Not Rock On

This is my last post for this year as I will spend Christmas with the family, and I neither have DSL nor my record collection there. I hope we will all have a peaceful Christmas and a good start into the New Year! This is a collection of the rare B sides of the wonderful El Records records. Enjoy! And see you back in 2007 with lots of interesting music! "El was the brainchild of Mike Alway, who envisaged a seamlessly artifactual indulgence/essay in façade; imagine an ambitious cultural montage drawing on references unheard of within the traditional scope of pop including food, travel, costume, leisure and sensuality. like the visual fantasies of the avengers and patrick mcgoohan's prisoner and using the recording studio as a time machine, el would simultaneously charm, educate, confuse and amuse. alway guessed from the outset that the ambition of the approach might fly over the public's head and his estimation proved to be absolutely accurate." (from their website) El...

After the SARAH and Compact compilations here is more perfect POP! EL RECORDS! "el records is a world where The Avengers' John Steed forever seems to be creative controller and Emma Peel works the A&R department."Record Mirror "The melodies, the phrasing, the enthusiasm and ambition are all here plus a mysterious sexuality, a tropic of Ruislip classy vulgarity."Andy Darling, Melody Maker, March 26 1988 "Mike Alway is that rare breed - a man who knows a record should always look good."Jane Solanas , NME, November 26 1988 El Records - Abracadabra 1992

After I posted the first Sarah compilation, this is the last. You should read the fantastic booklet with the story of SARAH or you find a great history of SARAH . This was the "Greatest Hits" for a goodbye, sad it was over. This is a link to a scan and a transcription of the ad that announced this record. SO RUSH OUT AND BUY IT!!! But don't pay the ridicolous prices some guys ask on ebay ! Sarah 100 1995

These two nice double LPs give a nice look of the above mentioned, nice singles from 77 and 78! A great collection of compilations, more to come! Indie Scene 1977 Indie Scene 1978 You find 1979 + 80 here and the rest of the series here

Everybody posts Christmas records, so I can't stand back. This is a wonderful X-mas record compiled by Dr. Demento. I had some nice moments with this music, I hope you will have too! Nice tracks by Stan Freberg, Spike Jones, Allan Sherman, Tom Lehrer, Wild Man Fischer, Cheech and Chong, The Three Stooges and more! Dr. Demento - Christmas

I bought my first Sarah record from Malibu, a mailorder from Hamburg. Jackie Eldorado worked there too. I bought many records from them, but it is this one that I care about. I first heard "Pristine Christine" on John Peel and loved it, the energy. Then I wanted to find out more and "Shadow Factory" came. From then on I collected all the Sarah singles I could get my hands on. I have a few nice letters from Clare Wadd and Matt Haynes, the hands and brains behind SARAH. Sarah 587 Shadow Factory Watch this space for Sarah 7" in the future! (I am afraid this will take longer than expected, but do come back!) As a bonus you get the very fine charity LP Becket House, featuring Brighter & Durutti Column. You can still donate to Becket House, Wardalls Grove Avonley Road New Cross London SE14 5ER Becket House

The dutch label Plurex released this LP in 1982. A nice collection of rather dark Wave music, except the wonderful Dislocation Dance! Plurex - Hours

This was another important sampler for my musical education : Coincidence vs. Fate You will know some of the songs already as anonymous backdrop to something on TV. I bought it for the then horrenedous sum of 40 DM, because it was a japanese import. Nobody thought about the internet back then with everything available on your fingertips. But I never regretted any one of the DM I spent for these LPs! Perfect french Pop by Antena, Kevin Hewick's Haystack! , DURUTTI COLUMN!, A Certain Ratio with Shack up, this took many years 'til it appeared on a compilation (or in this case a 7" with an LP), no words have to been lost for Paul Haig, Winston Tong, Lawrence Weiner (pretty weird), Anna Domino (fantastic!), Pleasure Ground and the Pale Fountains! Michael Head was such a genius! Soft Verdict - Close cover - everybody knows this song as background to countless documentaries! Anna Domino - Trust in love aka North and South and East and West Pleasure Ground - Wait are exce...

