sorting through the vinyl#8 sigue sigue sputnik flaunt it

Before I start this the above isn't an audio rip of the album I'm discussing but rather early takes and demos from that album that eventually saw release in 1990...and to be honest these alternate takes aren't really that much different..truth is with Sputnik it was always style over substance anyhow ..but at least they were in on the joke.

Sigue Sigue Sputnik seemed to have been masterminded by ex Generation ex Bass Player Tony James..I say seen to be as I suspect other members of the band would maybe see their elements as being equally valid..tagging themselves as the fifth generation of rock and roll Sputnik took the hype delivered by ZTT and Frankie Goes to Hollywood and took it a few steps further.

Seemingly barely able to play and allegedly signed to EMI for 4 million pounds(a since disputed figure and in truth not as impressive sounding today) Sputnik knew how generate column inches and did so from the very start, Taking the Glam template and interspersing it with a dose of Cyberpunk and referencing movies such as a Clockwork Orange,Scarface and Blade Runner Sputnik tried to create something new from the wreckage of both the past and present.

Produced by Giorgo Mioroder of 'I feel love' fame Flaunt It still sounds pretty slick although it does still sound now as it did then somewhat samey with a pretty much identical keyboard riff forming the backbone of each track..the idea of selling advertising space between tracks was a further nod to the Sputnik embracing of Capitalism which seemed to be a coat Sputnik wore that was at odds with the political music scene of the time.

That's not to say Sputnik were 'Thatcherites' I think they used yuppie imagery(Oversized mobile phones for one) to create part of the Mythos surrounding them..in fact some of the personnel who worked with them creating the hype seemed somewhat more left leaning.

Tony James relationship with then channel 4 youth editor Janet Street Porter and involvement from Network 7's Magenta Devine must have helped the publicity machine a lot.

Sputnik came and went the second LP for EMI dress for excess did very little despite musically being a lot more adventurous, Martin Degville had a short solo career which provided a half decent debut album,Tony James would briefly join the Sisters of Mercy, Neal X would co-write bits with Marc Almond and that should have been that.....

However with the rise of the internet Sputnik returned with Pirate Space incorporating those futuristic elements with a musical maturity and creating a cottage industry of Sputnik stuff online..a few albums followed before another retirement of the b(r)and with James teaming up with Mick Jones(Whose B.A.D. where surely a grown up Sputnik) to form Carbon/Silicon and Neal X again working with Almond as well as appearing on some Dead or Alive product.

I think Martin Degville keeps a version of Sputnik afloat and there were some gigs were Tony James and Neal X played as Sputnik with X handling vocals and guitar, alongside the studio bits it's worth remembering Sputnik have been a live draw and the Cyber Goth sub culture certainly fed into this.

All in all Flaunt it is a bit limp but it was a sign of it's time and 'Love Missile F1-11' and the follow up '21st Century Boy' where good fun...as such I have no regrets owning this.

sorting through the vinyl#7 Tom Robinson Band

On rooting through the vinyl vaults today I came across a Tom Robinson Band LP called 'Tom Robinson Band'(Creatively enough!!) and featuring early singles and bits that didn't feature on other LP's a kind of best of and rest of compilation.

Listening through to it again it's a decent listen..it's on the Budget FAME label which suggests it was EMI reissue and features songwriting input from the likes of Peter Gabriel and Elton John plus a Bob Dylan cover.

It's also a product of it's times, say what you like about Thatcher(and trust me I do!!) she did at least inspire the arts if only as a reaction to Thatcherism and this album is rich in protest with tracks showing the TRB's involvement with Rock against Racism , Amnesty international and even gay rights with 'Glad to be Gay'.

Political dissent seems to have died a bit post New Labour and the likes of some of the BRITPOP luminaries happy to pop around to number ten...with a despised coalition in power you would expect more and yet generally things are eerily quiet.

'Glad to be Gay' is worth a listen and a comment as it reflects 'Gay Bashing' which obviously was still taking place in the late seventies when the track first appeared...it's interesting really how Putin's current russian laws have been considered medieval and yet this track plus the Conservatives Clause 28 in the mid eighties show that only a few decades before we were at the same point.

The album is very earnest,very political but with some lightness such as the Elton John co-written disco song 'never going to fall in love(again)' again

As it's a capsule of a time politically it seems a bit dated now even though racism and bigotry are still with us..I guess the difference is that bigotry is now masked in a dislike of ideology to get around the race aspect.....truth is bigotry is still bigotry..and yes there are still some political performers out there though sadly they seem on the outside now...maybe pop and politics don't mix but I can't help think someone should give it a try again soon.

