Surf Punks - My Beach

Back in the summer of 1980 when my Navy officer dad got transferred to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPGS) in Monterey, California and we moved into La Mesa Village, the local Navy housing complex there, my brother and I quickly fell in with the other teens who lived up in that area - folks like Mike C.; Jeff and his girlfriend Kathy; sisters Jane, Jill and Leslie; loud and brash Latina siblings Rosina and Gina; brothers Pete and John; Joel; Jenny... and so many others.  But foremost in the group were two middle schoolers, Mike F. and Martin.

We would all gather together on those warm evenings, usually up by the tennis courts on the grounds of La Mesa Elementary school, to talk, bust one another's balls, and goof off, away from the watchful eyes of our parents.  We would also occasionally mess with "Security", the men and vehicles sent over by NPGS during the night to patrol and keep an eye on the neighborhood.  Most of the time, our group and Security coexisted in a sort of sullen, "see no evil" detente - they would drive by the courts, while we would either ignore them or silently give them the 'hairy eyeball'.  But on other occasions, we would hide out in some leafy, secluded spot within La Mesa and wait for the truck to go by, so we could bombard the vehicle with pine cones and ice plants and wait for the satisfying sound of those projectiles striking metal before melting deeper into the woods when the officers stopped and attempted to give chase.  No, we weren't delinquents or troublemakers, per se - just bored kids looking to have some fun and gin up a little excitement in a fairly isolated corner of the city (years later, I learned that the Security officers, similarly bored with their duties, actually enjoyed and looked forward to the cat-and-mouse antics and chases from that time as much as we did).

Half of the La Mesa crew (including myself) would be attending Monterey High School in the fall; the other half would be going to Walter Colton Middle School, both schools located downtown.  My junior-high aged brother would get to be closer to and better friends with that latter group than I was... although everyone was pretty familiar with one another through our summertime hangout sessions.  We played football together on some weekends, made treks down the narrow (and in hindsight, extremely sketchy and secluded) forest path from La Mesa to Del Monte Mall to eat pizza and play video games at Round Table Pizza, and occasionally on weekends some of us hopped on the Monterey Peninsula Transit (MPT) bus (the region had a superb public transportation system, that stopped almost right at our front door) to places like Carmel and Cannery Row (both of which had yet to be befouled/spoiled by the tourist traps that now proliferate at those locations).  Suffice to say, we were a pretty tight-knit group.

I mentioned in a previous post long ago how UNimpressed I was with California early in our stay there; I was the proverbial 'fish out of water', East Coast guy living on the West Coast for the first time and initially not quite getting into the swing and flow of things there, especially in high school.  It was the presence of music that brought me around to this area, starting off with my encounter with a B-52's fan early in the school term.  As the year progressed, I was exposed to a ton of great 'new' bands there, that I doubtfully would have ever come across at my old Massachusetts high school, or if I had, would have been ostracized for, for being one of the 'weird' kids. In addition to my B-52's story (linked above), I also came across The Residents for the first time while there. The year I moved to Monterey was the year Australasian bands broke big in the States, led by Split Enz with their hits "I Got You" and "I Hope I Never" (the band played both songs on the ABC network late-night show Fridays that October) and followed by Men At Work ("Who Can It Be Now" was released in the spring of 1981, then their massive hit "Down Under" coming out later that year, finally topping the US charts almost a year later).

At Monterey High in 1980-81, there were two big bands that the kids there were buzzing about.  The first was The Medflys, a local Santa Cruz/Monterey ska/New Wave band   They were one of the most popular draws in the early and mid-”80s at clubs and festivals from Monterey and Santa Cruz to San Francisco, and were regularly named “Best Local Band” by area radio stations and news publications during its heyday.  The band”s sound was a combination of the New Wave rock that was popular at the time, mixed with fast-paced ska music, even a little ”80s pop. They were known for their theatrical, energized live shows, especially the acrobatic and charismatic front man Christ, who possessed surfer boy good looks and boundless energy.  Their early Eighties hits included "Compulsive", "Belfast" and "State Of Mind", and later in the decade, they scored notoriety with a novelty song commemorating Clint Eastwood's successful campaign for Mayor of Carmel, "Don't Mess With The Mayor":

In their time, the Medflys went on tour with some major headlining acts, including Joan Jett, fellow locals Huey Lewis & The News and Greg Kihn, but especially The Tubes, who they formed a lasting bond with.

The other band getting a lot of local attention in those years was one I first heard about from some girls who sat next to me in Mr. Clark's science class during my first weeks in school. I noticed early on that their class folders were covered with stickers for Mr. Zog's Sex Wax, a popular brand of surfwax used to aid traction and grip on surfboards.  Of course, I had no idea at the time what this product was; with the innuendo-laden line "The Best For Your Stick", it seemed to me to be a fairly risque image to display. One day, I finally worked up the nerve to ask them about it, and was rewarded with a crash course on local surf culture - the lifestyle, the equipment, the best spots up and down the Central Coast, and the music, especially that provided by their latest fave band, The Surf Punks, from Malibu.

Friends Drew Steele and Dennis Dragon formed The Surf Punks in 1976. While both of them were dedicated surfers and adopted a bohemian "surf'' attitude, their backgrounds were strictly upper class and grounded in big-time show business: Steele's stepfather was Gavin MacLeod of Mary Tyler Moore Show and Love Boat fame; Dragon was the son of popular symphony conductor Carmen Dragon and the younger brother of Daryl Dragon, the "Captain" in the hugely popular pop duo The Captain & Tennille.

The pair recruited a couple of friends and fellow surfers to join the band, including lead guitarist John Heussenstamm, Tony Creed on second guitar and harmonica, and bassist John Hunt, and began practicing in Dragon's garage studio across the street from Zuma Beach in Malibu, one of Southern California's most popular surf spots. The Surf Punks weren't really "punk", per se - most of their songs were various amalgamations of New Wave, surf rock, comedy rock and pop, with lyrics centered primarily on the in-group/out-group experiences of "locals" (surfers living on the beach in Malibu) and "valleys" (commuters from the San Fernando Valley to the private and public beaches of the exclusive Malibu Beach community).  The band has been described more than once as "The Beach Boys of the punk world", an assessment that wasn't totally inaccurate.

Their wild shows, at places like the legendary Starwood in Hollywood and a notorious show in Ventura, were a big draw in the area in the late 1970s, and generated enough attention in the group for a local producer to finance a single, "My Beach/Go Home" b/w "My Wave", released in Australia in late 1977. The Surf Punks' first self-titled album, an independent release on their own Day-Glo Records label, came out two years later, and cuts from this disc began receiving heavy play on L.A.'s influential alternative rock station KROQ-FM. This wider exposure led to the band booking more lucrative local gigs. And it also caught the interest of industry giant Epic Records, who picked up the group on a one-off contract; their debut album (renamed My Beach) was rereleased on the label in mid-1980.  The record was fairly popular in certain quarters (mainly coastal California, Hawaii, Australia and other semi-heavy surf communities), but wasn't a national breakout hit and did nothing chart-wise.  I used to hear it all over the Monterey Bay area during that time, though, and although I wasn't (and still am not) much of a beach bum, I enjoyed the music immensely.  It was stuff like The Surf Punks that really got me settled into life in California, and I began enjoying the area, the school and my neighborhood more and more.

 

Looking back, probably the nucleus of the La Mesa group, the center it all revolved around, were the two Mikes (Mike C. and Mike F.) along with Martin. The three of them lived only a couple of houses away from one another in the upper part of La Mesa Village, and as such they were the closest of buddies, with the same skewed senses of humor and penchants for mischief and danger. A once-legendary story that emerged from that time was the night in late 1980 the three took Martin's brother's car for a joy ride. His brother Carl really wasn't part of the overall group, although everyone liked him just the same; he was sort of quiet and kept to himself and his interests, which included the restoration of a vintage vehicle from the 1940s that he had acquired. This car was a thing of beauty - a huge retro body painted metallic blue with flecks of glitter in it, sporting chromium wheels and a sooped-up engine.  Carl would drive that thing around town and instantly stop traffic and draw stares wherever he was. Prospective purchasers were drooling for that auto to be put on the market... but Martin was to have first dibs on it, going 50/50 on the purchase with his father. The car wasn't in Martin's possession just yet, though - so I have no idea how he got hold of the keys...

