Armande Altai - Nocturne Flamboyant, 1983 (re-post)

Armande Altai - Nocturne Flamboyant, 1983

Here's a link to my previous post about this record.

Some wonderful soul named Matt asked me to repost this one (since ZShare seems to have gone AWOL) and even though I had to rip the entire record again, I didn't mind at all.

There is some serious Martin Hannett production GENIUS at work, here. Just listen to "Balance-toi-Lola" and HEAR the Joy Division-y guitars and the ICY PIANO. Then listen to "Ciel d'Hiver" and tell me this is not a goth heaven of some kind.

If you can't hear Hannett in this record, you're not a Hannett fan.

Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief, 1969

Good old fashioned English Folk-Rock, baby! Fuck, I can't figure out how to make the sleeve for this LP bigger. This album is fucking amazing. If you don't like this, you're not an anglophile, period. I wish I could die on English soil. If only I knew for sure that I would die on English soil, the peace it would bring me.

Dif Juz - No Motion, 1985

I can't remember if I posted this one already. But this is GOD right here. This is the second coming of a non-existent Jesus if there ever was one. I'm going to a desert island, baby and I know what I'm taking. Cocteau Twins fans listen up, if you don't know this band, you don't know nothing.



Look at that drummer, the way he meets your eyes, furtively, slyly. Incredible. Okay, I know I still need to put up their "Who Says So?" EP here, I know. I've made a grave omission which I will have to correct in the coming weeks. Sigh.

This blogging business...such work!!

Talking Heads - Psycho Killer, 1978

Their performance on Old Grey Whistle Test. I'm not much of a Talking Heads fan, but this just scorches me. Did someone say post-punk? Yikes. Music was clearly not in Kansas anymore when the likes of this showed up on the scene and wiped the vomit off punk's floor. All hail the avant garde new wave!

Donna Summer - Heaven Knows, 1978 (again)

I'm very disappointed that the amazing Donna Summer video I linked to earlier of this song was taken down off You Tube. She was absolutely gorgeous in her green tunic, and the sound was perfect as well. God, what a clip that was! Wish I'd downloaded it. :(

I feel the need to do something to rectify this, as I really think it might be my fave Donna Summer song ever. You can hear the song here, even if you don't get anything but a still photo of her to look at:



Or, if you're a bit more adventurous and you want to see some live action and don't mind a significant drop in sound quality, try this one:

The Past Seven Days - Raindance 7", 1981

The Past Seven Days - Raindance/So Many Others... 7", 1981, WAV

The Past Seven Days - Raindance/So Many Others... 7", 1981, MP3

I've long resisted posting this one, because you can get the tracks on the Various Artists "Natures Mortes-Still Lives" CD, a compilation of early 4AD bands. I would also be willing to bet this record can be found on other people's blogs. But this is my favourite 7" single of ALL TIME by ANYONE, and THE best obscure post-punk band ever. Still makes the hairs on my arms stand on end after 20 years. The music is dark in nature, but it doesn't strike me as goth, really. There are some great synth sounds, but the music doesn't revolve around synths. I've decided to upload two versions of this single for you - one is in .wav format (higher quality sound-wise, but takes longer to download, obviously) and the other in regular mp3 format. This thing is so special I think it deserves to be heard in an uncompressed format. I guess I could have ripped these tracks from the CD, but I did it the old fashioned way and ripped them from the vinyl, because I think that's really the proper way to hear them.

And what an amazing sleeve! Believe it or not, the band themselves put this sleeve together, so you can't even look to the latter-day art design geniuses that made the 4AD record label so unique and special back in the day. I've tried to find some information about the members of this band, but I can't find any by googling. Certainly they didn't go on to release anything else, sadly. Apparently you can find some bio information about them in a book called Beats Working For A Living: Sheffield Popular Music 1973-1984 by Martin Lilliker, but this book goes for quite a bit of money and I'm just not at a stage in my life where I want to invest in any more music books.

Maybe I'm posting this record in the hopes that one of the band members will contact me. Yes, maybe that's the real reason. That would be a dream come true.

