Long Time in the Bin

 

Getting ahead of a single queued post because I still have a lot of crap to do in order for this new apartment to resemble a place that people currently live rather than one where people are actively moving out of with piles of boxes everywhere.

 

 Welcome to Maryland (1984)

Braille Party.

I like others have really no idea what to say about it. It's all over the place. And there's kind of something for everyone here in a jumble of styles and sounds. Most will probably come for the loud fast hardcore-ish songs, but I'm not you.

I'm not even sure how I feel about it except that it's sat in the "SSC To Post" bin for a couple of years now since I picked it up on a wonderful trip to the nation's capital seemingly a lifetime ago.

Give it a whirl.

A Full Length

I haven't posted a full length Lp other than compilations in a long while it feels like.

Today that changes.

Effect of Excess (1984)

An electronic/synthesizer Lp from Kansas City, MO by Short Term Memory.

It's everything you might want out of something like this.

It really is.
Electronic, but still very listenable without being very overtly pop

I'm surprised this isn't more sought after.

Very under the radar.

Be the first on your block to champion this Lp.

I Got Nothing

Just still bored.

Going to make quesadillas in a little bit.

All Hung Up (1984)

I know what side my bread is buttered on and I have noticed that I get the most traffic from other blogs when I post older shit.

Here is some.

The Flies were from Boston. I saw them at least once at an all ages show. Clint Conley (from Mission of Burma) produced this and plays electric sitar.

But the Dylan meets garage band thing that the Flies had going is just fine by me.

I should probably post the other records at some point. I just don't have them available at the moment.

Maybe in another year or so depending on my whims.

I Hate People (1992)


 This could just be the theme song for my entire life.

R Stevie Moore.

You need to be aware of him if you aren't already.
Man is the very definition of fucking legend.
I just wish I had his work ethic and dedication.
I'm just too lazy and distracted most days.

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.

Getting Your Mojo Working

I don't know.

I'm feeling kind of cranky and with limited attention but want to crank out a few posts tonight so I get the feeling like I'm actually making headway, though this whole process has turned into a kind of Sisyphean task. (Cranky in two ways, if you will)
I post on a regular schedule, but I acquire more than that regularly and while I work on the new arrivals there's still the vast backlog of the existing collection that needs doing.

Well, that's what hobbies are about then.
If I completed a collection I'd have to find other shit to do.

In This Dream (1984)

Mojo Sect were from Umeå, Sweden.
This appears to be the only thing they ever released.

It's very of the time and quite nice in that ethereal "We have a Chorus pedal and we're going to turn it to 11" kind of way.

Of note is that the drummer and singer would later resurface in the band Komeda who were somewhat a hip flavor of the month back in the tail end of the 90s.


And now, a quick twofer....

 

 Dance With Me (1965)

The Mojo Men. From San Francisco.

This one's a bit of a novelty stomper. Play loud.

Sit Down I Think I Love You (1966)

Way back in the day before the internet and having access to all the information in the world at your fingertips because no matter how interested you are in anything there is always somebody way more obsessed with that shit than you and they'll devote themselves to getting together a website to show the world their authority on said subject, a person had to utilize whatever they could find as a guide.

When I first became interested in 60's garage/punk/psychedelia there was very little by reference other than word of mouth from collectors and a couple of magazines devoted to it.

But first and foremost was the original guidebook, "Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era" double lp compiled by Lenny Kaye (aka Patti Smith's guitarist). It was a grand introduction to both some of the big names and a number of obscurities.

Once bitten by the garage bug, I tried to hunt down my own personal copy of every item on that album and at one point had virtually succeeded when my interests and disposable income went elsewhere.

All of which is a lot of words to say that this is where I first heard the A side and why I have a copy.

Sunshiney California Pop at its finest.

Three Years Since the World Got a Little Shittier

Indeed. Yes. Indeed.

Back Again (Try...) (1984)

So it was on this date in 2017 that the world lost Tommy Keene.

He's someone that nobody I've ever known had a single bad thing to say about.

The world is a lesser place for his passing.

