BEATFOR89 - June Singles Weekender IV

Ready for the summer ! They looked like the Small Faces, sounded more like the Faces meets Big Star, or Primal Screams pre-Loaded. Released four classic singles and a debut album. Follow in the footsteps of the true greats; Beatles, Stones, Big Star, Stone Roses…They were part of the bill for Oasis' first major UK tour sharing equal billing. Sprawling, beautifully messy guitar licks with a country rock swagger woven around big hearty soulful vocals.

Whiteout - Starr Club [cds Silverstone 1994]

January 1989. Yesterday, first Nivens release on Woosh records

reached number 10 in the indie charts.
This five piece from Ashington, England, was one of hundred indie bands in the late eighties, combining angular, chiming guitars and power pop structures, recording for labels that are run partially or wholly by musicians in bands on them. The Nivens supported such stars as The Las, My Bloody Valentine, Cud, Primal Scream, Brilliant Corners, Family Cat, and any indie band who bothered to visit the north of England. Their second release “The Dialect Drug” ep had been withdrawn due to another band called The Nivens from Norwich (Howard Turner’s band). Dropped the “The” but they weren't happy. Band tensions had come to a head and they just couldn't be bothered to argue with them.
In early 1990 appeared on T.V. on a local arts programme called “Out of our heads”. This was their swansong and they were gone.

Firestation Records compile a cd The Nivens 1987-1990, including three releases on the legendary Woosh label, (1 flexi, 2 singles) plus tracks recorded for their only demo tape. http://www.firestation-records.de/

The Nivens - Yesterday [7' Woosh Records 1989]

Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" is a song written by Mickey Newbury. Said to reflect the LSD experience, Newbury wrote it as a warning against the danger of using LSD. First recorded in 1967 by Jerry Lee Lewis, who rejected it, it was a hit for The First Edition (with Kenny Rogers on lead vocals) in 1968 . Here covered on a speedo take by rock band from Oxford, Supergrass.
Supergrass' origins lie in the band The Jennifers, began building a reputation in the Oxford indie music scene including traits of the pop-punk era, characterized by fast, three-chord, guitar-based, catchy tunes, released one single in 1992, "Just Got Back Today", on Nude Records before they disbanded. The double A-sided "Alright"/"Time" was the fourth single of their first album I Should Coco , which stayed in British Top Three for a month (peaking at number 2) and pushed the album to number one.

Supergrass - Condition [cds Parlophone 1995]

Kenny Rogers and The First Edition - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) [1968]

This song had to be a hit, one of this summer songs played insistently in every local FM station.
Contains a clear description of this type of songs : 4/4 beat for dancefloors, irresistible choruses, whoa whoas, and a touch of oriental style with a guitar-sitar. Great. A perfect little song.
Rus Harrison was the founding member of The Cygnet Ring, Rus had previously been in a local indie band called Playing At Trains, who gained a cult following around the late 1980s. He also formed another project called Shaker which played around 1996-ish.
Released two more singles and an album, all of them with no success.

The Cygnet Ring - Love Crime [7' Protocol Records 1991]

BEATFOR86 - June Singles Weekender I

Typical new wave power pop band with early-'60s girl group influences, sounding like Blondie, and trying ,unsuccessfully, the hit wonder on the other side of the ocean. In a big way Play With Fire is a good tune, raw guitars at the bottom, graceful keyboard and Dee sweet voice.


Dee And The Monitors - Play With Fire [7" Ariola 1980]

Al Hodge was a singer/composer living in his native Cornwall –UK-. Turned professional at just sixteen, joining popular UK west country band `The Onyx` recorded seven singles on the Pye Label. Formed 'Rogue' with Guy Fletcher recorded three albums for CBS. In 1978 formed The Mechanics with Al Eden (Drummer) and Dave Quinn (Bass). The band made several singles and were championed by John Peel. This is one of these 45, a mixture of The Motors and the sharps choruses guitars of Andy Summers. Al Hodge finaly lost his two year battle with cancer on the 6th of July 2006.

