BROADCAST #46
AIR DATE: 11-14-06

Hello Fanatics!!! This is a broadcast I have been working on for months. I came up with the idea a long time ago and started researching and sequencing the thing while on tour months ago. It’s Monday night around 2041 hrs. and I am going to send this to get posted tomorrow morning (Tuesday) so when we actually play these songs tomorrow night, you can follow along with the notes. There’s a lot of information that’s better read than heard as I want to get all these songs played on the show so I will do my best to keep the talking down to a minimum as it is very difficult not to talk too much about the music instead of just playing it. Anyway, almost all these songs are in print and I think I got all the info down on how to find them all. The Prince, B-52’s and Public Image and Public Enemy tracks might be slightly hard to locate but the rest shouldn’t be all that hard to get. I hope you liked the show. I am listening to a CD I made of the songs and it’s one of the greatest mix CDRs ever! 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. If you want to download this show, http://www.rollins-archive.com/ is the place to go for that.

LIVE SHOW INFO:

PARTYLINE ON TOUR
Saturday, November 18 -- Los Angeles, CA
The Smell (247 S. Main, LA, CA 90012) (enter in alley)
w/ French Toast, Golden Bears, BARR
9pm; $5; all-ages; www.thesmell.org
PARTYLINE INFO: http://www.partylinedc.com/

PERE UBU ON TOUR
Wed., 11/22 at Knitting Factory in New York, NY
Fri., 11/24 at Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, OH
Sat., 11/25 at Abbey Pub in Chicago, IL
Sun., 11/26 at 400 Bar in Minneapolis, MN

Public Image – Cowboy Song: Remember our Peel show last week where we played that great PIL track? You might remember where I got it from, the one and only Martin Atkins of PIL. I also asked him for this track as well. Yes, I know he didn’t play on it but I was hoping he perhaps had the box set that had this track on CD as my single version is a little scratchy. The Cowboy Song has Public Image on the A side which is perhaps the band’s most accessible song. It’s a great one. Ian and I favored The Cowboy Song when we played this single because it’s so irreverent and not trying to please. I think it might be one of the most “b” b-side ever. Thank you Martin, thank you PIL.

DEVO - Growing Pains: From the last album the band did for Warner Bros. Shout! I don’t know how you feel about this album but I think it’s one of their best ones. Their version of Are You Experienced? Is fantastic and if you flip that single over, you get the track we heard tonight. I think this is the best song of the Shout! sessions. DEVO has made some of the best b-sides ever. Here’s a short list that could be a great record in itself:
Secret Agent Man / Soo Bawlz
The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprise / Penetration In The Centrefold
Whip It / Turn Around
Peek-A-Boo / Find Out
DEVO always gave the fans amazing b-sides and love them all but I chose Growing Pains tonight because I thought there might be a chance you might not have heard it yet.

The Damned - I Believe The Impossible: One of my favorite Damned songs and as far as a great Damned b-side, it’s right up there with Suicide and Rabid. I Believe The Impossible. History of the World is on the A-side of this single and that’s a great song too. When I first heard I Believe the Impossible about 25 years ago, it immediately grabbed me. I think it became my favorite song of theirs.

Buzzcocks - Something’s Gone Wrong Again: Harmony in My Head is the A side. Picture sleeve comes in two different colors, red and blue, same graphic on each, released 07-13-79. A label promos exist. Something’s Gone Wrong Again is one of my favorite Buzzcocks songs and it’s a great b-side. The Buzzcocks singles are so good, the b-sides sounds like A sides to me. There was no way we could this show and not include The Buzzcocks!

The Fall – Zandra: The Fall have a lot of b-sides. I picked this one because it’s not all that easy to find. Zandra was released on a 7” single with Popcorn Double Feature on the A side. It’s also on a 12” configured Popcorn Double Feature / Zandra / Black Monk Theme Pt. II. Zandra can be found on the Listening In CD. The song was released in 1990. In other Fall news, the Unofficial Fall site says the band lost all the tape from the recording sessions they did in Los Angeles earlier this year and will be starting again. I have been trying to find out if they recorded at Cherokee Studios but can’t get any information. Here’s the address for the Unofficial Fall Website: http://www.visi.com/fall/ if you go to the singles section, there’s all the information you’ll ever need on the singles, EPs and CDs this song is found on.

