The Dots - Helen in Your Headphones 7'' (1982)

There were 2 different versions of this record. The first had the demo mono version of 'Helen in Your Headphones' on side a and the demo stereo version on side b.
This - the second version - features a new wave/ska b-side.



A - Helen in Your Headphones
B - Come and Get It

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Toxic Shock 7" (1980)

This is a very rare 7" from an all-girl band from Australia. Only 500 copies made.
It's punk/reggae that sounds like Lilliput was trying to sound like the Slits.

It's bugging the hell out of me because the vocals remind me so much of somebody and I just can't place who.
Any ideas?

A - Housewives
B1 - Intoxicated
B2 - Prisoner

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...this video is unrelated but I love it...

Goats Milk Soap (1982)

This is a rare compilation of bands that were active in New Zealand at the dawn of the eighties - a percentage of which were ska bands or mod/indie/punk bands that were influenced by the ska sound.
(Again, though, Screaming Mee Mees' offering here is not ska influenced)

1 Mockers - Trendy Left
2 Swingers - Never Never
3 Newmatics - Playing the Champion
4 New Entrants - The Kids are Crying
5 Famous Five - The Girls
6 Instigators - The Israelites
7 Toy Love - 2nd to Last Song Toy Love Wrote
8 Screaming Mee Mees - Pointy Ears
9 Danse Macabre - ECG
10 Corners - Ward
11 Blue Asthmatics
12 Bongos - Familiar Strangers
13 She Collapsed - Save It
14 Riot 111 - 1981

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Happy Christmas from the Stars

Does anyone have this?
It was a flexi given away with the December 1982 edition of Smash Hits magazine that featured Madness, Fun Boy Three, The Piranhas, and a lot of others saying what they would like for Christmas.

Surprisingly, Madness wasn't very interesting this time around but Terry Hall's wish:
"...what I'd really like for Christmas is a 2 Tone revival. I'd like to see all the old 2 Tone bands get together and show that perfect harmony."
...and this was from 1982.

I was hoping to have this by now to be the Tone and Wave Christmas post but I never got around to getting it yet.

There is a portion of this record on Youtube that includes the Terry Hall quote and Madness HERE.

(Bananarama's Sara Dallin's Christmas wish was for six poodles and Al Pachino)

The Press - Cantara Pepe 7" (1981)

A - Cantara Pepe
B - In the Quiet of the Night

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The b-side is the superior track.

Punch The Clown (LINK UPDATED MARCH 27, 2010)

Punch The Clown was a band from Davis California that formed in 1992 and recorded 3 fill length cds before breaking up in 1999. They mixed the 2 Tone sound with other musical influences and a lot of humor without ever going the route of the third wave sound. Alternating male and female vocals.
HERE's a Wikipedia article and here's their OFFICIAL SITE.

Punch the Clown is Caught Red-Handed (1994)

1 Intro
2 My Headaches
3 Don't Fight Now
4 Stress
5 Heather
6 Trousers Full of Lovin'
7 Party at My House
8 Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
9 Sweaty Betty
10 U.S.A. Jam
11 C.I.A. Chick
12 Go Ahead
13 Wise Guy
14 Sea Monkey Stomp (live)
15 I Give Up (live)
16 Pervert (live)
17 Punch the Clown (live)

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Each Sold Separately (1996)

1 Sea Monkey Stomp
2 Love, James
3 I Give Up
4 Big Mouth
5 La Tortuga
6 Rocketship
7 Trouble
8 Gin & Tonic
9 Stratego / Nautical Holiday
10 Shark Attack Club
11 The Banana Song
12 I Wanna Get With You
13 Streets of Sarajevo

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The Secret Life of Punch the Clown (1998)

1 Clowns 'R' Us
2 Speedbumps
3 Watch Out
4 Who Are You
5 Crackerjack
6 Untitled
7 Leaving
8 8 Ball
9 Untitled
10 Song 54
11 Song 55
12 Run Away
13 Pervert
14 $10 Cigar
15 Western Sudan
16 Secret Lives
17 Auf Dub

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Some members went on to form The Offbeatniks and did embrace the ska punk sound.

Urban Heroes - Get It 7" (1980)

This is another one of those things that people keep posting on ebay as ska which it really isn't. Urban Heroes did do some ska inspired songs but these aren't them.
It's still pretty good though.

A - Get It
B - Lovin' You, Lovin' Me

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X-Streams

Friends / Lights 12" (1985)


A - Friends
B - Lights

In the Night EP (1987)


1 In the Night
2 Mind is at a Blank
3 Appeared to Me
4 Monkey on My Back
5 The Man
6 That's Why They Wait

(link removed by request of the band)

Lorraine Springer is not on these recordings but their first 7" (split with The Nervous) from 1980 is available HERE (link removed by request of the band).
For more info on the band see Marco on the Bass HERE and HERE.

Skaos - Rankin' & Skankin'

I just realized that I have never posted this yet. Ronan (sax player for Gangsters) sent me this about a year ago. It's Skaos' first album/demo tape. Almost all of the songs on this tape have been re-recorded with the exception of 'Sleep' which is a damn good song (okay, the vocals aren't the best but you have to look past that and appreciate the song for what it is.)

1 South African Struggle
2 Hey Neighbour
3 Sleep
4 Rankin' and Skankin'
5 Destination Skaville
6 Too Much Wine
7 New Shoes*
8 The Pink Panther
9 JB's Death
10 Prison
11 It's You (live)

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Many thanks to Ronan whose current band Supertonic Sound Club is on the verge of releasing their first album sometime in the new year. They've posted some of their songs on their Myspace HERE.

*No, 'New Shoes' is not a cover of the Mark Foggo song.

21 Guns 7" (1981)

Gus Chambers who replaced Terry Hall as the vocalist of Coventry punk band Squad teamed up with two members of the Specials' road crew.
This is their only release. It was produced by Neville Staples.

A - 21 Guns
B - Ambition Rock

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Newmatics / Screaming Mee Mees split 7" (1981)

Double a-side from two New Zealand bands. Newmatics were a punk/ska/soul/funk band that existed for a short time in the early eighties. Their offering here is in the punk/reggae style.
Screaming Mee Mees were a post-punk power pop band that dabbled in the 2 Tone sound on occasion. However their song on this record is not ska at all.

Newmatics - Judas

Screaming Mee Mees - Can't Take It

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