17 April 2024

Three Epics - Part Three: Pressure 1

The second group covered by Three Epics in this series is Pressure Drop & the musical partnership of Justin Langlands / Dave Henley. I intimated about this part in a post last month, No Pressure

 

 



In the late 80s & early 90s in many parts of the UK, illegal rave warehouse parties were combining bass/drum throbbing Dub with scratchy blues dance grooves & hip-hop beats to create a new sound. Mutual friend DJ Paul Guntrip enlisted Dave & Justin to play their eclectic selection of funk, soul, hip-hop, rap, reggae, early house, & film soundtracks at his Heavy Duty night in the Wag Club, London.

After some sampladelic garage singles, Pressure Drop released their first album, 1992s Upset. Upset was written, recorded, produced, & mixed between 1990-1991, in a rented room situated in a house near Ladbroke Grove, London, which was used by the independent record company Big World as offices. It consisted of an intro, an outro, & 11 full tracks featuring six guest vocalists including performances by Joanna Law, the sister of Simon Law who played piano with Soul to Soul; Mark Cornell, who later formed the band Sunchilde; & Rob Gallagher/Constantine Weir of Galliano; with Paul Daley, co-founder of Leftfield on percussion alongside saxophonist Scott Garland & jazz trumpet player Gerard Presencer.

The album was licensed from Big World but due to an unfortunate business situation it was only released in Germany, Austria & Switzerland on Boombastic Records. Later that year Logic Records licensed it, releasing a limited number of copies in the UK as a double 12" vinyl format.

 

Pressure Drop - Upset, Boombastic Records LP 212 040, 1992.
decryption codes in comments

Side A (Other Side) -        
Intro    
You're Mine
Everything Will Be Alright Tomorrow
Big Noise    
The Gardener
Gotta Make it Home
I'm Your Fool

Side B (This Side) -
Nice Touch
Groove Me
Spirits Fall
People Shall Govern
Back2Back
Outro
 
 
 
 

1993s Front Row suffered the same fate as Upset & was only released in the same rather more forward thinking G.A.S. territories.
 
 
Pressure Drop - Front Row, Marlboro Music MRO 8735-2, 1993.

Call to Service    
Unify    
Symptom    
Nice Up the Area    
Running    
Wake Up the Minds
Souls of the City
Dreams
Mmmnn    
A to Z    
Mindless Games
Looking for a Life
Legacy    
After the Storm
 
 
 
 

Enjoy,

9 comments:

  1. Upset
    BNhJHLrn28wWqV64dOARzZmScCZmgUQF-seQskVSmhA
    Front Row
    dGx2bMf5MU2hz87fUT6wH2Iov0frteMNkNTMxtbY6Kc

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  2. Still incognito. As I slip into password locked senility. Thanks for this, Brer NØ. An education.

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    Replies
    1. I have amassed a rather large collection of mainly older tv and cinema soundtracks, interestingly, so I am intrigued to guess as to what was in the pair’s working bag of tricks. The biographical detail in your introduction rings lots of bells. Which prompts this thought on a tangent: just who are The Residents, while we’re juggling (co)incidentals? All this before I’ve even begun to decompress the.rar…

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    2. Since his death October 30, 2018, it has been basically acknowledged that Hardy Fox was the only “official” member of The Residents, probably also known as Chuck Bobuck. Homer Flynn (head of Cryptic Corporation) is the other prime candidate for “official” Resident.

      Probable early members -
      Also Cryptic Corporatio members Jay Clem (supplying occasional vocals on “Whoopy Snorp” & others [perhaps as the mysterious N. Senada]) & John Kennedy.

      Associated performers -
      Philip Lithman aka Snakefinger
      Pamela Zelback (vocalist early Redidents)
      Joshua Brody (Raoul N. Di Seimbole)
      Nolan Cook (of I am Spoonbender) - probably Bob
      Carlos Cadona (early Dead Kennedys second guitarist & Randy, Chuck, & Bob era member)
      Phillip Perkins (Assorted Secrets/The Mole Show era [1979-1987] Resident)

      plus a host of others: Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Nessie Lessons, Carla Fabrizio, Toby Dammit, Gerri Lawlor, Eric Drew Feidman & many many more. It takes a village to make The Residents.

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    3. Thank you, Nathan - ib

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    4. Most welcome, dear brother. I stop by the bleachers whenever I have a few free moments & have been reading over past items, reacquainting myself with missed old friends. Stay true.

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  3. Thanks. something unknown to try out

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  4. More goodness! Thanks NO!

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