My New Blog: L/Cpl James Kitchener Heath No. 5051929 A Fragmented Military History 1940 to 1945

I have finally embarked on another on-line project, that I have been meaning to get around to for a number of years now. Admittedly, the new blog that I have created is rather personal, in that it concerns solely my late Grandfather's military history between 1940 and 1945 (more accurately 1946 by the time he was finally released to the Army Reserve). Constructed mainly for myself and members of my family, it may be of passing interest to anyone with a leaning towards personal military histories of another soldier of the Second Worlds War's 'P.B.I' (that is the Poor Bloody Infantry). It will not be an extensive site as his activities in the war years are not so well known and poorly documented as well, as suggested by the title of 'A Fragmented Military History'. It will though I hope shed a little more light on the life of an ordinary man who 'did his bit' when the country required it of him.

If you care to take a look, the link is here:

http://jameskitchenerheath5051929.blogspot.co.uk/

Restored Links To A Couple of Shows - By Request

The Stranglers: The Lyceum London 27th July 1980 Here
The Specials: Paramount Theatre Staten Island NYC 21st August 1981 Here

Stiff Little Fingers Top Rank Brighton 21st March 1988

Having decided to 'Go For It Again' in December 1987 with a handful of dates culminating with a homecoming Belfast gig at the Ulster Hall, in early '88 they toured further afield.

The Top Rank was a good venue, a stone's throw from the front and nestling amongst some of Brighton's naff night clubs. I recall that after the gig, the area outside the venue, shared with just such a night club, the pavement resembled the aftermath of a battle with steaming punks lying all around. The disco kids had to pick their way through this human mess as they exited the nightclub.

Throughout the gig Jake had to chastise several members of the audience who persisted with the spitting thing.... all rather disgusting!

The date shown in the ad that appeared in the Evening Argus (Brighton's evening newspaper) is incorrect. The ticket (on the reverse of the artwork) carries the correct date of 21st March.

FLAC: http://we.tl/q5TlJEINLQ

Artwork: http://we.tl/ZPG7Kn2VLg

01. Intro
02. Alternative Ulster
03. Wait And See
04. Love Of The Common People
05. Silver Lining
06. Gotta Gettaway
07. Fade Away
08. Piccadilly Circus
09. Listen
10. Gate 49
11. Roots, Radicals, Rockers And Reggae

01. At The Edge
02. Wasted Life
03. Barbed Wire Love
04. Fly The Flag
05. Tin Soldiers
06. The Wild Rover
07. Suspect Device
08. Johnny Was

20 From '83 (15) Gary Numan Hammersmith Odeon 13th October 1983

It wasn't the best of times, it wasn't the worst of times (for a Gary Numan fan). My parents snubbed my requests to go to one of the Wembley Farewell shows in April of 1981. For me, that would have been manna from heaven. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Numan came out of retirement for another UK tour in September '83 (if you consider US dates in 1982, this possibly qualifies for the shortest musical retirement in history!).

Nevertheless, this tour was my first opportunity to see him. Looking back, the whole Mad Max 'Warriors' thing was a tad embarrassing and the introduction of brass (not a good thing for anything other than soul bands surely!) and slap jazz bass of session man Joe Hubbard did nothing for the music. However, at the time Numan was still a big deal in that the album sold well and produced hits.

On this occasion I saw him at the Brighton Centre a couple of weeks after this London date.

 

Gary Numan.... electronica's own Rob Halford

(what was he thinking!)

 

In the following year's Numan rather lost his footing in the music business. Successive albums that experimented with different musical styles failed to carry the unique appeal of his earlier albums and he became something of a niche artist, adored by his hardcore following but not really moving forwards. Happily, this trend was reversed with the release of 1994's 'Sacrifice' album with which he explored a darker, moodier style.

 

Ultimately, this renewed respect that he gained since the mid-nineties meant that he had confidence in his back catalogue once again and could look back without accusation of trading on former glories. And so it was that between 2006 and 2009, he toured Telecon, Replicas and The Pleasure Principle, which for me having missed those early tours was everyting I ever wanted!

 

FLAC: http://we.tl/ydZsQ3eqlj

 

Artwork: http://we.tl/0nfCQ7Idth

 

01. Remind Me To Smile
02. Metal
03. This Prison Moon/Down In The Park
04. This Is My House
05. The Iceman Comes
06. Films
07. Cars
08. We Take Mystery (To Bed)
09. I Die:You Die
10. Me, I Disconnect From You
11. Love Needs No Disgiuise
12. Are Friends Electric?

 



The Damned Universal Amphitheatre, Universal City CA 16th March 2002

Here's a great sounding gig from 2002 when The Damned supported Rob Zombie on the 'Demon Speeding Tour'. The set is from the first album they recorded with Mr Sensible back in the fold, the rather magnificent 'Grave Disorder'.

The tour was ill-fated for the Damned who were to leave the tour after just a handful of dates. It was reported thus:

Punk band The Damned have decided to pull out of Rob Zombie's Demon Speeding Tour. Their last performance was on March 17 in San Jose, Calif. According to guitarist Captain Sensible, "Unfortunately, from the very first show it was apparent that The Damned's subtle blend of gothic punk was completely lost on the predominately metal crowds. Sorry to all our fans who bought tickets, but life's too short to spend two months in the back of a van when there's no point. We wish Rob, his band, and the excellent Sinisstar (decent chaps the lot of them!) all the best with the rest of the shows. We will however be coming back for the Warped Tour, which will be a lot more our cup of tea, I reckon." The band's Warped Tour dates run August 8-18 and are on the East Coast, with two shows in Canada.
The set list below contains an error in that 'Wait For The Blackout' is not played.