Last thing I'll say on this is it distresses me that in the scans of the sleeve I've done here, you can't really appreciate the shiny gloss of the thick paper sleeve. I wish I could show how it glistens in the light! :)

The Wendys - More Than Enough Promo 12", 1990

The Wendys - More Than Enough Promo 12", 1990

I'll be the first to admit there were a lot of crap or mediocre records released on the Factory label. But I think Northside & The Wendys were fabulous. The Wendys weren't quite as good as Northside, I don't think, but pretty close for awhile. Anyway, the key thing here is the A-side, a vocal version of "More Than Enough" that cannot be found elsewhere. The B-side, the instrumental version of the song, was released as the b-side of the "Pulling My Fingers Off" single.

I'm proud to say I saw the Wendys live in Manchester in 1991. There weren't many people there, but it was a thrill, I must say. I took home a Wendys poster someone gave me off the wall. Don't have it anymore, though, unfortunately. I'm aware they did do a second album "Sixfoot Wingspan" in 1999, but I'm really not sure how I feel about it, to be honest.

Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls - Dream Sequences 10", 1980

Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls - Dream Sequences 10", 1980

Martin Hannett is in the band and producing as well. Saville does the sleeve. What else do you want? Well, to be honest, I much prefer Hannett & Co.'s work with John Cooper Clarke than Pauline Murray (I think she was a fine punk singer in Penetration, but I don't think she makes a very good pop singer). But the reason I post this is if you have the Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls CD, you might think you have everything and you don't, because the "Dream Sequences II" on this is unavailable on that CD and Hannett left a lot of his paws on this song, production-wise. Enjoy.

Marc Riley & The Creepers - Four A's From Maida Vale, 1985

Marc Riley & The Creepers - 4 A's From Maida Vale, Double 7"

Messages etched in the inner grooves:
Black Dwarf - "Dedicated To The Fat Dwarf Cow!"
Going Rate - "This Sounds Like The Stones In Their Demonic Period"
Cold Fish - "I Wish I Had Eddie's Head"
Bard of Woking - "A Writ From Dim Wit?"

My friend Adam suggested I post some Marc Riley & Creepers, and for me this is really the one and only essential record of theirs. This was released as a 12" with a red sleeve, but I think I was lucky because as a teenager I bought it in a double 7" version, which enables me to show you the artwork in a better way than the 12" would. Marc Riley was, of course, and early member of The Fall, and went on to even be a DJ on BBC Radio. I think he still is, actually. When they say "4 A's" they mean 4 songs worthy of being the A-side on a single, and they're bloody right. All four of these songs are equally brilliant, but it's funny that upon playing it again today, "Going Rate" struck me as particularly noteworthy and catchy with the way the vocals kindof slide up and down a scale of notes. I always thought that song was a dig at Mark E. Smith of The Fall, but now I wonder if it wasn't just complaining about getting shortchanged financially at gigs. Certainly "Bard of Woking" is a dig at Paul Weller, no mistaking that, which is wonderfully ironic for me because I'm actually a bit of a Weller fan, now, though I wasn't at the time I bought this record.

The music on this is very much like The Fall, as you would expect, though it does have horn sounds which is rather interesting. Perhaps 1985 is a bit late to be calling anything "post-punk", but I don't think it's too off-the-mark to say this is a fine post-punk record.

Shiny Two Shiny - Halfway Across The Rainbow, 1982

Shiny Two Shiny - Halfway Across The Rainbow, 1982

As previously requested, and thanks once again to my friend Adam, here is the LP from Shiny Two Shiny, the band that appeared on the Zulu compilation I recently posted. They're just a bit too twee for my tastes. They remind me of some of that LTM label stuff like Berntholer, or I bet fans of Young Marble Giants would like them. I guess you could say they're a little like Stereolab, though, without all the layers of instrumentation. The instrumental "Susquehanna" has some interesting Peter Hook-ish bass.

More about Shiny Two Shiny can be found here.

Sonic Youth - Sugar Kane (1992) and Marilyn Monroe

Not only is this one of my all time fave SY songs, but check out Kim Gordon's long dress. I find this fascinating because only as far back as '91 she was wearing a mini-dress.

