Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Eating Things. Listening to Other Things


I really should have a few more things here, but I'm not sure where it's at.




 Eaten by Her Own Dinner (1982)

I was pretty obsessed with Robyn Hitchcock for a long while. I had everything I could find and somewhere along the way decided I didn't need it anymore. I'd kind of internalized it to the point I didn't need to physically listen to it again.

That was kind of stupid of me.

I'm also pretty sure that I have a few more items somewhere, but I don't know where. Perhaps misfiled.

But I did keep this. It's a personal favorite.


 Follow Your Money (2015)

I think I've probably seen Robyn perform well over thirty times since 1986. He's always entertaining and worth seeing live. We've also chatted briefly on many occasions over the years since then. He, naturally has no memory of it since I'm generally just some random fan among many, but we've had some sort of weird conversational relationship going back some thirty odd years that he's completely unaware of. I think it's kind of funny.

This is a well spent single dollar for a Record Store Day release of a duet with Emma Swift who is Australian but lives in Nashville which is coincidentally where Robyn Hitchcock currently resides. Funny how that works.



 Push Out the Boat! (1983)

As an added bonus I'm throwing in a single by the Higsons so you too can join with Robyn and be "Listening to the Higsons" as on the above (which is the reason I bought it. I'm a curious sort and wondered what that involved).  Since this was released a year after the aforementioned song one can be fairly certain that neither of these songs were being listened to, but it should provide a taste of what one might expect.

You can listen to it now or if you're much more literal minded set it aside for your early November evening listening pleasure.

I don't care what you do in the privacy of your own home. That's your business. I've already heard it.

Friday, January 26, 2018

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. 

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

I'm Going to Turn the Coffee Back On


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




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.




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.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Nothing But Hits


Have a night off.

Don't have a whole lot to say.
I worked an extra shift so I could spend stupid money on a batch of records that have been lingering on my wantlist a while and I got the itch to finally pull the trigger on.

These aren't them.

But they're Hits.



the Hit Squad (1980)

From our good friends at Break'er Records came this actually pretty credible cover of the Status Quo hit "Pictures of Matchstick Men" from before they grew their hair out really long and made a long series of more or less mediocre rock records through the 70's. (And I may be being kind of overly harsh, but I'm cranky this evening)

The B-side is a bit odder. It's a cover of "Thou Shall Not Steal" by the Wailing Souls turned from the original reggae version into something more akin to to Doo Wop.

You can decide for yourself if either side is an improvement.

In Gunnersby Park (1991)

So this is the Hit Parade. It's on Sarah records. It's some earnest heartfelt acoustic songs.

You know the drill.

The band itself had apparently existed for quite a while. Their first single being released in 1984 chock full of chorus pedals and happy girls. I can imagine them sharing a bill or two with Haircut 100 to great effect.