Badge of the Week #11

 

Bringing things more up to date (a bit!) :). Suite XVI 25mm.

Buzzcocks/Johnny Moped/Wire/X-Ray Spex/Smak Roxy London 2nd April 1977 (Sounds 16th April 1977)

So, following on from the Johnny Moped Roxy sets, here's Jon Savage's assessment of the gig. Remember, this was the gig from which much of the 'Live At The Roxy' album content was culled. All things considered it is quite a favourable review.

Sounds (16th April 1977)

Buzzcocks/Johnny Moped/Wire/X-Ray Spex/Smak

ROXY

ROXY RATPACK, Saturday nite.

Find a friend and stick close: sink or swim. Tony and Julie were right: a club full of ‘Wild Boys’ outtakes and budding SS officers – (Sunday Times headline, Sunday April 3rd: ‘National Front Woos the Young’) – plenty of new faces as the music, fashion and attitude is spread by word of mouth and publicity. The soundtrack for this B-movie tonight is five bands, all of which use as a base Punk Rhythm I – the Ramones drill variant.

First on are Smak. They are so goddam awful that they’re hardly worth writing about, except that the main motive for their formation seems to have been to cash in. No style, no music, no presence, and lyrics half-digested platitudes. And they try to ‘shock’ – Yecch.

X-Ray Spex, of all the bands on tonite, seem to have the most potential for mass appeal. The sound is basic, but full and driving and, best of all, well mixed. (The Sax sound gives them an edge of difference). I suppose they’re fashion ‘n’ fun more than anything – Poly buzzes round the stage taking hecklers in her stride (Roxy Test I is how the bands deal with exploratory barracking) and forestalling most criticism with her songs: ‘I am A Cliché’, ‘I Can’t Do Anything’, ‘Bondage Up Yours’. She needs an audience and projects… most are converted, even Ari from The Slits, who came to pull mike wires.

Next are Wire: they short-circuit the audience totally, playing about 20 numbers, most about a minute long. The audience doesn’t know when one has finished and other is beginning. I like the band for that… good theatre. Image wise they look convincingly bug-eyed, flash speed automatons caught in a ’64 mod time-warp. As to songs: I’m really not sure – there seems to be some scheme of things, but this is buried in the poor sound and the limitations of the format. I caught the words to two songs, which I knew already: ‘Three Girl Rhumba’, and ‘One, Two X U’, which was the best of the set. There were glimpses of genuine originality: I’ll hold. The audience only really got interested when the bass player blew his stack at a heckler.

By the time Johnny Moped came on, one riff was beginning to merge into another… Wire’s poor sound and pretension had me blanked out so Moped didn’t grab my attention too much – watching. I could really take it or leave it. In fact, he’s fun, one of nature’s loons, he prowls round like a shabby tiger, sawn-off leather jacket and forehead full of hair. He’s one of the audience up on stage – the distance between them is minimal – and they love it. The band drives nicely – a solid rock sound. Best are a falsetto ‘Little Queenie’ and a version of ‘Hard Loving Man’. I still think he’ll remain a minor cult figure.

Four bands on into the punkathon: numb-out. All the better that the Buzzcocks are so good. Since the release of their EP, they’ve lost lead singer Howard Devoto, apparently pissed at the media monster that ‘punk’ has become – they’ve recruited a new bassist, Garth, switched the vocals to the Starway guitarist, Pete Shelley, and rehearsed.

The last is manifest; they excel at tight band work – no posing, no gobbing, no half-baked ideas of punkismo, just energy, presence and commitment. They sing and play because they have something to say. It isn’t particulary high-flown, brief jottings of everyday small incidents of boredom, frustration and despair., as the supermarkets and motorways spread. The titles tell: ‘Orgasm Addict’ – ‘Fast Cards’ – ‘Oh Shit’ – ‘Friends of Mine’ – ‘What Do I Get’.Their image/music mesh is good too – the flat Mancunian accent and laconic dryness fitting the lyrics and the cheap as a siren guitar sound.