On this 12" you get a side of what made him a Power Pop icon backed with a couple of live covers. First a reasonable stab at Roxy Music and then a Rolling Stones cover from their last listenable record.

Enjoy and pour a glass of something nice for Tommy.

The Olympiad

I can't be bothered tonight.

Lewis & Clark's First Blunder (1998)

Instrumental rock by Olympic Hopeful from Providence, RI

13th Floor (1984)

60s Garage revival by Olympic Sideburns from Melbourne, Australia

Compilated Seven Inches That Have Been Sitting in the Bin Too Long

Some shit I need to clear out to get to the fresh shit.

It's a three piece grab bag of wonder.

You enjoy.

Inner Mystique #3 (1984)

1. Peter Laughner & Rocket from the Tombs - Ain't It Fun
2. Lipstick Killers - Levitation (13th Floor Elevators cover)
3. the Rat Race Kid - Mister Insect
4. the Ketamine Millipeeds - Golfballs
5. Katastrophe - Rock n Roll Alcoholic

 I have no idea where or when I got this, but an early appearance for Rocket from the Tombs who were always more legend than fact.

Lissy's Split (1993)

1. the Delgados - Sacré Charlamagne (France Gall cover)
2. New Bad Things - Down
3. New Bad Things - Caravan

 I don't know. I like this one. "Caravan" is a fave with its very 1993 drum beat.

Hook, Line & Sinker (1997)

1. Feast of Stevens - Eyes
2. Throw - Wishes From Her Heart
3. Lils - Looking for You
4. Malchicks - Drive

A nice compilation of New Zealand bands not on Flying Nun.

Not Cool/Cool

I make no apologies.

Plastic Man (1984)

Yes, It's Katrina & the Waves. They had a huge hit in 1985 with a song that's probably already playing in your head by reading their name. They were a terribly 80s one hit wonder that now gets used to hawk dish soap or something else banal.

I get it I do. But you need to reconsider.

The group was formed by Kimberley Rew and company after he left the Soft Boys and they recorded three quite lovely low key pop albums before the Bangles had a modest hit with the b side of this one. That got them a major label contract that lead to their big hit and an album where the band rerecorded, overdubbed and/or remixed songs from their previous releases to terrible 80s radio standards. (The original recording of "Walking on Sunshine" is so much more palatable without the cheesy horns and big 80s drum sounds and at a much faster clip.)

And I know all you hipsters would be loudly singing the Lost Pop Wonders of Katrina & the Waves if they hadn't had a huge hit. Give in and enjoy.

Kaspar Hauser (1982)

In Boston however, there were no hits to be had for Kaspar Hauser. They seem to have come and gone without making any impression at all with the exception of this dark New Wave seven inch every bit as much the mystery as the actual Kaspar Hauser they took their name from.

The Link

Still of minor interest, but I like linking things together. Make me feel like I'm actually accomplishing shit.
I'm not really, but it feels better than like I'm wasting my life on the internet.

Let me waste some of yours too.

Something Broke (1984)

Here is a nice three piece band from San Francisco called the Contractions.

This is the full length that followed a pair of singles. (of which I have one and I'm considering holding out until I get the other to go with it.)

They looked like this in the flesh.

This Lp was also produced by the same Lisa Wexler as the previous Boxing Day post and she adds percussion on it as well. 

Small world.

Kathy Peck who played bass and wrote the material is also the founder for H.E.A.R. Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers  which I'm going to have to give a shout out to just on principle. I've already got tinnitus. It sucks.

It's too late for me. Don't let it be for you.

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...

Head Cold

I've got a head cold.

Post nasal drip and the accompanying sore throat. Runny nose and all the usual crap involved.

So there we are.

Merge (1981)

Jah Scouse.

Some white guy reggae toasting while being backed by the Moxham brothers of Young Marble Giants fame. You get the song and as per usual the reverb filled dub version on the flip.

Usually this sort of stuff annoys the crap out of me, but this one is actually much easier on the ears than expected even without being high as fuck.

