Cats don't die… they eat birds & fly to heaven

Ryp (of the infamous rideyourpony blog) recently his cat leaving for (what we hope to be) a better place.
Haven't been posting since…ooooooh about september, but this looks like a good occasion.
The whole cat/birds thing made me think about Lorette–Aaaah Lorette… matchstick skinny Lorette!

This CD has been deleted from the catalogues, although it might be of interest to some of you. She was still oscillating between cabaret and Rock 'n Roll long before the Velvet Hammer came to to town. Much better solo than the Hellcats, IMHO.

Dig it RYP!
Cats eat birds

Ooooh, forgot the pw: fuzzywasabi. No caps.

Band Of Outsiders - Longer than Always

Raining sunday as usual. In my search for everything about Band Of Outsiders, I had prepped one of their EPs for upload.
In between albums, the band put out 3 EPs (I think, the complete discography is still a bit cloudy)
In contrast with "Up the river" and "Far away in America", these EPs feature studio songs.
I have the I wish I was Your kid EP and the Longer Than Always EP. I still can't understand how "I wish…" didn't become a hit.
The "I wish" EP only has one extra song not on LPs: "Days pass by" featuring some beautiful violin parts. The "Longer Than Always" EP is all original except from "Remember", a John Lennon song.
All these are taken from the IAS/Sourmash French printing.
I am still on the lookout for more stuff, if you have Eps, 45 or tapes from them, I'd be grateful to hear from you.
Meanwhile, stare at the writing on the wall…

Band Of Outsiders - Up The River

Well, I'm back from fairly nasty period of too much work and bad health…
Surprise #1 is that Diamanda (from Greece) sent me about 2 months ago a Rip of "Up the River", a Band Of Outsiders EP I never heard about! While I still have to flatly excuse myself to the lady for not answering sooner, I've posted it here: Child of the Moon.

This being the only song on the Ep not found on the band's previous LP, I felt it was a bit pointless to post songs you could find in my other posts. Surprise #2 (for me at least) is that it's a live track! Remembers me that Thursday night when they played my hometown club, still one of my fave gigs. Sound quality is surprisingly low, considering it was surrounded by studio tracks.
Still well worth the listen, I wish we could unearth more material of a better quality.

Surprise #3, well… it is going to be the subject of another post soon.

Played with true conviction: Band of Outsiders ' Act Of Faith

Bright sunny day here… spent the afternoon tinkering with my bikes, listening to this album, when it dawned on me I had uploaded it but not written the post… I have no chance of getting blogger's exhaustion!
As much as i really love their first album (see post below), much more muscle and sinew, this Act Of Faith album never fails to remind me of days just like today… dazed and sweet.
This is psychedelia for the modern times, with not a hint of mannierism and contrived sounds. This is a band at the summit of their powers, not afraid to wander into textures of sounds,going where nobody would have imagined. You guessed it: the whole band's output on vinyl is still as important to me as it was a good 15 years ago. I could retire on a desert island with just these 2 LPs and a bunch of their EPs (Diamanda, where are you? I'd love the Ep you proposed.)
From the lenghty intro of "Conviction", onto the dreaminess of "I wish I was your Kid" to the pummeling of "Fire in the Wall", and the twilight zone of "Clean Saint" and the wailing harmonica of "No Reflection", I wish they had kept on.
No hint of passé lyrics or "period-correct" sound, no this is a band at the summit of their power,moving boldly ahead when most others were statisfied by merely replaying the past. This is Chocoreve 2026 blog-fodder, people. Get it while you can, and remember where you got it from.

Quoted from Piero Scaruffi's "History Of Rock", probably one of the web's best source on music:
The Limit were one of the Power pop bands that entertained the punk public of CBGBs at the end of the 70's. The Limit evolved into Band of Outsiders, and in 1984 joined up with Certain General to record Far Away In America (Sourmash). Then with three good EPs released in 1985 and the album Everything Takes Forever (L'IAS) the Band of Outsiders introduced in an ever-increasing manner psychedelic elements, favoring atmosphere over melody. I Wish I was Your Kid is the classic of this period.

