BUZZCOCKS
Another Music In A Different Kitchen
Love Bites
A Different Kind Of Tension
All EMI CDs
From punk’s early days of nihilism and anger sprang many musical forms, inspired by its anger, energy and DIY ethos. Among the first to give notice that there was more to punk than ripped clothes and a hail of phlegm was Pete Shelley’s Buzzcocks. Eschewing anarchy as a theme, Shelley wrote of the true concern of any teenager; love, or lack of, and did so through punk-fuelled pop songs as poppy as The Monkees, The Move or Motown ever got.
Three decades on and many of those lovelorn teenagers will now be parents, or grandparents even; yet the music sounds as fresh and exhilarating as ever.
This deluxe three double-disc cornucopia of albums, singles, B-sides, demos, Peel sessions and live tracks – 124 in all – stands the test of time. Naturally there are duffers here and there, but the overall standard is remarkably high and when they were at their best, well, they could take on all-comers.
Excellently remastered and lovingly packaged around Malcolm Garrett’s beautiful and innovative original artwork, with sleeve notes by Jon Savage, who (apart from my mate Richard “I’m fucked if I’m buying them for a fifth time!”) wouldn’t want the lot?
Vic Templar
LOU CHRISTIE SACCO
Paint America Love
Rev-Ola CD
www.revola.co.uk
Lou Christie is remembered largely for his teen-scream hits of the early ’60s and his incredible falsetto. But when he reclaimed his original surname Sacco he also found a new depth to both his voice and his talent. Paint America Love, from 1971, was his second album for the Buddah label and a meditation of simmering disquiet on the American Dream.
The opener, ‘Wood Child’ is a microscopically detailed piece of orchestral folk, musing on both the rough-hewn unease of the American backwoods and the emptiness of consumerist escape. Elsewhere, there’s the understated yet anthemic pop of ‘Paper Song’ and ‘Waco’ and, best of all, the despondent, emotive anti-war masterpiece ‘Look Out The Window’. Stateside culture is unpicked throughout the album, in all its complexity and contradictions, but it never becomes a simplistic protest album.
It’s a very good, incisive, difficult work of art. This is one teen idol that grew up into something really worthy of idolatry.
Jeanette Leech
FIGURES OF LIGHT
Smash Hits
Norton CD
It must be difficult living up to expectations of a 1972 single. Newly discovered, then re-released by Norton last year, ‘It’s Lame’ came as such a surprising slice of proto-punk greatness.
Wheeler Dixon and accomplice Michael Downey try to keep the momentum real. So here are basic observations set to a churning punk‘n’roll backbeat, ably assisted at times by The A-Bones, in an effort to get you to switch off your boring TV. They succeed too, even if compared to that landmark 45 the production is less bright; so less dynamic too, but still...
Personal highlights are the original ‘It’s Lame’ and the no-nonsense genius flipside ‘I Jes Wanna Go To Bed’. Of the fresh offerings, ‘Seething Psychosexual Conflict Blues’ is cool trash, but it’s ‘Black Cadillac’ and the desperate-sounding edge of ‘Angeline’ that do it best. ‘Ritual TV Smashing Finale’, cut live in ’70, is mayhem, and has to be heard to be believed.
Lenny Helsing
THE FIXATIONS
The Sound Of Young London
Detour CD
www.detour-records.co.uk
Here’s another one that seems to have slipped off the late ’70s mod revival radar when it comes to trans-global recognition. Gigging around the usual venues of the time such as The Marquee, The Music Machine, Dingwalls, The Hope And Anchor ... as with most from the scene, they too “came from the punk but their souls belonged to The Who”, with familiar sounding riffs being thrown around (‘No Way Out’, ‘Survive’...). Along with an occasional moody Kinks-like feel (‘Unnatural Merger’, ‘Daniel Brodie’...) there’s some conventional mid-60s, almost Merseybeat vibes as well (‘So Madly’) proving that it wasn’t all about mod targets, parkas and scooters after all. Most of the content sounds pretty much Lo-Fi-ish, but sure IS the sound of then-young London.
Goran Obradovic
FLAMIN’ GROOVIES
This Band is Red Hot: 1969-1979
Raven Records CD
www.ravenrecords.com.au
Flamin’ Groovies are a defiant lot. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, when many of their contemporaries were doing hippie jams or going prog and/or glam, they stuck to what they do best: greasy, barroom rock‘n’roll with a boogie kick. Then in the late ’70s, when the edgy attitudes and sounds of punk and new wave carried the day, The Groovies broke out the 12-strings and did Byrdsian/ Beatlesque melodies. Whatever they touch, they always manage to pull it off with a rockin’ sense of easy mastery. ‘Teenage Head’ is simply one of the greatest garage rock tracks of all time, some kind of ungodly combination of Captain Beefheart, The Cramps, and Texas boogie. Likewise, ‘Shake Some Action’ just about defines the genre of power pop. Of course those two are on this collection of the Groovies most stellar tracks, but there are 22 others and every one of them is solid. Capturing many of the legendary band’s best moments, from ’69’s Supersnazz to ’79’s Jumpin’ In The Night.