With this post I want to start a new rallye of posts on great and influential compilations already started last post! I start with Pillows & Prayers from Cherry Red ( I am not giving a direct link to them, maybe they would not like it...) I was reminded again of this wonderful record by reading about it in old SCRITTI magazines from Hannover. After Sounds closed for miracolous reasons in 01/83 SCRITTI was an intermediate solution until SPEX was ready and also available in my region from 1985, unfortunately they did not last that long... , SCRITTI that was, SPEX is still alive, IS IT? (My subscription is running out in February...) FAMEwas introduced! Great idea, I had just subscibed to SCRITTI, so I thought I had a new subscription, but there was only one mag delivered. Threre were some interesting people involved in SCRITTI : Tim Renner, Joachim Steinhöfel, a MartinF Nevertheless P&P is a fantastic modern record containing something for everyone (unless you're a Hippie) Fi...

The Compact Organisation was something that had to be dreamed up! Perfect Pop Music for hip people! They made a big buzz in the early 80's but unfortunately they did not sell enough records... but still very influential samplers! I still love the work of Tot Taylor (some of his albums may be posted here!). Just enjoy this perfect POP! A young person's guide to Compact Compact Singles

Now I finally got my picture to this site! This is wonderful music by Mathilde Santing, a very beutiful chanteuese, still working now ! The first record from 1982 is a collection of Jazz standards from the likes of Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, Hammerstein/Rodgers and Todd Rundgren, what a combination! Mathilde Santing The second, a 12" with 7 tracks from 1984 is still in the Jazz vein, very popular in that time! Working Week, Everything but the Girl... Mathilde Santing - Water under the bridge

I am sorry for posting this little at the moment, but I have a few other things to take care of at the moment. These are three LPs by Lizzy Mercier Descloux, a very fine artist who passed away far to early in 2004. Here is the bio from Ze Records: Lizzy Mercier was born in 1956 in Les Halles, in the center of Paris. After some time at The Beaux Arts, she left for New York in 1975, where she contributed in the creation of the French magazine "Rock News" with Michel Esteban, and in so doing, became part of the New York's underground scene. It was the beginning of a long love story with New York. She published a collection of poems and photographs, "Desiderata", prefaced and illustrated by her friend Patti Smith, with contributions by Richard Hell. In 1976, she decided to move to New York. She bought a Fender Jazzmaster guitar and began the rounds of the Soho galleries and Lower East side clubs in duo. In 1978 under the name of Rosa Yemen, she recorded a first six ...

My special moment with Maximum Joy except of Stretch (everybody loved it immediately) was driving along on a road near Celle after I had spent a night in Düsseldorf listening to Marc Almond, Johnny Thunders, Patti LaBelle, Billy Bragg, The Stranglers, The Fixx in one great concert 21.12.84. I had to stick my head out of the window of my Kadett C City a few times before arriving safely at home. Maximum Joy - M.X.J.Y. Maximum Joy - Stretch (as off my record) Maximum Joy - Stretch (as off my record and restored) Maximum Joy - White and green place

Hi, I am still alive! This post is just to tell you this will go on... At the moment I can't tell you more than that you will find interesting music mostly from the 80ies here! Here are the 7" EPs from Front and Die Radierer . Front 7" Die Radierer - Angriff auf's Schlaraffenland

As you could already read in my post for the release party for the Greatest Hits of the Süddeutsche Zeitung series 1000 Songs , I am a great fan of the german entertainer Bernd Begemann . This Live CD gives a very good overview for new listeners. The man alone with his guitar rocking the crowd, everybody singing along having a great time! Bernd Begemann Live The autograph on the cover translates to 'always in good company with...'