This is a well played piece of vinyl and as such audibly it reflects that these days...however itll be a while till I let it go...

sorting through the vinyl#6 Spike Elvis Costello

I'm not sure if this is widely agreed as being Elvis Costello's masterpiece but for me he hasn't equalled SPIKE...he has many fine albums but for me SPIKE is the album I enjoy the most despite the fact there's the odd track(Chewing Gum springs to mind) that doesn't really excite me.

In some ways the patronage of Paul McCartney who plays Bass on the above track(alongside the Byrds Roger McGuinn on twelve string) as co-writing Veronica and Pads,Paws and Claws ensured media interest..the Costello/McCartney or rather McCartney/McManus songwriting team would also provide a couple of songs on McCartneys 'Flowers in the dirt' as well as the songs on 'Mighty like the rose' and 'Off the ground' respectively.

There's more to this album than an ex Beatle mind you..it finds Costello in political mood referencing the Derek Bentley/Chris Craig injustice on 'Let him Dangle' as well as opening further debate on capital punishment plus at that point the future demise of Margaret Hilda Thatcher on 'Tramp the dirt down'..these tracks as well as This Town recall the sneery punky Costello of yesteryear whilst other tracks show a leap forward.

Maybe off the back of his production of the Pogues'Rum Sodomy and the lash'...or maybe not it seems Costello is embracing his Irish 'McManus' heritage on SPIKE...both Any Kings Shilling and Tramp the dirt down feature folk instruments and also feature a Chieftan in Davy Spillane and also on Any Kings shilling Bodhran by no less than Christy Moore...A Pogue would also pop up in regard to Costello's then wife Cait O' Riordan who plays on this town and also co-wrote 'Baby Plays around'.

Whilst ruminating on guest appearances Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders provides some nice backing vocals on Satellite.

It's more than the sum of players however the album embraces dementia in the case of Veronica, a dark flavour in regard 'Miss Macbeth'(which also features a Waterboy in Steve Wickham)and a wistfulness in the case of 'Gods comic and 'Baby Plays around'...all in all this feels a complete album which is varied enough to sustain interest....would Costello better this?....I haven't heard all his albums after nor before this but I have heard enough to feel this is the best I have come across so far....it is nearly bettered with his 'painted from memory' with Burt Baccarach but only nearly...SPIKE for me is the Costello album I continue to return to and although most of his material is worthy I think this one is special.

This are Two tone(sorting out the vinyl#5)

I have chosen this track to represent the whole 'we are two tone' album which was another car boot sale as on-one has yet ripped this track and truth be told this track is so harrowing and unpleasant in subject matter I doubt it got played much in it's hey day and I wouldn't have thought it does now neither.

It does do what two tone did so well mind you and covered a serious subject within a pop(albeit spikey) framework.

The 2-tone label came to represent the music on the whole though we are generally talking Ska and this compilation does a good job of giving an overview of the label and artists..track listing is as follows



The Special A.K.A gangsters

Madness Madness

The Selecter on my radio

The Beat tears of a clown

The Specials Rudi a message to you

The Selecter too much pressure

The Bodysnatchers too experienced

The Beat rankin full stop

The Specials too much time

 side 2

The Selecter The Selecter

The Specials stereotype

The Swinging cats Mantovani

The Specials do nothing

Rico Jungle music

Rhoda Dakar The Boiler

The Specials Ghost town



So truth be told a lot of music for your vinyl on this as it captures early Specials to their last single with Ghost Town, it's pretty representative of an era, many of the bands on here are worth exploring I have stand alone albums by the Beat, the Specials and the Selecter and all are great fun mixing ska beats with political and street comment that you suspect we could use much more of today really.

This compilation was released in 1983 but the Two Tone label came to the fore in 1979 which was the post punk era...post Disco too I guess...as such I was 9 when all this was happening so would be a fraud to say I understood the sea change before me on Top of the Pops and in truth it is only much later I gained an appreciation of the Two Tone acts and this generation of Ska artists.

It was a multi cultural music in a time of a divided Britain, A music that acted as a soundtrack and a warning in regard to the Thatcher years with songs covering things such as the recession, unemployment, teen pregnancy  and as the above track showed sexual abuse..not always happy subjects then but maybe that was the punk influence or maybe just the times we lived in.

I get nostalgic for this kind of politically driven music more when I get older...on the fringes of music it is still offered but the mainstream seem to play it safe hoping for tea at Downing Street when their favourite coloured tie gets elected.

Anyhow a good comp, a nice right up by Adrian Thrills which tells you all you need to know and well worth grabbing if you see a copy around.

