Archive for the ‘1977’ Category
- The ’77 sessions: 21st December, 1977
Here we are with the first show of the new year, courtesy of Kevin on the JP radio show discussion group.
‘This 2 hour show was composed exclusively of sessions recorded in 1977 by bands who made their debut on the show in that year. “Sessions” is used slightly loosely, as it includes a recording of the Stranglers at the Roundhouse.’
If, like me, you’re already foaming at the mouth in anticipation, get a load of the track list:
The ’77 Sessions – 21st December, 1977
Motors – Bring In The Morning Light
Wreckless Eric – Semaphore Signals
Tom Robinson Band – We Ain’t Gonna Take It
Sham 69 – Borstal Breakout
Stranglers – Something Better Change
Rich Kids – Bulletproof Lover
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Suburban Relapse
Buzzcocks – Pulsebeat
Generation X – Day By Day
Sham 69 – Rip Off
Wreckless Eric – Go The Whole Wide World
Stranglers - Goodbye Toulouse
Tom Robinson Band - Long Hot Summer
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Mirage
Rich Kids – Rich Kids
Sham 69 – Hey Little Rich Boy
Buzzcocks – Fast Cars
Generation X – Youth Youth Youth
Motors – Emergency
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Love In A Void
Wreckless Eric – Rags And Tatters
Sham 69 – Don’t Understand
Tom Robinson Band – Don’t Take No For An Answer
Stranglers – Hanging Around
Rich Kids – Young Girls
Buzzcocks – What Do I Get?
Here be some visual stimuli:
If you have any more info on this show, please add it here.
- My choice for Christmas number one
Good old Steve has made a compelling case against the Cowell-crap that has polluted the Christmas chart over the past few years (at least that’s how I’ve interpreted his post). Hence, I recommend popping over to the suitably Festive Teenage Kicks and read what he has to say on the issue, but only after listening to my choice for this year’s #1.
- Classic session tracks: ‘Then I kissed her’ by The Lurkers
For me, the biggest indignity suffered by The Lurkers was being the centerpiece of Mick Wall’s abominable John Peel biography which appeared in time for Christmas, 2004, despite JP’s death only two months previously. That he met Peel and had a discussion about this band is considered Wall’s main qualification for having been handed the responsibility for churning out the dreadful, dreadful book in question.
The band themselves are worth far more of your time, however, having recorded four sessions at the legendary Maida Vale studio for John Peel between October, 1977 and January, 1979. Indeed, their debut single ‘Shadow’ was voted by John Peel as his twelfth best track of the year in the 1977 Festive Fifty (with “Love Story”, the B-side, at number 31).
Basically, this is one and a half minutes of good, pumping pub rock at its best. Here is a classic cover version from their first Peel session:
‘Then I kissed her’ by The Lurkers
Listen now…
As ever, if you want more, let me know.
- Countdown to Festive Season #3: 1980
A Flying Scotsman
In December, shortly before the broadcast of the Festive Fifty, Mark David Chapman murdered former Beatle John Lennon in New York. As a seven-year-old, I clearly remember the night it happened, I guess I was just about at that age where you can gauge the importance of events like this.
BBC NEWS reports John Lennon’s death, December 8th, 1980
The Festive Fifty was still ostensibly an ‘all-time’ list in 1980, although you’d be hard pressed to find anything in the top 50 dating back much further than 1977. You have to look to the extended 65 list to find a few old gems from the likes of Pink Floyd and The Who. Indeed, it was probably fear of this year’s one and two duking it out for top spot in the following years that prompted JP to change to the year’s best format that we came to know and love. If you’d like to listen to the shows, broadcast between 22nd and 30th December, 1980, you can do so here, here, here and here.
While we’re on the subject of festive charts, I should mention that this will be a joint operation between myself and Teenage Kicks Steve, who has just begun his half of the shift with the 1977 chart.
- Jubilee 1977
Info kindly borrowed from Wikipedia:
In Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth I (Runacre) is transported forward in time by the occultist John Dee (Richard O’Brien) through the spirit guide Ariel (a character from Shakespeare’s The Tempest). Elizabeth arrives in the shattered Britain of the 1970s. Queen Elizabeth II is dead, killed in an arbitrary mugging, and Elizabeth I moves through the social and physical decay of the city observing the activities of a group of sporadic nihilists including Amyl Nitrate (Jordan), Bod (Runacre in a dual role), Chaos (Hermine Demoriane), Crabs (Nell Campbell), and Mad (Toyah Willcox).
