Saturday, November 14, 2009

U.K. Subs: Party in Paris


Many of the powerhouses of British punk in the early eighties were lesser lights of 1977, like Cock Sparrer, Crass, the UK Subs, who just peaked late. There's a story that goes around that Crass wrote "Punk is Dead" (a phrase that will live forever) in 1977 after one of many shows at the with the UK Subs at the White Lion pub in Putney, where, according to Crass members; "The audience consisted mostly of us when the Subs played and the Subs when we played."

While the The UK Subversives, as they began, have long had a unstable rhythm section, singer Charlie Harper, the oldest man in punk, still leads the band to this day and guitarist (and New Red Archives honcho) Nicky Garret, the crucial component of the band's best work, remains a steadfast supporter and occasional member.



The Subs invested most of their big hooks into their singles, hence The Singles 1978-1982 being must-own album. One of their best A-sides is 1980's "Party in Paris" with its hard-rockin' Garrett riff, its subtle keyboards by Captain Sensible, its melancholy lyric by Harper and, best of all, its boat-load of ooh-la-la-lay's.



Party in Paris 7"

Support the band!

7 comments:

  1. yo yo jeffen, its ole Uncle Nekro, here. long time no talk. i still have the radio satn blog. but i got an all new blog too. http://nekrodad-theamericanpsycho.blogspot.com/

    so stop by for a dl or 2, i got bRAIN james 1st sole album posted and his dripping lips cd posted there too botha. lets link pages big boy.

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  2. I remember buying that ROIR UK Subs live tape back in the 80's and Charlie states "I'm older than any of you". I saw these guys play in what feels like less than a month ago and they've still got it. They didtheir second two week tour of New Zealand whereas most international touring bands only play one or two shows here.

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  3. The new blog has some great stuff, like that Lords stuff.

    Keep up the cool work.

    Chris
    it's cool the Subs would do an extensive tour - I missed them the last time they played Winnipeg and everyone says I missed a great show.
    I was just discussing the ROIR cassettes and their dodgy sound quality yesterday. Ah, nostalgia!

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  4. UK Subs is my next gig on the 27th of the month. They have never me down live! Always great and Charlie is top banana and the great grandaddy of Punk rock.

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  5. Charlie Harper is the Methuselah of Punk Rock.

    Enjoy the show!

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  6. i actaully have alvin gibbs bass here at my house. a buddy of mine bought it off him about 3 years ago and he signed it. i have it now and use it all the time, nice thunderbird.

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  7. Cool piece of punk rock history - Gibbs was a part of the best line-up.

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