As befits a band with Product, they get an encore (deserved): interestingly, they don’t do their most obviously anthemic song, ‘Boredom’, but a new one – ‘Love Battery’. Showing that they’ve transcended Devoto’s loss.

So – simply – hard driving speeded up rock, felt and meant and real, a reminder (after so much wretched excess) of how good ‘new wave’ music can be, Let’s hope the audience comes to them,

Jon Savage.

Johnny Moped The Roxy London 2nd April 1977

 

I have posted this gem previously with some erroneous information. Several years ago I posted these two sets from the inimitable Johnny Moped. On that occasion I stated that the recording was from 3rd February 1977. I was informed that the sets were recorded on 17th April 1977. Now, with the help of the two histories of The Roxy that I have, I have tried to figure out what was going on

The Roxy WC2 A Punk History - Paul Marko
The Roxy 14th December 1976 - 23rd April 1977 - Andrew Czezowski & Susan Carrington

As is often the case, a search of the internet serves only to muddy the waters further. There is a set on there said to be from 31st March 1977. Whilst this set has the same running order as the two sets presented here the gig atrributed to 31st March is different to both. However, a date of 31st cannot be correct as a gig by The Damned and Johnny Moped was cancelled. According to Andrew Czezowski's account, the reason given for The Damned pulling the gig was that Dave Vanian's vocals were shot, but the feeling within the Roxy camp was that this was ruse from Stiff who didn't want The Damned to appear on the album. Czezowski further complained that the cancellation cost them money as 31st March was intended to be the first of three further days recording for what would become the famed 'Live At The Roxy' compilation album (some bands including The Adverts had been captured in the third week of March). With The Damned pulling out the Manor Mobile was sitting idle with nothing to record. Moreover, the cancellation required Andrew and Susan to make last minute rearrangements to the recording plans which meant that the last day of recording (2nd April 1977) was a crowded affair in punk's premier club.

The second set is certainly the band playing on 2nd April, the night that the majority of the album was recorded. This version of 'Hard Lovin' Man' is the one that appears on the album. The other bands appearing on the bill on the 2nd were Smak (later The Unwanted), Wire, X-Ray Spex, Johnny Moped and Buzzcocks.

The venues gigography does indicate that the Johnny Moped did play the venue later in April, not on 17th but on the 16th when they played with Skrewdriver. However, it makes far more sense to state that the first set was recorded on the first night of the April recordings (1st April) when Johnny Moped played with Eater. In the Czezowski/Carrington account, Eater's Andy Blade remembers Mike Thorne (producer of the 'Live At The Roxy' album) asking Eater what kind of sound they were trying to achieve 'we just stared at him as though he wre talking Bulgarian or something' Blade recalled.

So there you have it Tom cats, I think that's sorted it. And this is just the kind of rabbit hole that the internet can drag you down and lose you a couple of hours on a  Saturday afternoon... establishing the origin of a 48 year old Johnny Moped set!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-hfRB4TLqRs

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-hgwjNGcTms

Kostrzyn Upon The Oder Poland 3rd August 2008

 

To complement the DVD footage from this 2008 festival gig in Poland, here is the audio, ripped I guess from the video. Thanks to the 'Live Bootlegs' site for this one. It's a great sounding soundboard recording of the full festival set. The DVD can be found here.

MP3 (320 kbps): https://we.tl/t-eq3e6duF0A

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-NKrw8qj1EB

Summer Festivals 2008 DVD Compilation

 

Here's a a great compilation of pro-shot festival appearances from Summer 2008. Apologies, I cannot recall when and from whom I acquired this but many thanks all the same!

DVD Disc image: https://we.tl/t-tab8yqs3El

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-hALtzKGoZf

Farewell Ian Grant (Melody Maker 9th August 1980)

 Yet more upheaval in The Stranglers Camp in what proved to be their most turbulent year. Another player in the story hailed as 'The Fifth Strangler'... I always thought that that honour went to Martin Rushent.

Ruts DC On Tour November/December 2025

 

Amidst all of the madness that is thrust upon us day in and day out right now I recommend an evening spent in the company of your friendly neighbourhood Ruts.

