19 December 2016

Back in Style Hot We Hot Roots Radics 2-fer



From 1989, Roots Radics roots reggae & Dub. I left Hot We Hot in its original playing order, adjusted Hot We Hot Dub so that the songs match up. Taken from: Roots Radics – Hot We Hot, Real Authentic Sound RAS 3045C, 1989 & Roots Radics – Hot We Hot Dub, ROIR (Reachout International Records) A-171, 1989.

Roots Radics – Hot We Hot & Dub
decryption code in comments

tracklist –

1-2 Hot We Hot / Dub
3-4 Mix Me Up / Dub
5-6 Joy to the World / Dub
7-8 Shuffle the Deck / Reshuffle Dub
9-10 Me For You / Dub
11-12 Don’t Turn Me Down / Dub
13-14 Book of Love / Dub
15-16 Watch Your Step / Dub
17-18 Come Out of We Land / Dub
19-20 Nice to Be with You / Dub

Enjoy,

18 December 2016

The Babylon Saga: the Sequel – Babylon A'falling (by popular vote)


The End of an American Dream…

…so, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

& did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
& did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage? 




The End of an American Dream – Lee 'Scratch' Perry
Mash Down Babylon (with the Chosen Brothers) – Rhythm & Sound
Babylon Dub 1 – Paul Fox
Bad Minded Dub – Leroy Smart
A Living Version – The Aggrovators
Crazy World – Panda Dub
Babylon Attack – Far East Band
Dub Struggle – Vibronics
Take Cover – Israel Vibration
Settle Babylone – Winston McAnuff & the Bazbaz Orchestra
Babylon Fall Dubwize – Negritage
Sufferation Dub – Brain Damage / Vibronics
Babylonia – Pressure Dub Sound
Babylon Dub 2 – Augustus Pablo
Dub Mi Nuh Babylon – Ackboo
Babylon River Dub – Alien Dread
Chant Down the Walls of Babylon – Social Living Sound
National Style – Little Axe
Burning Babylon Down Vibes – Akila Barrett & the Wailers Band
Babylon Dub 3 – Vibronics
House of Sin (remix) – Lee 'Scratch' Perry
War Zone – Sly & Robbie
Darkest Night Version – The Chuckles





Money is not Our God (Babylon Dub) – Killing Joke
Stop & Frisk – Ted Sirota / Scientist
You Lie Dub – King Culture
Fuck the Racists (Cosmopolitan mix) – Anima Sound System
No Government – Iries in Roots
Tribulation Dub – Mafia & Fluxy
War & Crime Dub – Val Dawa (Dawa Hifi)
Dub Missiles Against NWO – Miniman
Hypocrisy Dub (live Version) – Soul Majestic
Stop the Dub Fight – Leroy Smart
Mugger in the Hi-Wah – Soferno B
To Be Rich Should Be a Crime – Jeb Loy Nichols
Hazard Dub – Aldubb
Dub Over Evil (featuring Murray Man) – Miniman
De System – Mutabaruka
Police Brutality Dub – Fred Locks
Gun Too Hot – Dub Syndicate
Dub the Government – Sly & Robbie
Stop Your Lying Dub – Alpha & Omega
Empire’s Falling – Dub Syndicate
Radical Intruder – Black Out
I Shot the Sheriff Dub – The Wailers
Dub in the Time of War – S.O.J.A. (Soldiers of Jah Army)





Days Ain't Bright (Gary Clunk remix) – Ackboo featuring Horace Andy
Dubbing Against Oppression – Fred Locks
Healing of the Nations – Roots Tonic meets Bill Laswell
Dub Mightier Than the Sword – Alpha & Omega
Warrior in the Dub – Dub Engine
Throw Down Your Gun – Dub Syndicate
Break Free Dub – Yami Bolo
Dub Revolution (Raw Shaka mix) – The Disciples
Dub Freedom – Michael Rose
Tear Down the Walls – Black Roots
Throw Away Your Guns/Whatchagonadoonthejudgementday – Suns of Arqa (featuring Prince Far I)
Rastafari Army – Brother Culture
Declaration of Peace – Miniman
Dub Revolution - Dub Presidents
Sounds of Freedom – The Rootsman
Underprivileged Dub – Leroy Smart
Heal the Nation Dub – Scientist
Struggle Dub – Black Roots
Warrior Dub – Celt Islam (featuring the Renegade Sufi)
None Shall Escape the Dubment – Johnny Clarke
Where from Here – Little Axe
We Need a Solution – Tokyo Tower
I Wish You Were Here – Alpha Blondy
 


