This particular gig was a welcome surprise. The Damned headlined, but as I recall, no support was announced so it was a real surprise to see Charlie and Alvin on stage (Knox wasn't present).
The band, a long -standing UK Subs spin-off really brought Alvin and Charlie together with Knox from The Vibrators... well Charlie had to have something to do on the one weekend of the year when the UK Subs were not on tour!
Essentially a bit more rootsy rock 'n' roll, the Urban Dogs gave the Harp an excuse to wield his harp! So here they were this week four years ago promoting a new album 'Attack'.
I loved it at the time. 'Anthem' was Toyah's 1981 album with two of the biggest hits of the year, 'It's A Mystery' and 'I Want To Be Free'. As mentioned elsewhere on this site I saw the band in 1982. Before 'Anthem' I had 'Sheep farming in Barnet' which is a far more interesting proposition, and for those that still do appreciate a bit of Toyah, an album just about to be released as a 40th anniversary deluxe reissue.... and it does look lavish.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-NUa3rM5MYp
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-oiKoFVMDLs
More of this particular band in the coming days, but I just wanted to get his up on the site today of all days. Just look at the set. Marvellous!
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-OpIF7igKy7
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-pUGhcYLGGM
Black, Black, It's All Gone Black!
There are elements of The Sisters of Mercy I quite like. Certainly, 'First And Last And Always' is a great album, as is 'Gift' by The Sisterhood (an Andrew Eldritch spin-off featuring songs originally intended for the second Sisters of Mercy album). 'Floodland' again was a really strong album that saw the band having mainstream success with Eldritch joined by ex-Gun Club member and Mrs Vanian, Patricia Morrison. Nevertheless, I always struggled with taking them seriously, for sure no one could take them as seriously as them did themselves! Even Bauhaus occasionally revealed a glimmer of humour!
I never saw them, but I recall that mates were at the Brighton gig included here.
This posts includes two sets from 1984's 'Black October' tour, the main set from Brighton's Top Rank (minus the encore) and the encore only from Manchester University recorded a week or so before.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-qn0dAxxSSX
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-rGFStLHwJv
Now this is getting exiting, we have reached 'R' which means that pub reopening is within sight!!
And the final set in the trio.... with Duelling Banjos!
And the following night in Brugge/Bruges.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-tHlwkp0iXN
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-1Qn6R5aqmW
So the last recording posted was an acoustic, sorry make that aquostic, gig and indeed, as alluded to, The Stranglers tried their hand at a similar approach. 2007 was a very busy year for the band with much of their energies put into promotion in Europe, of the many gigs played that year, only a handful of summer dates and the November 'Rattus Revisited' were played in the UK. As well as busy, the shows were varied with the usual electric sets in the first half of the year to the aforementioned Rattus anniversary shows in the autumn and an 'unplugged' tour of the Lowlands squeezed in on either side.
I guess the decision to play such a tour on the continent was deliberate. The laid back style of an acoustic tour tends to go down better in Europe. It would appear that the band's European fan base are more accepting of this approach than is the case in the huge halls the band play in the UK. The fact that those halls crammed with pissed people (and here I would include my good self) wanting to go mental to 'Go Buddy Go' also sits awkwardly with the acoustic set style. That said, listen carefully to this gig and it is clear that there was a travelling band of likewise pissed up Brits (who shall remain nameless) in attendance!
I did some of the dates in 2011 and I must say the shows were very enjoyable giving the band a chance to play songs that don't particularly benefit from being blasted out of an O2 PA system.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-fNq4De6R1A
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-jNXwHLoWf3
OK hands up, I have exercised a degree of poetic licence here. 'Q' is a difficult one, I have nothing by Queen and Quiet Riot or the Quire Boys are not my thing at all. And so I give you Quo. Now before you recoil in horror, pause for one second, this is not the normal denim and leather fodder that the band had been churning out for decades, for this is an acoustic set..... quite a few old bands have tried it I understand! With this different take on that familiar sound it is clear that much of the material is pretty good and well written..... oh and 'Pictures of Matchstick' is a classic of the psychadelic era!
I saw Status Quo once, well that said I stood and watched them for 15 minutes at Reading Festival in 1987, just to be able to say that I had seen them. We returned to the test for more alcohol and laughed as they were still cranking out the hits 2 hours later.
It's funny, but they have the reputation that all their songs sound the same, but years ago at a local pub quiz there was an intros round with you guessed it, 20 Quo intros. We scored 20/20 and all the titles were indeed different.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-xpZ5Ypz2Dq
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Vnc5TlSZnq
Well 'P' is an easy option and I was presented with many choices to upload. Nevertheless, I plumped for something more obscure ad no doubt challenging to some. But this is a broad minded site and can and indeed does contain material that is sometimes rather tenuously linked to the band. This recording is a case in point. The 'band' are Propellerheads, an electronic paring of Will White and Alex Gifford. Now Alex as you know had an association with the band that lasted several years, originally contributing sax to the brass section that played on the Aural Sculpture tour, after which he took to lead vocals in Dave and JJ's side project The Purple Helmets.
