Big Country - Steeltown

Unfashionable it may be in the midst of this blog primarily about obscure post punk, but I simply must bow my hat in print to this phenomenal and may I say it: perfect album. Yes, yes I had this LP long ago when it had first come out in 1984. But I hadn’t heard it in as many years until very recently and was just blindsided – by the sound, the passion, the fire of punk rock draped in a new, unique, and ultimately ancient Scottish colour – Steve Lillywhite producing, of course. The same man who made U2’s “War” as absolutely sonically amazing as it was when it came out. Not to mention that he produced another one of my favourite records – Simple Minds’ “Sparkle In The Rain”!

But we’re not giving enough credit to the Big Country band members. Truly I can see each of them separately contributing so much to the overall sound. I tend to notice each of them playing individually in ways I don’t normally do with bands. They truly are/were 4 gifted individuals. Also there are actually times when the guitars sound like the Cocteau Twins (Robin Guthrie) – like the beginning of the title track. And I must say that each and every bonus track on the CD (b-sides of singles) is freaking fantastic.

I won’t pretend to be someone who feels really able to write about music. Music is a gut thing for me that just doesn’t always translate into words. I’m not embarassed about that, it’s just a different thing to what most music journalists are into. I’ve never read anything about music that sounds as good as music does, or that pleased me as much as music does. Words are artificial to me in the face of music. But for the sake of sharing music, I try to communicate what music does to me in words. The fact that some people find that easy or can write long incisive essays about it baffles me, but this album is so great I wish I felt able to do that.

Next up will be another old 4AD 7”. This one weirder than the other two.

Greek Post Punk

I just wanted to pause here and give a shout-out to the Greek Post Punk blog you see in my links on the lower right of this page. Everything I've heard so far is telling me Greece had way more than their fair share of good post-punk bands, and if you're curious I encourage you to check out the very nearly solid "Return of The Creeps" compilation mentioned on the right side of that blog. It consists of songs by bands on Creep Records. The only problem is the songs aren't tagged so that you know what the bands are, only the song titles. I had to look that up online and write it down and then tag the files appropriately myself. I'll attempt to save you some trouble by posting the tracklisting. I tried to upload the whole thing to this blog, but some of the titles are in Greek and my computer didn't want to send them to a compressed folder because of that. And then I realized how disrespectful and inaccurate it would be of me to rename them by saying "greek word..." etc. Argh. So I really feel I can't win. I'm going to try my best to list them as they appear when you first download them from the other blog, though I found once I retagged them, my ipod took them in as though they were in a different order than what you see here.

Art of Parties - Central Room
The Reporters - Computer World
Yell-O-Yell - Crow's Complaint
Headleaders - Her Ways Are Cold
Villa 21 - I See No!
The Reporters - I Wanna Know
Headleaders - I'm Living Like A Fool
Yell-O-Yell - Imitation Of The Real
Art Of Parties - Last Time
Villa 21 - Move
Villa 21 - My Last Chance
Yell-O-Yell - Shoot The Truth
Headleaders - Voices
next track is by Metro Decay, song title in Greek translates as sortof like "KEIMHAIA" when I download it
next track is by Clown, song title in Greek translates as sortof like "KAOOYN" when I download it
next track is also by Clown, song title in Greek translates as sortof like "AEYKA KEAAIA" when I download it
last track is by Metro Decay, song title in Greek translates as sortof like EKIEK when I download it

If you have any troubles, hopefully this site will be helpful.

Also that band Hands of Cain on the front page of that blog drove me out of my mind the other night, listening to their tracks on myspace. I was so horrified to learn they had never managed to release any records! I would pay big money to have a CD of their stuff, but luckily I learned through some Greek guy I met who had nothing to do with the blog that soon Hands of Cain will indeed have a CD out!! :)

I realize this stuff might not appeal to everyone, but damnit I love my arty and/or goth post punk.

Good Old Fashioned 4AD Records Part 2: My Captains

My Captains - 7" EP, 1981

If the word "goth" scares you and you don't care for gloom and doom in your music, you'd do well to pass this one by, though I can kindof see a little bit of Killing Joke in here sometimes, too. As I recall, it took me a few plays to warm up to this one, but once I did, I really liked it, and I still do! I've always felt the production on this was rather unique. The guitars and drums sound chunky and thick for lack of better words. But I'm not sure if this is necessarily a bad thing or whether it just adds to the whole "end-of-the-world" feeling of the music. I wasn't able to find any information about the band members except that apparently one of them was previously in a band called Trance that appeared on the third disc of Chuck Warner's Messthetics series. Trance's track on that, "Time Devours" from 1980, doesn't sound anything like My Captains whatsoever.

Good Old Fashioned 4AD Records Part 1: Shox

Shox - No Turning Back/Lying Here 7", 1980

I'm very pleased to share a couple of early 4AD records I have had for many years. I have a strong emotional attachment to these records because I was such an avid collector of them as a teenager and they weren't easy to find! To be accurate, this particular one wasn't actually on 4AD records, it was on Axis, which became 4AD. It's fair to call it synthpop. Not mind-blowing perhaps, but not bad either. The 4AD website tells me it was compared to early Human League in NME, and I'd say that's about right. This was the only Shox release. I've managed to find out that Jacqui Brookes & John Pethers went on to form an act called Siam who released three major label singles in 1981. By 1983 she was in a duo called Intro with Jimme O'Neill who had previously been in Fingerprintz. Intro released two singles. Then she made a solo album entitled "Sob Stories" in 1984. Here is a video for a single from that album entitled "Lost Without Your Love". The bass on the song sounds rather similar to Mick Karn from Japan, but discogs.com says it was Pino Palladino and Karn's website doesn't mention anything about it. It's not clear what happened to her after that album and I can't find any information at all about the third member of Shox, Mike Atkinson.

The Fates - "Furia" LP, 1985

This is former Fall member Una Baines' band. It's like 60's folk with flutes and a bit of poetry and a lot of lyrics about witches. Did someone say the word "hippie"? :) Anyway this was co-produced by Tony Friel, another former member of the Fall, and it appears Martin Bramah (ex-Fall and from Blue Orchids) played guitar a couple of tracks. I'm not crazy about this record but, well...see what you think.

Bimble's 7" Skullduggery Part 6: Fashion (Music)

Fashion - Steady Eddie Steady/Killing Time 7", 1978

Those well versed in early 80's new wave (and I suspect it helps if you're from the UK or Europe) will recall a band entitled Fashion who had great album covers and hair but crap records. But did you know that before they became crap they were called Fashion (Music) and had a completely different singer with a low voice who was very tall (check the sleeve - that guy is tall)? This is one of the best 7" singles I own and the highlight of this band. "Steady Eddie Steady" is a very catchy tune, and "Killing Time" is a delicious treat of dubby reggae, equally as catchy as the A-side.

Bimble's 7" Skullduggery Part 5: Electric Guitars

Electric Guitars - Work/Don't Wake The Baby 7", 1981

Electric Guitars were one of the numerous interesting bands to come out of Bristol back in the post-punk days. They are sortof quirky new wave, but don't expect synthesizers. To my ears, they were an especially talented bunch, though their quality too declined by '83 or so. You can read more about the Bristol scene and order a compilation of Bristol post-punk bands entitled Western Stars here.