Ross Lomas with Steve Pottinger - City Baby (Surviving in Leather, Bristles, Studs, Punk Rock, and GBH)

Publisher: Bazillion Points; Year: 2015; Format: Softcover Book

Apologies for the winter blues, but January can be a tough month for not just getting out of bed every morning but especially for doing much once home from work. Since the days are slowly but surely getting a little longer maybe I am feeling slightly more energized. With age I have become someone that thrives on routine, and one of them is to always carry a book in my backpack which I read on my bus trips to and from work. Currently I am reading Steve Ignorant's book with Steve Pottinger and so it dawned on me that some time ago I have also read Ross Lomas' book with Mr. Pottinger, hence a perfect opportunity to get another review up. I am going to sound like a broken record here but the fact remains that it's tough to review books I have read a long time ago hence I revisited certain chapters a bit here and there. The good thing about this book is that it's divided into about three dozen small chapters making it easy to read the first time or when revisiting. According to an interview with Ross with Spanish blog 'Adios Lili Marleen' the original idea was to involve the entire band for the book but apparently nobody was interested bar Ross. In the end it worked out fine me thinks as it's a great read not just about Ross' involvement with GBH but about his private life as well. Quite often with autobiographies I enjoy the first third or so of the books the most as the author usually digs deep into their upbringing and the environment they grew up in. The fact that Ross and the rest of GBH hail from Birmingham makes it for a fascinating glimpse at life in Britain's "Second City" during the '70s, and it certainly is refreshing to hear about the early punk days with a view of someone from outside of London. As you will know though GBH really took off in the early '80s, and it certainly helped that their label mates Discharge pretty much took them under their wings. Many tours and records followed and it's all there throughout various chapters. And as you will surely also know is the fact that GBH still perform to this day hence the book continues all the way up to more modern days. The last time I saw GBH was in 2007 when I lived in London and when they performed at the Purple Turtle playing with their '83 line up if I am not mistaken. It was a fun and chaotic show and sums up the feeling this book delivers from the beginning to the end. But most importantly if you haven't already done so, grab your own copy and find out how Ross never became the milk delivery boy he set out to be way back when. 

Photo Credit: Frank White (Ritz, NYC, 1987)

Pohjasakka - Kidutusta Ja Pelkoa EP

Label: Finnish Hardcore Records; Year: 2022; Format: 12" 45 RPM EP

Pohjasakka hailed from the small town of Rauma on the West Coast of Finland and for all I know were active from 1983 - 1987. In all honesty they were a really unknown entity to me and I do like my hardcore punk from Suomi-Finland, that much is for sure and shall never change. Sami of the Finnish Hardcore label has made it his job to not just reissue rare recordings of long forgotten acts from the land of the thousand lakes, but to equally play an archival part in the restoration of tape releases in particular. Such is the case with this release as Pohjasakka entered the studio in January '86 to record these five tracks as a demo in the hope to release them later said year on vinyl, something that never came to fruition until 2022. Let me tell you one thing straight away, all five tracks are killer but the two sides vary a little bit in style and execution. The two tracks on Side A are my preferred ones as they are just simply perfect hardcore punk songs in the sense that they are nicely settled in between melodic and more straight forward aggressive and fast hardcore punk. Think of bands like Lama, Kohu-63, DOA, Toxic Reasons and such and you get the perfect picture for those two songs. On Side B the band raises the speed levels up by a notch but nonetheless the loud and carrying bass guitar and the equally aggressive drumming never veer out of control so that these three songs are probably best compared to the likes of Riistetyt or Bastards at their very best. Jari Mikkola of Aivoproteesi has done a wonderful job mastering the tape and giving these songs a new life thirty six years after its original release. Great record to have and so should you! 