Anyway, with Martin behind the wheel and the two Mikes riding shotgun, these guys decided to go for a spin down Aguajito Road and up the winding mountain road to nearby Jacks Peak Park. On the way back down, legend has it that Martin decided that would be a good time to open the car up and see what it could REALLY do... As they picked up speed, he reportedly crowed "I'M GOING TO BREAK THE LAND SPEED RECORD!!!" - just before he missed a turn and ran the vintage car into a ditch. Fortunately, none of the three were hurt, but the car was a total wreck.  When Martin's dad found out what happened, he rejoined "Well, I was going to go 'halfs' with you on this - but guess what? You just bought the WHOLE car!"

The NPGS authorities finally got tired of residents' complaints of "rowdy teens" and decided to address the issue by opening up a "Teen Center" in the middle of the neighborhood. I was one of those annoying "student leader" types back then, so I was asked to be on the planning and advisory board for the facility, in an unused building up there. In the bylaws I helped set up, it was decided that the kids themselves would run the place, with minimal adult supervision. So we elected officers (I was the first vice-president), stocked the place with vending machines, a pool table, pinball machines and video games, and threw the doors open that winter. The Teen Club was a resounding success from the get-go - every night, 40-50+ kids would pile into the place. We held parties and dances there as well (all the guys angling to dance the longest song (always "Stairway To Heaven") with Stephanie, the prettiest girl in La Mesa).

 

I graduated from high school and left Monterey after one year, but my family stayed on, as well as Martin, Freeman, and most of the old group. During my first few months away, I made an effort to acquire a copy of My Beach, to remind me of the place I had grown to be fond of.  The Teen Club still ran strong in my absence, and apparently continued long after all of us had left the area (Years later, I returned to Monterey as a Navy officer myself. On a whim, I drove up to La Mesa to look around, and was happily surprised to find the Teen Club still in operation. When I told the administrator there who I was and how the place came to be, she reached up on a back shelf and pulled down an ancient photo album, that included photos from that first year of existence!).

 

As it happens in military housing communities, the old, familiar groups tend to gradually dissipate, whittled down by graduations and family transfers. By 1984, everyone who had been part of that close-knit La Mesa circle had moved away.  However, I stayed in touch with many of the folks from that period, and watched as their lives progressed.  Pete ended up remaining in the Monterey area and became a paramedic; Jill became a French teacher; Martin moved down to San Diego and worked as a teacher and high school football coach; Joel also attended Annapolis and became a Navy officer; Mike F. - the wildest of us all - ended up joining the U.S. Border Patrol, and to his credit has advanced within it to high levels of responsibility. I haven't laid eyes on most of them in years, but we all still regard one another as friends - that's how it is when you're a "Navy brat".

 

Several decades have passed since those days... yet I still think back fondly on that time and the people that I knew.  While New Zealand will always be the best place I've ever lived, Monterey ranks a close second, and is the best place in the States I've resided, hands down.

In March of this year, Martin posted a message on his Facebook page, stating that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  While it was concerning, those of us who knew him weren't overly worried, as he had worked through some other serious health issues in the past, and seemed ready to lick this thing as well.

 

Alas, it was not to be - Martin died last week, at the age of 55.

It seems odd and strange that someone who was an integral part of that period is now no longer with us. Because in some ways, those times in Monterey seem like yesterday, and therefore I'm still in my youth. I still listen to my old Surf Punks albums from time to time (after My Beach, they released (to steadily worsening reviews and sales) Locals Only on Day-Glo Records in 1982, and their final label release Oh No! Not Them Again! on Enigma Records in 1988 - and yes, I own them all), and they still conjure up that fine teenage period of life for me. But with Martin's passing, the first of the group that I know of to die, it brings home the fact that those times WERE long ago, that I'm not as young as I'd like to think, and the clock is ticking - ticking for us all.

 

Gonna miss you, Martin, man - you made it to the top of the mountain and back this time.

 

In honor and in memory of my time in La Mesa, and for my old friend Martin, here's The Surf Punks' My Beach, released on Epic Records in June 1980. Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

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Various Artists - A Reference Of Female-Fronted Punk Rock 1977-89 (12 Discs)

[I began putting this one together back in mid-2018... but discovered some problems with the discs that took a while to sort out, and by the time I did so, I'd moved on to other write-ups. Guess I'll finish this one up now...]

I found this rarity available for download a couple of months ago [ed. note - early 2018], from an obscure music website, Kangnave (which appears to have been actively added to for a couple of years in the mid-2010s, but hasn't seen a new posting since 2015). Here's the description the blog moderator put up regarding this:

This is a pretty insane project put together by my pal Vince B. from San Francisco a few years back. As the title indicates, this is a homemade 12 x CD-R (!) compilation of punk bands fronted by female vocalists from 1977 to 1989. More like a giant mixtape than a compilation, as he only made 36 copies which he sent to friends and people who submitted material. You may notice that some of the bands didn’t have a steady female vocalist (The Lewd, etc.) but he still included songs that were sung by another member of the band. This is as international as it gets, with stuff ranging from world famous Blondie or Crass to the most obscure Eastern European cassette compilation veterans. The boxset came packaged in a handnumbered fancy translucent lunchbox enclosing all 12 CD-Rs, a stack of full-colored cards featuring comprehensive tracklist and artwork/info, as well as a manga pin-up figure! Talk about a labor of love.

Like the guy above said, this is a pretty incredible worldwide collection of decent to excellent punk vocalized by women - here's the lineup for all twelve discs:

Disc 1:

1. Blutsturz – Schweigen (Demo) (Germany, 198?)
2. Penetration – Money Talks (England, 1977)
3. Pyhäkoulu – Painajainen (Finland, 1986)
4. VulpeSS – Me Gusta Ser Una Zorra (Spain, 1983)
5. The Comes – Panic (Japan, 1984)
6. Suicide Squad – New Kids Army (Australia, 1980)
7. Rivolta Dell’Odio – Altari Del Terrore (Italy, 1984)
8. Sick Things – Anti-Social Disease (England, 1977)
9. Accident (a.k.a Accidents) – True Detective (USA, 1979)
10. Dishrags – I Don’t Love You (Canada, 1979)
11. Último Resorte – Hogar, Dulce Hogar (Demo) (Spain, 1981)
12. The Fastbacks – Someone Else’s Room (USA, 1981)
13. Anorexia – Rapist In The Park (England, 1980)
14. Phobia – Pretend You’re Not Crazy (USA, 1978)
15. Androids Of Mu – Bored Housewives (England, 1981)
16. Sort Sol (With Lydia Lunch) – Boy-Girl (Denmark/USA, 1983)
17. Tappi Tikarrass – Skrid (Iceland, 1984)
18. Flowers – After Dark (Scotland, 1979)
19. The Rentals – I Got A Crush On You (USA, 1979)
20. Pariapunk – Double Face (France, 1987)
21. Amsterdamned – Traditie Amme Balle (Netherlands, 1982)
22. Dr. Zeke – Vild I Skogen (Sweden, 1979)
23. The Lewd – Magnetic Heart (USA, 1982)
24. Au Pairs – Kerb Crawler (England, 1980)
25. Mo-Dettes – White Mice (USA/Switzerland/England, 1979)
26. Stripes – Weekend Love (Germany, 1980)
27. Violators – The Fugitive (England, 1980)

Disc 2:

1. Schund – Schund (Austria, 1982)
2. Wunderbach – Raya (France, 1982)
3. Total Muzak – Någonstans I Sta’n (Sweden, 1980)
4. Liliput – Hitch-Hike (Switzerland, 1980)
5. NJF – Sitting!! Pretty (Canada, 1984)
6. S.I.B. – Listless (Italy, 1981)
7. Manisch Depressiv – Zeitmaschine 1 (Switzerland, 1983)
8. Sheena & The Rokkets – Omae Ga Hoshii (One More Time) (Japan, 1979)
9. Rezillos – Flying Saucer Attack (Scotland, 1978)
10. Sado-Nation – Messed Up Mixed Up (USA, 1982)
11. Lucrate Milk – Fucking Pacifist (France, 1983)
12. Dan – Lust Is Greed (England, 1987)
13. Nasty Facts – Drive My Car (USA, 1981)
14. Life Cycle – Indifference (Wales, 1988)
15. Livin’ Sacrifice – Mentalsjuk (Sweden, 1981)
16. The Brat – Attitudes (USA, 1980)
17. Non Band – Ducan Dancin’ (Japan, 1982)
18. Bizkids – VIPs (Netherlands, 1980)
19. Minus Cway – Gdje Me Vjetar Odnese (Yugolsavia, 1982-88)
20. The Rats – Broken Wire Telephone (USA, 1983)
21. Anouschka & Les Privés – Contrôle (France, 1980)
22. Slits – Vindictive (England, 1977)
23. ICA – Untitled (Netherlands, 1981)
24. Trash – Peace Of What (USA, 1984)
25. Boys Boys – Monley Monkey (Japan, 1980)
26. Honey Bane – Girl On The Run (England, 1979)
27. TNT – Razzia (Switzerland, 1981)
28. Nuns – Wild (USA, 1980)
29. Electric Deads – 30 Years (Denmark, 1982)
30. Conflict – Who Will (USA, 1984)
31. Atims – Women (Netherlands, 1982)

