HARMONY IN MY HEAD

BROADCAST #41
AIR DATE: 10-10-06

Bonsiour mon Fanatiques! I am in France, Cannes to be exact. I have been meeting with people about the IFC show. Some very interesting people we will be working with. The show will be on in Lebanon and hopefully I will be going there to do some promotion at some point. I hope that comes through.
     I put together a show of songs that I do hope you will enjoy. I am sure you have heard a lot of it but I thought the songs went well together and made for a good evening of music.
     For those of you who live in Los Angeles, you may have noticed that Huun Huur Tu canceled their show in town. I don’t know why but I sure hope they decide to come back at some point.
     I will be back live next week and have a great show planned so please tune in of you can. Thanks for listening and please, STAY FANATIC!!     --Henry
     For you Europeans, Australians and New Zealand Fanatics, there is a re-broadcast time of Friday mornings, 0200 – 0400 hrs. West coast time so you all can check out the show and not have to set your alarms to too rude an hour.

Charlie Harper - London Barmy Army / Talk Is Cheap: We start tonight’s program with one of my favorite singles of all time. This is your pal Charlie Harper from the UK Subs on his own with this 2 track single. I played this one all the time when it came out and this single was on a mix tape that was in my car all the time and I played it all the time. I still listen to these two songs a quarter century later. You’ve got a couple of UK Subs on this record: UK Subs Pete Davies on drums and early line-up UK Subs bass player Steve Slack, younger brother of Paul, who later joined the band. This single was pressed in a fatigue / puke green with a push-out center. I have never seen in it in black or with a solid-center. You can find these tracks on the UK Subs album Diminished Responsibility, the CD version on Captain Oi! Records.

The Germs – Lion’s Share: A long time ago, this track was rare and of great interest to me. The for a long time, the only way to get this track was to throw down your hard-earned and buy the soundtrack album for the film Cruising, starring Al Pacino, where the song appeared. It was hard for me to part with all that money for just one song but my curiosity got me and I threw down the cash and got the record. What a cool song! It became a highlight of my mix tapes. Finally, all the Germs songs came out on one CD on Slash Records called MIA: The Complete Anthology. This is one of those bands who has to be heard. The Germs defy description. There is nothing like this band anywhere and their frontman, Darby Crash, whoa.

The Fall – Stepping Out: Tonight’s weekly Fall track comes from the Short Circuit album. Short Circuit isn’t a Fall album. It’s a compilation album featuring The Fall, The Buzzcocks, Joy Division and others, recorded live at the Electric Circus, 10-02-77. Originally released on 10” vinyl in black, blue and yellow and says the below site, the promo copies in orange. I have never seen the yellow. The Greek pressing is 12”. There was a short run of CD pressed at some point. It’s been out of print for a long time.
For info on the Short Circuit release: http://members.aol.com/lwtua/short12.htm. I don’t know if you knew this but there’s a website that’s thoughtfully maintained and updated frequently and it’s devoted to The Fall. It’s the, wait, I have it around here somewhere, oh yes, here it is, The Unofficial Fall Website: http://www.visi.com/fall/

The Buzzcocks – Lester Sands (Drop In The Ocean): This is from the Time’s Up album released on Mute. These recordings from October 1976 chronicle the band’s first studio outing. Recorded a couple of months before the Spiral Scratch EP, the band is a little rough but still in fine form. I bought this record in 1979 when it was just a bootleg on Smilin’ Ears Records. Eventually it saw a legitimate release and it’s a good thing, too because it’s a worthy Buzzcocks record and it features Howard Devoto on vocals and as you know, there’s not a great deal of Buzzcocks material with him on it so the more the better. This has always been my favorite song from these sessions.

DEVO – Social Fools: This is from one of my favorite and most listened to DEVO releases. It’s a 12” that came out on Stiff Records called Be Stiff. It’s first album era material but pre Eno production. Some of the tracks have come out as bonus tracks on later DEVO compilations but this EP as a whole has never been released and it’s too bad because on its own, is a perfect record. There’s a lot of different DEVO comps. that include rare tracks and I can’t find this version of Social Fools on any of them. It’s not on Pioneers Who Got Scalped, Recombo, Hits, Misses, etc. A couple of the versions of the other songs on that EP are on as extras, but not this one. It’s too bad. I figured it would have been on a Japanese pressing of one of the CDs or something but so far, not yet. This song is also on a Stiff single along with Be Stiff.

