Just another site that's giving you hard to find music

A Place To Find Some Rarer Tunes (Mod, PowerPop, Punk, Ska) ripped from my vinyl collection. If it sounds good I'll post it. The idea being that now you know about them, you can seek them out! If anyone is unhappy about any of these posts please contact me & I will take them off.

Tuesday, 2 May 2023

Dalmatians - What Has Love Taught You (1980)



 b/w She's Got To go

Cool New Wave / Powerpop from this Leigh-on-Sea, Essex 4 Piece

Chris Ward (Voc, Guitar, Keys) RIP
Mark Dowdeswell (Bass)
Angus Cox (Drums)
Ian Cox (Saxophone)



Discography
1980 7'' What Has Love Taught You/ She's Got To Go - Dogrock Vinyl Corporation – SD101 (Released in blue, black & red vinyl)
1982 VA 12"MLP Dogrock EP Supermarche/ It's No Fun Anymore - Dogrock Vinyl Corporation – SD102
1982 7'' Colourful World/ Women Against The World - Dogrock Vinyl Corporation – SD103

Useless Info 1 - Ian Cox was the owner of the Dogrock Vinyl Corporation label

Useless Info 2 - I found these snippets on a forum (Thanks to the commenter!)
Ian Cox is now a painter and spends his time either here or his house in Gozo (off Malta)
Chris Ward was running a deli in Leigh called Gusto for some time, but that's now shut down.
Ian Cox's brother Angus was their drummer and the last time I saw him he tried to persuade me to join hands with Jesus. 
Mark Dowdeswell was on bass, & was still playing in a band The Po'crackers. 

Sunday, 2 April 2023

The Cartel Rebels - Washington Guns (198X)



b/w The Industry

Adam Cole (Voc Guitar)
Chris Coombes (Guitar Voc)
Pete Clarke (Bass)
Phil Yorke (Drums)   
Colin Bodenham (Keys)

Nice "Late Clash" sounding tunes, released in an oversized sleeve on their own Bullet Records. Presumably they were Bristol Based as its recorded at SAM Studios (Backfields Place Stokes Croft) & my guess would be released sometime between 1985-88

Useless Info - The SAM name was derived from Steve Street, Andy Davis and Martin/Merv Woolford’s names. Usually Murv and Steve would’ve shared instrument, engineering and production duties.
Andy was never really part of the studio set up as he was busy with The Korgis and touring/recording with Tears For Fears.

As always if anyone has any info please leave a comment

Saturday, 4 March 2023

Scarlet Downs - Windows (1983)


b/w - Turning Around

Post-Punk /Indie Band from Sherborne Dorset starting off life as "Exit" (1981-83)

Nick Ayling (Bass, Voc)
Simon Barber (Drums Voc)  ex  The Wait / The Act / Burning Garden    
Mark Barber (Lead Voc, Guitar, Trumpet)   
Martin Beresford AKA Bastie (Saxophone)

Recorded at Spacewood Studios Cambridge 

Pre 45 Players
Bass - Adrian Leppard then Brendan (Sacked for being a prat just prior to the recording of the 45)  
Drums - Nick Manley then Ian Davis
Post 45 Players
Bass - Mathew Cornish (then Nick Ayling again)
Drums - Martin Herring (with Simon Barber taking over lead Vocal duties)
Saxophone - Dobson

Discography
1982  Cassette VA - What's Goin' On? [RAPP Records RAPP 12345] Scarlet Downs/ Kickin' The Bench/ Tell Me/ Kama 
1983 7" - Windows/ Turning Around [Rum Records RUM 059]
1984 Cassette VA - A Taste Of Rum [Rum Records RUM 002] You'll Never/ Rum Rap/Scarlet Rap

Simon Barber & Mark Barber are probably best known for being in the Yeovil band The Chesterfields (1984-89)

Useless info - Together with Alan Flint, Simon was responsible for the Excellent ‘Feeding The Fish’ Fanzine

Sunday, 5 February 2023

Johnny Solo - Yellow Dinghy (1981)

 

b/w On The Rebound

Hull based band active from the Late 70s to Early 80s

Johnny Solo AKA Johnny Richardson (Voc)
Chris Brown (Guitar)
Ian "Ralph" McWalter (Bass)
Steve Jessop (Drums) Also played with Nyam Nyam 
Steve Marshall (Keyboards)


(Also included on the Recording Session)
Dave Gambi (Trumpet Voc)
Paul Tiffany (Congas Voc)
Jane Hutchison (Saxophone Voc)

(Ex Members Include)
Dave Ellis (Double Bass)
Thurstan Binns (Drums)
Tom Cotton (Bass)
Professor Arthur Smee (Drums)

Johnny Richardson and Chris Brown were at Art College together meeting Steve Marshall along the way. Initially the band also comprised of Tom Cotton and Professor Arthur Smee. As both Smee and Cotton had their own projects, replacements (Steve Jessop and Ralph McWalter) were gleaned. 
1981, the band (Johnny Solo & the Escalators) were renowned for their lively performances in local venues and around the university / college circuit. 
Winning a music paper competition, they recorded “Rebound” at Pathway Studios with Nick Lowe however the master tape went missing, so the band produced a new version plus “Yellow Dinghy” at Fairview Studios in Hull.

