Two Bristol Greats...Glaxo Babies and The Pop Group

Glaxo Babies - Put Me On The Guest List.

This was originally released in August 1980 as a mid priced (£2.95) LP containing B-sides, Alternate versions and hard to find tracks from a prior incarnation of the band. Of all the Glaxo Babies releases I think this is my favourite. It holds together better than the follow up,  'Nine Months To The Disco'  and is head and shoulders above the later art rock leaning of the release. Falling squarely within the political post punk/agit pop leanings of better known bands like Gang of Four, The Au Pairs and The Mekons. On first listen 'Put Me on The Guest List' doesn't stray far from the formula. Edgy, spartan shards of guitar work of funk/dub bass-lines and regular/ metronomic drum with howled/screamed/ shouted vocals. For me though, they had that mystery X-Factor  that took them beyond their better known bretheran. And, in a cyclical twist that occurs regularly in music, the themes touched upon in the songs are oddly prescient of our life and times.

If you fancy a listen, Here it is.


The Pop Group - Assorted Live 1980

This falls squarely within the bootleg quotant, but is no the less enjoyable for it, and has a fair to good sound quality considering the tapes age.

The Pop Group were one of the oddest bands to form in the post punk era, eschewing the stripped down D.I.Y. leanings of many artists in favour of avant jazz leanings, hard funk rhythms and hard left political leanings they were not the easiest band to connect with on initial spins of their records.
Releasing two official albums 'Y', and 'For How Much Longer Will We Tolerate Mass Murder  and a hand full of bootlegs and semi official LP's which covered much of the same ground as the official releases.
Upon finally fragmenting due to internal tensions in 1981, their musical legacy continued on in bands such as Rip, Rig & Panic, Pigbag, Maximum Joy, Head Mark Stewart & The Mafia and the afor mentioned Glaxo Babies.

If you fancy a listen to this erratic and exhilarating band live, you can Here.

Seminal Compilation LP's Part 1 - Fast Product - The First Year Plan

Growing up during the heyday of post punk and new wave I'd inadvertently heard of FAST Records a while before I became aware of, and bought the 'First Year Plan' Compilation in 1980.

I'd picked up a rather ragged ex-jukebox copy of Sheffield futurists 'The Human League' single 'Being Boiled' in newsagent John Menzies for pennies after hearing it on John Peel and wigging out to it's super futurist soundscapes. This stripped down proto electro pop left me reeling, with it's references to sericulture and Buddhists, these were things my tiny 15 year old brain had not heard mentioned in contemporary music. 

The creepy B-side 'Circus of Death', with it's Steve McGarrett, Hawaii 5-0 intro and comedic Dark Star movie dialogue outro (question..."Do you think there's really any intelligent life out there?..... answer.....Who Cares!) was a stark vision of the future, a distopian electronic nightmare unlike the shiny technology rich  future being peddled by the likes of Kraftwerk.

Front Cover

I stumbled on the 'Fast Records - First Year Plan' compilation downstairs in a tiny Virgin Records store in Birmingham. Other than the Human League tracks, I'd never heard of the other bands, though I'm sure they had cropped up in various John Peel radio shows of the time, but had flown under my radar, musically speaking. The album, essentially a catalogue of the first year of vinyl 7" releases from Fast, was a budget priced cheap fix licenced for distribution through EMI for those of us with limited pocket money, and questionable and often balked at tastes in music. Reveling in the sticky tape and xerox low fi approach, label entrepreneur Bob Last showed us how great music could be made available on a shoe string budget and a wing and a prayer. 

Fast as a label didn't last much longer than this release and few more EP's. The much collectable EarCom (Ear Comic) releases which were to release some of the earliest Joy Division records and influence the burgeoning Manchester label Factory. Tony Wilson often cited Bob Lasts Fast Product as a perfect way to run a label and adapted many of his ideas into the Factory model (giving everything a number being but one).

Back Cover

The Mekons were a revelation, four Leeds art punks who couldn't really play, but came up with a scratchy,  witty and sassy adjunct to The Clash' bravado of 'White Riot' in the track 'Never Been in A Riot'.

The B-side '32 Weeks' was a clever reference to how long certain items would take to buy, judged in minutes hours and weeks on a minimum wage (examples being, a loaf of bread, and a bottle of whiskey to drown your sorrows) .

Insert Front

Another bunch of Leeds art punks were Gang of Four, who became better known, it seems to me, in the last post punk revival of the early 00's for their stripped down, angular and spartan brand of white punk funk. They had three almost demo quality tracks that were later re-recorded for their debut classic 'Entertainment'.

The band were, to me, seemingly obsessed with the dehumanizing effect of the corporate work ethic and desexualisation of the workplace and wider society. 

'Damaged Goods', a paean to the burnt out worker, bemoans the plight of  a person become unit who 'can't achieve' (lyric excerpt ..."Damaged goods....send me back....I can't work, I can't achieve.....send me back") and is a haunting reminder of the feelings of many individuals during unemployment and recession.

'Armalite Rifle' is a sarcastic ode to the British Army's weapon of choice used in Northern Ireland troubles of the 60's and 70's.

Insert Back

Hailing from Scotland,  Scars debuted with the sinister and scratchy post punk of 'Adult/Ery' sounding not unlike Wire on their debut Pink Flag. The singer even has his Colin Newman inflection down pat. 'Horrorshow' has a great two tone guitar riff and sinewy/wire like bass with more than a passing reference in sound to Swell Maps.

The only weak tracks as far as I'm concerned are by the band '2.3'. 'The tracks All Time Low' and 'Where To Now'' bear more than a passing resemblance to early XTC (no bad thing), but they don't quite pull it off melody wise.

If you think this forward thinking release may be for you, have a listen Here

More Old Bootlegs - Liars Live Manchester Roadhouse 5th May 2004

Seem to have turned up a small cash of concerts that i attended a few years ago. I'm a massive fan of Liars, so thought I'd share this with you. It's from the European tour supporting their second album 'They Were Wrong So We Drowned'. Not sure what the last track is called, though i seem to recall Angus called it 'Southern Uric Acid' at the time. Don't think it ever developed beyond a jam, I don't recognise it from later releases, but if you know better, let me know. You can hear it Here.

Setlist for the night was...

Here's a small 'review' of the night if found.

"Liars songs are raw and unapproachable; unstructured compared to anything we have come to expect from conventional music and melodically vacant. Vocalist Agnus Andrew sings with an ominous monotone, pronouncing syllables in time with drum beats like a shaman reciting a prayer or a spell. But though Liars' music differs from that of The Blood Brothers, their performance is as intriguing. Dressed like a mad man on ket, Agnus Andrew collapses around the stage in a three-quarter-length matron’s uniform featuring the shakily written slogan, 'Weapons of ASS Destruction', on the back. He does well to jump into the ceiling and not fall into seizure. Or perhaps this crazy dancing _is_ his seizure. However crazy this may be, the underlying charisma makes you love it; watching this man is fun.
At times it is questionable if Liars are really pushing boundaries in music or just taking the piss. Songs become so extended that once stimulating repetitive drums become annoyingly drawn-out and dull. Where the Blood Brothers were giving and exuberant, Liars seems self-indulgent and pretentious. In theory, Liars' fresh take on avant-garde music is formidable, but commercially, it's just not Busted."

Not sure I agree with his views, but as the landed gent character from the Fast Show says " I was very, very Drunk!"