"It Takes A Worried Man" - Stanley Brothers/Cash/DEVO

Walter Lure Hitting the UK Again!

DEVO Live In San Francisco 1978 (Vinyl Bootleg)

As I have posted elsewhere, I am definitely a DEVO-tee, although I have to caveat that.  I have found their post-Freedom Of Choice LP (1981) output to be mostly filler.  One or two top-notch - maybe even classic - tracks per album, but the rest is mediocre at best.  However, LIVE they have always been an uncontrollable force, from the very beginning until the 2010s.  This bootleg recording is a great example of their late-70s set.

"Visit The DEVO Nudist Camp Near You" is a vinyl bootleg of their 10 November 1978 show at the Old Waldorf Theatre.  It was released by the "Slipped Disc" record label in 1978, likely in the good ole USA.  It was a limited edition pressing of only 50 copies, which is a shame because the show is intense! 

When I received this, I was told it was transferred from the "Visit the DEVO Nudist Camp Near You" bootleg LP, but that cover-art does not list the DEVO Corporate Anthem or Red Eye Express.  But it is possible those tracks were not individually listed on the LP - and this certainly sounds like a vinyl transfer (pops/crackles are evident), which to me tends to make the "Nudist Camp" LP the likeliest source.  Perhaps there is a DEVO-tee who can add some clarity?  

  

Wiggley World, Pink Pussycat, Get Me No Satisfaction, Too Much Paranoias, Uncontrollable Urge, Mongoloid, Jocko Homo, Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA, Sloppy, Come Back Johnny, Gut Feeling, Words Get Stuck In My Throat, Secret Agent Man

Click -> HERE <- to download!

1974 New York Dolls LP Review - Too Much Too Soon

British Irony

What better way to remember your time in Jolly Old England than with...a toothbrush?!  My brother spent time in London and brought home this souvenir for me.  It is this totally awesome British soldier (they actually still dress like this - look at photos of Brit soldiers in Afghanistan) that is actually a toothbrush!  One problem, though.  The bristles are so tough that they are likely to scrape your gums down to the bone.

I admire the British for a lot of things...music being the primary one...but dental care is not one of them.  Perhaps they sell these to tourists because there is no local demand?

(Apologies to my British family and friends.  No, you don't have shark teeth, but the stereotype lives loud and proud over here in the US of A!!)

'Manchester Connection' Art Exhibition!

London's Movie Poster Art Gallery is pleased to announce a fascinating music poster exhibition entitled The Manchester Connection - a celebration of Manchester's legendary renaissance in musical and design creativity that exploded in the wake of the Sex Pistols' legendary 1976 Free Trade Hall gig.

Click here to view the original music posters on display.

In 1976, Manchester, England's 'second city', once the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution, was in seemingly terminal decline. On the 4th of June in an upstairs room in the city's Free Trade Hall a concert took place attended by around 40 people. The organisers were Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley, the band was the Sex Pistols and after this seminal performance Manchester was to change the world's musical landscape forever.

For the audience that night included an unknown Steven Patrick Morrissey, Mark E. Smith, Paul Morley, and two friends Barney Sumner and Peter Hook who, inspired by what they saw and heard, went out the following day to buy their own instruments. The Pistols returned for a second gig on the 20th of July. In the audience on that occasion were Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus, Mick Hucknall, Martin Hannett, and the 19-year-old Ian Curtis.

Inspired by the Pistols' sound and fury, and (said Paul Morley) "extremely frustrated by their stranded nonentity status, and craving a sense of purpose", these people went on to form Joy Division, The Smiths, Magazine, The Buzzcocks, The Fall, Factory Records and The Haçienda. They also inspired the next generation of bands who would go on to experience huge success, including The Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses and Oasis. 

Manchester's Factory Record's total design ethos was and remains unprecedented. The Manchester Connection music poster art exhibition highlights some of the great designs Factory commissioned from Peter Saville, Central Station Design, Ben Kelly and 8vo, along with the equally inspired design concepts of Morrissey for The Smiths, and the Stone Roses' guitarist John Squire.