The Clash - Clash in Hamburg LP 

Label: No Rock Stars (Unofficial); Year: 20??; Format: Vinyl LP

By 1980 the Clash have blossomed from a relatively small unknown unit from London having played a huge part in the punk explosion of 1977 to a well-oiled Rock'N'Roll machine touring not just the UK but also the European continent. In hindsight they certainly did not change the world but Joe Strummer and the gang certainly changed the lives of thousands of teenagers in the late seventies and early eighties. With success a band gains a lot of new fans and loses some of the old faithful. This bootleg LP of the Clash playing in Hamburg, Germany on May 19 in 1980 was originally released in 1980 and at some point in the 00's the version you are seeing herein came out as a "boot of a boot" so to speak. What I find most interesting about this record and the gig itself is not the music contained on vinyl. First and foremost I am not the biggest Clash fan myself and quite frankly despite the sound quality on this record being quite decent I must say that to me it's just a good rock'n'roll performance, nothing more and nothing less. But with the punk scene getting more and more politicized the Clash gig at the Markthalle has a special place in punk rock history and therefore I decided to translate Rudi Krawall's personal account of that night from German to English as per his piece for the excellent "Keine Zukunft War Gestern" book published many years ago: 

"The best gig I have ever seen, and since then I am the biggest Clash Fan ever. The band was accused of having sold out by having signed to CBS and gradually changing their style of music. The venue was stormed by an angry mob that night but the Clash didn't give in despite a riot, blood and emotions flying high. 

The anger that spilled over that night was not spontaneous and neither a coincidence but rather a result of a gradual built-up. I recall a gig with some local bands in a youth centre nearby Hamburg (Shalom in Norderstedt) and if I am not mistaken Scrubby Kids, Slime, Razors and Kotzbrocken played said night. 

Anyway, someone from the crowd grabbed the mic between the bands and started to shout about the upcoming Clash gig at the Markthalle, and that we should all boycott the show. The main reason was that the ticket price of Deutsch Mark 17 or 18 was way too high compared to other international Punk acts having played Hamburg with ticket prices being somewhere between Deutsch Mark 9 and 12. And on top of that the Crass song "Punk is Dead" was mentioned as well and the fact that the Clash being on a major label were nothing short of money grabbing "revolutionaries". 

A plan was agreed that night that we would all meet in front of the venue in order to prevent anyone from entering the Markthalle. On the night of the gig I arrived on time in front of the venue and a mob of around 70-80 punks had gathered in front of the entrance as planned. More and more kids started to arrive with their tickets in their hands but the punk mob resisted and prevented them from entering. Of course at some point the Security folks realized something was not right and intervened so the kids could get in. It was at the moment when the boycotting mob realized that their tactic was failing when they just started to push against the Security people of which there were maybe six. At that point the boycotting mob grew maybe to about 150 and after having overcome the Security said mob just stormed the Markthalle up the stairs and quickly inside. Some people that arrived a bit late that night got in for free as the Security guys just didn't feel like to bother anymore to avoid more confrontation. "Storming" of gigs became fashionable after the Clash gig and reoccurrences were frequent but never again with such a big following. 

When The Clash finally entered the stage that night the atmosphere was already quite heated. On the one hand you had the kids that paid full price for their tickets in order to see the band, and on the other hand you had the punks that stormed the venue to try to disrupt or stop the band from performing. The Clash figured out quickly what was up and played their songs professionally as if nothing was happening. A lot of the punks kept pushing towards the front of the stage and kept shouting "Punk is Dead" in between songs. The Clash were not bothered by that and kept playing even after some of the punks started throwing stuff at the band or spat at them. 

At some point it seemed that the situation was calming down despite the sound quality getting poorer by the minute as some of the punks managed to twist some of the cables on the stage. With the band still continuing to perform despite everything going on more and more punks gained respect for the band and stopped the harassment until Joe Strummer decided to lift his guitar and smash it against the head of one of the punks up front that kept shouting abuse at him. That obviously caused a major stir and I remember some punks climbing up the stage only to be wrestled by the band's roadies. Thereafter the band played a few more songs and the show came to a quick end. After the gig I stood outside the Markthalle with some of the Barmbeker Punks and we noticed two cop cars pulling up. After the police entered the venue they came out about five minutes later with Joe Strummer handcuffed in their company. Two of my friends came up with a quick improvised version of "Police and Thieves" for good ole' Joe and the whole story was all over the tabloid newspapers the next morning."