FLAC: http://we.tl/6LyXSMAIi7

MP3: On its way

Artwork: http://we.tl/p5O1ER4O39

Tour poster from the previous night's gig in San Diego

20 From '83(14) Poole Arts Centre 30th January 1983 - Unnamed Vinyl Bootleg

Here's a companion volume for the 'Taming Of The Hugh' post (thanks again go to Eric2Vini). It should be noted that whislt the artwork makes reference to Volume 2, this is not the second part of the gig recorded on the 'Taming' album.

 

WAV (as received): http://we.tl/vNiYYB9jHO

 

 

Artwork: http://we.tl/MQt3hdsu32

 

 

Please refer to to the album cover for track listing details.

20 From '83(13) The Taming Of The Hugh Poole Arts Centre 30th January 1983

With kind permission of Eric2Vini (who did an excellent job of remastering all of the old vinyl bootlegs that we all paid a fortune for in the '80's) who is happy for his work to be presented on this site also. 'The Taming of the Hugh' is one of the better known unofficial albums that was doing the rounds all those years ago. It sounds great (as does the full Poole '83 show incidentally) and has a certain bootleg charm in that the artwork used has no relation to the time of the recording, but at least they did a good job with the song titles.

Here's what Owen had to say of the album in the hallowed pages of Strangled Magazine.

WAV (as received): http://we.tl/28e6oVsvgf

Artwork: http://we.tl/37fsvARt3h

01. Nuclear Device
02. Toiler On The Sea
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

Cardiff University 16th October 2008

JJ Burnel at Cardiff University

16th October 2008

A date from the FortyTwoForty tour of 2008 which saw the band venture into Wales.

This one sounds pretty good.

FLAC: http://we.tl/R0OWeRqEsF

MP3: http://we.tl/6KDZCerb2Q

Artwork: http://we.tl/CRJYAnaRYs

01. Intro
02. (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
03. Five Minutes
04. Peaches
05. Nice N Sleazy
06. Spectre Of Love
07. Skin Deep
08. No Mercy
09. Always The Sun
10. Strange Little Girl
11. Golden Brown
12. The Raven
13. Thrown Away
14. Walk On By
15. Hanging Around
16. Straighten Out
17. Big Thing Coming
18. All Day And All Of The Night
19. Duchess
20. Tank

01. Nuclear Device
02. Something Better Change
03. No More Heroes
04. Outro

The Stranglers at Cardiff University

16th October 2008

Pink Pop Festival Geleen Holland 27th May 1985

JJ Burnel

Pink Pop Festival

27th May 1985

Another short festival set from the well established Dutch 'Pink Pop Festival'. It's a brief and rather sanitised set, but it does feature an early outing of 'Shakin' Like A Leaf'.

FLAC: On its way!

MP3: http://we.tl/EmrlfH4H1m

01. Uptown
02. Dead Ringer
03. No Mercy
04. Souls
05. Nice 'N' Sleazy
06. Skin Deep
07. Let Me Down Easy
08. Peaches
09. Shakin' Like A Leaf
10. Punch & Judy
11. Down In The Sewer

20 From '83 (12) The Revillos The Nite Club Edinburgh 1st December 1983

If the Starship Enterprise had a cabaret house band for those off-duty dances for the crew... it would have been The Revillos. Like a Rezillos for the '80's, Eugine and Faye took their unique brand of sci-fi kitch to well, another dimension. With brilliant sixties tinged tunes they persisted in injecting the fun in punk.... at a time when their Scottish post punk contemporaries were starting to take themselves very, very seriously.

Posted elsewhere in MP3, here it is in lossless format.

FLAC: http://we.tl/he1CFrT0sq

Artwork: http://we.tl/CevjhTQhWM

01 Intro
02 The Vampire Strikes
03 Bitten By A Lovebug
04 Big Boss
05 Devil In The New Man
06 Man Attack
07 Call Me The Cat
08 Midnight
09 Man Hunt
10 She's Fallen In Love With A Monster Man
11 Hey, Can I Have Some?
12 Bongo Brain
13 Guilty IN The First Degree
14 Love Bandit
15 Where's The Boy For Me?
16 Mindbending Cutie Doll
17 Motorbike Beat
18 Do The Mutilation

Fete Du Bruit Landerneau 11th August 2012

This was the band's big festival year. More so than any other year in their career, they took up the challenge presented by rain, mud, bad food and piss weak beer in order to wade through the trenchworks of the summer festival circuit.

Whilst festival slots mean great exposure to a largely virgin audience, to the bigger fan this equates to truncated, hit heavy sets..... but it is The Stranglers on top form nonetheless!

FLAC: http://we.tl/XkiWAPe4At

Artwork: http://we.tl/Kj0vMVBsum

01. 5 Minutes
02. Burning Up Time
03. Sometimes
04. Hey! Rise Of The Robots
05. Hanging Around
06. Time Was Once On My Side
07. Golden Brown
08. Always The Sun
09. Boom Boom
10. Peaches
11. Walk On By
12. Lost Control
13. Duchess
14. All Day And All Of The Night
15. No More Heroes