Vocals: Siouxsie Sioux
Guitar: John McGeoch
Bass: Steven Severin
Drums: Budgie
Complete Banshees gig from Rockpalaston German TV, 1981. It’s interesting to compare the opener “Israel” on this video the opening track, with John McGeoch’s thick chorused, guitar sound while Robert Smith’ssound is more waspish/spidery! certainly John McGeoch was one of the best guitar players I experienced a Scottish guitarist who played with several bands of thepost-punk era, including Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Visage and Public Image Ltd. He was described as “one of the most influential guitarists of his generation and he was also considered “the new wave Jimmy Page.
John McGeoch was my favourite guitarist of all time. He was into sound in an almost abstract way. I loved the fact that I could say, “I want this to sound like a horse falling off a cliff”, and he would know exactly what I meant. He was easily, without a shadow of a doubt, the most creative guitarist the Banshees ever had.
In 1996, he was listed by Mojo in their “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” for his work on the Siouxsie and the Banshees song especially on the “Spellbound“.However, McGeoch suffered a nervous breakdown due to the stresses of touring and drinking and collapsed on stage at a Madridconcert. This marked the end of his membership in Siouxsie and the Banshees
This fabulous archive of the German TV show “Rockpalast,” this time for a full, 75-minute concert by the inimitable Siouxsie and the Banshees, filmed on July 19, 1981, in Colgone, Germany, just weeks after the release of the band’s fourth studio album, “Juju”. Check out the full show in the player above, and we’ve got the setlist posted below as well.
Setlist: Siouxsie and the Banshees, Satory Saal, Cologne, Germany, 7/19/81
1. “Israel”, 2. “Halloween”, 3. “Regal Zone”, 4. “Spellbound”, 5. “Arabian Knights”, 6. “Switch”, 7. “Pulled To Bits”
8. “Head Cut”, 9. “Tenant”, 10. “Night Shift”, 11. “Sin In My Heart”, 12. “But Not Them”, 13. “Voodoo Dolly”
14. “Hong Kong Garden”, 15. “Eve White Eve Black”, 16. “Happy House”, 17. “Skin”
On this day March 10th in 1978 Manchester and UK punk band The Buzzcocks released their debut album, Recorded & mixed at Olympic Studios in London December 1977/January 1978 ‘ Another Music in a Different Kitchen‘, on United Artists Records.
The original UK vinyl is issued with a black cardboard inner sleeve, with color photo on front cover. Subsequent pressings substituted a black and white photo. The initial few thousand copies shipped in a matching silver-grey outer ‘PRODUCT‘ shopping bag. The album was originally conceived with the track “I Need” on side one; but after a test pressing was made, the group felt the song should appear on the second side. A mix-up occurred at the pressing plant, and, as a consequence, some early copies of the album contained no “I Need” at all.
A blue vinyl version was re-released around 1986. The corresponding CD was released in March 1994 on the same record label. An undated songbook was published (VR 8003 2) with sheet music from the album, band photos, brief biographical material, and discography which includes the band’s second release, UAG 30197 “Love Bites”. As such, it would have been released after 22nd September 1978 the release date of “Love Bites”. In keeping with other releases, the line “Agreed Images” appears on the back cover below the stocking number.
It featured the band’s second line-up, with Pete Shelley handling lead vocals following the departure of their original frontman, Howard Devoto; the album included the single “I Don’t Mind”, which would reach UK #55; to promo the LP, Virgin Record Stores in London, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester & Newcastle each released 500 helium-filled balloons containing coupons for a free copy . The term “perfect pop” is misused to hell, because it’s mostly applied to bands that never went near the charts; but Buzzcocks were pop, in that they consistently had top 20 singles. In Pete Shelley – angelic, sexually ambiguous, eyebrow-raised – they had one of the best songwriters of the time, and in Steve Diggle – loud, mod, a bit barky – they had his perfect foil, and a man also capable of great songwriting. The songs are all brilliant pop tunes in the classic style, but with lyrics whose doomed romanticism would put John Lennon to shame, and the kind of riffs that only a Stooges and T.Rex fan could write. From I Don’t Mind’s woozy declaration that “reality’s a dream” to Sixteen’s stentorian “And I hate modern music! Disco! Boogie! Pop!”, Another Music… was as melodic as pop has ever been and as honest and real as any plaid-faced grunge act.
On New Year’s Day, the UK’s BBC Four aired a new 75-minute documentary called“The Clash: New Year’s Day ’77″ put together by filmmaker Julien Temple and built around his own, previously unseen footage of the of the band performing on Jan. 1, 1977, at the Roxy Club. It’s considered the earliest known live footage ofThe Clash.
