Young Marble Giant - Colossal Youth & Collected Works

Band: Young Marble Giant
Album: Colossal Youth & Collected Works
Country: UK
Release Date: 1980

Young Marble Giants' Colossal Youth is a collection of sparse, evocative tunes emphasizing Alison Stratton's floating vocals and minimal guitar/organ/bass/drum machine arrangements. Comparable to little else from its time or since, this is rock music at its most austere. The original album had 15 songs; subsequent CD editions added a few more. But the 2007 edition on Domino is the one to buy, pushing the total to 46 tracks, with additions from the Testcard EP, the 1979 "Final Day" single, the Salad Days album, a compilation cut, and a 1980 session for John Peel -- everything they ever did, in fact.

One of the most distinctive albums of the UK post-punk scene -- spare, stripped-down, and completely sublime! Where most of their contemporaries grabbed the world by doing more, Young Marble Giants made their mark by doing less -- just a bit of bass, some scratchy guitar, thin keyboards, and simple beats -- all topped by the light vocals of Alison Statton -- sweet and dreamy, but also a bit cold at times too! The approach is quite unique, and hard to describe accurately -- but all these decades later, the set still stands as one of the purest moments of genius from a scene that had plenty of genius to offer! Titles include "Searching For Mr Right", "Constantly Changing", "Include Me Out", "The Taxi", "NITA", "Colossal Youth", "Music For Evenings", and "Credit In the Straight World". 3CD package features a wealth of extra material too! CD 2 features 26 tracks pulled from the incredible Testcard EP, plus the "Final Day" single, the Salad Days album, and even their "Ode To Booker T" from the Is The War Over compilation! CD 3 features a John Peel session from 1980 -- with 5 more tracks -- and the package also includes a thick booklet too, with images, photos, and long notes on the group by Simon Reynolds.

CD1

1.	Searching for Mr. Right	3:00
2.	Include Me Out	1:58
3.	The Taxi	2:07
4.	Eating Noddemix	2:04
5.	Constantly Changing	2:04
6.	N.I.T.A.	3:31
7.	Colossal Youth	1:54
8.	Music for Evenings	3:02
9.	The Man Amplifier	3:15
10.	Choci Loni	2:37
11.	Wurlitzer Jukebox	2:45
12.	Salad Days	2:01
13.	Credit in the Straight World	2:28
14.	Brand-New-Life	2:50
15.	Wind in the Rigging	2:25

CD2

1.	This Way	1:41
2.	Posed by Models	1:24
3.	The Clock	1:39
4.	Clicktalk	2:42
5.	Zebra Trucks	1:33
6.	Sporting Life	1:04
7.	Final Day	1:43
8.	Radio Silents	1:53
9.	Cakewalking	2:49
10.	Ode to Booker T	3:03
11.	Have Your Toupee Ready	1:09
12.	N.I.T.A.	4:28
13.	Brand-New-Life	2:54
14.	Zebra Trucks	1:33
15.	Choci Loni	2:14
16.	Wind in the Rigging	2:38
17.	The Man Shares His Meal With His Beast	4:24
18.	The Taxi	2:03
19.	Constantly Changing	2:06
20.	Music for Evenings	2:57
21.	Credit in the Straight World	2:12
22.	Eating Noddemix	2:01
23.	Ode to Booker T	3:01
24.	Radio Silents	2:52
25.	Hayman	1:26
26.	Loop the Loop	2:59

CD3

1.	Searching for Mr. Right	2:36
2.	Brand-New-Life	2:48
3.	Final Day	1:57
4.	N.I.T.A.	3:43
5.	Posed By Models	1:31

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Pure Hell - Noise Addiction

Band: Pure Hell
Album: Noise Addiction
Country: USA
Release Date: 2005

In 1974, on the streets of Philadelphia, a band unlike any other was formed. They called themselves Pretty Poison. The band consisted of Stinker (Kenny Gordon) on vocals, Chip Wreck (Preston Morris III) on guitar, Lenny Steel (Kerry Boles) on bass, and Spider (Michael Sanders) on drums. They had a sound so ahead of its time that the music industry was not yet ready for it. They coupled the punk sound of the New York bands of the time with a harder, faster heavy metal edge unheard before. Their unique sound was a result of Gordon's berserk choreography and Morris's needling guitar riffs, while Steel and Spider added a synchronized barrage with no nonsense execution to the arsenal.

