Sick Things - Bondage Boy

 

Thanks to everyone who had a read of my top 30 tracks of 2014, in 24 hours it's already had more than twice as many views as any other post on here, hopefully some of your favourites were included. For newcomers to the blog, hang around, it's not just new music that gets posted, I also like to feature great songs from yesteryear. Today's update is one of those.
  I'm no expert on these oldies, I just post songs that I like and try to add a bit of info so if anyone knows more please feel free to share your knowledge in the comments section, it's your blog as much as mine.
  Today's song was recorded at Spacewood Studios in Cambridge in 1977 and was originally intended for release on Raw Records (as Raw 28) but didn't in fact see the light of day (an appearance on a compilation album aside) until Chaos Records put it out in 1983. Following the release of The Killjoys' Johnny Won't Get To Heaven single, The owner of Raw Records put an advert in the classifieds section of Music Maker asking for demo tapes. He says "The telephone never stopped ringing. One of the phone calls came from a girl who called herself Charlie (Greene). She worked for a record pressing plant in the West London area. In a call that probably lasted 45 minutes her personality was so sparkling that I agreed to record her band without ever seeing or hearing them. They were called The Sick Things!"
  The Chaos records release was a 4 track ep entitled The Legendary Sick Things E.P. As far as I'm aware it was the band's only release, it contained the tracks Bondage Boy, Street Kids, Anti-Social Disease and Sleeping With The Dead. It's pretty fast paced, in your face, female fronted punk rock with lyrics about dodgy sexual practices. The band had split by 1978, Charlie Greene briefly joined up with ex Drone Gus Gangrene in a Manchester band called Bitch but after a single called Big City she went off to Sweden and helped form a band called Chatterbox.
  The Sick Things ep was re released in 2000 on Damaged Goods Records. A song about s&m, this is Bondage Boy.......
 

The Dictators - Stay With Me

I'm up early today and out pretty much all day so I'll just fire off a quick update before I Head out the door. I'm sure The Dictators need no introductions, they've been around in one form or another since forming in New York City in 1973. The song I'm posting was on their 1977 album, Bloodbrothers, it features a line up of Handsome Dick Manitoba, Ross "The Boss" Friedman, Scott "Top Ten" Kempner, Andy Shernoff and Ritchie Teeter and it's one of punk's finest moments. This is Stay With Me......

I shuffle down the street
my eyes are on my feet
I got no place to go

I try to reason why
but end up getting high
I'm drinking more it shows

I stare into the TV screen
but every face reminds me of a girl
I never used to be so mean
but I can't bear to face
my shattered world,
you just ain't fair to this romeo
I fell apart when I watched you go
Baby, baby, baby

My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my,
heart is calling won't you
Stay with me
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my,
heart is calling won't you
Stay with me

The stars they used to shine
but now my tears they blind
the fun we used to have

At night I toss and turn,
the memories they burn
I don't know how to laugh

I try and make the social scene
but I get drunk and turn into a fool
Then I start a fight
because I'm only half the
man I was with you
said we'd never part until we die
Why didn't you stop when
you heard me cry
Baby, baby, baby

My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my,
heart is calling won't you
Stay with me
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my,
heart is calling won't you
Stay with me

The Skids - Test Tube Babies

"TESTING, TESTING 1-2-3"    
                                                                                                                                A band that you'll all be familiar with today. The Skids formed in 1977 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland and originally featured Richard Jobson (vocals/guitar/keyboad), Stuart Adamson (guitar/backing vocals, keyboards/percussion), Bill Simpson (bass/backing vocals) and Tam Kellichan (drums). They had a string of hit singles (including Into The Valley, Working For The Yankee Dollar, Masquerade, Charade, A Woman In Winter etc), most of which I bought when as a schoolboy in Lancaster, I'd be a regular visitor to local independent record shop, Ear Ere. They also released 4 albums (the final one, Joy, featured a more folk oriented sound and was the only one recorded without Stuart Adamson who by then had left to form Big Country). They split in 1982 but gigged again in 2007 as a tribute to Adamson who died in 2001. The song I'm featuring is one of their earliest, it came out in 1977 and was one of the tracks on the Charles ep. This is Test-Tube Babies.....

Chainsaw - What Goes On

1,2,5,7,8......  Ok their ability to count properly might be questionable but there's no doubting Chainsaw's aptitude when it comes to knocking out a killer cover version. Forming in Brussels, Belgium, in 1976 and featuring Jerry Wanker on guitar, Dee Dee on vocals, Micky Mike on bass and Bob Seytor on drums they released just one single. It was the See-saw ep and came out in 1977 on Romantik Records, it featured the songs What Goes On, Nuclear Apocalypse, Kill In The Blanks and Z'Heroes Guts. They didn't last much longer, splitting in 1978, but they deserve a shout out here for their scratchy and rather wonderful version of The Velvet Underground's What Goes On........

