Posts Tagged ‘Blank Generation’

RICHARD HELL and the VOIDOIDS – ” Destiny Street Complete “

Posted: January 4, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Destiny Street Complete

The punk classic finally made available as the artist originally intended • Four complete records under one banner • The release contains new liners for Richard Hell outlining the Destiny Street saga “I’ve finally taken it all the way, and at this late date the album now moves me.

I can feel it rather than just feel frustration about it. the emotions in it are largely fear and desperation and longing, but that’s life, and can even have some kind of majesty.” Richard Hell Destiny Street was the follow-up album to one of the greatest punk albums of all time, 1977’s Blank Generation. the album was originally recorded in 1981 and released in 1982, but not to Richard Hell’s satisfaction. As he says in his new liner notes to destiny street remixed, “the final mix was a morass of trebly multi-guitar sludge.” now, for the 40th anniversary of its creation, the album is at last presented the way Richard Hell originally intended, “the sound of a little combo playing real gone rock and roll.” Richard Hell co-founded his first band, the Neon Boys, with Tom Verlaine in 1973. that band became Television. when Hell left Television in 1975, he formed, with Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan, both formerly of the New York Dolls, the Heartbreakers. after another year, Richard Hell departed the Heartbreakers and created Richard Hell and the Voidoids, which group, along with other CBGB’s bands of the era, such as the Ramones and Patti Smith, formed the template for punk, the effects of which are still being felt.

Apart from Hell on vocals and bass, the original Voidoids comprised Robert Quine (guitar), Ivan Julian (guitar), and Marc Bell (eventually “Marky Ramone”). the Destiny Street era band retained Quine, but otherwise the backing lineup became Naux (Juan Maciel) on guitar and Fred Maher on drums. Richard had wished forever that he could remix the original Destiny Street, but was told by the record company that the original 24-track masters had been lost. in the early 2000s, Hell discovered a cassette from 1981 that contained just the album’s rhythm tracks (drums, bass and two rhythm guitars) and he realized he could add new guitar solos and vocals to that to obtain a cleaner, improved version of the songs.

RICHARD HELL AND THE VOIDOIDS – ” Blank Generation ” 40th Anniversary

Posted: October 18, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Rhino Records is planning 11 titles for this year’s Record Store Day Black Friday–and two of them are fairly unexpected catalogue treats from two very different artists.

Richard Hell and the Voidoids will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of their debut album “Blank Generation” with a super deluxe reissue. Originally released on Sire Records in 1977, as the music world burned with Punk.

Richard Hell and his band were pioneers of the New York punk scene and this album is considered a seminal LP for the punk movement as a cornerstone of the scene. The title track was important, but this album is packed full of great songs.

The Blank Generation reissue includes previously unreleased alternate studio versions, out-of-print singles, rare bootleg live tracks from Richard Hell and the Voidoids’ debut 1976 appearance at CBGB – seriously how much do you wanna hear that!

The record’s booklet features an essay by Richard Hell, excerpts from his notebooks, unpublished photos of the band from Roberta Bayley, and even an interview with Julian by Hell himself.

First up, the label has announced an upcoming expanded edition on CD and LP of Richard Hell & The Voidoids’ Blank Generation. Hell, a founding member of the band Television and one of the key figures of early punk rock in New York and beyond (his personal style of spiked hair and safety pins is said to have influenced Malcolm McLaren’s Sex shop and the look of the Sex Pistols), formed The Voidoids with guitarists Ivan Julian and Robert Quine (later of Lou Reed’s band in the early ’80s) plus drummer Marc Bell (who a year later would change his name to Marky Ramone and drum for the Ramones). Blank Generation remains a touchstone of punk’s original wave; Robert Christgau cheekily decreed it was perfect “for those very special occasions when I feel like turning into a nervous wreck.” This expanded 2CD or 2LP edition, available November 24th as an “RSD First” release at 2500 units on each format, restores the album’s original cover and running order on the first disc (remastered by the album’s original engineer, Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound) and includes a 12-track bonus disc with alternate takes, live tracks recorded at legendary New York City punk club CBGB and more.