Exhibition highlights include:

RARE ORIGINAL POSTERS: The Smiths, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Stone Roses, The Haçienda, and the rare original poster for Joy Division's debut album “Unknown Pleasures.” 

RARE SLEEVE PROOFS: The Smiths, A Certain Ratio, New Order, and a unique Morrissey hand-annotated sleeve proof for his album "Your Arsenal."

RARE ORIGINAL ARTEFACTS: the original FAC51 embosser used at the HAÇIENDA, the original "Gay Traitor" bar menu poster from the HAÇIENDA.

All items are on sale to the general public. First time collectors and buyers will find many great pieces surprisingly affordable. All posters purchased from the exhibition will include conservation-standard framing and UV glass. 

An illustrated online catalogue is available to view at -  
www.rock-explosion.com/manchester.html

Today's Vinyl Purchase: New York Dolls Debut LP

An original pressing of the under-appreciated 1973 masterpiece, New York Dolls.

My First LP: The Police - "Ghost In The Machine"

Image posted at the Vinyl2496 blog

I don't remember if I purchased it with birthday money or I had asked my mom to get it for me, but the very first album I could genuinely call my own was the Police's 1981 classic, "Ghost In The Machine."  MTV had liberated me from having to rely on my parents' record collections (I didn't have my own cassette player or turntable yet), and by late '81 the Police were ever-present on MTV as well as FM radio.  So after a steady diet of Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Spirits In The Material World, and a growing number of pre-"Ghost" songs, I was brainwashed into loving the 80s first mega-huge band.

It may be hard for some to remember, but in 1981 the Police were MASSIVE!  They were everywhere.  The music-listening public loved Sting's perfect aryan looks as much as they loved the Police's relatively bland but somehow engaging pop music.

One day I went with my mom to the now-long forgotten Record Den, a small record store on the University Heights side of Cedar Center.  Unsurprisingly, I am unable to find ANY photos or descriptions of the place online, so you'll have to use my description to imagine it.  I distinctly remember the layout:  You walked in through the glass front door and faced a retail space with a relatively square layout - about 20-feet wide by 30-feet deep.  There were racks of records all along each outer wall, and then two racks, back-to-back in the center of the floor.  At the back of the store (facing the front door) was the register counter.  When you were facing the counter, at the left was a sliding glass door case where they kept all the cassettes.

I remember walking around and looking at the albums lining the wall.  Remember what it was like to walk around a record or video store in circle after circle, all while your mom or dad was trying to hurry you up and make a selection?!  Anyways, I liked the Police, I liked the LP jacket - and I got it.  If I'm not mistaken it was up on the wall, as opposed to the LP rack.

Oddly enough, I also remember that while examining the inner sleeve years later I discovered the band-members' faces were cleverly "hidden" in the image.  I thought, "Oh, that's what the album title means!  They are like ghosts in a machine!"  I was probably around 10 years old, so forgive me...please.

I am not one of those sentimentalists who wanted to relive my 80s youth and see the Police reunion shows a few years ago.  To be honest, I was over them soon after their '83 LP "Synchronicity" came out (I remember my brother got that one on cassette).  That said, I still have that copy I bought with my mom way back in 1981 - and will never give it up.

Unsung Heroes Of Rock & Roll (NY Times '82)

Someone sent me this news clipping and it may be the first (and only) time in history Johnny Thunders, let alone Mo Tucker, appear in the same list as Benny Goodman!

Cleveland Indians - People Not Mascots

Cleveland's baseball team is the Cleveland Indians.  Every once in a while, a group of Native Americans/Indians protests the use of their "people" as the name of a sports franchise.  Also, they protest the pretty offensive Indian caricature, "Chief Wahoo," as the face of the franchise.  I received the above pin when I sent away for information.

Usually these protesters are mocked and jeered at.  However, would there be an uproar if a team was named the Columbus Catholics, with a boy-chasing priest as a mascot?  Or maybe the South Carolina Sambos would be better?  No...what about the New Jersey Jews, with a rabbi that swings his Torah like a baseball bat!  Yeah!!

I agree with the the protesters and proudly wore this pin for some time.