The Accessories - The Accessory 7" (1982) -&- Vege's & Potatoes 12" (1982)

 

The Accessories was a post punk band from New Zealand that I know nothing about. They released a 7" and a 5-song EP in 1982 and then, as far as I know, they disappeared. The end.

I have the physical records but they are really rare and I didn't want to subject them to my scanner so I just stole the images from Discogs. Don't tell nobody. 

 

The Accessories - The Accessory 7" (1982)

A - The Accessory

B - Friday Night

toneandwave · The Accessory

 

The Accessories - Vege's & Potatoes 12" EP (1982)

1 Think Thin

2 Thieves in the Night

3 Festival

4 Into Your Mind

5 Doing it to Me

 

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The Howards - Pretty/Ugly EP (1994)

 This is a band from Chicago who played in the early 90s and they understood that grunge was the flavor of the day but they didn't go all into it. 

There are slight echoes of ska here and there, but there was no third wave at that time so the 'ska' sound would not appeal to a ska purist. There is a lot of surf-guitar influence as well. 

Their sound is not indescribable but I can't describe it. They had an album prior to this record that Discogs describes as "swing jazz" which I can say I don't believe even though I have never heard it.

 

1 Break Even

2 Frankie Machine Garden

3 Gulag

4 Bigfoot

5 Creepy Creepy  

This is the most grunge sounding song on the record. The rest of the record does not sound like this song.  

 

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Guava Groove - Who's That Girl? 7" (1987)

 

A1 - Who's That Girl

A2 - Liquor Lover

B1 - Fight! (We Got to Use what We Got to Get What We Want)

B2 - Boot Girl

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The G.T.'s - Boys Have Feelings Too 7" (1979)

Remember in the 80s when so many new wave bands were inspired by the sounds of the 50s and early 60s? One of the most influential band from the 60s that inspired a lot of 80s bands - mostly female artists - was the Shangri-La's. 

This band here is an early example of  how the sound of the Shangri-La's would shape the bands of the 80s.

This one record is all they recorded. It's 60's throwback with 80s new wave mixed in perfectly. Harmonizing female vocals with intermittent male vocals playing early 60's music with 80s instruments. 

 

A - Boys Have Feelings Too

B - Be Careful

 

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Moira and the Mice

 Moira and the Mice wasn't really a punk rock band as much as they were a rock band from the punk era who came from Wales and I don't think they ever broke up. They might be playing a show this weekend for all I know. 

They had a lot of original tunes but only recorded a few of them. Six that I know of on these two records.

Here's a great song that they played live but didn't release on a record. 

 

Somebody posted a full show on YouTube (audio only) of a show they did at the Trubadour in Port Talbot in 1981.

Moira and the Mice - Sight and Sound 7" (1980)

A - Sight and Sound 

B - Gimme Pleasure

Moira and the Mice -  Hysterical Outbursts 7" (1981)

A1 - Hysteria

A2 - Heart Like a Whore

B1 - War Games

B2 - Playing for Time

 

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Second Language - In Shadows (1984)

 

Australian new wave/rock band with gothic leanings. This is probably the only thing they ever released.

1  In Shadows

2 On the Edge

3 Kashan

4 The Heart Becomes

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Internationals - Hoots Mon 7" (1983) -and- It's Not Unusual 7" (1984)

 Case in point of my previous post where I said I don't understand good bands squandering their studio time for cover songs or trying to be funny. 

Watch this band live and see that they were entertaining and the frontman Neil Tomlinson was energetic and fun to watch and the band was capable of composing their own songs that people would want to hear.

They only put out these two records that I know of and neither one conveys the band properly. 

Did any of their fans actually want to hear them cover Tom Jones? 

 

The Internationals - Hoots Mon 7" (1983)

 A - Hoots Mon

B - Never Gonna Give You Up (not the Rick Astley song, I promise. I've never Rickrolled anybody in my life!)

The Internationals - It's Not Unusual 7" (1984)

A - It's Not Unusual

B - Headline News

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The Method - Chances (1980) & The Method singles

 Studio time is expensive. It was really expensive in 1980. When I hear bands releasing records with cover songs (especially if it's a song that's been covered over and over again) or if they release a record of them just fucking around in the studio I can't help but think  "You have a whole band, you have a producer, and you have studio time - and this is what you did with it?? While there are so many talented bands that never get the opportunity to record in a studio and release a record on a label you were blessed with that gift and this is what you did with it??"

I listened to this record a few times before it dawned on me. This was an established talented band that could have made a good record but, in true punk rock fashion, they used this opportunity to say "fuck you" to the music industry instead. Including their own manager, producer, and record label. 

It's said that there were only 200 copies of this record made. There was a time in my life that I thought I would never own a copy myself because of how rare and expensive it is. 

I finally found a copy and the cover is in shameful condition. I honestly believe that someone pissed on it at some point in the last forty years or so.The record is not very good but I think it's all for good reason. This band could have been bigger but they were held back by the people that were supposed to make them big. They got screwed over. And they make that clear on this record. 

For being as rare as it is there are ten copies for sale on Discogs as I write this. And they are cheaper that what I paid for my copy. And I bet most of them have never been saturated in urine. 

I included two of the bands 7"s in this download to show what they really did sound like. They had 3 singles but both tracks from one of the singles is on the album so I didn't include that one. 

The Method - Chances (1980)

1 Snippets (live)

2 Circular Dreams (live)

3 Making Do (live)

4 Taking Liberties (live)

5 Over, Under, Sideways, Down (live)

6 The Biz

7 Little Lazers

8 Normally Abnormal

9 Poem - The Method Owed

10 Chances

11 Making Music Play

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The Method - Kings on the Corner 7" (1977)

A - Kings on the Corner

B - Dynamo

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The Method - Taking Liberties 7" (1980)

A - Taking Liberties

B - The Pink Panther

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The Hi-Techs

For a long time I have listened to the new wave band Personal Effects. I love them and I think I have everything they ever recorded.

 Not too far back in time I was listening to a compilation record called "From the City that Brought You...Absolutely Nothing" and I thought the stand-out song on that record was a song called "Pompeii" by a band called The Hi-Techs. I never heard of The Hi-Techs before then. I had no idea who they were. But, thanks to the awesome power of the internet and Discogs, I immediately found out that The Hi-Techs was a band that preceded my beloved Personal Effects and was made up of members of that band. 

I had to find out what else they recorded and it amounts to this - two 7"s and the song from the comp.

I present to you here both 7"s, the song from the compilation, and the first EP by the new incarnation of the band called Personal Effects. 

The Hi-Techs - Boogaloo Rendezvous 7" (1980)

A - Boogaloo Rendezvous

B - Subscriptions (are My Subscription)

The Hi-Techs - Screamin' You Head 7" (1981)

A - Screamin' You Head

B - A Woman's Revenge

The Hi-Techs - Pompeii (from the compilation)

 

 

Personal Effects - Personal Effects EP (1982) 

1 So Hard

2 Magic (I've Been Waiting)

3 Low Riders

4 Love Never Thinks

5 Don't Wake Me

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The Investigators - The Investigators (1991)

 Everywhere this record is listed it is described as a ska record. 

It is not a ska record. There is not one single second of ska anywhere on the record.

What it is, is more mod with hints of soul, jump-blues and a little bit of swing. It's very horn-heavy and inspired greatly by television crime dramas.

1 Ironside

2 All My World

3 Something New (From Now On)

4 'Cause I'm Walking

5 Investigators

6 Sweet Little Girl

7 Keep On Fighting

8 Soul Party (Keep On Moving!)

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