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,

NØ

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? 

ACT I: Babylon Eats its Young

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

ACT II: Money is Not Our God

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)

ACT III: A Flicker of (dim) Hope

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,

NØ

 

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,

NØ

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,

NØ

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.

Bruce Smith – Minty

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,

NØ

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.

Chapter Four: Gareth Sager Gets Bent:

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

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

ACT I – The Richest Man in Babylon...Has the Best Whores

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

ACT II – 100 Days

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

ACT III – Last Train to Doomsville

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,

NØ

Make Amerikkka Break Again

Pussy Riot - Make America Great Again

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!

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,

NØ

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).

Bombs for Whitey

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

The ByProducts

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,

NØ

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.

Gareth Sager – Gets Pregnant

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

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.

CC Sager – Hey Dad

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

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…

Aston 'Family Man' Barrett & the Rebel Arms – Family Man Skank b/w Dub Combination 7",
Cobra re-issue 2014 (recorded 1981).

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

track 4 –

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,

NØ

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.

Gareth Sager – Chapter One: Gareth Sager Gets Head

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