Rockstore Montpellier 3rd December 2021

 

Here's another from last year's French tour courtesy of Chatts with a bit of ooomph added by DomP with artwork by MeAnIe and myself. Cheers all!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-58Y5HZgXnM

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-w70ldYl5Wg

01. Intro-Toiler On The Sea

02. (Get A) Grip(On Yourself)

03. I’ve Been Wild

04. Nice ‘N’ Sleazy

05. This Song

06. 5 Minutes

07. Always The Sun

08. Golden Brown

09. Midnight Summer Dream (Issues-Aborted)-European Female

10. La Folie

11. White Stallion

12. Walk On By

13. Relentless

14. Peaches

15. Water

16. Nuclear Device

17. Duchess

18. Hanging Around

19. Last Men On The Moon

20. Encore-Lines

21. Go Buddy Go

22. Tank

23. No More Heroes

20 From '81 (5) The Fall Queen Mary College London 5th February 1981

 

Mark E Smith! I am ashamed to say that in their long incarnation I never took the time to figure out what the fall were all about. My knowledge of their music was extremely limited. 'Psychomafia' and 'Industrial Estate' I had seen on a Tony Wilson 10th anniversary of punk TV compilation and I had the singles of two covers that the band did, 'There's a Ghost in my House' and 'Victoria'.... that was the extent of it. I saw them too at the Reading Festival in 1987, albeit briefly, and in truth it may have been Brix Smith rather than The Fall themselves that was the draw on that occasion.

When he died, several friends were devastated that this hard living musician had left the bar so to speak. With our daughter now living in Central Manchester, on one Saturday afternoon she took her folks into one of Mark's locals, where, sitting in the back room with a pint I could honestly believe that we had been transported back to the 1950's were it not for the sounds of The Fall being pumped out of the bar's speakers at considerable volume. The moment was quite profound for me as someone who had previously only visited the Manchester once in 2008 but who was now becoming a more frequent visitor and who was rapidly falling in love with the city. Over the past couple of years, to my appreciation of Manchester's impressive punk credentials, I have added it's stunning red brick architecture that crowed about the town's place within Empire, its pubs and its people. So I have started listening to The Fall.... and there is a hell of a lot of it to get through.

Here's a good quality recording from early '81.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-8dF7ojZWok

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-6IdsH7Dkv2

01. Your Heart Out

02. Totally Wired

03. Leave The Capitol

04. An Older Lover

05. New Face In Hell

06. Middle Mass

07. C'n'C-s Mithering

08. Crap Rap #19

09. Fiery Jack

10. Jawbone And The Air-Rifle

11. Slates, Slags, Etc.

12. Fit And Working Again

13. Prole Art Threat

14. Impression Of J. Temperance

15. Container Drivers

Acne Rabble (Sex Pistols) Interviewed After Appearing At The Rock Garden Middlesbrough 26th August 1977

'Britain's Premiere Mystery Group' in an interview with BBC Radio Cleveland after their S.P.O.T.S. (Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly) gig at the Rock Garden in Middlesbrough on 26th August 1977.

Asked to comment on their contemporaries in the UK punk scene, The Stranglers come off badly with Hugh being described as Clive Dunn and Jet's age being given as 52... as confirmed in the background by Paul Cook!

Typical snotty stuff.

The Rock Garden Middlesbrough, hosts to 'Acne Rabble' on 26th August 1977 

Sex Pistols at The Rock Garden, Middlesbrough

26th August 1977 

WAV: https://we.tl/t-OkcFUDo0od

Artwork Sleeve: https://we.tl/t-C38ASyccRC

20 From '81 (4) St. George's Hall Bradford 27th November 1981

 

From the first leg of the 'La Folie' UK tour here's a reasonable sounding recording from Bradford. Listen out for Matt Holland's dedication!

MP3 (as received): https://we.tl/t-gObeVpklrW

Artwork sleeve: https://we.tl/t-A8UGS0AvUa

01. Non-Stop
02. Threatened
03. Just Like Nothing On Earth
04. Second Coming
05. The Man They Love To Hate
06. Meninblack
07. Who Wants The World?
08. Baroque Bordello
09. Tramp
10. Thrown Away
11. How To Find True Love And Happiness In The Present Day
12. Tank
13. Let Me Introduce You To The Family
14. Nuclear Device
15. Genetix
16. Nubiles (Cocktail Version)
17. Bring On The Nubiles

20 From '81 (3) Bauhaus The Nite Club Edinburgh 3rd September 1981

 

Ah, the undead of Northampton. Not everybody's cup of tea but I love them. Stuck in a twilight zone occupied by David Bowie and The Damned, Bauhaus carved a niche in the market for sure. Forget the Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus were the ultimate band of the goth genre. The band were something of an enigma. On the face of it they took themselves very seriously indeed. They had a penchant for pretention.... a great example of this can be found on the sleeve notes to their 1981 album 'Mask'. Not their own words, but those of avant garde poet Brilburn Logue (a.k.a. Alan Moore, comic book writer, poet and fellow resident of Northampton):

'This is for when the radio is broken and crackles like uranium orchids

This is for when the fohn-wind rattles the telegraph wires like a handful of bones

This is for when dream ambulances skitter through the streets at midnight

This is for when you get caught in a sleep-riot and the sky is out of order

This is for when your sex is full of voodoo

This is for when your clothes are imaginary

This is for when your flesh creeps and never comes back.'

