V.A. Last Call: Vancouver Independant Music 1977-1988

Hey! Please come check out the ten great videos of the early Vancouver   scene over at The Big Takeover!

While Last Call suffers a bit from vaulting ambition - forty-eight songs is a tall order -  this 1991 musical history of Vancouver music, punk and beyond, from Zulu Records (ZULU 5-2) is stellar document of a place and time. As a historical document, however, it is stunning. Note how the compilers cover so many of the different facets of the Vancouver Underground (punk, art-noise, garage-rock, alternative, power-pop, cow-punk and even CanCon radio stars 54-40! So while it's not the sort of collection most people will listen to straight through, the pickings here are rich and you will be rewarded with something new and shining each time you comb through it.





I've noted where further music is available elsewhere (including other blogs). If I cold ask for some crowd-sourcing here it would be to ask if you have any rips and scans of out-of-print releases by other bands here that you'd like to contribute let us know in the COMMENTS section. Alternately, if you know where any out-of-print releases by the bands herein are avaialble on other blogs also tell us that in the COMMENTS.

1.01     Furies–     What Do You Want Me To Be        
1.02     Skulls –     Fucked Up Baby        
1.03     D.O.A. –     Disco Sucks       (More HERE)
1.04     Stiffs –     Fuck You        
1.05     Generators  –     I Wanna Be A Girl        
1.06     Dishrags –     I Don't Love You        (more to come?)
1.07     Active Dog –    Nothing Holding You  (more HERE)  
1.08     Biz –     I Don't Give A Shit        
1.09     Shades –     New Clientele        
1.10     Pointed Sticks –     Real Thing    (more to come)       
1.11     Private School –     Science Fiction        
1.12     Subhumans –     Slave To My Dick  (much more to come)         
1.13     Young Canadians –     Hawaii
1.14     Female Hands –     Divided By Three        
1.15     UJ3RK5 –     Eisenhower And The Hippies        
1.16     Modernettes –     Barbra        
1.17     Insex –     Off The Deep End        
1.18     AKA –     634 Dog        
1.19     Secret V's –     Waiting For The Drugs To Take Hold        
1.20     Tim Ray –     Seen A Fight        
1.21     Corsage –     Shame I Feel        
1.22     Popular Front –     Synchronized Swimming        
1.23     54-40 –     Yank        
1.24     Scissors  –     Mystery Movie        
1.25     Los Popularos –     Can't Come Back    (more to come)    
1.26     Moral Lepers –     Music Is Your Body        
1.27     Enigmas –     Teenage Barnacle         (more HERE)
1.28     Actionauts –     Party Dog        
2.01     Family Plot –     The Crush        
2.02     Nomeansno –     Self Pity         (more HERE)
2.03     Work Party–     Work Song        
2.04     Bolero Lava –     Inevitable        
2.05     I, Braineater –     Edge        
2.06     Go Four 3 –     Just Another Day     (more HERE)   
2.07     Animal Slaves –     Learning To Live        
2.08     Brilliant Orange –     Happy Man         (more HERE)
2.09     Slow –     Have Not Been The Same    (more HERE)    
2.10     Shanghai Dog –     American Desert        
2.11     No Fun –     Be Like Us         (more to come)
2.12     Cannon Heath Down –     Bone Of Contention        
2.13     Lost Durangos –     Evil Town         (more HERE)
2.14     Herald Nix –     Dirty Ol' Town        
2.15     Poisoned –     To Tell The Truth         (more HERE)
2.16     Bob's Your Uncle –     Talk To The Birds        
2.17     Rhythm Mission –     King Blood        
2.18     Scramblers –     Solitary Man        
2.19     Oversoul Seven –     1 + 1 Is 3     (more HERE)   
2.20     Hip Type –     Darker Than This

To get the exhaustive liner notes go HERE

Let us know what you think of these diverse Vancouver bands in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the linkS for Last Call).

Lost Durangos: Evil Town (1986)

Lost Durangos were Vancouver's entry into The Cow-Punk 2000, a short-lived mid-eighties race to hype a new genre into the charts. Like the races' front-runner, Lone Justice's (more HERE) Maria McKee, Lost Durangos featured a highly-talented country song-bird, Kelly Brock, who'd go on to a lengthy solo career. Unlike Lone Justice, Lost Durangos came with a genuine punk legend in tow, one Mr. Buck Cherry former member of the Modernettes, Active Dog and Los Popularos.

 B & W photos from Alex Waterhouse-Hayward 's site

Another sharp contrast with many so-called cow-punk bands, would be in the songwriting department. A band like Lone Justice's song were written any number of band members and outside writers, diffusing their focus, whereas the hand of one superb song-writer, Greg Potter, makes Evil Town, one of the best things ever relegated to the 'cow-punk' pasture. Mel Brooks once claimed that, "Critics can't even make music by rubbing their back legs together" but music writer Potter soundly proves the 2000 Year Old Man wrong. Each of these tunes is baited with an irresistible hook, part folk-rock, part country, part power-pop, all with plenty of drive. While the album's photos are pure forties noir, lyrically Potter keeps his feet planted in the urban reality that spawned the band. Even within that urban context, Potter infuses the album with enough biblical language ("Oh Lord, What an evil town", "The sins of the father are visited on the son", "My father's house has many mansions") to make the whole thing seem timeless. And it's that timelessness, each of the six songs here sound like it could have been written forty years ago or today, that makes this such a must-hear.

Kelly Brock (vocals)
Buck Cherry (guitar, vocals)
Paul de Bourcier (drums)
Greg Potter (guitar, vocals)
Matt Rickson (bass, vocals) 

A1         Evil Town                        2:59    
A2         Every Leaf's Gotta Fall     3:41    
A3         Sins Of The Father           3:46    
B1         Living Nowadays              2:46    
B2         Never Say How Far          3:52    
B3         I've Seen The Rain           3:47     

1986, Armadilo Records

So readers, let us know what you think of Lost Durangos in the COMMENTS section, which is where you'll find the Evil Town link.


P.S. For a nicer front and back cover scan go HERE!