M - Espionage Baby 7" (1979)

 

This is not the same band called M from the UK who did Pop Muzik. These guys were from California and I think this is their only release. Two proto-punk songs and one punk-reggae tune. The mastering is terrible and it almost sounds like a live-in-the-studio demo.  

A - Espionage Baby

B1 - You've Been Had

B2 - Fast Food Suburbanite

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The Meeting - Cuddling Time with The Meeting (1985)

 German new wave band with saxophone who did one great ska song called "City Nightmare" which appeared on this demo tape. I don't know of anything else they ever did aside from this tape and even though this band is from Germany and they played around 1984/1985 they are not the band who did The Most Mysterious Song.

1 City Nightmare

2 Jeanette

3 Smithers-Jones

4 Brain Train

5 'Cause Blue Notes are the Hepster's Style

6 Hopeless

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The Absentees - Confusion 7" (1983)

 This is a highly sought after rarity but it's really just a basic power-pop record. My copy isn't great - lots of crackles - but it might help you determine how high up on your wantlist you want this. 

A - Confusion

B - The Absentee

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4 Murders - Väinämöinen (1990)

 This was a band from Germany whose sound was somewhere between mod/power pop and early 90s alternative rock. With a horn section in some songs. All songs are sung in English. 

1 Think About the Past

2 Some Guys Know

3 Leave Me Alone 

4 Johnny

5 Seltsand

6 Short While

7 Happiness Like You & Me

8 Shades of a Mirror

9 Ignore Me

10 Ballad of Pete's Pissoir

11 Fac Mei Cant

12 The Date*

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*I have included The Date which is a bonus track that was not originally on this album. I think it's their best song.

Ken-Dang

 Ken-Dang was a new wave/post punk from Bergen, Norway that was formed in the early 1980s by guitarist Odd Harald "Beinet" Hundvin, bassist Ronald Jensen, keyboard player/trombonist Morten Odéen (who had previously played in the group Blåfugl), vocalist Kjersti Bergesen (who had previously played in Ohms March and Parkens Grøde), and drummer Terje H. Hanssen who had previously played
in various swing, jazz, and big bands in the 1970s. The name Ken-Dang comes from the lead drum in Javanese gamelan music.

Ken-Dang made a name for themselves with a distinctive sound which was a combination of exotic Eastern rhythm patterns and British new wave. All songs are sung in English.

The song "Hours And Days" from the 1984 album Monsters & Miracles became a radio hit. 

Kjersti Bergesen left the band in 1985 and was replaced for a short period by Ine Tømmerås until 1986. Bergesen continued her music career in the band Secret Mission and took part in Langsomt Mot Nord's self-titled debut album in 1985, before she became a presenter on TV 2.

Ken-Dang - Ken-Dang 12" EP (1983)

1 War's Hell

2 Born in Borneo

3 Flowers in the Garden

4 Six Years Old

5 Faceless Figures

 

 Ken-Dang - Monsters & Miracles (1984)

1 Hours & Days

2 The Servant

3 She Goes to Few Parties

4 Monsters & Miracles

5 State Mate

6 No Choice

7 Sea of Sand

8 Computer Addicted People

9 My Mind Making

10 Human Factor

 

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...

The Dicemen - Shadows 7" (1983)

 This band was from Britain. This is probably the only thing they released. 

A1 - Number 19

A2 - A Year Without Summer

B1 - Sunrise

B2 - Today

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va Stage Diving to the Oldies [NEW LINK 6-24-2023]

 This CD is from 1995 and it's a compilation of California punk bands from the 80s. 

 

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va Wreck Room

 

Wreck Room Volume 1 (1994)

1 Volebeats - Up North

2 Southern Culture On The Skids - My House Has Wheels

3 Alluring Strange - Walk Away

4 Michael Hall - When September Comes

5 Vulgar Boatmen - You Don't Love Me Yet

6 Southern Culture On The Skids - Lordy Lordy

7 Alluring Strange - Trashy Dog

8 Vulgar Boatmen - You're the One

9 Volebeats - Miriam

10 Wink O'Bannon - Cry Baby

11 Southern Culture On The Skids - For Lovers Only

12 Nine Iron - Is there Fuschia in You Future Felicia?

13 Volebeats - Goodbye

Wreck Room - Safe House Sampler Volume 2 (1995)

1 Bodeco - High Window

2 Lunachicks - Apathetic

3 Southern Culture On The Skids - Mudbuggy

4 Alluring Strange - Big Black Car

5 Nine Iron - Vandalism

6 Nine Iron - Theoretical Mind

7 Stranglmartin - Hello Wickedness

8 Half Japanese - Daytona Beach

9 Bodeco - Hard to Tell

10 Nine Iron - Coffee Shop

11 Ritual Tension - Stay Calm

12 Southern Culture On The Skids - Jack the Ripper, parts 1 & 2

13 Half Japanese - Little Records

 

 

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va Export MusicAustralia Presents Crocodile CD (1988)

 

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va Battle of the Bands (1982) [NEW LINK! Updated July 28, 2022]

 I, like you, usually find three or four good songs in a compilation and just kind of disregard the rest of the tracks. Sometimes I wonder why the person who put the comp together included that one, or two, crappy song(s) with the weird vocals and just assume the bass player for that band is the brother of the girl the compiler is banging at that time.  

This one is different. This one has three songs I don't like but the rest are all gems. 

Thin End of the Wedge plays a droning slow ballad with female vocals and annoying heavy metal guitar screeching in the background. 

The Popes is a little too Danceteria-in-1986 for my taste. New romance dance music. 

And It's a Tightrope sounds like three or four Bowie fans playing two or three different songs at the same time. It sounds like an unfinished song.

 

Now, despite the bad things I said about these bands, none of them are so terrible I have to skip them. I really can play this comp all the way through. 

 

There are some really great moments on here. The first track by The Crack is a got' damn classic. It's from their 1989 album  "In Search of..." and it's the best song on that record. That's not my opinion, that's a scientifically provable fact.

 

I originally got this record for the Andy Pandemonium song which isn't bad but I was happy to hear a Private I.D. song that I didn't have and the ska-inspired track by Southbound - whoever they are. 

Suspicious Minds by Mézzoforte is not a cover of the oldies tune but it's a mellow post-punk song with appropriate 80s new wave keyboard and just a slight twist of goth. Bingo Erotica by The Creamies is an odd choice because these guys only released one single in their days (this song isn't on it) but they did record a few other songs and this one is not really one of their best. It's not bad but they have better. I'll post them someday. The 3X song is the most mature song on the record. Well-composed power-pop with an MTV-worthy chorus.* MTV from 1982 I mean.

1 The Crack - Don't You Ever Let Me Down

2 Mézzoforte - Suspicious Minds

3 Andy Pandemonium - Digital Alarm Clock

4 The Creamies - Bingo Erotica

5 Freestate - Solitary Visions

6 This End of the Wedge

7 Shoot the Moon - Strawberry Fields Will Never

8 The Popes - Pope Music

9 The Feel Wasted Ground

10 Southbound - Keep on Winding

11 3X - Echo of Guilt

12 Private I.D.

13 It's a Tightrope - So

 

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*I'm not really trying to see how many hyphens I can put in one sentence. I will someday but today is not that day.