VIVE LE ROCK - Down On The Street (A Compilation)

Here’s a bit of music for yer, the free CD with issue three of Vive Le Rock Magazine. It’s a case of something old, new, borrowed and blue, and in some cases the good the bad and the ugly on this compilation, which kicks off with IGGY POP delivering a blistering live version of I Wanna Be Your Dog, with added beef from ex Sex Pistol Steve Jones. WATTS rock out from the garage, while THE BERMONDSEY JOY RIDERS turn in their R’n’B soaked ode to The New York Dolls, Part Of My Problem. FACE TO FACE sound like Busted, or do Busted sound like Face To Face? MOTORPSYCHO provide a hard and heavy cover of Patrik Fitzgerald’s Punch, featuring guest vocalist Jello Biafra’s distinct delivery. HOOK-LINE RIOT sound like Green Day meeting The Gaslight Anthem at the skate park. The Damned’s RAT SCABIES and BRIAN JAMES re-unite for a high speed chase through The Pink Fairies Teenage Rebel. Time for another Patrik Fitzgerald cover, this time MILK KAN update Ragged Generation for the hip hop/rap generation. THE DESTRUCTORS, one of my favourites from the ’class of 1980’s Punk Rock’ deliver a brilliant knockabout slice of punk entitled Who Gives a Toss (About Jonathon Ross). SILVERY sound a lot like Punishment Of Luxury. THE SKUZZIES supply Hungry as a Hand, a track from their debut album out on Easy Action Records. THE ADJUSTERS, have a Dead Boys/Heartbreakers swagger and swing to their stride, I can't stop playing their track; Wrong Place, Wrong Time. BC give us a techno take on Ghost Riders In The Sky. The compilation comes to a close with the street punk of NOISE AGENTS, and some female fronted Punk Metal Pop from DRAGSTER. All in all this is well worth a click of yer mouse, and the new issue of Vive Le Rock is out in September, which is well worth the price of admission.

The Yankee Dollar Isn't Working.

So then, the USA is about to default on trillions of pounds of debt. Well that’s what happens when you waste billions of pounds on a futile and illegal war against terror, ironically they may not have enough money to pay their soldiers. I wonder how Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with the US is gonna hold out during these times of financial crisis? After all money worries/problems are the cause of many relationship breakdowns between people, as a result of splitting up certain things that couples have accumulated get divided between them. If this is the case can the US please take back their McDonalds, Halloween and Prom Celebrations, we never asked for them anyway, but Britain can keep all the great music, literature and films that have come from across the Atlantic.

Nasty Norwegien Nazi Nutter!

A bit lost for words about what happened in Norway last week end, well not so much lost as I’ve said what I’ve said about Nazi’s over and over on this blog over the years. What happened was a shocking example of how far Right Wing extremism can go, just as 9/11 showed how far fundamentalist Islam can go. Both ideologies are based on fear and hatred; fear of what they don’t understand, and hatred of what they don’t understand. What people need to understand is that neither of these miss-guided ideologies should be tolerated in a multi-cultural world, and neither should reactionary articles in the press that stir up feelings of fear and hatred and fuel the fires of Racism and turn citizen against citizen while our leaders the biggest fascists of them all do nothing except create and cultivate a climate of fear and hatred for its citizens to live in, while at the same time never listening to their fears. It comes as no surprise then that once in a while there’s some ‘lone loon’ or ‘crazy cell’ ready to commit an act of ‘pure evil’ because they feel no one is listening to them, but why would anyone want to listen to their words of hate anyway? Unfortunately in democratic countries with their political pluralism and freedom of speech, far right parties are able to engage in the political process, paradoxically if the far right ever came to power it would take away this freedom. It’s whether people choose to listen that matters, without free speech we’d be living in a world run by fascists, but wait up….I just claimed that our democratic leaders are the biggest fascists of them all, how does that work then? Well....lets look at their so called war on terror, which to all intent and purposes is a war against Islam and a means to create a global dictatorship by stamping their jackboot of liberal democracy and capitalism all over the world, with immigration and economic migrants being a big factor in the expansion of this so called free trade. The war had been going on for years before 9/11, why do you think 9/11 happened? The extremist islamists were defending their way of life against the ’evils of capitalism’ by attacking the centres of World Trade. The cause and effect has left the world a more insecure place where fear and hatred are fostered and then fester in the minds of misguided individuals ready to declare their own wars where their actions say more than words. As citizens of this so called free-world it’s our duty to confront racism whenever/wherever we can, or else we will become even more unfree than we already are. Lest We Forget!