Disc 3:

1. Hans-A-Plast – Polizeiknüppel (Germany, 1979)
2. Usch – LTO (Sweden, 1979)
3. Desechables – El Asesino (Spain, 1984)
4. Ici Paris – Le Centre Du Monde (France, 1980)
5. Action Pact – Suicide Bag (England, 1982)
6. Invaders – Backstreet Romeo (England, 1980)
7. Lepers – Flipout (USA, 1979)
8. Franti – Vento Rosso (Italy, 1983)
9. Out On Blue 6 – Examples (England, 1981)
10. Mr. Kite – Exit B9 (Japan, 1978)
11. De Zweetkutten – Atoomgeweld (Netherlands, 1981)
12. Ideal – Berlin (Germany, 1980)
13. Holly And The Italians – I Wanna Go Home (USA, 1981)
14. Modesty – Kad Srce Radi Bi Bam (Yugoslavia, 1982-88)
15. Delta 5 – Anticipation (England, 1980)
16. Beex – He Obliterates Me (USA, 1981)
17. Kaltwetterfront – Revolverheld (Germany, 1982)
18. Hydra – Ombre (Italy, 1985)
19. Vacum – Är Ungdomar Människor? (Sweden, 1980)
20. Nixe – Man Under My Bed (Netherlands, 1981)
21. Alternative – Seen Through Tear-Filled Eyes (Scotland, 1984)
22. Schematix – Nothing Special (USA, 1980)
23. Eyes – Don’t Talk To Me (USA, 1978)
24. Russians – Anything She Wants (England, 1980)
25. Kontrola W. – Manekiny (Poland, 1982/1998)

Disc 4:

1. Kizza Ping – Den Nya (Sweden, 1982)
2. Strapaze – Tage (Germany, 1983)
3. Glueams – 365 (Switzerland, 1979)
4. Kleenex Aktiv – Hilfe (Germany, 1985)
5. XL Capris – My City Of Sydney (Australia, 1980)
6. Josie Cotton – Johnny, Are You Queer? (USA, 1981)
7. Rakketax – Van Agt (Netherlands, 1980)
8. A-Heads – No Rule (England, 1982)
9. Drustvo Prisjecavalaca Boljih Dana – Sexualna Ovisnost (Yugoslavia, 1982-88)
10. Pink Champagne – Söndagsskolehyckel (Sweden, 1980)
11. Curse – Killer Bees (Canada, 1978)
12. Flirt – Don’t Push Me (USA, 1978)
13. 水玉消防団 (Mizutama Shouboudan) – 真空パック・トラベル (Japan, 1981)
14. Bizon Kidz – Godsdienstwaanzin (Netherlands, 1981)
15. X-Ray Spex – I Live Off You (England, 1978)
16. Reactors – World War Four (USA, 1980)
17. Klasse Kriminale – Construito In Italia (Italy, 1988)
18. Debils – Maso (Switzerland, 1981)
19. Plastix – Geschlechtsverkehr (Austria, 1981)
20. Avengers – Teenage Rebel (USA, 1978)
21. Hagar The Womb – Idolization (England, 1983)
22. Blitzkrieg – Szene (Germany, 1989)
23. DIRT – Hiroshima (England, 1981)
24. Disturbers – KZ Syndroom (Netherlands, 1980)
25. Andreas Dorau Und Die Marinas – Fred Vom Jupiter (Germany, 1981)
26. Pandoras – That’s Your Way Out (USA, 1984)
27. Lost Cherrees – Living In A Coffin (England, 1982)
28. Learned Helplessness – Vegis (USA, 1982)
29. A-Gen-53 – Stalingrad-Stumpfsinn (Austria, 1981)

Disc 5:

1. Crass – Where Next Columbus? (England, 1981)
2. A.P.P.L.E. – If In Heaven (USA, 1985)
3. Sleeping Dogs – (I Got My Tan In) El Salvador (USA/England, 1982)
4. Asbest – Family Care (Netherlands, 1982)
5. FFF – Arbeit Macht Dumm (Germany, 1986)
6. Gas – World Peace (Japan, 1985)
7. Les Calamités – Toutes Les Nuits (France, 1984)
8. Mother’s Ruin – Godzilla (Switzerland, 1979)
9. Toxic Waste – Traditionally Yours (Northern Ireland, 1985)
10. The Ex – Lied Der Steinklopfer (Netherlands, 1989)
11. NBJ – Dead Porker (USA, 1982)
12. Doll – Trash (England, 1978)
13. ST-37 – Unknown Soldier (Germany, 1985)
14. Jetset – Tot Hier En Niet Verder (Netherlands, 1982)
15. Fega Påhopp – Hålla Masken (Sweden, 1980)
16. Alma Y Los Cadáveres – Confidencias de Nutrexpa (Spain, 1982)
17. Da Stupids – Alien (USA, 198?)
18. Essential Logic – Quality Crayon Wax OK (England, 1979)
19. Beardsley – Summer Holiday (Japan, 1986)
20. Lärm – Pigeon (Netherlands, 1982)
21. Fatal Microbes – Violence Grows (England, 1978)
22. Sin 34 – Not (USA, 1983)
23. Vice Squad – Latex Love (England, 1980)
24. Lord Eva Braun – Week-End à Blois (France, 1989)
25. Ätztussis – Bullen (Germany, 1980)
26. Falange – Falange Suburbana (Brazil, 1988)
27. Bags – Survive (USA, 1978)

Disc 6:

1. Conflict – The Guilt And The Glory (England, 1982)
2. Putrid Girls – 1234 (USA, 1983)
3. Nog Watt – Going On (Netherlands, 1984)
4. Suburban Reptiles – 45 Single (New Zealand, 1978)
5. Lost Kids – Alle Taler (Denmark, 1979)
6. Edith Nylon – Edith Nylon (France, 1979)
7. Expelled – No Life, No Future (England, 1982)
8. Tollwut – Seuchen (Germany, 1981)
9. Blondie – Youth Nabbed As Sniper (USA, 1977)
10. Wartburgs Für Walter – More More Anymore (East Germany, 1989)
11. Ref – Soda Bikarbona (Yugoslavia, 1982-86)
12. Chumbawamba – beginning To Take It Back (England, 1986)
13. Mizz Nobody – Smittad (Sweden, 1978)
14. Platzangst – It’s A Light (Germany, 1983)
15. The Pogues – I’m A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day (Ireland, 1985)
16. St. Vitus Dancers – The Survivor (England, 1982)
17. Mary Monday & The Bitches – I Gave My Punk Jacket To Rickie (USA, 1977)
18. DZK – Juventude (Brazil, 1988)
19. Cocadictos – Juan Pablo II Y Amigos (Spain, 1983-84)
20. K.U.K.L. – Dismembered (Iceland, 1984)
21. Petticoats – Allergy (England, 1980)
22. Kalashnikov – Ødelæg Og Hærg (Denmark, 1984)
23. No Thanks – Fuck Everything (USA, 1983)
24. Indirekt – Shell Helpt (Netherlands, 1985)
25. Namenlos – Nazis (East Germany, 1984)
26. UXA – No Time (USA, 1980)
27. Peggy Luxbeurk – Sueur Froide (France, 1982)
28. Flere Døde Pansere – Midedød (Denmark, 1983)

Disc 7:

1. Toxic Shock – Remote Control (England, 1984)
2. Toxic Shock – Riot Riot Riot (USA, 1982)
3. Zelda – [Japanese Title] (Japan, 1981)
4. Total Chaoz – Oh Beatrix (Netherlands, 1981)
5. ZOI – Psaulme 1 (France, 1986)
6. Tozibabe – Moja Praznina (Yugoslavia, 1985)
7. Xmal Deutschland – Qual (Germany, 1983)
8. Ghost Walks – Fallen Angel (USA, 1985)
9. Life In The Fridge Exists – Have You Checked The Children? (New Zealand, 1980)
10. X – Nausea (USA, 1980)
11. Sacrilege – Dig Your Own Grave (England, 1985)
12. Combat Not Conform – Keep Your Head (Germany, 1985)
13. Typhus – ノータッチ (Japan, 1980)
14. Foreign Legion – Trenchline (Wales, 1986)
15. Rough Cut – Danger Boy (USA, 1981)
16. Ludus – Mother’s Hour (England, 1981)
17. The Bastards – Impossibilities (Switzerland, 1978)
18. Rutto – Paha, Kuolema (Finland, 1983)
19. Nikki Corvette – Young & Crazy (USA, 1977)
20. Photos – Skateboard (England, 1980)
21. Last Few – Suicide Commando (Netherlands, 1983)
22. Tyranna – Back Off Baby (Canada, 1980)
23. Screaming Sneakers – Violent Days (USA, 1982)
24. Poison Girls – Statement (England, 1982)
25. Verdun – Günther (France, 1988)
26. Noh Mercy – Caucasian Guilt (USA, 1979)
27. Bow Wow Wow – C30, C60, C90, Go (England, 1980)
28. Götterflies – Empty (Netherlands, 1981)

Disc 8:

1. Post Mortem – The Casualty (England, 1985)
2. Antischism – Evil God (demo) (USA, 1989)
3. Wrong Kind Of Stone Age – Run Amok (Australia, 1984)
4. The Puke – Happy Family (Netherlands, 1981)
5. Teddy & The Frat Girls – Clubnite (USA, 1980)
6. Questions – Take A Ride (France, 1980)
7. 無理心中 (Muri Shinjuu) – 子宮 (Live) (Japan, 1980-82)
8. Rubella Ballet – Something To Give (England, 1982)
9. Die Tödliche Doris – Kavaliere (Germany, 1982)
10. Los Microwaves – Time To Get Up (USA, 1981)
11. Extrém Exém – Eget Liv (Sweden, 1982)
12. Icon A.D. – Fight For Peace (England, 1982)
13. Dago Wops – Big Mac (Germany, 1981)
14. 8-Eyed Spy – Diddy Wah Diddy (USA, 1980)
15. Indian Dream – Insult To Injury (England, 1985)
16. Destroy All Monsters – Bored (USA, 1978)
17. Bluttat – Flying Into Heaven’s Door (Germany, 1985)
18. Raincoats – Adventures Close To Home (England, 1979)
19. Afrika Korps – Buzz Stomp (USA, 1977)
20. M’n’M’s – I’m Tired (USA, 1980)
21. キャ→ (Kyah!) – Slapdash (Japan, 1985)
22. Teenage Jesus & The Jerks – Less Of Me (USA, 1978)
23. Dog Faced Hermans – Balloon Girl (Scotland/Netherlands, 1987)
24. Mydolls – Soldiers Of A Pure War (USA, 1983)
25. Gash – Gash Trash (Australia, 1986)

Disc 9:

1. Berlin – The Metro (USA, 1982)
2. Poles – C.N. Tower (Canada, 1977)
3. Kuolleet Kukat – Vihollinen On Systeemi (Finland, 1984)
4. Joyce McKinney Experience – Armchair Critic (England, 1989)
5. VKTMS – Hard Case (USA, 1979)
6. ゴメス (Gomess) – 地獄へ (Japan, 1986)
7. Charol – Sin Dinero (Spain, 1980)
8. Tragics (a.k.a Misfits) – Mommi I’m A Misfit (USA, 1981)
9. Kandeggina Gang – Sono Cattiva (Italy, 1980)
10. Jingo De Lunch – What You See (Germany, 1987)
11. Vermilion – Angry Young Women (England, 1978)
12. The Maggots – (Let’s Get, Let’s Get) Tammy Wynette (USA, 1979)
13. Brain Death – Personal Affair (Japan, 1987)
14. Squits – Porno Pirate (Netherlands, 1982)
15. Siouxsie And The Banshees – The Staircase (Mystery) (England, 1979)
16. Unwarranted Trust – Honour’s Calling (Canada, 1984)
17. Bulimia Banquet – Scientology Sucks (USA, 1988)
18. Nurse – ナ－ス (Japan, 1983)
19. Secta Suicida Siglo 20 – Virginidad Sacudida (Mexico, 1989)
20. Castration Squad – The X Girlfriend (USA, 1979)
21. Jo Squillo Eletrix – Skizzo Skizzo (Italy, 1981)
22. A5 – Reeperbahn (Germany, 1980)
23. Manufactured Romance – You (England, 1980)
24. Frigidettes – Turmoil (USA, 1982)
25. Capitalist Alienation – Nuclear Trash (Canada, 1987)
26. Sperma – Please Love Me Tonight (Japan, 1985)
27. Mystery Girls – Ego (USA, 1983)
28. Exeroica – Del Apocalipsis (Argentina, 1988)
29. Partners In Crime – I Wanna Drive You (USA, 1984)
30. Dawn Patrol – What My Gonna Do (With Me) (England, 1981)
31. Maps – My Eyes Are Burning (USA, 1979)

Disc 10:

1. Neo Boys – Never Comes Down (USA, 1980)
2. New Walls – No Creation!? (Japan, 1985)
3. Gymslips – Miss Nunsweeta (England, 1982)
4. Loud Warning – Loud Warning (Netherlands, 1986)
5. Vs. – Magnetic Hearts (USA, 1980)
6. Turncoats – Waste Of Time (England, 1987)
7. Agonia – [Unknown title] (Italy, 1985)
8. Demented – Back To The Bed (USA, 1982)
9. PVC – Galehus (Norway, 1980)
10. Girls At Our Best! – Warm Girls (England, 1980)
11. Wilma & The Wilbers – Chronic Alkie (USA, 1980)
12. Cringe – Secretary Spread (USA, 1981)
13. Detectors – La Ciutat No Es Per Mi (Spain, 1987)
14. Suburban Lawns – Gidget Goes To Hell (USA, 1979)
15. Red Scare – Streetlife (USA, 1982)
16. Sofa Head – Invitation To Dinner (England, 1989)
17. 45 Grave – Black Cross (USA, 1980)
18. Plasmatics – Dream Lover (USA, 1979)
19. Not Moving – Behind Your Pale Face (Italy, 1983)
20. Enemy – Want Me (USA, 1978)
21. Potential Threat – Animal Abuse (England, 1982)
22. Anti-Scrunti Faction – Slave To My Estrogen (USA, 1985)
23. Legal Weapon – Hostility (USA, 1981)
24. OXZ – Be Run Down (Japan, 1984)
25. Shivvers – Teen Line (USA, 1980)
26. Donkeys – Wacky Acky I Aye (England, 1978-82)
27. Wrecks – Punk Is An Attitude (USA, 1982)
28. La Souris Déglinguée – Marie France (France, 1983)
29. SST – Autistic (USA, 1977)
30. Anti/Dogmatikss – Estado De Caos (demo) (Spain, 1983)

Disc 11:

1. Abwärts – Bel Ami (Germany, 1980)
2. Even Worse – Illusion Won Again (USA, 1981)
3. F.U.A.L. – Freedom Under Animal Liberation (Northern Ireland, 1989)
4. Nena – Nur Geträumt (Germany, 1983)
5. Gruftrosen – Mörder Von Gestern (Austria, 1985)
6. Sledgehammer – Paramilitary Recruits (Northern Ireland, 1988-ish)
7. Deutscher Abschaum – The German Superman (Germany, 1984)
8. Family Fodder – Debbie Harry (England, 1980)
9. Pink Turds In Space – Eastenders (Northern Ireland, 1988)
10. Die Mimmi’s – Mc Donald (Germany, 1984)
11. No-Song Kutkotz – Telegram (Netherlands, 1984)
12. Ratos De Porão – Nao Me Importo (live) (Brazil, 1985)
13. Martina + Part Time Punx – Mehr Von Dir (Germany, 1987)
14. Frightwig – Only You (USA, 1984)
15. Big In Japan – Big In Japan (England, 1977)
16. Bärchen Und Die Milchbubis – Jung Kaputt Spart Alterscheime (Germany, 1980)
17. Mood Of Defiance – American Love Song (USA, 1983)
18. Virgin Rocks – Get Along With You (Japan, 1987)
19. Ana Hausen – Professionals (England, 1981)
20. Métal Boys – New Malden (France, 1980)
21. Red Cross – Standing In Front Of Poseur (USA, 1980)
22. Dolly Mixture – Been Teen (England, 1981)
23. Morbid Opera – White Flag (USA, 1983)
24. Chin-Chin – We Don’t Wanna Be Prisoners (Switzerland, 1984)
25. Lovedolls – Now That I’ve Tasted Blood (USA, 1986)
26. Compos Mentis – Confused (New Zealand, 1985-ish)
27. Hysteria – Silent Hate (England, 1984)