"I hate" Clash badge. Source: "Keine Zukunft War Gestern" book 2008

With so much of the Clash' history having been covered in books, magazines and what not relatively little coverage has been given to the gigs the band played in Mainland Europe hence despite the music on this bootleg not being the highlight me thinks this is an interesting little anecdote from decades ago. And remember Punk is Dead! 

Rudi Krawall's Original Text in German. Source: "Keine Zukunft War Gestern" book 2008

Photos and Ticket from the Clash Markthalle Gig. Source: "Hamburg Calling" book 2020

AK-47 - The Badge Means You Suck LP

Label: Splattered Records; Year: 2022; Format: Vinyl LP

AK-47 from Houston, Texas are one of those bands that many of us into obscure worldwide punk rock must have discovered through a Killed By Death compilation LP. I don't recall when I heard "The Badge Means You Suck" for the first time but it certainly has been a good while hence the band has fallen off my punk radar until a well written 2021 Texas Monthly article about the band's history and their fascinating connection to police brutality and killings from the past and present subsequently revived my interest in the band (Link to article at the end of this entry). It's only fitting that just a few days ago I visited my local record shop and found a copy of the already hard to find official reissue of the band's material collected on a Full-Length. While the two songs from the originally in 1980 released 7" are the ones many of us are after on vinyl I must say that the remaining eight songs are just as intriguing and good. The true gems on this record are the six songs that the band recorded in 1981 and put up on bandcamp in 2021 as "Singularities". These six songs previously unreleased on vinyl highlight the development of the band after the demise of their original singer and are in my opinion worth every penny spent on this LP. With the addition of Penny Smith on vocal duties it is widely believed that the band really found its style and peaked during that time. Songs like "Isaacs Social Disease" or "Brain on a Pillow" to name just two of the six take the band in all kinds of musical directions without ever losing their Art-Punk roots. Mix angular post-punk with some hard rock and new wave and you get an idea as to how those six songs sound like, and trust me you will not be disappointed. Two more songs recorded actually in recent times are to be found on this wonderful record, with one of them - Trumpelstilstkin - being proof that these Texans haven't lost their art of social commentary in the modern day and age. Get a copy of this record while you can! 

Link to the Article in Texas Monthly:

https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/houston-punk-bands-protest-anthem-still-resonates-forty-years-after-release/

Poison Idea / Ray & Glover - Single At Christmas 

Label: Tim/Kerr Records; Year: 1993; Format: Picture Disc 7" Single

Last night I listened to an entertaining episode of the "Vinyl Guide" podcast with Jerry A of Poison Idea fame as a guest. The interview prompted me to go through one of my 7" boxes to see which Poison Idea EPs I have and at the very end of the box I stumbled across this nice Christmas split between Portland's finest and the Blues/Folk duo Ray & Glover. So tonight I sat down to not just listen to the two songs but to type up the last entry for this year as every blogger needs a break too, and I am certainly craving one from my job and from my hobby. Poison Idea crank out a great version of the classic "Santa Claus is back in town" while digging deep into the blues while on the other side Ray & Glover deliver a nice and slow bluesy number with "I'm mad at the fat man". 

A nice and fitting end to my blog entries for this year me thinks and with having said that I would like to extend my thanks to everybody that has read my blog these past few months since I have been active again, it is much appreciated. 2023 will bring you more of the same so be ready for a wild ride and until then enjoy the holiday festivities and a happy and healthy New Year to you all!