The film — which includes interviews and other footage from 1977 interwoven with the live performances — has been streaming on the BBC’s site, but is now available to see outside the UK, Watch the full film below.
The BBC’s description of the program: Built around the earliest, until now unseen, footage of the Clash in concert, filmed by Julien Temple as they opened the infamous Roxy Club in a dilapidated Covent Garden on January 1st 1977, this show takes us on a time-travelling trip back to that strange planet that was Great Britain in the late 1970s and the moment when punk emerged into the mainstream consciousness.
Featuring the voices of Joe Strummer and the Clash from the time, and intercutting the raw and visceral footage of this iconic show, with telling moments from the BBC’s New Year’s Eve, Hogmanay and New Year’s Day schedules of nearly 40 years ago, it celebrates that great enduring British custom of getting together, en masse and often substantially the worse for wear, to usher in the New Year.
New Year’s Day is when we collectively take the time to reflect on the year that has just gone by and ponder what the new one might hold in store for us. Unknown to the unsuspecting British public, 1977 was of course the annus mirabilis of punk. The year in which the Clash themselves took off, catching the imagination of the nation’s youth. As their iconic song, 1977, counts us down to midnight, we’ll share with them and Joe Strummer, in previously unseen interviews from the time, their hopes and predictions for the 12 months ahead.
This band plays the kind of heartfelt punk music that makes you feel like you’re at the best house party ever with all of your best friends, just after you’ve had a couple of best beers in the world . Taken from LUCA BRASI ‘By A Thread’ album Members are : Tom Busby – guitar Danny Flood – drums Patrick Marshall – guitar + vocals Tyler Richardson – vocals + bass This Australian Punk. Rock band are from St Helens, Tasmania. Australia.
The London based band have so far to date released two songs, but with some amazing live shows chantable choruses and handclaps plus the driving rhythms with a touch of punk and glam rock combined, plus they are on a great label Heavenly Recordings.
A true classic and a landmark album released on the 22nd July 1977 Costello’s debut album has been listed as one of the best debut of all time. recorded at Pathway studios in Islington late at night sessions taking approximately 24 hours to record it was also the first of five consecutive albums produced by Nick Lowe. Costello had been performing his songs in clubs and pubs in liverpool he had cut some demos and sent them to various labels with no success, He had been asked by Stiff Records to record some demos for the possibility of being a songwriter for Dave Edmunds but Edmunds was reluctant, Costello at this time was still working his day job as a data clerk, The label had Costello and the band Clover record to show his songs off but decided to release the songs as his first album, the first two singles had done very little and Costello was still working at his day job when the album was released in July 1977,
He was asked to give up his job they would match his wages gave him an amp and a tape recorder and he became a professional musician. the iconic cover shot which became Elvis’s trademark look with the Buddy Holly glasses and bent knee. The album was re-recorded with the same songs and arrangements with Elvis’s permanent backing band The Attractions at a later date that summer the idea was to replace the original recording with the Clover version and the initial pressings had sold out but this never happened, Costello and Clover played together for a one off benefit in November 2007 in San Francisco. There have been several re-issues with added tracks but the Costello/Attractions version has never been released. The standout tracks of “Less Than Zero, Alison, Red Shoes and Watching The Detectives.
Released in May 1982, “Combat Rock” is The Clash’s fifth studio album, their best selling album and the last to include guitarist/vocalist Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon. It was indeed their most polarizing work to date, within the band and among their fan base. I remember hearing hardcore Clash devotees refer to “Combat Rock” as their sell out album. They could not have been more wrong.
The album displayed The Clash as a band that made impassioned statements about the times we were living in and how we got there. With this album, they somehow managed to limit the amount of anarchy and chaos pouring out of your speakers without compromising their message. The Clash toned down the excesses of their previous release Sandinista (1980), a three album opus that vacillated between brilliance and a muddled mess. They hired veteran producer Glyn Johns to produce the album, his steady hand and experience leading them to cut “Combat Rock” down from a double album called Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg to a single album.
After two albums of increasing ambition (the two-LP ‘London Calling‘ was followed by the triple ‘Sandinista!’), and a two-year recording break, the Clash’s classic line-up returned with their final album, a lean, song-centered effort. ‘Combat Rock’ which made them MTV stars, thanks to the hit singles “Rock the Casbah” and “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” But the album goes deeper than that, finding inspiration in some new corners, despite the increasing tensions among band members during recording. This was the last hurrah for guitarist Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon … and the Clash.
