Showing posts with label UK 80s Politi-Punk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK 80s Politi-Punk. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

V.A. God Save Us From the USA (1987)




Compilation albums in the eighties, especially underground ones that were done for the benefit of some greater cause, often wore their musical schizophrenia as a badge of honour. (We've posted more such comp's HERE)



 

God Save Us From the USA, a British 1987 benefit L.P. for Nicaraguan Solidarity Campaign gives you anarcho-pop-punk from Zounds, spoken word pieces from Nic Toczek, reggae-punk from Culture Shock, socialist-pop from The Neurotics, Welsh-language pop-punk from Anhrefn, weird-core from Karma Sutra, skronk-rock from Some Weird Sin, post-noise from The Apostles, grindcore from Heresy, pop-punk from Dan and novelty-folk from Attila the Stockbroker.


 


Unlike other compilations of the eighties, say, Punk and Disorderly, We Won't Be Your Fucking Poor or even Underground Rockers, this compilation shows a UK punk scene in transformation. If, back in 1987, you listened to punk but were indifferent to speed-metal, you not only knew a lot of these bands but you also probably wanted to know why they left off The Joyce McKinney Experience.





A1 Nick Toczek – Noo Yawk Squawk / Sheer Funk
A2 Culture Shock – Catching Flies
A3 Anhrefn – Nefoedd Un, Uffern Llall
A4 Dan – Best Of Families
A5 The Neurotics– Never Hold Your Tongue
A6 Zounds – Demystification

B1 Attila The Stockbroker – Libyan Students From Hell
B2 Karma Sutra – Let Them Eat Somozas
B3 Some Weird Sin – God Bless America
B4 Instigators – Eye To Eye
B5 Heresy – Flowers In Concrete
B6 Heresy – Cornered Rat
B7 The Apostles – Inner Space





So did the late eighties, all things considered, have a more diverse underground? Leave us a COMMENT!


Sunday, July 14, 2013

V.A. Not Just Mandela (1986)



Thanks to BarrieB for donating this rip and scan which this re-up is built around.


Not Just Mandela is a 1986 anti-apartheid benefit L.P. on Davy's Lamp Records that features a rip-roarin' rarity called "Africa" by a Billy Bragg/Neurotics alliance as well as some good hard-to-find tracks by The Housemartins, The Internationalists and Attila The Stockbroker.It's another in a line of politically-inspired British compilations of the eighties we've discussed HERE and HERE.











Tracklist

A1     Billy Bragg With The Neurotics –  Africa           
A2     Real By Reel –  Fighting Talk       
A3     Porky The Poet –  Nobby        
A4     Paul Howard – We Will Win         
A5     Some Other Day –     Bury Your Sins        

B1     Attila The Stockbroker –  The Ballad Of Airstrip One
B2     The Sullivans  –  Falling For Nothing           
B3     Porky The Poet –   Beano  
B4     Internationalists –   Every Fifth Man Is Guilty    
B5     Housemartins –   You   




Hey, you. reader! Let us know your thoughts on this very rare (and slightly earnest collection) in the COMMENTS section!



Friday, July 12, 2013

V.A. They Shall Not Pass (1981-1982)




Another eighties manifesto from the British musical left, this time in support of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. With just The Mekons crossing-over from Dig: A Tribute to the Great Strike (see HERE), this album shows the depth of talent that was willing to stand up to the British state under Thatcher.













Let us know what you think of this defiant document in the COMMENTS section!


Read more on the Redskins HERE!




Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Dig This: A Tribute to the Great Strike (1985)



While the death of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher earlier this year elicited a flurry of angry words, it also caused a lot of singing. There was even a brief chart war between "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" from The Wizard of Oz and The Not Sensibles "I'm in Love With Margaret Thatcher" (with the level of musical animosity aimed at Maggie, apparently her proponents felt a humorously anti-Thatcher song would be their best shot at a rallying cry!) As for the radio in my head, it put The English Beat's "Stand Down Margaret" on heavy rotation. In the end, it's conceivable that the wealth of musical agitprop that the Iron Lady inspired may be her greatest legacy. Dig This: A Tribute to the Great Strike (Forward Sounds International) was a benefit album to support the Miners Solidarity Fund during the bitter miners' strike of 1984-1985. The album (good piece on it here) features a head-spinning stylistic variety; the driving folk-punk of The Men They Couldn't Hang, the twisted art-country of the Mekons, the loping reggae-punk of Omega Tribe, the frightening anglo-synth rap of Akimbo, the accusatory goth-rock of Leningrad Sandwich, the fierce noise-punk of The Ex, the anarcho-weirdness of The Posion Girls, the hard-to-classify Steve Lake and, of course, the only band on earth who can be described as both Crass' heirs and one-hit wonders, Chumabawamaba.


The Police Have Been Wonderful by Chumbawamba on Grooveshark

Fitzwilliam by Chumbawamba on Grooveshark


Tracklist

A1     Poison girls –     Cry        
A2     Poison girls –     Voodoo Pappadollar        
A3     Mekons –     Flitcraft        
A4     Mekons –     Trouble Down South        
A5     Men They Couldn't Hang –     Jack Dandy        
A6     Men They Couldn't Hang –     Rawhide
    
B1     Akimbo –     The Rap        
B2     Steve Lake –     Turn Out The Lights        
B3     Leningrad Sandwich –     We Will Rise        
B4     The Ex –     We've Got Everything We Never Wanted        
B5     Omega Tribe –     Young John        
B6     Chumbawamba –     The Police Have Been Wonderful        

Side I: Live at Southbank Poly
Side II: Studio Recordings





Give us your view on the musical legacy of Thatcher in the COMMENTS section!