MUTINY ON THE BROWNTY

There’s nothing like social justice and under New Labour there’s nothing like social justice! Gordon Brown needs to take his moral compass from out of his arse in order to find some direction, which should be out of the door. Never mind Blair’s Banker Lord Levy dishing the dirt on Brown, he wasn’t so much stabbing him in the back, as shovelling mud on him in the shallow grave that Brown has dug for himself, with his inability to handle anything more than his penis. Missing data, missing immigrants, prisons overflowing, credit crisis, rising crime (don’t let the figures fool you , cos the only reason reported crime has gone down is because no-one is reporting it because they have no faith in the police and the justice system) Then there’s the 10p Tax Rate fuck up, Brown decided on this cut when he was the ‘prudent chancellor’ now he’s got to deal with it as the ‘impotent Prime Minister’ and just how prudent was it to allow the banks to get themselves into such a financial mess that he has to bail them out with tax payers money. When a countries leader starts to go back on their decisions, no matter how wrong they are, it aint good. Thatcher and Blair were bad!, but at least they stood by what they believed in, no matter how wrong they may have been, that’s why Brown aint gonna be long in the job, he’s a spineless, limp wristed excuse for a leader who has shown the masses that he is weak. The scary thing is that he is at the helm of the good ship S.S Great Britain and it’s sailing in choppy global economic and political waters with obstacles everywhere and if Brown couldn’t see the Northern Rock fiasco coming then I have little faith in him seeing anything else on the horizon. Shape up or ship out Gordon, cos I’m sure there’ll be a few warning shots coming across the bows in the Local Elections on May 1st. If something don’t change soon we’re gonna hit an almighty iceberg and it won’t be women and children first.

Have you heard the oilful news?

So the news is that oil companies profits have risen to record levels; while the price of petrol to the consumer has also risen to record levels. That aint news, that’s capitalism; the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. No news is bad news!

DEMO DAY

What I know about both these bands could be written on the back of a postage stamp, but here goes. The year 1987, the place London. THE LOVELESS included a former guitarist from Lords Of The New Church (Al) a bassist from Diatribe (Tim) and a drummer who used to be in The Gunslingers(Neil), more about them in a later post. The three tracks on this demo are A+ Punk’n’Roll, similar to The Vibrators and Chelsea, catchy choruses and hooks guaranteed to get you singing along, don’t think record companies were impressed, because as far as I know, no records were released. ROMEO STREET GANG on the other hand released one 12” on Jungle records Heavy House / Money Talks, the three tracks on this tape sound similar to Big Audio Dynamite and Lightning Strike, a slab of “heavy bass and drums shattered by guitar and keyboards” so says the press blurgh that came with the tape, which doesn’t say much else except “The gang aint just four musicians!! We’re coming from all directions.” So there yer go, the postage stamp is full up just room to say click here! For The Loveless and click here! for Romeo Street Gang.

So it’s been a year since the McCann’s rather irresponsibly and foolishly lost their daughter Madeline. Now we’ve got the TV documentary, and there was/is talk of a book and a film. For fucks sake, what next, a musical? with a spin off reality show hosted by Andrew Lloyd Webber called A Search For Maddie, or maybe a Playstation game were you have to eat as much food as you can, while going back from the restaurant to the apartment to check she’s still in bed, then if you’re too slow getting back and she aint there, you have to secure as much money and publicity as you can before you start searching for her, obviously the more you get of both the more chance you have of finding her, or do you? Personally I think a board game would be good, cos I’m certainly bored with it all and wish the parents would get lost.

THE DOGS D'AMOUR - The State We're In

Right then, for all you rock’n’rollers out there, it’s The Dogs D’Amour’s debut album; The State We're In. Only released in Finland at the beginning of 1984, and featuring a certain Dave Kusworth on guitar. (No this blog isn’t turning into a DK appreciation site!) Vinyl copies are very collectable, this download is taken from a tape I recorded from a vinyl copy many, many, many moons ago, hence the dodgy homemade cover and reduced sound quality, but it’s still very, very listenable and a great long lost relic, so if you dig the dogs, it’s just a click away.