The Skunks – The Good From The Bad: We played this single before in 2004 so perhaps you all won’t mind if we play it again. This song is a favorite of mine. Ian bought this compilation LP called Business Unusual that featured the song. Soon after, we found the single that was on Eel Pie records. We could never find anything more of the band and then years later, on one of my fanatic searches, I found out that they only made the one single under that name and then made two singles under the name The Craze. I found those singles and I try as I might, I couldn’t enjoy them. Writing this up, I did a little more looking around and found this interview with two of the members on the Punk77 site:
http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/skunks.doleqinterview.htm. If you ever see the single you should grab it as they only pressed up 2000 I believe. There’s no picture sleeve.

The Damned – Stranger On The Town: This track is taken from the band’s 5th studio album Strawberries. I don’t play it all that often but when the mood hits, it’s perfect. It’s a very pop record, sounds like Captain Sensible really took control of the whole thing. I don’t mean that in a bad way. He sings a lot on the record and most of the tracks have a great deal of Sensibility about them. Musically and instrumentally, it’s a very ambitious record, a brighter effort than the previous release, The Black Album. I saw the tour for this album when the band came to Washington DC in the summer of 1983 and had the misfortune of going on after Minor Threat, who put on one of the best shows I have ever seen. It was a great band on a great night and they couldn’t be stopped. The Damned, who played fine, just weren’t going to outshine that set no matter what they did. I remember thinking that the songs off Strawberries didn’t really come off all that well live. I think they opened with Ignite. Strawberries is a very studio album. Worth checking out if you liked The Black Album.

The Ruts - Give Youth a Chance: Something That I Said was the A-side. Single released 09-31-79. This b-side was taken from a Peel Session so this song is multi-tasking. I always liked this song. Malcom Owen singing with a bit of accent in his voice to me shows his love of the music and his youthful enthusiasm. When he sings about Jah, it’s kinda funny but it’s cool, too. Also, it’s The Ruts they’re allowed. There’s a great CD that was recently released of The Ruts singles. It’s on Captain Oi Records and worth it if you don’t have all the singles on vinyl or just want them all in one place.

Generation X - Running With The Boss Sound: This track is taken from the band’s 2nd album Valley Of The Dolls. I think some Generation X Fanatics didn’t dig this album as much as the first one. I am one of the only people I know who likes this album and still play it frequently. This album was produced by Ian Hunter of Mott The Hoople, which may have spooked some of their supporters. The album had a strong single, King Rocker and the band and Billy Idol sings his ass off. I know some Generation X Fanatics who never really gave this album a chance. I don’t know why, but this album grabbed me immediately and I actually play it more often than the first one, perhaps because I played the first one too many times. We have never played any tracks from this album. We played one of the b-sides off the album, Shakin’ All Over but this will be our first time playing a track off the album.

The Snakes License To Fish: When the Bad Brains left DC in the summer of 1980 to go live in the sticks and came back later in the year with short dreadlocks and new accents, many of us were a little confused. I remember the first time I saw their new set of songs, I believe it was at the Childe Harold. We all crowded at the front of the stage and when the band played I Luv Jah, we picked up on the chorus “I love I Jah, yeah!,” we did a quick re-write and changed it to, “I love HR, yeah!” We singing our little hearts out and HR started laughing and their new Rasta friends really bummed out on us. Fuck them, the Bad Brains were our band! Anyway, the newly Jah’d up Bad Brains, in their new accents, started giving us all kinds of tips about how to live our lives and eating fish was one of those tips. The Snakes wrote a song about it. The Snakes were Mike and Simon of SOA. Mike, also known as Michael Hampton, has made many appearances on this show in the many bands he has been in such as Embrace, One Last Wish and Manifesto. You can hear Ian MacKaye doing back up vocals on this track. This track was taken from the Snakes CD that comprises their two albums: Happy and I Won't Love You ('Til You're More Like Me).

