JEREMY GLUCK & SUPERCZAR - King and Country b/w Girl From The North Country (single)

In the wake of Tony Blair’s headlining appearance at the Iraq War enquiry aka The Chilcot Charade, here’s something totally honest and decent for you. It’s Jeremy Gluck and Superczar with a 2 track single that exists only here and in my mind. The first track is a Psychotic Punk Psychedelic reworking of the TV Personalities anti-war statement King and Country. The second is a cover of Bob Dylans Girl From The North Country. Both tracks are taken from their highly recommended Supergluck album. “You never explained what it’s all for.” BLAIR YOU ****

TOSSERS!

“BROKEN BRITAIN !” Is it just a vision in the minds of the malleable middle class’s who we’ve established don’t really exist except in the minds of the manipulated and mindless. If Britain is broken, then they’re the fuckers that broke it. Now it’s time they fixed their minds and did something with them and about it, rather than worrying about how much they can earn and spend on shit while others live in shit. Why not become Social Workers? An honourable middle class profession/career, another illusion there; middle class people don’t have jobs, they have careers or professions only working class people have jobs, so how come when the media reports about failings in Social Work for example, they say that the Social Workers haven’t been doing their jobs properly, not their careers or professions. I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent there, where was I….. Broken Britain, Social Workers, Middle Class….ah! that’s it, everyone working in departments chained by bureaucracy, audits, statistics, targets, human rights and health and safety legislations, are too scared to speak out about working practises and governmental rationale about how to do the job, in case they lose not only their job but their identities, while all the time it’s in all politicians interests to keep Britain broken and divided; If it wasn’t then there’d be nothing for them to fix or unite, no illusions to create and if there was nothing for them to do, then there’d be no need for them. Tony Blair said his shit at the Iraq War charade, “we were right to remove Saddam, he was evil blah, blah, blah.” So if that was the rationale how come Britain hasn’t gone to war with a lot more countries around the world.
A Government report was published saying there is a big wealth gap in Britain between the richest and the poorest. This is after endless Government schemes introduced to reduce poverty. The people know the truth; all politicians are liars and cheats, but do they want to believe it?

WOLFMAN AND THE SIDE EFFECTS - The Singles

I’ve had these two singles knocking about in my pile of things to post for ages, and haven’t got round to banging ‘em up for you, but with today’s front page non-news story about the death of a rich bitch who liked to slum it dying from a suspected drugs overdose in a flat rented by the friend of Pete Doherty; Pete Wolfe musician and poet aka Wolfman. So now seems a good day for getting round to it. Here you go: It’s Wolfman and his backing band The Side Effect with their debut single from 2004 Napoleon for starters, followed up swiftly by their second in 2005, Ice Cream Guerilla, which features Pete.D on the b-side Wolfman. How to describe Wolfman and The Side Effects well…Musically bare the soul and groove of their debuts b-side From The Darkness it’s Gutter Punk ego driven rock‘n’roll. Scummy, Skuzzie and Feral it drones and mesmerises you into submission, much like The Stooges or The Velvets, not that’s who they sound like, close but no cigar. Lyrically the words; ugly and beautiful spring to mind. I dunno, give it a blast, it wont kill you!

Possibly my favourite book.

R.I.P J.D

A4 Poster from the 80's

Let them eat......

A nation of chocolate junkies starts to shiver and shake with the fear that their once pure supply is gonna see a reduction in quality now that Cadbury’s has been taken over by Kraft Foods; an American company with a reputation of producing a lower grade product, well that’s what my girlfriend and some other chocoholics have told me. They also said they may not be buying Cadbury's anymore!

Today #1

The days are long / The nights are short / It’s dark outside when the wind blows / The rain pours and the sun doesn’t shine / It’s cold in the towns / It’s cold in the homes/ But how many dead bodies did you step over in the streets today?

