Stuff The Neighbours Play It Loud (1984) 7"

It's not a tape, but same difference. Larry put this out towards the end of Cause for Concern, it being his swansong excepting a couple of reissues as vinyl albums. It came in an A4 plastic bag with a stack of loose sheets of photocopied artwork from the artists, so I've scanned that and it's all included here. I could have spent hours getting rid of the occasional pop or click but I couldn't be arsed, and you're getting the fucker for free anyway. You edit the sound files if you care that much. Or maybe your mom could edit them.

Band of Holy Joy shouldn't really require much of an introduction, and nor should We Be Echo (and for what it's worth I suspect Kevin probably designed the cover or at least the front page, as seen above). The Unkommuniti eventually turned into Stereolab, as you know. I don't know nuffink about the other three bands, and Larry never mentioned them in any of his letters, and nor did they appear on any other CFC tapes from what I can tell. My guess is that at least one of them made it onto the EP by virtue of stumping up some money for pressing as they don't quite sound like Larry's usual fare. That said, there's nothing wrong with them either, and the Nightmare track is pretty great. The other two sound like the Police and Hawkwind respectively, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I used to have about thirty copies of this thing but, having failed to shift any through the mail - having added them to the Runciter Corporation catalogue - I ended up giving them all away to Martin Pike of Stereolab and Duophonic, explaining 'Tim used to be in one of these bands so I figured you could give them away to Stereolab fans or something.' I was able to do this because, by fucking stupid coincidence, I was not only his regular postman at the time, but we lived in the same street - he was about ten doors down the hill from me. I got the impression he thought I was a bit weird, so I don't know what he did with the records, but I sort of wish I'd hung onto them and flogged them on eBay. Never mind.

Download the six tracks and stuff by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Band of Holy Joy - Snow White
2 - We Be Echo - Housewive's Choice
3 - Some Other Year - Nice and Safe
4 - Psy - Sickle and the Hourglass
5 - Nightmare - Mask (of Normality)
6 - Unkommuniti - Yog Sothoth
 
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A Couple of Andy Fraser Demos

To start at the end, there's Unlucky Fried Kitten whom I wrote about here. Rage Against Florence + the Machine can be acquired for a mere fiver here, and I think the first album, which is similarly great, can be had for the same price from the same blog, except I can't find the Paypal button so you may have to root around for a bit, or just ask Andy or something. Unlucky Fried Kitten is mostly Andy Fraser, occasionally known as Andy Export, of Maidstone, Kent - not to be confused with the late Man's Hate bloke (who has also turned up on this blog). Prior to Unlucky Fried Kitten there have been about a million other names under which he's bashed the triangle, and here are two.

 

I don't even remember how I came by these tapes. I've a feeling they were given to some student union bloke at Maidstone College of Art in the hope of getting a gig, and were eventually passed on to me as the sort of thing I might like, except I finished at Maidstone Art College in 1987 and at least one of these didn't happen until 1988, so as I say I don't know how they found their way onto my shelves. Also, I'd already seen Andy singing with the Martini Slutz by this point and immediately recognised Revenge and Underground Worker as tracks they had played live (Churchill's in Chatham, I think)...

 

Also, both tapes were single sided, missing the tracks listed as being on side two on the covers, so I don't know what went on there either.

 

What do I actually know?

 

Trooping of the Squalor seems to have been a very early version of what became the title track of www.loserville.com, and God, I wish there had been a tape of the Martini Slutz, but never mind - these are still pretty great, in my view.

Download the Death in Venice tape and cover by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Pop Group
2 - Lazy Love
 

...and the Basement Mania tape here.

Tracks:
1 - Revenge
2 - Weather Permitting
3 - Trooping of the Squalor   
4 - Underground Worker
 

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Pandemic - Third Spacing (1998) C90

Viewers born during the late 1500s may recall Steve Trodd from this Soul Providers tape, along with the two which followed soon after (which should be easy enough to find on this blog unless you're a simpleton). Anyway, this was his own stuff recorded as Pandemic with an assortment of gas-powered synths and, so far as I recall, not much else in the way of equipment. Nevertheless, I've always found it a thoroughly convincing effort and powerfully atmospheric - like a much scarier Cluster or even how Lustmord would sound if any of the reviews reflected what his music actually sounded like. 'Wack up the volume and just feel those textures,' as was I believe Jamie Oliver's verdict, and quite right too.