What's that all about then?

On the other hand there are the occasional glimpses of humour. The sinister sounding 'Spy in the Cab' is allegedly a song about tachographs that record the activity of long-distance lorry drivers. 

'Hidden in the dashboard

The unseen mechanized eye

Under surveillance

The road is full of cats eyes

It's sick function to pry

The spy in the cab.'

I caught the tail end of the band, the singles 'Ziggy Stardust' and 'She's in Parties' were both big in my world. In fact at the time I used to boldly told friends that the Bauhaus version of 'Ziggy' was superior to the original.... a view that I have had the sense to abandon in the years that followed!

I saw then just the once in 1998 at Brixton Academy. In doing so I caused a long weekend holiday with friends to be cancelled, such was my desire to see Mr Murphy and the boys!

And they are back.... having played an extortionately expensive gig at Alexander Palace some months ago, some new material 'Drink The New Wine' and another Brixton gig is in the offing.

That's the now, here's the then. From Edinburgh in September 1981...

Pete Murphy (Bauhaus)

The Nite Club, Edinburgh

3rd September 1981

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-BdXqVrwhSC

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-fUU3Owmd0x

01. Intro / Passion Of Lovers

02. In The Flat Field

03. Terror Couple Kill Colonel

04. Dancing

05. Spy In The Cab

06. Kick In The Eye

07. Satori

08. Of Lillies And Remains

09. Hair Of The Dog

10. Hollow Hills

11. Stigmata Martyr

12. Dark Entries

13. Bela Lugosi's Dead

Ruts DC Music Hall Aberdeen 27th January 2022

 

Following on from the main act, here's the set from Ruts DC who surely must be right up there as one of the best and most consistent bands to open for The Stranglers. The only problem with a Ruts DC support set is that they are too bloody short. At the risk of uttering contentious statements I think that perhaps it would have been an idea to cut The Stranglers stage time down by 20 minutes to allow Ruts DC to get three or four extra songs in. After all it's not often that such a strong line up comes along.

Music Hall, Aberdeen

27th January 2022

Ruts DC are nothing if not prolific, they refuse to stand still and rely on past glories, and so it was fitting that this set featured a new song 'Born Innocent' which soundwise reminds me of 'Animal Now' era material. Thanks to the original taper and uploader.

Get out to see the band on their own tour in October.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-tVbHpOhpKE

Artwork Sleeve: https://we.tl/t-txp4VptNQM

01. Intro
02. Something That I Said
03. S.U.S.
04. You're Just A...
05. It Was Cold
06. Kill The Pain
07. West One (Shine On Me)
08. Born Innocent
09. Jah War
10. Staring At The Rude Boys
11. In A Rut
12. Babylon's Burning
13. Psychic Attack

Music Hall Aberdeen 27th January 2022

The second night of the UK leg of the 'Dark Matters' tour and my first time seeing the band without Dave (having been scuppered in my attempts to see the band in France due to ever changing travel rules).

Music Hall, Aberdeen

27th January 2022

This was to be a baptism of fire for young Toby. In my experience UK crowds are a tougher prospect than the French audiences that he had faced to date. He needn't have worried. As I have said before, the strategy of front loading the set with songs that drip Dave Greenfield for the new boy to showcase his plentiful skills before uttering a word of the change worked wonders. The crowd were won over by that point.

Another nice twist in the set was the acoustic segment where the band delivered the contemplative 'Lines' and then 'And If You Should See Dave...', the latter of which saw JJ visibly choked. For the audience too it was an opportunity to reflect on the loss of a character who had been a player in our lives for decades. 

Necessary as this melancholic interlude was, the band know full well that this is not the way to end a Stranglers' gig and so the volume and pace was ratcheted up once more for a trip back to '77 with 'Grip' and 'Heroes' closing the evening's entertainment.

Many thanks to the original taper and uploader.

WAV: https://we.tl/t-hmuGOPkZOP

Artwork sleeve: https://we.tl/t-GM6TnNIj3P

01. Intro
02. Toiler On The Sea
03. The Raven
04. Sometimes
05. Water
06. I’ve Been Wild
07. This Song
08. Nice ‘N’ Sleazy
09. Don’t Bring Harry
10. Strange Little Girl
11. Always The Sun
12. Peaches
13. Golden Brown
14. Baroque Bordello
15. White Stallion
16. Curfew
17. Relentless
18. Nuclear Device
19. Walk On By
20. Straighten Out
21. Duchess
22. Hanging Around
23. Last Men On The Moon
24. Lines
25. And If You Should See Dave…
26. (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
27. No More Heroes