Jimi Hendrix - Highway Chile: The b-side of The Wind Cries Mary. Released May 1967. I cannot remember when I heard this song the first time. It must have been a UK import of some kind. I never collected Hendrix stuff besides the readily available albums. I have pretty much every bootleg I have ever seen but I never went after the picture sleeves. I had to go to the liner notes of the Polydor Germany 2CD set of the Hendrix singles to get the info on this. I don’t think that one’s in print anymore.

The Ruts – The Crack: This is one of the greatest b-sides of all time. The A-side was West One (Shine On Me). This is the A-side of b-sides. This is The Ruts basically goofing around in the studio, having some fun with their own songs. It’s sounds like someone got handy with the tape machine and decided to cut loose a little. If you listen carefully, you can hear the band making fun of their own songs like Dope For Guns and SUS. It took me a lot of listens to this song to figure out all the things they were doing. If the band put this on their album, it may have been somewhat distracting or seen as filler but as a b-side, it’s art. This is ultimate b-side material here. You can find this track on a few different Ruts CDs but it’s very easily found on the Ruts Singles CD on Captain Oi! Records. This single was released after Ruts vocalist Malcom Owen passed away weeks before. As far as different releases of this single, I am aware of two. There is the UK release that came with a picture sleeve and an Australian release on Festival that came in a company sleeve. I don’t know how many they made of the Festival pressing as I have only seen it once. As far as a release date, as close as I can get is October 1979. Of course, I would like to get the day of release.

Suicide – Radiation: This is a great song. I like it even better than the A-side Dream Baby Dream. Who’s the guy in Suicide we always play on this show? Oh, that’s right, Alan Vega, the Great One. Perhaps some of you Fanatics remember several broadcasts ago when we played the entire first Suicide album in its entirety. There’s some good work by Suicide but I don’t think they ever reached the intensity of the first album. I don’t know how they could have done it. They had moved onto a different sound, as this track demonstrates. It’s a great song, just different. If you want to talk about a band capturing a moment in the studio, Suicide did it on that first album. There is something about the record that’s a lot more than just the men and the music. It’s that same thing you hear on records like Fun House by the Stooges or White Light / White Heat by The Velvet Underground, there’s something else going on. Most bands never get near it and most of the bands that do, can’t get back to it once they’ve been there. Some have but not many. This is one of those conversations you get into in a moving vehicle on a tour and never really ends. Anyway, a cool b-side from the legendary Suicide.

Birthday Party – Kathy’s Kisses: Nick The Stripper on the A-side of this 12”. Kathy’s Kisses shares the B-side with Blundertown. The 7” version only has Blundertown on the b-side. All three of these songs are great as well as the album the A-side came from, Prayers On Fire. We have played the Birthday Party on this show before and I am sure a great many of you Fanatics are well familiar with the band. If you want my opinion, I think all the Birthday Party albums are great and worth checking out. I will also go farther to say that as they went, their records got better and better and their last, the Mutiny In Heaven EP is their best release. Flame on!

Thin Lizzy - Half Caste: Rocky is the A-side which is taken from the Johnny The Fox. This song addresses a painful topic in the late Phil Lynott’s life. Phil was half white and half black. In 1950’s Ireland, this could get you into some scraps and Phil certainly had his share. This rare track is easily found on the Vagabonds Kings Warriors Angels box set. It’s a 4CD box with the hits and rare stuff. If you’re a Lizzy Fanatic, you already have about 99% of the tracks. Lizzy recorded Half Caste for a John Peel Session. I just listened to both and I believe they are different versions.
The Ramones - It’s A Long Way Back: Here’s a great b-side. Many of you Fanatics are familiar with this song from the Road To Ruin album. This is an alternate version found on the flipside of the Do You Wanna Dance single. It’s also been included on the new edition of Road To Ruin. I don’t remember ever seeing the band play this song. It was one of my favorite songs on the album. A couple of years ago, I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers do a great version of this song at the Ramones 30th Anniversary Cancer Benefit.

