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

DOWNLOAD both Hi-Techs singles, the song from the comp, and the Personal Effects EP

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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va Meeting part 1 and 2

This is a compilation of Dutch new wave/pop bands. Very few of them recorded anything else. Jamback Affair released two albums (which I have if anybody decides they need to hear them). 

 

Zzipp has a 7" that I really love so I was looking for anything else they may have recorded and I found this series. I bought the first volume but the seller sent me the second volume by mistake. I decided to keep it and I bought the first one later.

There are a few good moments but nothing too captivating in either one.

 

Meeting (1985)

1 Jamback Affair - Peachy

2 Jamback Affair - 

3 Jamback Affair - The Party

4 Zzipp - You're Better Off with Me

5 Zzipp - Masochism

6 Zzipp - Groupie

7 Simplex Novum - Innerworlds

8 Simplex Novum - Scratches

9 Simplex Novum - Changing Times

10 Zenith - Division

11 Zenith - Thoughts

12 Zenith - Reminiscence

 

 

Meeting II (1986) 

1 Between The Sheets - Quasimodo

2 Between The Sheets - Nobody's Born to Lose

3 Between The Sheets - Somewhere

4 Crystal Dark - Observer

5 Crystal Dark - Roman Insanity

6 Crystal Dark - Colorful Ambitions

7 Jane Kelly - Desires

8 Jane Kelly - Heartbreaker

9 Jane Kelly - Endless Dream

10 The Big Sleep - Blue Moon

11 The Big Sleep - Skies are Burning

12 The Big Sleep - Just Before the End

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The Eighty Eights - Top of the World (1981)

 1 She Fell in Love with James Bond

2 Tragic Accident

3 Time Machine

4 Top of the World

5 Light Year

6 Channel Misery

7 Sorry Wrong Number

8 Mutiny

9 Don't Call Us

10 Checking Out

11 What Would Your Mother Say?

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The Fabrics [Finland] - Complete Discography

The Fabrics existed only for a few years but they released a lot of material in that time. 

The band was started in 1979 by Tommi Läntinen who has since been in many other bands like Boycott, Rin Tin Tin, the blues-rock band Tommi & Hombre, Tom Dozen, and Kokoelmilla, not to mention a whole lot of solo releases.

Less than 4 years later the band broke up after releasing two albums, four singles, and a cover of the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'".

Both A and B sides of two of the singles are on the album Tonight so they weren't included in this download. Here's what is in this download:

Look at This (1980) - 9 track ska influenced debut.

Factory 7" (1980)

 

Tonight (1981) - 12-track full length that had their biggest hit "Summer is Fading"

 

Eskimoes and Chinese 7" (1982) 
Their final release before Tommi Läntinen and keyboardist Kim Trapp recorded another album as the band Rin Tin Tin.

DOWNLOAD all four Fabrics releases along with the song "Gimme Some Lovin'"

The Rin Tin Tin album "Swazi-Beat" sounds like it very well could have been The Fabric's third album. I was able to find it on a blog called AOR Night Drive but the link is from 2012 and a bit iffy so I re-upped it to Mediafire. 

 

DOWNLOAD Rin Tin Tin - Swazi-Beat (1984) 

 

 

As we are in day two-hundred-and-something of our two-week lock down to 'slow the spread' and 'flatten the curve', you have to appreciate that the guy on the cover of Tonight is respectfully wearing a mask.

Jambon Street - Epatite Virale 7" (1983)

Quirky 80s new wave rock with a bit of 50s-throwback saxophone. They were from Italy and both songs are sung in Italian. This might be the only thing they ever released.

Is it good? Is it bad? Who knows. But it is rare. That's what counts here.

A - Epatite Virale

B - Lettera

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Bleistift - Bleistift (1981)

There is a 7" record from the Netherlands released in 1980 called "17 to 7 on 33" which was 7 bands who paid for the release by paying per minute. There were two bands who had a song that was exactly 1 minute long and the other 5 bands had songs that were exactly 3 minutes each. So 17 minutes by 7 bands at 33 rpm.

I no longer have this record and I really don't remember what it sounds like but I remember I wasn't very impressed with any of the bands except for this one. Bleistift ('Pencil'). I kept their song "Looking Swell" and found out they had one album. I don't think the album maintained the same quality of that first song but it is what I was expecting.

New wave guitar rock. No keyboards or horns. Up-tempo but too mellow to be punk. Not gothic enough to be goth. Too much structure to be 'experimental' or 'art rock'.  A voice that takes some getting used to. You know, the kind of stuff I post on this blog.

I included "Looking Swell" with this download. 

1 Utang
2 Ambition
3 Mirrors
4 Wishing Having
5 Refuse to Wait
6 French Movie
7 Gun
8 Eyes of Children
9 Showroom
10 Reggae Sessie
* Looking Swell

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