FLESH FOR LULU....Nick Marsh R.I.P

This post is in memory of Nick Marsh, formerly the Vocalist/Guitarist of Flesh For Lulu, and more recently a member of The Urban Voodoo Machine, who died recently. I had many a good time at Flesh For Lulu gigs back in the day, thanks for that Nick.

This live recording of Flesh For Lulu is from The Markthalle in Hamburg at the end of 1985, and the photo was taken at Bowes Lyon House, Stevenage earlier on in the same year. Thanx to the original uploaders of the music and pic, and Rest In Peace Nick Marsh.

CHARGE 69 - Much More Than Music (*A REVIEW*)

For over Twenty years Charge 69 have been France's premier purveyors of Punk Rock. Their latest album Much More Than Music is a best of with a difference. Ten original Charge 69 songs revisited and sung in English by a tasty selection of punk rock heroes; TV Smith (The Adverts), Matt Dangerfield (The Boys) Beki Bondage (Vice Squad), Colin (GBH), Greg (The Outcasts), Charlie Harper (UK Subs), Micky Fitz (The Business), Campino (Die Toten Hosen) Roger Miret (Agnostic Front) and Arturo Bassick (The Lurkers)

Each track is a punch in the face that floors the listener, these are killer blows from a pounding and pummelling rhythm section, and for anyone left standing razor sharp guitar riffs slash you in two. The guest vocalists inject their own passion into Charge 69's already potent punk rock mix.  

Powerful, polished and well produced stuff, catchy and tuneful, a frantic action packed adrenalin soaked street punk riot that is indeed much more than music. No self respecting Punk'n'Roller should be without a copy of this album. Available soon from the good people at Time And Matter Recordings.

ENEMIES OF PROMISE - Heroes and Villains - (*A REVIEW*)

Following quickly on from their debut six track mini album, Please Enjoy Your Punk Rock Responsibility, Enemies of Promise unleash the follow up; Heroes and Villains.  Ten tracks of tuneful, thoughtful catchy polemic. This is blood red stuff, the machine gun drum beats, crunching and chugging guitars get your feet taping. Songs about labour exploitation, war, the abuse of power, right wing politics and the media get yer fist raised and yer heart pumping.

One day all things will change so long as there are decent folk like Enemies of Promise picking up guitars, writing pure and passionate political songs and singing them from the roof tops. Heroes and Villains is a perfectly timed musical head shot straight between the eyes soundtrack to the present political post election climate in this (dis)United Kingdom.

I haven't heard anything as politically charged as this since the Red Wedge, Anarcho Punk times of Thatcher's Eighties. Thirty five later and nothing much has changed, if anything at both a local and global level things have got worse.  

Enemies of Promise are a voice of sanity amongst the shouting of our political leaders and the silence of mainstream musicians in a time when there's a lot to be said and needs to be said about the state our society.   Check out Enemies of Promise here and hear what they've got to say with their Post Punk Rock Sixties Stained Pop'n'Roll music.

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH....BLURGH, BLURGH, BLURGH....ELECTION FEVER IS MAKING ME SICK!

Two weeks before the Great British Vote Off, and I thought it was about time I spewed a few snippets of thoughts your way, stuff that's been floating around my head over the last few weeks. Some of them are Election related some of them are more general.

Don't spend your life thinking, comparing or judging it against what others have or have not got. Dissatisfaction guaranteed!

Bad news and dodgy deals buried under under the wreckage of a plane crash, as the media bleed tears from the readers and viewers eyes as they watch another hyper real spectacle.

Migrants drown escaping from conflicts that Europe and America caused, then walked away from. Changes in EU policies to the way The Mediterranean Sea has been policed have made these human tragedies more commonplace, and I wouldn't put it past the powers that we let be to be complicit in the whole people smuggling business, what better way to control the numbers, sink a few boats because the dead and drowned don't need asylum.

Politicians will fight for votes with propaganda and lies....We'll do this, we've done that, we'll continue to do this, they'll do that. For the many or for the few. For the old or for the new. For the rich or for the poor. Here they come knocking on the door with their promises and lies.

What is it in our society about sex and children? If they've not been abused by Jimmy Saville, Rolf Harris or Cyril Smith. Their parents have dressed them like mini drug dealers and prostitutes, now twelve year olds are freely able to access porn on the internet. A younger generation to sexed up to fuck the system, they're only heading in one direction.