The group burned out de facto after Act Of Faith (Barclay, 1986). The live album Armistice Day (Nocturnal, 1989) (Conviction, 1989) and No Reflection (Repulsion, 1992) collect the best material of the band.

The leader, singer and guitarist, Marc Jeffrey took some to organize himself but then returned (in 1990) on the scene in the clothes of a solitary minstrel . The album Playtime (Conviction) is one of the most humble of the new generation of songwriters.

Does anyone know more about these guys or Marc Jeffrey?? Get in touch & leave a comment (with an email address, I intecept all comments before they are published, so it won't necessarly appear here) Diamanda, this also applies to you! I can't get in touch with you! A valid email addy is all I need!

Needless to say I am interested in any material recorded by the band, not posted on this blog.

This is a 256kb/s rip of a mint IAS copy of the album, lovingly restored by myself, it is all iTunes-ready, just download and enjoy. Still has the original price on the cover… a full 19.50 Swiss Francs, about 65% of todays cheap CDs, without even mentioning "underground" and "import" in the same sentence!

It is no reflection of all intentions… it is just a little later.

More Gurus

Time for an update methink. Before continuing the Band Of Outsiders thread, here's some good and fairly rare tunes from The Hoodoo Gurus. These were in a 7 (?) singles pack reissuing all their early 45. No need to post the songs that made it on "Stoneage Romeos" or "Mars needs Guitars"…
Be my Guru could/should have be on "Romeos", this is no filler song, lack of space maybe? B-side of hit single"My Girl"
Leilani II is of course the B-side to the single, this should be inserted right after Leilani inside iTunes… it compliments it quite well.
Last Hoodoo you love showcases what the Gurus could be live: this is a scorcher! B-Side of "I Want You Back" Dig the covers!
These songs can be found on the CD-reissue of "Stoneage Romeos"

As always, covers included and songs ripped 256 high quality, otherwise why bother?
Have fun and remember: my love is a red rock

Band Of Outsiders - Far Away in America (Live)

Thanks to Diamanda who kindly sent me a rip of this.
Band of Outsiders had already been performing in NY for a couple years when they teamed up with another of my favourites, Certain General, to record this Mini-LP. Originally on Sourmash in the US, it was picked up for release by "L'invitation au Suicide", the french label who would put out most of these 2 bands interesting work. The MiniLP is split in a studio and a Live side. The studio side brings nothing new: the songs would be released on the following studio albums. The Live Side is much more interesting: a ultra slow version of "Conviction" and a song that never (to my knowledge) made to vinyl: "Done Away".
I would need the cover of this LP, as all I find is the Certain General side of the MiniLP. Since the Lp covers are awkward to scan, the best is to shoot a pic with a camera, I can always retouch it to make straight.
I will shortly get into Certain General's first releases and start ripping them.
Again Thank you Diamanda!
Sometimes a lonely night is love itself to me.

Band of Outsiders: A true forgotten Gem

This band appeared in Europe thanks to the IAS Label, one of the many Indie French labels who did much to broaden our musical Horizon at the time, along with Closer and New Rose. In 1984, after playing in NY under the Limits moniker, Band Of Outsiders joined up with Certain General to record Far Away In America (Sourmash). If anybody has that EP, I would be grateful for a link to it, I never heard it or even saw a copy at the time. They followed with three good EPs released in 1985 and the album Everything Takes Forever (L'IAS). Their sound, while being close to the Paisley movement, has a twang all of its own. As time went on, The Band of Outsiders introduced in an ever-increasing manner psychedelic elements, favoring atmosphere over melody. "Nervous" and "Skylight" are good examples of their style, but the entire LP is one solid piece of work, their best in my opinion. The song "Dutch Girl Concern" is very high in my All-Time 100 list.


The group burned out after Act Of Faith (Barclay, 1986). There is also a live album (Armistice Day, on the Nocturnal and Conviction Labels, 1989) and a Best Of (No Reflection, Repulsion Label, 1992) that I've never heard. They also recorded a Live album with the late Nikki Sudden. The pic below is from that gig. Maybe DorfDiscoBraunFeld has it?


