Notes taken during The Big Rip

[skygeex]

I have finally begun the process of ripping just about every record in my collection (several hundred) in preparation for unloading it all. As I go through this largely New Wave/Post-punk/New Romantic collection, I am refreshing my memory about what I actually bought back then, and how great most of this stuff is! I won't be ripping it all, because much of this vinyl also exists as plastic in my CD collection, which I will be keeping. I'm just getting raw rips onto my terabyte drive for now. I'll come back and slice and dice and process everything into clean tracks later.

While I move through this wax, I thought I'd post a few musings along the way. Hope no one minds.

I just ripped my copy of "No Wave", a compilation of A&M artists put out in 1978. Subtitled twice with "A Musical Dip into the Ocean of Contemporary Sounds" and (on the spine) "...Is an Album of a Lot of Different Groups". My copy is the original clear blue vinyl pressing, and sounds surprisingly good. My experience is that non-standard vinyls often sound bad, but they did a good job on this one. Anyone else have this one?

Here's a listing of what is on this record (A&M SP 4738):

U.K. Squeeze - Take Me I'm Yours
The Police - Roxanne
Joe Jackson - Got The Time
Klark Kent - Don't Care
The Secret - I'm Alive
The Stranglers - Bring On The Nubiles
U.K. Squeeze - Strong In Reason
Joe Jackson - Sunday Papers
The Dickies - Give It Back
The Police - Next To You
The Stranglers - Nice N' Sleazy
The Dickies - You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)

I love the sleeve art. Great 1978 stuff. I'm glad I have this on the drive now.

Also tonight, I ripped my copy of The Orchids 1980 self-titled, and one and only, LP for MCA. This was a Kim Fowley act. Surprisingly, they even have a MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/theorchids1979

This record ain't bad. Bordering on a clear Wave sound, but also very Runaways (figures, right?). Also wondering of anyone else has this one. I had forgotten all about it.

I'll add more to this topic as I go.

-Chris

[bigwavedave]

Thanks for the lowdown on No Wave Chris. I used to see that lp all the time but never did pick it up...wish I had.

Looking forward to further vinyl musings...

[skygeex]

My wife was once handed a copy of "Beach Blvd", a three-artist "surf punk" compilation put together by Posh Boy Records in 1979. I just ripped it. Posh Boy calls it Orange County hardcore. There's really nothing hardcore about this. It's just good, thrashy beach-style punk. Some tracks are straight-up Wave, with no apologies. Back cover notes are by Rodney Bingenheimer (KROQ's Rodney on the ROQ -- Posh Boy also put out the three-volume compilation "Rodney On The ROQ" and "The Best of Rodney on the ROQ"). The acts on this disc are Simpletones, The Crowd, and Rik L Rik. Hermosa Beach's "Media Art" studio must have been in on the deal because all tracks are recorded there. Posh Boy re-released this record on CD in 1991, but I don't have that. The CD adds six additional tacks from Simpletones, three more from The Crowd, and six other tracks from F-Word, which never appeared on the original vinyl. This record is a great listen! Fun!

TRACKS LISTING

SIMPLETONES
Kirsty Q
I Have A Date
Tiger Beat Twist
Don't Bother Me
California

THE CROWD
Suzy Is A Surf Rocker
Living In Madrid
Trix Are For Kids
Modern Machine
New Crew

RIK L RIK
Black and Red
Meat House
I Got Power
Mercenaries
Atomic Lawn

[skygeex]

Another absolutely classic wave/punk compilation I have on vinyl (that just got ripped to the laptop) is the 1980 release of "N.O. Experience Necessary" from Oblique Records. "N.O.", in this case, stands for New Orleans.

There's no way I would ever be able to give you an answer if you were to ask me where I got this record. Can't remember if I actually bought it, or if it was handed to me. The record stores I frequented would often do that. I always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to get handed a free record.

Oblique evidently ran an ad in the newspaper for originals local acts to record some tracks for this compilation. It's a terrific record. Edgy, punky, synthy (on some tracks), and a little head-on rock. The opening track is excellent ("Lunatic Fringe" by Backstabbers). But when you get down to track five ("Sad Army" by Mechanics), you suddenly think you're listening to XTC, ca. "Go 2". The same act has another track which sounds like they're covering Oingo Boingo. "Hot Pork" by Men In Black is absolutely hilarious.

Carlos Boll produces, and not surprisingly, appears in two of the bands represented here. I am not able to find any other releases on this "label".

