CRAZY - No Chance 1980

Before I fly to Milan tonight and cheer for the SGE a short stop in Switzerland and meet Crazy from Lucerne, formed 1979 by Urs (vocals), Rene (guitars), Tremp (bass) and Burri (drums) and they released the first independent Swiss Punk album which was recorded in a mere three days at the Sunrise Studios and the makers of the small Hamburg label Moderne Musik Tonträger became fans of the band so they released the record as well, both versions are very much sought nowadays. Fourteen simple catchy '77 style smasher have they recorded and what can I say? Heart-refreshing melodic numbers, perfect length, glanderous voice and good lyrics packed in a small Heftschä, live always welcome. One more 12'' was also released in 1980 with four songs and in late 1982 or early 1983 the band broke up. Solid record... and now I must buy a few beers.

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ANGELIC UPSTARTS - 2.000.000 Voices 1981

Always an excellent choice is the sound of the Angelic Upstarts and I chose their third album because it includes lots of classics. Formed in South Shields 1977 by Mensi (vocals), Mond (guitar), Steve (bass) and Decca (drums) and they're still active. I have all their stuff I think and when I'm really pissed off with all their music bring me back to the ground and my head only turns half as fast. Have seen them here in the excess years ago and is was galactic. Anyway, the decent mix of fast punk, reggae and ballads makes this album worth listening to and not for nothing it reached #32 of the UK Indie charts. We're Gonna Take The World.... then let's get up!

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VMZT - No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service 1999

Now a little bit melodic punk ala Snuff from the beautiful Hesse country, more precisely from the area around Limburg, there formed VMZT (from a millionaire to a dish washer), Stammi (vocals & guitar), Jens (guitar & bass), Fussel (bass & guitar) and Christian (drums) and this is their only release which they recorded in their laboratory and released without a silly label. Seven decent liquids with constant volume and the boys master their bunsen burner, to that a pretty four-color artwork with lyrics that was certainly not cheap next to the studio time. Anyway, this little blast looks pretty professional and intoxicates your senses... really!

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V/A - Bloodstains Across The Midwest 1994

A wonderful morning together and it's Sunday, rainy and a little fresh, caramel coffee on the table and a fresh bun next to it and I'm well rested. Let's round off the little compilation post series with another Bloodstains one, this time we take a look across the Midwest of the States and free sixteen rare essential punkrock blasts from their 1978-1982 exile. This part of the region seems to be more comfortable than anywhere else because all reaches almost forty-five minutes. I would say, not the best stains were selected but what do I know?

1.Can't Stand The Midwest - DOW JONES & INDUSTRIALS

2.Takin' The City By Storm - THE HASKELS

3.Sex Drive - EMBARRASSMENT

4.Human Garbage Disposal - THE GIZMOS

5.I'm A Drunk! - BALONEY HEADS

6.Long Gone - THE CUSTOMS

7.Slack - NNB

8.Killed In Jail - LATIN DOGS

9.War Hero - TOXIC REASONS

10.Gym Gerrard - GYNECOLOGISTS

11.Berlin Wall - CULT HEROES

12.I Let Jenny Ride - BRAIN POLICE

13.Soldier 19 - MENTALLY ILL

14.Process Of Elimination - ENDTABLES

15.Police State - CRAP DETECTORS

16.Death - THE FIVE

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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 - V.I.S.A. Présente 1985

And again Bondage Records, in collaboration with the French label V.I.S.A. was this little cold wavy gold piece created and there are sounds of driving gloomy moods around us, peppered with many live recordings, by mainly local bands which already made a few records, while others only known through their tape presentations. I love compilations like these where I'm confronted with songs that are absolutely awesome and then I search for more stuff by the bands and can't find nothing, that annoys me and I think so much potential is wasted and such records receive their value from us. Well, enjoy now fourteen minimal innovative psychedelic synth art cold wave punk pop nuggets.

1.Love Life - RUBELLA BALLET

2.Foolish Virgin - A.R.T.

3.Fights In Technonights - M.K.B.

4.Ella Choice - AUSWEIS

5.Cancer D'Amour - LUCRATE MILK

6.Voyage - LES MAÎTRES

7.A Ghost In The Jungle - SHOCK CORRIDOR

8.Black Clown - LES MARTYRS

9.In Den Tetzten Zugen Lieben - DIE BUNKER

10.Dismembered - K.U.K.L.

11.We Hate Work - THE BRIGADES

12.Mickey Mouse Is Dead - SUBHUMANS

13.Automne 56 - NO UNAUTHORIZED

14.Changing Size In Mind - MOME RATH

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PARABELLUM - Gratuit: 2 Morceaux En Moins! 1986

Fat rockin' stuff like bulleggs by this Paris based combo called Parabellum, formed in 1984 by Géant-Vert, at the time manager of Les Porte-Mentaux, a parisian punk rock band. BB Rock, singer of les Porte-Mentaux, considering the lyrics Géant-Vert submitted him, suggests him to set up his own band. Géant-Vert then gathered musicians by recruiting two former members of les Porte-Mentaux: Schultz (his real name, Roger Fritsch) on guitar and Roland Chamarat (nicknamed Roland Chamallow) on bass. The band is completed a little later by Cambouis (whose real name is Jean-François Juvanon) on drums. The name of the band is based on the Latin quotation Si Vis Pacem Parabellum (If you want peace prepare for war) that Géant-Vert has printed on his T-Shirt. Gratuit: 2 is their debut album on Bondage Records and is a damn classic with eight eightballs which sink aimlessly every ball in billiard, every shot a hit!

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ZYKLOME A - Made In Belgium 1984

Bonheiden, 1980 Zyklome A were founded and in the beginning the band consisted of four members but soon Mark (vocals & bass), Toon (guitars) and Robin (drums) remained and with this line-up the band has done one gig in Mechelen. Punk Etc. Records showed interest and a number was released on the "Second Time Around" compilation tape. After this, many performances were done in the surroundings of Antwerp/Turnhout. In 1983, a split EP with Moral Demolition was released by the same label with three goodies of Zyklome A. After the release of "Made In Belgium" in 1983 the band played a lot in the Netherlands with bands such as B.G.K., Lärm and Pandemonium. Because of the many gigs there was no time to make new songs. Partly because of the conscription (fleeing) from Puttemans, the band stopped performing. In 1988 and 2016 the band did some reunion gigs. Brilliant record!

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THE SHADES - Ward & June Never Understood 12'' 1980

Second release by this four piece from Texas on Ray Gun Records. The Shades were Joe Zavaletta Jr. (vocals & guitars), Lisa Franklin (vocals & keyboards), Dwight Mac Leod (bass) and Kevin Tubb (drums). Six catchy smasher and the keys deliver a wavy sound and the guitar sounds nice dirty. I have no more, just enjoy it!

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...BUT ALIVE & I SPY - Split EP 1997

March rolls in on with another a split EP by two cool bands and this is an old post from my former blog. First ...But Alive and they were a german Punkband which was founded 1991 in Hamburg and broke up in 1999. They released four albums and they are all small masterpieces. They give punk a new flavour in the 90's because Punk sleeps in germany and with their highly political lyrics, which are also contained critical the dogmas of the radical Left, they become quickly one of the hottest combos in Germoney. I Spy was a Canadian hardcore punk band founded in Regina 1991 and disbanded in 1996. With a blend of childish humour and serious, radical left wing political subject matter, the band garnered a following in the Canadian punk rock scene. They released a couple of 10inces and a full CD with all their recordings. All in all five decent cultural assets.

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