Only in a dying Democracy could some politicians talk about making it compulsory for Young People between 18-24 to vote. Perhaps in the future we'll see people fighting and campaigning for the right not to vote. Then it's possible that the balance of power in this dis-united kingdom could be in the hands of the Scottish Nationalist Party, who no one can vote for unless they live in Scotland, and the SNP want to break away from English rule, or as the media are saying want to“Destroy the United Kingdom.”

If there is another coalition once again it will be an unelected government, showing once again that we are living in a dying democracy, where the buggering of boys is covered up by an establishment intent on protecting other prominent paedos; our justice system is just as corrupt as our political and economic ones, where the desires of the haves are all met and satisfied, while the have nots are brainwashed into desiring things they don't really need but, have to have. One law for one, one for the other.

Casting aside our Democratic Deficit for a moment, on May the 8^th the citizens of Britain will wake to a new government, that if political pundits and their polls are to be believed will be neither red nor blue, but a rainbow colour. Old style left'n'right politics are dead; people are slowly starting to wake from their slumber and are seeing that 'traditional politics' have failed them on every level. Voters are turning to the smaller single issue parties, unfortunately this has seen a rise in support for the likes of UKIP, but in a 'Democracy' we have to tolerate their divisive, derisive and populist opinions about immigration. Nigel Farages bullshit, his so called honesty is just lies that people who are still half asleep believe to be true, but these people could awaken a Right Wing Beast if the Conservatives needed the support of UKIP in order to govern the country for another five years. Welcome to ConUK plc, so long as you are English.

Democrazy rules! If the SNP want to destroy the UK, which is what people fear about a Labour SNP coalition then fuck knows what a Tory UKIP coalition are gonna do; with their promises of referendums on Britain’s EU membership, because in order to trade with other nations you need to have something to sell them, and there is nothing Made In Britain anymore. Britain wouldn't survive in isolation we need Europe, yeah maybe some of the Brussels Dictates need to be looked at, but fundamentally just as people need to work together so do nations, but it needs to be about co-operation not competition if we cant see that then we are mad in Britain.

GANG WAR! - A MPFree Download!

Johnny Thunders and Wayne Kramers short lived Gang War fell apart on the New York streets a few months after these four tracks were recorded in May 1980 at Max's Kansas City. They find the Thunders and Kramer partnership in fine form, sometimes this wasn't always the case. On paper it was an inspired connection (New York Dolls + MC5) the reality however proved different and the struggle between Thunders the entertainer and Kramer the musician on top of disputes over the dollar became too much and it all ended too soon leaving very little behind in the way of a musical legacy bar several live recordings, (the best of which is Jungle Records GANG WAR!) much of the studio stuff remains officially unreleased. (Now there's a project for Easy Action or Jungle Records.... The complete Gang War collection.) which is criminal, because the stuff I've heard is the real Rock'n'Roll deal, as are the four tracks here. Thanx to the original uploader.

FS1E - The Drones (*A REVIEW*)

Should politics and music mix? Yes most definitely, Music Is Revolution!

In a right and just world The Drones would be a summer number one single.... mind you in a right and just world this righteous soundscape of a song might never have been written.

FS1E's new single is an address to a nation in distress and a response/reaction to the English we are better than them, with our rose tinted nostalgia glasses mentality It is a soothing and scathing public service announcement with... scratchy guitars a looping bass line and rattling drums. It hums, buzzes and floats around your head, and the chorus is a killer: “Send in the drones So the boys can stay home You think your living in Rome you should act like a Roman. Send in the drones go blow up some homes Then you think they'll leave us alone You must be joking.” There is something special going on here, and you really should jump aboard the FS1E ride....It's pop music but not as you know it....Yet!

NIKKI SUDDEN - The Last Bandit in The World.

Here's another chance to get hold of a copy of a scare vinyl only, and no longer available on the free market Nikki Sudden album, The Last Bandits in The World (Side One) + (Side Two) Enjoy! Nikki may have been gone for nine years now, but his music lives on and so does his memory, especially when you've got the Easy Action Records stall selling new previously unreleased stuff. Check out last years Fred Beethoven album, it rocks like only Nikki rocks, and the two solo acoustic ones The Copenhagen Affair and Christmas Day Blues both find him in fine melancholy minstrel mood and mode. Great stuff.... Nikki Lives!

the DeRELLAS - Rock'n'RollerCoaster EP (*A REVIEW*)

The DeRellas new EP is what it says on the tin.... A Rock'n'Rollercoaster trip....1...2...3 tracks of thrills, spills and Heartbreakers gitaaargh licks bleeding all over the garage floor. Hey, Ho, Lets Go! The DeRellas hurtle head long straight at yer on the manic riot rampage ride that is the opening track Rock'n'Rollercoaster. Next up is the fully loaded gunslinging growl, swagger and stomp of She's A Pistol, before the short ride ends with the woah, woah oh! swamp Ruts skuzz of Day Of The Dead....Slam! Bam! this is right between the eyes 100% Proof Punk'n'Roll....Pogo yerself aboard the ride over at their website or facebook page, and hold on tight!

