The Saints ’73-’78 “Live Nights in Venice Vol. 1”

sfilzen — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 18:32:34 +0000

The Saints ’73-’78 “Live Nights in Venice Vol. 1” 2025. In the Red Records on red vinyl. Last night we caught The Saints (’73-’78) in Chicago at the Metro and scooped a copy of this limited edition EP. Just two of the original legendary Australian punks are still around, hence the ’73-’78 caveat in the band’s name. From the blurb on the concert website:

Featuring founding Saints members, guitarist Ed Kuepper and drummer Ivor Hay alongside honorary Saints: singer Mark Arm of Seattle rockers Mudhoney, former The Birthday Party / Bad Seeds guitarist Mick Harvey and bassist Peter Oxley of Australia’s legendary Sunnyboys, The Saints ’73 -’78 carry on where the original band left off in 1978 performing the material from their three incendiary albums (I’m) Stranded (1977), Eternally Yours (1978) and Prehistoric Sounds (1978).

Also joining the band onstage was a horn section, who also appear on this four song EP (Julien Wilson on tenor sax, Eamon Dilworth on trumpet and Mark Spencer on baritone sax). I loved the show! I really like Mark Arm so I was super excited to see him perform and felt that his distinctive raspy growl/shriek lent itself well to The Saints material. Not counting the horn section, 60-something Arm was the youngster in the group; the rest of the guys definitely in their 70s (or older). However, age is just a state of mind and they absolutely killed with tons of energy and rock swagger. The Saints played a couple of my favorites, including “(I’m) Stranded” (which is generally accepted to be the first punk rock single released outside of the United States, predating the first record releases from the UK punk scene, ie The Damned, and is lauded as an Australian national treasure) and “Know Your Product.” While “Stranded” does not appear on this release which was recorded at Princess Theater in Brisbane in December 2024, “Know Your Product” does (the swirly horns great both in person and on wax). While the single from their second LP (Eternally Yours) did not chart, it retrospectively is considered one of the greatest punk singles of the era. Also on Live Nights (and played last night) are “Nights in Venice” (from I’m Stranded) “No Time” (the b-side to “I’m Stranded”) and “(I’m) Misunderstood” (from Eternally Yours).

The post The Saints ’73-’78 “Live Nights in Venice Vol. 1” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

“The Rare Stuff”

sfilzen — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 16:33:46 +0000

“The Rare Stuff” 1979 comp on Harvest Records of tracks by punk/new wave bands including The Saints, Wire, Rich Kids, The Flys, The Banned and The Shirts. The Saints, early punks from Australia, have four tracks (they, and Wire, are probably the biggest acts showcased on the LP): “River Deep Mountain High” (a punked-up and almost unrecognizable cover of Ike & Tina Turner’s famous song), “One Way Street,” “Lipstick on Your Collar” (a golden oldie which was a hit for Connie Francis in 1959; The Saints version is much better) and “Demolition Girl,” all originally recorded during their debut album – (I’m) Stranded – 1976/77 sessions. Experimentally punk Wire from the UK has just two tracks: “Dot Dash” and “Options R” which were recorded – but not included – on their amazing debut record Pink Flag. Rich Kids, formed by ex-Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock with vocals by future Ultravox member Midge Ure, have one track, “Only Arsenic” which they recorded during their sole album’s session Ghosts of Princes in Towers and released as the B-side to the LP’s title track single. It’s not particularly Sex Pistols-esque – rather it’s rough-edged 60′s-styled garage-pop, lending even more weight to the rumor that Matlock was fired from the Pistols for expressing his admiration for The Beatles. I’m not very familiar with the other bands on The Rare Stuff. The Flys, a British band described by Allmusic as “Half punk, half pop, a jangling, jarring cross between the Byrds and the Buzzcocks,” have four tracks: “E.C.4″ (which is really great!), “Love and a Molotov Cocktail,” “Can I Crash Here?” (also excellent) and “Civilization” which I believe were all recorded (but, again, not included) during sessions for their 1978 debut album Waikiki Beach Refugees and the EP Love and a Molotov Cocktail. The Banned, also from England, “only [released] two singles released at the height of punk. Both were cover versions delivered in a power pop vein – arousing suspicions that the group were among the many members of the pub rock fraternity attempting to jump onto punk’s bandwagon.” (Allmusic) All four songs from those two singles are on The Rare Stuff: “Him or Me,” “You Dirty Rat” (both originally by Paul Revere and the Raiders), “C.P.G.J.’s” and a fairly faithful rendition of “Little Girl” (originally by Syndicate of Sound, 1966). The final track is by The Shirts, the lone American band who were contemporaries of Talking Heads. They only get one song on the comp: a kinda sweet, arty song called “Cyrinda” which was the b-side to the song “Tell Me Your Plans” from their debut self-titled release The Shirts in ‘78.

The post “The Rare Stuff” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

the saints Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

The Saints ’73-’78 “Live Nights in Venice Vol. 1”

“The Rare Stuff”