A 23 Skidoo Joint Drop,
 

10 December 2016

Staying in Style



Roots Radics - Eric 'Bingy Bunny' Lamont & Dwight Pickney – guitar;  Gladstone Anderson – piano; Wycliffe 'Steely' Johnson – organ; Dean Fraser & Ronald 'Nambo' Robinson – horns; Errol 'Flabba' Holt – bass; Christopher 'Sky Juice' Blake – percussion; & Lincoln Valentine 'Style' Scott – drums. Mixed & recorded at Channel One by Scientist in 1982.


Roots Radics – Radicfaction, Cha Cha Music CHALP0012, 1982.
decryption code in comments

Side A –
Weep & Wail
Gunman
Radicfaction
Inforce'a
Road Block

Side B –
Babylon Armed
Dread in Confrontation
Changes
M16
Judgement Time

Babylon armed & reloaded,

05 December 2016

The True Dub Style






Dub in Style is an eleven track dub album celebrating the memory of Lincoln 'Style' Scott, legendary drummer of the Roots Radics band who was brutally murdered in his home last year. All the riddims on Dub in Style were recorded with Style Scott at Tuff Gong Recording Studios in Kingston, Jamaica.


Zion I Kings – Dub in Style: A Zion I Kings Tribute to Style Scott,
Lustre Kings Productions, 2016.
decryption code in comments

tracklist –

JAH Mercy Dub (feat. Ziggi Recardo, Earl Sixteen, & Taranchyla)
Cold War Dub (feat. Jahdan Blakkamoore & Lutan Fyah)
Generation Again Dub (feat. Akae Beka)
Sweetest Thing Dub (Feat. Jahdan Blakkamoore)
Spare Change Dub
Dub for Ashes (feat. Akae Beka)
Snow Hill Dub (feat. Sara Azriel)
Dutchie Dub (feat. Glen Washington & Chet Samuel)
For the Children Dub (feat. Kabaka Pyramid & Jahdan Blakkamoore)
Dub a Warriah (feat. Akae Beka)
Nothing No Wrong Dub (feat. Pressure Busspipe & Akae Beka)

Priors Lincoln,

04 December 2016

Minty



So we’ve kept up with Mark Stewart since Pop Group…with the Maffia & solo projects. Now we’ve had an in-depth view of Gareth Sager. But what of Bruce Smith? I’m not going into as much detail as the truly informative four-part saga from Jonder. I’m just too much a lazy sod, so I’m just lumping this stuff all together. It is, however, a great listen. Tried to accentuate the beats, man. I stuck some great Vivian Stanshall featuring drums via Bruce in the mix as an additional treat.

Here goes…





The Pop Group 1.0 – Mark Stewart, Gareth Sager, Simon Underwood [until he left to join Pigbag then Dan Catsis], John Waddington, & Bruce Smith.

The Slits – (Ari Up lead vocals, keyboards, & percussion, Viv Albertine guitar, vocals, Tessa Pollitt bass, & Bruce drums & percussion – Dennis Bovell 2,3,4,6,7 Dick O’Dell others)

New Age Steppers -

African Head Charge -

PiL -

Rip Rig & Panic -

Float Up CP -

Playgroup –

Vivian Stanshall (kinda 67%)
This record was recorded on 8 track equipment during August Bank Holiday 1983 in All Saints Road London W11.

Plus various one-offs –

Terence Trent D’Arby
The The
Björk
Sweetback

Recently Bruce has been pounding the skins for both PiL & The Pop Group again.

PiL 3.0

The Pop Group today: Mark Stewart – vocals; Gareth Sager – guitar, saxophone, & keyboards; Dan Catsis – bass guitar; & Bruce Smith – drums, percussion.