'A bunch of B.M.'s march in on D.M.'s,

And some stand there saluting the air,

They want to be pirates but the sea's not calm,

Tattooed cross bones on their arms.'

Elastica The Guvernment Toronto 29th September 2000

 

Mention of Elastica in the recent Pink Flag post prompted me to present this one. I will have waxed lyrical elsewhere on these pages about how much this band meant to me. Sadly for me, I got into them at the point where having just left the clubs behind them they had moved up into the bigger venues shortly before the release of the first album. There was a tour in 1995 along with a clutch of festival gigs over the summer and then not a lot else.... for the longest time.... five years in fact.

So, I only saw them twice, first time at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in early 1995 and then again at the Junction in Cambridge in 2000. And here's an object lesson for bands. When you are riding the crest of a popularity wave, don't wait five years to release your second album*

Elastica were the darlings of the music press in 1995, garnering every bit as much coverage as Britpop heavyweights Blur and Oasis. Justine or Donna needed only to fart and it would get them a front cover in Sounds or NME! Maybe it was the fact that the band was three quarters made up of ballsy, confident women that made them so beloved of the press. And the first album was a killer. But then came a prolonged period of radio silence. When eventually 'The Menace' emerged music had moved on and the press with it. 'The Menace' had its moments, most notably for me 'How I Wrote Elastica Man' with Mark E. Smith on vocals, but it nowhere near lived up to their first.

This soundboard recording from the 'Live Bootlegs' blog was one of the last that the band played.

* Looking at the history of the album, it would appear that attempts to record a second album in 1996 floundered for all of the usual reasons (drugs, personalities, musical differences...). Key members departed and and the band were barely still in existance. The band that recorded the second album was rather different, not least because Donna Matthews was gone (bass player Annie Holland did leave but came back).

MP3 (320kbps): https://we.tl/t-zZdnUGeBar

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-ufh7KJmT5r

TV Smith's The Adverts UC Theatre Berkeley CA

 

Trump's been in town, so by default I am angry.... and here's a man who would understand... TV Smith. Here's Tim back with The Damned after 48 years! 'TV Smith's The Adverts' is interesting as a billing, but I guess it's a device to get the punters in. The set here is predominantly from the 'Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts', with just a hint of the hugely underated 'Cast Of Thousands' LP included. 

One Chord Forever... The Wonders don't need any more!

Thanks to the original Dime uploader: lachnta productions.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-wR5i10ZiA7

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-zdWyzRdsUP

Le Bataclan 25th March 2010 DVD

 

Ok, looking through some video material this afternoon. Admittedly some of it is not so great, but this is alright, albeit a partial set. Audience shot there is a close focus on the stage and the image is steady. Also, there is probably not so much live footage of 'Retro Rockets' around which is a bonus for this one.

I was at this and I do not recall any incidents, but I believe the cover shot is from the gig and I have to say that I have seen that face before. By the look on his face coupled with the fact that he is holding a towel to his bass, I am assuming that beer has been thrown and that is not the hand of friendship that he is offering to someone unseen in the crowd!

DVD Disc Image: https://we.tl/t-qr5ufbjEeL

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-pxET9Yf2Mh

Fibbers York 13th July 2015

 

Unbelievably, this recording is now more than a decade old! This gig saw the band at Fibbers in York as part of a summer mini tour of the UK in 2015. Thanks to Mick originally for this one .... and to Meanie for the artwork. Note that this is uploaded in its original 24 bit format so will require a simple conversion if you wish to burn it to CD. 

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-lO3Iz7uvzt

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-9CYkcHUGgy

999 Pitcher Dusseldorf 24th July 2025

 

Here's one from 999's recent stint in Europe. A great gig (I have said more about it here). A great sounding recording from Peter... thanks as ever! I am surprised that it came out so well given the crush/heat in such a small venue. Fair play to Nick for spotting me, 90% hidden as I was around a corner right of stage.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and great to have a chance to sit down pre-gig and chat with Peter, Mutti, Arturo, Guy and Stuart.