TRACK LISTING

Backstabbers - Lunatic Fringe
Driveways - Simple Pictures
Room Service - She Don't Mind
Men In Black - Hot Pork
Mechanics - Sad Army
Contenders - Drug City

Mandeville Mike & The Mental Block - Does She or Doesn't She?
Driveways - ZigZag
Shitdogs - Not Responsible
Contenders - Little Murders
Backstabbers - Fly By Night
Mechanics - The Consumer

[skygeex]

Just ripped this little diamond in the rough. Anyone ever heard of (or seen live, like me!) Granati Brothers? I caught them as the warm-up for the awesome Fabulous Poodles at The Old Waldorf in SF on March 19, 1979. BEST DAMN CLUB DATE I EVER ATTENDED...BAR NONE! Based on that show, I went out and picked up their debut LP, "G-Force" (A&M SP 4748). A friend of mine, I recall now, labeled them "Philly Wop-Pop" (I know, I know...not very PC). This act really was made up of the four brothers Granati (Hermie, Ricky, Joey, and David), plus the odd man out, Tony Lee Bonomo. The song-writing talent here was Hermie. Production is a little sterile and emotionless, but the overall tunage is pretty good. They did have a good live show. I think the better tracks here are "You Looked So Good" and "Nothin'". Rip sounds good.

TRACK LISTING
Granati Brothers - "G-force"

what in the world
you looked so good
april
i can do without you
no stone unturned

nite
nothin'
make it last
it was you
(someone to) take up my time
she doesn't cry

(Just as they appear on the record; not a single capital letter to be found anywhere on the sleeve, liner, or label!)

[glokstadt]

[quote]Originally posted by skygeex
[br]
I just ripped my copy of "No Wave", a compilation of A&M artists put out in 1978. Subtitled twice with "A Musical Dip into the Ocean of Contemporary Sounds" and (on the spine) "...Is an Album of a Lot of Different Groups". My copy is the original clear blue vinyl pressing, and sounds surprisingly good. My experience is that non-standard vinyls often sound bad, but they did a good job on this one. Anyone else have this one?

Here's a listing of what is on this record (A&M SP 4738):

U.K. Squeeze - Take Me I'm Yours
The Police - Roxanne
Joe Jackson - Got The Time
Klark Kent - Don't Care
The Secret - I'm Alive
The Stranglers - Bring On The Nubiles
U.K. Squeeze - Strong In Reason
Joe Jackson - Sunday Papers
The Dickies - Give It Back
The Police - Next To You
The Stranglers - Nice N' Sleazy
The Dickies - You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)

I love the sleeve art. Great 1978 stuff. I'm glad I have this on the drive now.

-Chris
[/quote]

I have a similar album with different tracks and artists, like Oingo Boingo and others, will have to pull mine out and compile the artist/song listing... alsomine has no cover art, just plain white, as it is a readio station/DJ edition.

[glokstadt]

[quote][i]Originally posted by skygeex[/i]
<br>My wife was once handed a copy of "Beach Blvd", a three-artist "surf punk" compilation put together by Posh Boy Records in 1979. I just ripped it. Posh Boy calls it Orange County hardcore. There's really nothing hardcore about this. It's just good, thrashy beach-style punk. Some tracks are straight-up Wave, with no apologies. Back cover notes are by Rodney Bingenheimer (KROQ's Rodney on the ROQ -- Posh Boy also put out the three-volume compilation "Rodney On The ROQ" and "The Best of Rodney on the ROQ"). The acts on this disc are Simpletones, The Crowd, and Rik L Rik. Hermosa Beach's "Media Art" studio must have been in on the deal because all tracks are recorded there. Posh Boy re-released this record on CD in 1991, but I don't have that. The CD adds six additional tacks from Simpletones, three more from The Crowd, and six other tracks from F-Word, which never appeared on the original vinyl. This record is a great listen! Fun!

TRACKS LISTING

SIMPLETONES
Kirsty Q
I Have A Date
Tiger Beat Twist
Don't Bother Me
California

THE CROWD
Suzy Is A Surf Rocker
Living In Madrid
Trix Are For Kids
Modern Machine
New Crew

RIK L RIK
Black and Red
Meat House
I Got Power
Mercenaries
Atomic Lawn
[/quote]

I have this record... always loved it... played the crap out of it, and saw all thess bands live throughout Orange County back in the day... My copy is also white as it is also a "promo" copy with over art drawn in with color markers...


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