The Czechs - Empty In The Glasshouse (1983)

b/w - Music For Pressure

The A side is pretty good but the Flip blows it out of the water.

The London based trio were

Mike Horak (voc guitar bass)
Andy Ropek (voc bass guitar)
Dom Ren (drums)

& it was produced by Mark Dawson at the Bromley Gold Dust Studios

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?o2cfalvsa6rn38h

The Peasants - Peasants EP (1981)

A1 - Here She Comes
A2 - I Care For You
B1 - When I Close My Eyes
B2 - I Can Help

As this blog's now been going a year (!!) let's have some excellent Beatles/60's sounding powerpop from Northern Ireland.

When the 4 school friends' band The Incredibly Boring Band broke up, 2 members (Aiden Murtagh & Owen Mcfadden) went on to start Protex whilst the other 2 formed The Peasants

Brendan Popplestone (voc guitar)
Paul Nesbitt (guitar) later replaced by Garth Craig
Malchy Muinzer (bass) ex I.B.B.
Mike Edgar (drums) ex I.B.B.

The 45 was recorded under the watch full eye of Mudd Wallace at his Homestead Studios (at it's old home of Ahoghill) & released in October apparently having 2 pressing runs of 500 copies a piece.

Their other highlight appears to be the fact that they got paying "Gigs" at the University balls for Nottingham & Leicester supporting "The Jam" & "Q-Tips"

Mike Edgar went on to to be the drummer for Cruella De Ville playing along side Malchy's brother & sister (Colm & Philomena) & is now "Head of Entertainment and Events" for BBC Northern Ireland.

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?rf237papba56cyu

Dead Cert - Time Bomb (1980)

b/w - You'd Better Stop

The South London band were active from 1978 (even scoring a support slot to the Cure in '79 --June 1st -- 4th on the bill at an open air concert in Carshalton, Surrey)

The Band were
Trevor Hatcher (voc guitar)
Pete Downham (voc rhythm guitar)
Gordon Harris (bass voc)
Tony McWilliams (drums)
As, it seems with most bands there was a revolving drum stool which was also frequented by Mick Smith & Paul Cannon

These 2 tracks were recorded at R+G Jones recording studios in Wimbledon.

According to their myspace (some interesting photos & flyers there) 2 demo tapes exist

1. Jealous World / Two times / Turn It down / You'd Better Stop ( R+G Jones recording studios in Mitcham 1978)
2. Away In A way / Third Time Lucky / Zodiac (A Recording Studio In Tolworth 1980?)

some of the above can be heard there & others here

Check out the Harry Satcher Trio to see what most of the band are doing now

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?t0cg2dn4iu0yn7z

Smithereens - Weekend In K.A. (1980)

A1 - Flat 2
A2 - Too Much Hope
B - Wilfred

This seems to be a vehicle for the 2 Fowler brothers from the Mansfield area to show off their D.I.Y. skills (all 3 tracks will happily fit on a messthetics comp)

David Fowler (voc guitar bass)
Andrew Fowler (drums voc keyboards)

With help from "the rhythm unit", Chris Cook (engineer), Rodney Shutters (photos & sleeve design) & the SRTS pressing plant.

Nice use of a well known Vodka symbol on the back sleeve...

Where's K.A. ? (KIRKBY in ASHFIELD apparently)

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?e7x6gilhywsn8q8

Prefex - Promises, Promises (1980)

b/w - Tightrope Walking

2 Cool Indie / New wave tracks from this Welsh (Welshpool) 5 Piece.

Julie Wareing (voc guitars violin)
Sally James (voc flute)
Mark Backhouse (guitar voc)
James Stewart (bass)
Chris Fotheringham (drums voc)

It was engineered/produced by Dave Anderson at his Foel studios & released on their own "Legless Records" (nice artwork on the labels)
The Sleeve artwork was courtesy of Stewart James (Bass player ?)

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?5yxe67x8k34x97p

The Monos! - U.F.O. (1979)

b/w - Teenage Confessions

I've been asked for this a few times so it's time to honour those requests.

This is the 2nd of 4 releases for this London based band (all produced by Bill Kimber) as with the other 3 it's more than decent powerpop. (well actually 2, their 1st 45 Erica Fire is a bit poor in my opinion)

The quartet ran from late 1978 to mid '80 & comprised

Fran Ashcroft (voc, guitar)
Gez Prior (guitar)
Kenny Jones (bass)
Mick Pearl (drums)

Their other 3 45's are

Erica Fire/Louie - RCA PB 5178 (1979)
Uh Oh Uh Oh/Mad Lover - RCA PB5232 (1980)
Sound Of Your Radio/Don't Take It Too Hard - RCA PB 5254 (1980)

Fran & Mick were then joined by Rose Saddler (bass) & Pete Giles (keyboards) to become The Faraway stars
Whilst Gez & Kenny joined up with Chris Wyles (drums) & Virginia Astley (keyboards) to become Victims Of Pleasure

Fran Ashcroft is now a very successful Record producer

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?b4kv13e3ch3v2wo

Dave Scott - Strolling Along (1981)

b/w - Hello Rock 'n' Roll

Once again it's the b-side I'll direct you to (sort of punk n roll with touches of glam & "Mick Green's Pirates")

Strolling along is a "nice" pop song, if not a little tedious (then again if any of you have just sat through the euro-vision song contest you'll know what to expect)

Can't give you any info on Mr Scott but his co producer Jon Kennett was in demand.