No posts today. I've come down with a dose of CBA Syndrome (Can't Be Arsed)

WANKER !

NOTE:

The OGC logo above, was allegedly designed for the Office Of Government commerce. When viewed at the above angle it shows something completely different to what was intended.

"FUCK IT!" things had become clearer now. It was either time to take what was on the table, or play on. He still had a few aces up his sleeve, but was he a gambling man?"

THE WATERBOYS - The Big Music (12" vinyl-rip)

The Big Music, yes indeed this is a big stadium of a song, but not as big as one of the b-sides of this 12” Bury My Heart is a beautiful tale from the eyes of a Native American, of mans brutality to fellow man in the name of religion, capitalism and civilisation, musically it’s a cross between Bob Dylan and Johnny Thunders, brilliant stuff. The Native American theme continues with the final track The Earth Only Endures, which is a traditional Sioux death song, given the Mike Scott treatment. If you wanna hear this Big Music, you know what to do.

WHAT A NICE WAY TO TURN SEVENTEEN #2

This is the second in the series of musical offerings from What a Nice Way to Turn Seventeen fanzine, this time expanded to 18 tracks of, off kilter pop, psychedelia and good old rock’n’roll. There’s some familiar names here NIKKI SUDDEN, SWELL MAPS and DAVE KUSWORTH, who’s a bit of a feature on this album, as TV EYE, THE SUBTERRANEAN HAWKS and THE RAG DOLLS all include him in their line ups. THE PSYCOHOLOGY VANDALS and THE LAST BANDITS both feature Jeremy Gluck from The Barracudas. Those are just some of what’s on offer, plus you get tracks by THE MEMBRANES, THE JASMINE MINKS, THE FURIOUS APPLES and THE GREAT OUTDOORS and a few others, all in all a great way to spend an hours grooving and moving. There is talk of a best of CD compilation release from the Nice Way To Turn 17 folk, but until that happens enjoy this by clicking here!

There seems to be some sort of 80’s nostalgia trip going on in the media, looking back at the fashion, culture, politics and economics of the time. So what do we remember? But more importantly, Why do they want us to remember? “Those that control the past control the future” but what part does it play in the present? In the words of Spandau Ballet “To cut a long story short.”
The 80’s shaped today’s society. Some say the 80’s needed to happen after Labour Governments failings in the 1970’s Winter of Disconntent, IMF, 3 day weeks, people sick of seeing rubbish on the streets. Hence Thatcherism and all it’s social evils, Free Market capitalism benefited some and left millions on benefits.
The Trade Unions were beaten into submission during the Miners Strike, youth culture became business through the new enterprise capitalism. Credit turned Council houses into castles, left people as slaves to the wage, some lucky ones got their freedom when they sold their homes for huge profits, others ended up in the workhouse when theirs were re-possessed.
During the Thatcher regime Political activism grew e.g. Red Wedge, Stop The City, CND, Anti Poll Tax Demos. A reaction to the injustice of selfish monetary policy, but strong political force, prevented any protest damaging Thatcher’s New Right Government, any opposition was crushed by her claw.
The 90’s was about consolidating our new society and packaging it up in Celebrity, Complacency and Compliance, Citizens as consumers. A re-branded Great Britain where things could only get better. But that was then and this is now! So where do we go from here then, and how are we going to get there, if the 80’s had to happen because of the 70’s, what is going to be done about the state of the nation in the 00’s? What’s the plan? Another set of extreme measures me thinks, for a whole new set of problems that have grown out of the 80’s and 90's e.g. Climate change, pollution, all the waste of 80’s economic growth had to go somewhere, and that’s on top of the constant issues no matter what decade, with things such as low pay and high prices, crime, living standards, you know the usual things that ails a Capitalist state, the things that they’ve created or condoned. The Cold War has finished, now it’s the War on Terror. Our young people are killing each other with guns and knives and for some reason immigrants want to come and live in Britain. No doubt here in 2008 there will be people saying that we have returned to a time of Labour crisis; discontent in Public Sector over pay with first the Police and now the teachers going on strike. People unhappy with Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, credit crunch, high interest rates, increased cost of living, issues around immigration. Something old, something new, something borrowed something blue. Where’s the alternative? the opposition! New Labour and Conservative are one and the same a one party policy state, where it’s about containment and how to control the masses in this brave new world of theirs, with its high tech computers, genetic modifications and surveillance . As I’m thinking and typing this I can see many parallels with times that have gone I keep wanting to expand on points, and highlight them, but I’m starting to feel like I’m going to go round in circles if I do that, so I’m going to stop, unlike the world, politics and economics, which does go round in cycles. We need to remember that, and we also need to remember…fuck, forgotten what we need to remember, but it was along the lines of we are the opposition….we are growing in numbers…and they shouldn’t forget that…..and I wonder what people looking back will remember about the 00’s.

