Re-Upped IV

When Shake Some Action Vol. 4 returns us to the 'good 'ole U.S. of A., the wuss factor spikes. (Listen to David Finnerty's "Hold On", which threatens to blow away with a slight breeze, while the Monroe's manage to make such wussiness a virtue in "What Do All the People Know"). Then there's more post-Knack chart-grasping such as the Continentals, Four Eyes and, what is no doubt the worst song in the series, The Now's "I Like Girls". Despite all that softness, a couple of bands, like the Jumpers and The Penetrators, adopt a charming faux-punk sneer, while D.L Byron and Code Blue each add a ripping rocker. Attention must be paid to the Shades, "Hello Mr. Johnson", which slipped under my consciousness and exploded. Repeated listening revealed it's punk-rock Dylan-isms ("I was born premature - I'm still ahead of my time") that can match Elvis Costello's, it's weirdly wonderful bridge and the ratcheted up tension of that final chorus - "Hello Mr. Johnson - meet your audience". Most importantly, there's the Speedies who, with their deliriously snotty pop song, "Let Me Take Your Photo", proved (via its appearance in an HP ad) that so many of the songs herein really coulda been contenders.

Boomp3.com

Download V. 4

Re-Uploaded III

Volume Three gets us back in the UK, where instead of soft rock (in the Kansas-Boston-Chicago) the kids of the late 70's recycled glam rock in the Gary Glitter/Sweet/Mott the Hoople mode and that Small-Faces/Who/Action mod sound of '65. Another crucial distinction was that while in America only a few highly-produced young power-pop bands made it onto US radio while many of these UK bands had real shot at chart domination. And it shows. Listening to Protex,The Stillettos, The Strangeways or the Newhearts and you're baffled; This wasn't a monster hit? Perhaps a glut of "The" bands with kicky tunes and punchy choruses overwhelmed the United Kingdom to the point that only now, thirty tears later, are we prepared to exhume their discarded treasures. Even the weak tracks are a joy, so dig in.



Download V. 3

Re-Uploaded II

Volume two shifts to the USA, which in the late 70’s, deep in the thrall of Jimmy Carter, John Travolta and cheap cocaine, often lacked the lean edge of desperation which propels the best power-pop. However, the SSA team expertly juxtaposes the different facets of America’s Me Decade Pop Underground. We certainly get our share of nonthreatening low-power-pop (like Gary Charlson), which at its worst sinks to the Boston-on-a-budget AOR sound of Arlis! (and their annoying exclamation mark). Then there's a slew of Beatles worshippers, like Revolver, The Pop and the Boys (who may not be the bands you think they are) which help connect America and England on some mondo-retro level. Also on the Anglophillic side of things, we have the more sneering, propulsive Elvis Costello-like bands like the Reaction Formation, the Puppet Rulers and the Re-Runs. Best of all, representing a kind of power-jangle, Anglo-American fusion, are bands like Shivvers who kick off this comp with Teenline, which builds to a full-throttle crescedo and The Marshals who somehow managed (despite little else to recommend them) to write the most soaring attack on dead-air radio ever, in the magnificent pop song, A.M. Check out Teenline, followed by A.M. in the players below and then enjoy the whole deal, even if you have to cut through the flabby stuff.






Download V. 2

P.S. Fans of American Power-pop are hereby advised to check out the Ascenders

P.P.S. The songs I upload to DivShare do not play on my computer but do when I check from other computers. Can everyone else listen to the songs? Please let me know.

Re-upped

Talk show hosts, journalists and sociology profs hunting for a thesis love to prattle on about the addictive qualities of the Internet. “It’s the crack cocaine of sex addiction”, “It’s human communication stripped of nuance” and of course ‘blah-blah-Foucault-blah-blah-Derrida-blah-blah”. Now sex and disaster keep the media in business, so it’s understandable that they ignore the real problem: musicoholism (I sense a thesis on the make – musicism might work better but it doesn’t sound as…well…sexy!)

I’ve got six hundred CD’s, three hundred records and as many tapes. Plus my computer (and it’s little bitch, the iPod) is crammed with thousands and thousands of mp3's. I own more music than I can possibly appreciate. Why? Because the idea that there is one great song that I haven’t heard (and cannot access in a heartbeat) is unbearable to me – like ignoring a ringing phone.

