Husky - Lay Back (1978)

b/w - if Dreams Were Made

Well played 60's inspired Modpop with some hints of freakbeat in Lay Back.

This grows on you with playing

Pressing run of 2,000 with only 50 having the "too expensive to print" p/s shown below (alas, mine is one of the 1,950 - apparently most of the 50 were sold during a two night stint at Reculver Caravan Park)

The band were from Herne Bay
Andy Shilling AKA Andy Ferguson (voc bass)
Dave Offredi (guitar voc)
Keith Lambert (drums) R.I.P.
Andy Richardson (keyboard voc)
However the sleeve does credits Jerry Kelk as guitarist. He replaced Dave temporarily after the disc was recorded.


MHA Records was set up by Melvin Harrison (AKA Mel Harris) & Malcolm Anderson & the "Studio" was "Melvin's Mum's House" (Alma Rd, Beltinge) where the band recorded downstairs & the Control Room was upstairs.

Long term friends Andy Ferguson & Dave Offredi met "pre-teen" at an open air gig watching the Rock-a-beats & still perform together (with Andy's Girlfriend Leah) as The Swinging 60's Band

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?tcmnq1g3z24lz1p

Teaser - First Date (1980)

b/w - English Garden

(Double A side)

Teaser were a 4 piece from Vancouver (So I guess technically this is a Canadian post).

Brian Konechny (voc guitar)
Randy Burgess (bass voc)
John Cody (drums voc)
Tom Ready (keyboards voc)

The 45's a blend of synth-pop & New wave with a sprinkle of powerpop.
First Date was penned by B Konechny whilst the flip is a pretty good cover of Bruce Wooley & The Camera Club's English Garden.



The 45 as with all of the Harbor 45's (that I know of!) was produced by John Schroeder

Harbor Discography

HRB 1 - Steve Haynes - If This Isn't Love (I Don't Know What Love Is)/Love Don't Grow On Trees 1979
HRB 2 - Richard Stepp - Holiday In Hollywood/Good To Have You 1979
HRB 3 - Hooker - Lady Lady/Indian Nation 1979
HRB 4 - Jupiter 4 - Love's Theme/Beyond The Universe 1979
HRB 5 - Zingo - (Oh No) I'm In Love Again/Sailin'On 1979
HRB 6 - Julian Littman - Give A Little/Roxy 1979
HRB 7 - Steve Haynes - Picture Puzzle/I Get So Lonely 1979
HRB 8 - Teaser - First Date/English Garden 1980
HRB 9 - Jupiter 4 - Pepperbox/Beyond The Universe 1980
HRB 10 - Julian Littman - Young Explorers/Have You Got Soul 1980
HRB 11 - A - The Flying Saucers - I'll Never Let You Down/
HRB 11 - B - The Cruisers - Get A Job 1980
HRB 12 - The Flying Saucers - Teenage Boogie/Beer Bourbon & Wine 1981
HRB 13 - Vic & Carol's Crazy Circus - These Boots Are Made For Walking/The French Connection 1981
HRB 14 - Force Major - Put It In Your Pipe/Say What You Feel 1981

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?wwvpklv1eq8i802

Katz - Talking 'Bout You (1979)

b/w - I'm So Nasty

Great powerpop / rock crossover from this Swindon based 5 piece

Tim - AKA Kit E Litter (voc) RIP 
Malcolm Porter - AKA Junk Bamberger (Guitar) 
Martin Drury - AKA Jean Le Cliche (Guitar voc) 
Roger Mann - AKA Lom de Terre (Bass voc) 
Chris MacPherson - AKA: Stix (Drums)
 
The band seems to have it's beginings sometime in 1978 as there is pretty good footage on them on Swindon's local music show Tune-in from October of that year.

The self-financed 45 was recorded in Cheltenham at Dik Cadbury's Millstream recording studios (an old pottery) by Nick Critchley (who it seems still works there) & pressed through London's SRT plant. Available at gigs or from Red Carpet (?) & Kempsters

Other tracks from the above Tune-in session were also recorded & broadcast at different times here here & here with the one above been repeated here.
The programme Beat Town even made a video for this 45 (Aired Jan 11 1980)

Thanks to Malcolm for the extra band memebers info

If you read the comments on the above it seems there is a strong possibility that the band will soon play again!

Sounds & Scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?pl548k7c3uaiity

The Drivers - Things (1984)

b/w - Stolen Treasure

Nice cover version for the final UK 45 from this Sussex 3 Piece (1981-84).