I will post next the "Act of Faith" LP as well as 2 of their EPs. This music is timeless for me. I am looking for all material on this band as i only have the "Everything Takes Forever", "Act of Faith" LPs and the "Longer Than Always" and "I Wish I Was Your Kid" EP. Please HELP!

He's real good with his fingers
As always ripped from the original vinyl, remastered and cleaned @ 256kb, the music's really worth the effort. Here I go again…

The Triffids: How it started in the West

This is probably one of the first Aussie EP I ever heard, if not the first. My sister brought it back on a cassette compilation (remember them?) after a visit home. At the time in Europe we weren't listening to this, but we got primed and ready when they finally moved to Londn and started touring. For me, it was a shock, as their music typified the vision I had of Oz, or Western Australia at least… a parched, dry land, laid wide open for you. At the same, it is a terribly forlorn place. The song "Raining Pleasure" is probably the perfect aural postcard of Perth at that time.
This is also to follow RYP post of Treeless Plain. If I remember well, that Ep cost me something like AU$ 5.95 at that time, I'm pretty sure i bought at Rythm & Records in Perth… in 1985.
Property is not yet condemned. 256k, with both covers.

End of the Go-Betweens: devastating news & its cure: Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express

Grant Mc Lennan died yesterday at the age of 48… words fail me. I had the pleasure of seeing them playing in my secret location's world wide known club during the Liberty Belle Tour. I still remember them as the nicest artist I've ever met backstage. Genuinely kind with, of course, the well-known Aussie dry wit!
This may be the best way to remember him, after all he left us his music. This is my desert island record.
Let that spring rain fall and wash your tears away…

On the fringe of the Paisley movement, there was True West

as posted by RYP here . but although they made a 2nd album ("Drifters"), a year later I think, their quirkyness and acid dazed sound petered out rapidly.
Their guitar player Russ Tolman pursued a solo carrer. This album, his first, is probably his finest moment.
If people really rave about, it I will rip the 2nd, although some of the magic is missing from it. Russ seems to have soldiered on untill the late 90's. Ripped from my vynil copy @ 256, with both back & front covers.
Cooking guitar work lies inside.

More Johnnies

This time it's the pony rider who drew his gun first. For the guys and gals who dig The Johnnies, here's 3 more songs pulled from their singles… You get "Cannonball", The Logan Girls" and "Don't put The Blame On Me". One single was the "Injun Joe, the other one I can't remember.

Yeaaaaaaaaah! Link has been REuped!

I've got a treat for you…

Chris the Twillight Rider had the good idea to branch into the Beasts Of Bourbon. Nice, I can enjoy them again.
When I first bought one of their LP on Red Eye (their German label), I got one of the first few hundred limited edition… with a bonus 45! You'll get only 0ne song sadly, as I forgot to record (or was it a disk crash?) the other side.
This is the aptly named "Fucked-Up Blues", puts Captain Beefheart to shame.

Blow that harmonica, boy!

A Must for all Aussie Music fans: The Eastern Dark 1st 45

I just couldn' resist… these were my fave (still are!).
The Eastern Dark first 2 singles… classic Ramones-enduced Wrack&Roll.
Ripped from their original Waterfront singles. I'v just omitted a song which you can find on dorfdisco post of their EP.
Can't remember the song's name though. Old Age?

Enjoy!

The Eastern Dark: Girls on the Beach (with Cars)

I used to call'em The Thin, The Fat and the Ugly One…
In response to Our friend the disco man Here's the post of The Eastern Dark's Live LP "Girls On the Beach With Cars", a testimonial to what they were able to conjure up on stage. Stay tuned.
This is for James.
Three guys and an audience. Enjoy!

Dawn of new era

Okay
Time to the waters now. This will be a "responsive" blog as in a complement to the blogs I browse (see my link bar).
Hopefully helping them preview albums that should really be available again, rare bootlegs as well as re-issues of forgotten classics (at least in my view).
I can't and won't be updating this daily, only on a whim and if I can be arsed finding the Albums/EP on my disc.
You can always use www.netvibes.com to keep track of what's happening here and at RYP, dorf discobraunfeld etc. Very useful piece of software.
See U soon.