An LP and an Article

 

Blah Blah Blah

 

 Stop Those Songs (1983)

This contemporary December 21, 1983 article from the NYT says more than I care to.

"

VEFFECT, a rock band that has been associated with the experimental music scene on Manhattan's Lower East Side, recently returned from a European trip that included performances in Czechoslovakia. Western rock bands have rarely ventured into Eastern Europe because governments there tend to be suspicious of rock. Yet a little-known New York band, with no record company or high-powered manager to back it up, succeeded where many rock stars have failed.

V-Effect was performing in Western Europe and recording its first album in Switzerland when an associate, Fred Frith, a British guitarist, provided a contact with the Jazz Section, an officially sanctioned organization in Prague that publishes a music magazine and puts on concerts. ''We were told that official permission to play there is difficult to obtain and that concerts are often canceled at the last minute,'' D. Zonzinsky, V-Effect's saxophonist-vocalist, said the other day. ''We decided to take our chances, and it only took around 20 minutes to drive from Vienna to our first concert at a student center.''

Prague was not that simple. ''There was an official campaign against new-wave rock going on,'' Mr. Zonzinsky reported. ''And the kids were fighting it, writing in to the newspapers saying 'Don't knock the rock.' Apparently this was the first time significant numbers of Czech young people openly complained about Government suppression of popular music. Our concert in Prague was canceled, so we ended up playing for invited guests in someone's backyard. People were very excited by the music, and we got into some interesting discussions with them. They felt very alienated from the Soviet bureaucracy, and they were as disturbed by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan as we are by American involvement in El Salvador.''

During the last two years, Mr. Zonzinsky has been working with the bassist Ann Rupel and the drummer Rick Brown as V-Effect, creating fresh idiosyncratic music inspired principally by Ornette Coleman and the Sex Pistols. V-Effect attracted critical attention last year, when two of their songs were highlights on a Zoar Records anthology album of Lower East Side bands called ''Peripheral Vision.'' Now there is a V-Effect album, ''Stop Those Songs'' (Rift Records), most of which was recorded in studios in Switzerland and New York but with a few excerpts from the trio's performances in Czechoslovakia.

V-Effect's songs frequently express the band's political commitment, but they are refreshingly free of hectoring and camp. The group shows exceptional ingenuity in the wild variety of moods and feelings it expresses, with what most musicians would consider a severely limiting instrumentation. The music has a terseness and lucidity, and a supple elasticity of rhythm and line, which one encounters more frequently in jazz than in music that is nominally rock.

''Right now, we're uncertain about the future of the group,'' said Mr. Zonzinsky. ''There really isn't a nurturing or sustaining downtown rock scene anymore, and with the scarcity of decent club gigs, bands like ours are struggling. Maybe the album will open up some opportunities for us.'' ''Stop Those Songs'' is distributed by Rough Trade of San Francisco and London and is available by mail from New Music Distribution Service, 500 Broadway, New York 10012."

History Repeats Againt Modernity.

This next installment of Boston/LA wasn't intentional.

It just happened because both of them have "Modern" in their name and ended up next to each other in the SSC file folder.

Man in Black ep (1983)

Toxic Shock records. West Coast punk rock circa 1983.

It's everything you hope for and expect from that tidbit of info.

Not the best. Not the worst of the bunch.

If I were Robert Christagau, I might give it a B-/C+

New England (live) (1977)

In the middle 70s the Modern Lovers 2.0 did a jaunt through the Old Country (or "Old World", you might say) and came away with a really sweet live Lp out of the deal.

I picked up all those sweet and goofy Beserkley lp out of the cut-out bin and the Musicsmith at the Hanover Mall sealed for a couple of bucks a pop and treasured them through high school.

It wasn't until I got to college that I finally secured a copy of the first Modern Lovers lp. That was a game changer.

