Various Artists - Scared To Get Happy (A Story of Indie-pop 1980-1989) 5-CDs (2013)

Wow, I missed this but happy to have this in my collection now. The sounds of '80s indie-pop in the U.K. So much music that I have never heard. Interesting as a historical piece but also for the music found inside. If you like the idea of the 3 minute pop song, then get this. I bought it directly from Cherry Red Records.

 

Record of the Week: Mega City Four - Tranzophobia (1989) (CD)

I am back!. With Tranzophobia, Mega's debut album, I finally have all the the albums of one my favorite UK guitar pop bands of all time. They use to call it "adrenalin-pop" because of the frenzied pace of the songs. While the music was fast, Mega City Four always had a touch for melody. If you doubt me, listen to this great song from this album, Paper Tiger.  All the albums are great and a must-buy for any of you into melodic guitar based bands.

Record of the Week: Newtown Neurotics - Punk Collection

When I first started working at Off The Record in San Diego when I was a freshman in college, I was still pretty new to "punk" music. I was aware and into bands like The Clash, The Jam, The Sex Pistols, etc, but I did not really know much about the thousands of other punk bands from that era; bands that were as good as the bands that were famous.  However, at Off The Record, I was able to explore LPSs and 45s to my heart's content.  My first exposure to the Newtown Neurotics came in the way of import of 45s from the UK.  I can't remember what order I bought them in but I remember that I picked up 3 pretty much right in a row.  The time frame? 1981/82?  For the longest time, all that was available were these three (or four?) killer singles with these great, melodic punk riffs and Steve Drewett's impassioned vocals. Check out Kick Out the Tories, or Mindless Violence. 

Eventually, the Newtown Neurotics LP finally came out and we all rejoiced because we had a full album of this tremendous three piece band with new songs that were just as good as those on the early 45s.  On this debut LP, we were introduced other classic Neurotics songs like No Respect and Newtown People. Here is a live version of Newtown People. 

This collection, which I highly recommend, contains all the Newtown Neurotics 45s (both A and B sides) and the full debut LP on one CD. The CD comes with Steve's notes and comments on each song in this collection. If you like any of the songs I have posted above, I think you will enjoy the rest of this CD.

A tremendous band.

Green on Red - Gravity Talks (1983) Vinyl

Another used record find.  Green on Red were an interesting band indie band.  They were not punk rock. They actually (based on my listen) had a little of a garage-type sound. I think it is the organ. Also, Dan Stuart's vocals were passionate.  This album is sounding much better than I remember back when I first heard it in the early 80s. Glad I picked this up.  Here is something to check out from this record Blue Parade

Dexys Midnight Runners - Searchin' For The Young Soul Rebels (1980) Vinyl

A game changer. I discovered this album in 1981 while working at the record store. I was a freshman in college and I had never quite a heard a band sounds like this before. I was mostly into reggae music by this time and I listened to rock and punk but this record was different. The passion, the horns, the background shouting vocals... this record was just pure soul... and it is not fake ..Kevin Rowland's voice ..his falsetto is heartfelt. I am not sure why this record hit me so emotionally. Maybe I felt it was a record that captured feelings that I was having or needed to express. In any event, this is one of those records that helped me..in some way that I can't articulate...but it certainly did. Maybe I just identified with the loneliness... the rebel..the person that does not fit into the categories that you are supposed to fall in when you are a freshman in college.... who knows.

To complete the story - I was working Ken one weekday night. Ken was older and had fairly sophisticated tastes. He rocked but he also played other music as well. Put differently, Ken was not associated with any genre of music as an identity. So, after I had played something on the turntable, it was Ken's turn. I think he was busy so he didn't really spend too much time thinking about it and he grabbed this record from our in-store play list. As soon as I heard the first track with the horns, I knew it was different and that I like it. As each song played and the passion increased, I knew I had to have it. I think I bought the record for myself that night. Of all my non-reggae albums that I own, this record is probably the one that I have played the most over my life.

Here is a link to the emotion I was talking about:

Keep It

The Long Ryders - Native Songs (1984) Vinyl

Picked this up used, along with a bunch of other Long Ryder albums. I remember when this came out back in the early 80s. With its country and Byrds influences it certainly was different than much of the music coming out at the time. Listening to it now I can appreciate the songs better than when I was younger. In fact, I like this more now than when I first listened to it back in the early 80s. Interesting note, the main songwriter and lead vocalist, Sid Griffin, use to work at a one-stop record distribution company (I think) in Los Angeles and I remember meeting him a few times when he visited the store I worked at. Well, I am pretty sure it was him.

Listening to it now it really is not a big leap from the Long Ryder to Uncle Tupelo and The Old 97s.

The Byrd influence on this band is unquestionable on Ivory Tower  Note - according to the album Gene Clark (of the Byrd) sings on this song!

Rikk Agnew - All By Myself (1982) vinyl

This is for you Fullerton" is how this LP opens and we begin to hear the sounds of Orange County rock'n'roll with Rikk Agnew.

I am still finding used copies or, as in this case, reissued albums of records that my record store colleagues at Off The Record in San Diego played in the store.  While this is not the music that I was listening to or buying for myself, it is a record and a style of music that I must have absorbed during those days.  I know that Rikk played in another band out of Orange County (Fullerton) called The Adolescents.  I may need to pick up that album because I remember thinking it was good at the time. The funny thing is that many of those old "punk" Orange County bands were just good rock'n'roll bands. Here I am thinking of bands like Social Distortion and Agent Orange.  I am sure there are a lot more as well but I was not really into those bands at the time. Rikk plays all the instruments on this record hence the title. What does it sound like? It certainly is fast and it does have some of that surf element that I remember from the OC bands. This is good. It is just rock'n'roll!

OC Life

10

Big Country - The Crossing (1983) vinyl

Chainsaw guitars, big vocals, anthem-like songs, and a Steve Lillywhite production. Big Country sort of stormed on to the music scene from Scotland with a big guitar sound.  They obtained some success during the MTV era. Listening to this certainly brings back memories. I was in college when this came out. Nice trip down memory lane and a good used record find at Freakbeat Records. I really think they wanted their guitars to sound like bag pipes!

Listen to:

Lost Patrol

Haircut 100 - Pelican West (1982) vinyl

Ha..there was a time when I was into these white boy funk bands from the UK of the early 80s. Haircut 100 grabbed my attention because they wrote some nice pop songs. Nick Hayward (singer and guitar) went on to make some nice solo LPs after Haircut 100. They all dressed so nicely! I dug these guys but never was into the Duran Duran's or Spandau Ballet's of the world.  I picked this up in a recent used record haul from Freakbeat Records in the San Fernando Valley.

As I normally do, here is a link to their biggest hit and again, representative of their sound. Here is Love Plus One

Chris Isaak - Silvertone (1985) vinyl

I was excited about this record when it first came out because Chris Isaac had a cool, retro 50s and 60s vibe about him. Admit it, the cover makes you think a little about Elvis. In addition, this album sounded pretty different than most of what was coming out at the time (mid 80s). The record had a  little surf, a little country, and a some rockabilly.

There were a couple of things that grabbed me about this record when it first came out. First, Chris had a great voice. Second, the guitar sound of James Calvin Wilsey was outstanding. I do not remember if James continued to play with Chris after this record but I did manage to see Chris live a few times with this early line-up and they were killer.

Here is a video for the first track on the album and the song that made people notice him Dancin'  The video shows James Calvin Wilsey on guitar. I think this song captures the sound of the whole album well.