Alice Bag - Violence Girl (East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage, A Chicana Punk Story) 

Publisher: Feral House; Year: 2011; Format: Softcover Book

If you are struggling with an idea what to gift your loved one or a good friend then let me tell you a book always works, just ask my wife. In all fairness though I should be ashamed of myself for reviewing Alice Bag's book now approaching 2023 whereas it was published in 2011, right around the time I started this blog. I must be one of the world's best procrastinators but better late than never I suppose. Alice Bag (nee Alicia Armendariz) was born in the late 1950's and reached probably the perfect age by the time the punk rock explosion hit the City of Angels. Let me be clear though that while this book definitely deals a lot with the early LA punk scene seen through the lenses of Alice it is by no means a book just about that. And that is one of the main reasons why I would say it belongs in the Top 10 of the many punk rock autobiographies having been written in the last decade and some. Alice is a truly gifted writer and this book is just rich of stories from her interesting life having been brought up in East Los Angeles to Mexican-born parents who migrated to the United States. In that sense Alice was not just an outsider in the greater society when punk rock hit, but also an outsider within the caucasian dominated subculture itself. She is the survivor of domestic violence against her mother with a father whom Alice referred to as a "monster", but she is also proud of her heritage and explains in details what it was like to grow up as a Chicana in East LA. Music played a role in Alice's life before punk rock and Elton John, David Bowie and the English Disco were a big deal not just for Alice but many others that would soon find out about a music style much rawer and much more open to people with less talent. Don't worry as the book does eventually take you on a wild ride through the early days of punk rock in Los Angeles and of course The Bags play a vital role in all those stories told. I have read this book years ago and just reread the chapter when The Bags played a show with Rhino 39 in San Diego and how some of the people along with Black Randy took a trip across the border to Mexico the following day turning into a wild adventure. This book is probably one of those that at some point in the future I will read again cover to cover as it is just so well-written and packed with not just fascinating anecdotes but real inspiration from page 1. Last but not least Alice became a teacher and even spent some time in Nicaragua helping out children in that part of the world. She's also somebody that has managed to stay interesting and true to herself up to this day while still performing music and as far as I know now living in Mexico maintaining a blog about the many interesting and fascinating aspects of living there. One of my all time favorite books, period. 

V/A - Let's Get Pissed - It's Christmas Volume Two LP

Label: Cult; Year: 1986(?); Format: Vinyl LP

Tis' the season they say hence I opted to pull the second Volume of the "Let's Get Pissed" Compilations off my shelves to put you dear readers in a festive mood. Let's just say that in case you have this at home or you listen to it through some streaming device, or even better on a cassette made by your friend then your drink of choice should never be too far. As for myself I haven't listened to this one in a long time but wasn't expecting any surprises as the bands on this Compilation are pretty much all well known to me. The one thing about Rot Records, or in this case Cult (a sublabel of Rot), is that their releases are really cheap and often without any information about the bands. Such is the case with this LP as there is no insert nor anything pertaining to actually anybody involved with this record, and that includes the label itself, and that's just bang out of order and I think Santa would agree with me. But, enough of my moaning here and let's get down to the music on this piece of vinyl as the nine bands from around the globe delivering you for the most part unhinged hardcore punk attacks should help you to warm up to the Christmas spirit. I must confess that I was pleasantly surprised hearing the three tracks by Yugoslavian band U.B.R, a band I remembered just being a bit too noisy even for my liking, but the songs on here are just great noisy hardcore without any hint of grindcore. Also outstanding are the two tracks by Brazilian legends Colera and Finnish Hardcore Punk gods Rattus. Killroy from Southern California and Germany's Normahl and Maniacs deliver solid and more melodic hardcore punk whereas Sweden's Fear Of War crank out tracks in Anti Cimex fashion but just really not as good. The two Italian acts Rappresaglia and Pedago Party round off this international affair that should have you slam around your Christmas tree while knocking back some tall ones. Burn down the tree! 

PS. The track by Italian band Pedago Party is not to be found on the back side of the sleeve.