tracklist –

3’38 (She is Beyond Good & Evil 7")
Thief of Fire (Y)
Amnesty International Report (We are All Prostitutes 7")
Where There’s a Will (The Slits/The Pop Group split 7")
Rob a Bank (For How Much Longer do We Tolerate Mass Murder?)
God Problems Communism (live)
Hotter than 1000 Suns (live) (Idealists in Distress from Bristol 2xCD) – The Pop Group 1.0
Earthbeat (Return of the Giant Slits) – The Slits
Animal Space (The New Age Steppers)
My Love (My Love 7")
Painstaker (Threat to Creation) – New Age Steppers
In a Trap (Environmental Studies) – African Head Charge
Open & Revolving (Happy?)
Same Old Story (9) – PiL
Shadows Only There Because of the Sun (God 2xLP)
Go Go Go (This is It) (Go, Go, Go! (This is It) 7")
Take a Don Key to Mystery (I am Cold 2xLP)
Storm the Reality Asylum (extended mix) (Storm the Reality Asylum)
Sunken Love (Attitude) – Rip Rig & Panic
Ghost Train Drive (Kill Me in the Morning) – Float Up CP
Going Overdrawn (Epic Sound Battles-Chapter Two) – Playgroup
Sir Henry at Ndidi’s Kraal pt. 1
Sir Henry at Ndidi’s Kraal pt. 2
Sir Henry at Ndidi’s Kraal pt. 3 – Vivian Stanshall
Seven More Days (Introducing the Hardline...) – Terence Trent D’Arby
Helpline Operator (Dusk) – The The
Crying (Debut) – Björk
Things You’ll Never Know
Circles (Stage [2]) – Sweetback
One Drop (This Is PiL 2xLP)
Spice of Choice (What the World Needs Now…) – PiL now
Box 9 (Citizen Zombie)
Instant Halo
Days like These (Honeymoon on Mars) – Pop Group 2.0

Enjoy,





03 December 2016

CHAPTER FOUR: GARETH SAGER GETS BENT



Gareth Sager and Davy Henderson have had similar careers.  Both are veterans of influential post-punk bands (Henderson helmed the Fire Engines).  Both took a shot at the pop charts (Sager with Head, and Henderson with his trio Win).  Each then forged his own eclectic path (Henderson with The Nectarine No.9, and Sager with Pregnant and CC Sager).   Both have been deeply influenced by the "formal eccentricities" of Sun Ra and Captain Beefheart.  

Gareth Sager joined The Nectarine No. 9 for two albums.  Henderson sang three songs on Sager's solo album, Slack Slack Music.  The Nectarine No. 9 performed CC Sager's "Johnny Bristol Flu" during their recent reunion shows, and they once covered Head's "Tiger Tiger" (see Chapter 1).




"That guitar player from Bristol, the one who used to be in Head" was poet Jock Scot's collaborator on The Caledonian Blues, just as "Davy fucking Henderson" and the NN9 backed Jock Scot on his debut album, My Personal Culloden.  Sager and Scot performed a cover of Cockney Rebel's "Faith Healer" with a band called Port Sulphur.   Jock Scot died this year, and a documentary on his life called "Services To Rock And Roll" is in the making.

Much of Sager and Henderson's music was released by The Creeping Bent Organisation:  Slack Slack Music, CC Sager's The Last Second Of Normal Time, the Port Sulphur single. and several records by the NN9 and Henderson's current band The Sexual Objects.

In 2010, Gareth Sager reunited with his Pop Group bandmates Mark Stewart, Bruce Smith, and Dan Catsis.  The quartet released an album of new songs last year, and another this year.  Sager continues to perform with Davy Henderson and other Creeping Bent confederates, sometimes backing Vic Godard.  This brings us to the present day, and the closing chapter of our Sager saga.



Tracklist -
 Silver Street Blues (with Jock Scot)
On Fire Stickers (with The Nectarine No.9)
Misunderstanding (with Jock Scot)
The Unfunkadelic (with the NN9)
Trip to Butlins (with Jock Scot)
Pong Fat 6 (with the NN9)
Winching Advice (with Jock Scot)
It's Raining for Some Cloudy Reason (with the NN9)
Blues in the Company of Angels (with Jock Scot)
(sic) (with the NN9)
Grunge Girl Groan (Jock Scot complains about Sager)
The Faith Healer (Port Sulphur feat. Jock Scot & Gareth Sager)
Dollar Hungry (with Davy Henderson)
Not Since the Accident (with Davy Henderson)
Her Saucepan is Rouge (with Davy Henderson)
The Johnny Bristol Flu (The NN9 covers CC Sager)
S.O.P.H.I.A. (The Pop Group)
Shadow Child (The Pop Group)
City of Eyes (The Pop Group)
War Inc. (The Pop Group)
Burn Your Flag (The Pop Group)

Thaaats All, Folks,
jonder

Don the Mask : These are the Conscious Sounds



Next will be the fourth installment of the Gareth Sager Saga(r). & yes, I'm going to see Pere Ubu next Wednesday. Fiddling while Rome burns. WTF!!!

