DIE SKEPTIKER - Harte Zeiten 1989

Now an older rip and this is the amazing first full length by Die Skeptiker from Berlin on Amiga, the East German GDR state label, and from the beginning, the band managed to hit the nerve of many supporters of the East German underground scene in the reunification period with their socially critical lyrics and often let the average consumer read between the lines. Harte Zeiten is a true historical document of a time when people of a state cried out and were fed up. Seventeen powerful smashers of youthful fury mixed with sweaty Pogo and energetic music. No beer stays warm there. Unsoftened in their attitude to life, with their usual musical energy and with the same socio-critical statements, Die Skeptiker are still on the move and cordially invite you to dance. It's weekend for me and Crete comes soon, I escaped the machine for a little while Baby! Oh yes, I also recommend their debut EP Die Anderen Bands in case you don't already know it.

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ART OF NOISE - Moments In Love 12'' 1985

We start relaxed in autumn with another band of my pop years: Art Of Noise and I remember very well my first date with them. A very good friend came up with the Close-Up 12'' back then and said it's fucking cool & kicks the shit out of you, great stuff, etc.. we listened to the slab and it was just like that. Powerful beats to an excellent rhythm that loosens the plaster from the walls. I mean, look at the soft flute music of the last few days I posted, softmusic and meine Fresse, I was too prone on that, hahaha....I needed a kick and CloseUp hit my balls total, completely new, refreshingly different and an interesting piece of feeling. Short basics: the British art-pop group established 1983 in London. They took material from a variety of sources: rock, jazz, R&B, traditional pop, found sounds, and noise all worked their way into the group's distinctly postmodern soundscapes. It kicks off after Gary Langan and JJ Jeczalik started to sample a drum riff that had been scrapped by the rock group Yes for band's album 90125 that was being produced by Trevor Horn. It was the very first time that an entire drum riff had been sampled on a Fairlight, C.M.I. sampler using the then new Page R sequencer, that allowed the programmer to sequence anything that had been sampled. At the same time Horn was setting up his to his new Zang Tuum Tumb label, co-founded by his wife Jill Sinclair, ex-NME journalist Paul Morley and with help from Langan. 

The band had a few breaks, released numerous albums and is still active and touring. I have to see if I can find the 12'' and its first record, I know they were in my collection. Moments Of Love is a chilled classic and brought the band more exposure, I think a movie helped too, and again my sensitive side screams (der rote Faden, you know). The other goodies are the 7-inch plus a more naked version, as well as Beatbox Diversion 10, a four minute pulse accelerator. Simply magical!

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V/A - I've Got Those... DEMO-LITION BLUES! 1983

Let's bring the hottest August in years to a dignified end with the next fantastic piece of wax and like yesterday's post, there's again a whopping boom of demos in form of eighteen previously unreleased young bands, ranging from catchy '77 Punk to cool Britpunk plus little decent Oi! sound, and it's all presented by Inƨane Records (a label run by members of the Insane that only released two records). Constant interesting listening pleasure, and certainly not only a must for raritiy collectors! Nice one!

1.Anok On Saturday Nite - THE DECEASED

2.Living A Lie - EPIDEMIC

3.Steal Cheat & Victimise - THE SECLUDED

4.Last Salute - SOLVENT ABUSE

5.What The Fuck - THE DRILL

6.All We Want - A FEW TEARS

7.Braindeath - DIABOLISTS

8.Dead End - OBSESSED

9.Change - YOUTHANASIA PX

10.No Turning Back - ABORTED

11.Getcha Rocks Off - PICTURE FRAME SEDUCTION

12.Nuclear Nightmare - ACT OF DEFIANCE

13.We've Got Faults - SEIZURE

14.They Make The Rules - SOCIAL OUTRAGE

15.No Sense - DEVOID

16.I've Done A Dirt - M.W.A.B.

17.King Kong - MUTILATED JELLY

18.Leave Me Alone - THE OPPRESSED

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V/A - Rot In Hell 1984

Ei Di Weil, let's stay in an enjoyable mood and come to a compilation from my favorite British label Rot Records. In its short-lived tenure, they've released amazing records, including half a dozen compis, and to date none have disappointed me. On the one hand, this is due to bands that sent their demos there and can the songs therefore only be found there, and on the other hand to the unknown status of them. This healthy combination is daring and far from geared towards sales, also limited, I guess 1000 copies were pressed. Even Step-1 Music liked this stuff and re-released it on CD in 1996. A record deal then jumped out for some bands and became better known a little beyond their latitude. Rot In Hell is full with splendid music, as it should be for a little D.I.Y. label and you will like it.