Nick Van Eede (voc guitar)
Mac Norman (bass voc)
Steve Boorer (drums voc) ex - En Route

The Drivers story should start with a background on Nick but I'll point you to the above link as it pretty much says it all, except at 14 he was in a school (Imberhorne) band with Steve called Twice Bitten (other members were Nick Muggridge, George Brinkhurst & Pete Birch)
The Drivers were a pretty tight live New wave / powerpop band & after a gig at the Shelly Arms (c1982) they were approached by Bernie Solomon (Canadian Entertainment Lawyer) Who whisked them off to Toronto to Record an LP ("Short Cuts" with production duty from Terry Brown & mixed at Morin Heights' Le Studio in Quebec's Laurentian mountains)
A 45 taken from the LP "Tears on Your Anorak" broke the Canadian Top 40 & while on a Cross-Canada tour to promote this (supported by a Novia Scotia band "Fast Forward") disaster struck.
The Ontario Government halted a controversial condominium sale by Leonard Rosenberg's GreyMac Development Corporation (a main investor in Dallcorte) Freezing its assets and forcing it into bankruptcy.
The Drivers stranded in Canada with their career in limbo decided to return to the UK & pretty much fell apart.
This did mean Nick was free to contact a member of Fast Forward (Kevin MacMichael) but that's another story

Other Vinyl (All 1983)
Short Cuts LP - Greyhound Records (UK) / Dallcorte Records (Canada)
Tears On Your Anorak/One Kiss 7"- Dallcorte Records
Talk All Night/Sister 7"- Greyhound Records/ Dallcorte Records
Stolen Treasure/Found You out 7"- Dallcorte Records
Apparently there also exists a cassette 'Under The Circumstances' that was sold at gigs (late 83/early '84) - Featuring a live Canadian radio broadcast, some demo recordings made in London and a couple of live tracks also recorded in London.
& For the completest; there also exists 4 Videos, Directed by Rob Quartly of "Found You Out","Stolen Treasure","Talk All Night" & "Tears on My Anorak". Again all 1983


Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?7ilzi8n19q2srvt

Scobie Ryder - Zero (1980)

b/w - Was That A Take? (Sing It And See)

Great New wave 45 with hints of powerpop & glam.

Scobie Ryder (John Wright) has been around the music business since dropping out of Glasgow Art College and moving down to London at the tail end of the '70's (just Google him & see how prolific his work has been)

Here's a couple of good places to start

If You like this I'd also recommend Radio W.R.O.K./Dream Maker on EMI (1979)

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?6rigys1mscg18lq

Phase Nine - City Of Nowhere (1982)

b/w - Back In Life

Great punk /powerpop 45 from this Swedish (Stockholm) 5 piece - I personally prefer the flip but there's not much in it!

Anders Ådén (voc guitar)
Jörgen Holmberg (guitar)
Magnus Nordin (bass)
Leffe Johansson (drums)
Jarl Tungelstedt (Saxophone)

Once again I'm a bit short on info - it was recorded in June 1982 at Humlan (Bumblebee) recording studio in Stockholm & was released on EFMD Records.

EFMD Records (based in Västerhaninge) was run by Mikael Persson and Patrick Ingeson.
The acronym EFMD stood for Enad Front Mot Disco (the united front against Disco).

It seems the label's finances came mostly from concerts that they themselves organized. Money was then lent to a band to record a 45 (usually in a print run of 500 - although it's believed this 45 may have been of a 1000) Once enough records were sold, the band would pay the company back & the process would begin again with another.

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?1d9diwjma0i0ugd

Deke O'Brien And Sneeker - Wasted (1980)

b/w - Cool Of the Night

Nice 45 that teeters on the edge of powerpop / pop rock from Ireland

Deke will be known to some as he's a bit of a legend in the Irish music business. (If you don't know him follow the link to Irish rock.org & have a read)

Bands of particular interest Deke was in before Sneeker were Bees make Honey & Stepaside

Players on Sneeker's lone 45 were

Deke O'Brien (voc guitar)
Patsy Tracy (guitar)
Spike (bass)
Fran Breen (drums)

There's a bit more info here

Useless Fact - Deke financed Ireland's 1st New Wave Compilation Just For Kicks & was co-founder of Scoff Records

A big thanks to Irish Rock.org as I've borrowed so heavily from them for this post

Sounds & scans below

http://www.mediafire.com/?shq7s93fdv13e6b