Anonymous – Anonymous in Dub, Conscious Sounds AN01, 2015.
decryption code in comments

Side A –
We Are Anonymous
Hacktivist Dub
Guy Fawkes
Freedom of Speech
Cyber Surveillance

Side B –
Man Without a Head
Decentralized Dub
Cyber Attack
No Leadership
Disambiguation Dub

We are Legion,
we do not forgive,
we do not forget,
expect us,

ANØN

19 November 2016

Babylon Arising : The Musickal . . . A Law of Five Production




The Richest Man in Babylon – Thievery Corporation
The Election Pt. 1 – Andy Fairley
Babylon’s Burning – The Ruts
Downpressor Man – Sinéad O’Connor
Babylon – King Kong
Move Out Babylon Rastaman – Johnny Clarke
Immigrant Dub – Prince Jammy
Leave Babylon – Prince Far I
Babylon Blow Down – King Tubby
Stop Oppression Now – King Tubby
Babylone a Fall (12” mix) – The Prophets
March Down Babylon – The Wackies Rhythm Force & the Chosen Brothers
Edge of No Control Pt 1 – Meat Beat Manifesto
Laughing Babylon – Fat Man Riddim Section
Babylon Insight – Dubaphonic
Go to Hell Dub – Twinkle Brothers
Babylon Yard Dub – King Tubby featuring Johnny Clarke
Babylon Spanking – The Wackies Rhythm Force & Johnny Clarke
The Paranoia of Power – Mark Stewart
Keep Cool Babylon – Ras Michael & the Sons of Negus
Rivers of Babylon – Charlie Hunter, Chinna Smith, & Ernest Raglin
War Mongers – Bim Sherman
War In A Babylon – Max Romeo



Walking Through Babylon – Thievery Corporation
A Nation Responds – Andy Fairley
Burning Babylon – Burning Babylon
False Leader – Gary Clail
Babylon 1 – African Disciples
Dreads Leaving Babylon – Tommy McCook & the Supersonics
Shackles & Chains – Earl Zero & the Soul Syndicate
Babylon De Pon Fire – Truth, Fact, & Correct
Babylon Falling – The Heptones
Who Pays the Piper – Gary Clail
Babylon a Fall – King Burnett
Down Here in Babylon – Brent Dowe
Edge of No Control Pt 2 – Meat Beat Manifesto
Mistry Babylon Dub – The Heptones
Babylon System – Audley Rollens
Wicked Kingdom – Noah House of Dread
Dub the (Cramp Babylon) Plan – Rockers All Stars
Tear Down Babylon – Dan I Locks featuring Indica Dubs
The Noose is Getting Tighter – Gary Clail
Chant Down Babylon Kingdom (12” mix) – The Prophets w/ Trinity
Ashes of Babylon – Burning Babylon
Nuclear Weapon – Prince Far I
War Ina Babylon (alternative Dub) – Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry & the Upsetters



Illusion of the Revolution – My Neighbor Is
Dub in Babylon – Stud AllStars
Babylon (Chapter 5) – Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry & the Upsetters
Get Lost Babylon (12” mix) – Yabby You
Train to Doomsville – Lee Perry & Dub Syndicate
Leaving Babylon Dub – King Tubby & Soul Syndicate
Babylon Falling Dub – The Heptones
Shall Not Dwell in Wickedness – Prince Far I
Babylon Shall Fall – Jah Warrior
Down in a Babylon (unreleased alternate cut) – Johnny Clarke
Slipping into Darkness (vocal Dub) – Black Uhuru
Beat Down Babylon – Junior Byles
Mystery Babylon – The Heptones
Babylon Ambush – Dubkasm
No Alternative (but to Fight) – Dub Syndicate
Stop the War Ina Babylon – The Upsetters featuring James Brown
Babylon Police Thief Dub – Augustus Pablo & the Upsetters
I Shot the President – Joe Gibbs & the Professionals
Blood of Babylon (unreleased Dubplate mix) – Barrington Spence
WW3 – Junior Delgado
Babylon’s Burning – Scratch, Maxie, & Niney
The Election pt 2 – Andy Fairley
The Richest Man in Babylon (GCORP Dub remix)

Bun Dung di Bumboclot,

13 November 2016

Make Amerikkka Break Again




Pussy Riot - Make America Great Again

11 November 2016

Like Hunter S., Leonard Knew it Was Time to Go





Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long-stem rose
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah, when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

Adios!