"I see his life come shining....He shall be released"

In 1980 a young punk rocker Gary Critchley was found on the pavement outside a place called the Campbell Buildings in Waterloo, London. In one of the squatted flats upstairs another young man lay dead. Gary suffered a broken back, ankle and wrist and was left brain damaged by a hammer blow to the head. In the flat Edward Mcneill had been beaten to death with a hammer. Gary was charged with his murder. Evidence was flimsy and scant in an age before DNA but in a time of dodgy policing. In 1981 Gary was convicted of Edward McNeill’s murder. Nearly 30 years later he is still residing at Her Majesties Pleasure. If the above sounds like the basis of a work of fiction, it’s not; it’s fact. The only fiction is that there is any Just in the British Justice system. The appeal court have upheld his conviction and at present the Criminal Case Review Commission are refusing to send his case back for further consideration. Unlike other miscarriages of justice Gary hasn’t been afforded any high profile campaigns; his case has gone unnoticed until now. A more detailed account of the case in an article from Private Eye Magazine can be found here . Recollections of life at The Campbell Buildings, and an extract from the book Trash Can by Bob Short (former Guitarist in post-punk and pronto gothsters Blood and Roses) which is an account of the time he spent living at the Campbell Buildings can be found here on the Kill Your Pet Puppy site. To find out more about Gary’s life and to see more of his artwork, and writings go here to The Life (Sentence) and Art Of Gary Critchley. The rest is up to you. You decide!

JOHNNY THUNDERS - Too Much Junkie Business.

If I had to choose just one Johnny Thunders ‘product’ to keep in my ‘collection’ this would be the one. Originally released in 1983 on cassette only, The New Too Much Junkie Business contains 14 tracks of top quality Thunders shit that encapsulates the man the myth and the mayhem on one release. The tracks are a mixture of studio stuff from late 1982 and a live recording from The Peppermint Lounge sometime whenever. The songs are drawn from his days with The New York Dolls, The Heartbreakers and Gang War. One reviewer said it was “For diehards only” I’d dispute this and say it was a good introduction to the works of Johnny Thunders, here’s what another reviewer the late Robert Palmer, head rock critic of The New York Times had to say about it "Inspirational cassette. His guitar sound has jagged edges, rips and rends like barbed wire while his rangy voice wraps itself around a lyric like an undernourished boa constrictor. Kicking, careening, rousing anarchic performances here!" Anyway, if you aint heard it there’s only one way to find out, and here’s how.

"Excuse me, but are you Middle Class?"

This fuckin’ game is getting more surreal as it goes on. I thought I miss heard this on the news last night when the propaganda machine at the BBC said that Gordon Brown was telling middle class voters that if the Tories got into power they would target more money to the poorer sections of society, i.e. taking it away from another section of society, but no in a speech aimed at middle England wherever that is he was talking about social mobility for the middle classes, whoever they are. For fucks sake, how much more do these imaginary people who live in this imaginary land need, because either way whoever wins the next election all they are gonna do is protect the interests of Capitalism. There are only two sections in a Capitalist society. The haves and have nots; there is no middle ground, and if there is, it is a total construct designed to maintain the status quo. It’s an illusion, a place inhabited by people with aspirations to be a have who can be controlled by the fear that they will end up being a have not, if they don’t play the game and vote for who ever pretends to protect their interests. What a load of bollocks! If people want change then they really need to change themselves first, and that goes for every single politician that spouts off about ‘change‘. That aint gonna happen though, because they don’t know how to play any other game apart from the one that’s been played for the last hundred years, and no-ones prepared to break the rules and say “I’m bored with playing this shit, lets play something different” for fear of becoming a have not. Well fuck the 'middle class' and their creators and protectors; yer all a bunch of losers.

Cash and Compassion from our Safe European Homes.