1.Annihilator - OUT OF ORDER

2.The Fugitive - OVERDOSE

3.Emmerdale Farm - THE FILTH

4.Shall We Shan't We? - NO CONCERN

5.The Bomb Blast - THE VARUKERS

6.I Can See Through You - CONSTANT STATE

7.Thugs In Uniform - OI! POLLOI

8.Buy'N'Roll - XXX

9.Fighting Factions - D.O.S.

10.Fry - FRESHLY

11.Liar - BLEED

12.The Joke's On Me - RESISTANCE 77

13.One More Time - OVERDOSE

14.Lynching Party (Lets All Have A Swinging Time) - OUT OF ORDER

15.New Clear War - ANGRY RATS

16.Never Give In - OI! POLLOI

17.Enough Is Enough - NO CONCERN

18.Up In The Morning - BLEED

19.We Rule OK.... - XXX

20.So This Is Transilvania - CONSTANT STATE

21.Born Under The Stars - FRESHLY

22.D.O.S. - D.O.S.

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V/A - Powerpearls Vol.5 1999

It's Monday and time to put worries and anger aside with one more compilation of the great Powerpearls series. Volume 5 travels again to worth seeing places on our beautiful, colorful world to collect rare songs and carry out his mission accordingly and the name speaks for itself. I would say a little more than half are familiar and the rest convinces me as well and it's always a pleasure, to rip such fantastic records, and if you are looking for a hobby, take this one.

1.Yesterday's Love - ANY TROUBLE

2.Fel - DAGEN D

3.Black & White - WINDBREAKERS

4.9 O'Clock - SNIPS

5.Over & Over - THE ZIPS

6.On The Street - TIME WASTERS

7.Stop Dreaming - DIVISION 4

8.Spare Rib - THE ODDS

9.Wastod Ar Y Tu Fas - Y TRWYNAU COCH

10.Oh Girl - THE FRESHIES

11.Bad Boy - ROTJOCH

12.Ruby Toot - THE VANDELLS

13.Boyfriend - BOYFRIENDS

14.Big Burden - YOUNG LORDS

15.Get The Kids Jumpin' - THE JETBOYS

16.Tu Ne Parles Pas - BIKINI

17.Jag Ar Inte Kär - HEARTBREAK

18.Ride Cowboy Ride - THE REGENTS

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SABOTAGE - Sveriges Apor 7'' 2014

#007 from the popular label Slyngel Rekords has been sold out for a long time and you know why: 300 copies and more is not. Sabotage are from Solna (Swedish province of Stockholm län) and the four Thomas & Johan (guitar/vocals), Peter (bass), Matte (drums) recorded these two smasher as a demo at Sveriges Radio in Stockholm 1982 and they weren't even of legal age when the recordings were made, at least that's what the cover offers and that's amazing I think. I wish I'd gotten into Punk when I was seventeen, I sure wouldn't be doing a fucking slave job right now. Fact is, that unfortunately only these two nuggets survived and possibly the band was only conceived as a small project to make school days more pleasant, who knows? "The band started as SEG DEG in the new year 81/82 and soon the name was changed to Sabotage because there were other bands with the same name we didn't know about. We (Sabotage) shared a rehearsal space with Thorsten Flinck's band Rockvindar, later Casablanca. In autumn they recorded a number of demo songs and shortly after that, the bassist was fired and we continued without a bass player for a few months. In total, Sabotage managed about ten gigs between 82-83. Mostly we played at Solna's leisure parks, but also at a youth rock festival in Huddinge and at the big Gräsrockfestivalen in Solna. The last performance was at the theater school in Stockholm after an invitation from Thorsten. By then, Sabotage had hired a bass player and interest in continuing with the band had cooled significantly and in 1983 the band broke up. Johan has continued in the arts and there also in a musical context, i.a. in the group Hedningarna and in own music projects and songwriting. Matte has not touched or owned drums since the age of 12, but started again in his 40s by co-founding the Punk band Strindberg Som Tortyr - SST. Peter sometimes plays in cover bands. Thomas no longer plays, but is still loyal to Punk music." Check both goodies via Slyngels bandcamp base and enjoy! 

