Following Up and Bitching and Closing Out the Year

 
So I'm pretty invested in Discogs if you haven't already gotten that impression.
It's been my pandemic lifeline for obsessive collecting/hoarding that I've been doing for the last few years now. I have my collection marked off on there as well and that's saved me quite a bit of money not buying things I've already got that I forgot about.

Then I have the other Minnesota based version of this shit show and I'm always prowling around town now that things have opened up a bit for fodder for that one. Quite frequently I end up finding some tiny self released item that isn't on Discogs which being the good Do-bee that I am I dutifully type out and add to the database.

Now despite the haphazard way I type out these posts I do try and follow basic rules when adding things on Discogs. Decent scans and band credits as best I can. I also follow the "Elements of Style" concept of capitalization. First and last words, but not "a", "and", "the" and conjunctions and the like. Basic English 101 type shit.

Discogs guidelines prefers every word to be capitalized. 

And I ignore them because the guidelines are wrong. 

I capitalize the way God, Strunk and White intended. I also use "your" and "you're" correctly, know the difference between "it's" and "its", and defend the Oxford comma.

Meanwhile there is one anal retentive "guidelines are rules" mod on there who has made it their mission to harass me about not capitalizing everything. They sent me 33 Dms about this on things I've uploaded in the last few months just the other day.

I troll him back, but it still really irks me that this bozo gets a credit on things I've found and uploaded for simply changing a few stray prepositions to capitals.

That's my bitch for the night.

Dark Park Creeping (1980)

The Mo-dettes.
Somewhere previously the other singles got posted here. Here's the one that I didn't have at the time. It's quite possibly my favorite now that I do have it.
Now's your chance.

Kingdom of Jones (1991)

Geesh, We have to all the way back to concurrent posts in 2017 to find the other stuff this is following up. The Grifters. A band I liked, but got kind of the short end of the Indie stick it seems.

Triple Play

 

Listening to records. Typing about other records.

I still have a pile of nearly 50 singles in the "New Arrivals" pile in front of the turntable going back to last Fall. There was a solid couple of months when I was sick that crap like that took a back seat to convalescence.
Then I went on a couple of stress buying binges and found a lot of NOS copies of local stuff for the other blog (Swinging Singles Club MN) which I've been concentrating on mostly because this one was queued up so far in advance that there wasn't any sense of urgency to add to it.

Then there's the obsessive collector problem of things being incomplete which has started plaguing me more in my heightened stress levels from the past few years. I've had stuff sitting around waiting until I found those last few items that would make complete discographies. As a consequence there's a bunch of good stuff waiting around for that other single or the sole Lp.

Tonight's a "Fuck it" night.

These have been sitting around and it's all I've got, I can't find copies in the US and UK imports are much more than they're worth. And I'm not going to sit on them any longer. If I eventually find the rest, I'll post it then.

So here's three out of five singles by the Mo-Dettes.

 

 White Mice (1979)

Their first single was an indie chart hit right out of the gate with a cheap video made and everything.

There is nothing to dislike about that

Paint It Black (1980)

Third single was a stab at the Rolling Stones chestnut which was nice.

(Especially since the Stones themselves were in the first stages of what would become a slow descent into the pits of suck that would eventually culminate in horrors like "Harlem Shuffle" (which in itself is a cover) and that bane of dollar bins everywhere "Bridges to Babylon")

I like this better than anything on the contemporary "Emotional Rescue".
Suck it, Mick.

Tonight (1981)

Their penultimate single, though it was the last of new music and just following their sole Lp release. There'd be a live single as a last hurrah.

They're very 1981 fashionable on the cover though.
I dunno.
I got nothing.

You'd never know it but this whole post has taken well over an hour to get together to even this point because I'm digitizing singles at the same time and have to get up every few minutes to flip a record and run it through the restoration software so future posts don't sound as shit as previous ones like this one.

Plus I'm getting hungry.

I think I'm going to finish up the Spectres "This Strange Effect"(featuring former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock covering the Kinks) and call it a night knowing that now that I have both Spectres 45s they can finally be posted at some point in the future I feel like it and get back to the bulk of the 45s where it lies in state in "Sp". (I last left off at "Mo" and need to catch the 12" side up to it as well and that's a lot of Mancini records in between.)

