Saturday, February 26, 2011

Blue Chateau - 1987 demo cassette



This is a very hissy tape and it's hard to listen to but it gives you a glimpse at what other songs Blue Chateau had in their set that were never released.

There are just 4 songs here and only Steps in the Alley was released otherwise so I am only guessing at the titles. I won't even list them here.

DOWNLOAD

Naughty Rhythms - Go to the Rodeo 7" (1984)


The A-side can be found on A Naughty Compilation but the B-side is unique to this single.

A - Go to the Rodeo
B - Have Some Fun

"Have Some Fun"


http://www.mediafire.com/?68kvc7k4j4ahcvj

Namlöz - 80-82



Swedish ska band from the 2Tone era with a noticeable Madness influence.

Thanks to Rikard for this submission!



Kall Vinter
Bio
Hast du Gut Geschlafen?
Heavy Metal är Jättekul (live)
Bio (live)
Kall Vinter (live)

"Hast du Gut Geschlafen?"


http://www.mediafire.com/?88bo4y3b8rdw61i

Ivy & the Rebels - Ska 7" (198?)



This is an oddity. I know absolutely nothing about it except for what's on the back of the sleeve.
I ripped it several times and this is as good as I can get it to sound.
The A-side does just cut off abruptly at the end. It's not a bad edit on my part.

A - Love You
B - Do It

"Love You"


http://www.mediafire.com/?d668i4q46454h6r

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Neutrinoz - Danger Contains Neutrinoz LP (1981)



Another forgotten California band. These guys shared the stage with the Offs and their sound is along the same lines. Punk-ska with more frequent use of the ska influence than the Offs exhibited.

1 The Obvious
2 Black Widow
3 Concrete Highway
4 It's About Time
5 Pills
6 Tin Foil Dreams
7 Dirty Ernie
8 Nuclear Threat
9 Ska Tissue
10 Rain
11 Angry
12 Daly City Baby
13 Barbarian
14 Ozone Oxide

"Concrete Highway"

"Dirty Ernie"



http://www.mediafire.com/?gcq3db4mvt298cc



..

The Pharoahs - In the Midnight Hour 7" (1980) [LINK UPDATED 09/11/2016]



You probably know the A side from the 100% British Ska compilation. Thanks to Bruce you can now hear the instrumental B side.

A - In the Midnight Hour
B - Berta

DOWNLOAD

Sir Horatio - Abracadubra 12" (1981)




Rikard submitted this nice bit of electronic instrumental dub. I'm not a huge fan of dub, but the B-side is a killer track.
I'm not sure what members of A Certain Ratio were involved in this project but these two songs are bonus tracks on the re-release of A Certain Ratio's "To Each..." album.

A - Abracadubra
B - Sommadud

"Abracadubra"




http://www.mediafire.com/?m3747z1kuop40ub

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Darryl Read - Living on Borrowed Time 7" (1980)



HERE

A - Living on Borrowed Time

B - West End Girl



http://www.mediafire.com/?12gfnv2go41bktj

Mustard Club singles



Here's another installment in a series of records that Bruce has sent me in response to the Shake and Shout compilation

DANCE 7" (1984)
A - Dance
B - Soul Vision

THE REST OF MY LIFE 7" (1985)
A - The Rest of My Life Begins Today
B - Jump Up

LEAVE BEFORE SHE WAKES 7" (1986)
A - Leave Before She Wakes
B - Once Too Many Ain't Too Much Once in a While

STEELTOWN MAN 7" (1986)
A - Steeltown Man
B - Sugar Beet, Rhythm Sweet

"Steeltown Man"


"Dance"


THERE IS NO SKA IN THESE RECORDINGS

http://www.mediafire.com/?91cxzccgczct3cm

Friday, February 11, 2011

Sleep-N-Eat EP (1981)



This compilation from '81 claims a song called "No One Like You" by the Volecanoes. The Volecanoes being the Originals...Arthur Kays back-up band. It says that they went off on their own to do this song, but Arthur Kay helped them on it.
It's odd that this exact recording was released in 1982 under the name Arthur Kay and the Originals with the correct title "No One But You" (which is what the lyrics are).