Anyway. Jonathan was trying to move forward from the previous incarnation of the band, but he kept "Roadrunner" as an encore (which was put on the b-side to a different single from the set) He also apparently thought enough of "Astral Plain" to keep it available  and it ended up as the flip to the live version of "New England"

It's a really sweet version too. I have no complaints about it.

I'm Kinda Annoyed

I'm currently in the process of doing one last Lp before spending the rest of my night's free time converting, tagging, scanning, organizing into folders and filing the next big batch of digitizations. It's a lot more work than you might actually imagine if you don't do this on the regular with lots of records at a time.

Unfortunately the Lp I'm doing is more hacked than I expected or it looked. There's two songs with very big skips in them from scratches. But it's a compilation Lp and those are not the songs I bought this Lp for. In fact they're not even very good songs to begin with.
 But it's the principle of the thing.

I want to at least not enjoy them terribly much on their own merits without physical interruptions.

Is that too much to ask?

The Last Detail (1983)

As near as I can tell this band called Mission is from Baltimore.

They put out a follow up three years later called "When Thunder Comes" and then decided that would be a better name for the band than Mission. (which was probably a good call on their part Discogs shows 21 bands using that moniker and more than a few were contemporary) When Thunder Comes released one more Lp in 1987 and then nothing more was heard.

Everything I know I parsed from their Discogs page.

It's a dark Nu Wave flirting with a just a hint of Goth. Chorus pedal, flange bass and I swear I heard a gong.

Just about right as Halloween nears.

Grab some black eyeliner and your fingerless lace gloves and Doc Martens and enjoy as much as your eternal ennui will allow.

Same Song Twice Redux

Doing up records that I won't be posting while I type.
Less discriminating copies of good stuff, but a bit too hacked up and a mish mosh of stereo and mono and skips.
You understand.

But it did at least finally inspire me to get some actual restoration software, so things might be less shit sounding in the future (like in a year maybe when the posts catch up to the digitizing I'm doing now)

So there's that too.

Here's some Lyres singles.

How Do You Know (1979)

The very first thing that Jeff Connolly put out with his post- DMZ band the Lyres.
It's the young sound of 70's kids emulating the sounds of 60's kids that would morph into the so-called Paisley Underground that ran through the 80's.


Connolly was an avid collector 60s Garage/Punk records before it was even a thing.
My singular interaction with him was a brief chat at the In Your Ear records in the middle of the 80s when I was trying to snag a few of my own with my limited budget. When he asked me what the best record was that I had he was impressed that I'd gotten a copy of the Shames "My World is Upside Down" for a mere fifty cents from a record store that should have known better.

This particular record didn't get a reissue until 2007 because as a collector of rare records he'd always wanted to have one of his own. Both sides of this one are original compositions.

How Do You Know (1987)

Eight years and a lifetime later the Lyres rerecorded "How Do You Know" with the then current lineup.

Compare and contrast at your leisure.

It's backed this time by a version of "Stacey" originally recorded in 1966 by the Hangmen of Fairfield County which is a corker of a tune.

The  lyrics of which go :

To heck with pot and LSD too
I’d rather take a trip with you - Stacey

Goodbye to shots of white cocaine
You have put them all to shame - Stacey

I’ve sniffed glue right from a bag
Compared to you it’s really a drag - Stacey

Stacey - You’re quite a child
Stacey - You drive me wild

Lovin’ you is really in
You’re better than Coke with aspirin - Stacey

I’ve heard of the high from Dexedrine
But you’ve got a kick like a 20-mule team - Stacey

I don’t need tea or the poppyseed
Cause with you I can do the good deed - Stacey

Stacey - You’re quite a child
Stacey - You drive me wild

Some go far on magic mushrooms
But with you I’m first to the moon - Stacey

Trading your love for a million bennies
Is like selling New York for a few pennies - Stacey

People go nuts from taking goofballs
But after you I’m climbing the walls - Stacey

Stacey - I shoulda had warning
Stacey - You’re habit forming

(shamelessly copied and pasted from the always enlightening Basement Walls blog. )


And as an added bonus because I'm feeling like it

I Really Want You Right Now (1983)

The Lyres first single for Ace of Hearts.