T.S.T - S/T LP

Label: River Records; Year: 1982; Format: Vinyl LP

T.S.T (The Shock Treatment) formed in the spring of 1977 in Vasteras, Sweden, about an hour west of Stockholm. As you can tell by their band name they must have been Ramones fans but by the time their first titled first LP came out in 1982 their influences have shifted drastically towards the underground sounds from the UK. As a matter of fact listening to the record tonight I would say the members of the band must have bought and loved records by the following bands from the British Isles: Discharge, GBH, The Business, Violators, Red Alert and Anti Nowhere League. Before this first LP the band released two EPs and after having split up for a while they reformed with the idea to take the band in a more electronic direction having been influenced by acts like Fad Gadget or Human League according to the info in "The Encyclopedia of Swedish Punk 1977-1987" book. The UK82 sound must have changed their minds as this LP is a truly good mixture of either Punk/Oi influenced tracks or songs more in the Discharge/GBH vein. River Records was apparently a record store in Vasteras and released some of the band's catalogue which is unfortunately hard to obtain on reissues hence my hope is that I will get to hear the rest of the band's output on some reissue in the near future. According to the book mentioned above Nalle (Bass/Vocals) was quite a character and at one point wrestled a cop into a fountain and on another occasion at a Peace Festival pissed on the stage ensuing in a fight with the sound engineer. Got to love the Swedish Drunk Punks. Many years after T.S.T's demise Guitarist and Vocalist Jarmo Makkeli became a member in Swedish Punk'N'Roll outfit Psychopunch, a band my friend and I actually organized a gig for in Switzerland some good twenty years ago. Shame I didn't know about his T.S.T past that night and I would have talked his ears off....

Targets - "Schneller, Lauter, Haerter" and "Menschenjagd" EPs

Label: Aggressive Rock Produktionen; Year: 1984; Format: 45RPM EP

Out of the ashes of legendary Hamburg Punk Rock act Slime came Targets and just a few months after Slime played at the time their last gig Targets released their first EP "Schneller, lauter, haerter" on the well known Berlin based label Aggressive Rock Produktionen. Even though I grew up in Switzerland and was exposed to Punk Rock from Germany at a young age I could often not identify with Deutschpunk. As for Targets though I discovered them through a Mix-Tape a friend made me back in the '80s and loved them dearly ever since. Both of their sought after EPs I was able to get on the cheap in London of all places from a private collection and I shall never part with them. Both of the band's EPs came out in 1984 and they were definitely a continuation of where Slime have left off, lyrically and sonically speaking. The four songs on this EP are all straight forward, well executed hardcore punk tracks in the German language with great lyrics on top of the excellent songs. Terrorism and multi-national corporate greed for instance play an important role in the songs "Geld regiert die Welt" and "Massenhysterie", topics that would gain much more importance decades after the release of this EP but were equally important to the time this EP was released. Sehr gut!

Label: Aggressive Rock Produktionen; Year: 1984: Format: 45RPM EP

While there is no real difference in the quality of the songs between the first and this second EP, the main difference is that this one was recorded and mixed by Harris Johns at Berlin's Musiclab-Studio and one can tell the difference immediately. The sound levels are higher and everything is just much crisper and clearer. On top of that "Menschenjagd" is without doubt one of the best songs Targets have ever written, a song dealing with people feeling paranoid while on the run from the government. "Nie wieder Krieg" is equally great and the cover version of Germany's Schlager King Udo Juergens "Der Teufel hat den Schnaps gemacht" rounds up the second and equally great EP by Targets. While getting the originals is by no means cheap I just checked whether these two EPs have been compiled onto an LP and yes that is very much the case in the form of a compilation released in 2017 on Coltureshock. If you are relatively new to the world of Punk from Deutschland get your hands on said LP as you won't regret it. 

Deranged - Place Of Torment 12"