Inspired by the famous fuel-altered dragster, they changed their name to Pure Hell in 1975. Soon after, they moved to New York City where they played with bands like the New York Dolls, Sid Vicious, Wayne County and the Electric Chairs, The Dead Boys, The Stimulators, Richard Hell, The Germs, The Nuns, The Cramps and more. In 1978 Pure Hell headlined a tour of the UK, with bands like The UK Subs, Wilko Johnson, Vermilion & the Aces and more opening for them. While in the UK, their only original record was released. It was a single released by their manager Curtis Knight on his label, Golden Sphinx Records. The songs on the single were “These Boots Were Made for Walking” and “No Rules.” The single charted in the top 40 charts in the UK. During the same year, a full length album was recorded but was never released. It did not surface again for 26 years…

1.	Noise Addiction	1:56
2.	Hard Action	2:29
3.	Lame Brain	3:10
4.	I Feel Bad	2:30
5.	Wild One	3:32
6.	Rot in the Doghouse	2:21
7.	No Rules	2:26
8.	Thrillers of Oz	1:57
9.	Spoiled Sport	1:45
10.	Courageous Cat	3:31
11.	These Boots Are Made For Walking	2:47
12.	American	4:09
13.	The Girl With the Hungry Eyes	1:31
14.	I Want Your Body	1:47
15.	Future	2:11

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The Weirdos

Band: Weirdos
Album: Demos & Rehearsals
Country: USA
Release Date: 197?

1.	Bad [Demo]	2:20
2.	It Means Nothing [Demo]	2:33
3.	Scream Baby Scream [Demo]	1:55
4.	We Got the Neutron Bomb [Demo]	2:10
5.	Life of Crime [Demo]	2:17
6.	Teenage [Demo]	2:38
7.	Why Do You Exist? [Demo]	1:46
8.	Destroy All Music [Demo]	1:36
9.	Do the Dance [Demo]	1:20
10.	Message From the Underworld [Demo]	2:15
11.	Go Kid Hugo [Demo]	2:03

DownloadBand: Weirdos
Album: Weird World Volume 1
Country: USA
Release Date: 1991

It's rather ironic that while Los Angeles was the capitol of the American recording industry in the mid-to-late '70s, most of the seminal bands of the original New York punk rock scene (the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, Talking Heads) were able to score major-label contracts, but nearly all of their West Coast contemporaries were ignored, having to rely on fledgling independent labels like Dangerhouse or What? if they wanted to be heard on plastic. Consequently, several important bands, such as Crime and the Screamers, managed to slip through the cracks without ever releasing a proper album, and the Weirdos, who were one of the first major bands to emerge from the L.A. punk underground, broke up in 1981 without making an LP. (They did reunite for a spell in the 1990s, recording an album called Condor with the help of friend and fan Flea.) Fortunately, the Weirdos did manage to release a handful of singles and EPs during their 1977-1981 heyday, as well as demoing plenty of material that never saw release, and Weird World, Vol. 1 collects 14 superb cuts that set the record straight -- the Weirdos were, quite simply, one of the best and brightest American bands of punk's first wave. Dix Denney's hard, angular guitar lines suggested melody without sacrificing any of his propulsive punch, while the various rhythm sections were invariably tight, hard-driving, and energetic (the band went through four drummers and five bassists in five years; one of the group's bass players, Cliff Roman, was originally their rhythm guitarist, and wrote a handful of superb songs, including "Teenage" and "Life of Crime"). And vocalist John Denny was a genius frontman; manic, funny, and just a little disturbing, John could pour a world of passion and meaning into a nonsense lyric like "Bop helium bar tonight!," and his more coherent numbers, like "We've Got the Neutron Bomb" and "Pagan" were as hilarious as the Ramones but with a genuinely ominous undercurrent their funny-punk brethren couldn't touch (check the claustrophobic "Solitary Confinement"). Weird World, Vol. 1 is hardly the final word on this great band, but if you want concrete proof that the Weirdos were the great unsung heroes of L.A. punk, you could hardly do better.

