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Slinging tuneage like some fried or otherwise soused short-order cook

22 June 2024

Dog Save My Sole

 

I recently finished up a series called Glasgow Noise. I had a few vaguely associated groups (Joseph K, Jazzateers, Stinking Lizavets, etc.) that weren't from Glasgow so didn't really fit the billing. Still want to share them here so here's the first one...

Blurt was founded in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire by poet, saxophonist, & puppeteer Ted Milton along with Milton's brother Jake, formerly of the psychedelic group Quintessence & Eric Clapton Band on drums, & Peter Creese on guitar. Their music has been compared with James Chance, Captain Beefheart, Wild Man Fischer, the Pop Group, Tom Waits, or numberous other left-field avant-jazz icons, though their stripped-back, noisy, avant-garde sound continues to defy easy categorization.

After the initial line-up, personnel changes were common with Ted being the only permanent member. When original guitarist Creese left after three albums, he was replaced by Herman Martin, who was replaced a year later by Steve Eagles. Eagles has been a constant member from 1987 to present except for a four year span 1990-1994 when Chris Vine took over guitar duties.

Musician, poet, & self-confessed 'performance junkie' Ted Milton was a true Renaissance man: as a poet his work appeared in the Paris Review & Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain; as a puppeteer in the 70s he performed with Mr. Pugh's Puppet Theatre & the Blue Show; as well as supporting Ian Dury on tour in 1978. Ted also contributed a puppetry scene to Terry Gilliam's 1977 comic film Jabberwocky.

Blurt recorded a sparse demo tape at Jake's home in Stroud & sent a copy to Tony Wilson, head of Factory Records. Ted had done a puppetry performance on a Granada TV show So It Goes that Wilson produced,. Always looking for new Factory acts, Wilson used tracks from the tape as one side of the second Factory compilation, A Factory Quartet. The band made their debut on that compilation which they shared with The Durutti Column, Kevin Hewick, & The Royal Family and the Poor. 

 

Various - A Factory Quartet 2x12", Factory FACT 24, 1980.
all decryptions in comments

Side 1 -
For Mimi    
For Belgian Friends    
Self-portrait - The Durutti Column

Side 2 -
Rubble    
1940    
A Little Feeling
Forget    
Morphia
The Enchanted Kiss    
Haystack - Kevin Hewick

Side 3 -
Puppeteer    
Dyslexia    
Some Come    
Benighted - Blurt    

Side 4 -
Dirge 1    
Vaneigem Mix    
Dirge 2
Death Factory
Dirge 3    
Rackets - The Royal Family and the Poor 
 
 
 
 

About one of Blurt’s early live shows, a reviewer sez:
     "Jake Milton plays a small drumkit or rather half of it. He beats out the steady tribal rhythm on a snare and a closed hi-hat, adding a tom-tom and a crash cymbal for the last bar of each number. Pete Creese plays either rock guitar riffs like Duane Eddy on a tape loop, or a two-chord repeat; there's no bass. And Ted, who's a dead ringer for Tom Waits, goes berserk over the top, mostly with the aid of an alto sax. It's all-purpose chaos; it's brilliant."

On December 13, 1980 Blurt performed at the Free University in Berlin, a show billed as 'Rock Against Junk'. Also on the bill was Gang of Four, PVC, & others. The event was professionally recorded. This was scheduled to be released by Factory's European imprint Factory Benelux as Blurt's debut album, but continued delays & the fact that Blurt was not really "Factory" led Ted & Co. to find other outlets for the project. Thus the live set came out as a conventional eight track album, In Berlin, on Armageddon Records (ARM 6) in a memorable sleeve depicting pink bin bags. The album was released by Ruby Records in the US.
 
 
Blurt - In Berlin, Ruby Records JRR103, 1981.

Side 1 -
Cherry Blossom Polish    
My Mother was a Friend of an Enemy of the People    
Puppeteers of the World Unite!    
Dyslexia Rules

Side 2 -    
Get    
Tube Plane    
Paranoid Blues    
Ubu
 
 
 
 

In Berlin being a live recording, Blurt still had not released a true studio creation. Their self-titled debut studio album was recorded at Windrush Studios in Gloucestershire & released May 1982 on Red Flame Records (formerly Armageddon).
 
 
Blurt - Blurt, Red Flame RF6, 1982.

Picture Side -
Dog Save My Sole
Trees
Physical Fitness

Logo Side -
Empty Vessels
Play the Game
The Ruminant Plinth
Arthur

Next time: Bullets for You & beyond...

11 comments:

  1. Various - A Factory Quartet
    qnqVdhiuzHdayRifpbv5MrLr0HJNOmz7YA7IdQpApzw
    In Berlin
    _FukTMtX0Rjtaqa2N8xU80VRuFF2gz8onaV6wNdWgS4
    Blurt
    v-u2TR5MvwqDyJhOrG0fUJCyVzvjU2Vrh-_IGXqFn3Y

    ReplyDelete
  2. Typo, The factory quartet was not a double ten inch, it was a double 12 inch.
    I love this band Blurt. Thank You

    ReplyDelete
  3. SOOO good. I had a copy of the In Berlin LP but gave it to a guy who ran a puppet theater. Thanks Nathan! Fight the papier mache fight!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pulling some strings or sticking my hand where the sun don't shine, yessirree!

      Uncle Teddy forever.

      Delete
  4. brilliant!... thankyouTHANKYOU!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most welcome...two more segments to come.

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  5. It made my neighbor s cattle struggle for the hilltops more than once.
    That double ep is another rarity
    You always deliver
    Chèers
    Diego

    ReplyDelete
  6. My sister's phone, a nightmare to write in,
    Thankfully back home where I can type in the computer.
    Couldn't resist writing to you from BA-
    Hope all's well
    Big cheers from the south again and enjoying the vinyl bounty.
    Diego

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I use my computer exclusively. I hate modern telephones. I only own a dumb phone. Thanks for keeping touch even while vacationing. Alls well on this end.

      Delete