"I don't think your ability to fight has anything to do with how big you are. It's to do with how much anger is in you." - Amy Winehouse (R.I.P)

ROSCOE VACANT & THE GANTIN' SCREICHS - Reckurdt - *A Review*

I was reading this weeks NME on the bus to work the other day (Journey time ½ Hour, reading time 10 minutes) I buy it each week, fuck knows why, it aint what it used to be, and it seems to be getting worse, more adverts, uninteresting writing and new bands every week, saying nothing, doing nothing and going nowhere, just trying to kiss the arse of the music biz, and I thought….this is shite, I need something to excite me musically. I got home from work and found the postman had delivered a package….A promo copy of Roscoe Vacant and The Gantin’ Screichs debut album Reckurdt. Available in August on Newtown Products on CD and Digital Download. If the name Roscoe Vacant sounds familiar, it may be because I posted a couple of his earlier recordings a while back, several which have been reworked for this album. It would appear that these were/are just tasters for the main course….A rich and tasty plate full of…. for want of some better words Alternative-Punk. Reckurdt is a brutal, beautiful and brilliant record by West Scotland’s finest.
The guitars are spikier than a hedgehog on heat, and more scratchy than scabies, vocals are delivered with a feral howl of Scottish passion. This is fast, frantic and furious stuff. Twelve tracks that range from the skiffle folk-punk of Non Repentant, to the Punkabilly of Dehydration Blues, via the Bass Punk Funk of Pins and Needles, to the anthem for the barricades Nothings Gonna Change, then there’s the almost Pop Punk of Shortbread Tins and Tartan Hats.
The songs and sounds on Rekurdt tear into yer brain, then rip out yer spine before giving you the kiss of life. Painting by numbers, but using the wrong colours, tunes that tick all the boxes, before jumping on the box and flattening it. A great album that kicks arse rather than kissing it, and keeps the flames of insurrection burning bright. People should be listening to this, not those bastard Mumford and Sons.
Roscoe Vacant is a songwriter, that shouldn’t be housed in some Alt- Punk ghetto, because this stuff is diverse enough for people that like Bloc Party and The Gaslight Anthem, and those that remember the sounds of 80’s Post Punk bands like Scars and Gang of Four. This is some New Music that’s got me Excited. Highly and hugely recommenced!

What's the Story? Scandal or Saga?

"Well the people must have something good to read, on a Sunday" - The Clash

THE ALARM - Live in Liverpool 2000

Right then, it's been a while since there's been any music on this here blog, haven't got the caperbilities on the laptop to zip it up and upload it, and with my pending Windows re-install I'm currently transferring stuff to an external hard drive. but I did check out my MediaFire page and found a couple of things that I hadn't got round to posting, so here's a little something for yer.

The Alarm were one of those bands often maligned by the critics as a Welsh Clash, when by rights they were The Alarm, “the Sex Pistols taught ‘em how to play, and the Clash how to dress.“ They were one of those bands that as they matured some of their songs started sounding a bit pompous and overblown and went of into extended guitar solo rock histronics territory, those ones like Moments In Time, Rain In The Summertime for example sent me running to the hills. Their earlier tunes Marching On, Majority and The Stand were of a far better short sharp shock quality. The Alarm re-formed in 2000, I say reformed, but it was really just Mike Peters resurrecting the name and reigniting the old songs with a fresh spark, helped out by James Stevenson from Chelsea, Gen X and Gene Loves Jezebel on Guitar, Craig Adams from The Mission on bass and Steve Grantley from Stiff Little Fingers on Drums. This two disc download captures the band in Liverpool, blasting through a mighty fine and powerfull greatest hits set, with some songs sounding better than the originals. If yer an Alarm fan I'm sure you'll enjoy this, if not....I'm sorry but that's all there is....All cards have been delt. Disc 1 / Disc 2

Can't read all about it....