Brian Greene
HARDIN & YORK
The World’s Smallest Big Band
Esoteric CD
www.cherryred.co.uk
Give it up for Hardin & York, whose second album makes a welcome reappearance with bonus tracks all over it. You all know that Eddie Hardin replaced Steve Winwood in The Spencer Davis Group of course – a massive, Koko The Klown-sized pair of shoes to fill – but he kicked ass all over the place; give me With Their New Face On over Autumn ’66 any day.
Hardin and SDG drummer York had more chops than the meat counter at Sainsbury’s, and had no compunction whatsoever about flexing them to sensuous effect. You may find that Eddie’s Hammond organ impacts directly upon your own organ.
Marco Rossi
THE ISLEY BROTHERS
Givin’ It Back/Brother, Brother, Brother
Evangeline CD
www.evangaline.co.uk
The Brothers soldiered on into the seventies adding rock influences to their palette with gratifying results on this 2-on-1 CD. Neil Young, James Taylor, Carole King and Bob Dylan songs are revamped into lengthy soulful tapestries. Songs as familiar as an old favourite t-shirt freshened up with the distinctive falsetto of Ron Isley and the emerging talent of younger brother Ernie, whose virtuous guitar playing sprinkled new life into the Brothers sound over the next decade.
The lucid ‘It’s Too Late’ like many of the featured tracks has a serene, autumnal calm about it as melodies gleam like rays of sunlight from between the cracks. The divine ‘Brother Brother’ sounds like it fell off the cutting floor from Marvin’s What’s Going On sessions. Best of all, the uplifting ‘Work To Do’ is the killer, must have track.
Overall, the perfect prelude to the progressive 3+3 album that spawned future gems like ‘Summer Breeze’ and ‘That Lady’.
Paul Ritchie
JOBRIATH
Jobriath
Creatures Of The Street
Collector’s Choice CDs
www.ccmusic.com
Jobriath was an American, openly gay glam artist, at a time when hopping unapologetically over the Stonewall was tantamount to professional suicide, even in the ambiguous world of glam. Jobriath earned further popular suspicion when his albums, particularly his debut, were accompanied with a wave of unsustainable hype.
Making no bones about it, Jobriath (1973), is pretentious tosh that has dated badly. It’s full of charmless squealing guitar overdrive and pompous piano ballads, held together by a monstrous ego. It’s a fifth-rate Bowie rip-off.
Creatures Of The Street (’74), however, is much better. Jobriath is still in love with Ziggy Stardust, but now it’s the morning after, the glitter has faded and it’s time to find himself. There’s the raucous slut-opera of ‘Dietrich/Fondyke’, the Zappa-esque ‘Scumbag’ and even funk guitar on ‘Good Times’. It’s still all ridiculous and contrived, of course, but it’s now far more Jobriath’s own contrivances and miles more satisfying for it.
Jeanette Leech
LINDA LEWIS
Lark
Fathoms Deep
Both Collectors Choice CDs
www.ccmusic.com
If not quite the UK’s answer to Minnie Ripperton (Lewis’s high notes are nowhere near as honed) she comes close. Starting out in London club soul/psych group The Ferris Wheel, who if not up to the standards of Ripperton’s Rotary Connection were attempting to bring black and white, soul and psych together in a similar vein, Lewis embraced the many scents and colours of Swinging London, epitomising multi-cultural savvy. Later she hung with the beardy freaks in Hampstead, befriending Robert Wyatt, Cat Stevens, Marc Bolan and Elton John.
After an acceptable debut, her second album Lark (1972) is a delight. Lewis states how happy she was at the time of writing, and it shows. Childlike and innocent, the 12 songs combine pop, West Coast hippie stylings, jazz, soul and gospel, at times sounding like a more relaxed, black version of Joni Mitchell. Unclassifiable, light years ahead of its time, and yes, a classic! Jim Cregan (Blossom Toes) lays down a range of guitar moods and rhythm section Pat Donaldson and Gerry Conway of Fotheringay are faultless.
Follow up Fathoms Deep (’73) is more refined, better produced and smoother… it has a funkier edge, and although still good, is perhaps too glossy and considered for its own. Nevertheless, if you like Lewis there is still plenty to enjoy. The plaintive ‘Lullaby’ being the closest to the pleasures of her previous release.
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills
GAYLE MCCORMICK
Gayle McCormick
Rev-Ola CD
www.cherryred.co.uk
Gayle McCormick is the golden-throated honey that fronted the late ’60s soulful pop act Smith (once known as A Group Called Smith), out of St. Louis. Smith scored a hit with their version of the Bacharach-David standard ‘Baby, It’s You’, and they appear on the Easy Rider soundtrack, with a cover of The Band’s ‘The Weight’. Smith disbanded after making a couple of albums but Gayle wasn’t done. This, her solo debut from 1971, features the production and songwriting work from the team of Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, and the playing of members of The Wrecking Crew.
