Various Artists "Flipside Vinyl Fanzine Volume 1" USA / UK 1984

Last I checked, a couple of weeks ago, the three Flipside Vinyl Fanzines were not available online (this via my usual source of checking for online availability).  Some blogs had posted them all but the links seem to be down.  It looks like I'll be posting all of them in the coming weeks.

Of the three LPs this is likely the weakest, although it is an excellent time capsule with a few great tracks mixed in.  For those who don't know, there were two major punk zines in the US in the 1980s, which in the era before the internet and when long distance phone calls were still expensive (I sound like an old man!) became the main means of communication in the punkosphere.  One was Flipside, out of the Los Angeles area.  The other was MaximumRocknRoll out of the San Francisco area, which grew out of a college radio program to become the world's central punk resource.

Flipside was the older of the two, had the more "fun" image, was far less political and was more likely to cover music outside of the punk sphere and as time wore on its coverage edged into bands trying to "make it" in L.A, or even bands that had made it years earlier (I recall them covering Twisted Sister and Hawkwind).   It would cover even the odd hair/glam metal band and by the end of the decade had a glossy color cover and took ads from major labels.  MRR was and is the much-maligned heart of hardcore, especially political hardcore.  Always in stark black and white newsprint, it was political and focused on punk and had an editorial line and ad policies actively against music as an industry.  Contrary to popular belief, I think MRR did the best they could to cover many genres of punk-related rock until they got literally too many submissions to review each issue, and had to start drawing a line somewhere.  They would never have considered covering a hair metal band, but for years there were reviews of '60s garage re-releases, neo-surf and neo-garage bands, "crossover" metal and general weirdness like Butthole Surfers on top of the standard thrash and punk.

I was one of many people who read both every chance I could.  They were different but had some overlapping coverage area.  Between the two, reading the MRR reviews and the Flipside "Unclassifieds", you could stay in touch with people from all over the world, buying and trading music, zines etc.  The key was that both were dependable publications which came out like clockwork.  This was no small feat at the time.

The first of the three Flipside Vinyl Fanzines was released in 1984, and for the most part unlike the next two is a straight-ahead punk and hardcore affair.  By this time the novelty of early '80s hardcore speed was wearing a bit thin and within a couple of years the better bands diversified their sounds somewhat.  And that I think makes the next two records from the later '80s better.  All three albums have affixed to the front of each track a short sound sample from each band, who sound like they had a microphone shoved in front of them and were asked on little or no notice to record a message to the kids out there for the album, which ends up being for posterity.  The next two albums feature some experimental playfulness with this concept, leading me to think that people had more notice and were recording something they knew would be a memorable chunk of their bands' legacies.

As best as I can recall only British punk veterans G.B.H. are not Americans.

Side 1

1 The Dickies "Gigantor" (Live Cleveland Agoura)
2 Government Issue "Religious Ripoff"
3 The Freeze "No One Is Ever Coming Home"
4 White Flag "Question of Intelligence"
5 Kraut "Flossing with an E String"
6 F "Attack"
7 Plain Wrap "Meat Between the Treads"
8 Flag of Democracy "Madhouse"
9 TSOL "Suppose They Gave A War ..."
10 Adrenalin O.D. "Me Three Bunch"

Side 2

11 Scream "Fight"
12 The Undead "In '84"
13 FU’s "Warlords" (Live on WERS FM Boston)
14 Black Market Baby "Total Waste"
15 Psycho "Master Race"
16 Gay Cowboys in Bondage "Domestic Battlefield"
17 Borscht "Suburbia"
18 Anti-Scrunti Faction "Big Women"
19 G.B.H. "Give Me Fire" (Live At Perkins Palace, Pasadena)


Flip!

Various Artists "Exploiting Plastic Inevitable: Lesson II" LP international 1960s/1970s

Full title: Exploiting Plastic Inevitable: Lesson II Globular Lightning

One of the great things about the internet is how people with similar interests in different parts of the world can become connected when otherwise they would never find each other.  That's the story with this album.

Shortly after posting the rare first volume of these two compilations, my post got some comments from one of the German fellows who put them together.  One thing led to another, and before I knew it I was proud owner of an untouched copy of one of only 700 of these follow-up compilations pressed back in 1996.  A couple of months ago I didn't even know this existed.

So Vielen Dank! to my German source.  The idea was that this was going to be the first time this rarity was posted by anyone, but as luck would have it the excellent blog Paradise of Garage Comps beat me to it by a few weeks.  Seeing the effort that went into getting this LP as far as it came, I'm going to plow ahead and post it again myself.  Two sources for something this scarce can't hurt.  (And yes, this is my vinyl rip... first time the album was played!)

Once again this album is composed of some fantastic garage and psych rarities from literally all over the world, spanning the mid-'60s through the early '70s.

