LP Happy Customers 1982 CD reissue Spiffing 1997 with bonus track "Will Sergeant is best known as the guitarist for Echo and the Bunnymen, but fans of that group shouldn't go looking for this LP expecting a familiar-sounding spinoff. Themes for GRIND has no vocals and none of Echo and the Bunnymen's trademark hooks. This album will probably appeal to anyone who enjoys dark, atmospheric ambient music. It's experimental, but not in an annoying or pretentious way, and evokes a gray-sky world of abandoned factories and empty streets. Highly recommended". (discogs.com) ENJOY
7" single Mute Records 1978 CD reissue Mute Records 1995 "A short-lived outfit whose existence is conveniently documented by a lone 1978 single, The Normal was an alias for Daniel Miller, owner of Mute Records. Through the likes of Cabaret Voltaire, Fad Gadget, and Depeche Mode, Miller's label was responsible for opening thousands of minds to the possibilites of electronic music. (...) A pivotal, early release of electronic new wave, this single oddly gained more notoriety for its B-side, Warm Leatherette. Amidst jolting zaps, pops, and blipping skips, Daniel Miller robotically intones about the pleasures of car crash as foreplay: 'A tear of petrol is in your eye / The hand brake penetrates your thigh / Quick - let's make love / Before you die'. The track sounds like a darkly cartoonish version of a malfunctioning dot matrix printer: clinically pristine, minimal, and sinister. A brief flash that caused countless ripples, it sounds just as fresh two decades after its creation. T.V.O.D. is no slouch either, commanding the tube owner to cut to the chase and stick the aerial antenna into their arm". (Andy Kellman, All-Music Guide) ENJOY
Compilation CD Imaginary Records 1991 "The Mock Turtes were led by singer/guitarist Martin Googan, the older brother of famed British television comedian and actor Steve Coogan. Bassist Steve Green, keyboardist Krzysztof Korab, and drummer Steve Cowen completed the lineup, which channeled influences spanning from folk-rock to psychedelia to glam. The Mock Turtles issued their debut single, Pomona, in 1987. Contributions to Imaginary Records tribute LPs celebrating The Byrds, The Kinks, and Captain Beefheart followed, but in early 1989 Green and Korab exited, with bassist Andrew Stewardson, guitarist Martin Glynn Murray, and keyboardist Joanne Gent signing on for The Wicker Man, a single inspired by the cult horror classic of the same name. With 1990's Lay Me Down the Mock Turtles began incorporating the club-inspired rhythms that would come to define the Manchester sound in the months to follow, and that June the band issued its first full-length effort, Turtle Soup, to significant critical acclaim. Major label Siren soon extended a contract offer, and for their label debut the Mock Turtles reworked the Lay Me Down B-side Can You Dig It? The record proved a Top 20 chart hit, accompanied by an appearance on the BBC's Top of the Pops. A slick second album, Two Sides, nevertheless failed to earn much attention and in 1993 Coogan dissolved the group to form Ugli with Green and Korab". (Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide) ENJOY
LP / CD First Warning Records 1989 "The first Hex effort somehow gets the mood right from the start, that lovely end-of-the-'80s psych-pop/indie or whatever groove that had defined much of the underground music of that era. Given the participants' background in The Church and Game Theory, that's hardly a surprise, but it's lovely to hear how well they go together, [Donnette] Thayer's voice just tripped out and intoxicating enough, [Steve] Kilbey's arrangements suiting the mood well. Aside from a guest drum turn on one song, the two create everything themselves and do a lovely job. If the percussion throughout is electronic, it certainly sounds less stiff and out of place than on some of the early Church recordings, so credit goes to Kilbey there. The use of keyboards also deserves note: gothy/new wave synth lines made into darkly elegant swells of sound (check out Mercury Towers for a fine example). Other musicians, like Heidi Berry and The Moon Seven Times, could almost be said to have taken tips from the results, because there's the same rainy/sunny rural-afternoon glaze throughout Hex, a wonderful way to spend some time with music. Of the high points, Ethereal Message is clearly a pinnacle; not as gauzy as the title might imply, it's a low-key epic that feels and sounds like a building climb into the sky, the combination of backward guitars and steady pace the perfect bed for Thayer's vocal prowess. That the two can call a song Hermaphrodite but have it sound like a fragile, echo-heavy ballad rather than a glam rock strut is but part of the overall charm. Every so often things turn a bit more pedestrian - In the Net, one great solo from Kilbey aside, is too mannered to really work - but overall, Hex is an underrated keeper". (Ned Raggett, All-Music Guide) ENJOY