Sham 69 - No Entry: Hurry Up Harry, taken from the That’s Life album, is the A side of the single. I always thought No Entry was a cool song. I guess Sham 69 had a hard time getting into America. Ian and I saw them play at Hurrah’s in 1979. The Reds opened. I don’t remember if they played this song that night but I know we had this song on a mix tape we were playing on the drive up. This song is easily found on the band’s singles CD comp. I really liked their first three records when I first got them many years ago. When I play them now, they feel a little dated but still pretty good. I never knew what to make of the band’s leader, Jimmy Pursey. I don’t know if he was for real or what. I hung out with JP many years ago and it was one of the stranger experiences of my short life.<br>
Gun Club – Nobody’s City: From the back of a 12” on Fundamental Records that share the b-side with a song called Crab Dance, the A-side is Breaking Hands, which is from the Mother Juno album where the song is listed as The Breaking Hands. This is one of my favorite Gun Club songs. Jeffrey Lee Pierce, the band’s main man, was a brilliant lyricist. I think he captured the feelings of loneliness, isolation and displacement really well. Perhaps from living all over the world as he did. The title of the song makes me think of driving around in Los Angeles or the trip back to the house from the airport. It’s not the kind of place I could ever call home. Anyway, another great Gun Club song.

B-52s – 52 Girls: This is the b-side of what I believe is their first single that came out before they were signed to Warner Brothers. Ian was the first person I knew who had this record and this was the first time I heard the band. Rock Lobster was on the A-side. Both are alternate versions to the album and really good. I think this will always be my favorite song by this band. I only have the first two albums of this band. By the time their 3rd album came out, I was too angry all the time to listen to them. I know that’s stupid. Ah, youth.

The UK Subs - I'm Waiting For The Man: The UK Subs as you know are one of my favorite bands of all time. This song had the mighty Warhead as the A-side. When bands cover Lou Reed, they always give it their best but it doesn’t always come off. Eater’s version is pretty cool but the Subs went at it with true b-side what the hell attitude and they rip it up! Great band, great b-side! Here’s all the different pressings of this single I am aware of:
Warhead / The Harper / I'm Waiting For The Man - GEM (brown vinyl)
Warhead / The Harper / I'm Waiting For The Man - GEM (black vinyl) (A label promo)
Warhead / The Harper / I'm Waiting For The Man - RCA (Germany)
Warhead / The Harper / I'm Waiting For The Man - RCA (France)
Warhead / The Harper / I'm Waiting For The Man - (Acetate)

Prince – Scarlet Pussy: I don’t know much about the Prince b-sides. I am sure there’s a ton of them. I do remember there was a CD comp. of them and I listened to the version of this song that was on there and it didn’t sound like it was the same one. I sourced this from a 3” CD single I got in Germany many years ago. There was a time when these were coming out all the time. I have them from Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys as well. The A-side of this single is I Wish U Heaven Parts 1 – 3.

Public Enemy – Son Of Public Enemy: This track is taken from a 4 track 12” on DefJam I found in London many years ago. The tracks are: Public Enemy No. 1 vocal and instrumental and Timebomb / Son Of Public Enemy (Flavor Whop Version.) I have never seen this on any Public Enemy best of. This track is a great b-side, with Flavor Flav just going off. If you liked the way the basic track sounds, it’s pretty easy to find the original. Public Enemy basically took The JB’s track Blow Your Head and rapped over it. On the first two Public Enemy albums, Yo! Bum Rush The Show! and It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, they sample so much James Brown, it’s not to be believed.