I Don't Know. Stuff.

 
I got this lined up before I realized that the 13th compilation day was yesterday.

Who cares.

Angry Young Woman (1980)

Didi Stewart & the Amplifiers. Boston, MA. 

There's a fine line between what some would call Punk vs. New Wave vs. Rock and this is kind of all of that thrown together in a nice black and white sleeve.

I can imagine these folks going over well enough at the time to small crowds.

These days Didi Stewart is a vocal teacher at Berklee. Good for her.

Life changing, not so much. Nice sonic postcard of a time and place and what it sounded like, absolutely.

Box Set (1989)

The Snivelling Shits.

Ok first we need to admire the absolute wonderful punk rock hilarity that is the name alone.

Secondly we need to acknowledge the genius of the song "I Can't Come". 

It's what happens when you let music journalists make punk rock.

This 1989 box contained a postcard, a couple of stickers, a badge and this 3 song 7" record which isn't the single as originally released but three previously unreleased demo versions that sound just as poorly recorded and half assed as the regular version. Though the compressed mosquito buzz of the guitar on the demo "I Can't Come" is more preferential to me than what got released at the time.

Compilations & Other Things to Embarrass People With

I swear I have a shit ton of indiepop in the pipeline..

Marty Thau Presents 2x5 (1980)

1.“Shadow Line” Fleshtones
2.“Fascination” Fleshtones
3. “Bloodless Pharaoh” Bloodless Pharaohs
4.“Nowhere Fast” Bloodless Pharaohs
5.“Overseas” Comateens
6.“Late Night Cry” Comateens
7.“Red Hot Women” Revelons
8.“Cindy” Revelons
9.“Looks” Student Teachers
10.“What I Can’t Feel” Student Teachers

Ok, you can never embarrass the Fleshtones because there's no shame in being consistently awesome.

However if you ever run into Brian Setzer you can always hum a few bars of "Nowhere Fast" by his pre-Stray Cats band, Bloodless Pharaohs. It's really hilariously terrible.

Student Teachers had a single on Ork Records. That's a heavy recommendation.

Comateens are/were. I have no feelings of animosity or love.
 I'm feeling very neutral. (Tell my wife, hello)

Not Quite the Same, But Close Enough

I can't help it.

I like patterns.

So here we are again.

Massachusetts vs. California in the 80s.

Round 3.

 The Spirit's Still There (1984)

Boston. A bit Goth.

These guys were the first local band I ever saw back in high school. Some friends and I hopped into somebody's parent's car and drove into the city for our first ever all ages show at someplace in probably Allston. (I seem to vaguely think it was in an empty storefront somewhere around Commonwealth and Harvard st, but it's more a feeling than a fact.)

I believe I still have a flyer for the show even packed away.
The bill was Primitive Romance, Native Tongue and Boy's Life.

We were young and it was fun and cool to see bands live and up close and approachable and close.

To Know Him is to Love Him (1980)

The Wigs.

San Diego.

Never had the pleasure, but this is a really sweet slice of 60's style dayglo pop.

You can never go wrong with a Farfisa.

A Side is a cover of an early Phil Spector tune originally recorded by the Teddy Bears.

I like this better.

A Post in a Single Color

I got distracted from what I was originally doing which was looking up whether or not I actually needed to digitize that Look Blue, Go Purple ep that's sitting there. (And the answer is yes. I could stand to upgrade my rip.)

Next thing you know I'm digging through the " SSC To Post" folder and hunting down a link for the Monochrome Set to go with a pair of nice singles I have had in there to post for approximately two years already.

I suppose I was holding out until I could flesh things out with more of their early output.'

I didn't, so today's the day for them to shine.

Eine Symphonie Des Grauens (1979)


This one like the three previous (that I don't have) were on early Rough Trade.
I personally don't need any greater recommendation than that.

Apocalypso (1980)

"Fiasco Bongo" is the kind of dub mix version of the A-side.

The aformentioned link is this:

the Monochrome Set

Drop in and give them a howdy.

Ok, Here's That One Song.

Hard to get around it.

Here's that one song that you may know.

(this also marks a moment when I've got an even hundred posts queued up to almost a year ahead of me. That's a lot of shit..)

Echo Beach (1980)

It's still a great fucking tune.
Martha and the Muffins

Perfect for daydreaming to at the office waiting for your lunch half hour.

