Bloodied But Unbowed: The Life and Death of Vancouver's First Punk Scene 1977-1982 (3 DVD Deluxe Version)

Director Susanne Tabata sent me a copy of of the three DVD version of her documentary "Bloodied But Unbowed: The Life and Death of Vancouver's First Punk Scene 1977-1982" and after taking it all in, a wonderful but complicated procedure, I have produced a review. Please come and read the review HERE and if you enjoy it, leave a COMMENT and/or pass it on!








Bloodied But Unbowed's site HERE

Doug said...

 

Link to Knowledge Network version of 'Bloodied But Unbowed':

The Subhumans: Live at the Marion Hotel (1981)

Canada's Subhumans (more HERE) were never road warriors, like their regional rivals D.O.A. but they certainly did tour hard and tour well, as evidenced by this excellent soundboard recording from a venue that is, quite literally, three blocks away from where I write these words today. The Marion Hotel has always been a biker bar, which makes sense as the rough-neck sounds of both D.O.A. and The Subhumans always had a certain amount of biker appeal. It's a set heavy on non-LP (and in some cases unrecorded) tracks like "Escalator To Hell", Out Of Place" (both written by Ken 'Dimwit' Montgomery R.I.P.) as well as Gerry Hannah's anthem "21st Century", Mike Graham's classic "Behind the Smile" and Brian Goble's defiant "Out of Line", both from the Vancouver Independence compilation. All in all, an essential addition to a good Subhumans collection.


 


Tracklist
01. Firing Squad
02. Escalator To Hell
03. New Order
04. Out Of Line
05. Slave To My Dick
06. The Scheme
07. Model Of Stupidity
08. Greaser Boy
09. Urban Guerrillas
10. 21st Century
11. Screwed Up [Menace cover]
12. Behind The Smile
13. Let's Go Down To Hollywood

So MRML readers, give us your take on Canada's The Subhumans in the COMMENTS section 'cuz we've got more rarities in the bag. (Speaking of the COMMENTS section, that's where you'll find the Live at the Marion Hotel link).

Subhumans.ca

Alternative Tentacles

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This is not my rip, that pain-staking work was done by Bat29 who runs a fantastic blog called Noise Addiction. Over at NA, Bat has been digitizing his massive tape collection and the results are stupendous. Go visit him!

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V.A. Last Call Van. Indie '77-'88 (Now with 44 page BOOKLET!)

Once again the magnificent Roberto has come through with hi-res scans of the 44 page booklet [!!!] for the aural history, V.A. Last Call: Vancouver Independent Music 1977-1988. The liner notes are written by Grant McDonagh of Zulu Records (a store and a label, which were both vital to Vancouver's musical development)  and Tom Harrison, supportive music critic of The Province (and leader of Bruno Gerussi's Medallion!) .

Thanks to COMMENTS from readers, as well some further research, I've added lots of new links to  where further music is available elsewhere (including other blogs). If anyone has either rips n' scans of out-of-print releases by the bands herein (or links to other blogs where they are available) please let us know in the COMMENTS section.


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 HERE)
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 HERE)    
1.11     Private School –     Science Fiction        
1.12     Subhumans –     Slave To My Dick  (more HERE)      
1.13     Young Canadians –     Hawaii     (more to come)
1.14     Female Hands –     Divided By Three        
1.15     UJ3RK5 –     Eisenhower And The Hippies  (more HERE)    
1.16     Modernettes –     Barbra     (more to come)      
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     (more HERE) 
2.05     I, Braineater –     Edge  (more HERE)      
2.06     Go Four 3 –     Just Another Day     (more HERE)   
2.07     Animal Slaves –     Learning To Live   (also see HERE)     
2.08     Brilliant Orange –     Happy Man         (more HERE)
2.09     Slow –     Have Not Been The Same    (more HERE)    
2.10     Shanghai Dog –     American Desert    (more HERE)
2.11     No Fun –     Be Like Us       (more HERE)
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  (available HERE)       
2.19     Oversoul Seven –     1 + 1 Is 3     (more HERE)   
2.20     Hip Type –     Darker Than This

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If you missed the music itself go HERE.