Ironic for me is the fact that this exceptionally good song from Sonic Youth is about Marilyn Monroe, of whom I have collected pictures of since I was 9 years old. All around my apartment walls I have MM pics, specially curated and chosen as a connoisseur of such things.

So yeah, one of my fave songs by one of my fave bands about one of my fave people to collect pictures of. Doesn't get any better than this:

Live version:


Regular video, with clips of Marilyn:

Necropolis of Love - The Hope, 1984

Necropolis of Love - The Hope, 1984

Here is the next record my friend ripped me for this blog. I love it. Very goth, but in a good, Chameleons/Abecedarians sort of way. They even have a danceable song, too. This band were from San Francisco.

If you're jonesing for more of this band like I am, here is a link to their first 7" single.

Zulu Compilation, 1984

Zulu Compilation, 1984

Well here it is, the UK post-punk compilation my friend was nice enough to rip and send. If anyone else wants to rip and send me stuff or just make suggestions, please feel free. It's wonderful to have someone else do the ripping for once! ;)

I had never heard of this compilation before, or even the label Zulu. I'm also not familiar with any of the bands here, except that this contains an early track by Frankie Goes To Hollywood (when they were just called Frankie) and apparently The Project is Mike Keane of Factory Records act The Royal Family & The Poor. I'm also familiar with Pink Industry, but that's about it. Apparently, Forget The Whimpering Child and Become The Warrior opened up for Echo & The Bunnymen in the early 80's, and I quite like their track here.

Full tracklisting here:

Urban Jazz Ritual - Car Crazy
Frankie - Love Has Got A Gun
The Project - Leaves In The Wind
Bart - Situation
Levi Tafari - Liverpool Experience
Ambrose Reynolds - Lee Harvey Oswald (pt 2)
Shiny Two Shiny - Moment To Moment
Benjamin Zephania - The Boat Is Sinking
Pink Industry - Stand Alone
Mark Davies Markham - It All Sounds The Same To Me
Forget The Whimpering Child and Become The Warrior - Left You Lying
Philip Renshaw - Lake Victoria
Wrecked Career - Screaming Drowning
S.T.F.O.T.P.A. - The Kremlin In Flame

More Post-Punk on the way (hopefully)

A nice man has contacted me who lives somewhat near me and he is going to send me what may prove to be a very cool compilation of obscure UK post-punk bands. So don't give up on this blog yet, thanks.

China Crisis, two songs from 1982

You know who I like? I like me some China Crisis. They are one of those bands that instantly catapults me back into my teenage years whenever I hear them.

African & White (1982) - Their classic first single:


Scream Down At me (1982) - This was one of the very first things I heard on college radio, before I'd even heard Echo & Bunnymen, Smiths, Cocteaus, Joy Division/New Order, or The Cure etc. This is a perfect record for the dancefloor, but the truth is, this song was out of character for China Crisis and they never before or since dabbled in such danceability:

Donna Summer - MacArthur Park Suite

MacArthur Park Suite, what else do you want??
I'm trying to get it up here, but I've run into problems. Gonna have to take a break, now. I hope you all are doing well.

Lou Reed/Velvet Underground

Jesus of the god of love,

I've given up. I don't care what people think anymore I have to fill this space with the music I love in any given moment and right now, Lou Reed is doing me really good.

Between going back and looking into some albums from his solo career I hadn't experienced before and coming across some blisteringly good Velvets boots, I'm in heaven. I mean I love Donna Summer, and I love this live Simple Minds DVD I got of them performing in 1983 is to die for, but still, I can't see the point of hearing anything besides Lou & co. right now.

Let's start with this album "Rock and Roll Heart" from 1976. I mean as far as I'm concerned, he's pretty much celestial, here. I've tried the "Sally Can't Dance" album, too, and I think it's got some great stuff on it, but this one is to die for.

And you know what else is to die for? The bonus tracks on the Coney Island Baby reissue. You don't know what you're missing, I'm sorry.