Also included is my own efforts at remixing one of Steve's tracks, specifically one which was called Harm at the time, but since appears to have turned into something else. With hindsight, I'm not sure I really added anything because most of this stuff sounded great as it was.

Interested parties might also like to pop over to Steve's Soundcloud page.

Download the eight tracks and inlay card by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Crashed and Bled Out
2 - Transmission
3 - Host
4 - Marburg
5 - Decon
6 - Virus
7 - Sentinel-Animal
8 - Harm [rmx]

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Regular - Psychedelic, Dub, Soul Hits, Loops and Sketches (2002) C90

This week I'm FFWDing to my most recent tape by John Jasper, relatively speaking, having noticed that a couple of those between this and the last one I shared seem to be mixes of stuff by John alongside albums by Singers & Players, and I was in a hurry to mow the lawn so I plugged in the computer and set up a tape which looked like it was all John, judging by the cover. As mentioned in previous posts, I have sometimes found it difficult to tell which tapes denoted as being by the Regulars are actually the work of the same and which are John cheekily taping an entire Matt Monro album and passing it off as his own work, and you will notice that the material on this one seems to be of suspiciously high quality - but fuck it, frankly I'm past caring. Whoever recorded this stuff, it's a masterpiece. Anyway, I vaguely recall John telling me he had bought a truly luxurious sampling thingie when he gave me this tape, so I assume these to be the fruits of the same.

 

To recap for anyone who wants to know but is too stupid to work out how one might go about referring to previous blog entries detailing the work of John Jasper, I met John in Chatham about 1987 and we lost touch when I moved a couple of years later, since which our respective orbits have only seldom resulted in our temporarily occupying the same boozer. This one dates from 2002, as you may have noticed. John was staying with his mum in Peckham prior to, if memory serves, moving to Northampton, or north-somewhere. We met for a pint in the pub at 90, Crystal Palace Road back when it actually was a fucking pub. I can't remember what it was called, but Geoff and Don always used to drink in there. Now it's called the Actress, serves pizzas, and Geoff is no longer with us. What a fucking world.

Anyway, that's where I last saw John. He gave me this tape and then once again vanished off the face of the earth, much like the town in Brigadoon. Actually he briefly resurfaced a few years later with a series of truly peculiar video compositions posted on YouTube. One of them was an ultra-rare Sex Pistols song called Romany Arse, which was pretty damn great, but which then vanished again along with its mysterious patron.

Just download the tape and give it a listen. It will make a lot more sense than any of this.

Download all thirty-six tracks and cover by clicking on this link.

Once again there seem to be a lot more tracks on the tape than are listed on the cover, so make of that what you will.

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Konstruktivists - Jihad-e-Sazendegi Demos (1988) C60

As a few of you may have surmised, I'm coming to the end of my five-ish year mission to digitise my entire tape collection, meaning I've now digitised all of the stuff which leaps out at me as requiring digitisation, leaving just 1) things which will only make sense to me and which I'm not really bothered about listening to, stuff taped from the radio and the like, 2) things which I would digitise and share except I still know the people who recorded them fairly well and haven't yet summoned up the energy to ask whether it's okay to give their shit away to strangers for free because I'm afraid that either they'll say no, or they'll say yes but I'll have to explain what the internet is, 3) collections of tapes by either factor X, Academy 23, or Konstruktivists which I've barely tackled. The reason I've barely tackled the Konstruktivists material is because I have forty-four tapes of stuff Glenn passed on to me and it can be quite a job working out what is what, and what has already seen the light of day in one form or another.

Anyway, no promises, but I think this stuff should be new to at least a couple of you, and hopefully it hasn't already appeared on some CD, or even on a previous download shared through this blog. The cover of Black December doesn't really have anything specific to do with this material, except I thought you might like to see it in colour.

