a copy myself.

 Demonstration Tapes (1984/1995)

However, not long after I'd purchased the three singles from the previous post I read that there was a reissue on Royal Mint. But alas, it was nowhere to be found on my side of the Atlantic and inquiring after it only got me puzzled looks by the various record store clerks I asked.

Fortunately for me I had a brief correspondence at the time with Stewart Anderson of Boyracer and at some point the idea of some record swapping came up. I ended up tracking down a couple of Lp's from Hasil Adkins for him and he sent me this. I think I actually came out on the better end of that deal. This came and went in a flash just as quick as the original. (and copies on Discogs are priced at over $75.) It was reissued again by a German label in an edition of 300 in 2010 using the original stamp and also autographed. These are also priced at a premium for some reason.

The band itself for their part that same year put out a limited 3 cd box with everything they recorded called "Everything and More" which is pretty high on my want list....

Adorableness

It's rather unfortunate that if the Dolly Mixture are remembered for anything these days it's that they appeared on Captain Sensible's unfortunate recording of "Happy Talk" which brought him some success that he's still trying to live down. But even he has bills to pay, so I can't begrudge him a hit with a dreadful novelty cover.

Been Teen (1981)

This is the second of four singles and a 12" that they released in their lifetime. But they did record quite a bit apparently based on the amount of stuff that has come out since then. But still they remain  as ever absurdly obscure.

 

Everything and More (1982)

It's a shame. This is such sweet pop music.

 

Remember This (1983)

Fourth and final single. One more 12" on Cordelia Records (label of the Deep Freeze Mice) and they were done for the most part. The B-side is a bit of a departure from previous efforts with a bit of chamber style music and cello, but I personally don't have any issues with that. As it is two people on Discogs apparently think this one is worth over a hundred American dollars. I'd argue, but I only paid a buck apiece for the three so I'm pretty sure I got a good buy no matter how you shake it out.

 

Is It Really Spring?

Perhaps when this posts.
Not right now as I type this.
As I actually type this it's dead fucking Winter and we're not even past the Solstice yet, so the days are still getting even shorter.

Here's a couple more things for you on the other side...

1979 - Science Fiction (Bay You're So)

For a couple of years I did a Monday night thing spinning singles at a local watering hole with a friend to little notice and a couple of free drinks. But when I did occasionally play the A-side here, someone would inevitably feel the need to come and inquire about it. Take that as a recommendation.

 

1983 - Powdered Lover

I really had no fucking clue what this single was when I forked my dollar over for it. I liked the cover and it was within my timeline of things I buy. It was money well spent.

A Missed Opportunity

I usually try and pair singles up with something in common even if I have to stretch it a bit to make it fit somehow. The previous post paired up a couple of bands from New York. That was easy. But too late now (because I'm too lazy to rewrite anything. Fuck, I barely proofread.) I realize I could have had a sweet match up of 3 Initial Bandnames as DNA dukes it out with DMZ.

Oh well, hindsight etc....

 

(rec. 1976) - First Time is the Best Time

DMZ were one of Boston's original punk rock bands, playing a souped up, amped up version of classic American Garage in the mid-late 70's. Leader, Jeff "Mono Man" Conolly would go on from DMZ to head the Lyres who did kind of the same thing, but concentrated on utilizing 60's Garage as the basic blueprint to work with. Both bands were very good at what they did.

This is yet another song about convincing a girl to have sex only this time with a really terrible lie. It's paired with a cover of the Flamin' Groovies "Teenage Head". There might be a theme there.  

 

1977 - DMZ ep

They recorded this 7" for Bomp! records in 1977. It's raw, rough, fast and garagey. It's got a cover of the 13th Floor Elevators. It's the sound of the start of something good. It got them a major record label deal with Sire, the label that had the Ramones & Talking Heads etc..

Unfortunately for DMZ the record came sounding out about as good as the cover looked. Kind of terrible. Sometimes you can not like a record at the time and go back to it years later and it sounds much better than it did the first time you heard it, not this one. I can't even explain it. They play the shit out of the songs, but somehow the production makes it seem awful & dull like Steve Albini recorded it instead of Flo & Eddie. It's too clean sounding or something. I don't know. It's the sound of so much lost potential.

This is the realer deal.

Two Contemporaneous NYC Musical Experiences

New York. Big city that smells bad. Lots of bands from there. here are two.

1978 - DNA

For a brief period of time there existed a thing that record store clerks like to call No Wave which was essentially an artsy fartsy reaction to regular music by making essentially anti-music and being as underground as possible and being able to sneer at people who hear it and say that it's terrible noise with an exasperated " You just don't get it" while you stand around trying to look bored/cool and hoping somebody sees you at the next Richard Kern movie premiere. 