1.	Weird World	3:02
2.	Arms Race	2:21
3.	Pagan	1:29
4.	Helium Bar	3:22
5.	Rhythm Syndrome	2:22
6.	Fallout	2:25
7.	Fort U.S.A.	3:12
8.	Happy People	2:33
9.	Message From the Underworld	2:35
10.	Teenage	2:22
11.	I'm Not Like You	2:36
12.	We Got The Neutron Bomb	2:59
13.	Solitary Confinement	2:30
14.	Life Of Crime	2:19

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Band: Weirdos
Album: Weird World Volume 2
Country: USA
Release Date: 2003

A mere 12 years after Weird World, Vol. 1, volume two (with We Got the Neutron Bomb given as the dominant title) appeared to mop up odds and ends that hadn't appeared on the first anthology of material by the early L.A. punk band the Weirdos. As you might expect from a band that recorded infrequently and sporadically, there's a ragtag feel to this compilation. Ten of the 16 tracks, indeed, were previously unreleased; also tacked on are the late-'70s singles "We Got the Neutron Bomb" and "Destroy All Music," "Skateboards to Hell" (the B-side of a 1979 Denney Brothers single), "Hey Big Oil" (from the Denney Brothers' 1981 LP), and two songs from the 1990 Weirdos LP Condor. Although the material spans a dozen years (with a big gap between 1982 and 1988), the sound actually doesn't change much. It's straightforward ominous snarling punk, not quite hardcore but getting there, not too big on melody but not one-chord thrash either. A bit of experimental industrial rock creeps into the Denney Brothers' instrumentals "Hey Big Oil" and "Skateboards to Hell," and some rockabilly revivalism into the 1980 live-in-the-studio covers of Link Wray's "Fat Back" and Hank Mizell's "Jungle Rock." It's the late-'70s material that fans will probably be most hungry for, though, including not just the "We Got the Neutron Bomb" and "Destroy All Music" singles, but also a live 1978 track and two slightly crudely recorded 1977 live-in-the-studio numbers. Those are the freshest-sounding cuts on the set, "We Got the Neutron Bomb" sounding a little like a gallows Ramones in its sardonicism, though it all seems a lot less shocking and novel than it did back in the day.

1.	Terrain	3:06
2.	Cyclops Helicopter	2:02
3.	7 & 7 Is	1:50
4.	Shining Silver Light	3:22
5.	What Will You Do?	2:29
6.	Hey Big Oil	2:20
7.	It Means Nothing	2:36
8.	The Hideout	3:34
9.	Jungle Rock	2:45
10.	Fat Back	2:14
11.	Skateboards to Hell	3:42
12.	Barbaric Americana	3:37
13.	We Got The Neutron Bomb	2:58
14.	Destroy All Music	1:37
15.	I Want What I Want	2:41
16.	I'm Not Like You	3:10

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The Fall - Dragnet

Band: The Fall
Album: Dragnet
Country: UK
Release Date: 1979

The Fall's second album was also one of the hardest to find in later years, getting only sporadic represses and reissues. Though some opinions would have it that there was a good reason for this -- namely, that it was something of a dead end sonically -- it's not as bad as all that. It's true that more than a few tracks come across as Fall-by-numbers (even then, already better than plenty of other bands), but there are some thorough standouts regardless. There's also another key reason to rate Dragnet -- it's the debut album appearance of Craig Scanlon, who picked up on the off-kilter rockabilly-meets-art rock sensibilities of the initial lineup and translated it into amazing guitar work. No less important is the appearance of Steve Hanley, who would soon take over fully on bass from Marc Riley, who in turn moved to guitar, forming one heck of a partnership with Scanlon that would last until Riley jumped ship to form the Creepers. Generally the songs which work the best on Dragnet throw in some amusingly odd curves while still hanging together musically. The full winner is unquestionably "Spectre vs. Rector," an amazing combination of clear lead vocals and buried, heavily echoed music and further rants, before fully exploding halfway through while the rhythm obsessively grinds away. Another odd and wonderful cut is "Muzorewi's Daughter," which starts out sounding like stereotypical Hollywood music for Native American tribes before shifting between that and quicker choruses. "Dice Man," with its rave-up melody and slower vocal- and guitar-only chorus, not to mention the weird muttering elsewhere in the mix, says it all in under two minutes and has fun while doing it. Through it all, Smith rants and raves supreme, spinning out putdowns, cracked vocals, and total bile with all the thrill and energy one could want from a good performer.