Richard Hell & The Voidoids, Blank Generation: 40th Anniversary Edition

CD/LP 1: Original remastered album (released as Sire SR 6037, 1977)

  1. Love Comes In Spurts
  2. Liars Beware
  3. New Pleasure
  4. Betrayal Takes Two
  5. Down At The Rock and Roll Club
  6. Who Says?
  7. Blank Generation
  8. Walking On The Water
  9. The Plan
  10. Another World

CD/LP 2: Bonus album

  1. Love Comes In Spurts (Electric Lady Studios Alternate Version)
  2. Blank Generation (Electric Lady Studios Alternate Version)
  3. You Gotta Lose (Electric Lady Studios Outtake Version)
  4. Who Says? – Plaza Sound Studios Alternate Version)
  5. Love Comes In Spurts (Live @ CBGB – 11/19/1976)
  6. Blank Generation (Live @ CBGB – 11/19/1976)
  7. Liars Beware (Live @ CBGB – 4/14/1977)
  8. New Pleasure (Live @ CBGB – 4/14/1977)
  9. Walking On The Water (Live @ CBGB – 4/14/1977)
  10. Another World (Ork Records Version – from Ork single 81976, 1976)
  11. Oh (from Wayne Kramer Presents Beyond Cyberpunk – MusicBlitz 30005, 2001)
  12. 1977 Sire Records Radio Commercial

RICHARD HELL and the VOIDOIDS – ” Blank Generation “

Posted: June 1, 2015 in MUSIC
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Left us on this day (May 31) in 2004: celebrated cult guitarist Robert Quine (suicide by heroin overdose, age 61, due to despondency over the loss of his wife);Robert Wolfe Quine (December 30, 1942 – May 31, 2004) was an American guitarist, known for his innovative guitar solos. he first came to prominence in the late-’70s with New York CBGB’s-scene band, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, but he was not your typical ‘punk rock’ guitarist – he embraced fractured guitar runs & discordant noise but also a wide range of jazz, rock & blues influences; his thoughtful technique & uncompromising approach led to stellar collaborations with many visionary musicians, including Lou Reed (notably on ‘The Blue Mask’), Brian Eno, John Zorn, Marianne Faithfull, Lloyd Cole, Tom Waits, Matthew Sweet (Matthew’s biggest hit, “Girlfriend,” is anchored by Robert’s frenetic, squealing guitar work), They Might Be Giants & many more; as a solo artist, he recorded the collaborative albums ‘Escape’ (1981, with Jody Harris) & ‘Basic’ (1984, with Fred Maher)…Lester Bangs wrote Someday Robert Quine will be recognized for the pivotal figure that he is on his instrument. He was among a series of innovative guitarists that worked intently with Lou Reed including: Mick Ronson, Steve Hunter, and Chuck Hammer. As a guitarist, Quine was influenced by the angular breakthroughs of early Lou Reed and James Williamson and worked through them to a new, individual vocabulary, driven into odd places by obsessive attention to On the Corner-era Miles Davis.

A short clip from the movie Blank Generation  Produced by Andy Warhol (1980), featuring Richard Hell and the Voidoids playing the song Blank Generation at the legendary punk club CBGB. Directed by Ulli Lommel,

“Blank Generation” is the title track of Richard Hell and the Voidoids‘ 1977 debut album Blank Generation. A rewrite of Rod McKuen‘s 1959 record “The Beat Generation,” Richard Hell wrote the new lyrics during his time with the band Television, and performed it live with another band, The Heartbreakers. The Sex Pistols‘ song “Pretty Vacant” was directly inspired by “Blank Generation”.

“Blank Generation” was previously released on the Another World EP in 1976. Other versions of the punk classic were available as demos and on one 1975 limited-edition pressing as well. An earlier live recording by The Heartbreakers, recorded at CBGB on July 7, 1975 appeared on the What Goes Around... album.Demo recordings of the song also have survived. A live March 1974 recording at CBGB with Television can be found on Spurts: The Richard Hell Story. 

Because Hell first performed the song when he was in Television, then he formed The Heartbreakers with Johnny Thunders & Jerry Nolan & this is the demo/version he did with them. Later they went their separate ways: Hell formed his own band, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, & would re-record the song – the version everybody knows and love, while Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers would go on to do Born To Lose, Chinese Rocks, etc.. The original song credits read: Dee Dee Ramone/Hell/Thunders/Nolan