Not Rock On

I have this blog for almost two years and there still is no Dub or Reggae post! I have been into Reggae (well, only Bob Marley) before I started listening to John Peel on BFBS. He taught me there was more, starting with the fantastic Misty In Roots, and then came DUB! I was shaken (literally!) by the sounds, Scientist, Mad Professor (still Dub's me crazy!) and Adrian Sherwood with the ON-U Sound label. First connected with the scene around the Pop Group, suddenly he made extraordinary remixes for Depeche Mode! Fantastic! What a shame I did not post any of this before! This shame will soon be resolved... Watch this space... As a teaser you get a very rare 12" single by Akabu recorded by Steve Beresford, Vyris Edghill, Valerie Skeete and Robin Halpin, mixed by ADRIAN SHERWOOD andTOM SILVERMAN (TommyBoy) edited by DOUBLE DEE & STEINSKI (if you don't know about them, wait til you can learn more here) in 1984. Not really Reggae, but very much ON-U, perfect Body Rock as t...

...if you understand norwegian! But Jon Arne Madsø from Trondheim, Norway put together an amazing archive of 100 Artists, 100 records and another 100 records + lots of soundbites, mostly from the 80's! Even if you don't understand it it is worth it for the pictures! Watch! http://www.jonarne.net

After the Lassie Singers this is another post of female music, and they did a fantastic job! Possibly the finest early eighties band never to have a chart single and they split up before having any real success. So here is their first LP with classic Pop! Girls at our Best - Pleasure

The Lassie Singers are not 80s New Wave but of course they were alive and already working then ! I like them a lot so this is reason enough to post this! Fantastic melodies and hooks, great lyrics, what more do you need for POP heaven? Their breakthrough happened in 1991 when this became a standard in the FUNZEL in Braunschweig. One of their best songs was "Loswerden" (Get rid of..) on the second LP. This is what WIKIPEDIA has to say about Die Lassie Singers : Die Lassie Singers waren eine 1988 gegründete und 1998 aufgelöste Pop-Band aus Berlin, die sich musikalisch ungefähr zwischen Neue Deutschen Welle und der Hamburger Schule einordnen lässt. Gründungsmitglieder waren Christiane Rösinger, Almut Klotz und Funny van Dannen, der allerdings der Band nur kurze Zeit fest angehörte. Zeitweilig arbeiteten die Lassie Singers mit verschiedenen Größen aus dem deutschsprachigen Pop zusammen. Dazu gehörten u.a. Bernd Begemann , King Rocko Schamoni,F.J. Krüger Ideal ) und Jochen Distelm...

This is a Sampler by Cherry Red from 1981, showing artists as various as Ben Watt and Lol Coxhill! Claire Thomas & Susan Vezey - Bright waves Matt Johnson - What Stanley saw Virgin Prunes - Third secret Lol Coxhill - The calm Lemon Kittens - In wooden brackets Eyeless In Gaza - You frighten Kevin Coyne - Hello Judas Mark Perry - Dear, dear Ben Watt - Departure Two Daughters - Return call We are Kevin Harrison - People in space Thomas Leer - Kings of Sham Five Or Six - Folded Morgan-Fisher - Foreign correspondent Robert Fripp - Remorse of conscience A Tent - No way of knowing David Jackman - Untitled Perspectives and Distortion 1981

I first heard "Shake it off" by the November Group on John Peel's and immediately liked it, great rhythms, nice lyrics too. This is what you would expect from American New Wave, but in this case it is good! The November Group (German: Novembergruppe) was a group of German expressionist artists and architects. Formed on 3 December 1918, they took their name from the month of the Weimar Revolution. The group was led by Max Pechstein and César Klein. Linked less by their styles of art than by shared socialist values, the group campaigned for radical artists to have a greater say in such issues as the organisation of art schools, and new laws around the arts. The group merged in December 1918 with Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Workers council of the arts - or 'The Art Soviet'). I did not know this before, so this was useful! Boston's November Group starts with a powerful rhythm section, and then adds Kearney Kirby's synthesizers, sporadic guitar and Ann Prim...