1.	Psykick Dance Hall	3:48
2.	A Figure Walks	6:08
3.	Printhead	3:15
4.	Dice Man	1:45
5.	Before The Moon Falls	4:31
6.	Your Heart Out	3:07
7.	Muzorewi's Daughter	3:43
8.	Flat Of Angles	4:55
9.	Choc - Stock	2:37
10.	Spectre Vs Rector	7:56
11.	Put Away	3:30
12.	Rowche Rumble	4:01
13.	In My Area	4:05
14.	Fiery Jack	4:43
15.	2nd Dark Age	1:59
16.	Psykick Dance Hall (No. 2)	3:39
17.	Rowche Rumble (Take 2)	4:05
18.	Rowche Rumble (Take 3)	0:33
19.	Rowche Rubmle (Take 4)	3:53
20.	Rowche Rumble (Take 5)	1:35
21.	In My Area (Take 1)	0:48
22.	In My Area (Take 2)	5:06

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The No WTO Combo - Live From The Battle In Seattle

Band: The No WTO Combo
Album: Live From The Battle In Seattle
Country: USA
Release Date: 2000

The No W.T.O Combo celebrate and further the protests that took place against the World Trade Organization in Seattle during late November of 1999. Recorded live at a show amidst the protests' aftermath, he Combo brings elder punk statesman Jello Biafra together with Kim Thayil, Krist Novoselic, and Gina Mainwal. Two new Biafra-penned punk burners, the Dead Kennedys classic "Let's Lynch the Landlord," a Biafra spoken-word piece, and the DOA/Biafra jam "Full Metal Jackoff" comprise the set's material. The recording is musically noteworthy due to the musicians' obvious passion, not to mention that Thayil sounds like an unholy cross between Greg Ginn and East Bay Ray. Most interesting, though, is Biafra's subject matter -- worker rights, NAFTA, downsizing, and the WTO -- and excellent liner notes from Biafra and Novoselic summing up the demonstrations and issues at hand. At the least, Live From the Battle in Seattle is an important historical document; leave it to Biafra to show that rock and social protest don't have to be mutually exclusive, even in the year 2000.

1. "Battle in Seattle" – 15:02
2. "Let's Lynch the Landlord" – 3:41
3. "New Feudalism" – 4:15
4. "Electronic Plantation" – 4:55
5. "Full Metal Jackoff" – 16:28

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The Cramps - How To Make A Monster

Band: The Cramps
Album: How To Make A Monster
Country: USA
Release Date: 2004

Part of the beauty of the Cramps is the consistency of their vision -- since 1976, their body of work has been one long fever dream of kinky sex, bug-eyed monsters, and switchblade-wielding juvies, married to the primal twang of an electric guitar and the malevolent thud of a drum kit. While the quality of their work has run through some peaks and valleys over the years (they've made plenty of good records, but just a few great ones), they seem to have known what they were shooting for from the very beginning. How to Make a Monster, a two-disc collection of demos, rehearsal tapes, and live recordings, documents the band's formative years (for the most part), and while a few of these takes push the boundaries of the word "primitive," this is the Cramps, alive and oozing, from the very first lo-fi run-though of "Quick Joey Small." The first two sets of recordings, from 1976, are plenty crude (in terms of both performance and audio quality), but the band's energy and abandon are already in place, and while later tapes (from 1981 through 1988) are cleaner, the band ultimately doesn't sound that much different, just tighter and better at what it's doing. While Lux Interior sounds a bit subdued in some of the earlier studio stuff, he's a live wire all through disc two, which preserves two early live shows, one at Max's Kansas City in 1977 and the other from CBGB's in 1978. The band has to put up with a too-cool-for-school audience for the Max's show, which periodically heckles the band (gotta wonder what those "hipsters" are up to today), but Poison Ivy Rorschach's deadly guitar is already on the case, and by the time the CBGB's gig rolls up, the Cramps sound loud and proud, and the crowd is with 'em all the way. How to Make a Monster is hardly the definitive Cramps anthology (this is one band that has earned a box set by now), but it's a fun and fascinating look at their early days, and if you subscribe to the notion that the older the Cramps record is, the better, then this little item's a must. Great notes from Lux and Ivy, too, along with some classic flyer art and provocative photos.