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THE CLERKS - Dancing With My Girl EP 1988

"The Clerks were a four-piece group of schoolfriends living amidst the burgeoning Punkrock scene in Birmingham Mart & Paul (guitars/vocals), Martin (bass), Paul (drums). From the start they wrote their own songs with a '60s Pop sensibility. The guys didn't consider themselves to be Punks or Mods although they did share some of the same influences. Indeed, the Clerks name was taken from a line in a Velvet Underground song, 'Sweet Jane'. Starting to gig around London and with a demo tape in hand they were picked up by ROK Records to be on the Odd Bods, Mods & Sods compilation which came out in spring 1979. After some line-up changes they recorded four pieces and things seemed to be going well and by now there was some record company interest but by the end of 1980 for reasons lost in the mists of time, the band had enough and go their separate ways. A couple of years after their demise came this EP out via Puddiscs in a limited-edition with all the four goodies. And again more few years later, Detour Records brings us three more 7inches with lost rare recordings, all strictly limited to 250 copies; an LP is planned with live noises from a gig in London 1980. Delicious stuff, so watch out!"

- Great Thx to Fredrik -

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SOFT CELL - Tainted Love 7'' 1981

Finally weekend and today's post/song is a real Pop icon and I'm sure, even if some of you don't have much to do with pop, everyone has probably heard this catchy anthem somewhere, sometime. Released via Vertigo, this was the second best selling single of 1981! Who is behind this? Marc (vocals) & David (keyboards), better known as Soft Cell, a synthi-pop duo which met as art students at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977. They quickly recorded their debut EP on a two-track recorder. Originally funded by family members, Mutant Moments was eventually released by Big Frock Records (2000 copies) in 1980. That led to a record deal with Some Bizarre Records, which would release all of their early studio albums. Their lyrics often focused on love and romance as well as the darker side of life, with subjects such as the nightlife, kinky sex, transvestism, drugs and murder. They had a huge world-wide hit with a cover version of Tainted Love, a northern soul classic originally sung by Gloria Jones in 1965. Four studio albums followed until the duo broke up in 1984. Both reunited for a brief reunion tour in 2001 and stayed together to record their fifth album. Lots of more gigs were played and during the damn Covid-19 pandemic, they released the sixth album (Happiness Not Included), their first with new material in twenty years.

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NEW MODEL ARMY - Here Comes The War 7'' 1993

Not really pop stuff today, but a 7Inch that I also ripped on Sunday. The title track appeared on their eighth album The Love Of Hopeless Causes (last one for Epic Records) and we're talkin' about New Model Army, a fiery British Punk & PostPunk band with strong political and working-class motivations. Formed in Bradford, Yorkshire 1980 by Justin (vocals/guitars), Stuart (bass), Phil (drums). In keeping with the band's intellectual bent, their name was taken from Oliver Cromwell's anti-royalist military force, whose hierarchy was based on ability rather than social class, and which temporarily succeeded in toppling the monarchy in the mid-1600s.

They spent a couple of years gigging around Yorkshire and building a substantial buzz in the British music press and in 1983 they issued its debut single Bittersweet which landed them a deal with the indie label Abstract by the end of the year.... and how things went further with NMA, which record came etc.. is excellently documented by Steve Huey. Musically solid material, although the flip, despite the good title, is a bit lame but after a certain age this is the lesser of two evils. They're still active in the music world and even on a European tour this year, Respect!

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PURPLE SCHULZ & DIE NEUE HEIMAT - Sehnsucht 7'' 1984

A very subtle ballad with appealing words follows now. Sehnsucht is the name of the baby and is a nice 7Inch on EMI and made by Purple Schulz & Die Neue Heimat. The original band (based on the scandalous company) was founded in 1981 by musicians Wolf Maahn and Klaus Heuser and it should be the perfect NDW combo. But especially Wolf soon lost interest in the formation and Mister Schulz then became the lead singer and soon a solo artist. In the transition phase, this single falls during this time and the band is called then Purple Schulz Und Die Neue Heimat. This song still came from their early days but was then published by the bands new name. While Neue Heimat only reached number 33 in Germany with their single "Ich Bau' Dir Ein Schloss", this goodie made it into the top ten and stayed in the charts for half a year. Almost forty years old but still an intense song with depth and a lot of feeling. HUGH!

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