I would have fit right in in my 20's.

 

1980 - Dizzy and the Romilars

Meanwhile in another part of the city are the smelly little pop merchants ever plying their dusty wares to indifferent throngs who only came out to the bar to get laid. Toiling over their Farfisas hoping one day to be picked from the shadows and be given an opportunity to open for the Big Leagues when  alas, they're destined instead for the dustheap of obscurity. 

But at least there were beer tickets.

Two things about this single that add to its entertainment value. It came with a insert (not scanned because I didn't feel like it and nobody ever leaves comments anyway and probably doesn't even bother to read the stupid shit I type.) which you can cut and fold into your very own Dizzy and the Romilars cough medicine box you could conceivably use for your Xanax stash. Secondly there is included a fexi disc with their version of David Bowie's "TVC 15" from his "Station to Station" lp where he was so coked up at the time he doesn't even remember making it. Presumably giving away the flexi frees them from having to provide Mr. Bowie royalties, which he may or may not have actually needed in the days between his cocaine habit and "Let's Dance".

This is a Bad Record.

When I say it's a bad record, I don't mean it in the 70's slang sense that it's actually a good record or a badass record. It's just not very good.

But.

And the but here is important. It's really good Bad Record in that it's entirely entertainingly bad like a low budget horror flick. It's terrible, but you still come away with  some enjoyment in wallowing in it's terribleness.

Ladies and Gents, the Chiefs of Relief

1988 - Chiefs of Relief

Kind of like Big Audio Dynamite's less attractive sister, the Chiefs of Relief were formed by the core of Bow Wow Wow with the addition of ex-Sex Pistol Paul Cook on drums. They attempted to combine elements of  rock and then current hip hop and electronics into large scale party anthems.

I mean, just look at that cover. I do not think it possible to make an album cover that better encapsulates the horror of the latter portion of the 80's. But damn, if this isn't wonderfully bad.

My only real encounter with this group was a rainy night in early fall of probably 1987. Love and Rockets (the remains of Bauhaus) were playing at the Metro that night. everybody who was anybody was going to that show. My roommate Bruce and I weren't anybody. We went to the Rat to see Chiefs of Relief without having any idea of what they sounded like. All we knew was that we'd be able to be in the same room as one of the Sex Pistols. We were mesmerized. The guitarist/vocalist didn't ever do them both at the same time. It was not even slightly punk rock. It was terrible, but we had a great time anyway.

Add "Freedom to Rock" to your next party mix. You probably won't regret it.

Probably.

Charlie Dold

A few pretty early releases for the Bus Stop label.



These sound like home 4-track recordings so at 1991 they'd be really early to that party which wouldn't really start being a thing for at least a couple more years, if my powers of recall are anything. I don't even think the concept of Lo-fi even existed. But then I wouldn't reall consider these to be Lo-fi. Maybe Mid-fi.

1991 - Sins on my Shoulders

I'm not totally sure how I feel about Charlie Dold. I like the songs for the most part, but his voice isn't really my cup of tea/poison. It seems like he's trying just a bit too hard and pushing his voice into a range and keys that don't quite suit it. But he sounds like he means it. I don't doubt that he was a copy shop dude.

 

1991 - Any Poet's Dream

I think the title track here is one of those love songs that likely didn't get him laid. It's a bit much. But the other two tracks settle in for some good times. He's learned to work the 4-track better. We're on the right track.

 

1992 - Waiting on Mercury

An actual band at last.  Earnest Midwest pop rocking.

 

April Fools

Meh. I got nothing.

Have a couple from the great state of New Zealand

 1991 - Bill Direen & the Builders

Bill Direen is hard to describe. He's been making interesting music since the dawn of time along with theater and writing and god knows what else. He's one stop art shopping. And he seems like the kind of guy who just does it all and doesn't give a fuck if anybody pays attention or not. He's just going to do it anyway.
On this one he does a redux of "Alien" from his "Six Impossible Things" 7" (of which 100 were pressed I have been told) with Chris Knox and Mike Dooley who were together in the seminal NZ bands Toy Love & the Enemy. The band trees of all three participants are long and complicated and I'm hungry. You can investigate that shit on your own dime. It's worth it.

On the other side the song is "Skulls" and he's joined by Alan Meek who was in a few incarnations of the Bilders/Builders as well as the Victor Dimisich Band and the Vacuum. (You have some googling to do, my friend.)

 

1995 - Dimmer

This is Shayne Carter post-Straitjacket Fits and in his youth a member of the Doublehappys. It's instrumental. It's on SubPop. Let that be your guide.