Janis & the Bumble Bees (1979)

There is fuck all I could find about Janis & the Bumble Bees in five minute and my keyboard is still  piece of shit. (I'm seriously having to cut & paste in every instance of the letter "s" & "a") Here is a link to 13 Things you Didn’t Know About The Bumble Bee

To Suffer is to be Human

Freshly showered, beef stew warming up and 16 inches of surprise April Blizzard shoveled off the driveway. (If you haven't been following along. I'm typing this six months ago.)
It's kind of sucked ass today.

Which brings us to today's post.

We're all suffering.

Human Sufferage (1984)

For starters that cover is pretty insufferable. But it's also pretty appropriate for this second and final release from Columbus, Ohio's own Human Sufferage. They made a punk rock noise with a healthy dose of the hardcores. They sound as primitive and amateurish as the cover which is not necessarily bad. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but nobody's going to throw you out of the party for liking it and the record is just obscure enough to be dropped in a record collector conversation to make you seem like you know more than you do.

I mean, I'm beyond that bullshit stage by now myself. But you know how people are.

Filler on the Spectrum Ends

Digging deep again for more from previous entrants because I like completeness when it comes to discographies. I want to have it all. What's the point of having a collection if everything is incomplete?

Good Times (1983)

So back about four whole years ago I posted this Washington DC area based band debut single which some people really seemed to like based on feedback. It's the Acrylix. There's another 12" in between that and this that is perhaps the missing link, but here we have a 12" dance song with an instrumental remix on the flip and a track of nearly two minutes of people clapping and chanting the title for your club mix/roller disco needs.

You're welcome?

The Real World (1985)

And now as a palate cleanser a band I have not previously posted crap by.
They called themselves Don't No and they played hardcore.
The record is on Mystic and is from 1985.

You already know what this sounds like without even hearing it.

You're welcome?

Very Pleasant Surprises

 Cruisin' Ann Arbor II (1984)

Under normal circumstances buying these unknown compilations from local scenes is almost always a gamble. Usually the bands are obscure and short lived for a reason with an occasional nugget of awesome or at least listenable thrown in.

So I wasn't expecting much from this live compilation of Ann Arbor, Michigan groups from 1984 but found myself wonderfully surprised how good it is all the way through. Plus it bucks the contemporary trend of having a lame Jam rip-off band, a shitty ska band and/or out of place random reggae band.

Instead we are treated to Power Pop, something more Rockabilly, a fine cover of Link Wray's "Jack the Ripper", some punk rock, a dash  of the New Wave and some actual fucking Jazz.

Highlights for me are the Map of the World & Evaders tracks, but you may disagree. Maybe you will hate the whole thing. I can't help that, but I'm listening to it again as I type this and I'm still satisfied with my vinyl Lp purchase.

Google preview has some contemporary words to say about the making of this record.

 01 - the Watusies - (Because I'm a) Jaguar

02 - the Slang - Not Even With You

03 - Map of the World - Stop Thinking Now

04 - Jack Nardella's Rock & Roll Trio - Jack the Ripper

05 - Azreal - Broken Dreams

06 - the State - Desire

07 - the Lunar Glee Club - Olduvai Gorge

08 - the Evaders - Just a Thought

09 - Aluminum Beach - Sliding Off my Pillow

10 - the Buzztones - Little Boy Blue

11 - Ron Brooks Trio Plus One - On Green Dolphin Street

12 - Kathy Moore-Stephanie Ozer Quartet - A-Flat Song

Missed These too

So it continues.
Mostly I'm trying to fill in the slots in the queue to get me until the Spring Equinox on March 20 so I can start posting the Homer and Jethro discography I've been working on and which will likely alienate nearly anybody who's ever followed this thing I've been doing. (But I'm going to do it anyway)

Stingers (1984)

A nice pair of power pop-ish little numbers by this Milton, Mass band that I never heard of and pretty much nobody on the internet has apparently said much of anything about that Google pulls up. My copy also doesn't have the sleeve. I pulled this picture off of the internet. That happens sometimes.