Side 1

1 Les Problemes - Dodecaphonie (Puteaux, France)
2 Brains Ltd. - Change Your Life (Hamburg, Germany)
3 Adam's Boys - Get Away From Me (Athens, Greece)
4 Hide and Seek - Riven Street (Austria)
5 Los Vidrios Quebrados - Que Importa El Tiempo (Chile)
6 Rob De Neys - Bye Bye Mrs. Turple (Amsterdam, Holland)
7 John Wonderling - Man Of Straw (NY, U.S.A.)
8 The Nicols - She Has A Name To Find Out (The Hague, Holland)
9 Ganim's Asia Minors - Daddy Lolo (New York, NY, U.S.A.)


Side 2

1 The Rope Sect - Dae Du Dae (Villingen, Germany)

2 Tom Dae Turned On - I Shall Walk (Hartford, CT, U.S.A.)

3 Berry Clan & The Pollution - My Crock (Belgium)

4 Revolver - I'm Down (Israel)

5 Ram & Sel - Screw You (Sheffield, U.K.)

6 Illes - Nem Erdekel, Amit Monsz (Hungary)

Take a trip!

Fox "Only You Can" b/w "Out of My Body" UK/USA/Australia/Ireland 1974

Here's another one of those singles that I thought was a rarity, but is just relatively unknown in the United States.  This song hit #2 on the West German and #3 on the UK pop charts in '74, but at only #53 here in the US this is never going to get played on any commercial radio station.  My copy is a German pressing on the GTO label.

Fox was a multinational band put together by American songwriter/producer Kenny Young, and featured Australian Susan Traynor (using the stage name "Noosha Fox") on vocals, which in her case includes suggestive inhaling.

The hit has a loping beat, a softer side of dance-able glam-pop number that approaches, but never reaches, a reggae grove.  I bet they dug this at Rodney Bingehheimer's English Disco.  The B-side is more a psych-pop by way of glam ballad track and has quite the lysergic lyric, although if I had to pick a drug that was in the studio at the time I'd have to go quaaludes.  Despite - or is it because of? - this description I like both sides.  Now I'd like to hear the '75 LP.

Get out of your body.

Various Artists "Radio Bond-Age" LP France 1980s

This cool compilation consists almost entirely of French bands of the 1980s.  Although I believe it was released in 1989, much of the material here dates from in some cases as many as 5 or more years earlier as it was meant to promote a number of releases on the Bondage label out of Paris.

It is one of the most impressive packaging jobs I've ever seen on a true indie release, with an elaborate glossy color gatefold cover and informative English language liner notes.  It seems the album was meant to introduce some French acts to an English-speaking audience.  This was one of the records I most had in mind to post when starting the blog.

There's a mix of punk and related genres, steering clear of the hardcore/thrash scene that also existed in Paris at the time.  You have fairly melodic art punk from (relatively) famous bands such as Bérurier Noir and Ludwig von 88, known for their artsy political stage shows, as well as several other inconnus that take things in a number of post-punk directions, ranging from the twisted folk of Les Nonnes Troppo (who dressed as nuns) and Les Endimanches...to the hip hop-inspired sampling of No Vision, a group that apparently grew out of a "graffiti crew."  Expect from the best tracks some combination of demented B-52s, a touch of Cramps and standard melodic '80s punk sounds along with horns, accordion, and a variety of other instruments.  I can pretty much guarantee that everyone will like some of this and very few will like all of it.

The one non-French band on the LP is The Lords of the New Church, a "supergroup" American/British post-punk band composed of former members of The Dead Boys, Sham 69, The Barracudas and a number of other projects, who had at least one release on the Bongade label and were the first non-French band on their roster.

I bought this in a used record store in Philadelphia in about 1989 or so and haven't seen a copy since.

Face A

"Ready Ready Go Punk Rockers" - The Brigades
"Jardin Potager" - Les Endimanches
"Guerriers Balubas" - Ludwig von 88
"Nuit Apache" - Bérurier Noir
"I Love You - Fuck Off" - Lucrate Milk
"Les Voisins du dessus" - Les Satellites
"Pizza Attack" - Washington Dead Cats

Face B

"Hotel du Labrador" - Messageros Killers Boys
"Le Roi de la route" - Les Nonnes Troppo
"Pop SIDA" - Les PPI (Pervers Polymorphes Inorganises)
"Je suis un evade" - Nuclear Device
"Death Penalty" - No Vision
"Real Bad Time" - The Lords of the New Church

Vive le rock!

Various Artists "Exploiting Plastic Inevitable" LP international 1960s

Full title: Exploiting Plastic Inevitable: Lesson 1, World Wildlife Soundation.  This is a rare and great compilation of garage (on the "Drinking" side) and psych (on the "Smoking" side) from all over the world.  There is a second volume out there which I believe was also limited to 700 copies, and I'd love to get my hands on a copy of that or at least hear the music if anyone out there has one (hint, hint to other bloggers!).  These releases appear to have been pressed around 1995, and I likely bought this in a used record store shortly thereafter.

