Sunday, July 31, 2011

The Rat and The Whale: Wheels on Fire (1980)


If you've even passing familiar with MRML, you're likely aware that this blogger had his musical taste warped by both Bob Dylan and The Clash in roughly equal measure. Hence why I'm always fascinated to find connections, however obscure, tenuous or badly-produced between Dylan and the broader movement I still insist on calling 'punk rock'.


In that spirit, here's an obscurity from 1980 with The Damned's skin-pounder extraordinaire Rat Scabies and his wife ( charmingly labelled Rat and The Whale) doing a slightly under-produced but powerful version of "This Wheel's on Fire" which sort of acts as a bridge between Julie Driscol and Brain Auger's psych-pop version from 1968 and Siouxsie & the Banshees' synth-goth version from 1987.





What do you make of The Rat and The Whale's version of "This Wheel's on Fire"? Let us know in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the link to download the A-Side** of the single).

BIG THANKS to Ghost100 over at the excellent Power Population for sending is the rip!

** Update!!
Thanks to Roberto, the entire single is now available in the COMMENTS section of this post.

11 comments:

  1. T
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    !

    http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?xudgl414hzfz5k2

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  2. Jeffen, I understand your irritation much better now than before.....my blog is only a few days old, I'm happy with the number of downloads, but not ONE single comment from anyone? Not a "that album SUCKED, MAAAAAAN?".....anyways, thanks for all you do, and keep in mind that I have ALWAYS thanked and acknowleged anything I have shared from your site.....rock on, scott m

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  3. Thanks, Jeffen. I've been obsessed with Dylan since 1965, but I'm always up for new music and I've found mrml to be a great source of stuff that I'm not too familiar with. I appreciate the blog and the work you put into it. Wayland M.

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  4. Wow, that's great. Can't believe I hadn't heard it before! Thx

    --Snatzo

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  5. I like the idea of looking at different versions of a song... Maybe an idea for future posts .

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  6. Thanks again for another Dylan cover. I collect these where I can and yours are almost invariably the most interesting. I've never been a huge buyer of "punk" records but sometimes the treatment given to classic numbers just works so well. Also wanted to say that your NSDLD series is great and I look forward to every new volume.

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  7. Hi,

    I am Antonio & have probably visited your site for 10 years. So, please go on, because (how you do it? I don't know, but) you get hold of some miracles, man.

    GRACIAS!
    Antonio / Aruba-The Carribean

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  8. Big Scott
    Takes a bit to solve the comment problem - don't get discouraged.

    Wayland
    Glad to help find peopel who've been around even longer than me find new stuff. Stick around!

    Snatzo
    It was new to me just last week!


    Simon k
    Check out my 22 versions of "When the Ship Comes in" post and also the one on "The Man in Me.' Boy,those are a lot of work!!!

    Anon
    Glad you love all the Dylan covers - lots more to come...

    Antono
    Glad to have kept you reading - hopefully we'll keep you hooked.

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  9. This Wax is on Fire!

    Thx.

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Now that you're here,I should mentions that
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