Sunday, November 13, 2011

John Cooper Clarke - Innocents 7" [1977], Post-War Glamour Girl 7" [1978]



Here are a couple of fantastic singles by the Bard of Salford, Greater Manchester's punk-poet himself, John Cooper Clarke. He's probably best known (if he's known at all) for his a capella rapid-spat poems, but on these records he's backed by a group which called themselves the Invisible Girls. Clarke's lyrics are great as one might expect, and the backing band doesn't sound tacked on, instead straddling the border between krautrock-influenced post-punk and good old '77 rabble, managing to find themselves in disco territory without sucking, on the second record's A-side.

In the 1980s Clarke spent a lot of time being addicted to heroin with the famous Nico, so maybe that will pique your interest. He's also in the 1982 film Urgh! A Music War, which is worth finding for his performance as well as those of the rest of the underground bands in it.

Mr. Clarke performs to this day, so you should go see him if you get the chance.

Here's a video of one of his poems:


Bring back hangin', for everyone
Outside of the take-away, Saturday night
Official site

Mutant Sounds in the Wire magazine

I'm a big fan of the blog Mutant Sounds, so it was pretty cool to read this article in the Wire written by one of their contributors. Good stuff about the value of sharing music via this vast series of tubes.

Speaking of music in tubes, check out this psych duo jamming in the Chicago subway:


Tuesday, November 1, 2011

VA - Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus [1978]



You're cool, right? You like the Fall, right? Joy Division? Here's a 1978 10" comp of Manchester bands, including some of the first recordings by the aforementioned two bands (when Joy Division was called Warsaw) and more. My favorites on this are probably the spoken-word raps of John Cooper Clarke [I'll probably post some more of him later], or the black-up jam "Macka Splaff" by reggae punks Steel Pulse. Oh, there's also a Buzzcocks song, and although I'm less interested in them, it's a good song. This short album plays through really well.

I used ta believe everything I read
But ya can't get a nipple in the Daily Express [file is slightly mislabled, should say 1978]
For record nerds/snobs