#38 & #39, a double

A double today because I missed a week last Sunday due to having to work both days last weekend, which was a rude shock to my system I must say !! The second one is a slight deviation from the norm and is subtitled 'The Day I Went to Red Eye Shop 3", but I'll get to that one shortly.

Firstly - #38

Starting with Mark E Smith in fine form ( well before Von Sudenfed was even conceived !! ) doing a Motown cover, I always pictured this being a bit of "hats off" to the Northern Soul scene, I think I read somewhere the original Ghost In My House by R Dean Taylor was popular on those nights ( but don't quote me on that). Then a old fave of mine Aztec Camera, Roddy Frame going for slight synth pop feel, followed by The Lotus Eaters - and you can find the 12" of The First Picture of You over on this blog, along with more Lotus Eaters 12's and a whole lot of other interesting goodies.

Then finally we have some more JFK & The Cuban Crisis, from an EP which was the first release on the Waterfront label. John from the They Called It Good At The Time blog has a John Kennedy album up which is well worth a listen, and of course loads of other great posts on that blog, if you haven't already had a good dig around that site you won't be disappointed !! The also excellent Aus Rock blog has amongst it's many gems the Deckchairs Overboard album.

Crib Sex were a 3 piece Brisbane band, obviously fond of the 4AD scene at the time, but also tinges of ( old school ) electro meets post punk..I like it !! & years ahead of their time ??

The Voices were a Sydney band full of guys with the last name Lewis, I always assumed brothers, with one ring-in non Lewis in the lineup on drums just to stop their mum nagging them too much. Though I think he's the worried looking one on the left in the photo so maybe I'm wrong about that.

In a second over to the 2nd mix for today, but first I guess you'll need to know about this one..

Podcast 38 link for mp3
Podcast 38 link for text file tracklisting



Sideroom 7 Inch Singles Podcast #38
1. There's A Ghost In My House - The Fall ( Beggars Banquet 1987 ) ( 0.00 - 2.28 )
2. Deep & Wide & Tall - Aztec Camera ( WEA 1987 ) ( 2.28 - 6.15 )
3. The First Picture Of You - The Lotus Eaters ( Arista 1983) ( 6.15 - 9.44 )
4. Break The Code - Miaow ( Factory 1987 ) ( 9.44 - 13.03 )
5. Walking In The Dark - Deckchairs Overboard ( Regular Aust 1985 ) ( 13.03 - 16.45 )
6. I Tried Too Hard - JFK & The Cuban Crisis ( Waterfront Aust 1982 ) ( 16.45 - 19.39 )
7. Heaven Knows - The Flatmates ( Subway 1988) ( 19.39 - 23.24 )
8. How Come - The Sports ( Mushroom Aust 1981 ) ( 23.24 - 26.29 )
9. This Is My Problem - Crib Sex ( Humoresque Aust 1986 ) ( 26.29 - 29.39 )
10. I Think I'll Go Mad - The Voices ( Deluxe Aust 1980 ) ( 29.39 - 32.54 )
( duration 33 mins, 320kps mp3 )




Ok now onto #39 aka "The Day I Went to Red Eye Shop 3"

Breaking the formula slightly here - even though the infamous pile(s) from which I'm pulling the songs for the normal posts doesn't look like drying up any day soon - this lot are from a visit I paid midweek to the 2nd hand store ( aka 'Shop 3" ) of Red Eye, a music shop here in Sydney. I picked up about 15 second hand singles and figured if I followed the usual method they'd never show on this blog, so here they are...and I'll resume normal programming on the next post.

The price tag stickers from that shop are a real mongrel to peel off...that's why you can still see them in the cover scans...something which is annoying about that shop.