The claim is that this is Yahoo Records 009; I'd certainly be interested in what the 8 previous records were if they exist.  [See Comments below... Yahoo is the German guys who do the Prae-Kraut Pandemonium series .] The few photos of this I've seen online have a yellow cover, so I feel special with my blue construction paper one.  The title is obviously derived from the Andy Warhol/Velvet Underground Exploding Plastic Inevitable events, which I believe is what was satired in one scene in the movie Midnight Cowboy.

The music selections are mostly excellent and psych/garage collectors will certainly recognize some of the bigger names.  Most songs are originals, but there are a few covers (of Bo Diddley, Lothar & The Hand People, John Lee Hooker, The Easybeats) and the Los Yorks track is at least initially derived from the Kinks' instrumental "Revenge."  Some tracks have appeared on other, better-known collections, but others I've only heard on this release.  The Sir Henry & His Butlers track has appeared elsewhere, but I've heard it comped before with the piano coda missing, so this might be a different edit that was for a different format/release.

A couple of items in the tracklist below are altered from the info in the liner notes.  I believe the multinational Rhythm Checkers also had a Luxembourg connection [it turns out I am wrong about this - see Comments!] and The Cedars (a.k.a. The Sea-ders) were Lebanese but are identified on this LP and sometimes elsewhere as being Israeli, which I would imagine would bother them some, especially with the cedar tree being the national symbol of Lebanon.  It'd be like calling a band with the name The Stars of David "Jordanian."  Note also that as the name "Diaz" suggests, Danny Diaz and The Checkmates were Filipino, not Chinese, and worked in Hong Kong.  Blogger kept my Labels (below) for the post to 20, so unfortunately I had to leave out a few countries.

Also of interest: Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band was a project of Norman Greenbaum a couple of years before his massive hit "Spirit in the Sky."

Smoking Side
1 "Jigsaw" - Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band (USA)
2 "I'm Looking in the Universe" - The Rabbits (Greece)
3 "Hard Work" - Mogollar (Turkey)
4 "Machines" - The Cool Cats (Norway)
5 "For Your Information" - The Cedars (Lebanon)
6 "19.8" - Los Walkers (Argentina)
7 "Pretty Style" - Sir Henry & His Butlers (Denmark)
8 "Mira tu" - Los Yorks (Peru)

Drinking Side

1 "Pills" - Shorty and Them (UK)
2 "Clock on the Wall" - The Guess Who (Canada)
3 "She's So Fine" - Danny Diaz & The Checkmates (Philippines / Hong Kong)
4 "Far Away" - The Countdowns (Switzerland)
5 "Yo grito" - Los Sirex (Spain)
6 "'Cause I Need You" - The Rhythm Checkers (West Germany /France)
7 "We Are Happy" - The Seasons (Chile)
8 "You Don't Love Me at All" - The Moonjacks (Sweden)
9 "Boom Boom" - The Tempters (Japan)

Smoke and drink.

Bulldog "Doggy Doggy" b/w "Where Did She Go" - UK 1975

Another single from the 4 for 10 euro stack purchased in Rome, and again I was hoping for something a little more glam and got something more on the pop end.

There is no info on the sleeve about any band, and I suspect that this was a studio project hoping to score a novelty hit.  Songs were compsed by "A. Taylor" on the Blue Jean label, and distributed by "Spark It." (Italia?).  It seems safe to assume this is British.

The A-side reminds me of the George Baker Selection hit "Paloma Blanca", only with barking.  Seriously.  There's barking.  The B-side is filler, an Elvis impersonator-type goof on '50s rock'n'roll/pop that sounds like a Bonzo Dog or Move joke track.

Woof! Woof!

Julie Felix "Heaven Is Here" b/w "Soon" - UK/USA 1970

It's exciting how much music is out there.  No matter how much I think I know, there are always new artists and even whole genres to dig into of which I was previously unaware.

This is yet another one of the 7" discs I picked up in Rome at a used bookshop 4 per 10 euro.  Like the Chris Spedding single I opened the blog with, I picked this up in part because it was a Mickie Most/Rak label production.  This is the second post on the blog already of an Italian pressing of a single I assumed was a British artist, but is an American who had been working in Britain for a substantial period, becoming better known there than here.

I'm too young to have caught the '60s, but I have a pretty massive collection of '60s recordings, and you would think that I would be familiar with Julie Felix for one of any number of reasons.  The cover art plus the year gave me a pretty good idea of what this was going to sound like while I was still in the store, not knowing the name.