I started out on Audiogalaxy. For an inveterate taper, a cherry-picker of the good songs, this was a direct bulls-eye in the pleasure centre. (The beautifully-maintained Mod-Punk Archives added to the damage done exponentially by showing me that there were 100,000 brilliant unrecognized bands from the late 70’s and early 80’s to be scored). Withdrawal would be a euphemism for my pain when Audiogalxy got busted by the RIAA, even though P2P only made me buy more albums. I sampled Bearsahre, Kazaa and Winmx (only warming to bit torrents recently) till I found the Harder Stuff, Soulseek. Between Soulseek, and now Google Reader for mp3 blogs, I've become the Johnny Thunders of this particular affliction.

So, as Archie Andrews had to pass on his compulsion to say, “Molly on a trolley/Found a seat by golly" to someone far away, so I’ll spread the addiction to you. From Japan to New Zealand to Norway to South Africa MRML has already become a few people’s local supply. Damn you, pusherman. To make a bad thing worse, I offer you the purest of product: Shake Some Action. These ex-pen-sive boots are, indubitably, amongst the greatest compilations ever (sorry Nuggets, Killed By Death, D.I.Y., Songs We Taught Duran Duran etc. ).

Maybe Rhino will call me up to release my own punk-mod-power-pop comps called...Shrapnel (Or is that merely the delirium tremens of a musicoholic…)

Volume One covers the UK from 1979-1986 and is bursting with rushing guitars and big hooks. Highlights include the anthemic "Don't Let Go" by Seventeen (who later became the Alarm), The Keys jangle-punk monster "I Don't Wanna Cry" (album here), the pop-perfect "Don't Go" by the Donkeys ( album available here) and the belligerent but infectious "Ignore Me" by The Gas (more to come). A few imperfect songs, like the rote mod-isms of "There Must be Thousands" by The Quads, only make you let your guard down for 2:42 seconds or so till the next hit hits.

Download V. 1

Bottom of the Pops

An odd facet of the vinyl era, (when information came in drips not torrents) was the discovery of the mysterious final album. Whether it was Squeeze by the Doug Yule-led Velvet Underground, Other Voices by the surviving member of the Doors or (for good Canadians) a six pack of forgotten Guess Who albums led by the bass player who copyrighted the name after the band broke up. After flipping by such oddities, any music obsessive just had to pore over the back cover for clues as to its origins. Then, with the mystery solved ("Ah, no Lou.") the album was slipped back into the stacks.
One such mystery album that did suck me in was Attack the 1983 album by the Scottish band the Revillos. Their first album, 1978's Can't Stand the Rezillos, culled from fifties sci-fi and sixties British Invasion to make a kitsch-punk classic. The even kitschier (!) Rev-Up by the Revillos (Fay Fife and Eugene Reynold's re-named version of the band) from 1980 with its trashy covers, jungle drumming and shared vocals almost sounded like a punk B-52's - but good. So I snatched up the unheard of (by me) Attack, laid down $10.00 and took it home. No sooner then it hit the turntable, then I went ‘Huh?” With it’s ultra-thin production and glaringly empty performances it sounded like it had been cut in tinfoil not vinyl. I taped the two good songs and sold it back at a loss.
Skip ahead twenty years to yesterday, when, after a re-listen, I bought the CD re-issue. It turns out that the Attack l.p. was nothing more than illegitimately-released, badly remixed demos . (Perhaps letting Venom's Kronos man the board had been a mistake.) In fact, the band had actually had the album recalled, hence its obscurity. So now we have a whole new product, with different (or re-mixed) versions of each track on the album as well as contemporaneous singles. The production, while still shiny, has new strength and these versions highlight the sheer joy of these cultural dumpster divers as they gleefully steal from Tamla-Motown ("Bitten By a Love Bug"), Cramps-ish rockabilly ("Graveyard Groove"), the British invasion ("Tell Him"), Phil Spector's girl-groups ("Midnight") and that mid 70's bubble-glam (most everything else). On top of all this you can pore all over Rocky Rythm's liner notes, which (sort-of) unravel the mystery of this album and detail the band's Joe Meek like production tricks with verve and humour.


So go and buy the albums (Can't Stand, Rev Up and Attack) but here for a blatant plug is the original "She's Fallen in love with a Monster Man" single (the same as posted here - thanks for the idea - but with a studio version of the b-side).






P.S. Check out the video for "Monster Man" here.