Skrewdriver – Better Off Crazy: I have to write a short disclaimer for this song, even though I know you Fanatics already know this. Skrewdriver made a great album and a couple of great singles for the Chiswick label and soon after and until the end of the band’s career, put out the most virulent white power music until they broke up. So, when you say you like this band, you always have to qualify that statement by saying you’re into the Chiswick Records period and nothing afterwards. I don’t know if the band or at least the singer, Ian Stewart was like this when they recorded on Chiswick and it only came out later or what. There’s not one thing on the album All Skrewed Up or the singles to give the listener any idea of what was to come. The Punk77 site has a good write-up with pics: http://punk77.co.uk/groups/skrewdriver.htm

Bad Brains – Black Dots: One of the greatest songs by one of the greatest bands of all time. From the album of the same name. This was the August 1979 demo that was passed around DC on cassette and it became our favorite record. Finally, years later, these sessions were released on Caroline Records. This session was recorded at Don Zientera’s Inner Ear Studios, where a lot of the early Dischord stuff was done. If you have not heard this album all the way through,
you’re in for a treat. >From where I come from, this was THE band.

Black Market Baby – Youth Crimes: I was at the recording session for this song. BMB were a great local DC-area band. We would see them any chance we got. Their vinyl is not all that easy to find now but you can pick up a great retrospective album called Coulda . . . Shoulda . . . Woulda . . . on the very cool Dr. Strange label. They were more Rock than Punk Rock and had a wide following. I’m really glad that Bill, who runs Dr. Strange, chose to put this record out. The label has released some really cool stuff. The Chiefs CD Holly West Crisis is a must. The BMB CD holds up. Sometimes things are not as good as you remember them but for me, these songs not only hold up but have picked up some speed over the years.

One Last Wish – Burning In The Undertow: Just my luck. I was in DC for this band’s first show. OLW is basically Rites Of Spring with a slight personnel change. Remove Mike Fellows and put in Michael Hampton and you have OLW. It was the end of the summer, 1986 and I was in DC and I was right in time for the show. It was as close as I ever got to seeing the Rites Of Spring. In November of that year, the band recorded and soon after, broke up. It took years but finally the album, called 1986 was released. If you like the Rites Of Spring, you’ll like this record. Some of my favorite Guy Picciotto lyrics are on the album. It’s a short record but so great. I missed a lot of DC bands because of touring and where I was living. I never saw Embrace, Rites or Happy Go Licky. I am so glad I got to see this band. Here’s a picture and some info from the Dischord site: http://www.dischord.com/bands/onelastwish.shtml

Rites Of Spring – All There Is To Know: We’ve listened to a lot of ROS on this show. The Rites Of Spring album End On End, is one of my favorite records of all time. I am very sure of guy Picciotto’s mad genius and it’s all over this 20+ year-old record. The Rites CD is one of the better deals out there, you get the album and the EP all in one shot. This record will wreck your room and make you want to be in a band. Here’s some band info:
http://www.dischord.com/bands/ritesofspring.shtml

UK Subs – Stranglehold / World War / Rockers: Our EP of the week is an old favorite of mine. There’s a great CD of all the Subs early singles. I played that thing three times over the weekend. The first time, I played it all the way through and then started it again because it sounded so good. I gave it an encore on Sunday just for good measure. This band is one of my all time favorites. I think the first song I heard was I Live In A Car which was on one of their singles and that was it, I was hooked! I play the band’s 2nd album Brand New Age the most of all of them. I have written about this band and played them a ton over since I got to the station and I hope I’m not wearing you out on them.

Sham 69 - Rip Off: From Tell Us The Truth, another one of the three dollar miracle records of my youth. We all bought this one at the cut-out cost of three bucks. It’s not that the record isn’t good, it had more to do with major labels signing what they hoped were the cream of the crop Punk Rock / New Wave bands and trying to make a buck in territories where either the band never toured or the record company in that territory had no idea of what it was so they serviced the record and it fell almost immediately into obscurity.

999 – Let’s Face It: Isn’t this a great song?! It’s from the Separates album. Ian had their albums, for some reason, I didn’t but we used to see them live in DC where they seemed to play quite a bit for a UK band. I only bought the records later on and really got into them. The first album, which is self-titled, this one and their collection of singles are my favorites. 999 was another one of those bands that seemed to straddle the worlds of Punk Rock and Rock and Roll. From the sheer quality of playing and songwriting, I get the idea they were making music together or separately before Punk Rock hit. That’s the impression I got from seeing them live. They always seemed amused by the audience but never completely into the moment. It’s not that they didn’t play a good show, it was a GREAT night out seeing 999 but it was years later, when I started playing their records that I really came to appreciate the band. Damn, those are great songs. Here’s some info from your pals at Punk77: http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/999.htm

Manifesto – Cut And Dry: Tonight’s show is turning into a little bit of a Michael Hampton fest. This is from Manifesto’s one and only album on the Fire label out of the UK. It’s a good pop record. Manifesto was Michael, Bert from The Untouchables and Ivor Cutler from Faith. This record is long out of print but it turns up here and there. I have always been interested in Michael’s song writing and guitar playing. He makes some interesting choices.