It was the fifth studio album from the Clash and the penultimate album, Released on CBS records in May 1972 and spent 61 weeks in the charts, recorded at Ear Studios in London between September 1971 and january 1972 and Electric Lady studios in New York, originally planned as a double album with a working title of “Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg” with mixing done by Mick Jones the band were dissatisfied with the result and internal wrangling within the band bought in Glyn Johns and reduced the running order to a single album major tracks were Should I Stay , Should I Go, Straight To Hell and Rock the Casbah, during promotion for the album Joe Strummer sported a Travis Bickle Mohican haircut.
The Clash were never shy about making political statements and “Rock the Casbah” is no exception. It was intended to be a song about the banning of rock music by Muslim fundamentalists in Iran, but like all really cool things, it got co-opted by people who completely missed the message. “You know the U.S. military played this song in the first Gulf War to the troops and now are using it again as they prepare for war,” Strummer shared “this is just typical and despicable.” Also, in 2006, “Rock the Casbah” was named one of the 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs by the National Review.
The biggest triumph of Combat Rock was that The Clash were able to sell tons of records with an album that was complex and more different than anything else on the charts at the time.
Combat Rock is so much more than just “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and “Rock the Casbah.” The band were big fans of the movie Apocalypse Now and they had a great fascination with the Vietnam War. As a result, several of the album’s songs are meditations on the war and its impact on society. “Straight to Hell” tells the story of Vietnamese women and their children whose fathers were American soldiers who eventually abandoned them. “Sean Flynn” is another Vietnam-themed tale about the son of actor Errol Flynn who was a photojournalist who disappeared in 1970 while in Vietnam.
The Clash spent much of 1981 and some of 1982 in New York and many of the songs on Combat Rock have a very distinct New York influence and feel to them. One of these songs is “Red Angel Dragnet,” a tune that was inspired by the shooting death of Frank Melvin, a member of the Guardian Angels. The song incorporates quotes from Martin Scorcese’s Taxi Driver with The Clash’s longtime associate and sometimes manager Kosmo Vinyl imitating the voice of the movie’s main character, Travis Bickle.
“Overpowered By Funk” is a song that illustrates the heavy influence that hip-hop (then referred to as rap) had on the band. Joe Strummer recalled in 2002, “When we came to the U.S., Mick stumbled upon a music shop in Brooklyn that carried the music of Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, the Sugar Hill Gang…these groups were radically changing music and they changed everything for us.” The song features a rap vocal by legendary graffiti artist Futura 2000. It captured the mood and feel of New York City in 1982 and it gave us a glimpse into Jones’ musical future with his band Big Audio Dynamite. The dark side of New York is on display in “Ghetto Defendant,” a reggae dub track featuring Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. It’s an ominous tale about heroin addiction and despair. Ironically, it was heroin addiction that forced the band to fire drummer Topper Headon after the album’s release.
The various styles of music on Combat Rock were emblematic of the drifting apart of Strummer and Jones. “Know Your Rights” is Joe Strummer personified and one hell of a way to kick off an album. The song exemplified the direction he wanted the band to go. Strummer thought they needed to get back closer to their punk roots. The stylistic tug of war on Combat Rock works with the heavy subject matter. Unbeknownst to us at the time, it was the last great statement from The Clash as we knew them. When the Combat Rock tour ended, Strummer and the band’s manager Bernie Rhodes forced Jones out of the band. Strummer confided in 2002, “I committed one of the greatest mistakes of my life with the sacking of Mick.”
Combat Rock’s legacy lives on years after its initial release, with the most notable example being “Straight to Hell”, which was sampled in M.I.A’s 2007 song “Paper Planes.” Combat Rock may be one of the most misunderstood albums of all time. The band’s hardcore fans wanted more of what “London Calling” was and The Clash wanted to grow and explore. In the long run, I think we were the better for it.
The Band were Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Topper Headon and Paul Simonon,
The RAMONES released their debut album April 23rd 1976 the American Punk Rock band formed in the Forest Hills district in Queens in 1974 major influence here than the USA, although none of the band are related they all took the adopted surname Ramone. Of the 14 songs on the album other than “I Don’t Wanna Go Down The Basement” none surpassed 2.1/2 minutes with an Iconic Front Cover the album was released to glowing critical praise exhilarating intense rock’n’roll stand out tracks “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”
EAGULLS the Leeds post punk band have been gaining considerable hype in all the right places, after a superb performance at SXSW in Austin Texas they have just confirmed a few dates locally
Leicester Cookie Jar 14th October, Nottingham Bodega Social 29th October plus they will be at some of the years biggest Festivals LATITUDE and END OF THE ROAD.
The Fat Angel Sings 