Archive for April, 2007

The Difference Between A Goal and My Taint.

Monday, April 30th, 2007

I was going to post the second Live At the 101 Club LP in it’s interity today, but I realized that the songs on it by The Fixx and Wang Chung were the exact same recordings that were on the first one. I’m redundant enough as it is. So here are the tracks from the second one that aren’t on the first, as well as a special treat for fans of Urgh! This will be my last post until finals are over for my on Wednesday. Well, I technically have a final on Thursday but since I didn’t study for the mid-term and I got the highest grade in the class I’m not that worried about it. Yay for the declining academic standards of our universities!

Philip Jap
Hermaphrodite
The Ambassadors
No idea who this dude is. ‘Hermaphordite’ is a great tune. Dude has one hell of an awful last name though.

Thompson Twins
Physics & Chemistry
Slave Trade
I mentioned in my last post that the songs by The Fixx and Wang Chung that were on the 101 live album had little in common with their later hits. Well, these two songs by Thompson Twins sound nothing like ‘Hold Me Now.’ Thank God, I fucking hate that damn song.

Jane Kennaway
Catch Cool
Scratching At The Surface
A No-Hit Wonder that shoulda been but wasn’t. Both these songs are pretty stellar.

Athletico Spizz 80 – Do A Runner

Yay, more complete albums on The Lost Turntable. I’m posting this for a few reasons. First, it’s a great early new-wave record. Secondly, it’s out of print and thirdly, it’s a record by a band that was on Urgh! a movie that long-time visitors to my blog recognize as the Holy Grail of New Wave concert movies. I’ve had the tracks from Urgh! spread out over a few posts for about a year now but I recently re-organized them into one simple post so those of you who have not grabbed all them now can with ease. Fans of Urgh! should also note that this album is the one that has ‘Clock Are Big’ on it, which is used as an intro to ‘Where’s Captain Kirk’ on the soundtrack. It easily gets my vote as the best 30 second tune ever.

The Super-Big Urgh! post.

Monday, April 30th, 2007

I got an email from someone asking about Urgh! and I thought that in an effort to make things a bit more streamlined and easy to navigate, Id make this post which includes every single song from the Urgh! soundtrack as well as some bonus ones. I’m not the most organized person in the world, and it shows in the haphazard nature in which these tracks were originally put up. I hope this makes things a little easier for everyone. And if anyone is still looking for the long-deleted Urgh! Yahoo! Group (wow that was a lot of exclamation points) they restarted it here.

THIS POST IS OUT OF DATE!!!! UPDATED FILES ARE HERE!!!

Side 1
The Police – Driven To Tears
Wall Of Voodoo – Back In Flesh
Toyah Wilcox – Dance
Orchestral Manoeuvers In The Dark – Enola Gay
XTC – Respectable Street

Side 2
The Members – Offshore Banking Business
Go-Go’s – We Got The Beat
Total Eclipse – Klaus Nomi
Athletico Spizz ’80 – Where’s Captain Kirk
Alley Cats – Nothing Means Nothing Anymore
Jools Holland – Foolish I Know
Steel Pulse – Klu Klux Klan

Side 3
Devo – Uncontrollable Urge
Echo And The Bunnymen – The Puppet
The Au Pairs – Come Again
The Cramps – Tear It Up
Oingo Boingo – Ain’t This The Life
Joan Jett & The Blackheats – Bad Reputation
Pere Ubu – Birdies
Gary Numan – Down In The Park

Side 4
Fleshtones – Shadow Line
Gang Of Four – He’d Send In The Army
John Otway – Cheryl’s Going Home
999 – Homicide
X – Beyond And Back
Magazine – Model Worker
Skafish – Sign Of The Cross

Bonus from my VHS tape
Surf Punks – Go Home
Dead Kennedys – Bleed For Me
John Cooper Clarke – Health Fanatic
Chelsea – I’m On Fire

File Under Literate Pop

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

Live Letters From 101 Club
The 101 Club was a place in St. John’s Hill, Clapham in the early 80s. It must have been a fairly hip place to hang out at, because they released a few live albums showcasing some of the more high-profile artists that performed there. This one features four great New Romantic/New Wave bands from the early-80s, including a couple that never got the recognition they deserved. The album is a little odd and also features a couple really weird ads and PSAs as well. I’ll be putting up stuff from another 101 Club compilation in a day or so. This album was never released on CD.

Huang Chung (Wang Chung)
You’ve Taken Everything
I Don’t Believe A Word
Journey Without Maps
Early Wang Chung (back when they were still calling themselves Huang Chung. These guys get a really bad rap. Their first two records are pretty good and their soundtrack to To Live And Die In L.A. has some good stuff on it too. None of these songs were ever released on any of their studio albums and none of them sound anything like ‘Everybody Wang Chung Tonight.’ That might be good new or bad news depending on your viewpoint.