I'd like to make special mention of the Adam & The Ants single, not for the song, which is a bit ordinary. Its probably the only song I've heard that makes manages to make sexual innuendo about a printer/copier. But then Adam has always been a bit "special". I picked it up because it was clearly an indie release, pre "split" ( or should I say pre "Malcolm McLaren pilfering the rest of the band" for Bow Wow Wow...but curiously not Adam ). It's on the somewhat unauspicious "Do It" label, operating out of 128b Camden Road London. I've heard of boffins making musical pilgramages to the addresses of labels ( eg Sarah and Factory ) but never heard of a pilgramage to the home of "Do It" records, oddly. Anyone reading this living near or knows of that address could maybe enlighten us all of it's status these days !! The cover also features a photo of Adam without the dicky face paint and weird pigtails which is a relief.

Then there's the Sunnyboys, their first Phantom Ep which I already had mind you and which already appeared in an earlier episode ( #21 ), and for this reason I didn't need to buy it, but couldn't go past having a 2nd copy so I could somehow preserve the sanctity of my first copy which is a bit of a holy relic in my house. Turns out the 2 songs on the b-side are both scratched but whatever...thems the breaks, A-side is fine and Love To Rule a great song.

The Other Voices single is pre their Waterfront release and it's the one that starts off sounding like The Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast mating with a whale.

Anyway, enjoy :)

Podcast 39 link for mp3
Podcast 39 link for text file tracklisting



Sideroom 7 Inch Singles Podcast #39
1. Word Gets Around - The Hummingbirds ( Roo Art Aust 1989 ) ( 0.00 - 2.50 )
2. Wholly Holy - The Crystal Set ( Red Eye Aust 1987 ) ( 2.50 - 6.37 )
3. Melt - Siouxsie & The Banshees ( Polydor 1983) ( 6.37 - 10.17 )
4. Asylums In Jerusalem - Scritti Politti ( Rough Trade 1982 ) ( 10.17 - 13.24 )
5. The Boiler - Rhoda with The Special AKA ( 2-Tone 1982 ) ( 13.24 - 18.55 )
6. Chihuahau - Bow Wow Wow ( RCA 1981 ) ( 18.55 - 23.00 )
7. Zerox - Adam & The Ants ( Do It 1979) ( 23.00 - 26.40 )
8. Summertime Blues - The Flying Lizards ( Missing Link 1980 ) ( 26.40 - 29.27 )
9. Another Tuesday - Other Voices ( Sundown Aust 1983 ) ( 29.27 - 35.25 )
10. Love To Rule - Sunnyboys ( Phantom Aust 1980 ) ( 35.25 - 39.38 )
( duration 39 mins, 320kps mp3 )

#37, by fluke an all Aussie affair

I suppose the chances of 10 Australian records in a row being in the pile is a total fluke, but here we go today.

Kicking off with more from the mighty Skolars, then a b-side for The Sunnyboys - the other side of "Show Me Some Discipline" - and I chose "Guts Of Iron" instead of the a-side because "Show Me Some Discipline" is ( sadly ) really where it all ended for The Sunnyboys - a point from whence it was all very much downhill for the band. A culmination of bad advice ( ie an image change ), new management ( Chugg ) and probably listening too much to record company nagging ( Guidinski ) about changing their sound to suit the US market. All this on top of a degenerating state of health for Jeremy Oxley equals a disaster. Aaah good old Jeremy - you're the best, dude !!. "Guts Of Iron" is from the Lobby Loyde days and looks like it was recorded with Colin Freeman at the time of the first album and mixed a bit later with Lobby and Jeremy Oxley.

Then some Riptides finally - "Only Time" their first 7" outing on Regular Records, more XL Capris with a single from the Weeds album, Popular Mechanics - that's the Sydney band not the NZ band around at the time with the same name who had to change their name in Australia to NZ Pop ( which is a shocker of a name !! ). Followed by a single in the 2nd phase of Tactics "Coat Tails", tricky Nicky Cave doing a Johnny Cash cover, Pel Mel's 2nd single ( or 3rd if you count the 2 issues of No Word From China ) and then 2 records from Dave 'Baby' Claringbold and friends - Just A Drummer's first double AA sided "The Lone Trombone" single and then a much later outfit called Red Ochre, with just Dave and Glad from Just A Drummer. Recently for work I met Dave Claringbold and at the time was racking my brain trying to remember his face, and then a few hours afterwards it came back to me & I was lamenting I didn't get to say something to him about how much I loved his music. Oh well...such is life :)