"Help You Ann" is the winner here without a doubt and the song I first remember hearing once I'd discovered local college radio. It sounds like my high school bedroom on an already old them stereo receiver with a cassette deck in the top.

Soak it in.

MOR

These two things are utterly unrelated.

And I like it that way.

Jesus Loves You...So Give Us Your Money (1983)

Morbid Opera were from Ft. Lauderdale in the state of Florida.

It's punker than you. Three women and a dude.

Somebody else's 13 year old blog post says more than I could. I just have the record.

I like it so much I included a pic of the insert. That's how you know something is special.

Fuck yes.

Rockabilly Bungalow (1958)

And on a totally different plane of existence is George Morgan. An established mid-level country singer who had a hit in 1949 with a song called "Candy Kisses" (which is rerecorded for the flip here.)

With Rock 'n' Roll and its country flavored bastard chile Rockabilly taking over, a lot of established Country stars gathered up some studio guys and shat out some records trying to capture the fire of youth and some pocket change from what they thought would be a short lived teen fad.

So here is an over 30 George Morgan trying to gain a foothold in the teen market with "Rockabilly Bungalow" as written by the impeccable duo of Boudleaux & Felice Bryant (who penned many of the better Everly Brothers songs) and some fine Nashville studio folks "rocking" out behind him.

Was it a breakthrough hit for George into teen pop stardom? No.

Is it a pretty cool song anyway? Fuck yeah!

Roll up the rugs and have your own personal sock hop.

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.

What Was Once Modern is Now Outdated

I tried for a solid five minutes.
I've also cleared some chaff out of the "to Post" file folder. It's kind of liberating.

Modern Kids (1983)

I couldn't seem to find much of anything about this band. Way too many broad and generic words in all of it to come up with much. I got bored. I also misplaced the record itself for about five minutes. (It was on an empty shelf rather than properly filed.)

The back of the Mini Lp lists a Denver, CO address.

The record itself is some AOR style New Wave. Not exactly a "lost classic" but interesting enough for what it is and obscure enough to warrant a post.

So here we go.

So pop your collar, slap on a skinny tie and hit the Mall for an Orange Julius with this in your walkman while you shop for a new Members Only jacket...

It's a seven song sense memory machine...

Unrelated Seven Inches

I swear I'd posted this first one before...

Log-a-Rhythms (1981)

I think I had intended to post this along with the Painterband single that I haven't quite gotten to or maybe I already did post it. I remember stuff that I had written or wanted to write. But it doesn't appear in my site search. So, maybe I dreamed it.

Log-a-Rhythms is the work of Katherine Hughes, violinist. But strangely enough the bio on her page does not mention this single. An obvious omission on her part. Perhaps you could book her for your corporate event and request it.

I like it, myself. The world needs more songs about coffee.

You Did It (1983)

Liliput were from Zurich in Switzerland. This trio was originally named Kleenex until the Kimberly-Clark people asked them politely to call themselves something else. And such is how the legal world of names evolve in a corporate space.

It's on Rough Trade and occupies the same musical space as the Slits, Raincoats and the like of the post-punk sphere.

There was a double disc reissue of their complete recordings that Kill Rock Stars released in 2001 that I briefly considered for posting. You can consider this a sample. If there's interest perhaps I'll put it up. (Which is really just my thinly veiled plea for comments and attention. It gets lonely here when the cat's ignoring me.)

Rock Along the Hudson

Albany. New York.

Probably not a place you think of very often unless you live in the area or need it for a crossword puzzle or something.

Here's fourteen inches of reason to think about it.

Screaming (1981)

How much do I like this fucking record?

I included pictures of the insert.

That's how much.

One guitar, a drummer and vocals. Named after a cannibalistic death cult.
It doesn't get any more badass than that.