07 November 2016

Deliver Us, Jah



10 Ft. Ganja Plant – Bass Chalice,
ROIR Reachout International Records RUSCD8294, 2005.
decryption code in comments

tracklist –

Blood Money
Engine Trouble
Last Dance
Suits & Ski Masks
To Each (featuring The Meditations)
Burning James
Your Voice
Swedish Prison
Deliver Us Jah
Bass Chalice

Enjoy,

30 October 2016

MIA

I realize my presence around here has been minimal as of late. I know everyone is waiting for the next Chapter of the Gareth Sager saga with bated breath. It will be appearing here post haste, but I want to let you all know what I’ve been doing with my time.

Any of you who are regulars to NSS probably know that I used to edit a ‘zine called EAT POOP! with a rag-tag punch o’ punks in the late 80s/early 90s in San Jose,CA. We tried to support the punk musick scene, reviewing bands & releases of local artists as well as putting on shows at various venues, giving the acts a stage to present their mayhem.

By the late 90s, San JoHaze was going through the usual fuck-punk gentrification that its Silicon Valley wealth was financing. One by one bands & friends left the cesspool for hopefully greener pastures. We pulled the plug on EAT POOP! & me & mine moved to Sacramento to pursue more agricultural ventures.

Fast forward to 2016.


Food King (this time in the guise of War Baby), original EAT POOP! co-founder, artist & musickian, now living in Austin, TX decided it would be a fitting punishment for San Jose to have a reunion show of his band, the ByProducts at one of our ol' watering holes.





I dreamt up the idea of reviving EAT POOP! with a special edition. The venue was procured, the Caravan Lounge, & the date was finalized, October 22. The line-up was: Talky Tina, Bombs for Whitey, & The ByProducts with poetry slam by Frank Bella (who also drew the poster below).



So for most of September & October leading up to that glorious night, nearly every free moment I had went into said project.

The following is an article that appeared in the San Jose newspaper The Metro, penned by staff writer & long-time friend Gary Singh.




The ‘zine came together without too many missteps. The bands, though geographically challenged, managed to get in enough practice time to play top-notch sets. It was a chance for us all to revisit old friends we had not seen in years. A great time was had by all. (If ya wanna see or hear some of it, try https://www.facebook.com/events/1565289477112291 or search on youtube).



I Don’t Need a Reason
1995
No Respect
Standing on My Head
Everything Comes & Goes
All My Heroes are Dead
Lost Generation
In My Head
Some Things Never Change
Tightrope



Terri
Smarter than Me
Two Notes
Grow Up
Shopping at Lucky’s
Good Day
Santa Cruz (1989)
Food King
To Me
Bottom’s Up
Shifting Gears
Fat
Santa Cruz (1990)
Suicide
Waste

Enjoy,


CHAPTER THREE: GARETH SAGER GETS PREGNANT





Rich Beale formed a band called Apache Dropout after Head broke up, and recorded an album for Postcard Records in 1993, but it went unreleased.  Abandoning both his commercial aspirations and his sanity, Beale rejoined Gareth Sager in a new band called Pregnant, and they produced a 1997 album called Unusual Lover.  Jonathan Seal ("the sixth Head") was a member of Pregnant, as was Dave Hunter.   

"I've been very unwell," Beale confesses, "in the rock and roll sense of the word."  Head's lyrics had mostly been written by Sager; but in Pregnant, Beale indulged his gift for loony lyrical improvisation.   He rambles about John Cooper Powys, Biggie Smalls, and Gary U.S. Bonds, and begs Bono to "leave Eno alone".   

One reviewer wrote that listening to Beale is "like being locked up in a padded cell with someone who can mimic the voices of a thousand rock stars."   Another wrote, "Explaining the charms of Pregnant would be rather like explaining a magic trick -- it can only cheapen it."  Pregnant delivered a wide-ranging repetoire of rock, reggae, funk and suave R&B balladry.  The influence of sea shanties is once again evident in "O'Cassey's Minibar".