THE NOVEMBER FIVE - A Little Knowledge (*A REVIEW*)

Three years on since their dynamite debut album If You Are Satisfied You Are Dead The November Five are all fired up with their explosive new single. A Little Knowledge b/w Hot Cell

These are two punchy power packed tunes that crunch, chop and crash their way into your cranium, enormous and epic, emotive and essential. This is life affirming Rock'n'Roll, a wake up call to the mediocre and mundane.  The band are currently working on their second album, due for release later this year and on the strength of this single it should be a good 'un! Get the new single and past products over at The November Five Website.

CONTINENTAL LIAISON - Update From The Machine / CONTINENTAL LIAISON - Update From The Machine / CONTINENTAL LIAISON - Update From The Machine / CONTINENTAL LIAISON - Update From The Machine /

Continental Liaison have been busy since I last put digits to keyboard and wrote about them.

UPDATE#1 The Future Tape has been released by boutique US label Exotic Aquatic, it is a 6 Track mini-album available on very limited cassette with download or as download only. All formats available from Continental Liaison's Bandcamp page. Cassette available in US from Aquatic Exotic.

UPDATE#2 Live at Red Rose records is a 5 track live recording compiled from a couple of gigs in Boscombe and when they supported Sigue Sigue Sputnik at The Railway in Winchester last October. Available from Continental Liaison's website.

A SYNOPSIS Musically out of time, but in perfect tune with post millennium Britain. Continental Liaisons have got something unique going on. Drawing from a vast and varied selection of influences they have created a 21^st Century lo-fi techno garage Rock'n'Roll machine. They are armed and dangerous with a box of beats, a guitar, that fuzzes and phases as the hypnotic and robotic throb of the keyboards pulse around your brain.... like Depeche Mode on Dexedrine. Brilliant Stuff! Don't Ignore The Machine! 

*MPFREE DOWNLOAD* I Wanna Be Your Dog (Live @ Red Rose Records) click here if you want a blast from the Continental Liaison machine!  "LIFE CAN BE A WORK OF ART."

"BEAM ME UP SCOTTY I WANT TO GET OFF!"

I am no apologist for the evils that IS, ISIS, ISAL or whatever this Islamic State have been branded and re-branded as, but....Maybe there is some possible truth behind statements that British Secret Services have helped to radicalise people like poster boy 'Jihad John' who just like the three school girls that recently ran off to Syria to become butchers brides was on the radar of MI5, alongside the killers of Lee Rigby and the 7/7 London bombers, and pretty much anyone linked to acts of Islamic Terror against Britain since 9/11 and the subsequent war on an unseen force. Terror is not an object, it is a feeling, and the only thing we really have to fear is fear itself. There is only fear and terror if people believe there is, and thanks to the state and the media these feelings have been created and consumed by people. Fear keeps the people unfree, and that's the way the powers we let be like it. It has all been created; every suicide bomber and every head that rolls is a consequence of not only Western Governments war on terror but also their past involvement supporting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in their fight against the Russians in Afghanistan during the 1980's to the more recent alliance with Islamic State in their struggle against the Syrian state. Without believers propaganda would not spread. Imagine if there was nothing to fear and no terror, without these fostered feelings who knows what sort of a world we would be living in today....Think about it!

TAXLOSS LOVERS.

The Conservatives say nothing about what they are going to do about the fat cat cash addicted tax avoiders and evaders, but announce that if the obese, alcoholics and junkies don't get treatment for their illnesses then they will get their benefits cut.

The Labour Party have an idea what to do about the Tax Crims; they're gonna target those at the bottom of the business money pile, the ones doing cash in hand work, yeah they may be evading paying their taxes but they are only doing what the big guys are doing, but in a small way. It's all relative, and the amount any small businesses avoid paying is small change compared to how much the corporate conglomerates and multi millionaires have short changed UK plc by.

Money talks and bullshit walks because the powers that we let be and their cash concealing cronies are contemptuous c**t's!

LUDDITES OF THE WORLD UNITE! aka PEOPLE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE EXCEPT THEIR PHONES!