Label: Supreme Echo; Year: 2021; Format: 45RPM 12" Vinyl

Lately I've again opened my eyes and ears to Thrash Metal or Extreme Metal from the '80s after having ignored those genres for decades. Back in 85/86 like many bored teenagers stuck in suburban boredom I adored bands like Exodus, Possessed, Venom et al. but once my interest turned towards hardcore punk I lost interest in Metal all together and never looked back again. The other day I paid a visit to my favorite local underground record store and the nice proprietor behind the counter played Canada's Deranged while I was flipping through the racks filled with punk and hardcore records. Initially I wasn't too impressed but on my next visit to the store I asked for a copy as the songs kind of got stuck in my brain whether I liked it or not. Deranged hailed from Victoria, BC on Canada's West Coast and released two Demos in '88 and '89 respectively. "Place of Torment" was the second demo and now sees the light again in the form of this 12". The four songs have been remixed and mastered to the highest standard possible from the original demo and they sound absolutely bombastic as I for one would not have guessed that they were taken from a demo tape, which speaks for the band and their ambitions back in the day. As to be expected with releases from Supreme Echo much love has been poured into this release and a nice thick booklet containing an interview with the band members and old photos is included with this killer release. The songs themselves are quality Thrash/Death metal numbers reminiscent of acts like Kreator, Death or Sadus to name a few. I am no expert when it comes to '80s extreme metal but still have a good recollection of bands when I was into this sort of stuff all those decades back and highly recommend this release if no frills metal is your thing. 

Naked Raygun - Basement Screams LP

Label: Haunted Town Records; Year: 2007; Format: Vinyl LP

It's not only time that the Thanksgiving break is a thing of the past and this blog comes alive again but it's also time for me to start reviewing bands from my collection that I own several records of. Chicago's Naked Raygun is one of those bands and it'd be only fitting to start off where they started off. Basement Screams was originally released back in 1983 as a 45RPM 12" on Ruthless Records, a label started by members of another well known Chicago band, the Effigies. The 2007 reissue from my collection also includes the 1982-83 demos on Side B and while those songs are not as strong as the original 12" on Side A I for one think they were worth to be included and are still a great listen. Naked Raygun started off in 1980 and by the time Basement Screams was released the line-up has changed already quite a bit. While a lot of bands from the early '80s Hardcore Punk movement played their instruments at a neck-breaking speed Naked Raygun had a much artsier and different approach to their song-writing, especially on Basement Screams. Take the pop elements of a band like the Buzzcocks and mix it with the weirdness and heaviness of bands like the Wire and Killing Joke and you get a good idea how Basement Screams sounds. The tribal and loud drumming is omnipresent on all songs and drives the melodic songs forward while Jeff's vocals are somewhat reminiscent of Glenn Danzig. John Haggerty who would later join Naked Raygun on a permanent basis ads backing vocals and saxophone duties on two songs providing something some punk rock acts have successfully done before them. I am not entirely sure as to why Trouser Press would consider the Basement Screams songs to be a "hodgepodge of underproduced and under-conceived songs" as in my opinion the result is quite the contrary. As mentioned above the quality of the songs and recordings on the Demo Side are a notch lower than Side A but to give the band credit where credit is due the songs are just proof that the band was already reaching a high level and ready to take on any challenge headed their way. Be sure that Naked Raygun will feature again on this blog, and if you don't have Basement Screams do yourself a favor and get this highly influential Midwest masterpiece one way or another. 

