DONKEES - Listen To Your Radio 7'' 1981

Now we come to a nice powerpop single from the Donkeys, a four piece from Wakefield, West Yorkshire that consisted of Neil (vocals/lead guitar), Tony (rhythm guitar), Dave (bass), Mark (drums) and they debuted in June 1979 with the What I Want 7'', initially released independently before being picked up by Deram - an indie-to-major process that was subsequently repeated with Don't Go, which resulted in a deal with MCA. I think, I posted their other famous singles in my deceased blog anno XXXX but since these cannot be found, so comes their last single now. They released five singles during the period 1979 to 1981. In 2004 a retrospective double album, Television Anarchy was issued, by Detour Records with all their recordings, plus alternative versions and previously unreleased material.... is worth buying. 

- Great Thx to Fredrik -

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Impressions XVI

A few small impressions of the past six months that I had to capture.

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STATE OF EMERGENCY - Men Of Action EP 1983

Back to dirty catchy and unpopular music and I open the new working week with a rare slab by State Of Emergency, a four piece from Peterlee and the band consisted of Alan (vocals), Alan (guitars), Ian (bass), John (drums) and this their only release on Peterlee Musicians' Collective with three nice mid-tempo smasher. The four are also rarely represented on compilations and even the detectives didn't discover them. There is not much to report, I guess after the release the band broke up, pleasant stuff!

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SAGA - s/t LP 1978

Delicious debut by Saga from Oakville, Ontario and I played the eight song slab a lot back then. The album was a modest success in Canada, it would eventually sell over 30.000 copies in Germany as an import. It also became a major seller in Puerto Rico, after a local stereo equipment store featured the guitar-keyboard duet of the band's single, Humble Stance as part of its radio advertisements. Two other songs, How Long and Perfectionist (a song about a psychopath, Ellery Sneed, who secretly poisons the attendants to a feast he has organized), also became local favourites. My favorite is definitely Ice Nice which begins calmly and softly and ends in a keyboard solo with a subsequent tempo, damn good. In 1982 I saw them in the Festhalle/Frankfurt and stood delighted in the sweating crowd who were just as enthusiastic. After the fifth album Saga became uninteresting, lame commercial mindless lapping music came on vinyl, so remain five great moment plus a live (In Transit) record.

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DIRE STRAITS - Love Over Gold 1982

Don't worry, the blog doesn't mutate into a pop archive, but good music needs to be heard and it usually doesn't run on the radio. This includes the London Gents Dire Straits, formed 1977 by Mark Knopfler (vocals/lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar/vocals), John Illsley (bass/vocals) and Pick Withers (drums), they were active from 1977 to 1988 and again from 1991 to 1995 and this is their fourth album. Their music draws from various influences including jazz, folk, and country, and blues. Their stripped-down sound contrasted with punk and demonstrated a roots rock influence that emerged from pub rock. There were several changes in personnel, with Mark and Illsley being the only consistent members. On this record are five superb nuggets that didn't take long to tie me up and it's always a pleasure to listen to the extraordinary musicians with their brilliant performance and yesterday was just such a musical day with finest sharp and fiery English rock classics. I'm tired again, but let's see what goes today.

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TEARS FOR FEARS - The Hurting 1983

Back to wavie pop of the early eighties and a band that really impressed me was the duo Tears For Fears; formed 1981 in Bath by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. The band achieved their first taste of success with their third single, Mad World (a timeless classic that I still love listening), which reached #3 in the U.K. in November 1982. The debut was then released in March 1983 and for this and the next keyboardist and composer Ian Stanley and drummer Manny Elias were considered full band members, though Smith and Orzabal were still essentially the frontmen and public faces of the band. They released six albums so far and they're still want to rule the world with very beautiful songs.

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V/A - Die Zähne Zeigt, Wer Das Maul Aufmacht #2 2001

Four years after #1 followed on Alerta Antifascista the continuation in form of a CD with more rare stuff (demos, live or other sources) by bands from all over this planet. Colorful mix of all punk genes and never boring, even should rock your humble hut. Detailed booklet integrated as pdf especially for you gourmets. I wanna hear praise!

1.Schweinegalopp - AMEN 81

2.Betjente I Civil - PARAGRAF 119

3.Lebendig Begraben - VOLL AUF ZERO

4.Sonne, Mond, Emoscheisse - UNABOMBER

5.I Fought The Law - DEAD KENNEDYS

6.Dummer Mund - KOBAYASHI

7.Lastwagenfahrt - DELLWO

8.Reality Is Dead - CHISPAS

9.Let Them Stay - BURNING KITCHEN

10.Creer Nada - CEMENTERIO SHÖW

11.Down Tonight - MR. BURNS

12.18:09 Mist, Verlaufen - TURBOSTAAT

13.Innenraum (Live) - EA80

14.Popeye - PETROGRAD

15.A Mi Manera - FUN PEOPLE

16.Spinaci - SUBCUTAN

17.Election Erection - ANGER OF BACTERIAS

18.König - DEADZIBEL

19.Total Kontroll - OPERATION

20.Unknown - KINDLE

21.08/15 Und Allein - MUFF POTTER

22.Hoenkel (Trocken) - PANKZERKROIZA POLPOTKIN

23.Hunde Wollt Ihr Ewig Leben? - STAHLER 80

24.Race Riot - SUBURBAN SCUMBAGS

25.Die Soße Macht's - HEIMATGLÜCK

26.Nazisvin - GUDDOMMELIG GALSKAB

27.Mer Politi - SKALAR

28.Kreis - HALE BOPP

29.Bam Bam Bam - BAMBIX

30.Hate This City - MACHINE GUN ETIQUETTE

31.No Justice No Peace - BAD TASTE

32.Schnauze Fällst - ANARCHOPHOBIA

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V/A - Bloodstains Across Buffalo 2014