The film is heavily influenced by the 1970s punk aesthetic in its style and presentation. Shot in grainy colour it is largely plotless, episodic, untidy, confrontational, often incoherent and noisily anti-establishment and anti-royalty (Buckingham Palace has become a recording studio run by a seedy music producer named Borgia Ginz).
Numerous punk icons appear in the film including Jordan (a Malcolm McLaren protege), Toyah Willcox, Campbell (Little Nell), Adam Ant, Demoriane and Wayne County. It features performances by Wayne County and Adam and the Ants. There are also cameo appearances by The Slits and Siouxsie and the Banshees. The film was scored by Brian Eno.
Track listing:
1. Deutscher Girls – Adam & The Ants
2. Paranoia Paradise – Wayne County & The Electric Chairs
3. Right to Work – Chelsea
4. Nine to Five – Maneaters
5. Plastic Surgery – Adam & The Ants
6. Rule Brittania – Suzxi Pinns
7. Jerusalem – Suzi Pinns
8. Wargasm in Pornotopia – Amilcar
9. Slow Water – Brian Eno
10. Dover Beach – Brian Eno
File size: 69mb
- The Boys were on their Way out of Town: Thin Lizzy, August, 1977
“There are those who believe that there is in place some system, that meetings are held, that charts are pored over… John and I would list those bands who had not recorded a session for a spell, eliminating those whose work no longer pleased us or, more rarely, whose new-found celebrity status would mean that their agents, management and record companies would come together in holy union to frustrate our attempts at rebooking. We’d also add to the list the names of artists we had heard and liked on demo tape or record or seen and liked in performance.”
Clearly the work of Messrs Lynott et al still cut the mustard in 1977, although it should be noted that this is the final session that the group did for the Peel show, recorded on 1st August, 1977, just as a young Entrailicus was turning the ripe old age of 4.
Thin Lizzy were founded in late 1969 in Dublin by vocalist and bassist Phil Lynott, guitarist Eric Bell, electric organist Eric Wrixon and drummer Brian Downey. After signing a contract with Decca Records, Thin Lizzy’s first hit came in 1973, with “Whiskey in the Jar”, a version of the traditional Irish song. The group initially had problems matching the success of “Whiskey…”, and Eric Bell left the band in 1974 and was replaced with Gary Moore for a short time until Lynott could find two new guitarists. In ‘75, Thin Lizzy recorded ‘Fighting’, which was a preview of things to come for the band. Songs such as the cover of Bob Seger’s ‘Rosalie’ and ‘Wild One’ were featured on the album.
In ’76, the band released their breakthrough album ‘Jailbreak’. The album heralded the success of the dual lead guitar, which became a Thin Lizzy trademark. Songs featured on the album are ‘Jailbreak’, ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’, ‘Cowboy Song’, and ‘Romeo and the Lonely Girl’. Bear these in mind when you vote in the ’76 Festive 50! Later in 1976, the group released ‘Johnny the Fox’. This was critically well received as a good follow-up album to ‘Jailbreak’. Peel however still considered them artistically sound enough to keep the Peel sessions coming, with two of their nine coming from that year. Punk took its toll on both Peel and groups like Thin Lizzy, however, with this session in ’77 being their last, their first having come in November, 1972.
Track listing:
-Killer Without a Cause
-Bad Reputation
-That Woman’s Gonna Break Your Heart
-Dancing in the Moonlight
File size: 18mb
- Skrewdriver Session, October, 1977
Nazis are crap and don’t you forget it.
TRACKLIST
Street Fight
Unbeliever
The Only One
Anti-Social
LINE UP
John Grinton (Drums)
Kevin Mckay (Bass)
Ron Hartley (Guitar)
Ian Stuart (Vocals)
File size: 9mb
- Generation X Session, April, 1977
Dancing with, er, not just himself
Tony James now looks like this
TRACK LIST
Day By Day
Listen!
Youth Youth Youth
Your Generation
LINE UP (to be confirmed by someone with Ken’s book)
Lord William of Idol (Lead Vocals)
Bob Andrews (Guitar, Vocals)
Tony James (Bass, Vocals)
John Towe (Drums)
File size: 12 mb