The last three songs are from Rich Beale's group Apache Dropout, his trip-hop duo Receiver (1996-2001), and the band Applecraft (2000-2004).  Beale adopted the alias Don Mandarin in Applecraft, and released a Don Mandarin solo album in 2000 called This Was Quo Country.  Sager soldiered on post-partum with a new group of comrades.


tracklist –

Refuel at Hamburg 
The Romance of Rock
Higher Type of Mind 
O'Cassey's Minibar
Wicked Tongue
Moodmaster
Rock of Rice Scum
Fallen for Bowey
Red West Coast Sunsets
Electric God
Bono Leave Eno Alone
Bewigged Unmarried Bizarre Car
It's Time for the Plants to Talk
God's Chosen Language
Francis (by Apache Dropout)
O'Driscoll's Curse (by Receiver)
The Benefactor (by Applecraft)

Enjoy,
jonder





07 October 2016

CHAPTER TWO: GARETH SAGER GETS CC'ed



After the breakup of Head, "Sager didn’t spend all the 90’s hoovering and changing nappies," according to Bristol Archives.  “HEY DAD WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE 90’s?” one of Sager's sons asked.  “EAT TRIPE HOP AND EXCRETE BRIT PLOP, SON,” he replied.  Massive Attack and Portishead had set sail from Bristol, and Brittania's airwaves were ruled by the "lad rock" of Oasis.   

Sager produced and played on a 1990 Rough Trade release by singer/songwriter Craig Davies called Groovin' On A Shaft Cycle, along with Head guitarist Nick Sheppard and RR&P drummer Steve Noble (who has since become a prolific jazz drummer). 

Sager adopted the name CC Sager for a 1991 EP called "Fats Hustles The Pros and Cons".   Bristol Archives later included that track on a digital CC Sager collection called Hey, Dad What Do Poets Eat For Tea?  Pork and Opium Son, Pork and Opium.  Dave Hunter played bass, and Steve Noble manned the drums.  Head's Rich Beale sings two of the songs.




A second CC Sager set on Bristol Archives, called Prophylactic Fingertips, Cherry Lips & Other Unsung Songs, is less bluesy and more introspective than What Do Poets Eat For Tea

The Creeping Bent label released the third CC Sager album, The Last Second Of Normal Time, on CD in 2003.  Susie Hug of the band Katydids sang on the album.  She was married to Katydids/CC Sager bassist Dave Hunter.  

In 2006, Creeping Bent issued a digital album (under Gareth Sager's own name) called Slack Slack Music.  Davy Henderson sings three of the songs, and the spirit of Beefheart is at play.  The final track on this compilation ("So Fired Up") sounds like a classic Head song of drunken celebration.


tracklist –

01 Fats Hustles The Pros and Cons
02 I Took It As Gospel
03 Hey Freaky Don't Paint It Blue
04 Roman Rust On the Out of Town Bus
05 Drive After Midnight
06 Keeping The Dancefloor Warm
07 Blown Bridges Blues – from Hey, Dad What Do Poets Eat For Tea?

08 Coming Out Of The Fifteenth Round
09 Beyond My Fathers Charms
10 Deathbed Lullaby – from Prophylactic Fingertips, Cherry Lips and Other Unsung Songs

11 The Johnny Bristol Flu
12 Honeypot Swarm
13 Hanging Lo With The Hi Waisters
14 Dumping My Roller Once The Ashtrays Are Full – from The Last Second of Normal Time

15 King Tubby In His Kitchen
16 Me The Broken Stink And The Piccadilly Kid
17 Hot Hits Vol. 27
18 So Fired Up – from Slack Slack Music

Enjoy,
Jonder

04 October 2016

Mish Mash





First off, by request…

Alvarius B & Cerberus Shoal – The Vim & Vigour of…, North East Indie NEI0027, 2002.
decryption codes in comments

tracklist –
Ding
Blood Baby
Viking Christmas – Alvarius B

Blood Baby
Viking Christmas
The Real Ding – Cerberus Shoal

A couple alternate versions of Leaving Rome (side two here) by Two Badcard that were not on the Hustling Ability release…

Two Badcard – Leaving Rome, On-U Sound ON-U DP 33, 1995

Side One –
Leaving Rome (vocal version)
Leaving Rome (trumpet version)

Side Two –
Leaving Rome (Dennis Alcapone DJ version)
Leaving Rome (melodica version)

Also, from Aston 'Family Man' Barrett…


Side A –
Family Man Skank

Side B –
Dub Combination


Lastly, after a revival in 2013, Chron Gen are back at it, touring & rippin’ it up. Search out this disc & purchase it for yourself. Their first in 28 years. Here’s a taste:

From Chron Gen – This is the Age

Ready to Overreact


bonus –

Chron Gen – Puppets of War 45rpm EP, Fresh Records FRESH 36, 1981.