Disc 12:

1. Pervers – Asozial (Germany, 1984)
2. Hugh Beaumont Experience – Moo (USA, 1983)
3. Inocentes with Meire – Ri Dos Hippies (Brazil, 1984)
4. Ruggedy Annes – Hollow Heroes (Canada, 1985)
5. Blowdriers – Berkeley Farms (USA, 1979)
6. Rap – Accident (Japan, 1985)
7. Decadent – Opposition Proposition (USA, 1982)
8. Warriors – Born To Ride (Japan, 1987)
9. Bambix – Little Miss Sunshine (Netherlands, 1989)
10. Super Heroines – Death On The Elevator (USA, 1981)
11. Cherry Vanilla – The Punk (England, 1977)
12. Hari-Kari – Prey For Peace (USA, 1983)
13. Kleenex – Ü (Switzerland, 1979)
14. Chute De Esperma – No Keremos (Spain, 1984)
15. Revo – Fuck The School (Netherlands, 1980)
16. The Fall – Hotel Blôedel (England, 1983)
17. Der Riß – Images (Germany, 1985)

As the compiler mentioned above, in some ways, the title of this set is a misnomer... although many of the bands featured in this compilation (such as The Raincoats, Kleenex, The Slits, Hans-A-Plast, etc.) are indeed all-woman groups, a good proportion of the songs being offered here are by unisex bands that just happened to have a woman as a lead singer (like X, Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, Chumbawumba and X-Ray Spex) or groups that let one of the female members sing a song or two  (like The Fall, 45 Grave, The Rezillos, and the like).  Perhaps a better name for this would have been A Reference of Female Voices in Punk Rock 1977-89... but maybe I'm just nitpicking. All in all, the selection here is superb...

Unfortunately, the initial set of downloads burned from this blogger's copies were NOT superb. I had a heck of a lot of issues with some of the song files, especially in the last five or six discs - some files were incomplete, others hopelessly corrupted.  So I made the time and took the extra effort to cull out the crap and find replacement files for some of these bands from other sources. Considering the level of obscurity of some of the tunes provided in this set, it goes without saying that it took a while for me to track everything down.   But in the end, I think I did.  So the set I'm offering here is a clean and uncorrupted as you're going to find out there for the time being.

Apparently, this set was featured on the Dangerous Minds website a few years ago - but still linked back to the Kangnave page, with its wonky files. Here for your listening pleasure is my repaired version of A Reference Of Female-Fronted Punk Rock 1977-89, a fan-compiled boot of twelve discs containing over 300 slices of quality punk and post-punk from the heyday of this music.  Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

Send Email

The B-52's - Two Selected Singles (and a couple of special treats)

I've posted a couple of B-52's entries in the past three years; here are some more hard-to-finds:

"Private Idaho" b/w "Party Out Of Bounds (Instrumental)" - I mentioned in a post about a decade ago that when I purchased The Yellow Album in the fall of 1980, the first music I ever bought with my own money, I'd listen to it in the living room during off-hours, with my ear pressed against the speaker and the volume turned down low; my parents weren't into this crazy New Wave music at all!  But that situation was rectified that Christmas, when my folks got my brother and I a small stereo set (with speakers, cassette player and turntable) to set up in the tiny room we shared in the La Mesa Navy housing complex in Monterey, CA.

Woo-hoo! No more having to sneak around the house shamefacedly with my B-52s album, bracing myself for grownup derision, and/or admonitions to "turn that noise down!". And to show that there were no hard feelings, my parents also gave me a couple of 45s to play on own new rig. One was Devo's "Whip It" single (off of their then-latest album, Freedom Of Choice) b/w "Turnaround", a non-album B-side that quickly became (and still is) a favorite of mine.

The other disc my folks got for me was The B-52's "Private Idaho" single, off of their August 1980 Top 20 album release Wild Planet. The flip side of this record included an instrumental version of "Party Out Of Bounds", the lead track off of the same album. Both of these singles, plus the album I already owned, were in heavy rotation in me and my brother's bedroom for the next few weeks. That stereo system was the impetus I needed to begin acquiring more records by artists that I liked - like it or not, my parents inadvertently set me on the road to become a lifetime collector and appreciator of all types of music!

And after all of these years, through dozens of records, scores of cassettes, hundreds of CDs and thousands of MP3s, and more household moves that I can count, I still have this record in my possession. I used to play it often on my turntable, before technology caught up and I was able to burn both sides to MP3. This disc was never released on CD, so the B-side instrumental is somewhat hard to find. Therefore, here it is for you.

 

"Give Me Back My Man" b/w "Give Me Back My Man (Instrumental)" - As 1980 turned into 1981, with a new stereo in my possession, I was eager to expand my music collection, but really didn't know how to start. Although I had been working a good-paying after-school job in the kitchen at Santa Catalina private girls' school (just down the street from where I lived), I was initially hesitant about spending my hard-earned pay on full albums. So my early purchases, from both the music racks at the Navy Postgraduate School Exchange and the music store at Del Monte Mall (both within walking distance of my house), were vinyl singles.

Here's one of the first I purchased that new year - another single (both the album track and instrumental version) from the Wild Planet album. I really like this song; I feel that "Give Me Back My Man" is one of the all-time highlights of Cindy Wilson's vocal career - you can really hear and feel the yearning heartache she conveys behind the somewhat silly words:

As good as the vocal version is, it's the instrumental version on the B-side that really grabbed me. I never get tired of hearing Ricky Wilson's innovative and creative guitar work showcased in this song's bridges - the guy was a frickin' MASTER! This particular song was the one that finally convinced me to loosen my purse strings and purchase the album... and I'm glad I did.  However, I've always been somewhat disappointed that, outside of the vinyl single, the instrumental version of this song has never been released in any other format. Fortunately, with the time and the equipment, I took care of that!

Fun fact:  Weird Al Yankovic completely stole the rhythm and melody (I believe he referred to it as a "style parody) of "Give Me Back My Man" for his song "Mr. Popeil", on his 1984 sophomore release "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D, the same album that contained his smash single "Eat It".  His appropriation of this B-52s song even included background vocalists that sounded a lot like Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson:

If there is a fine line between tribute, parody and plagiarism, Weird Al came very close to obliterating it with this one. Whatever - water under the bridge at this point.

"Creature In A Black Bikini" versions - When I first wrote about this B-52's rarity three years ago, the only thing I had to go on was a brief soundboard snippet apparently recorded during one of the band's 1985 practice/rehearsal sessions for Bouncing Off The Satellites.  From that abbreviated clip, it was obvious that there was more to the song, perhaps many more minutes, but I figured I'd never have a hope in Hell of tracking the longer version down.

However, about a year ago, I began hearing from a site visitor and rabid, knowledgeable French B-52's fan writing under the pseudonym "Frank Reich". Mr. Reich had the inside scoop on a TON of band information, which he kindly shared with me. For example, in my 2018 post, I speculated on what appeared to be a tentative track list for the full-blown Mesopotamia album, which was aborted and released in a 6-track EP format in early 1982. I had some thoughts and questions regarding demo tracks from that period, some of which were saved and developed for future albums, and some that had apparently never seen the light of day - included a conjectured "Butterbean" demo.

Mr. Reich set me straight on that account:

"...the band never recorded "Butterbean" during the late 1981 sessions... because of the tension accumulating in the studio ([such as] Byrne not telling the band he asked Kate to put vocals on an instrumental piece called "Cloud 9", which became "Deep Sleep"). In the end, there is no "outtake" version of "Butterbean" like there is with "Queen Of Las Vegas".