So then, some peoples sacred cow The News Of The World has been sacrificed on the alter of bullshit, in a bid by Rupert Murdoch to keep his dream of global media domination alive. In true dictatorial fashion, the innocent are paying for the crimes of the guilty, with journalists who weren't working for the paper at the time of the crime losing their jobs. This man is evil and rotten, so it's no wonder that some of those who worked for News Of The World, behaved in the way they did. If truth is the sword, then Murdoch, his son James and the ghastly Rebbecca Brookes need their heads chopping off! as does every politician that's kissed their arses, in a bid to keep their popularity alive, their actions over the years have just increased the power of News International, to the point when it's unelected profiteers like Rupert Murdoch that actually run the country and dictate Government policies by shaping public opinion, and as we have seen their methods are just as deplorable as the politicians. So what can people do if they aint happy with someone like Murdoch? He might not have been voted into power, but the consumers have elected him through their purchase power, so they can vote by canceling their SKY TV Subscriptions, stop buying The Sun and The Times and having anything to do with his organisation, other than decrease its profits.

On the subject of money, with the news that energy prices are gonna be rising, perhaps people should burn all the useless shit that they bought but didn't need, the new kitchen, the new sofa etc, etc, or cut down on their use of their electrical gadgets, it's no wonder peoples energy consumption has risen in the Wee-Fi Play Box 360 flat screen world they are living in. Failing that, stock up on copies of the last edition of The News Of The World, and burn them to keep warm this winter. The truth is that just like Murdoch's organisation, the energy providers need to be held to account, when they're putting the price up on supplies they bought at a cheaper price two years ago. Can't pay? Don't pay! or at least spread the payments at a price you can afford, not at the price they tell you you can afford!

Hacked Off.

My computer's back, it had more viruses than an NHS Hospital ward, they've all been erased, but it still aint running right so it looks like I'm gonna have to re-install windows at some point very soon, so the sporadic nature of the recent weeks postings; lack of music and visuals will be continuing for the foreseeable future.

On the subject of viruses and unwanted infections....It looks like the News Of The World really is The Scum, with all the phone hacking furore that's going on, these latest revelations about families of murder victims and war dead really are unbelievable, on one level, yet totally believable on another and it's more ammunition to use against Rupert Murdoch in his bid to take control of the mass media market. The Police and The Politicians are no better, the former accepting money from the paper for information and the later sucking up to the paper. Then there's the public, who didn't give a shit about phone tapping/hacking when it was The Celebrities or Politicians who were the targets, now it's 'real people' well all, of a sudden everyones got an opinion, and they're the fuckers who've been buying the papers and in part justifying the journalists actions in obtaining 'the story' because the public like gossip and scandal and living other peoples lives, rather than their own. Just one final thought....What if these latest allegations against Murdoch's foot soldiers aren't true? and it turns out that News International are just carrying on the pretence in order to show just how much people believe what they are told by the media! Highly unlikely I know, but like I said it's just a thought and who knows who or what to believe in their world of double speak.

Don't Rattle My Cage.

Fucking arseholes everywhere. Left, Right and Centre, all full of shit. Self obsessed and self absorbed with their own self rightousness and self importance....Fuck 'em all!

I'M STILL HERE....

....but my computer aint,

The Olympic Games tickets. Tax payers fund the games to the tune of £10million, and then have to enter a lottery which sounded like a whole game in itself to apply for tickets. Millions are disappointed and get no tickets, when all the 'cheap seats' are gone, others end up spending more for the must have events, which leaves people with tickets to the events that no one wants to see. A fucking con if you ask me.

The whole London Olympics is a case of the emperors new clothes, we are being sold some great big historic spectacle, that we must take part in at any cost. I dread to see what the media coverage is gonna be like....Olympics this, Olympics that when the reality is it's just a bunch of people running, jumping and throwing things, in order to prove they are the best, and their Country's the best, just like a World War without all the killing, well apart from the killing that's gonna be made through the sale of cheap made in China merchandising.

Talking of China, they've been in town recently with their offers of a Billion pounds worth of economic investments, but shush! don't mention Tibet or other Human Rights abuses the regime are guilty of. The former Communists seem to have taken to Capitalism like (Peking) ducks to water.