Thanks to to David Devant for the photos!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-q0YwXXFLW3

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-88yB1eFLao

Black And White 2016 Tour Artwork Added

 

I have noticed that there are several gigs up on the site that are missing artwork. Here it is:

Leeds 2016 (pdf): https://we.tl/t-II4HGouhQl

Newcastle 2016 (pdf): https://we.tl/t-9WrfYjQ2EE

Nottingham 2016 (pdf): https://we.tl/t-w6CsEMcSgl

Manchester 2016 (pdf): https://we.tl/t-IE39iZsZ0c

Folkestone 2016 (jpeg): https://we.tl/t-OP7Uy6yLzT

Cambridge 2016 (jpeg): https://we.tl/t-TnyRySatQc

Some of this artwork is courtesy of Meanie, others are my efforts. Cheers! The gigs themselves can easily be accessed via the 2016 tag on the right hand bar of the home page.

Top 30 Punk Albums #6 Pink Flag - Wire

So this one then is for the madcap daughter, Mo, who got to Wire before I did. As I mentioned in the earlier demos post, Wire may be overlooked in your run of the mill punk narrative, but their debut album is a classic slice of 1977 punk rock. Fast, aggressive and sharp as a razor. I think that it's great and so did the critics who were effusive in their praise for the album.

Here's what two of them said.

New Musical Express (12th November 1977)

Sounds (12th November 1977)

'No Grass Grows On A Busy Street' - Baz Warne On 25 Years Of Strangling

 

I have no idea how knowledge of this one passed me by. I am familiar the title, Baz said it to me as I was stood in front of him at one of the acoustic gigs in The Netherlands... just about half an hour before he said 'If you're gonna call me a wanker do it to my face!'. Well, I never did say such a think, I don't think he is and besides he's much bigger than me! I guess as I leaned over to say something to Owen it must have looked that way. I think what I was saying was that the band seemed to be a little lubricated at that point in the proceedings judging from the banter on stage... any way I digress.

I am sure that this will be an excellent addition to The Stranglers library and for once, it may fill in some gaps in my own personal history with the band from the period when I walked away. I imagine that it will be quite a contrast to the choas and confrontation of the early years. Always interested tobetter understand inter-band relationships and how that helps or hinders the creative process.

Wire Demos 1977

 

Here's another band that slipped my attention for the longest time. Wire. I kind of consider them to be Mo's band... as I recall she was interviewed by the folk that were making a Wire documentary film. Whether it came out and whether she made the final cut, I have no idea. I only ever knew a couple of their, if not hits, perhaps better known songs. My biggest exposure to Wire came through Elastica who, after the release of their first album, were were being pursued by The Stranglers' and Wire's publishers who were raising the cry of 'Plagarism!'... from Wire's (or perhaps it was Colin Newman, I don't recall) corner the issue concerned the strong passing resemblance of not only Elastica's 'Line Up' to Wire's 'I Am The Fly' but also 'Connection' to 'Three Girl Rhumba'. To be fair, there was a case to be answered!

That Wire were a great band is evident, coming across loud and clear even from these rough and ready demos, most of which in a refined form appeared on the excellent 'Pink Flag' album.

The relevance of Wire to this site goes back to their support slot when The Stranglers played the sports hall at Brunel University on the 1977 Autumn Tour' (No More Heroes).

Gig Advert from 'LeNurb'

(Brunel University Student University Newspaper 1977)

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-XqAZkLHfdm

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-BcsCeX5jtx

20 From '87 (10) Husker Du Mc Donough Field Emory University Atlanta GA 23rd October 1987

 

Now here's a band that were very in vogue in the second half of the 1980's. As such they were on my horizon but I never really went after them as a band. I remember whilst in sixth form one of my mates latched on to them. We played the first live album, 'Land Speed Record' and being unacustomed to US hardcore at that time, how we laughed. I am listening to it now as I type this and I like it! In the years that followed that release they developed into a more melodic band and became beloved of the British music press. Of their later output I only know a handful of songs, 'Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely', 'Books About UFOs', 'Could You Be The One'..... Bob Mould went on to further success after the demise of Husker Du with Sugar.