(download this 7")

...aside from that there are a couple of power-popish rocking songs and a great track by a band called Naughty Thoughts which was headed by Mark Edwards of the Kent band The Rivals (great punk band, by the way...check em out).
For more on Naughty Thoughts (and their first release - All or Nothing) see My Life's a Jigsaw

A1 - Naughty Thoughts - Stalking Shadows
A2 - Dogs Don't Lie - Newage
B1 - The Volecanoes - No On Like You
B2 - The City Blues Band - Meatballs

"Naughty Thoughts - Stalking Shadows"


Thanks to Rikard for this submission!!

http://www.mediafire.com/?k4z7rcj947uk625

Monday, February 7, 2011

The Stormed - Trouble at Home 12" (1987)



Here's a wonderful oddity by The Stormed from Cambridgeshire UK. They had only 2 releases...this and another 12" called Beau Terry:


...both were released as promos only and are nearly impossible to find.

A - Trouble at Home
B - The John Song



http://www.mediafire.com/?gzuxm2oevvqt35q

Checkered Cabs - Something About the Weekend 7" (1994)



This is the first of two singles released by this Washington DC band. The couple of songs on this 7" are much better than the full-length in my opinion.

I have posted the album previously, but I included it in this download so you can see for yourself.

Thanks to Timmy for this contribution!!

A - Something About the Weekend
B - Heathcliffe 8



http://www.mediafire.com/?7kxc8rclc9e2br9

Dynamic Hepnotics



In response to my post of the Shake and Shout comp
Bruce sent me a lot of other things that some of the bands on that record had also recorded. In this installment is the band Dynamic Hepnotics.
Keep in mind that there is NO SKA IN THIS DOWNLOAD!...just great neo soul and blues - eighties style.

But you probably want it anyway:

"Funky Turban"

"It Ain't Right"

"Soul Kind of Feeling"


Believe Me 7" (1985)
Believe Me
Blue Kind of Feeling

Gotta be Wrong 7" (1985)
Gotta be Wrong (Way to Love)
Motley Crusaders

Hepno Beat 7" (1981)
Hepno Beat
Funky Turban
with scans from the Australian, U.K., and German releases

I'll Make You 7" (1984)
I'll Make You
The Meaning of Life

On Our Way Now 7" (1986)
On Our Way Now
The Work it Out

Shakin' All Over 7" (1980)
Movin' On to You
Out of Sight
Shakin'all Over
It ain't Right

Soul Kind of Feeling 7" (1984)
Soul Kind of Feeling
The Last to Know

Whenever You're Ready 7" (1985)
Whenever You're Ready
Blue Kind of Feeling

download all 8
http://www.mediafire.com/?bnkz82be4k03sn8

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Ammonites - Dressed to Kill 7'' (1981)



A - Big Eaters
AA - Dressed to Kill


http://www.mediafire.com/?go66jd3kdw2lw6h

The Nicks - '89 Live demo cassette



German up-tempo band with 2 Tone sounds.

1 Sitting on the Dock of the Bay
2 All You Black Ones
3 Wodska
4 Apache

"All You Black Ones"


http://www.mediafire.com/?ztk00yy2pm1lnzb

...how I spent my winter vacation...



I mentioned before that I had a lot of less important things to do besides dedicating so much free time to this blog.

How do you think that went?

I did the post on the Velvetones on New Years eve and just two hours later I found myself taking a wrong turn on an icy road and I wound up on a sandy shore of Lake Arrowhead. I tried all sorts of interesting driving techniques to get back up the steep road but it looked as though the wife and I would spend our New Years freezing to death in our car.

Luckily there were some plastic shovels and buckets some kids had left behind and I was able to scrape past the frozen sand and, for over an hour, I painstaking took one little bucket of sand at a time trying to cover up as much ice as I could. Just when I had only one or two buckets to go I was walking as carefully as I possibly could down this icy hill when I started to slide. Then, like something out of a cartoon, my feet flew out from under me and I slammed down on my back. Thankfully there was a large pointed rock that broke my fall. It caught me right in my tailbone. I'm sure the initial impact hurt like hell but I was fortunate enough to have hit my head and gone unconscious for a few seconds. I came to while I was still sliding down the hill...