As I can't post in the next week here is something different, german popular music from the 30's and early 40's. Most songs are from movies from the UFA, the major studio in Germany. Many of the songs sound like everything was fun at the time, but you can not forget, that most jewish artists had to escape or were killed. Take the Comedian Harmonists as an example. Formed in 1927 as a unique vocal ensemble and, after worldwide success, had to stop working in the original lineup after they were banned in Germany in 1934. The jewish members went to the USA and reformed with new members, the non-jewish did the same under the name 'Meistersextett'. Some of the songs here were clearly propaganda and perseverence slogans, for example 'Ich weiss es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen' (I know a miracle will happen) by Zarah Leander. But there also many nice love songs, novelty numbers, enjoy! UFA-Schlager 1 UFA-Schlager 2 UFA-Schlager 3 UFA-Schlager 4

This is a very special post, different from every other series of posts I care about at the moment. The Angry Flowers were a band from Göttingen, that liked the Sixties, to say the least. One of them was Matthias Hanich, the brother of one of my classmates. I think he played bass and sang. Together with Heiko I visited Matt in London, or should I say Tooting Bec. We slept in a student's dormitory where most students went home during holidays, except for the kids from abroad. As Matt could not get a license to let us live there for a few days, he had to bribe the porter and still every loud noise was a sign to crawl under the bunks! And it worked! I had one situation when the cleaning woman wanted to clean under the bed in the next room (where I was) and someone talked her out of that because a group of school kids had arrived at that moment! The Go-Betweens and the TV Personalities were more than an influence, and so they created two nice Pop songs! And he showed us Dan Treacy...

The recordings on this CD are from waaay back, 1978 if you believe Skysaw , our beloved "grandfather" of On-U Sound on the net. And of course we all do! He is THE capacity! Unfortunately we may be made to blame for a little shortcoming in the bandwidth of his site or at least the site where he hosts his pix recently... I hope this does not cause any problems (others than not being able to find album scans of On-U LPs...) Finally I managed to get my old scanner working with XP and now I can scan at least CDs. LPs are too large unfortunately! Anyway, you will find all the info at Skysaw's site! Classic Sherwood Dub!!!! Btw I really like the small photo. I think it was taken in Germany in the 80s. The Mercedes station wagon is extremely rare as MB did not have this in their official range, so it must be the work of a coach builder. Creation Rebel - Historic Moments Vol. 2 CD front and back cover

Keith LeBlanc was part of the rhythm section on songs like "The Message" for SugarHill in the early 80's. Somehow he joined forces with Adrian Sherwood of On-U Sound fame. That's what we waited for! Roots Reggae, Dub plus the influence of Hip-Hop and electronics, great! Here you get two non On-U CDs from Keith LeBlanc, although a certain Mr. Sherwood did some mixing on these. Both CDs feature the vocals of Bim Sherman and the electronic trickeries of David Harrow (see Anne Clark), but "Raw" is much closer to the stuff you are used from On-U, "Tasteless cuts" is much more early Techno and cut-up (it is from 89), but it has a great bounce! As Friend Electric mentions correctly in the comments, this ts officially credited to DJ Spike, but as our friend Skysaw says here , 'DJ Spike' / 'Spike' was primarily Keith with guest collaborators. As a bonus you get the Malcolm X - No sell out 12" from 1983 on Tommy Boy, the first time I n...

Born in Barbados, raised in London Dennis Bovell soon became part of Matumbi, a great british Reggae band. I once owned their "Seven seals" LP. Unfortunately I sold it years ago. There is a thing about records you sell. Right then you think you don't want it and don't need it but after you sold it, time differs, you want them back! Where is my triple-LP of -Delta T now? I could not listen to it, but I would like to HAVE it! It felt good. There are more of these stories I won't bore you with! Dennis Bovell - Strictly Dub wize 1978