Live Stiffs(Sorting through the vinyl#4)

And so onwards in my search through my bits of vinyl that really should be played far more than  in actuality it is!!...anyhow this entry is a reissue the clip above shows the first STIFF record released version of 'Live Stiffs' the one I own (found in a charity shop) is a Music for Pleasure reissue...that in itself seems odd a record company releasing a copy of a compilation featuring the cream of another record company(in it's early years anyhow) but that aside it's fundamentally the same album.

The tracklisting remains the same the cover differs but it's obviously still a photo from the same session I suspect they took different photos with all personnel getting the option to stand up front so as not to bruise any egos, the version above shows Nick Lowe to the fore my copy has wreckless Eric and Ian Dury at the front.

STIFF itself is a record label deserving if's own blog and maybe I will try and tackle it at a later point if I go through CD box-sets as I have the STIFF one that is deserving the nod, Anyhow STIFF was without doubt one of the more interesting small labels that thought big in the mid seventies through to the mid eighties when it eventually got absorbed by Island.

Set up with monetary help from personnel within pub rockers Dr Feelgood STIFF was home to the first UK punk single 'New Rose' by the Damned plus the first UK Punk album the thrice self named album by the same band.

STIFF were masters of marketing a mantle taken on later and maybe bettered by labels such as ZTT and Factory however in many ways STIFF were the precursor and certainly were one of the first cases where a release from the label would always garner interest just because of the name it had built up through clever marketing and quirky releases.

This album reflects an early package tour for the label, Legend has it that Costello and Dury were at loggerheads most of the tour both being arguably the biggest names, However Larry Wallis certainly had some heritage and I will always have a soft spot for numerous Wreckless Eric bits.

Of interest is Elvis Costello covering Burt Bacarach's 'I just don't know what to do with myself' decades before the two would embark on a brief creative relationship..everything aside and despite me being a bigger blockheads fan I think this track is the vinyl highlight with Costello's plaintive yet snarling vocal to the fore.

An ensemble version of Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll ends the LP and again alike the other live compilations I have so far looked at it's not necessarily pretty!!..it is however raw and it is authentic..more pub rock than punk in many ways given the nod to melody(plus the heritage of the players) it is however a great example of days when touring was about selling product rather than these days when it seems product sells tours.

Etched in the lead out groove on side one is 'Sex and Drugs'....and I'm guessing you can work out yourselves what is on the lead out groove on side two....oh go on then...it's 'and rock and roll'

The recordings themselves are from Punk rock year one...1977...and are from Leicester University,the University of East Anglia Norwich and the Lyceum in London.

The Track listing is



Nick Lowe's last chicken in the shop ..I knew the bride when she used to rock and roll

Wreckless Eric and the new rockets ..Semaphore signals..Reconnez cherie

Larry Wallis's Psychedelic Rowdies..Police Car

Elvis Costello and the attractions...I just don't know what to do with myself..Miracle man

Ian Dury and the Blockheads..wake up and make love to me..billericay dickie

All....Sex and drugs and rock and roll.



All told....a nice snap shot of a record company and artists in early days.

Rainbow-Monsters Of Rock 1980 sorting through the vinyl#3

Still on a run through bits I have within the record collection and although likely to post a different compilation than this when I was considering things yesterday ultimately I went with the 'monsters or rock' 1980 live vinyl...why?..well I noticed someone had put the vinyl rip on Youtube which allows me to illustrate this blog and also due to the fact it was one which was under consideration anyhow.

I first heard this rather than owned it years back on a cassette tape which someone from school recorded for me from their vinyl copy,As was the way with cassettes audio wise it was kind of poor the tape would pick up the limits on the well played well loved vinyl and the ferrous oxide cassettes themselves weren't known really for clarity...however it did get much play given the inclusion of two fine Scorpions tracks 'another piece of meat' and 'Loving you Sunday mornings' both of which I think are presented in studio on the 'Love Drive' LP, live mind you I think they are the stand out tracks on this LP....or at least they were for me.

The Rainbow tracks are good too..I believe it's the Graham Bonnet incarnation of Rainbow on this set and 'all night long ' in particular with the crowd./singer banter and nods to light entertainment of the day add to the fun found on this set.

Vinyl wise I picked this up years later in a thrift place somewhere in Oakengates, It was with various other bits of vinyl,It was well played so audibly isn't mint but it's well cared for enough to be playable.

It is an 'as live' LP rather than some live LP's which are overdubbed so much they kind of become studio albums with crowd noise added.

The big names on this are without a doubt 'Rainbow'(Ritchie Blackmores post purple band) Saxon (English NWOBHM who are still going) and German Metallers the Scorpions with April Wine and Touch making the vinyl despite not really being at the same level.