Industry - Industry Mini-LP, 1983

Industry - 5-song "Mini-LP", 1983

As my good friend oldskool requested, here is the 1983 Industry EP. This 5-song thing called a "Mini-LP". What in the hell were these record label people thinking? A "Mini-LP"??? That trend didn't exactly get off the ground, now did it? HAHA. Now, if you have already downloaded the 1984 "Stranger To Stranger" LP by them that I just posted, I'll have you know I don't think there is a difference between these versions of the songs and the album versions, EXCEPT that "Still of The Night" is a completely different version. But I did rip the whole thing so you are free to say "no, Bimble you are wrong, it sounds different than the album, etc etc" Hope you like it. I was 13 when I bought this thing.

ZShare link problems

Well I don't know if anyone follows this blog anymore, but I'm aware that ZShare are having problems and most of my links are with ZShare. So...sigh. I have put up a Mediafire link for the Industry EP and am working on doing the same for the LP. I hope that ZShare's problems will only be temporary.

Donna Summer - I Feel Love (1977)

This is the sexiest thing I've ever seen on the internet:

Donna Summer (and Brooklyn Dreams) - Heaven Knows (1978)

I remember this song from my childhood but I haven't heard it in ages because it isn't even on any of her proper albums, as far as I know. This song kills me to the core.

Industry - Stranger To Stranger LP, 1984

Industry - Stranger To Strannger LP, 1984

The first and last album by this fine new wave band, Industry. As I said in my previous post on this blog, Jon Carin (guy on the right with the awful mullet haircut) was now a big part of the band's output and I think his songwriting much improved things for them. When I found this LP for only a few dollars in a record store a few years ago, I only bought it because I remembered having an EP of them when I was about 13 years old (and this EP had songs that appeared on this LP, so there is no need to own it if you have the full LP). I expected just to laugh at it as a historical and dated curiosity, but instead I found I quite liked this entire album. Like I said, I think the songwriting is really strong here, and he has a pretty good voice, too. This fascinating wikipedia entry about him says that after this album, he went on to play with Bryan Ferry, Pink Floyd, The Who, Psychedelic Furs...!! I don't wish to discount the contributions of the rest of the band on this album, though. It's not a one-man show, here, obviously.

Here, once again is the You Tube clip of the single from this LP entitled State of The Nation

Industry - Turning To Light EP, 1981

Industry - Turning to Light EP, 1981

Folks who have followed this blog may remember when I posted a You Tube clip of this band from 1984. Well, here is an EP of them from 1981 and this was their second release. The band were from New York state. At the time they did this EP, it looks as though the members were Brian Unger, Mercury Caronia and Rudy Perrone. Jon Carin, who would later go on to sing and write many of the songs on their debut LP, was only thanked on the sleeve for this EP and I don't hear his voice on any of the tracks here, nor does he have any songwriting credits. This is rudimentary synth pop, with a touch of rock on the last track. Folks who know of their first release (which I may or may not post here...I certainly don't have a sleeve for it) may or may not appreciate this record. I find it a bit corny myself, and much prefer their debut LP, but then I will allow many folks would find that corny as well!

Lou Reed - Live in Paris, 1974

The seeds of post-punk were sown here.

Simple Minds - Premonition/Factory (1979, live)

I MUST HAVE DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN

Simple Minds - Changeling (1979)

Velvets etc.

I seem to be on a huge Velvet Underground/Lou Reed trip right now. Some of the bootlegs out there are just incredible.

Also got the new reissues of Replacements' "Pleased To Meet Me" & "Tim" so have been listening to the bonus tracks on those, as they were not previously available.

I did rip half of an EP by Industry from 1981, but don't feel like ripping the second half at this time. It's not a very good record, but there I was ripping it with the intention of posting it here. It really bugs me, posting records I don't actually like. Also, I am drunk.

Simple Minds - Seen The Lights DVD

This one goes out to this person called "UU" that kept commenting to my blog posts about Simple Minds. I've just now got the "Seen The Lights" DVD that "UU" recommmended me and I'm a happy goddamn camper right now. THANK YOU!!!!!!