Paula Swann was from California and I can't find any information about her. I'm assuming this is her only release.
1 I Want You Back
2 Comin' Down Like Rain
3 Too Rich
4 Traffic Hazard
5 Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend
6 Jade Continental
7 Touch Tone
8 Juvenile Hall Brats
9 Beat Me, Whip Me
10 Love Potion #9
My copy of the record looks pristine but it is very crackly. I tried to remove the crackles but it just isn't going to happen.
1 I Don't Submit
2 I Hate
3 Under Control
4 In that Week
Their first release was the "Subway Devils" 7" in 1981 that sound like the rhythm from Mirror in the Bathroom with the guitars from the beginning of Holiday in Cambodia. It's a weird mix, especially with the goth vocals, but it really works.
These two records are probably the only thing they released but there's no filler here. Every song is very well-written and performed with a sense of seriousness.
Zanoni - Zanoni (1982)
1 Camouflage
2 To Entertain You
3 Stellazine by Starlight
4 Mothers Milk
5 Lately
6 Turn Your Will
Zanoni - Subway Devils 7" (1981)
A - Subway Devils
B - I Saw Your Face
The scans for the EP are my own but I don't have the cover for the 7" so I stole that image from the internet.
Henry's Final Dream - Indian Summer 7" (1980)
1 Indian Summer
2 Marketplace
3 Autumn
Henry's Final Dream - I Couldn't Jump 7" (1981)
1 I Couldn't Jump
2 If I Knew (What Love Was)
3 Wardrobe
The B-side is basic pub rock but the A-side is more quirky. Imagine if Tom Jones got his start in a garage band in 1977.
I have no plans on getting the other two records. Not really my cup of tea but I'm hoping somebody out there appreciates it.
A - Standing in the Rain
B - Raised on Rock'n Roll
This is what I believe to be every song they ever released.
Baby Snakes - The Demo (1986)
1 Broken Toy
2 Cool Jerk
3 Ormen
4 Misplaced Love
1 Broken Toy (a very different version than the one on the demo)
2 Two of a Kind
1 Snake's Theme
2 It Wouldn't Have Lasted
3 Eight Days in Khairo
4 Whiskey Bar
5 Jazzica
6 Land of Dreams
I included two loose tracks.
*She'll be gone - which was the only song of theirs to appear on compilations that was not on the other releases
*Ormen - this was included on a 1996 comp called Roots of Swedish Pop Vol. 1 The Mod Years. It is the exact same recording from the demo tape but I included it because the quality is a bit better than the tape rip.
About the demo tape. For the last couple decades one thing I knew for a fact was that this demo tape is so rare I would never get to hear it and I was certain that I would never own a copy myself.
A few weeks back I was buying a rare tape from Discogs and the seller had a copy of this so I do hold in my possession a physical copy. This is my rip of the tape and my scan of the cover. The tape itself is solid black with no printing or stickers. I know a few of you out there have been looking for it so I am willing to trade or sell it.
I was able to convince my kids that this band was so famous that in Home Alone 2 Uncle Frank was singing their song "Cool Jerk" in the shower. They believe it. They're kids. Kids are stupid.
This is a compilation cassette from Italy. It's a selection of bands who really didn't release anything outside of this compilation and this label didn't release anything but this tape.
A couple of bands had some success - Strike is probably the most successful but Madhouse also released a few things.
The other bands can only be heard on this compilation which can be described as post-punk/goth/metal with some hard rock (think early AC/DC) and even some minimal synth. I mean very minimal amateur synth.
I think the bands Shark Beat and Room 101 had some real potential (even though Shark Bite's song was a cover).
1 Purple Flashes - This is My Right
2 LTD - Watchout
3 The Strike - What'd You Say?
4 Pin Up - Euroamericans
5 Shark Beat - In the Midnight Hour
6 Sub Way - I Can't Wait
7 Madhouse - Madhouse
8 Overthrow Rags - Comunque Duri
9 Chain - Dead Garbage
10 Room 101 - Blood
11 Mabel Violet - Mabel Violet
12 Radio On - Radio On
13 Restless - Make Up
It's hard rocking / post punk / power pop. I don't know what to call it. Too punk for power pop. Not punk enough for punk. Certainly not ska. Lots of 'guitar wank' as I have heard it called.
A - Soldier
B - For Want of a Four-Letter Word
I included the ska 7" in the download. Now you have their entire discography. All four songs - as far as I know. If I'm wrong, please let me know.