This experimental UK pop band was a spin-off from the Manchester-based indie mavericks The Fall, actually they were kicked out by little Stalin Mark E. Smith. Una Baines (keyboards/vocals) and Martin Bramah (guitar/vocals) both found themselves outcasts from that band as the 80s dawned. They put together the Blue Orchids with Rick Goldstar (guitar), Steve Toyne (bass), and Joe Kin (drums), producing a sound that echoed the less esoteric moments of their former employer. Lyrics were usually spoken or half-sung, leaving a sinister and enticing set of songs that deserved a wider audience. I especially love Una's organ playing! "There is an economy of love and yearning in every chord, vocal or instrumental that breaks from the aching heart of the Blue Orchids' sound." Barney Hoskins NME. "Blue Orchids' pop is as exotic as their name... their sound is emotive yet economic, the effect subtle and striking." Lynn Hanna NME. The Blue Orchids are still working, ha...

Here is something different than On-U Sounds for you! Östro 430 were an all-female band I first heard on John Peel's music on BFBS. He also liked them a lot. Nice songs with not so nice lyrics sometimes... "Ihr trefft euch nur auf Feten ohne Mann / und seid so lieb, daß ich es nicht ertragen kann / nur Rumgeschmuse und alle brav / das ödet mich an, das ist nicht mein Bedarf / denn ich bin ganz normal / jawohl ganz stinknormal / denn ich brauch so ab und an / einen Mann, einen Mann, einen Mann." ("Normal") There is some info here Östro 430 - Durch dick & dünn 1981

At the moment I use uploading.com, zshare.de, Rapidshare seems to be FULL, ha ha ;-). I just changed ALL the links on this blog, so you just have to click on the link and a new window will open automatically while my blog will stay on your screen (until you click it away). Does anyone have experience with Feedburner? Do you use feeds? If you download from uploading.com it some time happens that you just get the message to use their premium service, just click on refresh once or more and you will get to the download.

This one is much more classical Reggae, than wild sound experiments. "Revenge of the underdog" featured the combined vocal and DJ talents of the grealy missed Prince Far I, sweet voiced Bim Sherman, Lizard Logan and Jah Woosh over rolling bass lines and driving drums. I love the deep, deep voice of Prince Far I over this bass heavy foundation and the contrast to Bim Sherman's wonderful falsetto! One of my favourites. There is a nice review by Steve Barker here , as part of a nice site on On-U Sounds . The musicians are almost identical to the Playgroup lineup : Style Scott, Crucial Tony, Lizard, Bonjo I, Nick Plytas, Giant Dread, Tony Wraffer, Eskimo Fox, Mr. Ranking Magoo and Viv Albertine from The Slits. Singers & Players - Revenge of the underdog 1982

Playgroup was more or less a band of the usual suspects hanging around at the studio : Bruce "Minty" Smith, Eskimo Fox, Style Scott, Sean "Hogg" Oliver, George Oban, Crucial Tony, John Waddington, Kendall Ernest, "Deadly Headley" Bennett, Tony Wraffer, Nick Plytas, Mark Coalfield, Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah are names you know from many On-U Sound records. But this is a little different. Maybe John Waddington (ex-Pop Group, link to our 'Sons & Daughters Of The Pop Group' mission) had a strong influence on this. The Reggae and Dub elements are spiced up with more jazzy sax and Waddington's free form guitar playing. Especially "Crunch", "Shock absorber" and "Hoggs might fly" sound rather Pop Groupey. "No speed limit" is a fine example of Sherwood Dub production. Playgroup - Epic Sound Battles Chapter 1 1982

I have to send some "pings" to Friends Electric's multiple "pongs" (btw, thanks for the list!). I just saw that dorfdisco braunsfeld joined in too, great! This is not that Reggae oriented as the other On-U Sounds posts. Judy Nylon was an american expat in 70's London, where she started recording with Patti Paladin as RAF, using tape solicitations of the police in Germany, accessed by dialing 1166 on the phone in Cologne after Schleyer was kidnapped in 1977. A different version of this is on the Fetish EP (FET 004) from 1981, that you find below as a little bonus. Pal Judy was released in 1982, produced by Judy Nylon and Adrian Sherwood. The musicians were Judy Nylon (Vocals/Producer), Chris Joyce (Drums), George Oban (Bass), Sean Oliver (Bass), Nick Plytas (Keyboards), Nick Plytas (Vocals), John Waddington (Guitar), John Walker (Engineer), Kendall Ernest (Guitar), Eskimo Fox (Synthesizer Percussion), Adrian Sherwood (Producer). With Adrian Sherwood's...