This LP by der Plan was the soundtrack to a Rainer Kirberg movie. Very Twenties Expressionist. I remember seeing it on TV in the early 80s, pretty strange but fascinating. In that time there were some projects on German TV on new music. There was a two part documentary in 81 even my music teacher taped and later showed it to the class, resulting in a Referat by my on German New Wave (it wasn't NDW then). der Plan - Die letzte Rache 1982

I first heard songs from Bärchen on the No Fun package tour of 1981. I have a nice tape from Munich, with also Family Five, Mythen in Tüten, Liaisons Dangereuses, Krupps +++ Unfortunately tracks 6 + 8 are missing. Bärchen und die Milchbubis You can find out more about BuM http://www.baerchen-und-die-milchbubis.de Martin of Brotbeutel fame was once a member of them!

In 1984 I heard a song on BFBS that was very strong, powerful, yet melodic, Castles in Spain by Armoury Show. This band resulted from the split of the great Skids, who already had great anthemic POP songs. Richard Jobson was leader of both, aided by John McGeoch, who also played with Siouxsie Sioux and as I just found out, died more than two years ago! The rest of the Skids formed Big Country, not really unsuccessful either in a similar vein. Armoury Show - Castles in Spain 12" EP UK 1984

This is a 2 LP record from a concert on Marc Almond's 1985 "Stories of Johnny" Tour, obviously in Germany, he sometimes says Danke. It has almost no info, just "Some Illegal" in the typo of Some Bizarre and is a little over 81 minutes long. The tracklist is almost identical to the concert in the Markthalle in Hamburg on 06.12.85 which I attended. I took some photos and also have a live tape a girl in the audience made with her walkman, so the sound quality is pretty lousy, but this recording is much better, but also not perfect. The difference between the concerts is that he played "House of the rising sun" in Hamburg, where on this recording you can hear "A woman's story". I took a few hours to remove cracks, but it is still not Hi-Fi. Marc Almond - Live 85 Germany I have some more pictures here and here.

In 1984 Joolz teamed up with Jah Wobble (PIL) and Ollie Marland ( I always thought he was in the Pigbag bubble too!) A Bass helps a melody a lot! The Kiss was also released as a 12" dance mix. Her combination of poetry and great tunes, made many dance great. I had been looking for this 12" since 1984 until I found it in a Canadian record shop in Winnipeg amid a lot of equals for almost nothing in perfect condition! Joolz - The Kiss EP You can find out more about Joolz Denby and her work here : Joolz Denby

I remember reading in 1980 or 81 that Alfred Hilsberg (owner of ZickZack record label) would trade in his label for this record. Obviously this did not happen, although I think there must have been some offers. This is a very early record by Nina Hagen when she was a star still in the GDR. It is famous by now, as she complains to her boyfriend, that he forgot to bring some color film for the holiday pictures. Now she only has the images in black and white... Nina Hagen - Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen (Michael)

Released in 1984 as ZickZack ZZ 210 probably only as picture disc (rather pretty, with maps on it) this was as far as I know the swansong of Die Radierer although recently there was some life in the corpse on their website Die Radierer Good Pop songs, not too far away from Die Zimmermänner. Die Radierer - Gott und die Welt ZZ 210 1984

These were not on ZickZack but on Atatak, the der Plan label. Katz Rap was released in 1982 as WR 14, the flip is Mom. Julie Jigsaw, Pyrolator-drummer Frank Samba and Wietn Wito on Bass and Guitar created a nervous hit! JaJaJa - Katzrap 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... This is another non ZZ post, eleased on DAS BÜRO/ATATAK in 1983 as Büro 007. Janie Jones aka Peter Hein joined up with Xao Seffcheque to build Family 5 with Rainer Mackenthun - Schlagzeug, Marcus Wienstroer - Bass, Andreas Brüning - Saxophon, Meki Türk - Trompete, Chor, Axel Schulz (heute ÄRZTE/Farin Urlaub-Manager)- Saxophon, Chor, Gerald Leyking - Trompete, Chor. I remember this song from a radio broadcast I taped in 198...