The Mechanics - Gettin' Engagged [7" Big Fish 1980]



A little rain, the echo of a siren, a spooky horrorshow organ creeping up your spine, and then the band kicks in...
London's Hitmen — not the Australian group — debuted with a DIY single ("She's All Mine" b/w "Slay Me with Your 45") of razor-sharp rhythm'n'pop topped by Ben Watkins' Graham Parker-cum- croaky David Bowie vocals. This Bates Motel takes repeated listenings to discover that they have fallen victim to colorless, punchless production, but the sound is murky but razor-sharp, syncopated bass line (maybe The Moody Blues of the New Wave), a stunningly sophisticated piece of music.


The Hitmen - Bates Motel [7" CBS 1981]



Mike Read -Manchester, England- is a British disc jockey and former television presenter, who joined BBC Radio in 1978, presenting a Saturday evening show and made his TV presenting debut in the same year when he became one of the hosts of Top Of The Pops. He combined his radio work with a second career as a children's TV presenter. Read is a guitarist and writer in his own right, producing songs and poems. In 1979, recording as The Trainspotters, Read released the good punk pop of the period "High Rise", a single based on his National-Radio-1 radio show jingle.
He had been in bands since the 60s, making records under all sorts of names (Micky Manchester, The Rock-Olas, Grasshoppers, The Ghosts). Their second 7’ "Unfaithful" as The Trainspotters was never officially released. That’s where I live!.

The Trainspotters - High Rise [7" Arista 1979]

BEATFOR88 - June Singles Weekender III

First single (not included in their two albums) from Bath pop band Interview. Birmingham denotes their early days pub-rock influences. Later the songs were sickly-sweet updating with the new wave explosion. Pete Allerhand and Alan Brain composed several great tunes like the timeless ‘To the People’.
Now you can buy their albums in cd.

http://www.interviewtheband.com/interview_buycds.html

Interview - Birmingham [7" Virgin Records 1978]




Two singles released by this english (Londoners?) band. Mary Jane was b side of the Bus Song 7’ single recorded for Nems Records (yes, the Black Sabath label). It’s modern pub rock craftsmen.


T-Boys - Mary Jane [Nems Records 19??]






Brilliant single, never in picture sleeve, great vocals and thick guitars. Disguise were a band from Hartlepool (UK) formed by Peter Scott, Jimmy Mckenna and Alan Geoffrey in late 1976. Signed for Chiswick Records in late ‘77, but the label’s lack of interest after they had taken on the band left them disillusioned. They had to wait over a year for their single to be released, and even when it was, “Hey Baby” didn’t have any effect on the record buying public, which is a shame.


Disguise - Hey Baby [7' Chiswick Records 1978] Cheated from Chiswick Story Comp cd. My 7 inches is too fuzzy




Jim Rader is a writer that grew up in Bridgeport, CT and Fairlawn, NJ, moved to NYC in 1973 gaving poetry readings at the church and also did music gigs, one with his first band the Reasons. Had two more bands, Motion Pictures and Blue Palms, that played gigs in NYC and Boston. Published rock reviews/ features in "Boston Rock," "Cover (NYC)" and "Trouser Press." This is their only release as The Reasons, another good example of pub-rock romp.


The Reasons - Hard Day At The Office [7' Ze Records 1978]

BEATFOR84 - May Singles Weekender III

From the ashes of the band Menace, the superb punk outfit who issued a number of brilliant singles in the late 70's, and a pair of singles with american vocalist Vermillion, Charlie Casey (Bass) Steve Tannett (Guitar) and Noel Martin (Drums) formed The Aces (the last three letters). Released only one single in their own label Etc Records; a stormy mod punk anthem, a near-perfect song that defined British power pop in the first '80s.

