Punishment of Luxury: Peel Sessions (1978-1979)

Punishment of Luxury (a.k.a. Punilux) were a pummeling late-seventies post-punk band from Newcastle, England who played in a tightly-wound, hard-hitting, funk-inflected style, comparable to the Gang of  Four but artier and more mad. Lemon Records has re-issued their landmark debut, Laughing Academy (which I picked up a few months ago). Here for all MRML readers but especially Blog Hero 1st Class, Roberto, who requested these sessions amidst all the gifts he has given us. It took me a Longy time to find the files but finally a good friend of this blog came though to help Roberto and me out.

30/08/1978
01-Funk Me
02-Let's Get Married/You're So Beautiful
03-Babylon
    Brian Bond (Lead Vocals)
    Jeff Thwaite (Drums)
    Malla Cabbala (Guitar, Vocals)
    Nevil Luxury (Lead Guitar, Vocals)
    Jimmy Giro (Bass, Vocals)

30/05/1979

01-Radar Bug/Metropolis
02-British Baboon
03-Secrets
    Brian Bond (Lead Vocals)
    Steve Secret (Drums, Backing Vocals)
    Nevil Luxury (Lead Guitar, Vocals)
    Jimmy Giro (Bass, Vocals)

Feedback on Punilux, in the form of COMMENTS, is invited. (Peel Sessions link is in that same feedback-giving section).

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The Cry! E.P. (2011)

Sure, we've got a lot of young-yet-historically-minded bands these days who compare favourably to the sadly-lost Exploding Hearts but Oregon's The Cry ((if your Canadian and OLD The Cry's name name may seem familiar) put their own bubblegum spin on the retro-sounds of today.

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The New Rochelles - It's New (2011)

Okay so it's not exactly "new" but this Long Beach, N.Y. trio manages to cleverly swipe every Ramones trick they can  - "S.L.O.T.H."  even re-writes "Warthog" to amusing effect - without sounding overly derivative (or worse, like Screeching Weasel wanna-be's). There's a lot of valid questions about the originality of so-called Ramonescore bands but I've long argued if a band like The New Rochelles can bring their own songs and their own attitude to the highly constricted form set down by the Ramones then they can create something almost new - like some kind of punk rock haiku. Check out the blitz-rocking "Did Something Bad" to see if you can get what I'm babbling about:



The band's debut 'album' (12 songs in 14:56!) is available with all sorts of cool deals at the band's label Bright and Barrow.

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Pete Stride and John Plain - Laugh at Me 7'' (1980)

 
Roberto's Rarities:
An irregular MRML series powered by the wild generosity of our reader, Roberto: Enjoy and don't forget to leave our benefactor a thank-you comment.

A joining together of Pete Stride from The Lurkers' and John Plain of The Boys led to the highly enjoyable 1980 album New Guitar in Town (which can be found over at the delectable PowerPopCriminals). One of the highlights of the album is the cover of Sonny Bono's "Laugh At Me" that was released as the album's sole single.

The spiffy bonus here is the extremely rare non-album B-side, "Jimmy Brown", which sounds a bit like the Ramones covering a Bruce Springsteen outtake.




Let us know what you think of the work of Stride & Plain in the COMMENTS section (where the Laugh at Me 7''link can be found).

Update: for another Boys-related version of "Jimmy Brown" go HERE.

The Spies - S/T EP (1980)

Roberto's Rarities:
An irregular MRML series powered by the wild generosity of our reader, Roberto: Enjoy and don't forget to leave our benefactor a thank-you comment.

Spunky Australian new wave with sax from the former lead singer of The Babeez/The News. ("'Bout time for some Australian rarities here at MRML..")

 

Normal Records NRS-1 A
Rat Spat Back / I Love You / March Of Time B | Can't Go On / Things
Production: Adam 5/Groper, New, Melbourne
Released March 1980

Reactions to this rarity - tell us what you think of The Spies and their bat-like ways - are strongly encouraged and can be left in the COMMENTS section (where the The Spies 7'' link can be found).