Just after Britain winged and wined it’s way through the snow and cold weather, on the other side of the world in Haiti a country crumbled as a massive earthquake hit.
The United Nations and aid agencies mobilise and governments across the world pledge pounds and dollars towards the relief effort. Images of babies being pulled from the rubble tug at the heart strings, and opens the purse strings of the citizens of the world.
After four days the criticism starts that not enough is being done to help the people of Haiti. Truth is everything is being done, but the countries infa structure is unable to cope; the main airport is to small, hospitals are under equipped and the government has collapsed under the weight of the people demanding action. Lets face it Haiti is not one of the most developed countries in the world.
In this era of regime change and sticking noses into other countries affairs, why doesn’t the developed world help somewhere like Haiti develop, why wait until a natural disaster strikes before doing anything, I mean all the money that’s going in aid, could have been spent over the years on helping improve Haiti’s infrastructure, then when/if something like an earthquake happened it would have a better chance of coping rather than descending into anarchy and chaos as people fight amongst the rubble for scrapes of food. But when the US did stick their noses in to Haiti’s business during the 90’s with Operation Uphold Democracy, which removed the military leaders and paved the way for Jean Bertram Aristide to become elected president until there was a military coup in 2004 then Astride was removed from power by US Marines who flew him to the Central African Republic, to avoid a blood bath in Haiti where there had been issues over his election as president. So much for upholding Democracy. Since 2004 the UN has had a mission in Haiti, which unfortunately suffered as a result of the quake with staff being killed and supplies being either destroyed or looted. So were does that leave the people of Haiti?
But like most things in this individualised globalised world it’s all about what riches can be gained from other countries, only then is anything long term done. Oil or Voodoo?
Truth is no one really gives a shit until it hit’s the fan.

THEE HYPNOTICS - Live'r Than God

Hot on the heels of thee last post here’s another blast of The Hypnotics. This is their first album, well sort of. Rather than stick up my crackly copy of the Liver than God mini album I’ve opted for the expanded re-release that appeared on Sub Pop records. It includes the 5 tracks that were on the original UK release, but in the digital age this release includes 3 tracks that weren’t on the Sup Pop re-release. Does that make sense? I dunno, but what you’ve got here are eleven tracks of pure and primal rock’n’roll. This post goes out to that American Psycho Nekrodad and his Death Party, and Chris over at The Scrawl of The Wild. Why? Well…. 1) nekrodad asked if I had it. 2) I bought my original copy from Chris’s record shop Ripple Records, way back when and 3) It’s a fuckin’ great record. Enjoy!

Bringing some more of the past into the present #2

THEE HYPNOTICS - Come Down Heavy.

Here’s a blast of some Garage/Psychedelic/Rawk for ya, circa 1990 courtesy of sonic insurrectionists Thee Hypnotics; London's answer to The Stooges and MC5. Come Down Heavy was their first proper full length studio album, and heavy it certainly is, but not in a Metal way, this is pronto stoner rock before it existed as a label in a music journo’s mind. Tunes that suck you in. I saw ‘em live a couple of times, sleazy and sexy as hell, a total frenzy of energy. Their singer Jim allegedly turned down replacing Stiv Bators as singer in The Lords of The New Church. Good move if you ask me; Stiv was irreplaceable and Thee Hypnotics were a great band. Anyway here you are if you fancy a blast of some Revolution Stone.

DESIGNER - Mickey Boy (7" Vinyl-Rip)

Scant information on the worldwideweb about this bunch of Brighton, England Rock’n’Roll Reprobates, I could find fuck all to be exact, so here’s to this post putting an end to that. I first came across Designer after reading a piece in Melody Maker sometime in 1997 (See above scan) and they sounded like they might be worth checking out; they talked the talk, could they walk the walk? only one way to find out, send off a stamp for a free copy of their debut single, Fuck me what a single; it’s a great slice of New wave of New Wave Brit-Pop Post Punk. Mickey Boy sounds like The Heartbreakers having a fight with Wire and Magazine and winning. On the B-Side Cheap Meat and Tiger Feet; Wire and Magazine win. Great stuff, for those who like S*M*A*S*H and These Animal Men but hey don’t just take my word for it, check it out here! It’s gonna be one of those try it and see, and delete if you don’t see posts. Either way, welcome to the web Designer. One last thing, I did get in touch with the band about possibly promoting a gig for them, and was informed that the band were wheelchair bound so would need disabled access to the venue. Fortunately the venue was a Youth Club and had complete access for the disabled, so it wouldn’t be a problem. I told the band this and never heard from them again, was this a wind up on the bands part or or cynicism on mine? Who knows, but if anyone does have any more info on Designer please leave a comment. Enjoy and/or Destroy!

"I've got you under my skin."

Airport security scanners; showing how spineless some people are!