ALL MOUTH AND NO TROUSERS!

There’s nothing worse than a politician, except a politician that hasn’t got the Bollocks or the Fanny to stand by a decision they’ve made. It just shows that they can’t even be trusted to tell their own truth. Now that Labour have backed down and turned around about the 10p Tax Rate, perhaps we’ll see the banks passing on the Governments recent financial investment in them on to the consumer, and we might even see major supermarkets reduce their profit margins in food stuffs. Yeah and a politician will tell the truth.

THE BOLSHOI - Happy Boy (12" vinyl-rip)

The Bolshoi, were a three piece, originally from Wiltshire but relocated to London to seek fame and fortune. I suppose they could be described as a post-punk goth outfit with traces of Bowie, cropped up at loads of gigs during 1984-85 as support to bands like The Cult, Lords Of The New Church, March Violets amongst others, before going on to headline their own shows by 1987. Happy Boy is the bands second single; a melodic, dark brooding bass driven beast of a tune that was released in August 1985, described as “The best band that nobody’s ever heard of”, not strictly true, cos that accolade goes to the late’n’great Mercenary Skank. I always found The Bolshoi’s output a bit patchy, but this is a stomping single and well worth clicking yer mouse here to have a listen, the b-sides aint too bad either.

Never mind the wolves being at peoples doors, the vultures put this through my letter box today. Fucking junk mail!

PETER PERRETT in THE ONE - Woke Up Sticky (album)

Today’s musical offering is from Peter Perrett when he became The One. Woke Up Sticky, has been described as his “great lost album” I posted the EP of the same name a while back, all the tracks on that are included here as bonus cuts. It is a great album well worth finding and equal to his work with The Only Ones, who incidentally should have a new album out later this year. Anyway while yer waiting for that if you want a fix of Mr Perrett just hit it!

Heads you lose, Tails you lose !

Robert Mugabe and Hilary Clinton are just different sides of the same coin. Mugabe refuses to admit defeat in the Zimbabwean elections and Clinton refuses to give up her fight to become the Democratic Party candidate in the U.S primary elections. Mugabe has divided his country with terror. Clinton is dividing her party, who are becoming scared because the division may effect the result of the final ballot against the Republicans. Still at least the Americans have the opportunity for free and fair elections. Ooops, forgot the Florida Fiasco a few years back with the allegations of vote rigging. The same coin, and it’s global value keeps falling.

A MONDAY MISH-MASH-MIX-UP!

What happens when Gary Twin (ex 20 Flight Rockers) and Bernie Rhodes (ex Clash manager) get together in a recording studio? Not a lot really, Bike Boy a second rate Billy Idol sort of sounding sound, a shame really, should have been better. But hey don’t take my word for it, hear what ya think here!

Here’s a blast of Mick Jones’s first musical outing since he left/was asked to leave The Clash. He certainly came back with a bang with the revolutionary Big Audio Dynamite who fused the hip hop dance groove with rock’n’roll guitars; the result was like Chuck Berry meeting Chuck D. This is the Rick Rubin re-mixed 12” of BAD’s debut single The Bottom Line / BAD, check it out here!