Okay. 1988 is a guess but I think this dates from around then, give or take a year. Konstruktivists had released Glennascaul through Nigel's Sterile Records, recording Ikon during the same sessions and that was supposed to be the next record, a twelve inch single, except it never happened. Ikon was also the first studio track with Joe Ahmed in the group. Glenn then went through a couple of years of domestic difficulties, mainly just the practicalities of holding down a job, getting married, having a kid, finding places to live, and the usual stuff. Jihad-e-Sazendegi (meaning Crusade for Construction) was to be the fifth album and bits and pieces had been recorded at Joe's place in Harlow, Essex, and they sounded fucking amazing too; but somehow it never quite came together what with life getting in the way and everything, and eventually I guess the album was forgotten.

This is my tape of what was recorded, except I'm not absolutely sure of the details. I've a feeling some of these titles may be ones I came up with for the sake of writing something on the inlay card, and although I'm fairly certain the first seven tracks were recorded with Joe for the proposed album, there may be some wiggle room, and the second half of the tape sounds like Glenn solo to me, so is quite possibly something else entirely. Anyway, it's good stuff, so hopefully you'll get a kick out of listening to it.

Download the fourteen tracks by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Militaristik
2 - Islam
3 - East of Eden
4 - First Light
5 - Here it Comes
6 - Jihad
7 - Midnight Leather
8 - Cruising My Decade
9 - Celebration
10 - Last Dawn
11 - New Direction
12 - Fear Teachers
13 - Fourth International
14 - Tracking
 
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Regular - Mule City (1992) C90

You may recall the work of John Jasper from Regulation Issue and this other tape. Here's a third one. I can't absolutely swear that these tracks didn't appear in some version on either of the other two tapes I've shared. In fact I can't even guarantee that this is exclusively a tape of John's work given his bewildering form for throwing the occasional piece of thievery into the mix - like the tape which turned out to be Keith LeBlanc's Major Malfunction, which I actually recognised as I'd already taped bits of it from Peel; plus I have a more recent tape which is obviously the first Leftfield album, but who fucking knows? The man was a mystery.

 

Anyway, I'm pretty sure this is all John, excepting a few samples you'll doubtless recognise. When editing I incremented the tracks, giving each one its title according to what John had written on the inlay card, then noticed that it's actually pretty hard to determine what counts as a full track on this tape, plus there are many more discreet pieces of music here than there are titles, so I gave up and assigned everything a number. The title Mule City comes from the first track according to the inlay card, which I've repurposed because it sounds better than John 1992. The scanned inlay card comes with the download so if you want to sit there and go through them, deciding which title refers to what, then please do. I seem to be credited on this tape too, as you may notice, although I have no memory of having been involved in any of these. Of course, maybe it was something from one of those many late nights fucking about with the portastudio at his house in Chatham. I have no idea. While we're here, I don't know who Jeff Smith was or recall any stage during which John had a drummer, but John Page was definitely a real person. I met him and thought he was a bit of a prick. His opening line was how he didn't realise anyone was still wearing shirts with button down collars. I was wearing a shirt with a button down collar at the time so it struck me as a knob-esque remark.

 

Anyway, if you a) enjoyed the other two, or b) have any taste whatsoever, you should also enjoy this one on account of it being fucking fantastic.

 

Madness, genius, fine lines etc.

Download the tape and cover by clicking on this link.

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Family of Noise - Rough Versions (1996) C60

Bit of a dud this week, I'm afraid, but no-one's forcing you to listen to this shit and maybe it will sound as amazing to you in 2019 as it apparently did to me in 1996.