And a Happy Birthday to this one from The Playhouse Theatre in Edinburgh, 39 years ago tomorrow tonight!
WAV: https://we.tl/t-xxbPuf8yfr
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Nq5NAdbUn6
I guess that 99% of visitors (from the UK) will understand, the other 1%, please ask your parents.
The Stranglers may have dictated the way I dressed back in the '80's but this band informed my thoughts on politics (dictated being the wrong word here). I have for sure said it on this site before that it was Spitting Image (the first incarnation) and the Miner's Strike that hammered home the message into my 16 year old brain that politics matter. Whether you like politicians and the wily ways of those same politicians or not, they make decisions that affect your lives for good or bad. No one can afford to let our political leaders ride roughshod over the things that are important in our lives.... and that is true whether you are coming from the perspective of the left or right.
The Newtown Neurotics come/came from Harlow in Essex, the town where I have worked for 18 of the last 26 years. These days they only play a handful of gigs a year. Things have moved on, sadly bass player Colin died a few years ago, drummer Simon lives in Brighton, so its just Steve that can be seen on occasion in Harlow Town in his distinctive shades.
Back in the late summer of '88, The Neurotics (by that time) had released their final album, the brilliant 'Is Your Washroom Breeding Bolsheviks?', but by that time the end was in sight. Colin Dredd left the band for health reasons leaving the band with just a handful of gigs left to play before they called time.
I was lucky enough to see a couple of those swansong gigs, an anti-fascist gig at the Electric Ballroom as well as the last gig at the Fulham Greyhound on 29th October 1988. That gig was amazing, but this is the one that I really would have wanted to be at. The farewell to Harlow on 10th September 1988 with a marathon 37 song set.
Here the venue is as important as the band. The Square was an oasis in an otherwise drab new town, and I am not running Harlow down here it's just that that venue was so very special to musicians and punters alike. The land is owned by the NHS and time was called on the contract several years ago. The venue stood vacant for a year or so before being demolished. The plot has subsequently been fenced off for almost three years now... to what end? If no plans existed for the land at the time of the enforced closure why on earth could it not have been allowed to stay open! Rant over.
Anyway, here is what must be one of the best Neurotics gigs ever.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-OVjhOxhwUa
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-6tWu9O9kYk
I was just 10 years old in 1979, just discovering music off my own back.... no older brothers or sisters to point me in the right direction.... I made all my musical mistakes entirely on my own!
One thing that sticks in the mind from that time is the appearance of monochrome check.... not only that but these strange anthropomorphic 'M's that were cropping up on walls, school bags and exercise books. This was the start of the Madness. And what was not to love about that sound, the energy, the excitement of it all. My Grandfather went into Rounder Records in Burgess Hill, West Sussex to get me 'One Step Beyond' bless him.... what with him being a Bing Crosby fan and all!
Here's a piece that appeared in the 24th November 1979 in Sounds, just a couple of weeks after returning from their first US tour (see The Whisky post).
Reading through this interview as I transcribed it, I have to say that of all the 2 Tone bands Madness appeared to have been the least vocal about the dodgy right wing following that were drawn to them all.
And here we have Camden Town's Magnificent 7 performing on their first tour of the US. I would love to have seen them at this time.... preferably in the Dublin Castle with Guinness in hand.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-xcozD0Pyfh
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-nvrmUtL5uB
Here are The Lurkers in one of their many incarnations. By 1982, singer Howard Wall had departed and been replaced by Marc Fincham who teamed up with stalwarts, Pete Stride, Esso and Nigel Moore for a 1982 album release 'This Dirty Town'. The reunion was however short lived, as the band parted company once again in 1984.
To deviate from the music for a moment. I meant to post this on here last Wednesday at the same time that I posted it on a couple of Facebook pages, but overlooked to do so.
The story concerns the death of a soldier of The Great War. He lived his adult life before sailing for France not a two minute walk from my front door. If the urge takes you please take a look on one of my other sites.
https://adigbeyondthegrave.blogspot.com/2020/11/remembering-private-bertie-osborne.html
The knives were out for The Stranglers in late 1981 with the release of the band's sixth studio album. Some of the writing from these detractors is lazy and the attention to detail is somewhat lacking.... mistakes I have left in. For example NME's Barry Hoskyns goes to the trouble a penning a detailed panning of the album but then goes on to describe the title track as 'a sad lament sung in Cornwell’s most deadpan tone'.... leave the French to the French one perhaps Barry?
Presented below are reviews from three of the big four UK music weeklies, New Musical Express, Sounds and Record Mirror (any one have a review from Melody Maker?). Also are included is the review from the more teen orientated Smash Hits and one local press review lifted from Jet's press scrapbooks.
Another 'La Folie' tour set from Bristol.
Today I received a significant upgrade of this did from Dom P. Cheers. Also included in this version is 'Hallow To Our Men' from the sound check.
UPGRADE FLAC: https://we.tl/t-AjFmjyik57
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-reNd2NAIYh
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-05pWFP0Bmt
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-VtqS22hKt6
Artwork (by Manu Gomez): https://we.tl/t-KKcK9olfUx
