The Brighton Train It Goes Real Soon.......

Once more onto the breach, a king once said. The rat hits the road once more tomorrow in my near home town of Brighton.

Here's hoping that there will be a few pleasant surprises in the set to excite the regulars.

As a taster of the kick off tomorrow, here's the Brighton date from the 2010 tour. Again, the band played the wonderful Dome venue. For those who have not had the pleasure of seeing the band (or any band for that matter) in this historic building..... well you must. The Dome once served as the stables to the Pavilion, the exotic brainchild of The Prince Regent, George IV in waiting.

It will be a good gig!

FLAC: http://we.tl/fNAXMCkdpR

Artwork: On its way!

01. Time To Die
02. Go Buddy Go
03. (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
04. Curfew
05. Norfolk Coast
06. Skin Deep
07. Always The Sun
08. Strange Little Girl
09. Golden Brown
10. Lost Control
11. Retro Rockets
12. Genetix
13. Nice 'N' Sleazy
14. Peaches
15. Spectre Of Love
16. Walk On By
17. Nuclear Device
18. Duchess
19. Down In The Sewer

01. 5 Minutes
02. Something Better Change
03. Hanging Around
04. No More Heroes

10 From '87(7) Peter And The Test Tube Babies C.C.O. Lyon-Villeurbonne 19th November 1987

Back in the day, Peter and the Test Tube Babies were our local heroes, they played pretty frequently in Brighton then and musically they were on great form, 1985's 'Rotting In The Fart Sack' had given us the excellent 'Spirit Of Keith Moon' and 'Soberphobia' released the following year was a worthy follow up to 'The Mating Sounds Of South American Frogs' (which remains there finest moment).

I remember seeing them for the first time in early '85. A I recall it was a Sunday lunchtime gig upstairs at the Richmond Hotel and it cost the princely sum of 50p to get in. I would not yet have been 16 so getting into pub gigs presented a bit of a challenge (especially for a baby faced short arse such as myself!). Sometimes a journey to Brighton would be a complete waste of time if the bouncers would not let you in. I remember seeing them at the Old Vic in The Lanes too and there, whilst sometimes it was difficult to get in, once you had got through the door the landlord was more concerned to ensure that every punter was putting money over his bar, under age or not!

When the Test Tubes weren't playing it was possible to see various members of the band in other guises, The Masked Raiders and Walnut and The Wankers! Just punching the latter band into google and this crops up, featuring some old faces at the front, including my good mate Adam (some people just won't move on...... not like me!!)

'Pick Your Nose And Eat It'

Walnut and The Wankers

Glastonwick 2011

FLAC: http://we.tl/UuvU011y5l

Artwork: http://we.tl/8ZMSXm0ZNW

01 Keys To The City
02 Keep Britain Untidy
03 Boozanza
04 Every Second Counts
05 Spirit Of Keith Moon
06 Guest List
07 The Jinx
08 Goodbye Forever
09 Blown Out Again
10 He's On The Whiskey (Watch Out)
11 Louise Wouldn't Like It
12 Ghost In My Bedsit
13 Maniac
14 Banned From The Pubs
15 Elvis Is Dead
16 September
17 Moped Lads
18 Disco
19 Vicars Wank Too

'The Jinx'

Peter And The Test Tube Babies

The Story Of Buzzcocks BBC Radio 2 7th August 2004

'Steve, can you tell I ate garlic last night?'

Here's one of the band profile radio documentaries that the BBC put together from time to time. This one tells the tale of one of the most original and inventive bands to emerge from the stews of punk rock - The 'Cocks!

WAV: http://we.tl/fBvGVOUuTQ

Kraftwerk Palalido Milan 27th May 1981

There are very few bands that can be described as peerless, but I do believe that this is a term that can be applied to Kraftwerk. On the back of an excellent BBC documentary 'Kraftwerk: Pop Art', here is a recording of the band at their creative height.

I think that Kraftwerk really do transcend the limitations of a band, everything is considered, perfected and protected. The music clearly, but also the visuals, be it in the way the band dress or the stage sets. The way the band communicate with the media (or should that be the way the band don't communicate with the media!) preserves a mystique around this quartet of somewhat odd men from the Ruhr.

In recent years they have been touring the world with their catalogue shows featuring each of their eight key albums from Autobahn to Tour De France Soundtracks. In doing so they have taken to playing internationally renowned art galleries, another acknowledgement of the pop meets art concept. In London they played the Tate Modern on the South Bank, a doubly relevant venue, being both art gallery and former power station.

In the Pop Art documentary, Paul Morley said something along the lines that Kraftwerk were culturally more important than The Beatles and I think in that he is probably correct. The Beatles took an existing music genre and turned it into something extraordinary. Kraftwerk create their own genre and in doing so inspired others to create something new also, be it electronica or hip-hop.

Prost Kraftwerk!

FLAC: http://we.tl/GSKJD61Tuo

Artwerk: http://we.tl/mtkKIZCjo7

01 Intro / Numbers / Computer World
02 Computer Love
03 Home Computer
04 The Model
05 Neon Lights
06 Geiger Counter / Radioactivity
07 The Voice Of Energy / Uranium / Die Sonne, Der Mond, Die Sterne / Ohm Sweet Ohm
08 Autobahn (Part 1)

01 Autobahn (Part 2)
02 Trans Europe Express
03 Metal On Metal
04 Hall Of Mirrors
05 Mitternacht / Les Mannequins
06 Pocket Calculator
07 The Robots

Kraftwerk on French TV performing 'The Robots' and 'Radioactivity'

1978

Paradiso Amsterdam 22nd February 1983

Another anniversary marked here with the band's return to the legendary Dutch venue.

FLAC: http://we.tl/qAYG5rdPdX

Artwork: http://we.tl/0CiopolTMV

01. Nuclear Device/Toiler On The Sea
02. Toiler On The Sea (Cont'd)
03. Ships That Pass In The Night
04. It’s A Small World
05. Just Like Nothing On Earth
06. No More Heroes
07. Who Wants The World
08. Never Say Goodbye
09. Baroque Bordello
10. Golden Brown
11. Princess Of The Streets
12. Midnight Summer Dream
13. European Female
14. Tramp
15. The Raven
16. Duchess/London Lady/Nubiles (Cocktail Version)
17. Genetix

NEW LINK - The Guildhall Portsmouth 19th March 1990

By Request, a new functioning link has been added in MP3 format here.

And I Though Dave Was From Brighton......