So, there you go. I got plenty of other great tidbits from him regarding Mesopotamia, including the following:

"[It was] Fred [Schneider who wrote, then] totally scrapped "Adios Desconocidas' (and didn't ever want to talk about it again), and Warner Brothers almost asked the band to drop the song "Mesopotamia" out of the record...

[Island Records head] Chris Blackwell asked David Byrne for his mixes (from various sources) that were then sent to Island Records... that's how the UK/European version of the EP sounds so different. Blackwell wanted to release and promote Mesopotamia as a dance/experimental funk record, something the band didn't know and never agreed to... In the end, European critics hated the record, fans were confused, and that's why that era of The B's (1981 - 1988) is not very famous (or known at all) in Europe. Talk about destroying a band's reputation...

The band ended up very frustrated with the EP, and to this day they still joke about 'finishing it', something they tried to do at various times throughout the '80s and '90s... that's why when you saw the band performing "Big Bird" during that '82 show, they were performing songs [according to] their original idea of what Mesopotamia could have been."

Mr. Reich was an absolute pleasure to correspond with, and as I mentioned above, a font of good band gouge.  And at the end of our conversations, he provided me with two treasures: the full NINE MINUTE jam version of "Creature In A Black Bikini"... AND:

"I've also taken the liberty to include my own mix here, when I remastered the tape and overdubbed [it] with drum machine and keyboards in order to form a full 5 minute song."

Mr. Reich's efforts on this fully realized mix are incredible - it really sounds like something The B-52's themselves would have released during that era. It has the same sort of sound qualities and beats that were heard in band releases from that time like Whammy! and Bouncing Off The Satellites. It is a song fully worth devoting multiple listens to (and I have!).

 

So here you all are, for your repeated listening pleasure as well:

• "Private Idaho" b/w "Party Out Of Bounds (Instrumental)", recorded by producer Rhett Davies at Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas in April 1980, and released on Warner Bros. Records in October 1980;
• "Give Me Back My Man" b/w "Give Me Back My Man (Instrumental)", also recorded at Compass Point Studios in April 1980 and released on the same label as above in November 1980;
• "Creature In A Black Bikini", the full 9-minute jam session outtake from the Bouncing Off The Satellites sessions, recorded in Philadelphia in the spring/summer of 1985 but never released; and
• "Creature In A Black Bikini (Frank Reich Mix)", a fan-created re-imagining of what a fully realized and produced version of this song would have been.
  

More B-52's stuff is ALWAYS good in my book! If you tend to agree, than this post, and these files, are for you!  Have a listen, enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

"Private Idaho" single (1980): Send Email
"Give Me Back My Man" Single (1980): Send Email
"Creature In A Black Bikini" (Extended Jam): Send Email
"Creature In A Black Bikini" (Frank Reich Mix) : Send Email

Shoes This High - Shoes This High EP and Live at Billy The Club (1980)

I love-love-LOVE New Zealand music!  I wish I could have lived there back in the early 1980's, when it seemed like there was interesting stuff happening all over the country, and great bands - The Clean, Toy Love, The Chills, and many, many more - were popping up left and right.  I've been an aficionado and collector of Kiwi punk and alternative music for donkey's years.  Here's a real obscurity I got into almost a decade ago . . .

Shoes This High has its origins in the New Zealand punk/post-punk music emerging from Wellington in the late '70s. The band was specifically part of what was called the city's "Terrace Scene", a group of cheap, ramshackle houses on a street hard by Kelburn Park (and just down the street from Victoria University and Massey University) occupied mainly at the time by young students, artists and musicians. Lacking funds to partake in other local entertainment, the residents of The Terrace began throwing underground house parties with instruments available for participants to jam together on. From these jam sessions, several bands began forming, but none of them - including Beat Rhythm Fashion, 52, Life In The Fridge Exists, and Naked Spots Dance - lasted beyond 1982.

Of all of the short-lived Terrace Scene bands, Shoes This High was probably the most interesting of the lot. The band came together in the early fall of 1979, when Kevin Hawkins (lead guitarist) met Jessica Walker (bassist) at one of those impromptu gigs and they decided to join forces (Jessica came from a family that already had deep connections in the New Zealand post-punk scene; her sister Jane was a member of the legendary Toy Love). Vocalist Brent Hayward joined the group that November, and after running through a couple of drummers, the band finally settled on Chris Plummer. Shoes This High honed their chops on the Wellington scene, branching out from Terrace parties and playing more established city venues like Thistle Hall and The Last Resort. The band's name came from a conversation overheard in the street: “Jessica heard some transsexual people getting on a big red bus and they were gossiping. “And how high did you say her shoes were?” “Those shoes were this high.”"

The sound this group put together was far and away from what was going on elsewhere in the city, and country, at that time - scabrous, slashing guitar rhythms; Gang Of Four-style propulsive, almost funk-based bass lines; crash-and-bang drumming . . . all backing Hayward's aggressive vocals. Here's a good summary description of what the Shoes This High was about, taken from Wade Ronald Churton's book Have You Checked The Children?:

“The band were plainly punk-based (though influences like funk and even disco were coming through) but shared little of the form's clichés. Plummer and Walker locked together to form one of the country's finest post-punk rhythm-sections; taut, slippery, staccato and even funky (and remarkably reminiscent of 1980s' Features). Fused with Hawkins' menacing jangle and unusual melody-lines, the three were exemplary improvisers who could extemporise on a theme on a par with most jazz-rock hotel outfits. Shoes This High were working with much more exciting rhythms, however.”

However, while the band was carving its own space in the local music scene, they were doing so at the expense of establishing a more extensive audience or with an eye towards greater commercial acceptance. New Zealanders just didn't 'get' Shoes This High in the early '80s. In addition to the jagged, abrasive, angular music, Hayward would spend much of his time during the group's gigs spitting venom, hurling insults and abuse on their audience. All of this made it difficult to be a dedicated fan of this group back then - pissing off your audience is rarely a recipe for success. The situation got so bad for Shoes This High in Wellington that the group decamped for Auckland in the austral winter (July) of 1980, although things them up in that city, in terms of audience reception, weren't appreciably better.

Still, the band was provided one shot at immortalizing their legacy. In late 1980, they entered a local studio to lay down tracks for a four-song EP; here's the track list:

1. The Nose One
2. Foot's Dream
3. A Mess
4. Not Weighting

The EP was released on the band's own STH Records label, but sold very poorly (usually at the group's poorly attended gigs) and quickly faded away . . . as did the group itself.  Shoes This High soldiered on in the North Island punk scene, but broke up before the middle of 1981 (rumor has it that Jessica's affair with a member of The Gordons - who Shoes This High gigged with extensively and lived with in Auckland for a time -  was the final straw that did the band in).

I didn't know a thing about this band or its music until nearly a decade ago, when I came across their hard-to-find EP via Detailed Twang, a superb music blog that sadly ceased operations in 2009. The write-up they did for this band and its music really whetted my appetite:

“.....Think it was all whimsical happy-go-lucky goofball pop music down there in New Zealand twenty-some-odd years ago? Songs about sheep and fish and heartbreak? You gotta hear SHOES THIS HIGH, a quick-lived 1980 Auckland-by-way-of-Wellington quartet who are by far one of the best lost post-punk bands I’ve had the pleasure of finding out about. Think a more jagged Minutemen, The Gordons, Seems Twice, Pere Ubu, some Beefheart-like deconstructed stabs at atonality – or, as Gary Steel’s liner notes for the reissued 7” EP exclaim, “killer-riffing-angry-in-your-guts-avant-garde-pin-pricking punk funk". The lead track on their sole four-song single, “The Nose One”, has a real spastic stop/start structure which successfully masks some great weary, disengaged vocals. Guitars chime in and chop out of all four tracks, some of which are pretty biting and aggressive (hence the GORDONS comparison). The greatness of this thing again reminds me of the strong influence of The Fall in NZ, where “Totally Wired” went actually into the Top 5. Not that Shoes This High sound much like The Fall, but there’s gotta be a hook there somewhere. Recorded December 1980, released in 1981, reissued on Raw Power records in 2002. Please do yourself a favor and begin a tireless, unyielding quest for the Shoes This High EP forthwith.....”

