compilation album Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

“I’m A Mess! Punk 45”

sfilzen — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 19:18:35 +0000

“I’m A Mess! Punk 45: Punk 45s In the UK 1977-1978” 2022. Soul Jazz Records. Limited edition double LP. As the record’s title suggests, this is a singles comp from the heyday of UK punk by bands that have mostly been lost or overshadowed in punk rock history. There’s 19 different artists and tracks, mostly short, sharp and/or messy, so I’m only going to focus on the ones I like best. “I Am a Dalek” by The Art Attacks is one of my tops; they were a pretty short-lived band, only around from ’77-’78, with just 2 single released and clearly Sex Pistols inspired. “Saints and Sinners” by Johnny and Self Abusers has a bit of an early Damned feel; they split the day the single came out and members would reform into Simple Minds which is kind of mind-blowing. Trash’s “Priorities” is great chugging mod/garage-punk; they only released one other single but their claim to fame is they “auditioned in front of Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle for the role as a mod group in the film Quadrophenia, but didn’t get the part and split in ’79” (Discogs).The comp’s title inspiration, “I’m A Mess” by Stormtrooper is so British-sounding; they’re from the Isle of Wight and were active from ’75-’78; this was their only recording. Social Security’s “I Don’t Want My Heart to Rule My Head” is angular fun, very Buzzcocky; besides this single they actually put a full LP…in 2009 from recordings in ’77. The Cybermen’s “Cybernetic Surgery” is really short and pretty great; this track appeared on a 4-song EP in ’78 and they released just one more song in ’79. The Exile’s “Fascist DJ” has a great title, the music is pretty simple with a 70’s American pre-punk vibe; which makes a bit more sense when I learned that they “eventually morphed into The Television influenced [band] Friction” (Discogs). “True Life” by Machines is buzzy, a bit Exploited/oi; they put out just this single in ’78 but are one of only bands on this comp to resurrect themselves years later, recording a new album in 2011.

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“Life in the European Theater”

sfilzen — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 20:52:49 +0000

“Life in the European Theater” 1982. Compilation album of mostly British new wave/punk/ska bands, sale royalties went to benefit anti-nuke organizations. It’s a good – and weird – comp, with a couple of head-scratching, “one of these things is not like the others” moments. The best, and obvious, inclusions are the punk/power pop tracks (“London Calling” by The Clash and “Nuclear Device” by The Stranglers), followed closely by ska boppers “I Am Your Flag” (The Beat), “Grey Day” (Madness) and, surprisingly for me as I’m not a big fan, “Living Through Another Cuba” by XTC which is a rollicking great song. I adore Echo & The Bunnymen so appreciate their selection “All That Jazz” and the same goes for the The Jam with “Little Boy Soldiers.” I don’t fully understand Peter Gabriel’s appearance with “I Don’t Remember” — I like Peter Gabriel but his experimental pop rock song is just…odd in the context of the rest of the record. But that oddity is nothing compared to The Doors “Peace Frog.” I actually LOVE that classic ass-shaker – it’s my all-time favorite of theirs – but The Doors are most definitely NOT European, they recorded “Peace Frog” in 1970 (10 years or so before most of the other tracks on the comp) and it has nothing to do with any kind of anti-nuclear, energy or war, stance (it has more to do with Jim Morrison’s onstage arrest in ’67 and American highway accidents). Life in the European Theater was released on a different label (WEA) in ’81 that had Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ “Reasons to Be Cheerful Pt. 3” instead of “Peace Frog.” Which makes a lot more sense for this comp.

The liner notes explain the impetus for this comp: in the early 80’s fear of nuclear power was at an all-time high with the Three Mile Island meltdown (1979) still fresh in people’s minds. My family lived about 25 miles from a nuclear power plant that was (still is) on the shore of Lake Michigan and I remember my parents fretting big time about our safety in the early 80’s.

“Nuclear Power: No single civil industry threatens our lives, and the lives of future generations, with such brutal finality as Nuclear Power.
It will have a deep and damaging effect on all of us. An enourmous, appalling expensive risk. Despite the soothing words of the nuclear industry, accidents will happen.
Everyday, the radioactive rubbish dump of lethal nuclear waste grows bigger – in spite of the fact that no one yet knows how to dispose of it with safety and certainty.
It is a deadly inheritance to leave our children and their children. Of course, everyone needs energy – now, and in the future. But heat from atom spliting will fail to provide the kind of secure source of energy and we all need because it is complex, over-centralised, and unreliable, and also creates the materials for any country to assemble an atomic bomb.
Meanwhile, it is diverting vast sums of money and scientific resources away from the only true long-term solutions to our energy needs; an energy conservation programme, coupled with the harnessing of the only abundant source of energy the world will always have – the sun.
Will it dawn on us?”
-Roger Deakin, Friends of the Earth.

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Various Artists “Zapped”

sfilzen — Wed, 21 Dec 2016 16:37:48 +0000

Various Artists “Zapped” 1970. Today, December 21st, is Frank Zappa’s birthday (b. 1940 d. 1993). Not being much of a Zappa fan (and therefore not having much in the way of Zappa vinyl), today I’m spinning this Zappa-level weird compilation record issued by Zappa’s Bizarre and Straight Records and distributed by Warner Bros. via mail order for its Loss Leaders release series. Avant-garde to the nth degree, the record has samplings from artists like Alice Cooper (“Titanic Overture” and “Refrigerator Heaven”), Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (“The Blimp” and “Old Fart at Play”), The GTO’s (“Circular Circulation (Do Me In Once and I’ll Be Sad, Do Me In Twice and I’ll Know Better)”) and two track from Zappa himself, one as The Mothers of Invention (“Holiday in Berlin, Full Blown”) and another sung by Captain Beefheart (“Willie the Pimp”).

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