Side A –
Mindless Few
Chronic Generation

Side B –
Lies
Puppets of War

Enjoy,

30 September 2016

CHAPTER ONE: GARETH SAGER GETS HEAD





After The Pop Group broke up, Gareth Sager and Pop Group drummer Bruce Smith formed Rip Rig & Panic with bassist Sean Oliver and pianist Mark Springer.  Neneh Cherry, Ari Up, and Sean Oliver's sister Andrea sang with RR&P.  Neneh Cherry and Bruce Smith married and had a daughter. Gareth Sager married Jeannette Lee (PiL), and they too started a family. Sean Oliver (who was mentioned in my Keith Levene post) had a daughter with Tessa Pollitt from the Slits.  

RR&P broke up after three LP's, but soon regrouped under a new name, Float Up CP, and recorded a 1984 album (Kill Me In The Morning) .  The following year, Neneh Cherry, Sean Oliver, and Bruce Smith (along with RRP saxman Dave Wright) made a one-off single without Gareth Sager called "Foot On The Rock" under the band name God Mother & Country (a nod to Rip Rig & Panic?)



Sager started a new band with guitarist Nick Sheppard (ex-Cortinas), and singer Rich Beale.  Beale had done the sleeve art for the Pop Group's single "We Are All Prostitutes" and the album Y.  They named their new group Head, and its members adopted pseudonyms:  Nick Sheppard became Candy Horsebreath (and sported a pair of assless chaps on the album cover).  Sager became Hank Sinclair. Rich Beale took the name of a Bristol landmark, Clevedon Pier.  On the next Head album, Clevedon Pier became Bertie Beale; Sager's new alias was Hamilton MacAdemical; and Sheppard was rechristened Chopper Harris.  

The port city of Bristol and the traditional songs of its sailors and fishermen were elemental to Head's music.   Head's debut album opens with a quote from "Molly Malone".  Mark Stewart from the Pop Group recalled in a recent interview, "As much as my punk roots, I grew up in blues dances and stuff, where people would just get on the mike and start shouting out nursery rhymes and sea shanties."   Head was a rock band, unlike Bristol's strident and abrasive Pop Group, or the wildly eclectic Rip Rig & Panic.   Big guitars, rock rhythms, and shout-along choruses, which were unabashedly silly, drunken and lusty. 
The first track on this compilation is a Float Up CP song that suggests where Sager was Headed. He sings,"Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, come here baby and give me some."  On the second track, "Rockin' Rich" Beale introduces each Head member by name (including bassist S.M.T. and drummer Plastic Bag).   Tracks 2 through 5 are from Head's 1987 debut,  A Snog On The Rocks.  Tracks 6 and 7 are demos (released in 2009 on Bottled Vintage XXX).  Tracks 8-14 are from 1988's Tales Of Ordinary Madness (1988).

Tracks 13-16 are from the last Head album (1989's Intoxicator), which was recorded with Michael Jonzun of the electrofunk Jonzun Crew.  The songs were accessible but unspirited.  Virgin Records didn't promote Intoxicator, and Head disbanded. "Head were a hard-living band, and if we hadn't split up, there would probably have been some funerals," Sager later told Melody Maker, "Towards the end of the group, one or two of us were very, er, ill."

Nick Sheppard was called up by Joe Strummer and Paul Simenon for The Clash's anticlimactic Cut The Crap.  Rich Beale formed a band called Apache Dropout. The adventures of Gareth Sager will continue in our next chapter.


tracklist –

M.A.D. –  Float Up CP
Crackers (Fer Yer Knackers)
The Captain, The Sailor & The Dirty Heartbreaker
Don't Wash Your Hair About It
I Can't Stop
Johnny Pulled On His Motorbike Boots (demo)
OK Brutus Sta-Pressed Power (demo)
Car's Outside (Joy-Ride Remix)
Get Fishy
Cheeky Little Monkey
Jesus Ain't Got A Daddy
32a 
Tiger Tiger
B'Goode or Be Gone
All The Boyz At War
Under The Influence of Books – Head
Tiger Tiger (cover version) – Paul Quinn and The Nectarine No. 9:

Enjoy,
Jonder