This was a project by Andy Giorbino and Jackie Eldorado, the man that got famous by licking the leg of Iggy Pop (see pic below). ZZ 90 from 1981 was kind of a concept album, medieval, knighthood... strange. Ivanhoe! - ZZ 90 "Andy Giorbino, Jäki (oder auch Jäcki) Eldorado und dessen Bruder Bruder Niki nahmen 1981 die Mini-LP 'Ivanhoe' auf. Es gibt sogar ein Promofoto mit Giorbino und Eldorado in Ritterrüstung. Giorbino nahm einige oloplatten auf. Der Berliner Jäki Eldorado soll der erste Punk in Deutschland gewesen sein. Berühmt ist das Foto, wo er dem Idol Iggy Pop am Bein leckt (Herbst 1977). Nach dem Umzug von Berlin nach Hamburg spielt er bei 'Aus lauter Liebe' (und führte auch den gleichnamigen Plattenladen). Außerdem war er bei der 'wahren' Nina Hagen Band 'Who Killed Rudi?', nachdem sich Nina Hagen von den Ex-Lok Kreuzberg Rockmusikern getrennt hatte. Niki beteiligte sich bei verschiedenen Untergrundbands wie 'Sprung aus den Wolken', ...

I don't know much about this band. From the 1981/Nielsen 1001 LP Im Herzen von Nielsen 2 I know the names Waldemar Hayduk, Volker Stigge, Wolfgang Hemprich, Bernd Schäumer, but not much more. Vorgruppe - Im Herzen von Nielsen 2 Du & du/Is mir egal/Menschenkinder/...?/Nielsen 2/Nach Einbruch/Mein Gott/Gewissensspiel/Nachts da wird die Katze grau/Mich hat geträumt oder Nachts um zwei ist die Welt noch in Ordnung/Liebe oder Hass/Tanzgerase in Ekstase/V.E.B.A.

Johann (Hans) Bley und Hans- Jürgen Piel gehörten 1981 als Schlagzeuger und Bassist zu Saal 2, der Hamburger Band um Godeke Ilse und Jens Kraft. Bley und Piel unterstützten ausserdem Rex Dildo (Jens Kraft), Nachdenkliche Wehrpflichtige, Kreutzer und die Zimmermänner bei Plattenaufnahmen. Mit Martin-Georg Grunwaldt (Synthesizer,Gesang) und Michael Wentzel nahmen die beiden dann unter dem Namen Grosse Freiheit zwei 12inch Platten auf. Grunwaldt und Wentzel hatten Grosse Freiheit 1980 gegründet. Grosse Freiheit - Die Moschusfunktion 12" (pre-release copy) ZICKZACK ZZ115, Wenn ich vergnügt bin / Piroschka / Das Lied vom Mädel / Espressomaschine I remember pictures in SOUNDS from 82 where they were dressed like Hamburger Hafenarbeiter or rather Gentlemen, finally I could put it online seen on the left. I bought this record as a pre-release copy without cover and with a special hand-written label. Martin Grunwaldt just found some old props and commercials, anyone interested? Martin imp...

Godley & Creme were Avantgardists when they were still in 10cc and even more so later, everybody will remember their video for Cry with the morphing heads (I think some Jackson tried this later.). This record is funky and mellow, a nice mixture. Snack Attack is showing what would happen in the 80s! Godley & Creme - Snack Attack or ISMISM This record seems to be also known as ISMISM, with the same tracklist. I have it as american import on Atlantic c1982 Mirage Records with a different cover than ISMISM. Unfortunately I have no scanner at the moment.

This somehow matches the former Pop posts, but not. Die Zwei were mostly A Capella plus electronics, maybe even sampling (I am not sure, in 84). I first heard about them, of course, on John Peel's Music on BFBS, that goes nicely with GRAPSCH, the hit off the LP, played by JP, listen to the lyrics. After I had heard it, I expected ELECTRO (remember StreetSounds?) + a little bit of vocals, german. There were much more vocals than electronics, but still great music! Die Zwei - USA! USA! USA!

I really liked the song I found on the Plurex comp "Hours" from the Netherlands 1982 (The Next Year I Returned To St. Michelle (But Marie Had Gone And With Her My Childhood)), although Dislocation Dance were from Manchester, playing wonderful POP music. That song later appeared on "Midnigt Shift" in 1984, a record with great pop songs, always enrichened by Andy Diagram's trumpet. This post features the Midnight shiftLP + the Show me 12". Dislocation Dance - Midnight shift LP + Show me 12"

Does anybody know how I can find out which other sites link to my blog?