Sunday, 10 May 2020
The Ruts (Playing As The Bottles At The Moonlight Club, West Hampstead ) - Gig Review Record Mirror 19th November 1980
This is a review that took me by surprise. A secret gig with with the new four piece; Segs, Ruffy, Paul and Garry Barnacle).
Malcolm Owen of The Ruts Dead at 24
The optimism that accompanied Malcolm's declared determination to kick his heroin habit with the help of family, friends and fellow Ruts was shattered when he was found dead in the bath in his parents home in Hayes on 14th July 1980.
Record Mirror 19th July 1980
Later Malcolm's story was the subject of an article on the teenage, magazine style television programme '16 Up broadcast in January 1981.
The Ruts Hit The Rocks in 1980
It was my good lockdown fortune recently to discover some scanned copies of Record Mirror, a now defunct publication that was for many years one of a quartet of weekly music papers that kept British music lovers abreast of all that needed to be known.
These music papers chronicled the music related highs and lows that were such a big part of many teenagers lives. The story of Malcolm Owen, charismatic frontman of The Ruts, certainly filled the bill of a low during the spring and summer months of 1980.
The band had been through a tumultuous 1979, during which a series of blistering singes had catapulted the band into the punk big league. High profile gigs (some now of legend) supporting The Damned, followed by their own headline dates boded extremely well for the band. However, the euphoria felt by The Ruts in that closing year of the decade was short lived. It was just months into the new decade that trouble hit the quartet. Malcolm had succumbed to the fatal escapist opportunities offered by heroin. The habit made him withdraw from the company of his fellow Ruts, even whilst on tour, dates being cancelled in the end as the drug use exacerbated perennial throat problems.... a disaster for any lead singer. The capacity for the band to function in a way that allowed them to capitalise on the success of the previous 12 months work was seriously stalled.
Eventually Malcolm, openly spoke about his drug dependence (a very open secret at this point in time), coming clean (no pun intended) about his own personal problems. This article appeared in the 31st May 1980 issue of Record Mirror. In it Malcolm acknowledges the problems associated with that particular drug and its potential to ruin many other young people's lives. If anything the tone is positive and the journalist talks within the piece of new music from the band.
These music papers chronicled the music related highs and lows that were such a big part of many teenagers lives. The story of Malcolm Owen, charismatic frontman of The Ruts, certainly filled the bill of a low during the spring and summer months of 1980.
The band had been through a tumultuous 1979, during which a series of blistering singes had catapulted the band into the punk big league. High profile gigs (some now of legend) supporting The Damned, followed by their own headline dates boded extremely well for the band. However, the euphoria felt by The Ruts in that closing year of the decade was short lived. It was just months into the new decade that trouble hit the quartet. Malcolm had succumbed to the fatal escapist opportunities offered by heroin. The habit made him withdraw from the company of his fellow Ruts, even whilst on tour, dates being cancelled in the end as the drug use exacerbated perennial throat problems.... a disaster for any lead singer. The capacity for the band to function in a way that allowed them to capitalise on the success of the previous 12 months work was seriously stalled.
Eventually Malcolm, openly spoke about his drug dependence (a very open secret at this point in time), coming clean (no pun intended) about his own personal problems. This article appeared in the 31st May 1980 issue of Record Mirror. In it Malcolm acknowledges the problems associated with that particular drug and its potential to ruin many other young people's lives. If anything the tone is positive and the journalist talks within the piece of new music from the band.
Saturday, 9 May 2020
Rick Wakeman on Dave Greenfield The World at One BBC Radio 4 4th May 2020
'Listen Wakeman, if you say anything bad about my mate I'll stick Excalibur so far up your arse that even King Arthur won't have a hope of getting it out!'
Radio obituary to Dave Greenfield from the perspective of fellow keyboard maestro, Rick Wakeman of Yes fame. In fact, just as you would expect Rick has nothing but praise for his fellow musician (and progger!).
Wednesday, 6 May 2020
Tsutaya O-West Tokyo 5th November 2019
Here are the band in Tokyo again for the third and final night. Many thanks to Chatts99!
UPDATE - 5th November 2021
On learning that the band have just released an album of this gig I have decided to take the link down, until such time as the album sells out at least.
FLAC:
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-K7xjfTIslf
FLAC:
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-K7xjfTIslf
01. Intro-The Raven
02. Ive Been Wild
03. Grip
04. Time To Die
05. Nice-N-Sleazy
06. Norfolk Coast
07. 5 Minutes
08. Unbroken
09. Golden Brown
10. Always The Sun
11. Nuclear Device
12. Peaches
13. Death And Night And Blood
14. Toiler On The Sea
15. Freedom Is Insane
16. Walk On By
17. Something Better Change
18. Relentless
19. Hanging Around
20. Tank
21. Encore-Go Buddy Go
22. No More Heroes
'Beat On The Brat With A Baseball Bat!' - Joey Ramone
Joey Ramone (1977)
30cm x 40cm linoprint
Black on grey artcard
More isolation frustration vented on a piece of lino.
Kraftwerk Virtu Ex Machina (Tokyo 7th September 1981)
Here is a widely available bootleg of a radio broadcast from Tokyo on 1981'a 'Computer World' tour.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-HDU2YsvhXN
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-6P3hRe18tm
01. Intro
02. Numbers
03. Computerworld
04. Computer Love
05. Home Computer
06. Neon Lights
07. Autobahn
08. Showroom Dummies
09. Trans Europe Express
10. The Robots
11. It's More Fun To Compute
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