ROCK'N'ROLL:STAMPED OUT!

It’s official! Rock’n’Roll is no longer the subversive force of rebellion that it used to be. It hasn’t been for years, but with the release of the series of classic album cover stamps its death knell has been given the royal seal of approval. I mean....and I love both these bands, but....The Clash and Primal Scream hardly royalist/establishment loving outfits now are/were they. Who’d have thought back when London Calling and Screamadelica were released what the future would hold for these two classic albums. Still I suppose it could be seen as some sort of ultimate subversion, I dunno....How the times have changed!

URBAN DOGS - No Pedigree (The Un-Neutered Version)

Maan! I love this album, How well played my vinyl copy has been became apparent when I attempted to rip it to the computer last year, and it was scratched and jumped in places, a total waste of time. I managed to get an MP3 version, but there was something not right; It had been neutered and a couple of tracks were missing, came across another one from a different source and this had the same 2 tracks missing, still something was better than nothing. Anyway after listening to it quite a bit over the last year it started to get on my tits that a couple of songs had been omitted, so I have revisited my vinyl version and ripped the awol tracks and added them to the MP3 version, making the album complete, fortunately the offending items haven’t come out too bad and doesn’t spoil the listening pleasure. Released in 1985 on Flicknife Records, this the second album by Charlie Harper (UK Subs) and Knox (The Vibrators) spin off group the Urban Dogs is a dark, stark foot stamping collection of Rock’n’Roll songs, slightly let down by a few too many cover versions, Monster Mash, Cold Turkey and Children of The Revolution, but made up by some other stomping tunes; Wanna World, No Pity being a couple of them. The album features some great Sax playing, especially on the missing tracks by former Waterboy and Nikki Sudden collaborator Anthony Thistlethwaite.
While researching this piece and looking for a possible explanation as to why Hard Drive and Heavy Women had been left off the album, I came across TIME AND MATTER; a fan- website which has the aim of providing a full as possible historical archive of the UK Subs. It was launched in December 2009 and is already shaping up to be the dogs bollocks of a site. The layout and navigation is one of the best I’ve seen. I strongly recommend anyone remotely interested in not just the Subs, but punk rawk in general takes a trip here! And if you’ve got any info, memorabilia, stories etc about the band get in touch, because they are on the look out for all things Subs related, and the more they have the better the site, in the true spirit of punk; it’s all about getting involved, so what are you waiting for. The site also has a subsection about the Urban Dogs, featuring the contents of their drummer Mathew ‘Turkey’ Bests diaries, gig and recording info etc. It’s from here that I found out the two tracks were left off “Due to time restrictions” Should have left the cover versions off if you ask me, but hey what the fuck do I know. Judge for yourselves! Click, Click, Click! Enjoy! this slightly patchy but compelling master piece. Here’s to waiting for the Urban Dogs acoustic album that’s in the pipeline.

Stan can't get enough of the white stuff!

THE VIBRATORS - Propaganda + Photo (circa 1985)

Call it what you like!

To you left there’s a post card from the 80‘s for you. There’s gonna be some more music coming up soon, and a break from all the ranting I feel I’m chatting shit @ the moment, need to take stock of it all, cos there’s gonna be a lot of shit coming up over the next few months, I mean, there was some shit on the radio were Gordon Brown was saying for people not to panic because there would be enough energy supplies for people over this cold winter??!! WHAT!! I’d like to think there would be, with the prices people have been paying. Then I think what if the oil did run out? How would people cope? Some are having trouble with the snow, so it don’t look good. I’m gonna be well pissed off if I wake up tomorrow and there’s no snow what with all the extreme weather warning hype that’s been going on in the media. I like the snow; It turns drab concrete, tarmac etc bright, changes the whole perspective of the environment and makes it all a bit different. What’s all the fuss about Snow anyway, don’t ever remember it being an issue in the past, it happened and people got on with it, once again it’s the media making a big thing of it all. I wonder what the snow is really covering up?

A is for.....