Husker Du would only play eight more gigs after this one before an acrimonious split.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-i6HEhqDBI1

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-25dzj86LV5

June 1977 Roundhouse Gigs Announced (New Musical Express 21st May 1977)

 

NME announced in its pages of its 21st May 1977 edition the band's double event to take place on 26th June 1977. One of the two gigs can be found here, whilst Barry Cain's Record Mirror review is here. The news item goes on to report that elsewhere in the country this most 'undesirable' of bands were experiencing the frustration of gig cancelations as paranoia concering all things p**k rock reached silly proportions.

The Jam Sun Plaza Tokyo 16th May 1981

 

So further along in the 'Sound Affects' story and The Jam are in Japan. This recording was the bootleg LP 'Set Tokya Ablaze'. As single album it is not the full set, but it is a great sounding mixing desk document of the Jam at their peak. The sound has been 'seen to' by DomP who kindly shared this file with me.

I don't know if it is just me but whilst it is brilliant to have the technology available to record a full show with no breaks ('what no tape flip?'  I hear you cry!). I still like the idea of the old style bootleg album... perhaps that's all down to the fact that I could never afford them!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-AOdoB7u6Js

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-fVcTrJ5cVB

The Jam Apollo Theatre Manchester 31st October Or 1st November 1980 (New Musical Express 8th November 1980)

 Of course The Jam took 'Sound Affects' out on the road on a tour that sold out country wide well ahead of the album's release.

NME caught up with them in Manchester.

New Musical Express (8th November 1980)

Top 30 Punk Albums #5 Sound Affects - The Jam

 

The fifth studio album from The Jam. This is not actually my favourite album by The Jam, but that is of no consequence because all six of the band's studio albums warrent a place in this Top 30 (provided you don't get to pedantic about the 'punk' bit.

I have located two significant reviews of the album and I concur with them both, as do the reviewers from NME and Record Mirror (it was almost as if they compared notes prior to going to press). Paul Du Noyer got it right with his opening lines, in that no two albums from The Jam were the same, each represented a musical progression from the last. 'Sound Affects' was preceded by 'Setting Sons', their best in my view. But whereas 'Setting Sons' is darkly claustrophobic taking on gritty themes, especially in 'Private Hell' and 'Little Boy Soldiers', 'Sound Affects' is more upbeat... in parts a celebration of youth and a nod to the Mod Revival that they themselves had unwittingly fomented ('Pretty Green' and 'Boy About Town'). Regarding 'Boy About Town' I agree again with Du Noyer that this tune is more in keeping with 1980's crop of 'Mods May Day' Weller wannabes. The album does also revisit earlier themes, Weller's 10-minute masterpiece (the time taken to write it according to PW) 'That's Entertainment' is a sequel to 'Saturday's Kids', whilst 'Man In The Cornershop' once again views dreams and disappointments of the aspirational.

At the time of 'Sound Affects', The Jam could do no wrong and to be honest, they made very few mistakes from this point through to the break up of the band. Their legacy as one of Britain's greatest bands is untarnished.

Polydor knew this would be a hit (the album peaked in the UK at No. 2 being kept from the top spot by Abba's 'Super Trouper', so no disgrace there) and this was reflected in the promotional budget. Multiple variants of a promotional advert appeared across the music press.

Here's the critics view then.

New Musical Express (22nd November 1980)

THE JAM
Sound Affects (Polydor)

NOT ANOTHER Jam album? Well, no, actually. There's never been "just another Jam Album", and 'Sound Affects' is no exception. Like each successive release of their career, this album takes the band forward; just as 'Setting Sons' did from 'Mod Cons' did from 'Modern World' did from 'In The City'. 'Sound Affects' isn't a perfect Jam 'album, even if it is a great one, but above all it's a brave departure and an earnest effort to break new ground. 'Sound Affects' is The Jam today, and that's what we need most of all!

