Disaster Averted

 For some reason I had the thought that I'd loaded up the queue for here at the same time I'd done the SSC Mn one.
I hadn't and we were very close to not having a timely post of nonsense and musical shenanigans for this day.

Phew!

Anyway. I'm making Portuguese Bean Soup tonight.

It's Portuguese Bean Soup weather.

Even more so as a one pot, boil and serve meal.
I'm not feeling very ambitious.

However for some folks I will proceed with some bad news.

My free file space ran out and since I'm generally a cheap fucking bastard who does this out of a general desire to share some really cool stuff that's Out of Print with people and not as a means of wringing a meager profit for my troubles, I've started deleting old files from Mediafire to make space for new stuff.

So far, I've freed up another gig or so by taking out the files originally posted in 2014.
That will hopefully tide us over for a bit before the next purge needs to occur.
I have no plans to reup any of it. Seven years is an eon on internet terms.
Sorry latecomers. 

the Mgmt

Can't Stand Still (1977)

Headache were from London.

This is their only blurt out into the world at large which is huge fucking shame.

"Can't Stand Still" is an earworm of the most insidious kind. It will drill itself deep in your skull and will require some strenuous pogoing to dislodge it like some kind of leather and spike clad tarantella. I was forced to buy this single as a form of exorcism.

Use only with proper supervision and sedation available as a precaution.

Hungry, So Angry (1981)

Medium Medium

Long before the word "hangry" had entered the popular lexicon (It wasn't entered into Merriam- Webster's until 2018) there was this single.

It usually is an apt description of my state of being whenever I start typing up these posts since it seems like way too many of them revolve around what I'm eating or going to eat or want to be eating with much more in depth descriptions of that than the music.

This some bass popping funky New Wave action for anyone not familiar.
So I got that out of the way at least.

Keep on dancing.

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.)

Minimalism

 We're out of ice cream and I really want some ice cream.

Pictish (1982)

 Rent Boys Inc. Toronto, Canada

The Still Reflex (1981)


Repetition. London, England

Mysteries for the Mists of Obscurity.

Or something like that.

I actually had to do some internet sleuthing for this one.

And in the end you have to wonder if it was worth it.

I suppose. It's some useless facts that can roll around in your head when you listen.

So there's that, I suppose.

 Indicate Your Love (1981)

Sensible Shoes. This one was from L.A.

There is fuck all for information about this particular band anywhere on the sleeve. Just a few names and a date on the back.

I found something anyway.

It's trivial but puts some kind of context on it, I suppose.

 The singer on this little seven inch of New Wave Pop is David Baerwald who would achieve a decent paycheck briefly in the middle of the 80's as part of  David & David when they had a Top 100 release with a major contender for all-time most 80's production sound "Welcome to the Boomtown"

Not exactly my cup of poison, but hey, they hopefully got paid for it.
So there's that.
I doubt that DB saw any sort of money out of Sensible Shoes.

Good on him for having a song that peaked even at #37.
That's still better than you or I have ever done.

Red Balune (1979)


Red Balune. There's a bunch of Henry Cow connections which should give the savvy listener some expectation of the Avant Garde scratchy artsy damage that will be contained within.

You have been warned.

Seeing Red

Blah blah blah
Words and other nonsense.
Etc.
Etc.
Etc...

Survival (1981)

Red Beat  were from London best I can gather from following a few convoluted threads.

Very much in the vein of contemporary Killing Joke but not nearly so deliciously brutal.
Let's just say "heavily influenced by" instead.

The Motions (1981)

Redline were from Providence, RI best I can gather without following or looking up diddly squat besides the address on the back of the sleeve.

Very much in the vein of contemporary AOR Nu Wave but not so nearly so delicious.

Let's just say "Band most likely to have frosted hair and wear tight sleeveless t-shirts while the bass player plays his instrument at nearly throat level"

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.

Any Club That Would Have Me as a Member

Blah Blah Blah

Dead Dog in Port Chalmers (1991)

An Xpressway single.

David Mitchell & Denise Roughan who have a plethora of New Zealand band experience between the two of them but whose musical life intersected most notably with the 3Ds.