One of the difficulties I have with this blog is that I said I would only post things that aren't available anywhere else online. I think I have to go against that rule. I have lots of great rarities that I rip and I intend to post but then I do a Google search and I find that the band has a presence on Amazon or YouTube or somewhere else online. I take the time to rip it and scan the covers and all of that but I feel like I shouldn't post it because it's already available somewhere else.
The truth is that even if it is already available somewhere else you probably wouldn't know or even care. This blog is not about giving out free music. It's about informing you of bands that you might not have known about otherwise. So I'm breaking my own rules and I'm going to start posting whatever the hell I want regardless if it shows up in a Google search from a blog that stopped posting in 2012 or not.
This post here is in honor of my old rules. I cannot find anything about this release or this band anywhere online. They are from New Jersey and this probably their only release. I would call it a straightforward rock and roll album. The last song is a rock-n-reggae song but the rest is just rock and roll.
1 Liquid Sunshine
2 No Reply
3 30 Moons
4 Your Way with Me
5 Karmic Bankruptcy
6 We ain't Done Yet
7 Spark Up the J
This is a mod-with-horns band from Britain in the mid 80s. If you're a fan of Redskins you'll appreciate this band.
This is a very obscure tape that I know nothing about. I bought it off eBay many years ago and the seller told a bit about the band but I didn't retain any of that information except it was a tape that was given to Roddy Moreno. I don't know what his reaction to it was.
1 I Won't Give In
2 Underneath the Arches
3 War Hero
4 The Torch
"Tel Sutton, The Way's frontman/songwriter here... someone linked me to
the YouTube vid today, so, if you'd like, I can offer you something of
an 'upgrade' to flac, with no dropouts.
'The Way' originally formed
as a 'Mod Revival' band in December 1984, with the now well-respected
music author, Tony Beesley, on rhythm guitar. We had a great time,
particularly the night we played the Scarborough Scooter Rally (June
85), but Tony left November 85. This was because I'd wanted the stance
to become far more politicised (living in Mexborough, we'd been right in
the middle of the Miner's Strike) and Tony politely disagreed. I'd
become mates with The Redskins and when they split at the end of 86 I
was already trying to pick up the baton. I recruited three lads from the
best local Colliery bands.
'Strike To Win' was the first of three
E.P.s of original material we recorded between 86-88. A 3* review in
'Making Music', plus a full-page feature in the Morning Star newspaper,
led to a call from Phil 'Porky' Jupitus - then a GoDiscs A&R man -
which in turn led to Peter Jenner offering to help the band get gigs
down in London. The 'Official Dispute E.P.' (1987) followed, and after a
support slot with Attila The Stockbroker we seemed to become one of the
go-to bands for doing benefits. We were always out of pocket, but boy
did we have some laughs. We decided to go all out with the 'All Thy
Might E.P.' (1988), Angelic Upstarts' Mond Cowie producing... him
staying at my mum's and travelling back-and-forth to Fairview Studios
every day was gruelling but brilliantly educational. That tape got us
proper London management, and a step up; our most prestigious being with
Joe Strummer on the 'Rock Against The Rich' tour, New Model Army's
end-of-tour gig in Bradford, and the Mean Fiddler WITH Bradford (the
band - with a great feature review in The Independent). Headlining the
'National Anti-Apartheid Conference' at Sheffield Octagon, Nov87, was
the highlights. We were also on telly, twice!
Towards the end of
1988 we were joined by Tracie Young - fresh out of her Respond deal with
PW - and despite lots of interest - plus an appearance on Yorkshire
Television's 'Calendar' - attempts to get a label to back recording an
album fell through and we dissolved in Jan 1990.
The Way's
bassist, Jonathan White, stayed with me through the bands 'Speedway
Kick' (90-92) and 'The On' (92-94), before rejoining with The Way's
trombonist, Andy Cato, and going on to huge success with Groove Armada
(then Faithless; also replaced Barry Adamson in Magazine for the 'No
Thyself' comeback). We're all still good friends.
I'm currently
finishing my latest band, 'Dada Baba's debut album... possibly the best
thing I've done since my late-90s band, 'Electrascope' (which is
basically is, minus our lead guitarist), and it should be out later this
year.
Cheers for the interest, and for reading my post.
Tel."
Tel, if you read this, thank you for this background on the band. This is a hundred times more information than I was able to find anywhere online.
I am very interested in those other recordings. If you have them you may want to consider uploading them to Bandcamp. Make the music available and maybe make a few quid along the way. You won't get rich, of course, but you might get enough for a decent lunch out of it.