The new songs represent a band that's as vital and as capable of anger as ever; butmore than ever before The Jam's attacking spirit is being allied to melodic invention, and to lyrics that are increasingly thoughtful. Ignore any suggestions that they're going soft or '67. That dense, heavy Jam sound which found its climax in 'Going Underground' and in the last album has been cut back, stripped down to only its most basic parts. Instrumentation is stark, spare and hard - though any bleakness that might imply is
amply compensated for by the ' richness of the playing and by the depth of the writing. The new songs include some of the simplest the band have ever done, yet also the most memorable.

Side one opens with 'Pretty Green', already an established feature in the live set. Built on a terse, insistent rhythm (inspired initially by Weller's liking for Michael Jackson), its lyrics describe an innocence that comes quickly to grasp the cash nexus: luxury or necessity, "this is society / You can't do nothing, unless it's in the pocket". By way of complete contrast comes 'Monday', a beautiful love song that climbs up to classic status via some soaring chorus harmonies, culminating in Weller's impassioned declaration: "I will never be embarrassed about love again': perhaps the record's most significant line.

Paul Weller's frank admiration for middle·period Beatles is evident throughout ‘Sound Affects', especially in the guitar work. 'Start' we already know about (included here in re-mixed form) and, another driving love song 'But I'm Different Now' comes stuffed with 'Dr Robert' riffing and 'I Feel Fine' ripples. The crucial point, though, is that these influences are incorporated only to enrich what's already there, and remain firmly subservient to Weller's own songwriting gifts and to the distinct, powerful identity of The Jam. As with The Who touches in earlier work, whoever they look to for inspiration it's always The Jam themselves who come out on top.

'Set The House Ablaze' has an 'Eton Rifles' feel, strident Buckler beat and marching army whistling. Its words, too, echo themes from 'Setting Sons' - old mate joins army, indoctrination sets in, communications breakdown follows. The tone is bitter, but with frustration not hatred .'That's Entertainment', which closes the first side, must rate as one of Paul Weller's finest pieces to date. Mellow, soothing harmonies underscore the chorus/title-line, brutally thrown into an ironic light by the verses, which amount to a jarring - litany of snapshot images seen through a young man's eyes in contemporary England, some violent, some sordid, some tender. "A police car and a screaming siren ... Paint splattered walls and the cry of a tomcat ... That's ' entertainment". No point me labouring songs that speak well for themselves, but it's been a perennial aspect of Paul's lyrics, this trick of taking the individual-in-a-crowd and throwing his perspective into sudden isolation, the participant as spectator ('In The Crowd’, 'Away From The Numbers', 'Tube Station', 'Wardour Street') retreating into himself. Sufficient to say that he's observing with more vivid descriptive ability than at any time previously.

Side two starts with a couple of similarly excellent numbers, but overall it fails to maintain the standard of the first. 'Dream Time' is harsh and abrasive, more traditional Jam in style. 'Man In The Corner Shop', another gorgeously memorable tune, returns to some gently sardonic reflections on the English class system: as always, the view-point is a humane, personalistic one rather than political in the mass, didactic sense. Although there are no Bruce Foxton compositions this time around, 'Music For The last
Couple' is credited as a group - effort. Essentially a studio session, it makes great play of the 'sound effects' parodied in the LP's title and cover art. Very loose in construction, with few words to speak of, it's the album's one lapse into self-indulgence; it's a pressure drop and, really, it lets the side down.

But the final tracks -:- 'Boy About Town' and 'Scrape Away' - also represent a tailing off. The former is strangely out of place, almost like one of those jaunty mod anthems that Jam imitators were churning out all last year. The lyrics do work to undercut the self-confidence of the chorus somewhat - but even the addition of 'Penny lane' brass doesn't lift the song much above average. 'Scrape Away', meanwhile, is disappointingly negative and vague. Like 'Last Couple', it gives an uncomfortable impression of being rushed through to beat a deadline.

But let's end on a positive note. Where Sound Affects' is good it's great, and where it's not so good it's still good. The Jam should go on being number one in our hearts and charts because they go on earning the right to be. I've got 'Sound Affects' and I'm chuffed with it and all want now ... is another Jam album.

Paul Du Noyer

Record Mirror (22nd November 1980)

And one more for good measure... a little disparaging from David Hepworth.

Smash Hits (27th November 1980)