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.

One More Before I Eat Something

Low blood sugar.
No typing.

Apt. 621 (1982)

Synthpop from NYC in the early 80's.

Need I say more?

So We're Taking Our First Halting Steps

The first real post of 2020 not tied to a date.

As it is I'm typing this up from February of 2019 which I realize is just as fucking crazy.
I'm hoping that the rest of the year improves and 2020 gets even better.

Or at the very least that the Powers That Be will leave me and this silly thing I've been doing the fuck alone.

So here we go

Back in the 80's (1980)

I wasn't really sure where to place the Major Thinkers. They were based in NYC, but the major players were Irish. So there's that.

I'm going with New York.
It's good no matter where it's from. There's some nice synth stuff on there too.

This one pleases me.

Silence on the Radio (1980)

Here you go. Cross Louisiana off your Fifty States card.

Punk rock from the Crescent City.

There's something you don't hear every day.

Now you can.

You're welcome.

Breaking with Tradition

I just realized that this will post in February.

The Endless Tuesday of Months.

Here's some sunshine to brighten it up a bit.

Life in a Cardboard Box (1980)

The Intestines. Raw, primitive and poorly recorded. This is the good shit.

(This is actually from a limited reissue put out in 2000. I'd complain about it, but I got it for like a buck. So...totally worth it.)

Whack the Dolphin (1981)

Then there's this. This is real. This is an original copy as housed in a custom vinyl sleeve (which I've read is because of a cardboard shortage or something in LA).

Extreme Electronic New Wave Nonsense.

Side One is not actually condoning animal abuse. It seems to be about something else entirely. Perhaps you can figure it out and explain it to me. It's kind of confusing...

While there's not so much about them as a group, there does seem to be a couple of interesting artifacts that lend credence to their existence as a performing outfit.

First off is a blog post that has an ancient 1982 radio performance.


As well as this:

If being introduced by David Lynch on New Wave Theater doesn't secure your curiosity, then I suppose nothing will..

Expectations subverted by familiarity

Familiar names, but not what you're expecting.

Paisajes Nocturnos (1982)

Oh no. If you're somewhat a student of the era and see the name Alphaville the first thing you think of is some seriously hairsprayed and maudlin Germans who were "Forever Young" 

You're fortunate because this is not they. 

This is a different synth pop band from Madrid who also took their name from the Godard New wave sci-fi classic which featured not a single futuristic prop or special effect. This is the trailer. (It also may or may not be on Youtube in its entirety, but you didn't hear that from me...)

I like the movie and this Alphaville.
The other one, not so much.

Being Boiled (1980)


The Human League. So a few years before they were wondering if you wanted things and while Phil Oakey still had fabulous (or even any) hair, the band was a bit more experimental and/or dark, or as I like to think about it, interesting and worth listening to.


This was their debut single.


It features Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware who brought in Phil Oakey to sing. After a pair of Lps they apparently decided they'd had enough of that Fascist Groove Thing and went on to form Heaven 17 leaving only Phil Oakey and his hair to reform Human League himself into the radio juggernaut that made 1981 radio almost unlistenable with repeated airings of that one song they'll go to their graves singing on oldies tours. (I prefer not to rehash that here. I don't need that fascist groove thing either.)

I prefer to be heading to the Circus of Death which references Steve McGarrett (who had the kind of hair that Phil could only dream of) and is presumably some kind of Hawaii Five-O reference.

There does appear to be at least one episode of the show involving a circus. But it doesn't involve Heathrow Airport.

Perhaps they were just trying a really fancy way of pitching CBS a script.

Homebodies

So here we go.

Wake-Up! (1979)

In keeping with the minimalism of the sleeves we'll keep this short.
Home Service.

The end?

Thin Hours (1980)

Second of three. I don't have the third.
Too bad. I like this.
This one especially. 

Ladies Night

So I've been putting off going to the practice space and recording the whole weekend. The last time the thing I started wasn't working for me. So I've avoided going back.

Now, I've decided to scrap that shit for now and have a different tack to try. I'm fomenting a plan even now. I have no idea what it will be, but it beats sitting around the house.