I downloaded the music directly from the site, and immediately fell in love with it. Here's my favorite song off of the EP, the lead track, "The Nose One":

After being exposed to this fantastic stuff, I began searching for more offerings by this great band . . . only to quickly discover to my disappointment that apparently there was no more to be had; Shoes This High made no other official recordings, and it seemed that there was nothing else available . . .

Until about four-five years ago, when out of nowhere, a live recording of the group playing a June 1980 gig at Billy The Club popped up on the Web. There's a guy by the name of Bob Sutton who, back in the day, used to go around recording the shows of the various groups that came through his town. And over the years, he had collected a pretty extensive archive of live sets by some of the country's most obscure, short-lived bands - including Shoes This High. Here's the set list from their gig that night:

1. Monodrone
2. Living Hell
3. The Nose One
4. Sop Pong
5. Mental Whiff
6. Tic Toc
7. Ain’t 1/2 Right
8. Fatman
9. Gifted?
10. Stuk
11. Christian Song
12. Menace In Yer Head
13. Tunnel Vision
14. ——–
15. You Sold Out
16. Small
17. For Too Long
18. Scab
19. Catshit
20. Bull-fight
21. Cretin Time
22. Beach Muscle
23. Don’t Wanna
24. R U Happy?

Of course, I quickly snapped this offering up as well. For a bootleg concert recording in a dodgy venue, it has a remarkably clear sound and presentation. And it greatly expands the band's previously limited musical legacy. All in all, it's a great recording.

The reason I'm posting this stuff now is that, while browsing around the Web the other day, I came across a site selling a "limited edition" release (only 500 copies available) of live Shoes This High music along with "bonus cuts", called Straight To Hell (link to the site is here). I quickly realized that what these guys were offering up for sale was the Billy The Club gig I already owned, along with the original EP tracks as the "bonus" songs! And to add insult to injury, they weren't even offering the complete show - only about half of the original 1980 show tracks are on the album (I assume they're saving the remaining twelve for another "limited edition' release to gouge people with later on down the line).

As I've said before, blatant money-grubbing like that pisses me off. So in order to counter that, and to make available some great, mostly unheard music to you all, here's:

• The Shoes This High self-titled EP, recorded at Mascot Studios in Auckland by Gerard Carr on December 21st, 1980 and self-released by the band in January 1981; and
• The Live at Billy The Club (22 June 1980) set, from Bob Sutton's personal stash.

Enjoy this flashback to a mostly-unknown but influential and fondly remembered scene - and as always, let me know what you think.

Shoes This High EP: Send Email

Live At Billy The Club (22 June 1980): Send Email

The BusBoys - Minimum Wage Rock & Roll

The first time I ever encountered The BusBoys was when I saw them on ABC's Fridays late-night TV program in late 1980. Fridays, which began airing in April of that year, was ABC's attempt to duplicate the success of NBC's Saturday Night Live on their own network. As such, it completely ripped off the format of SNL, with guest hosts, musical acts, sketches with recurring characters, and even a mid-show parody news program similar to SNL's "Weekend Update" called "Friday Edition". The only discernible difference between the two shows was that NBC's was staged in New York, while Fridays was broadcast from Los Angeles. Other than that, the ABC show was a veritable carbon copy.

It's been said that Xeroxing something usually degrades the image; Fridays was no exception to this rule. For much of the first season, the show sucked - the studio audience was made up of whooping, hooting clowns (the same sort of obnoxious buffoons who would anchor Arsenio Hall's show years later and cement the bad reputation of L.A. audiences the world over) who would bray on command with shrill, fake laughter at the program's horrifically unfunny, poorly-written sketches based upon tasteless, inane premises. Here's an example of the show at its lamest and worst, an early skit called "Women Who Spit":

In those first few months, practically the only reason to watch the show was for its musical guests - Devo, The Boomtown Rats, The Jam and The Clash (who made their U.S. television debut on the show) were just some of the great bands Fridays featured early on. But all in all, the show was terrible. TV critics had a field day savaging it, and ABC affiliates across the nation began dropping the program.

The only thing that saved Fridays from a quick cancellation later in 1980 was the turmoil surrounding NBC's Saturday Night Live's sixth season. In the summer of 1980, SNL majordomo Lorne Michaels, burnt out after five years of producing the show, wanted to take a year off, and was allegedly led to believe by network executives that the show would go on hiatus during that time and restart when he returned. But NBC, at the time dead last in the ratings after a series of missteps and expensive flops (including Hello, Larry, Pink Lady & Jeff and Supertrain), couldn't afford to let one of its few profitable shows go off the air. So the network negotiated behind Michaels' back and hired Jean Doumanian (ostensibly "Associate Producer" of the show for the first five years, but someone with no direct involvement in or knowledge of the inner workings of SNL) to keep the program on the air for the upcoming year. When word got out regarding NBC's treachery, the entire cast and all but one of the core writing staff walked out with Michaels.

In the ensuing turmoil surrounding the rapid hiring of an all-new cast and crew, SNL was beset with problems from its very first show that season - unappealing actors, terrible direction, and poor writing which spawned insipid, tasteless sketches (the infamous "Leather Weather" and the "Carters in the Oval Office" skits were included in early episodes). Viewers tuned out in droves (according to Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad's 1986 book Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, by the third show of the season, SNL had lost close to 10 million viewers from the final show of the previous season), and critics ran out of words describing what a disaster the program's current season was. During the same period, the ABC show improved its writing staff, and many of the same critics who once panned Fridays began praising it as being, by comparison, smarter, edgier and funnier than SNL. I began watching Fridays more and more, and one night saw The BusBoys perform.

The BusBoys were formed in the Los Angeles suburb of Gardena in 1978. The band consisted of brothers Brian O'Neal (keyboards, vocals) and Kevin O'Neal (bass, vocals), along with Mike Jones on keyboards, drummer Steve Felix, backing vocalist Gus Louderman and Vic Johnson on lead guitar, with almost all of the band members (with the exception of Hispanic drummer Felix) being African-American. The group's sound was an unusual hybrid of rock and R 'n' B, with some New Wave elements thrown in for good measure. Their music defied specific categorization, but kept them from being pigeonholed into set genres/expectations for "black bands". In the late '70s, The BusBoys built an audience in Southern California through their novelty factor and their outstanding, high-energy live shows, and came to the attention of Arista Records, who signed them in late 1979. The band's debut LP on Arista, Minimum Wage Rock & Roll, was released in the summer of the following year, and the label went all out to promote it, including getting the band the Fridays gig, their first national TV exposure.

The BusBoys appeared on the November 14th, 1980 show, the week after Devo appeared (Devo would go on to make a total of four appearances on Fridays during its short life; they were the 'house band' in all but name for the show). I recall that in the week leading up to the program, a lot of the copy I read regarding the group referred to The BusBoys as "The Black Devo". As a big Spudboy fan back in the day, this of course whetted my appetite for the band. But outside of a couple of New Wave-y aspects and some similarities in the rhythms and power chords used in a couple of their songs, the group's links to Devo were negligible. In my opinion, here's the most Devoesque (as in "not very") of the three tunes they played that evening:

All in all, their TV performance that evening was pretty good, and it held my interest - but it's not like I went dashing out of the house the next day to buy their record.

And I think that was the public's general reaction to The BusBoys; despite high expectations and massive label support, and even though it sold fairly well and made the lower half of the Billboard 200 charts, Minimum Wage Rock & Roll wasn't the breakout hit that the band and Arista hoped it would become. It was years later, actually, that I finally purchased the disc on CD. The album isn't bad, as far as straight-ahead rock/New Wave albums are concerned; the group is tight, musically, and there are some great tunes on the disc (including "Anggie", "Dr. Doctor" and "Minimum Wage"). But in my opinion, The BusBoys bear down on the "look at us - we're black guys playing rock!" thing just a little TOO hard, with unsubtle song titles like "There Goes The Neighborhood", "KKK", and "Did You See Me". Their attempts to satirize the social expectations of black performers and blacks in particular lack potency and wit, and just come off as forced and weak - the fact that they allude to it in several of their songs tells me that the band was still sensitive and self-conscious about their sound in relation to who they were, and more than a bit unsure of their place in the rock universe.

