Imagine you were trading tapes of underground recordings with an excitable young punk in Southern England sometime around 1982. You sent them shitty live recordings of the hardcore bands playing basements and hall shows in your suburban shithole, and they sent you third generation demos of then unknown English bands you had never heard of. Maybe one of those tapes might have sounded like this...
ANTISOCIAL -
A little over half of the New Punks demo. Hard to believe this band still flies mostly under the radar. If nothing else, snag yourself a copy of the admittedly generic looking Made In England EP in your local shop. It's probably there, and it's probably less than $10.
NAKED -
This nine song demo from 1981 is probably the highlight of this tape. This came before the EP on Bluurg and features a chilling version of the chillingly appropriate "Mid 1930s / Pre-War Germany" which is one of my favorite punk tunes of the era.
SUBURBAN STUDS -
Three song Peel Session from 1977. Think EDDIE & THE HOT RODS and other power pop/mod crossover acts of the time.
RUBELLA BALLET -
Another Peel Session, one that suffers slightly from generational duplication. No introduction (should be) needed for RUBELLA BALLET, and this session includes: "My Love Life," "Newz," "Exit," "Death Train" and "Trial 13." I'm struck by how much this sounds like a punk incarnation of GIRLS AT OUR BEST, but also struck by the fact that I've never had that thought before.
Your friend in England hooked you up good with this tape. Hopefully you'll be returning the favor with a tape filled with bands from your area. Who knows, maybe you live in Michigan...and maybe NECROS are playing down the street next Thursday. You should probably take your tape recorded...just in case.
1 comment:
Most of that Naked demo was released on the Overground Records CD in 2007. The version of Mid 1930's-Pre War Germany is the same one as is on the V.A. Bullshit Detector vol. 2. The Suburban Studs Peel Session is only 2.5 songs of the whole thing. For decades this was the only version around but this summer the full four songs were posted on Youtube. The Rubella Ballet Peel is a bit of a mystery. It's listed on the Keeping It Peel website but the track list is different The first three songs are listed with a fourth song titled Blues. Death Train and Trial 13 aren't listed. Great session though, and my fave RB recording despite the roughness of the tape generations.
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