Was Ezo (1980)

I should also point out that this was the fifth goddam single they released in 1980 along with two full lengths. A lot of the singles contents would end up on both. Still. that's a lot of activity for one band. That's a Fall/Billy Childish kind of output. Be impressed.

I Mean It.

Blah blah blah..
More of the same.
These guys really deserved better.
This is good stuff.

Saigon (1980)

Flipside is backwards. I included the track reversed as an added bonus.

About Insomnia (1980)

Martha and the Muffins

No. Shut Up

A few quick ones.

Very little typing.
This band was actually quite good at what they did. They however get more or less relegated to a footnote because they had a minor hit which invalidates everything else they ever did or did before. Hate that shit.
If it's good it's good.

Insect Love (1979)

Martha & the Muffins. 

A-side is a remixed version of their first single.

Suburban Dream (1980)

A-side was also on previously mentioned first single. This is their third single.

Sweet Pop Music

Another night. Another laborious task of clipping several dozen loud pops and clicks out of cheap Duke Ellington radio check bootlegs from the late 70's.

This may be a task that requires whiskey to steady the hands and quell the annoyance.

Meanwhile, you enjoy some sweet pop music set apart by a decade.

AM (1980)

If Jonathan Richman made driving around listening to music on AM radio legit with "Roadrunner", then the Marshalls put in the final word with this bit of Bubblegum Power Pop.

It's every bit as wholesome sounding as the fresh faced youngsters gracing the sleeve.

Hold somebody's hand while you drive past the Stop n Shop.

Light of Day (1990)

I still don't really understand why this kind of stuff isn't as valued as it deserves. It's light, and catchy and enjoyable home recordings. I mean, the most pretentious overblown depressed bullshit is the stuff that the hipsters drool over (and yes, I'm looking at you, Nick Cave), but the happy pop stuff is routinely dismissed as so much fluff when it's a lot fucking harder to write a really good catchy pop tune than your fiftieth song about stabbing a woman in the head. (still looking at you, Nick)

Love Positions were yet another home recording side project by one man Australian recording industry Nic Dalton. who while probably most famous as a former member of the Lemonheads, also helps run Half a Cow records.

This one is worth your time if for no other reason than the lovely low fidelity four track cassette styling of the Purple One's "Kiss" that is a lot more enjoyable and much less creepy than the middle aged Tom Jones collaboration with Art of Noise.

Find that hand and hold it again.

Low Energy Posting.

Blah blah blah

Time of my Life (1980)

Manufactured Romance

Round World (1981)

Method Actors

Analog Drum Machines Keep Perfect Time.

I started this post and I intend to finish it.

What's Your Name (1983)

Bruce Loose from everybody's favorite band ever, Flipper, takes a solo turn.
I've carted this fucker around for nearly 4 decades.
I'm even including scans of the insert.
That's all that need be said.

Pip Pop (1980)

Louder Animal Group. I've been on the lookout for an upgrade copy since I pulled this out of a close out bin for the princely sum of a dollar in the middle of the 80's some time.
I just haven't come across one.

I guess We Already Crossed Oklahoma off the list.

I got excited for a second until I realized we already did an Oklahoma band.

Oh well, this is just Okie gravy...

Be a Zombie (1981)

Los Reactors, Tulsa, OK

The best punk rock band from Tulsa ever.

Big Picture EP (1980)

Last Four (4) Digits, Indianapolis, IN

There's a song called "Coughing Up Blood"
You'll like this one.

Still Local-ish and for Completions

I got nothing.
Not exactly my favorites, but needed to hit some blank spots in discographies that I'm working on.

Happy Ain't Coming Home (1992)

The acoustic pop on Bus Stop from the Leatherwoods.

Discogs says they originated in Lawrence, KS and subsequently moved to Minneapolis.

I'll accept them as from around here.

It's one of my less favorite of the Bus Stop singles but it fills a spot.
The sort of stuff that would absolutely kill at an open mic night.

They eventually made a full Lp on which Paul Westerberg played under a pseudonym.
You can use that as some sort of a recommendation if you will.

I Want to Function with You (1980)

Magnetic Head Cleaners.

More outright weirdness from your friends at Break'er Records.

It just is.