Podcast 37 link for mp3
Podcast 37 link for text file tracklisting



Sideroom 7 Inch Singles Podcast #37
1. No Room For Happiness - The Skolars ( Method Aust 1985 ) ( 0.00 - 3.52 )
2. Guts Of Iron - Sunnyboys ( Mushroom Aust 1983 ) ( 3.52 - 7.34 )
3. Only Time - The Riptides ( Regular Aust 1981) ( 7.34 - 10.34 )
4. Igloos - XL Capris ( Axle Aust 1981 ) ( 10.34 - 13.08 )
5. You Get The Picture - Popular Mechanics ( Basilisk Aust 1980 ) ( 13.08 - 16.16 )
6. Coat Tails - Tactics ( Folding Chair Aust 1985 ) ( 16.16 - 18.59 )
7. The Singer - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ( Mute 1986) ( 18.59 - 22.01 )
8. Head Above Water - Pel Mel ( Gap Aust 1982 ) ( 22.01 - 25.57 )
9. Sweat - Just A Drummer ( Correct Aust 1985 ) ( 25.57 - 29.03 )
10. In The City When It Rains - Red Ochre ( Dirty red Recs Aust 1988 ) ( 29.03 - 31.48 )
( duration 32 mins, 320kps mp3 )

#36, Those 100 in 1 Days

I had been a bit slack updating the flipsideroom ( the other side of the singles on this blog ) but made ammends overnight, plenty to see there :)

All with a c86 flavour on that blog but today's post here has a definite c81 taste about it, and something takes me back on a trip to my past...er....1981 of course !! At that time I was a pimple faced lad still at school, running a radio station in my bedroom after school, using a home made transmitter, adapted from the "build it yourself" transmitter in a Tandy 100 in 1 Electronics kit which basically transmitted as far as 4 houses down the street, which was pretty impressive at the time !! I had my bedroom set up with a mixer, 2 turntables, a microphone and a cassette player. All the mod cons that I'd ever need back then.

Here's some photos, not of my kit which is long gone but this was the exact kit.


The little batch of mostly 1981 tracks on today's post are ripped straight out of my regular playlist on that "radio station" ( called 2XY when it was on AM, per the instruction book, then I somehow jiggered around with it until I got it to be on FM, which was then known as 2XYZ FM ). If I wasn't broadcasting them to my friends 4 houses away then I'd be playing them in the living room on the family stereo unit and annoying my mother after school with all the teenage angst I could muster. All in all a very handy batch of records really !!

( Good to see some things never change ).


Podcast 36 link for mp3
Podcast 36 link for text file tracklisting



Sideroom 7 Inch Singles Podcast #36
1. History Never Repeats - Split Enz ( Mushroom Aust 1981 ) ( 0.00 - 2.51 )
2. I'm In Love With A German Film Star - The Passions ( Polydor 1981 ) ( 2.51 - 6.43 )
3. Funeral Pyre - The Jam ( Polydor 1981) ( 6.43 - 10.09 )
4. The Art Of Parties - Japan ( Virgin 1981 ) ( 10.09 - 13.52 )
5. Knife Slits Water - A Certain Ratio ( Factory 1982 ) ( 13.52 - 17.38 )
6. Atomic Fiction - Nuvo Bloc ( no label Aust 1980 ) ( 17.38 - 21.59 )
7. Too Nice To Talk To - The ( British ) Beat ( Go Feet 1980) ( 21.59 - 25.04 )
8. Merciless Cinema - The Agents ( no label Aust 1981 ) ( 25.04 - 30.36 )
9. Say You - Colourbox ( 4AD 1984 ) ( 30.36 - 34.48 )
10. You're My Kind Of Climate - Rip Rig & Panic( Virgin 1982 ) ( 34.48 - 37.33 )
( duration 37 mins, 320kps mp3 )