V/A - Nightmare Vol, 1 EP

Label: Unknown (Unofficial Release); Year: 1997; Format: 33 RPM EP

In August of 1997 I visited Tokyo for two weeks and judging by the little flyer for Peace Punk distribution I am certain I had gotten this little introduction to Punk and Hardcore from the Philippines in Japan. Since not too long ago I reviewed the Chinese Punk Compilation EP I felt like I give this little platter a spin as it's been a while since I heard this the last time and I was in the mood to explore my horizon further when it comes to the history of hardcore punk from Asia. The Philippines should be considered as a highly intriguing and interesting place when it comes to hardcore punk due to the fact that a scene started to flourish there as early as 1981, that is according to two online sources with one of them being "A Short History of the Hardcore Punk Underground in the Philippines" on bandcamp which I can recommend if you just want to get your teeth into the subject matter. Provided this boot was released back in '97 before the internet exploded I would think that the EP really helped to spread the sound of hardcore punk from the Philippines to the point that over the years since the interest in bands from the small island must have spiked judging by some of the official reissues of bands contained on this EP. On Side A we get to hear two songs by Betrayed, initially started by four high school friends in Queens, NY in 1980, off of their originally in 1986 issued cassette on Twisted Red Cross, run by Tommy Tanchanco of Third World Chaos fame. Betrayed were equally influenced by US Hardcore and more traditional UK Punk as the two songs on this EP prove, including a great cover version of The Damned's "Love Song". On to R.D.A. with three fast and furious songs off of their 1987 cassette on Twisted Red Cross. Think of Stark Raving Mad or Impulse Manslaughter as an influence for R.D.A. while  I couldn't find any further info relating to them. On Side B we first get three songs by I.O.V. (Intoxication of Violence) which as the rest of Side B are definitely more in the UK82 vein in my opinion. Next up are Philippine Violators with just one song from their '87 cassette "At Large". Next to Third World Chaos they might very well be the best known band outside the Philippines, at least I seem to remember hearing about them over the years and the song is killer. Last but not least are Urban Bandits with one song from the originally in 1985 released "Independence Day" cassette, and in my opinion "Hoy" is the best track on this EP, just a brutally executed hardcore punk smasher that could have just as well come out of the UK, Brazil or Finland. If you find all of this interesting and would like to find out about all these bands and the diverse '80s hardcore punk scenes from the Philippines then the good news is that there are now more official reissues available with the bad news being that they are not exactly easily available outside the Philippines. I will need to dig deeper as this EP is for the most part really great and got me hungry for more. 

Rare Peel - Discs 1-4 

Label: Fan Club (Unofficial Release); Year: 2010; Format: 4 x 45RPM EP

In true bootlegger fashion this release does not come without hick ups as for instance Disc 1 and Disc 2 contain a sticker mix-up between the Crabs and the Cortinas and the four EPs also don't run on 33RPM but on 45RPM. That put aside I really have no clue why the person behind this bootleg decided to put this out in a cheap 7" box containing four EPs instead of just slapping it onto one LP and maybe put more love into the booklet which seems to have been assembled from various other official releases or stuff found online. Either way I remember buying this when I was still living in London and apparently it's limited to 416 copies but who knows whether that is true. In all fairness something like this deserves a proper official release but that's a discussion for another rainy day. So what you get on these four separate EPs are Peel Sessions from four different bands from the years '77 and '78. While the Drones, Cortinas and Models are probably known to everybody into early UK punk the Crabs might be an exception even to some true aficionado of '77 punk. The band formed in Great Yarmouth in East Anglia as early as 1974 under the names Cosmic Love and Teezer and is known to have supported many well known acts such as Sham 69, X-Ray Spex or the Jam to name a few. The four songs recorded for John Peel in 1978 are a mixed bag in my opinion although none of the tracks are poor per se. "Victim" and "Don't want your love" are the two stand out tracks for me though as they are strong upbeat '77 punk smashers the way we love them while the other two tracks are more mid-tempo and in a way lost in no-man's land between punk rock and R&B. 

The Cortinas from Bristol are probably best known for their two excellent singles on Step Forward Records and the four John Peel Sessions songs are from the same time period with "Defiant Pose" and "Television Families" also appearing on those releases. Since I don't have any of the band's early output (shame on me) I can't really compare the versions but the Cortinas EP from this set is my favorite one as all four tracks are simply superb and hard-hitting tracks in the way that they are aggressive yet still melodic, something I think a lot of the later punk rock bands took away from bands like the Cortinas. The other two tracks from the Cortinas session are "Having It (Have it with you)" and my absolute favorite "Further Education". If my research is correct than seek out the MK1 LP which collects the Peel Session songs and other early material by the band as well. The Drones from Manchester are probably best known for their hit "Bone Idol" or my all time favorite "Lookalikes" but according to Mick Middles in the excellent "no more heroes" book by Alex Ogg the band was not popular at all in their home city. Still "Movement" and "The Change" are solid tracks from their Peel Session and highlight their strong musicianship and roots in R&B. 

