"Somewhere Over The Rainbow"

Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk (July 29th 2012)

SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK - Early Demos (1984 - 87)

Back in 1985/86 SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK were either the future of Rock'n'Roll or one big over hyped piece of shit. All mouth and pink trousers, wigs, make up and high heels, with Rock'n'Roll riffs, techno dance beats and samples, this was the sound of the 21^st Century. I saw 'em several times and they were one of the best live bands I've seen, and their debut album Flaunt It is a desert island disc of mine, but enough of that shit, here are a collection of demos from 1984 – 87, these as far as I am aware are not the same as those released as the First Generation album. Thanx to the original uploader of these over at guitars101 forum.   A NEW LINK HAS BEEN SORTED! 

It wouldn't be a Sunday if I wasn't spouting some of the same old shit!

Life imitates art and ends in death at a showing of the new Batman film in, Colorado USA. No surprise really; the availability of firearms, violent films and video games etc, are a lethal combination for anyone with the will to kill and an out of control ego. It's a fucked up world with death, destruction and conflict across the planet . In the UK the fog of war descends as a father kills his children and then himself, he's lost the battle he was fighting inside his head.

Life is cheap in a pound-stretcher society. Western values are fired from the barrel of a gun in the sand and desert of a foreign land, while a teenager sits in front of a computer in their room, in the line of fire on the call of duty, in their virtual world of war-craft, disconnected and desensitised from any sort of reality, through consumer sanctioned violence sold as entertainment.

Economic collapse across Europe as countries start to fall apart, the far right look to unite these divisions through scapegoating and blame, the right and left turn to populist politics, when all along they've ignored the peoples views with false promises and U-turns.

Moral decline, the rich get rich and stay rich, while the poor get poorer. Let them eat junk food, let them watch junk TV, keep them drunk on cheep booze, distract them with flag waving spectacles like Jubilees and Olympic games.

Let the people give away their freedoms by getting them addicted to technology. A digital age of close circuit hard drive mobile phone network surveillance. Who needs to think for themselves when you've got an app to do it for you.

Social network junkies. Tap, tap, tapping out another facebook fix. In a self obsessed narcissistic celebrity culture everyone feels famous amongst their twitter followers. Tweet, tweet, tweet....TWATS!  

19/7/12

I heard on the BBC News today that the level of crime has dropped, especially the number of homicides. The number of what? Homicides....Fuck off! This is the UK not the USA, and it's murder here!  

CALAMITY GAMES

How ironic that in the build up to the Olympic Games, terrorist paranoia and a culture/climate of fear has seen guns on the roofs of East London tower blocks,taking aim to shoot down terrorists from the sky, but with less than two weeks to go before they start, there isn't enough security on the ground. Between them, G4S and the government have fucked up, and now at the last minute, extra troops and police are being drafted in. I mean, if any terrorist attack is gonna happen, I've always thought it's gonna be on the streets. I wonder just how safe and secure the athletes and those going to watch the games are gonna feel knowing that security hasn't gone to plan, especially as there's not a lot of time to re-organise things.

While I'm on the subject of the Olympics, take a visit here and sign up to the petition demanding that those companies who stand to profit from the games pay the right tax, don't think G4S are gonna be one of those making a profit I heard they stand to lose £50 million over the whole fiasco. What a fucking shame! here's hoping they don't get any future contracts, like the one for private companies to take over running parts of the police force for example.

JOHNNY THUNDERS - Live in Stevenage 10/5/90 (Re-post)

Right then here's another blast of JOHNNY THUNDERS captured live in Stevenage, I won't bore you with the in's and out's of why it's taken so long to re-post this, but it involved a fucked hard drive, a lost memory stick and a computer that refused to let me rip a CD, but if we don't let the bastards grind us down, we'll get there in the end, so here you are, a rather sad but beautiful, performance by the one and only Johnny Thunders aided and abetted by Mick Vayne on Guitar and Jamie Heath on “New York Saxophone” Enjoy, cos you don't get 'em like Johnny no more, he was the real deal!  

DAMAGED GOODS - 4 Track Sampler.