...long story short...we eventually got out and decided to skip out on any New Years festivities. We went straight home and I went straight to bed. (after consuming every bit of every form of alcohol I had on hand.) I could barely sit up for the first few days and it was about two weeks before I could walk without it feeling like there was an ice pick stuck in my spine.
After the pain became more of a nuisance than anything else I went back to work. My first day back one of my co-workers went home early with the flu. I woke up the next morning feeling like my veins were polluted with cold hot-dog water. I spent another week in bed.

I got almost nothing done at all in January.

I hope you all are having a better New Year than I am.

I have received lots of emails and I've responded to very few. Today's my one day off from work so, after I do this and another post or two I will start answering some emails.

One message I received via Facebook was a link to a blog called Rusty-Knife. Its a great blog. The only release from Bouncing Soles from 1988, Boss, Deltones, Loveboats, Arthur Kay, Stage Bottles, Explorersz, The Mistakes - Shut Up and Dance EP, Tara's "Ska Man" 7" from 1980, The Skunks "Solenzara" 7" from 1980, original 2 Tone and Go Feet rips and lots of original Madness and Bad Manners vinyl rips. Not only that but lots of rare Oi!, traditional ska, and punk.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Colonel Hathi's Dawn Patrol - It's a Bargain cassette EP (1992)



...submitted by Rikard. In a 2Tone style.
They were from Cambridgeshire. Lead vocalist Gary Brown is currently fronting the ska tribute band BIG 10*

A1 - A Day in the Life of...
A2 - Fever
A3 - Sunshine
B1 - Una Bella
B2 - Hathi Beat '92
B3 - One Way Love

"Sunshine"




http://www.mediafire.com/?l15snt0rbigbm57

*thanks to Phil from Blackpool for the info

The Sticks - Dole Queue Rock (1981)



I once read that this UK band also went by the name The Stickers. Not positive about that though. I'm not even completely sure this was from 1981.

Who cares about the particulars. Enjoy it for what it is.

A - Dole Queue Rock
B - Dole Queue Rock II




http://www.mediafire.com/?2sckbvo5c4xwnig

Friday, December 31, 2010

The Velvetones: The Story Behind "Skinhead Girl"



You may remember this video:



Just over a year ago I was able to exchange emails with Mike Montez of the Velvetones. I then edited them down to one continuous interview.
Then I lost it.

Today I found it.


His real name is Mike O'Brien and he is still involved in music on occasion as you see by his version of House of Fun which was performed under the name LEGENDS OF POP





In his own words:

In the mid 1980s, whilst I was in the Velvetones, I worked in a place called "The Warren" in Hull. It was then labeled as "a drop-in centre for the young unemployed". It still exists and now boasts loads of facilities including its own recording studio (see Warren Records).

In those days I ran an art area with a darkroom and stuff. Often the room would just get full of lads just wanting to compare tattoos and play loud music. One afternoon this lad came in with close cropped hair, an armful of ink and an album by a band called the Oppressed. On that album was a track called Skinhead Girl.
This lad was really into the song. He played it to me four or five times that afternoon.

As a result, the chorus got stuck in my head, and that night at a Velvetones rehearsal, I sang it to the rest of the lads. I was all for getting a tape of it and getting the band to learn it, but they were not keen on doing a straight cover of an Oi! song. Dave Rotheray (of Beautiful South fame) said something along the lines of "you could write something much better anyway", so I took up the challenge and wrote my own lyrics, some of it was from bits I could remember of the original lyrics and tune, and I made the rest up. I never heard the Oppressed version again until
I looked it up on the net a couple of years ago.

Keith (of the saxophone) wrote the sax tag, and Dave and the band put the backing sound together around my song.

It quickly became a favourite at gigs, we would save it until the end, or do it as an encore.
The audience used to dance and sing along.


Mike was married last year and he performed Skinhead Girl at his wedding.

The new version was done by someone at this website...http://www.mycustomtracks.com
It took him a bit longer than he said it would, but when I pleaded a wedding party to him, he responded with a big effort, and got it to me with a week to learn... But once I got into it.
It was surprising how soon I got the hang... it all came flooding back.

Not got any video or audio of me singing it as yet.. but you never know. If you want to post the backing track on your site, feel free. It would be fun to think of other people having a go, and there's no copyright problems. I bought it from that website with all rights.