The Stranglers - Goodbye Toulouse

Still struggling with my pc but managed to use someone else's for today's update so I'll pick a band that doesn't really need much of an introduction. The Stranglers have been around in one form or another for the last 40 years. They were originally called The Guildford Stranglers after the town in Surrey from which they hail but soon streamlined their name. You all know the many hits they've had so I won't bother with a discography, I'll just get to the point and post one of my favorite songs of all time. From their 1977 debut album Rattus Norvegicus, this is Goodbye Toulouse......

Your streets were paved with love
Your skies were blue
Goodbye Toulouse

I walked your streets in fear
I washed your streets with tears
Toulouse

Your cafes tell a tale
Of saddened millionaires
Toulouse

A million dreams I had
A million lies I told
Toulouse

Goodbye Toulouse
Goodbye Toulouse

Paula leaned out to me
From her high balcony
Toulouse

I will return some day
So you can hear me say
Farewell

Goodbye Toulouse
Goodbye Toulouse
Goodbye Toulouse

Lurkers - Love Story

One of the original punk bands on the blog today. The Lurkers formed in Uxbridge, London in 1976 and were one of the most popular acts around (both live and on record) without ever quite reaching the heights of The Pistols or The Clash. Despite a string of killer 45's and a couple of popular albums their label, Beggars Banquet, started to lose interest in the fading punk scene and the band split in 1980 due largely to musical differences. They returned for a spell between 82-84 but it was only when bassist Arturo Bassick was inspired (and financed) by German punk band Die Toten Hosen into giving it another go that they made their comeback proper. With Arturo the only remaining original member they've been around ever since. Original members Pete Stride, Nigel Moore and Esso have reunited in GLM (God's Lonely Men) and released an album called Chemical Landslide, they're also hoping to record a new album soon. One of my favourite Lurkers song was the b side to their classic Shadow single, this is Love Story.......

The Dils - I Hate The Rich

Growing up in Northern England in the 70's I was around at the right time to experience the new, exciting music that was named punk rock. Actually, that isn't quite true, if I had have been a couple of years older and from a bigger city then i might have managed to latch onto things a little earlier. The first albums i bought were Machine Gun Etiquette, Inflammable Material and Give Em Enough Rope. I never got to see The Pistols or The Clash live though i did manage the likes of Siouxsie And The Banshees and PIL. Almost right time, almost right place, almost. Though as a 13 year old Grammar School boy i do remember listening to John Peel and eagerly devouring Sounds and the NME. Back in those days, London seemed an exotic place, a far away city with a rich and varied cornucopia of bands and gigs. The American punk scene was made up of bands like The Ramones, The Dead Kennedys and The Dickies, beneath that not much registered with me and I suspect this is the case with many other UK punk fans. So whilst many of the people reading this grew up on music from bands like The Dils, it probably wasn't till many years later that others, like myself, became aware of them. Forming in 1977 in Carlsbad, California (though soon relocating to San Francisco) and noted for their left wing politics they released only a fairly small amount of material but were influences on a multitude of impressionable youths. They split in 1980. This is their debut single, I Hate The Rich.....

I hate the rich
they should dig the ditch
I hate the rich
got a life without hitch, life without a hitch

I hate the rich
I don't want their money
I hate the rich
and it ain't so funny

look at the poor
crawling on the floor
look at the poor
always wanting more, always wanting more

look at the poor
all they need is money
look at the poor
now it ain't so funny

i hate the rich
look at the poor
i hate the rich
i hate them all

Jerks - Get Your Woofing Dog Off Me

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said Let there be punk: and there was punk."

And lo, whichever version of the Punk Bible you believe, whichever church you follow (the church of Iggy, of The Ramones. of The Pistols etc), a new religion found a multitude of followers.

Amongst these followers were 5 teenagers from Yorkshire who saw the light after witnessing the 1976 Anarchy In The UK tour and immediately started practising in a lowly garage. Despite playing their first gig in Leeds under the name Simon Snake & The Amputated Leg Band they soon settled on the less unwieldy name Jerks. Good enough to tour with the likes of Sham 69, The Adverts, Generation X and Penetration they released several decent singles, none better than their wonderfully titled debut, Get Your Woofing Dog Off Me.....

The Victims - (I`m) Flipped Out Over You

Back to 1977 today.This song, (I'm) Flipped Out Over You, is from Perth (Western Australia)'s The Victims and it was the b side to their Television Addict 7". Although the band only lasted a couple of years, members went on to play in the Hoodoo Gurus and The Scientists. If this doesn't get you moving nothing will...

The Boys - Cop Cars

Way back in time today to 1977, today's song is from the self titled album by The Boys. The London punk pioneers didn't achieve the same commercial success as some of their contemporaries but they still influence many of the bands that you'll see featured in this blog. I was going to post their classic First Time single (hunt it down if you've not heard it) but instead I've gone for Cop Car. Enjoy.....