Yes, 1996: I'd just left Academy 23 (or possibly UNIT - can't remember what we were called at the time) because learning all those progressive rock symphonies was beginning to feel a bit too much like homework and I was getting tired of playing other people's songs, not least because I thought mine were better. I was going through a bit of a pre-mid-life crisis crisis and trying to reinvent myself as something less ridiculous, and thusly decided there was no good reason why cunts shouldn't be learning to play my fucking songs for a change. The clock was ticking, so I placed an advert in Melody Maker calling out for musicians with the intention of Family of Noise becoming something which played gigs and got paid. I got a few replies, more than I expected, and made up a demo tape to send out to the authors of those responses which hadn't obviously been prank calls. I was going to reinvent myself as some sort of hybrid of Courtney Love and Marc Almond and these were to be the songs you will be playing, I told my potential minions, should you be good enough to join my amazing band.

The first guy was an Elton John style keyboardist and an American then living next door to Emma Thompson. He said my tape reminded him of Fad Gadget, which seemed fair enough, and he was probably the gayest man I've ever met. He was also massively talented and way out of my league, so I suspect had replied more for the sake of making friends with other weirdos in a foreign country.

The second guy was about fifteen and lived in Chatham with an older, seemingly long-suffering girlfriend. He raved about Hummingbird and then strummed and sang one of his own songs, proposing we might add it to the set. It was called Morphine and suggested not so much that he'd had experience of the drug, but that he listened to a lot of Nirvana records. I reversed from the flat giving a series of positive McCartney-esque thumbs aloft signals, got back to London, then phoned the poor cunt and told him I'd changed my mind.

Finally I met Gareth who, so it turned out, lived around the corner from me. He was already in a band, specifically a popular Queen covers band as their John Deacon, and I don't think he'd been particularly impressed by my tape, but something I'd said had apparently given me away as a fellow Doctor Who fan (this was before it came back to the screen and was shit in 2005), so he got in touch mainly out of curiosity, and we never formed a band but have been pals ever since.

The universe was trying to tell me something, and that was to not bother forming a band. With hindsight I realise that the universe was probably right. While these tracks aren't entirely without their qualities, I couldn't really sing and the lyrics of which I was once so proud are unfortunately spattered with all sorts of faintly ludicrous references intended to make it sound a bit edgy and dangerous, which it actually wasn't.

The first four were from New Golden Age; I don't think My Remaining Eye ever appeared on anything; Hummingbird and The Girl Who Has Everything were eventually recycled as War Drum tracks; New Breed became UNIT's This Hour's Mine, which is a bit of a sore point; Cenotaph, my token dalliance with martial industrial bollocks, turned up on some UNIT tape I haven't got around to digitising (and probably won't bother); and Shit Factory (which was massively influenced by Third Door from the Left and was recorded in Lewisham with the involvement of the late Andrew Cox of Pump and MFH) ended up on War Drum's Year One tape which I haven't bothered digitising as most of the tracks were from other tapes. Also, the original master is a C54 which truncated the end of Shit Factory. As this tape is a compilation, and not so much a straight digitisation as a reconstruction from the original source tapes, there didn't seem to be much point in truncating the last track for the sake of authenticity, so it's the full version.

Download these ten ill-advised tracks and cover by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Song of the Snake
2 - New Face in SE13
3 - New Golden Age
4 - Tin Men
5 - My Remaining Eye
6 - Hummingbird [inst. version]
7 - New Breed
8 - The Girl Who Has Everything
9 - Cenotaph
10 - Shit Factory
 
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Ceramic Hobs - The Garage 21/6/03 (2003) C40

This was a Mad Pride event of some description, hence the opening address by Tim Telsa who wrote something in the Mad Pride anthology put together by Robert Dellar; and this is a tape of the gig I was sent by Stan because I'm on it, so not an official release or anything. I had joined the Ceramic Hobs on stage for about thirty seconds during their previous appearance at the Garage, improvising some shit or other so as to prevent Simon reading excerpts from the Qur'an - which he threatened to do in the event of no spontaneous audience contribution being forthcoming. This time I wrote out a whole thing as an LDB performance, which is track six. I spent a few weeks memorising it, and still forgot a few parts. I'd sent Stan a tape of what I planned to do over an arbitrary loop from Illmatic, assuming the Ceramic Hobs would probably just jam while I dropped science, as we say in the rap biz, but for some reason they used the loop and just sort of noodled over it. I hope no-one was under the impression I was expecting them to use that loop from Illmatic, but never mind.