Smart phones aint that smart when they are dumbing people down with apps that take away the power of people to think for themselves, except when deciding what app to use and for what purpose. People need to wise up and apply themselves to thinking for themselves, it was the difference between humans and machines, but in this era or should I say error of total technology I'm not so sure, I mean you can get apps that enable you to talk to your phone and it will answer you back. People have become slaves to the machine and the tricknology of modern life which controls and confines them in the name of progress. The futures not bright, the future's gonna be dark as presently people are being turned stupid and they don't even see it happening in front of their eyes, because they are to busy staring at the screens of their phones!   

BOB DYLAN - Shadows In The Night (*A Review*....of sorts.)

Bob Dylan's new album Shadows In The Night certainly swings....like a corpse on the end of a rope! It's a good album, but I think I'll only be able to listen to it in small (over)doses. I'm not saying its down and depressing, but I had to put on Lou Reed's Berlin afterwards to cheer myself up!

"I'M WIRED AND WIDE AWAKE!"

In a coalition government compromises have to be made; the student fees will haunt Clegg through out the rest of his political career, which could be cut short in May depending on what the voters think, but what did Clegg stop the Tories getting away with; welfare reforms seem pretty harsh with the community destroying bedroom tax, but how much worse could they have been if Cameron had total control of our un elected government, because lets not forget that the people didn't vote for a coalition! But hey that's democracy for ya! The people always get what they want; the pound in their pocket and the right to buy, the right to buy any old shit that the free market places on the peoples table at whatever cost, even our freedom security cameras on ex-council houses, total surveillance satellite navigation, flatscreen HD to see the bullshit bigger and brighter. Technology just keeps giving while taking away our freedom to think and feel like human beings. They stand in judgement as a hostages head rolls across Syria’s sand while forgetting the crimes committed by the British Empire. What we have today is because of Colonial slaughter and theft, it makes me proud to be British. It still goes on civil wars in Africa while the Chinese mine for the minerals to use in the mobile phones people have become enslaved to with their apps that tell them everything, what to do and when to do it; #Ineedashit The British government(s) support this new colonialism by the Chinese they want their money, and the Arabs money the powers that we let be shake the hands of regimes that kill and torture, and they are doing it in our name. But hey these are the good immigrants, not the ones stealing the jobs no-one wants to do, So when it comes time to vote just remember that in the world of global politricks compromises are made for what others have got. Well I don't want it, I'd rather we had and lived in a world were everything wasn't upgraded, one were people were satisfied with what they had. Supply and demand, they only produce if people consume. Money really does make the world go round and it is destroying it! No latest Nokia or Iphone....No need to mine for minerals, therefore no civil wars, cut down on our enemy consumption less need for oil. Too simplistic an idea for a complicated world, I dunno it would involve some corporate compromise because money is power and power buys governments....money talks....bullshit walks! That's why I aint gonna vote.

Something to say on a Sunday.

So if the Labour Party win the up and coming (Dis)United Kingdom election it will be “catastrophic” for the economy said a business leader, and that 'Big Business' will not support the Labour Party, funny that as Labour have said they will put an end to tax avoidance schemes and scams, well that remains to be seen, just like the Chilcott Report on the Iraq war that the Labour Party illegally fought in our name. No coincidence that business leaders wont support any party that says it will end all their offshore banking business, and probably no coincidence that the Chillcott Report wont be released until after the election, in-case there's anything damaging to the Labour Party, or the Conservatives for that matter, as the majority of them all supported it. Lets not forget that money, especially arms money makes the world go round and Big Business isn't gonna want to see their Tory friends chances of re-election ruined.

The Iraq war did not make the world a safer place, it made a few people a lot richer; those that worked in the arms and security industries for example companies with politicians from all parties on the board of directors.

In a bid to get into the minds of their members and voters that grew up on punk rock the latest magazine sent out by the UNISON Trade Union has appropriated the infamous Never Mind The Bollocks Sex Pistols album cover. So any UNISON members that have stuck with the Anarchy in the UK Fuck The System values....Keep on keeping on, don't sell out to the man, people may have died for the right to vote but this present political system is killing what's left of our democracy, so the only real option is not to vote if in your heart you don't support any of the parties standing for election. Back in 1968 Grass Eye a Manchester Underground Magazine had this to say - ”The Labour Party is no alternative...non-involvement in politics is a better option than trying to turn the Labour Party into a left-wing party. It should either be smashed or ignored. The revolution happens here, not tomorrow, but now. It's us versus capitalism.” Forty Seven years later these words still ring true.