Use wisely

Action by Example (1980)

Third and final single by the horror themed band that started life as Demon Preacher who's first single was a song about Joyce McKinney and had naked boobs on the cover. This isn't that one.
There aren't boobs on this cover. It's too scary for that. They've also shortened their moniker down to just the Demons because it would otherwise be way too many syllables for lazy people like me to say in one sentence.

Listen to it in a dark room late at night. If you dare.....

After I Hit Publish on this Post

I'm going to go and brush my teeth. They're feeling a bit hairy like they're wearing tiny angora sweaters or something. That's not the way for teeth to feel. That's for torsos. Who wants a mouth full of little torsos wearing furry sweaters? Not me. I'm not that person.

I'm just going to go ahead and brush my teeth right the fuck now, then.

I'll be right back....Don't go anywhere....

Our Solar System (1984)

The same year that Jad Fair released the previous post Half Japanese unleashed this monster of an Lp to little or no acclaim. So many great tracks. "Danger Danger Rachel Lang", "Knocked Down on the Dance Floor", "Too Much Adrenaline" etc...

Half Japanese was really hitting a groove here.

Hard to believe that this actually existed at the same time that "Footloose" by Kenny "Dangerzone" Loggins and "Hello" by Lionel "The guy who's song is a meme" Ritchie  were Top 10 Hits.

Strange but true.

But obviously I've run out of ideas here today. I'm recycling material and can't even be bothered to link the songs in the previous paragraph to their corresponding YouTube videos. It's probably a clear sign that I should stop for the day.
 I'm obviously slacking.

The question is....Will I?

October already.

Where does the time go?

I suppose the universe works kind of like the final hole of a mini-golf course with time being the ball they don't want you take home and you're forever shooting it into the last cup where it is eternally sucked away forever to be recycled and the circle of life continues.

That would probably make more sense if one of us was high or something.

I'm certainly not, so I guess, it's up to you

Get on that.

Monarchs (1984)

Another solo venture by Jad Fair.

If  you liked the previous one.
You'll like this one as well.
Be his friend on Facebook.
Buy some of his art.
Show the man some love.
It's all he wants for you.

See you on the Flipside

Flipside Vinyl Fanzine Volume 1 (1984)


A1 The Dickies - Gigantor (Live Cleveland Agoura) 2:23
A2 Government Issue - Religious Ripoff 1:07
A3 The Freeze - No One Is Ever Coming Home 1:22
A4 White Flag - Question Of Intelligence 2:35
A5 Kraut - Flossing With An E String 1:40
A6 F - Attack 2:50
A7 Plain Wrap - Meat Between The Treads 0:08
A8 Flag Of Democracy - Madhouse 1:45
A9 T.S.O.L. - Suppose They Gave A War... 3:38
A10 Adrenalin O.D. - Me Three Bunch
B1 Scream - Fight 1:33
B2 The Undead - In Eighty Four
B3 FU's - Warlords (Live On WERS FM Boston) 2:30
B4 Black Market Baby - Total Waste 2:48
B5 Psycho - Master Race 1:17
B6 Gay Cowboys In Bondage - Domestic Battlefield 2:44
B7 Borscht - Suburbia 1:34
B8 Anti-Scunti Faction - Big Women 2:35
B9 G.B.H. - Give Me Fire (Live At Perkins Palace, Pasadena) 3:15

Last post of this batch

I've been working on posts all fucking day.

I lost count. It's over a dozen anyway

I've been trying hard to finish up this batch of stuff so I can start digitizing new stuff because I kind of would rather be listening to music than typing about it.
But one drives the other and at this pace I'm rapidly closing in on a point where I'm queuing up posts a full year in advance of when they will appear.
That's kind of scary and daunting.

Here's the Gizmos

Never Mind the Sex Pistols (1978)

It's the Gizmos 2.0. from Bloomington, IN.
The Dale Lawrence version.
This is the revamped incarnation's first record on Gulcher.
I like it.

That is all.

Get Smart Live (1984)

From Lawrence, Kansas.

(You can check Kansas off your fifty states scorecard now)

This is Get Smart! live at CBGB's.

Doo dah Doo dah Day.