The band continued touring, and released their second album, American Worker, in 1982. Despite being much stronger that their debut, American Worker did not sell as well as Minimum Wage Rock & Roll. This album was harder rockin' than The BusBoys' first disc, and pretty much dispensed with the self-depreciating tone of their debut. It also had some great songs on it, which should have been huge hits (one tune, a cover of a song titled "Heart and Soul" previously recorded the year before by Exile [yes, the "Kiss You All Over" guys], did not chart - but Huey Lewis & The News made their own cover of it the following year and took it into the Top Ten). The album also charted, albeit at a lower level and for a shorter time than its predecessor. But it did get the group noticed by the producers of a buddy-cop movie being filmed that summer called 48 Hrs. The BusBoys and their album cut "New Shoes" were featured prominently in the movie.  However, it was another song that they wrote and performed for the film's soundtrack that cemented their legacy - "(The Boys Are) Back In Town":

During the production, the band formed a strong association with 48 Hrs. co-star Eddie Murphy. For the next several years, The BusBoys allied themselves with and were championed by the comedian. Through Murphy's influence, the band got a gig performing on Saturday Night Live in early 1983 (with Eddie singing backup). And The BusBoys served as the opening act for Murphy's celebrated Delirious standup comedy tour (which produced the Grammy-award winning Eddie Murphy: Comedian album and Eddie Murphy Delirious cable TV special) that year, being referred to several times by the comic during the show. They also found time to contribute a song to the Ghostbusters soundtrack; their tune "Cleanin' Up The Town" was the band's only Hot 100 single, peaking at #68 in 1984 (tragically for The BusBoys, the 48 Hrs. soundtrack wouldn't be released until 2011, so "(The Boys Are) Back In Town" never charted as a single back in the '80s - it would have been a sure-fire Top Ten hit for the group).

That was the group's peak as well. The band released its third album Money Don't Make No Man on their own Rattlesnake Venom Records label in early 1988, but even with Eddie Murphy's heavy involvement (he sang on several cuts and appeared in the lone video from this disc, for the single "Never Giving Up"), the LP went nowhere. Murphy soon lost interest in the group, and after a few personnel changes The BusBoys folded in late 1990.

For a while, group members moved on, playing in other bands (Brian O'Neal and Felix put together a band called Black Bart; Johnson played (and still plays) guitar for Sammy Hagar). But in the late '90s, the band reformed, with old and new members. Now known as Brian O'Neal and The BusBoys, they still occasionally tour on the low-level nostalgia/oldies circuit with the likes of Ray Parker, Jr. and Otis Day, and continue to release music, both on their own label and via digital download.

It's hard to say what ended up keeping The BusBoys from entering the big leagues; they definitely had good tunes and an appealing sound. Perhaps it was bad timing or bad luck (the 48 Hrs. thing especially); maybe it was bad management; it could have been a similar case as to what The Veldt would experience a decade later, with a label that didn't know how to exploit an out-of-the-ordinary African-American band. Maybe it was some combination of all three. But the band deserved better than it got back in the day.

So here's a little something for you all, to help you recall the band in its early glory days: The BusBoys' Minimum Wage Rock & Roll, released by Arista Records in mid-1980. Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.  

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Various Artists - Club Ska '67

OK, OK . . . the people have spoken, and I have heard.

Along with the huge demand for my last post, More Intensified! Volume 2 - Original Ska 1963-67, for the past two days requesters have been clamoring for the other disc I mentioned in that writeup, Club Ska '67. This is one of the original ska compilations, and is even harder to find than More Intensified!; like its brother, it too has been out of print for eons. I recently noticed a CD copy of this one for sale on Amazon . . . for $150. Glad I bought mine when I did!

Club Ska '67 differs somewhat from my previous posting in that it mostly eschews rarities and instead focuses on the classic recordings from that period. And what classics they are - some of the all-time great Jamaican hits are here.  Here's the lineup:

1. Guns Of Navarone - The Skatalites
2. Phoenix City - Roland Al And The Soul Brothers
3. 007 (Shanty Town) - Desmond Dekker
4. Broadway Jungle - The Maytals as The Flames
5. Contact - Roy Richards With Baba Brooks
6. Guns Fever - Baba Brooks
7. Rub Up Push Up - Justin Hines & The Dominoes
8. Dancing Mood - Delroy Wilson
9. Stop Making Love - Gaylads
10. Pied Piper - Rita Marley
11. Lawless Street - The Soul Brothers
12. Skaing West - Sir Lord Comic & His Cowboys
13. Copasetic - The Rulers

It's hard to choose favorites off of this one - EVERY song is outstanding!

Enough of my yip-yap - I heed the call of the masses, and acquiesce. Here, for your listening pleasure, is Club Ska '67, originally released on vinyl in Jamaica by West Indies Records Ltd. in 1967, in Britain on Trojan Records in 1970, and finally re-released on Mango Records (a subsidiary of Island Records) in 1980. Skank on, my brothers, and as always, let me know what you think.

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Various Artists - More Intensified! Volume 2 - Original Ska 1963-1967

I think it was around 1985 when I first heard this album. Someone had given my brother a copy of both this album and Club Ska '67 (another equally outstanding compilation that I was seriously considering posting instead of this one - maybe I'll do that sometime soon (well, that was quick - see the next post)) dubbed onto a long-playing cassette, and he loaned it to me

one day. More Intensified! was the follow-up to Intensified! Original Ska 1962-1966, released in 1979, a year earlier. I had been fully into the whole British ska revival/2 Tone genre of the late '70s/early '80s, but I hadn't had much exposure to the original '60s songs and sources of that movement. To be frank, by the mid-'80s, with the demise of The Specials, The Selecter and The English Beat, and Madness's shift towards the pop mainstream, that initial ska explosion had all but petered out. The next wave of the ska revival, under development in Australia, Japan, several other European countries and in U.S. locations such as Orange County, California (Fishbone, The Untouchables) and New York (Operation Ivy), was still a couple of years away from completely breaking out. So in a way, I was looking for something to fill the ska void . . . and these taped albums worked out nicely.

From the first song on the tape, "Six and Seven Books of Moses", I was hooked. As the album's name implies, all of the songs on this compilation were recorded in Kingston, Jamaica between 1963 and 1967, the heyday of ska in that country. Here's the track listing:

1. Six and Seven Books of Moses - The Maytals as The Vikings
2. Dr. Kildare - The Skatalites
3. Congo War - Lord Brynner & The Sheiks
4. Woman Come - Marguerita
5. Man In The Street - Don Drummond
6. What A Man Doeth - Eric Morriss
7. Lucky Seven - The Skatalites
8. Miss Ska-Culation - Roland Al & The Soul Brothers
9. Dr. Ring-A-Ding - Roland Al & The Soul Brothers
10. Run Joe - Stranger Cole
11. Sucu-Sucu - The Skatelites
12. The Great Wuga Wuga - Sir Lord Comic
13. Dick Tracy - The Skatalites
14. Mount Zion - Desmond Dekker & The Four Aces
15. Marcus Junior - The Soul Brothers
16. Train To Skaville - Ethiopians

While ska was huge in Jamaica and much of the Caribbean, what's remarkable is that it went all but unheard and unnoticed by most of the rest of the world, which was immersed in Beatlemania during that period. Except for brief flashes of recognition (The Beatles included a brief ska bridge in their 1963 song "I Call Your Name"; ska bands played at the 1964 New York World's Fair), ska was for all intents and purposes an underground sound. By the late '60s, it had all but faded away, evolving into the slower, heavier rhythms of reggae. If it weren't for a couple of 1970s Coventry youngsters who grew up hearing this music and decided to try to emulate it - creating the influential 2 Tone sound - ska might have gone the way of calypso, another once-popular tropical genre now almost wholly forgotten.

In any event, I couldn't believe how great these songs were! This disc is full of rarities (like Marguerita's "Woman Come") and classics (such as Don Drummond's "Man In The Street"). Personal favorites include Lord Brynner's "Congo War", a summary of the mid-60s conflict (he even names most of the major players); Stranger Cole's "Run Joe"; and the odd and funny proto-rap of "The Great Wuga Wuga" by the great Sir Lord Comic.

In some cases, they had to dig deep to track down these prime cuts - many of the songs on this compilation were dubbed directly from the vinyl disc, due to the unavailability of the original master recordings.

I taped a copy of this cassette for my own use, and played it to death for years before finding and purchasing this album on CD. This has been out-of-print for decades, but here it is for you to enjoy: More Intensified! Volume 2 - Original Ska 1963-67, released in 1980 on Mango Records, a subsidiary of Island Records. Have a listen and let me know what you think.

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