Around the same time the Hull compilation LP Mrs Wilson’s Children was released which included their track “Special Stuff” 
There is also a promo video of “Fluff on the Needle” made that year on YouTube.  

Monday, 2 January 2023

Disco Students - South Africa House (1979)


b/w - Kafkaesque

Nice DIY/Post Punk from this Aylesbury based band (1978-81)

Vocals, Guitar, Keys - Simon Cheetham (1978-81) ex The Haircuts & Heartbeat
Guitar  - Simon Clark (1978-79) ex-Tower Of Power. Replaced by Karl Perkins (1979-80), Jon Greenough (1980-81)
Bass - Richard Coles (1978-81) ex-Iona. Replaced by Spencer Harris (1980) 
Drums - Graham Hocking RIP (1978-80) ex-Heartbeat. Replaced by Matt Donovan (1980) 

Discography
1978 - The Haircuts -VA LP Aylesbury Goes Flaccid [Do You Remember L-L-Longwick] - Flaccid Records [FLAC 1]
1979 - Disco Students 7'' South Africa House/ Kafkaesque - Yeah!Yeah!Yeah! Records [UH,HUH 1]
1980 - Disco Students 7'' A Boy With A Penchant For Open-Neck Shirts/ Pink Triangles/ Credit - Yeah!Yeah!Yeah! Records [UH,HUH 2]
1981 - The Kindergarten 12'' But/ Red Flowers/ Boxes - Yeah!Yeah!Yeah! Records – UH,HUH 3

Useless Info - Simon Cheetham has also written many books & is a massive Watford FC fan.

Saturday, 3 December 2022

Bombay Ducks - Sympathy For The Devil (1980)

 


b/w 1-0-6-9


Everyone loves a cover. How about a DIY Post-Punk Minimal one?

The Bombay Ducks were a duo of recording engineers Nicky Rogers (AKA Nicky Patriachaeos) and Vic Ball. [AKA Paul Hamilton & Joseph Duarte] with the "ooh ooh's " courtesy of Mike Whittall 



Discography
1980 7''  Sympathy For The Devil/1-0-6-9 - Complete Control [CON 1]
1980 VA CASS ~ A Bagful Of Angst - Not on Label [005] [Croonin' 'bout My Baby]
1981 LP Dance Music - United Dairies [UD 05] [Life For Christine /The New Remorse/ There She Goes (Again)/ Glass Piano// The Trial Of Mr. Grey/ Danzmusik 667/ Carnival Courtesy Of A Daughter]
1981 VA LP  ~ Hoisting The Black Flag - United Dairies [UD 06] [Dance Music]

Useless info 1 - The Bombay Ducks are possibly better known for Engineering early works by Nurse With Wound

Useless info 2 - I would hazard a guess that the artwork for the Press Ad, as it is similar to the LP, is by Danielle Dax.

If You want to hear the 2 comps they can be found here 

Wednesday, 9 November 2022

Brian Copsey And The Commotions - Boys In Love (1981)

 


b/w Send You My Picture

Short lived band (1980-81) from the London area

Brian Copsey (Voc Guitar)
Loz Netto (Lead Guitar) ex Sniff 'n' the Tears (1978-80)
Robby Burns (Bass)
Chris Wyles (Drums) ex No Dice (1977-79) 

Loz Netto was replaced by Huw Gower (ex The Records 1978-80) for the bands second release.

Chris Wyles was also playing with Victims of Pleasure during his tenure with the band & went on to drum for Shakin Stevens amongst many others.
 
From Brian's Bio
...when the punk thing took off, I let Hazel O Connor cut off all my hair, and I backed her for a year or so. This was all great fun, but eventually I felt it was time to do something with my own songs, so I managed to blag a month in a residential studio in France with what was basically Sniff and the Tears backing me and a great engineer called Steve Lipson. The resulting album’s worth of material brought me a recording contract with Chrysalis. 
It was at this point that things went astray for a while. In my naivity, I thought that I had earned the right to have fun making records, but the label I had signed to was a serious, no prisoners taken, commercial outlet who were used to releasing hit records with career minded people.... Anyway, we spent a year or so at cross purposes, releasing a couple of singles that were well received in Europe, and got good reviews in the British music press, but on top of an unofficial BBC ban on any future recordings, I refused to go touring in America, and from that point on it’s not so much that I was dropped, as we just stopped talking to each other ...permanently


Discography
7" 13-02-1981 Boys In Love/Send You My Picture (Chrysalis Records CHS 2499)
7" 10-07-1981 Love's Made A Fool Of You/Wendy (Chrysalis Records CHS 2531)

Useless info 1 the Cover Photo was by Chris Gabrin  [L-R Chris, Brian, Robby, Loz]

Useless info 2 Boys In Love Was included on the 2002 Spanish Compilation Metrojets Vol. 1

Useless info 3 Boys In Love was aired twice by John Peel on his 04-02-1981 & 10-02-1981 Shows