To coincide with this years Rebellion Festival, Damaged Goods Records have released a download only E.P, featuring, four bands from the punk rawk underground. THE SPIVS, make a might lo-fi Patrik Fitzgerald meets Wire punk'n'roll racket. CYANIDE PILLS chip in with a blast of pop stained punk, while CASE serve up a tasty slab of ska, funk punk. Then there's a rightous, riotous and rebellious row from CUTE LEPERS. To get the above EP, all you need do is sign up to the Damaged Goods mailing list, and its yours, it doesn't just sound like a good deal, it is one! So.... click, click, click....what ya waiting for!!

Spouting shit on a Sunday.

I over heard a conversation on the bus the other day were someone was telling their friend about one of their children. “They've done really well for themselves.” as oppose to what.... doing really bad?! When it comes to life under total capitalism life is reduced to a competition, where doing well is seen by people as having a good job, earning good money, owning your own home and generally being a good capitalist by consuming it all, and then standing in judgement of those who've done bad.

Human nature isn't just greed and selfishness. Humans have been nurtured that way. Co-operation has been sacrificed on the alter of capitalist competition, in the church of consumption. We need to be going backwards to go forwards. Mutual exchange working together for the common good, before things turn really bad!

FALLEN ANGELS - In Loving Memory/Wheel Of Fortune

Hats off to Jungle Records for, in these economic hard times releasing, THE FALLEN ANGELS albums In Loving Memory and Wheel Of Fortune on CD for the first time, a 2CD set no less.... with bonus tracks. (A demo version of the Urban Dogs New Baptism, and a 21 minute version of Troops Of Tomorrow, are amongst the bonus tracks.) Both albums are more laid back and poppy than the first album, Knox's Lou Reed, Velvet Underground influence shines bright on a lot of the tracks. Andy McCoy and Nasty Suicide's role on these albums are as special guests rather than being the nucleus of the band, as they were on the first album. Some songs; Country Girl, Sailors On The Sea, Losing My Reason date back to Knox's pre Vibrators days when he played in a band called Despair, early versions of these can be found on; Despair The Birth Of The Vibrators 1973-1975, available from Cleopatra Records, or all good download stores. Also due out very soon on Time and Matter Records is the URBAN DOGS long, long, long awaited acoustic album Bonefield, it's been a long time coming, but I'm sure it's gonna have been worth the wait. One day it will come to pass that Knox is recognised by more people as one of Britains great song writers, until that day comes lets be thank full for people like Jungle Records and Time and Matter for releasing the records.

Spray paint and chalk philosophy

S*M*A*S*H - THE D*E*M*O*S (R*E*P*O*S*T)

In true Andy Warhol fashion S*M*A*S*H exploded onto the front covers of the national music press in 1994, and then disappeared a couple of years later...Shame! Having witnessed them from their early SMASH AT THE BLUES days (their 1^st demo's on this download) to SKY TV following them around a gig at their local venue in Welwyn Garden City, The Ludwick Club, when they signed their record deal, to seeing them on Top Of The Pops, the first band to appear on the show without having a single out, was real surreal.  Anyway, here's another blast of some 90's New Wave Of New Wave Rock'n'Roll....E*N*J*O*Y

"After all this won't you give me a smile"

I can't help but laugh every time I see the British Airways advert with The Clash's London Calling being used for the musical accompaniment “London calling to the far away towns now that war is declared and battle come down....See we aint got no swing 'cept for the ring of that truncheon thing” A song about the winter world of the apocalypse inviting people to rip off Britain PLC, where everything is up for sale. It would have been even funnier if the advert had been running this time last year, just before the August riots. Still, it's a year on from then, and the only change has been for the worst, so who knows what could happen on the streets in the Olympic summer of 2012 “The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in. Engines stop running and the wheat is growing thin.” 

The streets of London are going to be invaded by The Army, as it appears that G4S (Group 4 Security) have failed to deliver enough 'security' for the games, or is it an excuse by the government to get more troops on the streets to satisfy their terrorist paranoia and send a message of fear to potential 'trouble makers' Whatever the reasons for increased security, if G4S have failed in their agreement with the government, it isn't a good advert for them, especially as there has been talk of them taking over some duties from the police, and a private police force is not a good idea for anyone, except for the government who save money at our expense!