"Screaming" was covered by Sweden's favorite garage band the Nomads in 1999.

You can take that as about as fine a recommendation as any I could ever give you.

She Wasn't Home (1983)

Probably sharing a stage at some point with Leopard Society were the Lumpen Proles.

They had a song on the "Live at 288" compilation from last August.

They're named after a Marxist concept of the unthinking underclass who are exploited by reactionary and counter-revolutionary forces. (In today's America they can be easily identified by their distinctive MAGA hats.)


Let that be your guide, comrade.

Stuck in the Middle

After a couple of Bi-Coastal posts we pause for a moment and wonder:

"What about the fly over country? What was going on there?"

I have an answer

Certain Death (1983)

Killing Children were from Columbus, Indiana.
Accept no substitutes or alternate Columbuses.
This is the only one.

It's nice to add some straight up punk rock to this mix now and again.
Keeps life interesting

and speaking of interesting

Learn Greek in Greece (1980)

Otto Kentrol is the nom de saxophone of one Bill Ylitalo who went on to play with a shit load of other bands including Appliances SFB & God is my Co-Pilot who I've posted before. (I'm pretty sure I did anyway. You look and tell me...)

This is fractured weirdness that tickles my fancy like a fancy French tickler in my earholes.

Damn it. Now my ears are itchy.

I Noticed This in the Folder and Decided to Post It Now.

Here's the final piece of a puzzle that I began assembling back in 2014.

Color Blind (1983)

It's the middle release by Acrylix.

I posted their first single back in 2014. 

A good friend of mine in high school really liked it. I hadn't seen him in over thirty years, but we'd reconnected on Facebook as old people do. It was nice to hear from him. He'd occasionally download some of this stuff. He made a point to tell me that one was a favorite.

In 2018 I put up the final 12" with a much more dance oriented mix.

I'm not sure he got to hear that one. 

Sometime that year he died following complications following a BMT for leukemia. 

I regret that I never got to go and have a drink or six with him before that. That would have been fun and a deluge of laughter and Monty Python bits.

it just wasn't in the cards, I guess.

 But life is like that and the older you get the more dead people you know. 

That's just how it is. 

You either know them or are them.

I like to think that he'd really like this one too. (Well, actually I'm pretty sure he'd get a kick out of "Dear John". It's pretty hilariously overwrought and dramatic.)

So this is dedicated to you, James. 

I hope they keep the good whisky wherever you are.

Let Me Save Your Lame Ass Party for a Second Year

Holy Fuck.

It's been a whole fucking year.

Y'all need more Fleshtones in your life.

Hexbreaker! (1983)

This is a party album by a party band.

Keep this handy when your New Year's starts to get lame.

You need to be fully prepared in the event a Toga Party should break out in your vicinity.

(Especially if you're the one who realizes the absolute need for one if there is any slight hope of salvaging any occasion)

It's too late for me, but you...I pass this on to you....Use it well, my children.

Where Were We...?

The cat is in my lap. She's hungry and wants dinner.
I'm also hungry and want something to eat.
We'll both have to wait.

My Ex (1983)

Yes, this is where we left off.

The follow up to their previous effort by the Sex Execs yielded this further gem.

There's even video for "My Ex" 

The chorus of which goes:

"...When I think of you

I think of sex

then I think it through

and I'm glad you're my ex..."

Words I'm pretty sure we can all relate to.

Newvo (1982)

For the lack of better ideas I'm throwing the second release by Someone & the Somebodies on the back end of this post.

They were the group spearheaded by a character who went by the moniker Tristram Lozaw (After the Dada Artist) following the fucking brilliant single by the Molls that you'll see here someday.

To my ears though, this is much less entertaining. 

It just kind of exists for a number of minutes but is very much of its time. It really doesn't make me feel much any way or the other.

Your mileage will vary.

Mine hasn't for many years

Middle of the Road

I don't know.
But here it is anyway.