The Aces - One Way Street [7" Etc Records 1981]

It's difficult to categorize Fingerprintz, which may explain why the group never garnered a large following. Formed by Scottish-born singer/guitarist Jimmie O'Neill in 1978, the band slowed down punk's careening guitar rock, adding clever, rhythmic twists and turns. 'Tough Luck' was their second single, great tune despite of the dark zone of bobbing pop and wry-to-bizarre lyrics in the beginning of their career.
In 1986 O’Neill formed The Silencers, a band that reaped much greater commercial success than did the 'Printz although the Silencers' records weren't nearly as good as that of Fingerprintz.

Fingerprintz - Tough Luck [7" Virgin Records 1979]

Ivan Julian formed the Outsets just after the break up of Richard Hell and the Voidoids in 1980. The drummer Vinny DeNunzio (The Feelies, Richard Lloyd) and two relatively unknown musicians, Bob Albertson on bass and Simon Chardiet on guitar formed the rest of the band. Soon the boys went into rehearsals and prepared for live dates at CBGB's and Max's Kansas City. After several months the band was signed to Contender Records and released their first single, 'I'm Searchin' For You b/w 'Fever', a catchy rocker-dance piece made by the kind of jagged rhythms, slicing guitars, and sniping vocals.

Outsets - I'm Searching For You [7" Contender Records 1980]

The Vye were a new wave band from Leeds (England), formed by Dale Hargreaves (voice and guitars), Richard Eager (guitars), Simon Hollis (bass), Andrew Tillison (keyboards, vocals) and David Albone (drums). A good power pop song even for the keyboards touch production that jibes in synch with the times.

The Vye - Five Hours 'Til Tonight [7" Dead Good Records]

BEATFOR82 - May Singles Weekender I

Four-member group (Paul Breuer, Stuart Hilton, Mike Dodd and Jon Carricker) from south London Cottonmouth were a sneeringly great, scratchily perfect punk pop band gushing forth with terse, bitter-sweet melodies, mix a little of the Only Ones and coupled with a heavy dose of wry wit and verve. It's simple, back-to-basics, garage rock 'n' roll.
After two singles (“Stand By Your Man” and “Shirts & Skins”), they were stolen from Fire by Atlantic Records, who thought they could turn them into another Foutains Of Wayne (who, you might well ask). What a sad ending.
“Bespoke” was the English band's debut full-length released as Junior Cottonmouth, change the name change the substance, even these two singles were recording again for the radio friendly market without chance. There’s a second one album “Corporation Pop” as yet unreleased, waiting for a powerpop disco empresario.

Cottonmouth - Something Scratching [7" Fire Records 1995]

Schoolmates Mickey Trenter (bass) and John Ruscoe (lead guitar) formed the Space Maggots in 1984. The line up was completed with Toad Tyler on Drums, Andrew Brunning on vocals and Clive Watling playing guitars . Early shows included support slots for The Stupids and the Annihilated.
The band quickly started to gain popularity in the Ipswich area, made a demo tape and luckily Yves and Alain from Vinyl Solution liked what they heard and asked them to record for the label. This prompted more gigs out of the Ipswich area and many London shows began to happen. Playing Oxford Street`s 100 Club, Camden`s Dingwalls and several shows at The Fulham King`s Head Igloo club with the `new look` Stupids, Birdhouse, Hard Ons, the Abs etc. They also spent a completely mental weekend in Paris with the Perfect Daze.
During the summer of 1987 all around the age of 17, the Maggots spent four days in RMS Studio Croydon recording their debut 6 song EP `Leave it`. The record was released in November that year.
1988 saw `You Drag Me Down`, a storm of punkpop a la Barracuda, released in Spain as a 7" single. The band continued to promote the record with it receiving good reviews all round as well as airplay on the John Peel show. On March 29th 1989 the Space Maggots played what was to be their last gig at The Old Times. They proved to be an influence on the next generation of punk pop that had been started by the Perfect Daze, continued by the Space Maggots and then taken a step further by the likes of the Senseless Things and Mega City Four.