New Age Steppers started as a one-shot project featuring Mark Stewart from the Pop Group, Style Scott, George Oban of Aswad, Ari Up from The Slits, Bim Sherman and Neneh Cherry. Lead guitar was supplied by Keith Levene, who was the musical mainstay of Public Image Ltd. British producer Adrian Sherwood was the only constant in the New Age Steppers, an ever-changing jam session that included members of the Slits, Public Image, Rip Rig + Panic, Raincoats and the Pop Group. The records are a melting pot of synthesized New Wave and Reggae, transmuted through dub studio techniques. In practical terms, that amounts to variations on a theme or, more accurately, a rhythm. And this rhythm is life. The first song I heard was "Man next door" on John Peel's music on BFBS and I was hooked! The mix of Punk, New Wave and Reggae was one of John Peel's virtues and I was the sponge to swallow all this and I did, and I love it! This was the first time European Reggae sounded right and re...

In 1980 I found this record in a bargain bin at the local hardware store (F. Hettig, Lüchow). I had already heard about Punk and new Wave and The Stranglers and this LP had a sticker saying "Stranglers Bassist" so I bought it for 9,95 DM. I was not disappointed! It does not sound like a typical Stranglers album, it has a much more electronic, New wavey flair. this is what the Record Collector had to say in 92 : Burnel's solo career began in 1979, with the release of his "Euroman Cometh" LP. According to the bassist, the album was pieced together from 'after-hours" recordings made in London during the Stranglers' "Black And White" sessions. "I had nowhere to sleep at the time," he explains languidly. "I'd get stoned with my mates in the studio, then late at night, once they'd all gone, I'd be there with my sleeping bag and pillows - maybe I'd have a few girlfriends round - and start messing about with the drum...

I really love this song! When it came out in 1982 it was a sensation, Art crossing over to the Pop market. The minimal approach was new there but it was lasting. This introduced me to the work of Philip Glass (that synth sequence after 2:40). Enjoy! I am still amazed by this, the USA series will appear here soon!

One Marcus asked for the second Mark Stewart LP "As the veneer of democracy starts to fade", so here it is! Tough rhythms by the former Sugarhill backing band Doug Wimbish, Keith Le Blanc and Skip McDonald ("It was this tape they´d done with like rockets going off and drums that sounded like steamhammers. I was going mental playing it to everyone."), very extrovert singing and shouting by Mark Stewart. Touches of Reggae, Dub, Hip Hop and early Industrial combine to a great package with hard messages on On-U Sound records. This is not Phil Collins. Mark Stewart started with the Pop Group, a radical Wave/Post-Punk/Funk/Reggae collective from Bristol, that asked to throw down the government and rob a bank. What more do you want. And it still sounds fantastic. Tight rhythms and clever lyrics still make you want to start the revolution, but nobody does... Pop Group - For how much longer do we tolerate mass murder? 1980 Mark Stewart - As the veneer of democracy starts to ...

If you read the slogan for this post, I am sure you will hunger for something long lost. Unfortunately I don't have anything by them on offer (until I get my tape working). Anybody with any hint would be greatly invited to comment where I can get anything by the above mentioned!