The Misfits – Rat Fink: A three song 7”. Night Of The Living Dead on the A-side and Where Eagles Dare and Rat Fink on the flip. This would have made a great play for our EP of the week. It sounds like the band wrote this one very quickly and were just having some fun and that’s why I chose this song in particular, it’s in the true b-side spirit. I bought my copy for three dollars in the year it came out, 1979 from Skip Groff at the mighty Yesterday & Today Records. The Misfits Central site says there were 2000 pressed and it was released 10-31-79. 1979 was a strange, wonderful and simultaneously painful year for me. No different than anyone else’s period of change and upheaval, I guess. One of the revelations of that year was when September rolled around and I didn’t go to school as I had graduated earlier that year. I still remember feeling relieved and distracted at the same time. I had been going to school for so many years, it’s what I knew to do in September and then all of a sudden it’s a whole new deal and there was part of me that missed the safety of going to school as much as the experience had been a really bad for me. Music was a huge part of that transition into the young adult world and that’s probably why this music still resonates so much with me. Bands like The Misfits, The Ramones, The Clash—they were all part of that time. Freedom Rock you might say. There are many aspects of those times I miss or at least remember with a certain degree of fondness. A lack of options and knowledge of the world allows the narcotic of ignorance, that’s as best as I can sum it up. It was a nice bubble to live in for a few weeks and then it’s time to figure out rent and all the rest. Thankfully the music was there.

The Big Bopper – Chantilly Lace: I put this into our mix tonight because it’s historically interesting. Besides that, I always liked The Big Bopper for his talent and spirit and always respected his place in American Music history. As you know, he was one of the people who went down in the plane crash that also took Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens (Valenzuela) 02-03-59, otherwise known as The Day The Music Died. Anyway, besides being a cool song, you’re probably thinking that this was an A-side that was worked to radio and jukeboxes. Nope. It was the b-side, at least it was for a part of 1958. The A-side was a novelty song called The Witch Doctor Meets The Purple People Eater, having fun with the Sheb Wooley song. Chantilly Lace is the song the DJs were playing though so at some point, the single was re-released with Chantilly Lace as the A-side and got into the Top Ten, making him a real star. The big man was gone a few months later. What a loss.

The Sods - Military Madness: The Sods were a great band. Their album Minutes To Go is a Punk classic. This was the one b-side from the record. Album track Television Sect is the A-side. You don’t see this one around very often. It’s on the CD of the album that has been released by Medley Records. I got my copy from the bass player Knud in 1984 I think. The band went through a name change and called themselves Sort Sol, released some really great records, several tracks we have played on our show here and went on to have a great deal of success. Somewhere around here, I have a picture of myself and all them together from a festival in 1997.

Iggy Pop - Pretty Flamingo: Interesting period for James Osterberg, otherwise known as Iggy Pop, the true King Of Rock And Roll. The New Values album was released in 1979. The album marks the departure of post-Stooges Iggy from under the wing of David Bowie, who for better or worse, became associated with Iggy for his contributions to The Idiot album. New Values was produced by James Williamson, Raw Power era Stooges guitar player and who also worked with Iggy on the Kill City album. New Values is one of my favorite Iggy solo albums. Songs like I’m Bored and Girls are great and also, the single off the album Five Foot One, which Pretty Flamingo was the b-side. Recently released on CD when New Values and Soldier were both remastered. I was asked to do the liner notes to both CDs and passed, knowing I didn’t have what it took to write about those records and not wanting to incur the wrath if I got it wrong. I love both these records because they bring out many different angles of Jim/Iggy. He’s a brilliant, funny, dangerous and incredibly sincere guy and these albums show that. I wish he’d make another record like these two. I like it when the producer pushes Iggy to sing because he can really do it.
Ozzy Osbourne - Party With The Animals: This was the b-side with Mama, I’m Coming Home on the A-side. The song is great and so was the No More Tears album but with a band this big on a label as big as Sony, I don’t think they sat around and thought about what songs would be cool for a b-side. It’s more a matter of product on the shelves when you’re moving units by the truckload. This song is cool but it’s not as good as anything that’s on the album itself so it was relegated to b-side status I think. Still, it’s a cool one.

Skrewdriver - 19th Nervous Breakdown: As always, one has to write in the disclaimer and also to warn anyone who likes this band. Here it goes again. When this band was signed to Chiswick Records, they recorded the All Skrewed Up album and a couple of singles of great quality. Then Ian Stewart, the vocalist either became a white power racist guy or let that particular aspect of his nature out of the bag. I think at that point, most of the band bailed and he kept the band name and released a steady stream of the most awful racist rock. Before that though, the album and singles were really, really great. The A-side of this single was Anti-Social, damn good song. Here’s a write up on him and the band: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stuart_Donaldson