Only Ones: Y.G.T.P.

The same Gustav Dore woodcut later ripped off by Skinny Puppy and surely a few wretched death metal bands.

The Only Ones' (see here) third single, "You've Got To Pay" from 1979 is another shot of crystal pure pop, albeit pop from another planet. The song is jaunty and happy in execution but relentlessly bleak in its outlook; the perfect pop paradox (think "You Are My Sunshine" but with heroin instead of moonshine as the drug of forgetting). The B-side, "This Ain’t All (It’s Made Out To Be)", is a solid up-temp rocker,with a big melodic guitar solo in the middle, which was left off of the excellent LP, Even Serpents Shine.

Crank up the volume on this amazing period video!




Download You've Got To Pay 7"

The Only Ones: L.O.T.

The Only Ones actually debuted in 1977 with Lovers of Today, a single on their D.I.Y. label, Vengeance Records.The A-side, "Lovers of Today" is a little more of the times, with it's faux-kinky picture sleeve and the brazen polymorphous perversity of the lyrics. The intermingling of unrestrained lust and opiates certainly manifests Peter Perrett's Lou Reed fixation, but Perrett had moved past imitation and into a melodic space all of his own. The B-side, "Peter and the Pets", is actually an old song by Perrett's Reedy early seventies band, England's Glory.The song's are flush with power, melodically and instrumentally, and should remind you that you need to go out and buy an album to support these survivors,






MRML Readers: Is Peter Perrett a Lou Reed knock-off or did the student surpass the master?)

The Only Ones: A.G.A.P

The Rock Walk is my weekly ritual, in which I carry on the dying tradition of record shopping. The highlight of this week's purchases (which also includes the UK version of the Clash S/T and the 25th Anniversary London Calling, both of which I've long resisted) is the re-issue on the Only Ones first album.


These Londoners (Peter Perrett on vocals/guitar, John Perrett on guitar, Alan Meir on bass and Mike Kelllie on drums) defied the punk orthodoxy, already calcifying by 1978, by not hiding their chops, their songcraft or even their age. These vets used punk as a opening but, like so many musicians of that era, they had no intention of living by its strictures. Their first single, the brilliant power-pop masterpiece, "Another Girl, Another Planet", has led many to label The Only Ones one-hit-wonders. This is stupid. One, "Another Girl, Another Planet" was hardly a chart hit upon its first (U.K.-only) release and two, they have a bucketful of other sterling classics for you to enjoy.







MRML Readers: Please don't forget to add your Only Ones memories, reactions and reviews in the comments section.)



Many readers here will be already be deeply familiar with this song already (even if only through the many covers) but if this perfect classic is all you know about the greatness of the Only Ones then you owe it to yourself to go out and but the real albums, available at Amazon or your local music dealer.


A very grizzled version of the Only Ones returned (as of 2007) having survived heroin and mass indifference. There's new work coming and on-going tour.

Sewer Trout: Forgotten Memories...

Sewer Trout's (see here) discography was briefly released on a CD entitled From The Forgotten Memories Of Punks Failed Hopes And Forgotten Dreams Loom..., only to disappear soon after. I bought my copy at this basement record shop in Calgary. The owners had let the band I was touring with, the Paperbacks, crash in their filthy storage room. So, after a fun-filled show at a Tiki lounge, we did some late night record shopping, took a nap, payed for our purchases and hopped back in the van.

Since like so many punk odds n' sods compilations, it cluttered up the good stuff (the two 7"'s, the 10" and the comp tracks) with live tracks and muddy, demoish material. So, back in Winnipeg, I soon ditched it, which I now regret since it's hopelessly out-of-print.


Download Forgotten Memories...CD

(Say goodnight, Jim...)

Sewer Trout: Flawless

Sewer Trout's (see here) 1990 10' e.p, Flawless, is pretty aptly named. Unlike the band's early work, which sometimes suffers from too many simple songs and sub-cultural in-jokes, like another funny-punk band touched by suicide, the Dead Milkmen, this one nails what it sets out to do.



Like it's predecessor, Songs About Drinking, this record's first note is a peal of laughter but from then on it's whole a different bag of milk.




These final songs still cover ludicrous subject matter from psychopathic cats named after Frida Kahlo ("...but spelled differently") to conspicuous consumption vs. Communism to K-tel punk rock nostalgia to post-millennial dispensationalism but the band bristles with a new-found confidence. The music follows suit, with harmonica breaks, country beats and strong melodies - it's all still punk rock but somehow much more too. Some of the witty, catchy highlights include the Dead-Kennedy's referencing cow-punk of "Holiday in Romania", The Frank Zappa referencing speed-folk of "Frieda Ripped my Flesh", the Jesus referencing ecumenical-rock of "God's Got Balls" and, for the final notes of their career, a straight but moving take on Patsy Cline's (via Harlan Howard) country classic "Foolin' Around".





{MRML Readers: Sewer Trout's Flawless: Yes or No? Leave us a comment!}

Download Flawless 10"



Next: Forgotten Memories