BLACK MARKET BABY - Senseless Offerings 1983

July was hot and accordingly I close the chapter with a hot slab, the debut of Black Market Baby from Washington D.C. on Fountain Of Youth Records and were one of the few D.C.-area hardcore bands with no ties to the Dischord label, they nonetheless came to be looked upon as an influence on many of the local bands who followed. Formed 1980 and after sone line-up changes Boyd (vocals), Scott (guitars), Mike (bass), Tommy (drums) recorded this fantastic album with twelve great songs. A couple of 7Inches followed, but unfortunately the plan to release a second album failed. They broke up in January 1988 following a farewell show. In 1990, the German label Bitzcore issued a best-of compilation called Baby Takes, which featured singles and material from the first album; it was followed in 1991 by Baby On Board, which included material from the unreleased second album as well as more from the first. Excellent hot Stuff!

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IRON CROSS - Hated & Proud EP 1983

Nothing new in Blogland and not my rips but somehow I listen now to good Skinhead Oi! and for those who do not know them I choose lots of infos from wiki: Iron Cross is a fuckin' great band from Washington D.C. and they play a rough form of street punk and are one of the first bands in the US to adopt the skinhead look and Oi! style. Some early members had close ties to the D.C. hardcore subculture, due to its relationship with other bands, with Ian MacKaye and with Dischord Records. Singer Sab Grey was one of the many roommates in the Dischord House in Arlington, Virginia. The band's name, and with most of its members being skinheads, led to accusations of fascism, which Grey and others in the band and the original D.C. skins have always denied. Iron Cross formed when Dante Ferrando met Sab Grey. Ferrando was previously in the band Broken Cross with Mark Haggerty while in school. When Grey and Dante decided to start a new band, Grey suggested the name Iron Cross. The first lineup consisted of Grey (vocals), Haggerty (guitar), Ferrando (drums) and John Falls (bass). This lineup lasted a very short time, with Falls leaving after Iron Cross's early show at American University. After Falls's departure, the band went through two more bassists before settling on Wendell Blow, the former bassist for the D.C. hardcores of State Of Alert (SOA). The only non-skinhead in the band was Dante, who has usually maintained a spiky punk hairstyle. The band's fourth lineup lasted until just after the recording of their first EP, Skinhead Glory (1000 copies), and just prior to its release. That EP features their signature song "Crucified", which was later covered by many Oi! and hardcore bands. After Blow left the band, he was replaced by John Dunn. Dunn had been an original member of the D.C. skins and was close friends with the band's members. Dunn left the band just before the release of their second EP, Hated & Proud on Skin Flint Records (1000 copies). He was replaced by Paul Cleary, who was a founding member of the D.C. bands Trenchmouth and Black Market Baby. The 1982 compilation Flex Your Head introduced three Iron Cross songs to an audience beyond the eastern United States.

 After further line-up changes that left Grey as the only original member of Iron Cross, the band broke up in 1985. Ferrando went on to form the band Gray Matter with Haggerty. Ferrando also played in the band Ignition. Haggerty went on to play with the bands Three and Severin. Blow and Dunn moved to Los Angeles in the late 1980s, and Dunn went on to play in several alternative rock bands. Grey moved to England, where he married and had children. Since then, Iron Cross has re-released their EPs and previously-unreleased material in the form of the full-length CD Live For Now. Grey, who continued performing and expanding his musical style, moved back to Baltimore and, as of 2006, was playing with The Royal Americans (a rockabilly-style band), was performing solo acoustic shows, and occasionally performed with a new lineup of Iron Cross, which completed a national tour in 2003.

A review: "This new Iron Cross represents a step forward for the band. For one thing, the lyrics are vastly better, especially in "Wolf Pack," where a stand is taken against mindless violence. For another, the songwriting is more developed. Finally, the production is much improved from a technical standpoint, though I personally prefer the gravelly guitar sound on their debut. "You're A Rebel" is an amazingly catchy Oi chant." (Jeff Bale, MMR #9, Oct/Nov 1983)

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V/A - Up + Down 1994

It goes forward now with this sunny compilation by Incognito Records and its a small excerpt of their proud 333 x Up & Down series which features circa 45 EP's and a few of them are waiting somewhere in this theatre. I will quote the exquisite introduction by Barny, the label boss, so you know what medicine you need: "Two years ago we started putting out 7''s, which are limited to 333 handnumbered copies each. No, we're not lazy, but we were sick of the music-business and we wanted to release just good music by cool bands. We didn't look for famous names and didn't give a fuck about "market-chances" or bollocks like that. If we liked a band we put out a record by it. That was it! Of course, we couldn't expect to sell thousands of records by These not too famous upstarts, so we had to limit them. We thought 333 would be a not too bad number.... When the series started we've been surprised about the big publicity in mags and zines. People from all parts of the world wrote letters to us and in due of this big request we're re-releasing the best songs of the first bunch of 7''s now. An important note for CD-haters: this 74 minutes flood has one third more playtime than a LP, but it costs less than one third more than a vinyl-longplayer. Technical developments are not always bad, even not the "anti-punk" CD, if you use it the right way! Anyway: If you still hate silverfishs, go buy the original 7Inches of the 333 x Up & Down series. We're trying hard to feature bands from around the globe and so the '77 style survives us all." Finally, I would like to mention the excellent black and white artwork with lots of infos, pictures and little bedtime stories so that even deafs have their fun.