"Skinhead Girl (karaoke version)"


Lyrics:

There she goes, just walking down the High Street
Marten boots and short cropped hair
How I wish she was walking down my street
How my heart would bleed to see her there
Then she'd be my skinhead girl...


She smokes Marlboro fags from a battered tattered packet
Once she pressed one into my grimy fist
How I wish she'd write my name on the back of her jacket
And wear my cheap tin bracelet on her wrist
Then she'd be my skinhead girl...

Then I saw her one Saturday night at the pictures in the cheap stalls
She was kissing with a biker and it made my toes all curl
And I felt the tears well up in my big tough eyeballs
As I realised she would never be my girl...

(hold on... who's this coming up the Old Kent Road?)

There goes another one, just walking down the high street
Same old Marten boots and short cropped hair
How I wish upon wish upon wish that she was walking down my street
How my heart would bleed to see her there
Then she'd be my Skinhead girl...

I did the lyrics for all the Velvetones stuff. Believe it or not I was (and still am) a big fan of
the group Sparks. I loved the way Ron Mael turned out his lyrics, and tried to emulate him for original
subject material and quirky humour. I reckon my stuff was often a bit more romantic leaning than his
(I was young) and as far as I know sparks never covered any Oi! (but there is a rare track called "We are the Clash" that was released on a magazine cover a few years back). My personal favourite velvetones lyric was "Tweedledum" because I felt it got closest to Ron Mael quality.

The idea for much of the lyrics and tune of "How can I lose the Velvetones" and a fair bit of "Montez is Dying" (and indeed the idea for much of the Montez/Velvetones personality) came through listening to a 1930s band called Nat Gonella and the Georgians, in particular a track called "Old Man Mose". Just looked it up... found the lyrics but no track...
Its been a while since I heard it. Meanwhile: Here's a version by Betty Hutton.



(It was apparently banned in the 30s because of the risk of listeners mishearing the word "Bucket" - or maybe that was this version by Eddy Duchin


Talking about original lyrics. My mate Eddie of that other Crap Hull band (ironic self abasement is an endearing quality of the best people in East Yorkshire - big heads can bugger off to London!) the Gargoyles, wrote some marvelous stuff in addition to "Ferry Across the Humber". None of it was Tone and Wave type material, but I will make some available to you for your listening pleasure. They had two albums out. I have transferred one to mp3s and have a few tracks from the other, but will get the rest done at some time in the near future. Hoping that I will be joining them in some capacity later this month. Will see what
happens, there will probably be a live recording I imagine.

At the wedding there was some talk of forming a "Crap Hull bands of the 1980s supergroup" - It would be just like Cream... only crap and from Hull! To do stuff by the Gargoyles, Pink noise and the Velvetones as well as some choice selections from other bands, some of which would be only half remembered and may need my ability to re-imagine the lyrics. Unfortunately I live some distance from Hull and am a bit of a lazy sod, but i really fancy that idea and would love to give it a go.

The Velvetones original lineup will never happen. Too many milions were made in the Beautiful South to make it a worthwhile proposition for Rotheray, who has lost touch with all his old buddies. Hemingway who still trades under the name of "the New Beautiful South" - I could imagine him having ago for a lark, but I only see him about once every four years. The other lads... I have lost touch with, I suppose they might have a go for a one off if the opportunity (might see them at a CHULLBOT1980s gig). If I could get other musicians to play the songs...
I would love it! but I can't see it happening.

The Velvetones must have been together for around three or four years. around 1984 to 1988. By '88 Dave Hemmingway had already left to replace Hugh in the Housemartins, and when they split, Dave Rotheray joined him and Paul Heaton in the fledgling Beautiful South.

I could and probably should have put a bit more effort into the band, the two Daves were really keen on success and earned it. I really just wanted a laugh and a hobby. Now I am envious of all my friends who have continued with music and managed to survive by being musicians. There are a few of them, most of whom survive quite well with gigs, the occasional recording and having a good time without being famous. Hugh Whittaker himself is a real role model. He played drums occasionally for the Velvetones and more regularly for the Gargoyles, before achieving fame with the Housemartins and promptly retiring when the band were at their peak, but still gets by playing the drums in all manner of bands including, hopefully, the Gargoyles in their latest reunion gig.