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?9bml4raiq9rbrox

The Norbiton Surfers - Ivor The Engine (1980)

b/w - My Ego Dies

Time for some D.I.Y. post punk sounds.

I'm afraid I can't tell you much about the band I presume they were from South West London (Norbiton) & they seem to have had a drummer problem.

Adrian Paul (voc)
Colin Campbell (guitar)
Andrew McKay (bass)
Len Davies (guest Drummer)

The 2 tracks were penned by Passion / P. Campbell as well as Paul so maybe one of the first 2 was an ex - drummer.

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?q9cs8d67g1z536m

Peter Nardini - A Think You're Great (1981)

b/w - Ma Maw's A Mod

More of a comedy record really! The A side is "interesting" but it's the flip that's worth the time.

Glasgow boy Peter Nardini was responsable for the lyrics Of Andy Cameron's 1977 b-side "I Want To Be A Punk Rocker

Both of these tracks can be found on his 1982 LP "A Think You're Great" (a collection of songs mostly written for Radio Scotland’s satirical / topical series ‘Naked Radio’.)
There's also a 2nd 45 worth looking out for - We Just Might Win/Stop It I Like It -(1982) also on Kettle records.

Website of Peter's work here

A Think You're Great on You tube

Ma Maw's A Mod on You tube

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?32i3457hznqogbr

The Vampire Bats From Lewisham - Mr Clean EP (1981)

A - Mr Clean
B1 - Some Some
B2 - 5 O'Clock

New Wave EP from "the sound of young Lewisham" (South London) - This is from their press release, if you read the rest, you'll see why this was never a hit!

The boys were
Laurie Latham (voc)
Steve Bolton (guitar, voc) ex Atomic Rooster
Matt Irving (bass)
Bernie Clarke (keyboards) fresh from playing with Fingerprintz on their Distinguishing marks LP
Mark Pinder (drums)

Most of the band (excluding Bernie) became Paul Young's backing band & some still work with him to this day . All are in demand session players or producers!!

Steve Bolton has a myspace

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?io184q330e4r8hb

Someone Else - Be My Baby (1983)

b/w - I Need Your Love

OK I'm sailing dangerously close to 80's pop here -
but, by now you all know I like a good cover version & Be My Baby is just that!

The flip is 80's Jazz funk (not really my thing) penned by Tim Hall

I can't tell you much about the band but the label (owned by Rick Sims & John Dendy) is responsible for the comedy record E.T. Phone Home by Ron Shea [STAG 001](Don't bother looking for it)

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?50rr7d8k3cmm26u

Twig And The Kicks - I Won't Apologise (1980)

b/w - The Boy Who Sold His Dreams

Double A side - but there is an A scratched in the dead wax of the I Won't Apologise side. & a B on the other.

Cool D.I.Y Mod / New wave tunes (with a hint of white reggae on the "Apologise" track) from this London based band.

I've put this down as 1980 but I'm not really sure, it could be a little later.

The only band member I know of, is the Singer / guitarist Nicky Ager, who was later in a band called "The Whole Wide World" who morphed into "Company Of Cowards" (also including Ian Montague ex guitarist of Thin Yogurts) I believe Nicky is now living in Coventry with his director/writer wife Debbie Issitt.

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?kz7ai6gmq52p651

The Form - Watch Out! EP (1980)

A - Watch Out
B1 - Start Again
B2 - London Underground

Nice Mod / Punk Ep from this South London (Richmond?) Band. It can be found elsewhere on the net but I thought it deserved a place here as well!

Daktari Swets (voc)
Pete Watt (voc guitar)
Nick Calloway (guitar)
Andy Hill (bass)
Big G (drums)

I'll admit to having a preference for "Start Again" over the other 2 but it's only a slight one!

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?74d48xx9a0t1jaj

Junco Partners - Swinging Sixties Boys (1978)

b/w - Peepin' & Hidin' (Jimmy Reid cover)

Also included in the download is

Hard Drivin' Man - from the Bedrock radio programme various artists LP "All Together" - originally by the J Geils band

Great Mod / R&B tracks from this Tyneside bunch.

The band had been together in an earlier incarnation (1964 - 71) but re-formed in 1977 to play the Newcastle Bedrock Summer Festival.

John Anderson (voc)
Ronnie Barker (voc, harmonica)
Kenny Barker (guitar)
Dave Sproat (bass)
John Woods (drums)
Neil Perry (Tenor sax)
with help from Gowan Turnball (Baritone Sax) & Ask Roger (Piano) on Hard Drivin' Man & Charlie Harcourt on Swinging Sixties Boys

There is another 45 released in 1981 (Tall Windows / Noizez In My Head - Energy Records NRG4) That's also worth getting hold of.

Junco Partners are still playing & have a myspace here (Go buy their C.D's) & there's loads of you tube stuff

Sounds & Scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?eg1o2p14eoroew8