I never made any of the 'Monsters of Rock' Gigs which were a celebration of Metal in the way that Download is these days(though on a smaller scale) but the call and response nature of the band/crowd interaction does..I suspect..give the feel of these concerts...you can almost smell the sweaty denim and roll ups!!

The LP itself is on Polydor..nothing much to report on the packaging which is in line with the budget nature of this LP and offers a billboard of the days events as the cover.

Anyhow Compilation wise this is a good live representation of the new wave of british heavy metal and although by nature a live album isn't going to offer pristine sounds there's some good playing on here.

stars on thrash full (album) Checking out the Vinyl #2

 And so day two of me going through the old vinyl and this time I thought I would focus on a THRASH METAL compilation I have,It's one of a few I picked up a pound box at a record fayre in Wellington alongside this I picked up volumes 1-3 of the Speed Kills compilations which maybe more of in the future...anyhow....

This album regularly features in polls for worst album covers and the like and in fairness the cover is an atrocity,It seems to be a kind of school book sketch which as a early teen attempt at catching a scene would maybe have some merit but as the frontpiece of a commercial release its really rather poor...The Guitarist on the left(Who seems to have inherited the Great Kat's Guitar) in particular seems to be so bent out of shape I suspect the dry ice had blocked the sun and given him rickets....

Anyhow what's the music like?...well here's the track listing first(all in good time)



 Flotsam & Jetsam - Dreams of Death 00:00 Mucky Pup - Lie 4 Def 5:30 D.R.I. - Manifest Destiny 7:22 Pestilence - Commandments 9:57 Toxik - Heart Attack 15:03 Paradox - Paradox 18:44 Stormtroopers of Death - Kill Yourself 22:50 Acrophet - Corrupt Minds 24:45 Gothic Slam - Fought for Death 26:54 Slayer - Evil has no Boundaries (Live)30:41 Sacred Reich - Death Squad 33:32 Znowhite - Baptised by Fire 37:47 Kat - Satan Says 41:38 Atrophy - Chemical Dependency 45:32 Hades - Opionioate! 48:26



I borrowed the above from the youtube comment to save me some time so some credit lies there,Musically the early Thrash stuff to me seems less Metal and More Punk,Sure it has the long Hair and some of the aspects of metal and the sound though distorted is cleaner that the street punk it seemed to  be partially an offshoot from but I think some of the sonic changes is down to better recording techniques...I think that is why lots of the old Punk bands(The Exploited and the like) and even the young breed can't recapture the rawness of the past, Where the pistols to record their debut today I suspect though it would still be punk the cleanness of the recording and fixing of bits would make for a different sound..In fairness this album is still old enough to provide some rawness and power.

Of note is Ex Metallica Bassist Jason Newstead's early band are represented on here with Foltsam and Jetsam being the band in question, Other points of interest are Anthrax spin-off S.O.D.(stormtroopers of death who released the controversial 'Speak English or die' L.P) being represented and of the big four Slayer also make an appearance

Znowhite are of intertest too due to them being fronted by a Female singer..in the days of Arch Enemy this is less a big thing but the early days of Thrash seemed a male preserve so this is kind of trailblazing.

Female Input is also shown with the inclusion of self professed virtuoso the Great Kat who released the Classical/Speed Metal Crossover L.P. 'Beethoven on Speed' mixing the genres whilst performing scantily clad...Crazy days.

In honesty it's an O.K. album and does collect material from the early days of a scene,Thrash was a reaction against the pop metal that was clogging the charts in the mid to late eighties and although it didn't have the power to clear the boards the way grunge did later it did offer some bands who have since stuck around such as aforementioned Slayer,Anthrax and Metallica as well as creating a sub genre of extreme metal which is now made up of a myriad of other sub genres.

For a while Thrash was hip mixing Skateboarding style with Hardcore sounds, The Thrash/Hip Hop crossover was sealed by the Anthrax/Public Enemy collaborations plus Slayer's Kerry king offering Guitar on the Beastie Boys debut..the fact the hip american label of the time Def Jam was essentially a Rock and Rap label certainly helped with this.

Like most scenes it burnt bright for a while and did offer an alternative to the more sedate 'Desmond Child' co-written Metal clogging the charts, The L.A. hair metal scene which offered some pop sensibilities within a metal frame work whilst retaining a bar room feel would however overtake it and gain the true metal foothold for at least a few years.

All in all this isn't a bad compilation despite the godawful cover hence I have kept hold of it, I listen to it less these days as it hasn't dated too well but if I'm needing an injection of good solid hardcore metal tunes whilst ironing....this can fit the bill...