If I had been more serious, and worked a bit harder, we may feasably have made some real releases.
Our earliest demo tape was "Red Roger/Ice cold Joe, "not what our record company is looking for at the moment but best wishes for the future..." Skinhead girl was always very popular and might have made a good single. If not for the Beautiful South bursting onto the scene, then we may have put more effort into promoting "Beautiful mams" and "Tweedledum" They were probably the last two songs we wrote together and I felt that we were moving in a good direction. But then maybe we had overstayed our welcome in the places that we played. We didn't really write too many songs and didn't change the set enough over those 3-4 years. But what the Hell. We had some good times, and it has been nice to remember them as I have composed this e-mail. (probably my longest email ever!)


I asked some more questions in the next email:



How is it that a band with no actual releases gets around to making a video?
What was the story behind the opening and closing scenes?
What is the Church of the Divine Magnet?


Back to the art room at the Warren and a guy whose name escapes me (to my shame) He used to come in and help me with my then obsession of taking apart old radios and cassette players and tarting them up with paint and mad wiring and stuff. (I knew nothing about the electronics but thought they looked better with the circut boards on the outside and a touch of spraypaint. He knew all about electronics and stuff like that. He even offered to wire my parents house for cable free of charge, but my dad wouldn't allow it!
Anyway, he got really interested in the fairly new art of video, and went to do a media course at college.
He needed to make a video for some assignment and offered to do one featuring the Velvetones and the Gargoyles.

We did "Skinhead Girl" as you know, and the Gargoyles did one called "The Magnificent Church" which was a
single off their second album "Steamflapper".
The song was based on the idea of the Hippie Convoy, which me and Eddie had joined briefly as it organised a rock festival down south somewhere. The Chorus went "A Church so big and daft and mighty - Do what you wanna -
to be a mamber of this church boys - is indeed an honour" The whole video was called "The Magnificent Church", The Church of the Divine magnet being the church in question.
As to the storyline. I haven't got a clue. We made it up as we went along. We found an abandoned housing estate
and had that in at the beginning. The police bit filled some obligation to involve some official organization for the lad's video assignment. I can't remember a thing about the cinema. I think that it may have been a mock up in one of his lecture theatres.

Who was on the other side of the doors during the pamphlet scene?
That would have been Ted. Then, as now, a shameless self-publicist.


Who was the skinhead girl?
I can't remeber who the main skinhead girl was. but the one at the end was Sharon. Now Sharon Clay, wife of Nick "Crap Hull bands of the 1980's" Clay.


Any anecdotes about the filming of the video? (At the end there some of the passers-by seemed like they knew
something was going on and they didn't want to be bothered while others seemed unaware that anything was going
on at all)

Really, honestly, I can hardly remember a thing about any of it. Like most of my youth, it is all a collection
of vague memories. Eddie made me laugh in the police station when a woman copper introduced herself "Hello I'm WPC Yvonne Smart" or something. Eddie said "Oh really? I thought that you were WPC Pepper Anderson". (who was from a 1970s TV series called "Police Woman"). No -one lauged at the time (Embarrassment and scared of what Pepper might do - she did nothing) ) but I recently told Eddie about it and he said that
he thought that no-one had found it funny and wondered if anyone had actually heard.

Did you ever do any acting outside of this? You seemed to have taken to it like a natural. Looking absolutely
crushed while curling your toes. Pure comedy.

Wish I could say I had, but no. One of these days.. I Was talking to someone the other day about my long held ambition to work in a museum, playing a historical character for kids (I had a mate who was once Robert Stevenson - of rocket fame in a museum in London) Apparently the term is "Costumed Interpreter"


Download the unreleased Velvetones "album" as well as House of Fun, Skinhead Girl karaoke version, and this full interview.
http://www.mediafire.com/?3apqeo3vcjra4nw


The Gargoyles album "Mrs. Two Dinners" can be found here:
http://napomm.blogspot.com/2010/01/gargoyles-mrs-two-dinners.html

Urban Heroes - Saturday Nights in Peking 7" (1980)



A - Saturday Nights in Peking
B - Headlines



http://www.mediafire.com/?zeonnqw23xq3ws1