500 copies exist from this blood compilation and thereby a warm welcome to the weekend. Buffalo is the second largest city in the US state of New York and has to offer a lot of good & awesome combos, fifteen of them prove it with this record. Good idea from Extra-Evidence Productions to start with city selection for this essential bootleg series now. Surprises and lost treasures guaranteed, pick up!

1.This Is It - THE JUMPERS

2.One Way Street - THE COBRAS

3.Big Money - AUNT HELEN

4.Go To A Party - THE FEMS

5.Please Police Me - MICKY MAMP WITH INTRO-VERSE

6.Of Life - THE STAINS

7.Test Tube Baby - THE ENEMIES

8.F.Y.Y.B. - NEW TOYS

9.Miss Ogyny - PAROUSIA

10.First Love - SECRET SAVIOR

11.Go Go Go - ELECTRO-MAN

12.Clouds - THE GOOD

13.See For Yourself - PAULINE & THE PERILS

14.Love Canal - THE VORES

15.The TV Made Me Do It (Blame It On The Quasar) - LIP SERVICE

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THE KRIXHJÄLTERS - Guineapig Assasinator 1986

The Krixhjälters, later Omnitron, was formed in Stockholm in 1982 by Rasmus Ekman (guitar, vocals), Pontus Lindqvist (bass, vocals) and Stefan Gorini (drums, vocals), inspired by the American bands Black Flag and Dead Kennedys. The band name was created partly as a parody of the construction of certain dance band names. The band's debut album was recorded in 1984 but first released in 1986, on the record label Rosa Honung. Already in 1985, however, the songs Magic Mushrooms and The Guardian Of Society were released on the compilation Really Fast Vol.2 with current Swedish punk bands. During a period of the mid-1980s, the band were more or less inactive. Pontus Lindqvist and Pelle Ström then joined the band Aggressiv, where Pontus sang and Pelle played guitar. Shortly after the first MLP was recorded, in 1985, guitarist Pelle Ström also started in the band, Gorini quit, and Stefan Kälfors replaced drums. The group signed a contract with CBR Records and recorded another Mini-LP, Hjälter Skelter (1988). At Krixhjälter's early recordings, some songs are sung in Swedish, but from Hjälter Skelter and onwards all texts are performed in English. The full-length album Evilution was released in 1989 and the band also had the opportunity to record the Christmas single A Krixmas Carol (1989) under the original name. This record consists of a common song on one side and on the other side in front of the band members, their song, with text and music written by each, in exactly one minute each. In 1989 the band was also represented with the song He Speaks on the collection album The Swedish Stand, published by Sinderella.

- Great Thx to Fredrik -

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THE ARGUMENTATIVE BASTARDS - s/t 12'' 1989

A fine record is now waiting and I quote a little info from the essential upthepunks site, the source for music/bands from down under: TAB began playing in 1988 with a set of originals and smattering of Black Sabbath and Agnostic Front covers. Guitarist Simon Gotlieb (previously of After Shock and Compos Mentis) was originally on vocals before Aaron Watson joined, with this early version also including Hamish Laing on rhythm guitar. The band played fairly regularly in Wellington’s late 1980s’ scene with gigs alongside other local acts Flesh D-Vice, Microwave Babies, The Sub-Dominants and a young metal act out of Wellington High School called Shihad. In early July of 1989 TAB went into Writhe Studios and recorded the seven songs for their sole-release 12'', the sound is a meld of punk/metal/hardcore/reggae with TAB veering across a number of musical lines and ending in a punked up version of John Denver’s: (Take Me Home) Country Roads. The record starts with Brave New Soldiers a song credited to Kevin Kermack who played with Simon and J.P de Raad in early 1980’s thrash-punk outfit Aftershock. The next two tracks, Kill The Dogs and Fred are 80s metal riffs within a punk framework, with 3rd track Fred breaking down into a slow-tempo reggae beat half-way through before jumping back into thrash tempo. The B-sides three original tracks takes a leaf out of Bad Brains with Video Nasty and Used Prophylactics showing Watson’s strong vocals can throw out a halfway decent H.R. yelp, while third track Sniffin is a slow tempo reggae/ punk song based on seeing kids glue sniffing in Porirua. The Argumentative Bastards EP was released at The Carpark off Willis Street on June 21, 1990 with 500 vinyl copies pressed on New Plymouth label Ima Hitt. The gig was videoed and there were plans for some form of video release with interviews, three new songs and footage of people smashing cans of beer on their heads. A second EP, Ganja and Chocolate Fish, was also recorded but not released before the band split up, and now languishes on tape somewhere in the Hutt Valley. In June 1991, TAB played at New Plymouth’s notorious Mushroom Ball where vocalist Aaron ensured one of TAB’s last gigs was seared into the psilocybin plastered minds of those in attendance by igniting his pubic hair on stage.

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