Head Cheese (1981)

So this was a band from the city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, PA. It's a bit arty, but still New Wave from this trio of ladies. Not exactly what you might initially expect from the picture on the back, but then they did also call themselves "Head Cheese" which is a food stuff that only my grandfather could love. (Though, I might be more inclined to give it another chance now. Cheek meat is pretty fucking tasty. It's just the aspic that kind of creeps me out.)

The one claim to fame that this band has is that one member went on to have a couple of minor mid-80's hits with the group Book of Love starting with "I Touch Roses" in 1986. I saw them around then too when they opened for Depeche Mode at the Orpheum Theater in Boston. As I remember the stuck up snooty little fuck I was back then didn't enjoy the show.

P.U.N.K. Girl (1993)

Fifth single on Sarah Records for these popsters aptly called Heavenly. A pair of incredibly catchy and cheerful little numbers about girls by this female fronted quintet. I'm a sucker for this. If only the whole of the Sarah catalogue had more of this I'd be much more inclined to spend more time and money tracking down their releases.

This is the bees knees and quite catchy toe tap worthy so long as you don't pay close attention to the rather sad lyrics to "Hearts and Crosses". They're a bit of a downer.

Waiting for some new singles to arrive

I've got to go to work soon.

I also checked the mail and the other package of singles I ordered still haven't come today.

The first one came yesterday and I ordered them at the same time.

This annoys me slightly, but it will hopefully be worth it.

In the meantime....

Gleaming Spires (1981)

You may think of Posh Boy records as primarily a "punk rock" label, if you think about it at all. (Most people don't. People have weird priorities some times) But into that stable came the Gleaming Spires with their synths. Apparently they played in some kind of incarnation of the band Sparks which is a band who made a million records but for whom I've never actually seem to have known anybody who was a fan.

Anyway. Here they are.

Go to Blazes (1992)

Meanwhile. Go to Blazes. They get me.

It's definitely Flue season.

So I've got a bunch of stuff in the "To Post" pile 

Mostly 12" vinyl for the time being as that's what I've been going through as of late while the stuff already queued in this cruddy blog dribbles away slowly into a festering pool of records and run-on sentences that aren't really any more descriptive than the average shampoo bottle. (Those who grew up before cell phones know what I mean...)

It's been a week or so more last I sat my ass down to type and I've kind of lost my place. I had a plan and a loose posting order in mind and I've kind of forgotten it and started this post three times after realizing I'd already queued that record.

And the only reason I'm doing this now is because there's some kind of slow assed motherfucking Windows update that's taken over my recording laptop and preventing me from recording the Axemen Lp I picked up over the weekend which is what I'd intended to be doing before starting this.

Anyway, It's January. It's cold. the coldest month and everybody's sick.

May this be the only Flue you have this whole winter.

 

One and a Half (1981)

I didn't look too hard, but about all I know is that this little gem is that the band was from the Netherlands and that somebody reissued it with extra tracks in 2005 in really limited numbers.

It's synth infested moody New Wave that probably owes more than a little bit to Gary Numan at a point in time when he seemed pointing to a musical future that didn't quite materialize. Lots of chorus and flange and swirly bits too. Good driving music for those dark gray winter commutes in the eternal half dark.

For me personally "Jerome" is the standout track. (They must concurred since it was also released as a stand alone single.)
And to cap it all off a 10 minute long improvisation that comprises the title track.

I have nothing more to add.

F You

Part of the problem of doing this stupid thing I do is that sometimes shit gets overlooked or misplaced because you're disorganized and have way too much shit to begin with.

These two almost got lost in the shuffle.

F-Models (1981)

From the great state of Akron or Kent or somewhere thereabouts in the Mythic Land of Ohio. Another in a long line of Cold War ditties. Yeah, Russia was pretty awesome.

For me though the money shot is on the other side with their Oedipal Complex raging away at the sad fact that nobody loves them with the exception of their Mom. At least for them, they are as dubious about her loyalties as BB King had reason to be.

And the seemed like such well adjusted young men.