'Play me that twangy guitar and I’m anybody's" - John Peel 10-02-1981

"Brian Copsey and the Commotions were a good band, but they failed to excite record buyers: They were on Chrysalis. They came right out of the blue and they were very hip for a short time. Brian Copsey was a Bryan Ferry with a bit of the lounge lizard about him and they were a good rock band. Although Brian wrote a lot of material, Chrysalis wanted me to cut the band on the Buddy Holly song, ‘Love’s Made A Fool Of You’, which became a single. Other titles included ‘Shavin’ With The Lights On’, ‘King Of The Hop’ and ‘Shirley In The Rain’, but not everything was released. They didn’t last long and I stole the drummer, Chris Wyles, to replace Howard Tibble in Shakin’ Stevens’ band. 
I would chop and change players like that, so everything has a benefit in the long run.” 
- Stuart Colman (Producer) RIP

Saturday, 8 October 2022

Revolver - One & One Is Two (1979)



b/w Nobody I Know

Cool Beatles Sounding Powerpop from

Brian Doran (Voc Guitar) 
Keith Gunson (Voc Bass) later in The Cherry Boys 
Derek Barlow (Guitar Voc)
Paul Scrutton (Drums Voc)

Revolver was a side project for Black Maria [A Beatles Cover band popular on the Merseyside circuit throughout the 70' & early 80's]

September 1979 saw the release of this 45 & an LP [Northern Songs (The Lennon & McCartney Compositions the Beatles Never Issued)] on Rox Records

LP Tracklist  [with the original Artists that released them]
01 One And One Is Two [Mike Shannon & The Strangers]
02 Bad To Me [Billy J. Kramer With The Dakotas]
03 World Without Love [Peter & Gordon]
04 Love Of The Loved [Cilla Black]
05 I'll Keep You Satisfied [Billy J. Kramer]
06 That Means A Lot [P.J. Proby]
07 I'll Be On My Way [Billy J. Kramer With The Dakotas]
08 I Don't Want To See You Again [Peter & Gordon]
09 Hello Little Girl [The Fourmost]
10 Tip Of My Tongue [Tommy Quickly]
11 Nobody I Know [Peter & Gordon]
12 From A Window [Billy J. Kramer With The Dakotas]
13 Step Inside Love [Cilla Black]
14 Like Dreamers Do [The Applejacks]
15 Goodbye [Mary Hopkin]
16 It's For You [Cilla Black]
17 I'm In Love [The Fourmost]

Useless Info 1 - One & One is Two was composed in Jan 1964 @ The George V Hotel, Paris.

Useless Info 2 - One & One is Two also had an outing in the USA in 1979 courtesy of The Badbeats 

Useless Info 3 - The LP [Trio Records – AW-1053] & another 45 [Goodbye/World Without Love - Trio Records – AW-124] were released in Japan as a tribute/obituary to John Lennon in early '81. 

Saturday, 10 September 2022

Hot Snax - Theme From A Movie (1980)

 

b/w Thinking Of You

2 New Wave tracks from this Newcastle Area Band (1976 - 1980)

Steven Foley (Voc Guitar)
Mike Procter (Bass)  
Jimmy Bulloch (Drums) ex Deep Freeze   
Paul Newman (Keys) ex Deep Freeze

Ken Black (Producer)

Discography
1977 VA LP  Kansas City [All Together - Bedrock  IS/BED/123]
1977 12''     Pressure Drop/Treat Me Right, Tonight [Munch Records Inc. MR1 MR2]
1980 7"       Theme From A Movie/Thinking Of You [Zuppé Parese Records]

This above line-up is almost completely different to the earlier incarnation that released the 12" & Track on the LP 

Louise Jabb AKA Miss Funky Nightingale (Voc)
Steven Foley AKA Max Liquid Silicon (Guitar Voc)
Robert Longstaff AKA Mr Magic Fingers (Guitar)
Keith Tulip AKA Professor Cord En Bleu (Bass Voc)
Paul McGonnell AKA Mr Arthur Crab Nebula (Drums)

Useless info
- As you can see the sleeve has 2 colour variants


Sunday, 7 August 2022

White Feather - Summer Days / Golden Haze (1983)


 b/w Feathered Girl

A Fine DIY / Psyche-Lite 45 from these Nottingham area boys (19 at the time of recording)

The 45 is from two different Recording Sessions. Although the Studio remains the same the players differ very slightly.

The Studio was Stu Stevens' (Engineer of the 45) Eagle (Ash) Studios, Annesley Woodhouse.
Cookie AKA Graham Cooke (Voc Bass Tambourine)*
Alan & Cookie
Alan S Robinson (Guitar / Egg Cups)
Darren Warner (Drums)
John Harrison (Egg Cups)

Feathered Girl [12-08-83]
Cookie AKA Graham Cooke (Voc Bass)*
Alan S Robinson (Guitar)

* At this time on hiatus from Solvent Abuse  

The Record (513 copies) was released in December 1983 

Useless info - For the 1st recording session Darren didn't own drums himself so some were hired the day before going into the studio. Giving him just the 1 night to rehearse the tunes.

For Memories/Bios of the band from the 2 main members follow the links below 
Cookie 
Alan S Robinson