3Ds were one of my personal favorite Flying Nun bands and I have a Crowther Audio Hotcake overdrive pedal because I read somewhere that David Mitchell used one. (And rightly so, it's a beast and doesn't lose any of the low end of your guitar signal like your average overdrive pedal.)

This lo-fi excursion is as close as Xpressway got to folk music.

It is for folks after all.

The Ghost Club (1996)

Five years later and they followed the previous up with another one and moving to London where they formed a formed a trio they called Ghost Club like this record who put out two really fucking cool discs that kind of hit the sweet spot for me.



Perfect music for the days gather into a cold semi-permanent gloomy dusk for a few months.

Shut Up.

Ok.

Love's Going Out of Fashion (1986)

Biff Bang Pow.

Combo Audio (1982)

Combo Audio.

Low Energy Posting.

Blah blah blah

Time of my Life (1980)

Manufactured Romance

Round World (1981)

Method Actors

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.

Have an Lp.

Haven't had a long player in a while...

Sprockendidootch? (1985)

This is an Lp by Jung Analysts which is an alias of Terry Burrows.

All songs, comedy attempts and irritating noises are his fault.
Blame him.

1978

I really need a shower. I also have an eye appointment in the morning. It's been a few years and my guess is that I'll need the bifocals upped a notch. At least I should be able to just add new lenses to the glasses I currently have. So I've got that at least.

Here's a pair from 1978

Crazy Paving (1978)

So it's 1978. Punk rock has a name and the public consciousness. It's kind of been and from everywhere, but as far as most people know (and still mostly believe) it's primarily associated with the English.

This is Billy Karloff Band single is considered punk rock at the time and still labelled as such.

Peer Pressure (1978)

Ebeneezer and the Bludgeons were from Baltimore, MD. It's also 1978. They're also considered punk rock.

There's also a song on it making fun of Nazis. Who would have thought that four decades later that it would still be relevant.

Unfortunately for me, this is not an original copy, but a 2015 reissue on Windian Records. You may still be able to buy your own copy. Buy something at least. Don't be a deadbeat.

I Almost Forgot a Title

I'm running on fumes and the cat has taken up position to stare me into feeding her.

So Said Kay (1990)

So I pulled out the small stack of 10" records too the other day in search of something else and found this one by the Field Mice. They were pretty much the best band on Sarah Records by my estimation and there's no point arguing that. I didn't really need to digitize this. All the tracks are on the  "Where'd You Learn to Kiss Like That?" compilation that Shinkansen put out in 1998, but I wanted to listen to it again. So I made this to post.
You're welcome.

The Return of the Son of Both Sides of the Pond

I got nothing.

Hearts in Exile (1978)

the first single by the Homosexuals.

It's fucking brilliant.

Get more of their music.

Hose (1982)

The first single on Def Jam records.

No, I'm not kidding. This is Rick Rubin's college punk rock band.

It's fucking...well, maybe not "brilliant",
but it's noisy and dumb and you could clear a party with it.

I can respect that.

I'm Going to Turn the Coffee Back On

I could use another cup to get through the next few hours.

Farrahclones (1978)

One gets the feeling that Mark Hoback and his band probably didn't get laid much.

First off he's a bit bitter about the number of vapid blondes with the feathered flip hairstyle who just don't have the kind of emotional depth that a complicated man like him requires. He's a real man who knows how to treat a full grown woman. But these easy ladies are just not for him.

Flip the record over and we're into the friendzone and our gentlesir just can't quite seem to take a hint.
He's "left her with his number a number of times" and he's "left her with a number of dimes"* and she still won't call him back and give him a chance to treat her like a real woman deserves to be treated.

It's so sad. Women are so shallow.

*For our younger viewers, before telephones became cameras you could put in your pocket and use to send text messages so you don't actually have to listen to other people talk, there used to exist in public places a thing known colloquially as a "Payphone" which accepted money in order for one to talk to somebody for a period of minutes before rudely cutting you off or extorting another quantity of small change to continue the conversation. In the 70's this price was 10 cents.

Launderette (1981)

Vivien Goldman. 

Dub & reggae influenced single. A-side produced with  John Lydon & Keith Levene from PiL. 

You  can decide if this is in your wheel house. 

At least she's not some kind of Farrah clone.