The finest track on the 28-minute record is the opener, the Lambert-Potter penned ‘It’s A Cryin’ Shame’, a slice of soul-infused pop that made a respectable dent in the charts at the time. Renditions of songs made more famous by the likes of The Carpenters and Aretha Franklin appear around several other Lambert-Potter creations. All told, Gayle sounds like a cooler Olivia Newton-John or a Karen Carpenter who could pull off northern soul. Not an album to make the world stop, but good early ’70s AM radio stuff, and it’s always enjoyable to listen to a gifted singer belt them out.
Brian Greene
NATIONAL HEAD BAND
Albert 1
Esoteric
www.cherryred.co.uk
Formed from the ashes of The Scaffold’s backing band, The Business, who had featured Lee Kerslake (previously of Toe Fat, later in Uriah Heep), David Paull (later of Jonesy) and Jan Schehaas (later in Caravan), National Head Band sound nothing like their guns-for-hire comedy work or the prog bands they would evolve into. Albert 1 was released on Warner Brothers in 1971 and bore a strong Beatles’ Abbey Road influence (most evident on ‘Lead Me Back’) marked by epic piano motifs, choral harmonies and mournful vocals. Badfinger, would be a good comparison… and if in the market for occasionally folky, gentle Beatles inspired rock, this album is well worth inspecting.
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills
THE NERVES
One Way Ticket
Alive
www.alivenergy.com
The ultimate ’70s power-pop group! The Nerves had a brilliant Mersey sound and GREAT songs. Blondie may have had the hit with ‘Hanging On The Telephone’, but The Nerves wrote and recorded it first. Their four-track EP from 1976 is included here along with a multitude of demos and live material. ‘Walking Out On Love’ is the perfect collision between tuneful mid-60s pop and punk energy! They were minimal, rhythmic, had cool three part vocals and an edge… instant no messing tuneage!
If The Raspberries often wimped out, Big Star got too dark and Badfinger dug a boogie, The Nerves played plain and simply “powerful pop music”. Up there with the Groovies in my book.
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills
THE THIRD ESTATE/AGONISTES
The Third Estate/Agonistes
Lion Productions
www.lionproductions.org
This two-CD set of “private press heaven” collects The Third Estate’s 1976 concept album Years Before The Wine and the unreleased album by the group’s previous incarnation as Agonistes and stray single sides and demos on two CDs. The beauty with US private pressings, particularly those from the South (Baton Rouge in this case) is how dated they actually sound. Punk may have been taking off in New York and London, but this collective of musos were clearly hippies with their hearts in the ’60s. Years Before The Wine has the kind of electrified psychedelic folk-rock sound that would have been all the rage in the UK in ’71! The gorgeous female vocal and blend of guitars on the title track are just sumptuous – making it incredibly hard to believe how the whole album was bounced down onto just four tracks!
The second CD of earlier material from ’73, although more stripped down folk-rock and rock, is incredibly enjoyable too.
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills
THE TOKENS
Both Sides Now
Rev-Ola CD
www.revola.co.uk
Both Sides Now, from 1970, is a curious album. The first side was designed to show off The Tokens as a modern bubblegum pop group, the second a guide to The Tokens of yesteryear, featuring their past successes.
The Tokens do seem to love their biggest hit ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’; not only is it included here, its characteristic wailing wordless vocal interludes are reproduced on several other songs. You can hear them in the studio now: “Hey, Mitch, this bridge sounds boring, what shall we do?” “Jay, do what you did nine years ago, that’ll fill up the dead time”.
Having said that, Both Sides Now is a very likeable record, with exquisite harmonies, fine covers – ‘Green Tambourine’ is terrific – and a giddy bonus track called ‘I Could See Me (Dancing With You)’. It’s intelligent soft-pop doo-wop, and there aren’t many times when you can slip that phrase into conversation.
Jeanette Leech
THE USERS
Secondary Modern 1976-79
Bin Liner CD
www.detour-records.co.uk
Many will already be familiar with The Users’ ‘Sick Of You’, a seminal 1977 UK punk release that appears on numerous “top punk singles” lists. What might come as a surprise are the tracks from the Cambridge band’s final ’79 recording session, salvaged from the only remaining cassette copy. These four tracks have more to do with early power pop than punk. It’s a shame that the band split and never released these songs at the time, as they are much better and more energetic than the sound of contemporaries like The Pleasers, sounding not unlike a UK version of The Nerves. The vocals are confident and tuneful and the songs are driving but melodic, holding their own when compared to the better known early singles.
My only reservation is that this nine-track, 25 minute mini-album might find more takers at mid price rather than full price.
Phil Suggitt |