My last post ended with the words Adapt or Attack, I.e. Adapt to the changes, by accepting them, or Attack them by protest. Now leaders of Labour and Conservative parties are talking about Austerity or Aspiration? Well why don’t people aspire to be more austere. “Value what is necessary, lose what is not” Hard at this time of January Sales, 50% off Bargains and a general sell people a new live, buy now pay later, just the same as the old one. The real enemy is the Media, and that’s where the Election will be fought and how it will be won, I say won but we’ll all end up losing in the end, unless we change. Politicians talk of change, what they mean is that it’s gonna be a change of values and ideologies, the only thing is that they all protect the capitalist system one way or another, it’s just how they go about it and what sections of society benefit that’s different, well I say different, but there’s not much difference between both parties as we converge to some sort of one party state. Here’s a thought, Why haven’t Al-Qaeda targeted the Media, blown up a few Newspaper HQ’s and TV Centres. Hit ‘em were it hurts; The Propaganda machinery of the capitalist state.

1st Untitled Post of 2010.

A few thought on this the second day of the next year. Bring it on! The last 10 years have been defined by: 9/11,a War on Terror, not in our name. Blair the Liar. Brown the Fool. As chancellor he signed the cheques that funded the war in Iraq as Prime Minister he can’t spend any money, cos he hasn’t got any, we can all blame the bankers. MP’s expenses, Politicians exposed for the fuckers they are to the rest of the mass, who also now know that the Iraq War was bollocks, Afghanistan is our Vietnam and who have witnessed Capitalism start to crumble. Those that weren’t schooled by The Clash , Crass or MC5 and The Deviants now know or are beginning to see that the(ir) System doesn’t work.
There’s gonna be an election this year, should be interesting as all parties will try and convince the people that their ideas are the right ones and that their vision for Britain is the best. Who do we believe? None of ’em. Battlegrounds: Immigration, Crime, health, economy.
The media manipulates the minds of the masses, it helps keep people divided, because that way people need controlling, if more people used or had their own minds, they’d see where the problem was and realise who had the solutions.
The distrust and disillusion over the present political system needs to be built on. People need to get their voices heard. There needs to be a search for a common purpose a general sense of belonging between all the fragmented Social Movements. A united voice is gonna be heard louder!
Hung Parliament, yeah hang ’em all I know, but recently I’ve been hearing in the media that people think this would be a bad thing for Britain. This got me thinking that perhaps it would be a good thing for the country. I’ve always thought/believed that the only way to get any sort of government that represents people is to take bits from various politically ideologies and shape them into some sort of new ideology based on common and shared values.
Give real power back to the people, one that isn’t confined by red tape and controlled by bureaucrats or dictated to them by totalitarian leaders who think they know what‘s best. Power to the people, Power of the people, Power for the people. Let the people decide, and I aint talking about no X-Factor style voting judging panel, but I’m sure at some point it will come to this. The live television debate that’s been promised for the forthcoming election could make for interesting viewing. I dunno………..as we enter the next 10 years I feel that the times they are gonna be a changing and we are gonna have to adapt or attack!

JEREMY GLUCK - I Knew Buffalo Bill

I was meant to post this at the same time as Nikki Sudden's Lost in A Sea of Scarves, another request for someone, but never got round to it what with all the Christmas bollocks, time etc. Now this post has a different significance. On 30th December 2009 Roland S Howard passed away after battling liver cancer. Roland’s musicianship is all over this album; hypnotic kraut rock basslines and a scratchy swamp guitar sound. This album is greater than the sum of it’s parts, and boy did it have some parts to it. Jeremy Gluck, former singer for the surftastic garage punkers The Barracudas gathered together not only Roland S Howard but Nikki Sudden, Epic Soundtracks and Jeffery Lee Pierce to record this master piece of stripped back swamp blues and lo-fi post-punk laced with a hint of 60’s pop. It is both beautiful and brutal, stark and colourful in equal measures. A must have! Get it Here! My respect and sympathy goes out to Roland’s family and friends.

Out with the old and in with the......

Reflections! Resolutions! Revolutions?

That was the year/decade that was. This is the year that will be….We have the questions. We have the answers. After 40 years are we still part of the problem? Or are we the solution. All the best for 2010 and the future. Stay strong, stay free and keep on keeping on!