A Public Service Announcement
A silly fake ad reminiscent of The Who Sell Out.

Endgames
Works
Visions Of
Stare
Someone in this band was also in Simple Minds (I say la! la la la la…oops, sorry) and that’s all I can really find out about these guys. They only released one album and I’ll have to track it down because these tracks are pretty good.

The Fix
Acrobat
Soho Alley
Eye For Design
That’s not a typo, this is The Fixx before they added the extra “x”. Much like their renamed compatriots Wang Chung, their songs on this record sound nothing like the one that would later be their biggest hit, the uber synth-pop smash ‘One Thing Leads To Another.’

A Word From Our Sponsors
An ad for their next LP. I spelled “sponsors” wrong on the file’s ID3 tag, excuse the laziness.

Fay Ray
Do What You Want To Do
Dreams Of Heat
Modern Lovers
These songs are excellent and if you only download one thing off my blog today make it ‘Modern Lovers.’ I never heard of these guys before but you can find out about them at Lost Bands Of The New Wave Era, a great 80s-obsessed blog.

High Fidelity Bong

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

Oh today ’tis a glorious day. As long-time readers of this blog may remember, I plugged the wrong power supply into my external hard drive a few month ago and totally fried it (complete with magic blue smoke). After much sobbing and attempted suicide attempts, my genius friend was able to fix it and recover all of the lovely music that was trapped on it. So today my music collection went from 20GB to over 120GB. If I wanted to I could rock out non-stop for almost 70 days and not hear the same track twice (although I’d hear a ton of different live recordings of Pearl Jam’s ‘Yellow Ledbetter’). I don’t think I’m going to do that though. In celebration here are some tracks I wanted to post months ago but was unable to as they were on the fried disk. Oh, and if any of you sent me an email asking for a favor…I would check your inbox.

Erasure
Star (Trafalmadore Mix)
Star (7” Version)
Dreamlike State (The 12 Hour Technicolor Mix)
Trafalmadore is not an easy “word” to spell. Turns out it’s a planet in Slaughterhouse 5, ironic considering I posted the soundtrack to that a few days ago. All of these remixes come off the 12” single for ‘Star’, and don’t worry, the ‘Dreamlike State’ mix really isn’t 12 hours long (although how awesome would that be?).

Thomas Dolby
Windpower (Extended Mix)
Flying North (Extended Mix)
More Dolby, this time he’s not accompanied by Joe Walsh, Stevie Wonder, Lea Thompson, George Clinton and an anthropomorphic duck. 20 bucks says some combination of those characters have appeared in someone’s LSD flashback.

Depeche Mode
Strangelove (Maxi-Mix)
Strangelove (Midi-Mix)
Strangelove (Highjack Remix)
FPMIP
The first two Strangelove mixes and ‘FPMIP’ come off of a 12” single that has “Bong 13” on the cover. I swear I used to have that single on CD, I’m highly suspicious of my former pothead roomy, that is something that would be absolutely hysterical to a stoned loser. The Highjack remix is off of a promo single. The Midi-Mix is just that, a midi-recording, and it sounds totally awesome.

Run DMC Featuring Method Man
The Beginning (No Further Delay…)
This was the first single released in promotion of Crown Royal, the record that would be Run DMC’s final album because of the death of Jam Master Jay. Despite being subtitled ‘No Further Delay…’ the album was delayed for over a year after the release of this single, and when it finally did come out this song was nowhere to be found. Strangely, parts of it were taken and sliced into the vastly inferior track “Simmons Incorporated.” The quality of this isn’t the greatest, I got it off of some file-sharing site eons ago.

If I had some place to go I certainly wouldn’t be in ‘Cleve-Land’.

Monday, April 23rd, 2007

Sometimes I find a record that makes me happy record stores exist, tonight’s post features songs from that record.

Dobly’s Cube (With Cherry Bomb)
Howard The Duck (Megamix)
Howard The Duck (Album Mix)
Don’t Turn Away

When Howard The Duck crashed into theaters, it left behind it a critical trashing that could be compared to more recent bombs like Gigli and Battlefield Earth. Now, I’ve never seen Gigli, but I can safely say that Howard The Duck is a better film than Battlefield Earth. In fact, Howard The Duck probably wasn’t even the worst movie of 1986. Anyone ever seen Cobra or Soul Man? The movie “won” the award for Worst Picture at The Razzies, once again proving that The Razzies are nothing more but a venue for pathetic little wankers to get together and jerk each other off over the popular kids’ failures.

