enigma records Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

The Effigies “Fly on a Wire”

sfilzen — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 19:20:56 +0000

The Effigies “Fly on a Wire” 1985. Fever Records/Enigma Records. Chicago punk/post-punk. The Effigies are considered one of Chicago’s first punk bands, though this is kinda doubtful as they formed in 1980 but they were influential; Steve Albini: “The Effigies were absolutely essential to the development of a healthy punk scene in Chicago.”) Fly on a Wire, the band’s second LP, is on the rock-n-roll end of punk/post-punk, with growly vocals and in-your-face (proficient) guitar; though the drums do skew rat-a-tat-tat punk. I particularly like the funky/punky “Blue Funk,” the hooky punk’d up “The Eights,” and their cover of Joy Division’s “No Love Lost” (from their 1978 EP An Ideal for Living).

Not surprisingly, there isn’t much out there vide0-wise of The Effigies from back in the 80’s, though I did find this performance of their 1982 song “Body Bag” and “We’ll Be Here Tomorrow” (Haunted Town EP, 1980) from a 1987 Chicago show (I think it was a “reunion” show as the band broke up in ’85 though reformed a few times over the years with a rotating roster of musicians).

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The Cramps “A Date With Elvis”

sfilzen — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 17:32:54 +0000

The Cramps “A Date With Elvis” 1986. Today, February 20th, is Cramps’ guitarist/songwriter Poison Ivy’s 70th birthday (b. Kristy Wallace, 1953). Originally released on UK label Big Beat Records, this copy is the 1990 reissue on red vinyl from Enigma Records and has four bonus tracks. Swampy, campy punk’d up psychobilly, A Date With Elvis was The Cramps’ third studio LP. It’s also the first record to feature Poison Ivy on vocals: on both “Kizmiaz,” a sneakily sweet garage-psych song that is also hilarious, and the bonus track “Get Off the Road” (a track credited to H.G. Lewis, a filmmaker known for his horror films). The record charted only in Australia, at #98. The Cramps released two singles in the UK from A Date With Elvis: one of my favorites “Can Your Pussy to the Dog?” and “What’s Inside a Girl?” The bonus tracks on our copy are the b-sides from the 12″ singles of those two releases. My other top pick is the frenetically choppy “Cornfed Dames.” The original release includes two cover tracks: the traditional song “Chicken” and the bluesy Charlie Feathers track “It’s Just That Song,” both Cramped-up to make a little evil.

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The Cramps “Stay Sick!”

sfilzen — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 00:06:48 +0000

The Cramps “Stay Sick!” 1990. Enigma Records. (Posting for plague and quarantine season, but please don’t really stay sick!) Produced by Cramps guitarist Poison Ivy, Stay Sick was The Cramps fourth studio LP; this copy a 1993 reissue on Big Beat Records with 3 bonus tracks: “Her Love Rubbed Off” (a Carl Perkins cover), “Her Love Rubbed Off (live)” and “Bikini Girls With Machine Guns (live)” – those last two recorded at the Ventura Theatre in 1990. Stay Sick! was also one of The Cramps more successful releases – its single “Bikini Girls With Machine Guns” went to #35 in the UK. Despite the title, there aren’t a lot of plague/sickness/general feelings of illness tracks on the album. It’s the Cramps-style psychobilly they do so well, with lots of slappin’ bass and double-entendre lyrics (i.e. “Daisys Up Your Butterfly”). I’m super-familiar with lots of tracks on this record because I’m pretty sure a guy I was dating in ‘92 made a mixtape with a bunch of the songs, and despite being super-relieved that guy is loooonggg gone, those particular tracks are my favorite: “Bikini Girls With Machine Guns,” “Shortnin’ Bread” (a Cramp’d up rendition of a traditional African-American folk song that dates back well over 120 years but was first written down by James Whitcomb Riley in 1900 ) and “Mama oo Pow Pow.” Other top tracks that I like but didn’t make it on to that mixtape are “Journey to the Center of A Girl” (such a great groove!), “Saddle Up a Buzz Buzz” and “Mule Skinner Blues,” originally by Jimmie Rodgers in 1930. “Mule Skinner Blues” has a particular soft spot in my heart because The Fenderman covered it in 1960, initially releasing it on the Wisconsin-based label Cuca Records which I wrote the history of for my master’s thesis; The Fenderman’s version of “Mule Skinner Blues” hit #5 in the US #32 in the UK.

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Joy Division “Ideal for Living”

sfilzen — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 19:16:04 +0000

Joy Division “Ideal for Living” recorded in 1977, originally released as a 7″ on Enigma (Joy Division’s label) in 1978. A 4-track EP of super-early Joy Division just after they changed their name from Warsaw. It’s raw, really lo-fi, snotty punk, especially the tracks “Warsaw” and “Failures” which are messy with sometimes indistinguishable lyrics which simultaneously predate the American hardcore sound, give nods to the protopunk sound of bands like MC5 and The Stooges and mirror the late 70′s British power pop of groups like the Buzzcocks. “Leaders of Men” leans into post-punk, with art punk glam sensibility: dissonance and whispers of Bowie. “No Love Lost” is my favorite track on the EP with its grooving, droning bass line, competent guitar licks and a hypnotic beat that hints at the band’s future at The Factory and the eventual evolution to New Order after Ian Curtis’ death in 1980.

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Various Artists “Eastern Front”

sfilzen — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 14:34:31 +0000

Various Artists “Eastern Front” 1983. Enigma Records/Eastern Front Records. A comp of hardcore punk bands from the early 80′s, including Chron-Gen from the UK and mostly SoCal and Bay area groups like Channel 3, Free Beer, Wasted Youth, Jody Foster’s Army and Circle One, among others.

To my ears, this is a pretty run-of-the-mill punk comp for the time; not much stands out. However, I do really like JFA’s cover of “Low Rider.” Circle One’s “Red Machine” is pretty good, too.

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