The gig was recorded due to Stan of the Ceramic Hobs suggesting I hang onto the tape recorder, except I was performing, so I left it with Dave (Apostles, Academy 23, UNIT etc. etc.) and my friend Eddy who had come to the gig, possibly to lend me moral support, or even immoral support. Anyway, that's why you can hear myself, Dave and Eddy yacking away at the beginning and then again at the end of the tape. You can also, if you listen closely, hear Jim MacDougall loudly delivering edgy comments and observations from elsewhere in the audience just in case anyone had stopped thinking about him for a moment. Crazy times.

Sound quality is a bit rough, but it sort of works, I think. Apart from me, it was a pretty great gig, which I'd say comes across on the tape.

Download the evidence by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Introduction (Tim Telsa)
2 - Knight's Move
3 - Native American Healing Chant
4 - Would You Like to Kiss Me?
5 - When I Was a Little Boy
6 - We Don't Do Like That feat. LDB
7 - Xanadu in Veins
8 - Amateur Cops
9 - Lone Twister
 
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The Night Factory (1997) C90

Here's my final DJ set by my friend Paul Condon, whom some of you may recall as the editor of Gneurosis mag. I'm not honestly convinced this one dates from 1997, but am taking a rough guess (and to be honest I could have sworn Fiery Bliss was '95 at the latest because I recall lending it to an ex-girlfriend with whom I think I had fallen out by '96, but Paul insists that's the right date)...

Anyway, he was playing as DJ Novafrost (or possibly just Novafrost) by this point, and this is a bit of a darker set as you will hear. I think the opening material is actually Nurse With Wound. The rest I don't really have much idea about, I'm afraid. I had to be in bed by ten for most of the nineties so this is all a foreign land to me.

End of side one glued on to beginning of side two so as to hopefully present a seamless sound experience. Usual terms and conditions apply.

Download the tape by licking on this clink.

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Mixed Results (1996) C90

Here's another DJ set put together by my friend Paul, then working as Blackcurrant 93 and raising the roof on a regular basis from what I recall. As with Fiery Bliss, it's something in the general direction of trance techno with a certain je ne sais quoi of acid, and I have no idea which records or even how many went into this particular blend - except The Odyssey by Odyssey 2000 (Exist Dance label, 1992) which is such a fucking cracker that I went out and bought one (or more likely Paul had a spare). It kicks in at around 12.50 and will be recognisable by samples of Cylons from Battlestar Galactica saying by your command; and it's a serious fuckin' tune, mate.

Also, the track which ends this set appears about halfway through Fiery Bliss, but other than that - no idea. As before I've taken the liberty of sewing the end of side one onto the beginning of side two using special computer magic, so hopefully the join is of sufficient seamlessness as to allow the listener to keep his or her buzz going if using this tape as an accompaniment to smoking ecstacy cigarettes and having it large.

Sorry about the Jive Bunny cover. I'm a child, I know.

Download the tape by clicking on this link.

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Real Time 6 (1983) C90

So here's the last volume of Real Time which I haven't already posted, and you'll find the others by looking in the index as linked at the foot of this post. This volume takes the opposite route to the one I posted last week (at least I think it was the one I posted last week) by showcasing a lot of short, snappy stuff, so I assume Robert was following certain themes when he compiled each volume - and whilst I remember, a preposterously belated thanks to Mr. Cox: only since digitising, editing, and sharing these have I realised that all seven volumes appeared within the space of less than a single year, which must have been one hell of a lot of work.

Having been busy this week, I haven't had so much time in which to listen to this one, so have failed to form the usual opinions regarding content, but stand outs seem to be (at least for me) Born BC, A Primary Industry, and Trekellion Skyway. By the way, on the subject of Trekellion Skyway, Black Brook, as listed on the cover, was actually on volume five, so I assume Robert may have been getting a bit overworked by this point (and it's actually probably my single favourite track from the entire Real Time series, for whatever that may be worth).