Private Lives (1983)

AOR New Wave from Texas by a band with really nice hair.

(Except for maybe that guy in the back with the receding hairline, but he writes the songs, so suck it)

"When the World Comes Crashing Through" really ought to/could have been a radio hit. 

It wasn't.

(That said, I certainly enjoy this more than some of their contemporary peers like the Motels or Missing Persons.)

But there you go.

Fate is fickle.

Some Things Exist as Themselves

I really need to eat something, but I'm digging listening to these two first.

 The French Are From Hell (1984)

Very little is to be found on the interwebs about this band. I had a link at one time that can't be bothered to find right now. In the end it doesn't really matter.

What does matter is how fucking good this seven inch is.

I mean, every once in a while I buy something blind. Simply based on random factors like date or one familiar name on an otherwise obscure sleeve. This was recorded by Don Zientara who recorded basically everything in and around Washington DC worth listening to.

The music nerds might say this is some sort of post-punk nonsense with saxophone or something silly like that.

 I just say this one is Gold.

All four songs. Gold.

"Pinned Under a Jet" is arguably the hit, but damn, I wish there was an lp hiding somewhere or a few stray compilation tracks, but sadly no...

I just want some more.

Climb (1983)

Chorus pedal abusing New Wave trio from Boston with at least one member being an Irish expat which explains why some further releases by the band were on an Irish label.

It's still the good stuff.

At least for me, I guess. It has a certain nostalgic appeal that brings back a time and a place and sense memories of the parking lot of the Channel right on Boston harbor where I'm pretty sure I probably saw them at least once for some all ages show. I should have kept a show diary...

Yet Another Vintage Regional Compilation

This month we travel upstate New York.

Live at 288 (1983)

French Letter - For You

Jeannie Smith & the Hurricanes - Ooby Dooby

the Watts - Look at Me

Lumpen Proles - Worlds in Darkness

the Stars That Wouldn't Shine - Scream and Shout

Operation Pluto - Doggie Biscuits

the Tragics - It's Ok

Capitle - All There is for Use

the Reedies - Mirage

Nine tracks by nine bands recorded live at a place called the 288 Club in Albany, NY.

This one is another keeper. Only a few of these bands released anything else in their lifetimes and it covers a nice gamut of New Wave to Pop to Synths and Punk with a stray Rockabilly track thrown in for good measure. All of whom would have disappeared without a trace but for records like this one. (Certainly the Tragics and Capitle should have been comped on some punk rock exploitation record a long ass time ago, but they haven't to the best of my knowledge.)

 And really all are pretty damn good and I would certainly have enjoyed this as much then as I do now and even now it's hard for me to pick a highlight. 

Plus no ska or faux Jam mod bands.

Everyone's a winner at the 288.

The Best Part of Travel

You go to new record stores in different cities and there's always stuff you would be less likely to find in your own town.

And so it was that this was the most amazing find I had on a trip to Seattle where we traveled halfway across the country to see Scientists play on their first real US tour. And it was totally fucking worth it....

But I digress.

I also found this record.

Ki Ra I (1983)

The band is called D-Day which is different from a previously posted band with that name.

This one is a Japanese New Wave band.

This four song ep is fucking great. Each song is unique and sounds kind of unlike most anything else I can think of. It's atmospheric and experimental but never unlistenable.

 I dig it greatly.

Enough that I feel like I want to post scans of the inserts for no particular reason other than I like it so much.

So there.

Guys with Glasses (1990)

 And then there's this.

One night as we were hanging out with one of my oldest friends a couple of days after the Scientists/Mudhoney show he hands me this single because he doesn't like it and thinks I might.

I already have and have posted the double single by these guys so he obviously was correct.

Fast pop songs not very well recorded and played kind of amateurishly?

That shit's right in my wheelhouse.

It's good stuff and I'd have put this on a hundred tapes for girls if I'd known about it at the time.

"Guys with glasses think...."

Thanks, Roger