F-Systems (1980)

From  the state of Texas, which doesn't need me to tell you it's great. Texas is like the Vegan at the BBQ. It's going to let you know it's there and morally superior to you in every way imaginable. (And you let it because it's probably packing and you don't want to rile it up after its had a couple of belts.)

They looked like this when they were playing a song that isn't on this single.

F-Systems hailed from Austin, TX. So they were living in the artsy bubble in the middle of all those cows and oil wells and other Texas stereotypes.  "People" is the synth driven winner. Cold and with a lot of flange on the guitar. It sounds like the future as imagined in 1980 and cobbled together from available parts. It's where you are right now. Don't turn around. It startles easily.

August is With Me I Know

Just another post.

As I type this, it's still March. I'm months out with posting. I could die in my sleep tonight and this blog would plod onward like the Mary Celeste without me.

Anyway, I got a crown today. My jaw is killing me and I'm groggy from a painkiller I took earlier when it was quite unbearable. I'm going to attempt to eat soon. I'm hungry.

Factual (1982)

Factual were a new wave synth band from Nashville, TN. There seems to have been a pretty lively scene there for a big chunk of the 80's that never got noticed by the outside world. I wasn't aware anyway. This is pretty much my first taste.

For my part I have to wonder if the graphic artistry for the sleeve and the band name is simply homage to the aesthetics of Factory Records, an attempt to fool the unwary, or some kind of in-joke. Maybe they just wanted a better record deal.

Speaking of in-jokes.

 

Whipped Cream Mixes (1996) 

These days mashups are all the rage and more or less kind a genre unto themselves and infinitely more entertaining than face swaps which I'll never understand the appeal of. But back in the vague and hazy days of the mid-90's such things were relatively unknown or conceived of. I mean, who would have otherwise thought of taking vocal tracks from Public Enemy and matching them up with tracks by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass? The genius's at Evolution Control Committee is who.

My first exposure was walking into a local record haunt the moment they were unboxing that day's shipment and the curious clerk putting it on to see what it was. Much laughter was had. It's still pretty damn funny. Your mileage will vary. But I'm amused.

Things that are...interesting ca. 1982.

Not a whole lot on either of these objects.

Beef Tabloid split (1982)

You can cross Nebraska off your fifty states list.

This single was included with a copy of Beef Tabloid #9, a zine started in Omaha, Nebraska in 1980. The  sum total of which I know about it comes from this.  As for the bands themselves? Nobody knows anything. Even a guy in Nebraska who wrote a music column in 2011 devoted to music from Nebraska seemed mystified and stymied. That should peak your interest at least. Personally I kind of prefer the Bump Fuzz side if for no other reason than I think the moniker is a euphemism from less pubic hair phobic times. A hole is a hole, indeed.

 Venus Dressed in Plastic Garbage (1982)

Meanwhile due east about 1440.8 miles (give or take) in Boston, Mickey Bliss was strapping on his boots and laying down this dark little synth ditty. The title alone qualifies it as a masterpiece. Is this that Cold Wave that I sometimes see listed places where people are wont to endlessly divide music into genres and subgenres and microgenres  until things get so muddled and confused and arguable that the labels themselves lose all sense of meaning? Maybe.

Flipping Through the Dollar Bin

I will occasionally have a look at the dollar bins. While usually it's a vast collection of shitty dance 12"s and Herb Alpert lps and the like, every once in a while you come across something kind of interesting like this masterpiece:

  

Ekstasis (1983)

It's New Wave, but with the vague pretensions of seriousness and pomp of certain aspects of Prog rock. It's bad, kinda, but nevertheless pretty entertainingly so. Prog New Wave. Such a lost musical opportunity that the world was probably never ready for.

Here. I'll let Jim Guido give you some of the skinny:

"...The album as a whole depicts the struggle of urban youth to find their way in a rapidly decaying society. I find it interesting that many of the lyrics of this album have become even more relevant than they were 30 years ago.."

So fucking deep. Really speaks truth. I may just become a Libertarian now.

He's got a slightly remastered version for sale on Bandcamp if you feel the need to upgrade the sound from my cruddy straight from vinyl version. And why wouldn't you? It'll only set you back four bucks, which granted is four times what I paid for my copy, but hey, it's your call.