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Roberto scanned all those pages, e-mailed them out and then I chopped them all down to a regulation size, so please feel free to leave a thought for all the words we've brought you today in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the link for Last Call booklet).

The Suhumans: Incorrect Thoughts (1980)

 
As a disaffected youth, I discovered rival Vancouver punk legends D.O.A. and the Subhumans on the same day, in a musty, suburban basement.

At one time in North America's cultural evolution, no basement would have been complete without a stack of abused and abandoned vinyl records. To be sure, they usually had the words Nana and Mouskouri stamped on them. But some obsessive types, as I was, and remain, are physically incapable of passing  a stack of records without succumbing to the urge to 'flip'.

So on that day in the summer of 1984, buried deep in friend's basement, I hit upon the black sheep of that family's records. A modest-in-size but utterly pure vein of gold among the slag. There, amidst the "Learn French" records and Ms. Mouskouri's purported Greatest Hits, were half-a-dozen or so records that were absolutely not like the others.

I swear it is this particular discovery which makes every stack of worn and beaten vinyl magnetic in a pull. What if, I still ask myself, instead of James Last, Rusty Warren or Strange Advance and other such Columbia House cast-offs, some black sheep's albums are lurking in in there?

What I did find therein was the Buzzcocks's Different Kind of Tension, 999's High Energy Plan, Iggy Pop's Soldier, The Cure's Boys Don't Cry et les pieces des resistance, those hopelessly rare (even then) foundational documents of Canadian punk rock;  D.O.A.'s Something Better Change and The Subhuman's Incorrect Thoughts.

While I took to each of these albums with a sort of fury, I was never uncritical. I scrutinized the sleeves of each LP as it spun, considering what to commit to tape and what to excise. The Subhumans' album made it to tape unscathed. After all, the band's mid-tempo rhythms, melodic guitar lines and bellowed politics reminded me of my beloved Clash, albeit with more audible hard rock roots and less stylistic fiddling. However, while Punk rock has, throughout its history, often rewarded sound-a-like bands, (Ramones-core? D-beat? Street-punk?), The Subhumans played nobody else's game.

In fact, the refusal to play anybody's game may be the defining trait of an album that simply bleeds alienation. Each of the three song-writers appears hopelessly at odds with the culture from which he sprung. Whether it's guitarist Mike Graham saying that "I don't fit the big picture", singer Brian Goble telling us us "I can't stand the new regime" or bassist Gerry Hannah mocking Saturday Fever culture with the charge, "I'm just a slave to my dick", this album is like discontent distilled. More than any other of the albums I uncovered that day, Incorrect Thoughts was the one that that could 'comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted', even though both affliction and comfort marked the life of that disaffected youth.

Now I post this album with some trepidation. While Incorrect Thoughts itself remains difficult to obtain, thanks to some inexplicable legal chicanery, the band has not only re-recorded the album they've added new depth of experience to the songs. The end result of this being an unusual case where you'd want BOTH versions of the album. So if you're here to get Incorrect Thoughts (1980) feel free to do so but if you sense its power PLEASE go and find the 2010 version, called Same Thoughts, Different Day, and see how much it adds to the band's legacy.


So let us know MRML readers, Any favourite albums found in strange places? Any favourite Subhumans moments? Let us know in the COMMENTS section (where you'll find the Incorrect Thoughts link).


Subhumans.ca

Alternative Tentacles

Social Distortion: Daytrotter Session

Three new versions of old tracks, "Prison Bound", "Ring of Fire" and "Reach for the Sky" make this another one of the great 2011 Daytrotter sessions. MRML has more more Social D. HERE!





Let us know what you think of Social D.  in the COMMNENTS section (where you'l find the link for the Daytrotter Session).


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