Don't really know nuffink about none of these, although a few of them had material on previous volumes, and Brian Aspro was apparently a member of idid idid who were on Real Time 4 and about whom I'm sure I had something or other to say; Asylum Penguins are actually Robert I. Gillham who was on a couple of Cause for Concern compilations (again see index); I've added an additional exclamation mark to the name of Look! Mother! because it seemed wrong without one; I assumed Born BC were famous because I've heard of them, but apparently not, so I probably just happened to read the single fanzine they were in or something; A Primary Industry (pictured above) were definitely sort of famous and were on some Third Mind compilation album at some point. I seem to remember Peel playing them a lot but I could be mistaken; everyone knows who Bourbonese Qualk are; and I still don't know a chuffing thing about Trekellion Skyway, which is annoying as the geezer was clearly a talent.

Why would anyone call their band Rags Woggle?

Download the thirty-two tracks and cover by licking on this clink.

Tracks:
1 - Carol E - You Don't Have to Pull That Face
2 - The Genitals - The Wild West
3 - The Genitals - Sweet as Feathers
4 - Orgy Del'Orange - Gypsy Moth IV
5 - Look! Mother! - Sound Off
6 - Look! Mother! - Two Persons
7 - Born BC - What Glory
8 - Born BC - Proud Father
9 - The Meek - Smokeless Zone
10 - The Meek - Space Transition
11 - Vista - Closed In
12 - A Primary Industry - Under Western Eyes
13 - Final Contric - Need
14 - Trekellion Skyway - In Memoriam
15 - Trekellion Skyway - The Giant's Dance
16 - Tina Fulker - Gash
17 - Tina Fulker - Boys
18 - Tina Fulker - Teen Dream
19 - Tina Fulker - Solidified / Happified
20 - Tina Fulker - Wish We Could Move to Paradise
21 - Bourbonese Qualk - Blood-Orange-Bargain Day
22 - Brian Aspro - [excerpts]
23 - Erik Clayton - Thin Girl
24 - Erik Clayton - Take Your Bloody Hand...
25 - Erik Clayton - Lazy Girls
26 - Erik Clayton - Little Black Box (part two)
27 - Vertical Hold - Injustice
28 - The Great Bone & the Four-a-Day Men - Twenty Drinking Vouchers
29 - The Great Bone & the Four-a-Day Men - The Texas Chainstore Massacre
30 - Asylum Penguins - Vivisection
31 - Asylum Penguins - Chicken House
32 - Rags Woggle - True Colours
 
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Real Time 4 (1982) C90

Here's the fourth one bringing with it an increased emphasis on dreamy (or otherwise) electronic instrumental work, which is no bad thing. Usual terms and conditions apply in regard to who the hell any of these people were, although some you may recall from previous volumes of Real Time. EG Oblique Graph, as you well know, turned into Muslimgauze shortly after, and this track was taken from his Tryptych 7" EP as issued by Recloose. Not having the record myself, it's all new to me, although I note with curiosity that the version some bloke has posted on YouTube seems to run at a different speed to this one, so I have no idea which one is correct unless it's one of those AMAZING RECORDS WHICH THE ARTIST SAYS YOU CAN PLAY AT ANY SPEED SO LONG AS YOU'RE FINE WITH HAVING YOUR MIND BLOWN!!!  I still don't know nuffink about the Ffuts except that they used to be called the Stuff, and I vaguely recall having a fanzine in which they featured and in which they explained why they took to reversing their name, but typically I flogged it on eBay. Oh well. Jung Analysts and Push Button Pleasure are both something to do with one Terry Burrows (pictured above). Paul Kelday, as I only just found out, is or possibly was brother to one of New 7th Music, so that's interesting. I remember his work turning up on a lot of compilation tapes back in the day, and it was always something worth hearing. I really should have picked up a couple of his tapes but never mind.