Public Service Announcement #2

Right then, looks like my network connection problem has been sorted, the General Malaise seems to be passing, but the hard drive crash is still a problem, I'm gonna get someone to have a look at it, and there may be a chance that not all is lost. Some stuff was backed up, but not everything, so requests for reposts is a bit of a lucky dip, I'm hoping to get the S*M*A*S*H demos and THE FOLK DEVILS sorted this week, and hopefully the JOHNNY THUNDERS live in Stevenage, but...... work, family etc and doing some new posts doesn't leave much time left. The time bank is about as healthy as the money bank . 

THE NO NAME JANES - Pornstar Endorsed

Pistol Packin' fun with The No Name Janes

From Wrexham in North Wales, and named after pornstar No Name Jane, The No Name Janes formed at the beginning of 2011. By the middle of the year they'd released Pornstar Endorsed, their first EP. It's like it says on the tin, as No Name Jane provides a spoken word introduction and a picture for the cover. Hard copies of the EP have sold out, but it is available digitally on line, as is the follow up; Adult Situations...And Language Once the band have enough funds they plan to go into the studio and record a mini-album and do a proper release. Until then the band are gigging everywhere they can.

The No Name Janes are Loud, fast, energetic, jump about fist in the air good time oi, oi punk rawk, with a 21^st Century tuneful polished pop punk sound, but still keeping the spirit of 77 alive and kickin'. A real tonic for the troops! Check out their Reverbnation page where you'll find 8 tracks to download. for free, and then go and buy the EP's.  Highly recommended listening for these trouble torn times. 

Scribblings and Dribblings

High tech communication reduces peoples ability to speak to people face to face. Sat nav takes away the sense of direction, and they call it progress.

People need to say enough is enough we have become bloated on gadgets and obese with obedience to objects that they want us to desire.

People love sports, yet half the nation is too fat and lazy to get up and change the TV channel without the aid of a remote control, but then who needs to do that when you can watch two channels at the same time, where would we be without progress.

The Queens Jubilee and Euro 2012 are done and dusted, just the Olympics to go, then all the flag waving red, white and blue chest beating national pride bullshit and propaganda is over till the next time.

And still the rain falls from the sky, flood waters rise faster then terrorist paranoia.

Bankers, politicians, tax avoiders, the royal family, greedy selfish bastards, over paid over hyped celebrities....The Great Wall of China isn't long enough to put 'em all up against.

BLAH BLAH BLAH

Creating social divisions and demonizing the young. I agree with Labour, that it isn't racist to talk about immigration. I just think that perhaps Ed Milliband should have kept his mouth shut and said nothing, because there is a chance that odious individuals and Right Wing Extremist parties will use it as a means to justify their racism, I mean the right wing press are always telling the people that the immigrants have taken all the jobs and are living in all the council houses.

David Cameron continued his attack on young people by saying that Housing Benefit should be stopped for the under 25's. The benefit system may encourage people, young and old not to work, but rather than cut/reduce housing benefit why not put a rent cap on how much private landlords can charge.

I noticed Cameron soon shut his mouth after standing in moral judgement of Comedien Jimmy Carr for avoiding paying the correct amount of tax. He probably realised questions might be asked about where his wealth came from, and that of Tory party doners, and how much tax they have avoided paying.

A something for nothing society where everyone wants something when having everything is really having nothing. Their established order of things is morally bankrupt, we've had the MP's expenses, phone hacking, bankers bonuses and now interest rate fixing. The 'something for nothing culture' is the other side of the same coin where their tax system enables the rich to avoid paying their taxes, while remaining within the law. Benefit Cheats and Tax Dodgers are both the same to me, but in the eyes of the(ir) law one is a crime, the other is perfectly legal, yet they both steal money from the public services.

The Government has ordered an enquiry into the Banks and the fixing of interest rates, this is going to be carried out by a group of politicians from all parties. What!!!! that's like letting foxes look after a chicken coup. Left wing or Right wing they all represent the interests of capital, and are all guilty of fixing everything in their own interests!  

A Public Service Announcement.

Hard drive issues, Network connection problems and an attack of General Malaise have prevented any posts recently.  Abnormal service will return be rectified resumed as soon as possible.