1.Watching TV With A Drink - ZAKONAS

2.Nowhere - RHYTHM COLLISION

3.Let's All Unite - VOID SECTION

4.My Dad Took Acid - MÄDELS NO MÄDELS

5.Why Did We Fail? - MÄDELS NO MÄDELS

6.Pocket Book - BROKEN TOYS

7.This Place - BROKEN TOYS

8.Don't You - THE BULLOCKS

9.Get Off The Streets - THE BULLOCKS

10.Tender For Love - JIMMY KEITH & HIS SHOCKY HORRORS

11.My Drug's A Record - JIMMY KEITH & HIS SHOCKY HORRORS

12.Pop Star - SWOONS

13.Daddy's Car - SWOONS

14.Smile - THE SECT

15.Try To Be Yourself - BRATBEATERS

16.Nobody's Toy - DISGRACE

17.Steppin' Dead - DISGRACE

18.Ulster - THE HARRIES

19.Your Baby - THE HARRIES

20.You've Stolen My Heart - WAT TYLER

21.How Does Ed Cope? - WAT TYLER

22.Nightmares - FUNERAL DRESS

23.Working In A Brewhouse - FUNERAL DRESS

24.Up & Down On You - DIRTY SCUMS

25.Really High - DIRTY SCUMS

26.Stop The World - RED LETTER DAY

27.Preco To Tak Vzdycky - ZÓNA A

28.Smiling Slits - MARIONETTES

29.Jukebox - MARIONETTES

30.Punkrock - PETER P.

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V/A - Best Of Limp 1980

Limp Records was an independent record label based out of Rockville, Maryland that operated from 1978 until 1982. Run by Skip Groff out of his Yesterday and Today Records store, Limp was one of the first labels releasing music from the nascent D.C. punk scene. The label's more notable output includes the first Bad Brains release (a song on The Best of Limp (… Rest of Limp), the second Minor Threat record (a split release with Dischord), and the first record by Black Market Baby. The label's first release was the Slickee Boys second EP. 1000 copies released, comes in a plain cardboard sleeve with two 11.75" x 11.75" flats. Back cover of the regular issue is rubber stamped with a number (the test press back is pictured). Full recording details in the file. A fine release with massive hits!!

1.Gotta Tell Me Why - SLICKEE BOYS

2.Secrets - NIGHTMAN

3.Go Back - D.CEATS

4.Question Of Temperature - SLICKEE BOYS

5.Something To See - NURSES

6.I Made A Mistake - D.CEATS

8.Red Cadillac & A Black Moustache - TEX RUBINOWITZ

9.Do Wah Diddy - THE RAZZ

10.Drunk & Disorderly - SHIRKERS

11.Broken Promises - PENETRATORS

12.I Love You - SLICKEE BOYS

13.Viola D'Amour - NURSES

14.Don't Bother Me - BAD BRAINS

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BLACK MARKET BABY - Baby Takes 1991

Oh Yeah, one of my favourite DC bands are Black Market Baby, I have their album but not the 7inches and like a revelation I get now sent this fantastic collection. Clear that it is my damned duty to confront you and this tidbit is worth every fucking tone. The name Black Market Baby was suggested by Keith (guitars) after seeing a trashy tv movie of the same name and the band were founded in 1980. The band's first record 'Potential Suicide' was released via Limp Records in 1981. Two years later their only full length 'Senseless Offerings' came out on Fountain Of Youth Records and is in my opinion one of the best US punk records, songs like 'Downward Christian Soldiers', 'Killing Time' or 'I See-You See' are grandiose played smasher, fuckin' rare record. In 1988 the band could not find a label to release the next album they broke up, playing a farewell gig in January 1988. In 1990 the label Yesterday And Today released two more singles, 'World At War' (Split with Bad Brains) and 'Drunk & Disorderly'. They loosely re-formed in 1993, playing the occasional show and recording sparingly before calling it quits again in 1997. So this collection was released by the Hamburg label Bitzcore and is full with bombs. A short review from the inoffical BMB site: "Half the Senseless Offerings LP and a bunch of stuff from '86—the unreleased material is some of BMB's strongest stuff, loud, punishing, hard-edged punk." - Excellent idea and certainly sell out very quickly, don't be a moron and make a choice.  

- Big Thx to Fredrik -

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MFD - All Of This EP 1987

For those of you who don't know who M.F.D. is, they were a mid-tempo, melodic punk band from D.C. who were active in the mid-to-late-'80s, rubbing shoulders with the likes of greats such as Government Issue & Black Market Baby, really catchy tunes that had one foot in punk and one foot solidly in rock. This EP was their first release by DSI Records in 1987. Melodic and intelligent DC hardcore, but closer to the GI's sound than to the other Dischord bands; they're expanding and improving the sound of their first LP without experimenting too much. Tight, tuneful, and songs that will be remembered. Great stuff.

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