I loved this movie when I was a kid. I thought Howard was funny, Lea Thompson was cool and the Dark Overlords were creepy. When I got older I was a little scared to watch it again, worried that the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia had given me the impression I enjoyed it more than I actually did. I had already been burned by recent revisits to childhood favorites G.I. Joe: The Movie and any of the Police Academy movies. When I finally did see the movie again I was surprised that I still found it funny and immensely entertaining, and the special effects are still pretty incredible (they were done by ILM after all). And don’t forget that it had a great cast, which included Lea Thompson (with some seriously crimped-out hair), Tim Robbins and Jeffery Jones. Even if you thought the movie was a disaster you have to admit that it was an entertaining and well-financed disaster.

Strangely, the soundtrack of Howard The Duck was packed with some talented artists at the top of their game. Thomas Dolby wrote all of the original songs for the film, with assistance by Lord Funkenstein George Clinton. Joe Walsh of The Eagles plays guitar on the title track, and the harmonica on ‘Don’t Turn Away’ was performed by Stevie Wonder. The three tracks I’m offering tonight were all taken off of the 12” single for the theme song. The ‘Mega Mix’ of the theme song was only released on this 12”, while the other two tracks were available on the film’s soundtrack also. None of them are on CD. I think Lea Thompson (and her hair) sings on all three of these, but I could be wrong. If you want more info on Howard The Duck check out this great site.

Helmet & House Of Pain
Just Another Victim (T-Ray Devil Worship Mix)
Just Another Victim (T-Ray Dead And Stinking Mix)
Just Another Victim (T-Ray Heavy Metal Jazz Mix)
These tracks are remixes of a song from the soundtrack to Judgment Night. Now that movie sucked, but it’s rap/metal collaboration-filled soundtrack wasn’t half bad.

Just Say D’oh!

Friday, April 20th, 2007

Freddie Gage – Drugs & Youth
Here’s my obligatory 4/20 post. This album is a recording from the early 70s featuring preacher Freddie Gage talking about how evil drugs are. Freddie Gage is kind of a mini-celebrity on the internet because of his unintentionally hilarious album All My Friends Are Dead. This record is a 30 minute speech he gave at a high school in Lafayette, Louisiana sometime in the early 70s. If you want to hear a preacher talk jive to a bunch of kids about straight squares dropping out and turning on to hippie life and getting high off goofballs, this is the record for you. Hear Freddie talk about his friends who turned to heroin and speed after a couple of joints, and how Diane Linkletter jumped out of a window and killed herself because the LSD she took made her think she could fly (not true – actually she killed herself while completely drug free) This is the kind of stuff you stoners should find fucking hilarious while you sit in your mom’s basement and play Dark Ages Of Camelot until 5:00 AM.

Fluffy Bunnies and Lollipops

Friday, April 20th, 2007

I’ve recorded a buttload of music this week. I’ve had a lot of time to catch up on my vinyl pile because I haven’t turned on the TV in two days – I’m sick of the exploitive non-stop coverage. If I ever see Dr. Fuck Phil in person I’m going to beat the shit out of this tragedy-capitalizing ass. What a bald-headed prick. Times like this make me depressed that I’m a Journalism student.

The Housemartins
Caravan Of Love
When I First Met Jesus
These guys were fairly popular in England but most of America never heard of them, and if they have it’s probably because their bass player was Norman Cook AKA Fatboy Slim. These two tracks don’t feature any of Cook’s bass playing, as they are both acapella. ‘Caravan Of Love’ was a hit single in the UK and it’s on The Housemartins’ greatest hits comp Now That’s What I Call Quite Good. ‘When I First Met Jesus’ was the B-side and isn’t as easy to find. It’s also the only Christian rock/acapella single I ever plan on owning.

Blur
Entertain Me (The Live It! Remix)
Yay Blur! This vinyl is awesome. It’s only one track so the B-side has ‘Blur’ etched into it like someone went at it with a set of car keys. I’d scan it but black scratches on a black surface don’t really show up well on a scan. This remix is on a couple singles and the band’s massive anniversary box set. I was thinking about tracking down that set but it has 125 tracks on it and that’s a hell of a lot of Blur.

R.E.M.
The One I Love (Live)
Maps & Legends (Live)
Live tracks from the 12” single for ‘The One I Love.’ I’m depressed enough as it is so I’m just going to move on to slightly more upbeat fare.

Madness
Tomorrow’s Just Another Day (Warped 12” Version)
Tomorrow’s Just Another Day (With Elvis Costello)
Blue Skinned Beast (Warp Mix)
Yesterday’s Men (12” Version)
Yesterday’s Men (Demo)
All I Knew
If I smoked pot I’d totally play ‘Yesterday’s Men’ whilst toasted. These are all taken from different Madness singles, check out the files for the specifics. Some of them are available on box sets and stuff, but none of these tracks were ever on proper albums as far as I can tell. The demo version of ‘Yesterday’s Men’ is really cool, it sounds like it was recorded in a basement on someone’s Casio.

But OMG The Magic Cards!!!

Wednesday, April 18th, 2007

April has struck in full effect. Sigh.