She played the Isle of Wight Festival in 1969, recorded several (mostly folk) albums in the UK beginning in 1964, was the resident singer for David Frost's BBC show, had her own TV show where she hosted performances of The Kinks, Jimmy Page (check out this video!) and Leonard Cohen.  This was the second Top 40 hit (#22) of hers in the UK for 1970.

Yet I'd never heard of her!  Ms. Felix is American but has lived in Britain for about 50 years.  She has an extensive website with info about her ongoing performances, ways to order CDs that cover a lot of her material spread over some years, and even join her fan club.

"Heaven Is Here" is an excellent pop-folk-rocker that Americans should hear.  The B-side is an OK typical B-side, providing a more introspective, slower song.  At times when Felix is really belting it out her voice reminds me of Joan Baez, but that's a starting point of reference and she has her own sound.

Give it a listen.

The Naked - "One Step Forward Towards Reality" 7" EP - UK 1983

At long last, the first truly punk post of the blog.  This EP is on the Bluurg label, which has been continuously putting out punk since 1980, likely making it one of the oldest operating DIY labels on Earth.

If you follow the link to the label above, they have a CD out with what I'm sure is a better quality version of this EP plus four demo tapes of this band.  A few years back I checked out the website and this material was not apparently available in any format.  I'd like to order the CD myself, this sounds like a band that should have been able to record more than one record.

As early '80s punk/hardcore/thrash goes this is relatively melodic/ "musical" stuff.  Bluurg is the label run by Dick Lucas of Subhumans UK/ Culture Shock/ Citizen Fish fame.  That's about as solid a punk pedigree as exists, more than 30 years of DIY dedication and likely more benefit gigs than can be counted.

Lucas seems to have a fixation on fish and the catalog numbers all begin with that word, thus this record is fish 4.  At least it might be; according to the label's included ordering sheet that's the number for a cassette by a band called Organized Chaos; the record's label is marked fish 4 too.

I bought this 7" EP many years ago solely because it was on this label, and generally whatever was on the label displayed more talent and more thoughtfulness than most punk offerings of the '80s had available.  I wish I knew more about the band other than that they were English (County Kent) and on Bluurg, but that's what I've got.  Any additional info is welcome.  Some sources online have this as a 1982 release but the sleeve states these songs were recorded in 1983.

My two favorite tracks are "Smile" and "Alienn", and I have no idea why the latter is spelled that way.

Side A:

One Step Forward
Alienn

Side B:

Frightened
Smile
Evil Faces

Located here.

David McWilliams - "... Pearly Spencer" b/w "Harlem Lady" - UK 1967

Most psych fans at this point are familiar with the A-side of this single, "Days of Pearly Spencer", at the very least because it was featured on the second/international Nuggets box set.  Europeans in general and our British friends especially might well know the song from various versions which charted, including the original by McWilliams himself in 1967.

McWilliams was from Belfast and wrote this compelling tune about a homeless man he met in the mid-'60s, where it became a British hit via the famous pirate station Radio Caroline.  This relative success doesn't seem to have manifested itself in the sort of financial success one might hope.  Americans are likely not familiar with the song unless you, like me, own that second Nuggets box.

He died at the rather young age of 56 in County Antrim.  A brief bio is available on Wikipedia and a quite nice tribute site is located here.

This is a French pressing of the single which I found in - are you ready for this? - a used bookstore in Essaouira, Morocco.  It was one of the cheapest records they had, likely because the management had no idea who the artist was.  By my estimate this was probably the rarest and most valuable disc in the store, and it was mine for around US $3.

"Harlem Lady" is a less dramatic pop piece than McWilliams' most famous song, but like many B-sides of the era it's well worth the effort of flipping the record.  Both songs are on his retrospective CD, which you should buy if you like these tunes, but outside of that I've never seen the B-side comped anywhere.

Grab it here.

Chris Spedding - "Time Warp" b/w "Bored Bored" - UK 1978

Sorry folks, no pic sleeve for this one.

I am not very familiar with the solo work of Chris Spedding, who appears to have played with a wide array of rock royalty as a '60s/'70s session musician.

Judging by his YouTube videos, as a solo artist he had a foot in glam, the pop/New Wave end of punk and that range of guitar music in the UK in the mid- to late-1970s.

I was attracted to this single, scored for just $1, at a garage sale because it's on the glam label Rak and was produced by '60s/'70s ace producer Mickie Most, who owned the label.  This didn't disappoint.

"Bored Bored" is a nice mid-tempo pop-rocker with an obviously '70s punk-inspired lyric, but the flip is the star here.  "Time Warp" features everything but the kitchen sink, a slow burner with loud backward guitar, synthy "robot" vocal effects and an echo-laden space lyric.  It has nothing to do with the song of the same title from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Both sides of the single actually do end this abruptly, there are no technical difficulties, which I take it was also punk-inspired immediacy.

Do I sound enough like a music snob in my first "real" post?

Listen (two zipped mp3s, photo) right here.