Space Maggots - You Drag Me Down [7" Twins Records 1988]


From Bristol, England. Led by Spider McCallum (vocals) with Leigh Alexander Williams (guitar), Kat Dav (guitar), Age Blackmore (bass) and Jason Collins (drums). A great combination of psychedelic and punk, this band was the first unsigned act to ever play England's prestigious Reading Festival!. Their sound was definitely of the moment and their music, while unique, didn't withstand the constantly changing UK music scene. Signing a major deal with Virgin subsidiary Hedd Records they were left in limbo when the company folded. Fortunately, their Pat Collier-produced master tapes were rescued and released in Cherry Records with all their anger and energy intact. Released two Albums : Psych Out 1990, Peace Crazies 1992.

The Seers - Sun Is In The Sky [7" Hedd Records 1989]

The Godfathers were founded by brothers Peter (vocals, guitar) and Chris Coyne (bassist) in London in 1985. Were joined by guitarists Kris Dollimore and Mike Gibson and drummer George Mazur. Coming ten years after Britain's punk explosion, they nevertheless built on that music's rage and force. Their debut album, Hit by Hit, was released on the indie label Link in 1986 and followed by Birth, School, Work, Death on Epic in 1988, his masterpiece which
includes this “Love Is Dead”, despite its title is actually an upbeat anthem. The lp a punked-up update on the gritty, R & B influenced sonic maelstorm of the Yardbirds, Troggs, early Stones, and countless other British bands of the pre-Revolver era. Note is a group with three guitarists. Unusual.
Two more albums “More Songs About Love & Hate” (1989), featured the popular college radio track "She Gives Me Love," and “Unreal World”, on Epic in 1991, more of the same, but without a "Birth, School, Work, Death".

The Godfathers - Love Is Dead [7" Epic Records 1988]

BEATFOR85 - May Singles Weekender IV

A top winner. Adrenaline-fuelled guitar pop, fusing buzz-saw Gibsons with chiming Rickenbackers. The Byrds meet The Buzzcocks. Four lads from somewhere in England commanded by Donald Elsey. Unbridled passion for energy and melody.


The Traceys - Ghost Island [7" Integrity Records 1996]

18 Wheeler was a Scottish rock band active in the early 1990s, consisting of Sean Jackson (vocals, guitar), David Keenan (guitar, vocals -left in 1994 to start his own group, the Telstar Ponies-), Alan Hake (bass), and Neil Halliday (drums). Having affection for Big Star's immaculate guitar pop, as well as the country-rock of Gram Parsons and the golden harmonies of the Beach Boys, the U.K. press dismissed them as pale imitators, many critics felt they were too similar to their influences, but some others saw the range of these influences as potentially a good thing. True. This tune, from the their second album Formanka, confirms that.

18 Wheeler - Steel Guitars [7" Creation 1995]

Sportique was a British pop band formed in 1997 by Gregory Webster (Razorcuts), with Mark Flunder of the Television Personalities and Rob Pursey of Heavenly. Wide variety of influences from the 60s through the 80s and beyond. Early singles were gangly jangly tunes, have slowly steered the template into more experimental waters.


Sportique - You Didn't Have To Be So Nice [7" Rox 1998]

Revolver was a heavily melodic shoegaze band that released a trio of singles on and one lp before calling it quits in the early '90s. Unlike a lot of their peers, Revolver focused on songs more than sounds, textured and distinctive pop melodicism. Formed in London in 1990, the band consisted of Mat Flint (guitar/vocals), Hamish Brown (bass), and Nick Dewey (drums). Flint eventually joined Death in Vegas as their bassist.

Revolver - Red All Over [12" single Hut Records 1991]

BEATFOR81 - Northern Uproar

The band were formed in 1995 and featured Leon Meya (vocalist, bass), Paul Kelly (guitarist), Jeff Fletcher (guitar), and Keith Chadwick (drummer). Still in their teens and without a recording contract, the band drew praise from the music magazines, NME and Melody Maker, following several energetic live performances at the Roadhouse in Manchester.
After a bidding war the group eventually signed with Heavenly Records released their first single, "Rollercoaster," in late 1995. The group's next single, "From a Window," peaked at number 17. During this period of initial success the band made the cover of Melody Maker and also appeared on the BBC TV programme, Top of the Pops.

