V/A - 20 Of Another Kind (1979)

In 1979 I was 12. I'd had my first record player for my 11th birthday and my record collection was thinner than Victoria Beckham, consisting mostly of Blondie and Showaddywaddy (anyone under 40, look it up).

My cousin, John, was 4 years older and a punk and his records were a revelation to me. He introduced me to The Damned (see later post) but he also had this which, having taped it off him (again, kids, look up "tapes"), I played to death.

20 Of Another Kind became my punk primer and I went on to buy albums by every one of the bands on this album (with the exception of Belgian novelty act Plastic Bertrand - the horrors in that sentance "Belgian"+"novelty act"), informing my musical choices for the next 10 years at least.

I can categorically say that this is the album that got me into music and you need it. Trust me.

Tracklist:

Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi ; The Jam - In The City; The Skids - Sweet Suburbia; Otway And Barratt - Beware Of The Flowers; Sham 69 - Borstal Breakout; The Cure - Killing An Arab; Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device; The Adverts - Gary Gilmore's Eyes; Generation X - Ready Steady Go; 999 - Homicide; The Stranglers - No More Heroes; The Boys - The First Time; Patrik Fitzgerald - Irrelevant Battles; Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United; The Jolt - No Excuses; Otway And Barratt - Really Free; The Heartbreakers - Born Too Loose; 999 - Emergency; The Lurkers - I'm On Heat; The Jam - 'A' Bomb In Wardour Street.

P.S. Clearly home taping didn't kill music - nor will blogging.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Taping_Is_Killing_Music

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showaddywaddy

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_Bertrand

Scootz "n" Bootz

I don't know about you but I recognised some time ago that all of my favourite records had a certain something about them in common, whatever the genre. To this day I don't know whether it's the production, the bass sound or what but they've all got that "mojo".

Imagine my surprise, then, not to mention delight, when I found Scootz "n" Bootz.

Every single album put up there has that mojo and many of my all time favourites are up there. Genre's not an issue - he's got soul, rockabilly, punk, ska, metal; there's not a bad album in sight.

You NEED to check the site out.

Oh, and he luuurves de scooters.

scootermusic80s.blogspot.com/redskins

The Redskins - Neither Washington Nor Moscow (1986)

Along with "Searching For The Young Soul Rebels" by Dexy's (see below), this is one of my all-time favourite albums.

Coming from a very similar place as "Soul Rebels", "NWNM" melds the rabble rousing punk crunch of The Clash c."London's Calling" with genuine Muscle Shoals soul to a staggering effect that has in no way aged over 23 years.

Forget the extreme socialist polemic, the swagger and bile of the band, and leader Chris Dean in particular, with those awesome brass riffs and rockabilly guitar chords, just gets the adrenaline flowing every time.

I'm not doing a track-by-track on this one, they're all too good to be picked to pieces, but stand outs for me include "Kick Over The Statues", "It Can Be Done", "Keep On Keeping On" and "Hold On".

Sadly, after this the band were no more and other than a couple of singles and a live album there's nothing else out there. On the other hand it's hard to see how they could ever have beaten this record so perhaps that's a good thing.

Meantime, if you want a rush, go fetch.

http://www.myspace.com/redskinsunofficial

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PLEASE let me know if you like my blog, if it's shit, what you'd like to see....

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Take The Pills!

Jingle jangle, oo oo oo - no it's not Jimmy Saville back in the house, it's Take The Pills!, an avowedly partisan website of all things twee, indie-pop, lo-fi and bubblegum.

If you like your music with a huge side-helping of sugar, you wear your hair floppy and you think no good music's been made since 1987, check this blog.

Heavily based around the C86 generation of bands, Take The Pills! showcases the sounds of that era but keeps the faith with music from around the globe of the same ilk from then 'til now.

Good sounds.

takethepills.blogspot.com/farmers boys

The Farmer's Boys - With These Hands (1985)

Emerging from Norwich in the early 80s, The Farmer's Boys were an unashamed indie-pop band. This album, their second and, sadly, last, came out in 1985 but its meld of Orange Juice/The Housemartins-type sounds is as fresh today as they ever were.

The album sets the scene by kicking off with a cover of the old Cliff Richard song "In The Country", up-tempo, jangling guitars to the fore and with enough verve and cheer to bring an immediate smile to your face. "I Built The World" keeps the pace up and bright and "Sport For All" manages to make miserablism chipper!

Next up "Art Gallery", with blasting horns and slightly harder guitars, is one of the album's highlights, "Something From Nothing" slows it down a bit before we're hit with "Phew Wow!" a bouncing romp of a song with Beach Boys harmonies, strings and the band's trademark cheeky grin stamped all over it. "All Of A Sudden" keeps the ball in the air then we're brought right back down to earth with "Heartache", a pastiche torch song. "Walkabout", with rabble rousing backing vocals is very redolent of its era with vaguely Spandau Ballet-ish vocalising. The album rounds off with "Whatever Is He Like?", a re-do of the band's first single.

I bought this album when it came out in 1985 and it pretty much had a permanent place on the stereo. I dug it out again when I heard the band were re-releasing their first album, "Get Out & Walk", and was astounded that I could remember every hook, chorus and lyric.

If you're feeling a bit glum or you've got a mate that wants cheering up, put this on. It should be prescribed by doctors for depression!

www.thefarmersboys.com

A Dashing Blade

Dashing Blade opens his site with the comment "just some stuff I reckon you should hear before you die" and I couldn't agree more.

Bizarrely the site pretty much mirrors my own record collection so imagine my delight when I found it!

Mixing great music (anything from ABC to New York Dolls) with some unusual entries such as radio broadcasts, audio books and "Sounds Of The Rainforest", a free Sunday newspaper CD, and inordinately well-written commentary, A Dashing Blade is a fascinating delve into one man's sounds and interests and that, alone, is certainly going to keep this writer coming back for more.

adashingblade.blogspot.com/deep and meaningless