Last but not least we get four tracks from The Models who were Marco Pirroni's short lived band best known for their excellent single on Step Forward which shall be reviewed here at some point in the future. While those two songs will be known to many of you and were also part of the Peel Sessions I don't think that "Censorship" and "Brainwash" are of equal quality to round off their disc but they are definitely not bad tracks and still above average. All in all don't be paying some outrageous amount if you find this for sale as again a release like this one deserves much more love and dedication. 

SPS - Jsme V Hajzlu LP

Label: Globus International; Year: 1992; Format: Vinyl LP

SPS stands for Snizena Pracovni Schopnost which in English would translate into Diminished Work Ability and the band started out in 1988 in Prague, at the time the capital of Czechoslovakia. The band consisting of three members recorded their first demo in 1989 but it wasn't until 1992 and the years after the fall of communism in former Czechoslovakia for the band to be able to release their first LP on Globus International, one of the very early independent record labels started in Prague. In the early '90s SPS also briefly featured in the British Channel 4 documentary "Punks In Prague" highlighting the increased shift of young people who were punks under communism and drifted to the right after the fall of communism. The documentary can be found on youtube and is an interesting watch if you are curious to learn about international punk scenes you might not be knowledgeable about. But on to the music on "Jsme V Hajzlu" which would translate to "We're deep in shit". One of the main reasons I do this blog is to sit down and actually listen to my records and to top it off I try to find information pertaining to the band and other musically historical facts. SPS are still going strong to this day with guitarist/singer Zdenek the only remaining original member left, and as a matter of fact they are currently playing shows in the Czech Republic in celebration of the 30th anniversary of this album, which in my opinion is one hell of a great record. If you like your punk being played straight forward with lots of drive, a heavy bass and a good production then you really need to seek out this album. There is not a single weak song to be found on this platter and while I sat in the recliner enjoying this record I tried to pin down the influences the band used to come up with the sound and the songs for this LP and I couldn't help thinking of One Way System from the UK, good German 80s punk like Canalterror or Bluttat or French bands from the Chaos En France era. What you get is really outstanding old school punk that will have you raise your fist and sing along no matter whether you speak Czech or not. According to the SPS website the album sold over thirty thousand copies when it came out highlighting how popular punk rock was for young people in the early post-communism years. Punk on! 

Early photo of Zdenek, founding member and only remaining original member left in the current line-up. Source: Official SPS Facebook page.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Soundtrack LP

Label: Ode Records; Year: 1975; Format: Vinyl LP

Even though Halloween was yesterday it is still the season and when I was sitting down last night to write the review after having listened to the LP I was plain tired hence a twenty-four hour delay it is. I don't exactly remember how old I was when I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time, but I was very young. Over the years I have seen the movie several times again and always loved it for its celebration of trash culture and B-Movies. It has been years since I saw it last hence it's time I catch it again some time soon. Since I am not a movie buff and definitely don't consider myself knowledgeable when it comes to the world of cinema I read up about the impact of the Rocky Horror Picture Show on the intranet and have come away with some interesting angles. First and foremost since this blog of mine concentrates so heavily on punk rock it is interesting to see how the costume designer Sue Blane has directly or indirectly influenced early punk rock fashion, especially when it comes to the torn fishnet stockings and colorfully-dyed hair. Let's also not forget that the movie spawned the musical career of Meatloaf as two years after the release of Rocky Horror Meatloaf released his most popular album ever, Bat Out of Hell. At the same time the movie launched careers of actors like Susan Sarandon or Tim Curry amongst others. But how about the music on this record and so crucially important to the movie itself? Everybody will have heard "The Time Warp" at some point in their lives, there is no doubt about it. It is definitely the hit song on the record and of the movie, but let's not fool ourselves to think that the rest of the music is not interesting. All the music was written by Richard O'Brien aka Riff Raff in the movie and I shall just conclude that his dialogues for the movie and the accompanying music make this movie and soundtrack so much fun that it should not come as a surprise that almost fifty years after its original release the movie is a cult classic and has a worldwide following. I'll put on "Time Warp" again now and raise a glass to everything outside the norm. Please do yourself a favor and watch the movie and let's do the time warp again!!