In April 1996, Northern Uproar's self-titled debut album was released. It comes on like a minature Clash, thanks to the production of Manic Street Preacher James Dean Bradfield, and lifted the rest of their sound — as well as their apolitical, laddish attitude — from Oasis. At their best, the band can tear through appealingly raucous and melodic rock & roll with brutal youthful energy. It is fun, if occasionally mindless, rock & roll.
The band released their second full-length album in 1997, a more comercial offereing entitled "Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today". However despite massive radio backing the album was a commercial failure, with fans not taking as well to the extreme style change . The British public was tiring of Brit-pop and Northern Uproar was caught in the inevitable backlash,.The band, still very young, became disillusioned and issued a fittingly entitled final single, "Goodbye," and then split up.

Norhthern Uproar officially reformed in 2006 with Leon (28), Jeff (28) and Leon's cousin, Noel "(23)on drums. A new album 'Stand and Fight' is due for release on 16 April 2007 on the independent label 'Tiny Rebel' with a full UK tour to follow. A successful album launch gig was held on 14 March 2007 at Manchester Academy 3 showcasing new songs from 'Stand and Fight' and some classic Uproar tunes.

Northern Uproar - Norther Uproar [Lp Heavenly Records 1996] : - Head Under Water

BEATFOR83 - May Singles Weekender II

The Real Impossibles were Marc Platt (Lead Vocals and Guitar), Wally Giffen (bass), Harlan Steinberger (drums). This is their first single from 1984 "Burned", a great rock & roll tune that proves that the Reals learned his lessons well from the pioneering L.A. popmeisters the Nerves, The Beat and Plimsouls. This way, their 1986 EP, “Play Loud” was produced by Plimsouls’ front-man, Peter Case.
Platt’s experience in the music business goes back to the early 80s, first as an artist and then as an employee of Rhino Records, back when the record label was in its infant stages, then went on to play in a few bands, but his real success has been in songwriting songs for films and TV shows. He has a brand new release (March 2007) called “I’m So Awesome.”

The Real Impossibles - Burned [7" Backlash Records 1984]

The Remayns is an obscure pop psychedelic project which includes basically the band Freight Train (another psycho combo) with Cally Callomon (Nick Drake and Julian Cope’s ex-manager, also a veteran music industry art director and reissue producer who has also worked closely with Scott Walker), St John Nettleton who worked with Cally at Island designing record sleeves including some of Copes, and Donald Ross Skinner (Cope’s guitar player). Released an ep of four covers pressed in switzerland on multi-coloured vinyl and came out on the psychedelic specialits label Bam Caruso Records. “Why” from The Byrds, “Go Ahead” and “Going All The Way” from The Squires second and last 45, "Going All the Way"/"Go Ahead" (1966), anthologized on the earliest Pebbles volumes., and “Just Like Me” the Paul Revere & the Raiders' first big hit.
Remayns played a John Peel session, doing a pretty good cover version of Cope’s song Spacehopper.

The Remayns - Go Ahead [7" First Ep - Bam Caruso 198?]

The Squires - Go Ahead

The Red Rockers were a new wave band from New Orleans, Louisiana. They formed in 1979 by Jim Reilly, John Griffith, Darren Hill, James Singletary and Shawn Paddock. They are best known for their 1983 single "China", a quick and tight power pop tune, lean, and consistent with its bouncy rhythm and catchy chorus, deservedly became a modest hit.
Started out as a group of Clash-fanatics based in New Orleans. The original band name was The Rat Finks and change to Red Rockers inspired by the b-side of a single from local punk act The Dills "Red Rockers Rule”. The band re-locates to San

Francisco and signs to Howie Klein’s fledgling label 415 Records. Disbanded in

1985.
John Thomas Griffith now plays guitar and sings in the band Cowboy Mouth, which he co-founded in 1990 with Fred LeBlanc.

Red Rockers - China [7" CBS 1983]