My Peel Tapes: Part 2

Back from work and a bloody awful day it was, that's for sure! But who cares, now it's fun time ... with the second part of "My Peel Tapes". Enjoy:

(6) The Glove - 'Like An Animal' (mp3). From the 1983 LP 'Blue Sunshine' on Polydor Records. Now, The Glove actually were Robert Smith (out of The Cure, of course) and Steve Severin (out of Siouxsie & The Banshees, of course) amongst others. Rumour had it at the time that the vocal part was done by Siouxsie Sioux herself. This, let me tell you, is not true: in fact the vocals were done by someone called Jeanette Landray.

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[upon request:

Jesus & Mary Chain - 'Never Understand'

Sex Pistols - 'Satellite'

Smiths - 'Barbarism Begins At Home'

Go-Betweens - 'Cattle And Cane'

Rose Of Avalanche - 'L.A. Rain']

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(7) The Rose Of Avalanche - 'American Girls' (mp3). A band from Leeds and this track is taken from their 1985 debut 'First Avalanche' on the Leeds Independent Label. The LP is good throughout and I wish this would also be true for what The Rose Of Avalanche did after releasing it ... eventually they split up in 1991 ... perhaps this was a wise thing to do, who knows?

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[upon request:

C.U.B.S. - 'We Don't Need No Carpet Baggers'

Fire Hydrant Men - 'I'm In The Pits Since My Racing-Driver Baby Left Me'

Smiths - 'Shakespeare's Sister'

Ramones - 'Judy's A Punk'

Ramones - 'Havanna Affair']

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(8) The Mel-O-Tones - 'Burton Buzz' (mp3). The Mel-O-Tones was a five-piece band featuring, Marlyn Dempsey on guitars, David Dickie on piano, Bob Parker on bass, Jon Neesan on drums, and Frank Martin on vocals (the latter three to become the Walking Seeds). The music is possibly the weirdest thing to be heard among the musical product of the period, combining warped Captain Beefheart-esque vocals and acid lyrics to twisted rockabilly riffs choked in swirling echo effects - and the band itself is possibly the last Liverpool band to carry the torch for weirdness and psychedelia in mid 80's . 'Burton Buzz' is taken from their 1985 6-track debut Mini-LP 'Bomb Sutra' on Probe Plus Records.

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[upon request:

Jane Bond & The Undercovermen - 'I Made Love To A Communist'

Buzzcocks - 'E.S.P.'

Notsensibles - 'I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher'

Fall - 'Last Orders']

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(9) Now I'm trapped: on this side of the cassette there are fantastic songs only and I can't decide whether to give you The Normal's 'Warm Leatherette', Abbreviated Ceiling's 'Party Line' or Billy Bragg's 'The World Turned Upside Down'! What would you do? I'm willing to have a small bet you wanna hear them all, right? Okay, there you are ....:

(9-1) The Normal - 'Warm Leatherette' (mp3). The first record to be released on the Mute Label, a 7" in fact, from 1978. The Normal actually were no-one else but Daniel Miller, founder of Mute Records.

(9-2) Abbreviated Ceiling - 'Party Line' (mp3). From a 4-track 12" on Fountain Of Youth Records, the first track on side one being 'DWI', which leads me to believe that the records heads under 'DWI', that's if you want to have a look for it on ebay or elsewhere. From 1984. Abbreviated Ceiling played the 1980 Unheard Music festival (Minor Threat's second gig) and plenty more around the D.C. scene, though they'd broken up long before Fountain of Youth released their 4-song 12" (where they're backed by Tommy from Black Market Baby). Guitar/vox Kendall Reed: " 'DWI' was composed -I swear this is true- in the drunk tank of the Fairfax County jail after I got picked up leaving a Black Market Baby show, Halloween 1980. The chord progression is an alphabetic substitution code for the letters D-W-I -in the Fairfax tank, you have to make your own fun!" Kendall went on to Please Between, while partner, bassist/vocalist (and photographer) Charles Steck joined the Velvet Monkeys.

(9-3) Billy Bragg - 'The World Turned Upside Down' (mp3). Taken from the 1985 'Between The Wars' 7" EP and - although I can't think of a single bad track that Billy Bragg might ever have done - this, in my eyes, surely will always be in my Billy Bragg Top Ten. Awesome! If you EVER have the chance to this guy live (preferrably solo), do so: if you don't you will really miss a treat!

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[upon request:

Jane Bond & The Undercovermen - 'The Girl Who Knew Too Much']

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(10) Dawn Chorus & The Blue Tits - 'Teenage Kicks' (mp3). This is a neat cover of my favourite record ever since. And if you don't know the original: shoot yourself right now! Vocals on this 7" on Dawn/Stiff Records from 1985 are by Liz Kershaw, sister of Andy Kershaw. Guitar by Damian O'Neill and bass by David Bowie (at least that's what it reads on the sleeve. Whether it is true or not, I simply don't know. Perhaps Bowie completists will be able to tell ...).

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[upon request:

Jane Bond & The Undercovermen - 'Politically Correct'

Pogues - 'Boys From The County Hell']

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Comments, nice people, are of course mostly welcome and I hope to have the next lot of 'My Peel Tapes' ready later this week. Take care,

Dirk