Korn
Make Me Bad (Kornography Mix)
Make Me Bad (Kornography Instrumental)
Make Me Bad (Sickness In Salvation Mix)
Make Me Bad (Sickness In Salvation Instrumental)
Make Me Bad (Sybil Mix)
Let’s get all junior high pissed! Korn’s been a guilty pleasure of mine on and off since their first album came out way back when. I still think their first two records are great and if you’re going to be a misanthropic 13-year-old boy then they are required listening material. They lost me after Life Is Peachy though, although I still like the occasional single. ‘Make Me Bad’ is probably my favorite post-Peachy song by them, and if I’m ever in a fuck-the-world mood I usually put it on. And considering how things have been going recently, these tracks are getting a lot of play on my iPod. These remixes came off a promo single.

KMFDM
Naive (The TKK Remix)
It does not stand of “Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode.” That’s about all I know about them though. Wasn’t there a shitty computer game in the late 90s that used a lot of KMFDM iconography? I can’t recall the name of it, although I do seem to remember it really sucking. I do know that the original version of Naive is really hard to find, and that makes me want it – I’m pathetic like that. This remix of ‘Naive’ is off of a split EP they did with My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, the second half of which is posted below!

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
The Days Of Swine & Roses (KMFDM Remix)
A band that’s right up there with Echo & The Bunnymen as one of the best band names ever and another band I’ve never really been that into. I’m starting to dig industrial disco trash rock though, so I might start picking up some of their stuff.

Trans-X
Living On Video (Remix)
I never heard this song before last week and since then I have become unhealthily obsessed with it. This track has to have one of the best synth lines off all time!! If you do a search for this baby on iTunes you get about five million different remixes and covers of it, but none of them seem to be this one which I took off of a Golden Dance-Floor Hits single.

And So It Goes.

Monday, April 16th, 2007

I know I promised that I’d post less zip files, but I also promised that I’d stop drinking pop and run a mile a day. Shit happens.

Music From Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five
Wow, I’m all topical and shit. I’ve actually never seen this movie or read the book. Shaddup, I know it’s like, fucking awesome and stuff, I’m a busy motherfucker so lay off. This soundtrack is almost entirely Glenn Gould playing Bach. Excellent stuff that could probably move even the most ardent hater of classical music (like me).

Rick Wakeman’s Music from The Burning
So The Burning is some mediocre 80s slasher flick. I don’t know how Rick Wakeman was conned into working on this baby. What’s even stranger about it is that the first side is his “variations” on the music from the film, while the B-side is the actual score. I only have the first side here, mainly because the second side was fucked up and scratched to all hell. The killer of The Burning was a disfigured landscaper whose weapon of choice was a large pair of garden shears. I can only assume this is the explanation for the title of track 4, “Shear Terror.” That pun hurts almost as much as a pair of gardening shears to the gonads. A little more interesting trivia on The Burning, it was produced by Harvey Weinstein, and co-written by his brother Bob. Of course these are the two evil bastards that would later form Miramax some years later. The movie also features Jason Alexander’s naked butt. You can read more about the flick here. If you like Wakeman you should dig this stuff.

Meet me at the waterfront after the social…

Sunday, April 15th, 2007

Got some interesting stuff coming in the next week or so, but I wanted to post some punk/experimental stuff that I’ve been putting off for a while now. If you’re looking for some B-sides and dance mixes come back next time, this stuff really isn’t for you

The Residents
I Left My Heart In San Fransisco
Dumbo The Clown (Who Loved Christmas)
Is He Really Bringing Roses
Time’s Up
These fuckers scare me and always have. This is a band who released an album called Baby Sex and featured said act on the cover. These are the guys who walk around with giant eyeballs on their head, these guys are creepy motherfuckers. And I don’t think I will ever get their music. Somewhere a serial killer is plotting his next murder while listening to ‘Is He Really Bringing Roses’ again and again.

Tuxedomoon
I Left My Heart In San Fransisco
Everything You Want
Waterfront Seat
The final band from the Subterranean Modern compilation. I have no idea what the fuck is going on here. I like ‘Waterfront Seat’, it has a cool ambient-noise feel to it. For me the other tracks are just way too annoying and bizarre – and my idea of soothing music is Negativland.

Regressive AidEffects On Exposed People
Post-punk acid-jazz progressive rock jam music. I think that’s the only way I can describe Regressive Aid. This threesome featured guitarist William Tucker, who would go on to work with artists like KMFDM and Ministry. The other two members of the group did stuff with Rollins and various other 80s/90s alternative bands, such as Butthole Surfers and Ween. I guess this album is pretty hard to find and in high demand among those who want it, so I decided to put up the whole thing as a zip file. I’m trying to cut down on the amount of complete albums I put up, but I figured that if you want one track off of this one you probably want them all. I’m kind of digging this, especially ‘Worromot’.