CD 1
1-Quick Joey Small
2-Lux's Blues
3-Love Me
4-Domino
5-Sunglasses After Dark
6-Subwire Desire
7-TV Set
8-Sunglasses After Dark
9-I Was A Teenage Werewolf
10-Can't Hardly Stand It
11-Sweet Woman Blues
12-Rumble Blues
13-Rumble Blues (False Start)
14-Rumble Blues
15-Rumble Blues
16-Lonesome Town
17-Five Years Ahead Of My Time
18-Call Of The Wighat
19-Hanky Panky
20-Journey To The Center Of A Girl
21-Jackyard Backoff
22-Everything Goes
23-All Women Are Bad
24-(Untitled Track)
Summer 1976 (1-8), Oct. 1976 (9-10), 1981 Rehearsal (11-16), 1982 A&M Studio (17-19), 1988 Rehearsal (20-22), 1988 Home Demo (23)

CD 2
1-Don't Eat Stuff Off The Sidewalk
2-I Was A Teenage Werewolf
3-Sunglasses After Dark
4-Jungle Hop
5-Domino
6-Love Me
7-Strychnine
8-TV Set
9-I'm Cramped
10-The Way I Walk
11-Love Me
12-Domino
13-Human Fly
14-I Was A Teenage Werewolf
15-Sunglasses After Dark
16-Can't Hardly Stand It
17-Uranium Rock
18-What's Behind The Mask
19-Baby Blue Rock
20-Subwire Desire
21-I'm Cramped
22-TV Set
Live at Max's Kansas City 1/14/77 (1-9), Live at CBGB 1/13/78 (10-22)

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Wire - Third Day

Band: Wire
Album: Third Day
Country: UK
Release Date: 2000

These are five songs from the third rehearsal of Wire's recent, stunning comeback, recorded at the Ritz in London, November 29, 1999. And regrettably, The Third Day is only a limited edition, 1000-copies EP the group peddled at its 2000 tour gigs, because frankly, it's jaw dropping. As those who attended the tour could attest, the four original members declined to replicate their 23-year-old versions. Instead, as seen here on a mind-blowing "Pink Flag" (two ashen versions for good measure) and an equally wicked "Mercy," the group hurls a viscous cacophony the old recordings always hinted at -- like on 154's later "A Touching Display." In place of the underground-touchstone scratchy guitars on the Pink Flag and Chairs Missing classics that launched a thousand bands, Bruce Gilbert and Colin Newman are all roaring thrust, all dense wall of sound eruption. Recall, Wire-heads, My Bloody Valentine doing "Only Shallow" on the Loveless tour in 1992, and you're in the fuming, exploding, deafening, needles-screaming-in-the-red ballpark. Right in step, bassist Graham Lewis doubles the solidity into a distorted, crunching slam of a sound. Yikes. Even tap-tap-tap master Robert Gotobed sounds as if his kick drum's a howitzer and his snare's a tommy gun. 154's more gaseous "Blessed State" is similarly reinvigorated (though it had less far to go; sadly, this wasn't subsequently performed live), and "Art of Persistence" is a great find. Speaking of "find," how does one find this surprisingly must-have document? Alas, Wire probably sold all copies by tour's end, but try at www.pinkflag.com.

1.	Pink Flag (r1)	3:56
2.	Blessed State	3:22
3.	Mercy	5:28
4.	Art Of Persistence (1st draft)	4:33
5.	Pink Flag (r2)	3:35

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