Alternative Television – Action, Time And Vision: I have almost every ATV record there is at this point. At least all the ones I have ever seen and this song is their most accessible one. Their material went all over the place from rock to dub and experimental. After their first, self-titled album, the band released Vibing Up The Senile Man, which is VERY different from the first album and is to me one of the bravest sophomore albums ever. I don’t know many people who like that one. Mark Perry, or Mark P as he has been known for a few decades now, is an interesting guy. He started one of the first ever Punk Rock fanzines, Sniffin’ Glue. If you can find it, the Sniffin’ Glue comp. book, Sniffin' Glue: The Essential Punk Accessory is worth checking out. This fanzine was written during the reign of the Sex Pistols and The Clash and it’s the real deal, right down to the poor spelling and haphazard layout. Mark started the Step Forward label with, of all people, Miles Copeland. That’s a great label, Sham 69, The Fall, etc. Mark’s still making music and Amazon.com says he has a book called Action Time Vision: The Story of Sniffin' Glue, Alternative TV and Punk Rock coming out. I just wrote him to see if I could get some information from the source. I’ll let you know what he says. He has a website with a lot of information: http://www.markperry.freeuk.com/. Ok, Mark got back to me this morning and said the book is actually not ready and it may take some time, so stand down Fanatics! I hope he does get a manuscript done because he was one of the people who was really there.

The Klan – Pushin’ Too Hard: The b-side was Cover Girls. You’ve got Snickers from the Simpletones and The Stains singing. I got this single many years ago because it was on Posh Boy. I don’t know anything about the band. There’s a short but informative write up on the band. I met Snickers a few times. He was cool for awhile and it was always cool to hang out with him because I had all his records and he was funny and really cool. Then the last few times I saw him, when he was hanging out with The Stains and afterwards when he was overweight and all tatted up, he was always fucked up and belligerent, a completely different guy, like he had lost his mind or something. The last time I saw him was 1986. He was backstage at a Black Flag show and drunk or something and he was fucking with me because I was stretching before I went out to play and Dez was hanging out with him, cooled him off somewhat. I just ignored him and kept stretching. I used to get a lot of shit from people that I was a blowhard or whatever because I was always really serious about the shows and playing and not getting high with some people alienates them somewhat because they think you’re pulling a superiority trip. I remember at some point people would tell me their friend said I was a dick and I would remember the incident and tell them that their friend was wasted that night and was drunkenly fucking with me and for that I was a dick. Whatever. It was like that a lot with people around Black Flag and at least one member of the band. Like with the thing with Snickers, it would be, “What’s HIS problem, man?!” because I didn’t feel like enduring some guy’s drunken bullshit. Where I come from, there’s a great deal less of that and a whole lot less tolerance for it, there wouldn’t be the discussion, just someone getting punched in the mouth. Snickers overdosed and died in 1997. It’s a shame. I just found a site that lists all the dead LA Punk types and I read down the list and remember most of them and was kind of set back by just how long the list was. I was around a lot of them back in the 80’s and it’s sad to see how it came out later.

The Leyton Buzzards – 19 & Mad: This was the A side of the band’s first single on Step Forward. The b-side tracks are Villain and Youthanasia. They’re ok but not as good as the track we played tonight. There was a compilation album of their tracks called Jellied Eels To Record Deals that came out in 1980 that I got and eventually sold. There’s a short write-up on the band that gives you all the info you need on this band. Captain Oi! has released a collection of their work on CD. http://punk77.co.uk/groups/leytonbuzzards.htm

Harry Revel (composer), Les Baxter (conductor / arranger) - Lunar Rhapsody: This is from the Music Out Of The Moon album. This album and two others Perfume Set To Music and Music For Peace Of Mind are included on the Waves In The Ether CD. Wonderful, soothing Theremin music with strings and lush vocal choirs. There are tracks on the Moon album that are completely nuts, we’ll definitely get into more of this record. Wait until you hear Moon Moods.