All links should be up and working again!!!! Let's see for how long... They seem to delete just by chance. Some files that had been downloaded 4 days ago are now gone. This makes keeping a blog alive pretty hard. So now I have to check the links every day and re-up the files. Sorry for any inconvenience. Due to the change of the time after which Rapidshare deletes files that have not been downloaded from 30 to 10 days, some links on my blog are not working anymore. Some files can not be re-upped (Marc Almond zip, the mp3 is still there, no idea why, so get it as long it is up!). If you want a special file, leave a comment (comments work now!!!). I try to get it all back online asap, but it will take a while (sob). I checked different free file hosters,. Who has experience with SpeedShare ? This is somehow connected to Gulli's world so I am a bit sceptical. In the future single tracks or small zips will be on Zshare, so you will have to open the window and scroll down to see th...

"Glaxo Babies were the fore-runners of a wave of Bristol music that spawned The Pop Group, Rip Rig & Panic, Maximum Joy & Pigbag, who all became household names as the jagged edged angst movement quickly gathered respect throughout the world. The foursome was initially vocalist Rob Chapman, guitarist/vocalist Dan Catsis (ex-Pop Group), drummer Geoff Aslopp, and bassist Tom Nichols. They released the This Is Your Life EP in 1979; by the time of the Christine Keeler single months later, a few changes to the lineup were made. Most significantly, Charles Llewelyn took over for Aslopp on drums and Tony Wrafter (another ex-Pop Group member) added saxophone. Chapmen then left, and the remaining members recorded the entirety of 1980's Nine Months to the Disco, their debut LP for Heartbeat, within the span of a single day. For the following Limited Entertainment EP (also released in 1980), the Glaxo Babies temporarily hooked up with the Y label. And finally, Put Me on the Guest...

I really like that you appreciate the music I get online, but I would like to get some feedback! Well, I am sorry but I used one wrong option on my blogs, so the comments were not published.

When I discovered the Woodentops in 1984 it was a shock of joy. The fine melodies of The Smiths combined with the energy of Gang of Four. Nice 6 and 12-string guitars, played at a frenzy, what else can a pop fan want! They arrived about the same time to me as the Go Betweens! Woodentops - Giant LP Woodentops - Plenty 12" + Well well well 12" + Everyday living 2x7"

For a change here is some german music from the 90s, rather the 00s again, following the Lassie Singers. Great Pop songs played with a guitar and verve, compare to Bernd Begemann. I first heard of Space Kelly in 1995 through the mailorder company Malibu, lost but not forgotten... They offered a one-sided 7" by a then unkown to me called Space Kelly on Heribert Fassbinder. He was a very prominent sports commentator SK obviously did not like, he wanted to hang him from the stairs... I made a C-45 of it and it was played at The Funzel in Braunschweig during the 96 EM. Space Kelly - N'Abend allerseits 05/2001 "Erster Alles"(10-Track CD & LP album: 1. Die schönsten Mädchen gibt es in Amsterdam, 2. Das Mädchen aus dem Fußballtrikotkatalog, 3. Ich mag keine Aubergine, 4. September Mädchen, 5. Das kommt nur von dem Petroleum, 6. Babyface Claire, 7. Ich möchte die weiblichen Fans von Take That, 8. Ich wollte nie eine Nacht mit einem Groupie, 9. Sozusagen Schluß gemacht, ...

This was a cheapo sampler from 1984 of (mostly) previously released material on the great ON-U label run by genius Adrian Sherwood . Many tracks on ON-U featured the former Sugarhill backing band later also known as Tackhead , guitarist Skip McDonald, bassist Doug Wimbish and drummer Keith LeBlanc, completed by singer Bernard Fowler. You can find more info on Skysaw's ON-U fan site with lots of information on the label and the artists and all the rhythms. This is a german site on ON-U . V. A. - Pay It All Back Vol. 1 Unfortunately this link is no longer available and even more unfortunately I do not have a copy of this file! Grrrr... If anybody has a copy he found here, please let me know by posting a comment to the newest entry to this blog, so I can update this post for everyone and myself. I am not too keen on ripping several records again... The second volume is from 1988 and features among others Reggae legends Lee Perry, Bim Sherman and Prince Far I, three of the great voice...