CD Paperhouse Records 1990 "Shoenfelt's music is steeped in blues and intense gothic imagery, a world peopled by junkies and losers sung in a moody and effective voice over a frequently refrigerated guitar. It came as some surprise to me to learn that he was as English as gold-topped milk, although much of the influence is explained away by the fact that he spent the best part of his formative career in New York where one assumes he was exposed to urban decay and abject despair to a greater extent than might be expected over here. His music is incisive, well structured and thoroughly masterful: a sort of Paul Roland of the high-rise tenement, the David Ackles of the boarded-up street-scene. Somehow amid all this despondency Shoenfelt manages to squeeze in the odd heartrending melody, the occasional gentle caress amid the clamour of powerful rock music played with verve and misleading simplicity. Songs like the powerful, catchy Garden Of Eden (which opens the set) and the more gentle and cunning Marianne, I'm Falling deserve to be heard by as wide an audience as possible - dammit, scream out to be heard". (Phil McMullen, Bucketful of Brains) "It's a dark world, this one, littered with things holy and hellish and, although the dank and troubled paths of the deep South have been well-trodden by a host of white boys with varying degrees of authenticity and bad faith, Backwoods Crucifixion succeeds brilliantly by holding off on the usual melodrama and speaking with a subtle voice. (...) The tone throughout this LP is blue, bent savage and bleakly urban, but without the theatre. It's more Lou Reed or Lenny Cohen than Nick Cave, and Crime And The City Solution are fair comparison, especially in The Light That Surrounds You and Hateful Heart. It's not all doomy though, - Psyche is a sweeter, fuzzed-up Byrds thing - but Shöenfelt's vocals steer so shy of hysteria that, despite the gentleness, he seems detached. He's the slightly spooked story teller in shades, snooping about the netherworld with calm curiosity. His Backwoods Crucifixion is a perfect, passionate understatement stumbled on in the dark". (Sharon O'Connell, Melody Maker) ENJOY
LP Paradox Records 1984 CD reissue Beggars Banquet 1988 "Dali's Car were doomed almost from the start. A seemingly good idea when first suggested to former Bauhaus vocalist/lyricist Peter Murphy that he collaborate with ex-Japan bassist/composer Mick Karn, the group nearly self-destructed before it was disbanded. (...) Things seemed fine when Murphy and Karn began their collaboration. Initially working with four-track tapes that they sent back and forth, they wrote most of the songs before they came together in the studio. Once there, however, they clashed, and when the project was completed, neither wanted to work together again". (Craig Harris, All-Music Guide) "Either a temporary project, a promising alliance that fell apart, or a waste of time - Dalis Car and its sole effort isn't something easily agreed upon, even by longtime fans of both Peter Murphy and Mick Karn. Even its original appearance was fraught with doubt given that the two were signed to separate record companies, resulting in the creation of a wholly new label just to get it in print (Beggars Banquet has since taken over full pressing on its own). While on the one hand Waking Hour is pretty much the sum of its parts - Murphy's dramatic, edgy singing style and Karn's fluid, immediately recognizable fretless bass and other instruments, plus percussion from Paul Lawford - there was enough variety going on to set it apart enough from the legacies of both Bauhaus and Japan. On the one hand, the band's music feels a little harsher and more electronic than the flowing arrangements of late Japan, no doubt accentuated by the electronic drums in place of Steve Jansen's work. Similarly, the production feels a bit hollower - not quite demo level, but a little more straightforward all around, occasional fripperies like the exotic synth line on His Box aside. Meanwhile, Murphy avoids the more torturous roars and screams of his most extreme work in Bauhaus - it's still recognizably him at 50 paces off, but everything feels a touch gentler and more meditative. He indulges in his usual cryptic images, admittedly - quite what Dali's Car itself is meant to be is unclear - but as is so often the case, his all-around performance is what counts the most". (Ned Raggett, All-Music Guide) ENJOY
Original recordings 1983-1984 Compilation CD Atavistic 2007 with bonus tracks "True West rolled through California's paisley underground like a piece of purple sage in a dust devil. The band adopted Syd Barrett as a father figure (True West's first release was a single of his Lucifer Sam,) and took Rocky Erickson and Alex Chilton as uncles. They played echo laden, dense drone with erie guitars and sinister vocals. Co-produced by guitarist Russ Tolman and Dream Syndicate's Steve Wynn, the True West EP put's the bands best foot forward. Russ, Gavin Blair and Steve had worked together as The Suspects, but they never busted sod like this. Hollywood Holiday contains the whole EP plus three more-polished tracks recorded later with a new rhythm section. Drummer Jozef Becker rejoined Thin White Rope before True West went back to the studio to record Drifters. The album's nine new songs and another version of And Then the Rain, highlight Gavin Blair's vocals as much as Tolman's thick chime like guitar work. A quieter record than Hollywood, Drifters hangs on to enough edge so as not to leave anyone asking where the rock went. The album has a thick atmosphere like an old mining town. The songs invoke cowboys without sounding anything like today's alt. country bands or roots music". (MySpace) LISTEN & ENJOY
LP Burning Rome Records 1982 CD reissue Snapper Music 1997 with bonus tracks "Gothic post-punks Theatre of Hate formed in Britain in 1980; led by singer/songwriter Kirk Brandon, formerly of The Pack, the original group also comprised guitarist Simon Werner, bassist Jonathan Werner and drummer Jim Walker. Immediately recognized as one of the era's premier live acts, Theatre of Hate debuted in 1981 with the concert LP He Who Dares Wins: Live at the Warehouse Leeds; soon after, Brandon dismissed the remainder of the group, assembling a new line-up comprising guitarist Billy Duffy, bassist Stan Stammers, saxophonist John Lennard and drummer Nigel Preston (who was soon after replaced by Luke Rendle). Another concert recording, Live at the Lyceum, followed in 1982 before Theatre of Pain entered the studio with producer Mick Jones of the Clash to record their proper debut, Westworld; the album went on to reach the UK Top 20, also launching the Top 40 single Do You Believe in the Westworld? He Who Dares Wins: Live in Berlin followed in late 1982, but by this point the group was beginning to disintegrate, with Duffy exiting to form The Cult; a second studio album, Aria of the Devil, was recorded but went unreleased. By 1983, Brandon had founded a new unit, Spear of Destiny". (Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide) ENJOY
BBC sessions originally recorded 1982-84 Compilation CD Vinyl Japan 1998 "The Lotus Eaters were an integral part of Liverpool's second wave of post-punk youth, arriving a few years after Echo & the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes unleashed a psychedelic revival in the Beatles' hometown. Fresh-faced and fragile, the Lotus Eaters formed in 1982, essentially the duo of yearning, soaring vocalist Peter Coyle and guitarist Jeremy Kelly with three sidemen (bassist Michael Dempsey, keyboardist Gerard Quinn and drummer Steve Creese). The pair crafted what would become their debut single, The First Picture of You, in Kelly's bedroom studio. A year later, the record hit the British charts. The group's debut LP, No Sense of Sin, came out a year later. One of the most underrated albums of the '80s, it is essentially the neo-acoustic blueprint employed by Travis, Keane and Badly Drawn Boy two decades later". (Michael Sutton, Trouser Press) "Peel Sessions are renowned for letting artists unsheathe the serrated edges of their sound. However, for a relatively mellow band such as Liverpool, England's the Lotus Eaters, there are no blistering guitars to unleash. As if their studio recordings weren't stripped down enough, the Lotus Eaters' performances for legendary BBC DJ John Peel slice away any trace of pop gloss from their early-'80s classics. First Picture of You collects the Lotus Eaters' John Peel appearances as well as a few live tracks. The First Picture of You sounds virtually identical to the original, but other tracks exhibit subtle differences that earn the CD the status of an essential purchase for Lotus Eaters fans. On German Girl, Peter Coyle's plaintive vocals sound more fragile than ever, floating nakedly atop dreamy keyboards, while on Alone of All Her Sex the drums are more forceful than in its initial version. The meditative When You Look at Boys builds up into an avalanche of powerfully strummed acoustic guitars, and the heartbreaking Love Still Flows unfolds with gorgeously spare arrangements. Coyle's voice and Jeremy Kelly's guitars are mesmerizing throughout the album; they hypnotize the ears, summoning feelings of love and heartache even when they're whispering". (Michael Sutton, All Music Guide) ENJOY
LP Beserkley Records 1978 CD reissue Wooded Hill Recordings 1997 "At the outset of his career, Jonathan Richman was considered a radical trailblazer, precociously exploring minimalist rock years before such behavior became popular (or even acceptable). Not only was his unique approach enormously influential on later bands, original members of the Modern Lovers went on to become successful in such groups as Talking Heads (Jerry Harrison) and the Cars (David Robinson). Over the course of his recordings, however, Richman's predilection for childlike whimsy replaced the angst-ridden emotionalism of his first songs, and he challenged his audience by refusing to remain the same character he had been a decade earlier". (Scott Schinder & Brad Reno, Trouser Press) "Live catches Jonathan Richman at the height of his candy-floss novelty period. The music is warm and mild, almost all of it derived from '50s and early-'60s models such as surf idioms and guitar instrumentals. The lyrics are sweet and charming, sure to appeal to fanciful youngsters with visions of ice cream men and little dinosaurs in their heads. The only bothersome misstep here is the repeated encore reprise of the chorus to Ice Cream Man, which extends well past the point of honest enjoyment. Sound quality and instrumental balances are excellent, and performances are low-key and winsome. While not an essential album in the Modern Lovers' canon, this sunny little platter is a fetching listen". (David Cleary, All Music Guide)
Hi there, Back from holidays, but also facing unexpected hardware problems. So, normal posting will take a bit longer than I originally antecipated - thanks for your patience! Cheers
All music is posted just for the benefit of a better understanding of what has become known as new wave, post-punk et al. If someone (artist, label) feels that a particular link should be removed, please do let me know. It's that simple. For the rest of you: enjoy and if you like the music buy the records!