 

Don't have much else I can say about this one, except that some guesswork was involved in incrementing the tracks from side one, working out whether such and such a burst of funny noises were the end of one track or the beginning of another - that sort of thing - so if I got it wrong, sorry to those concerned, but you really should have started your tracks with a hearty 1-2-3-4 like a proper band such as Racey or Abrasive Wheels. Also, the Ffuts track is actually two tracks on the tape, running out and cutting off at the end of side one, then abruptly resuming on side two, and listed as parts one and two on the cover. This seemed a bit messy to me so I've edited them into a single piece as it's clearly all part of the same track.

Download the fourteen tracks and cover by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - The Critical Disco Review - Sour Tangs
2 - The Critical Disco Review - The Nomads
3 - Sons Of Mavis - Poison Ivy
4 - Sons Of Mavis - 20/20 Vision
5 - Jonathan Rush - Jomar's Journey [excerpt]
6 - Vista - New Sky
7 - EG Oblique Graph - Black Cloth Behind De Gaulle's Wax Head
8 - Ffuts - The Nuclear Tribe
9 - Jung Analysts - The Shining Room
10 - Push Button Pleasure - Reproductions
11 - Paul Kelday - Worlds Apart [excerpt]
12 - Syd Nairda - Journey on the Motorway
13 - Syd Nairda - Sunset in the Desert
14 - Robert Cox - C352
 

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Real Time 3 (1982) C90

Here's the third one, and possibly the best so far (ignoring that I posted volumes five and seven some time ago) by my estimation - hard to believe it was compiled by means presumably similar to throwing bricks from the top of a double decker bus travelling down a busy high street and expecting them to brain only persons with some degree of talent; unless Mr. Cox rejected anyone's contribution as being too crap, although I'm fairly sure I recall him stating that everyone who sent something for Real Time was represented in one way or another.

As usual, a few of these will have to speak for themselves, besides which, if you're reading this then you too have internet access and are just as able to research a few of these names as I am. Both Oi Polloi and Anhrefrn (pictured above) should be sufficiently famous for you to have heard of them, I would have thought, although being as this tape dates from 1982, this stuff actually came out almost a decade before I'd heard of either. I vaguely recall getting a letter from the Infamous Zeek & Giz back when I was running a tape label, but I was a bit put off by 1) the Infamous prefix, given that I'd never heard of them, 2) frequent reference to what they termed comedy tapes, and 3) the proposition that I might like to engage in swapsies - it all felt a bit too much like you don't have to be mad to work here, BUT IT HELPS! Thankfully though, their music is decent, and I probably would have enjoyed it back then were it not for the reservations already given; and idid idid apparently once had a split tape with New 7th Music on a label called Rock Against Elvis Costello, which is amusing.

I don't know nuffink else. Favourites artists here - Trendy Turtles and the Invisible Band, but it's all pretty good.

Download the twenty-five tracks and cover by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Trendy Turtles - Hickory Dickory
2 - Trendy Turtles - Instrumental
3 - Trendy Turtles - Bamber
4 - The Genitals - Our Eyes Met
5 - The Genitals - Sound of the Spa
6 - Sons of the Electrodes - Bear in Mind
7 - Oi Polloi - Police State
8 - Oi Polloi - Poppy Day
9 - Oi Polloi - No Future
10 - Oi Polloi - Media
11 - Lurch - Hush Little Baby
12 - Yr Anhrefrn - Stwffiwch Y Dolig
13 - Yr Anhrefrn - Ynni O'r Sebon
14 - Terminal Spectators - Another Day
15 - Terminal Spectators - Reach for the Sky
16 - The Infamous Zeek & Giz - Ronnie & the Rayguns
17 - The Infamous Zeek & Giz - My Brain is Infested with Mince
18 - Future Future - 21st Century (Dreams)
19 - Graham Larkbey - You Look So Lovely Tonight
20 - Graham Larkbey - Your Husband Didn't Like It
21 - The Invisible Band - Alazarin's Castle
22 - The Invisible Band - Doin' the Ton
23 - idid idid - Moloko Plus
24 - Ron Ferret - Wasps
25 - Ron Ferret - Train of Thought

 
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Real Time 2 (1982) C90

Here's another one, as per arrangements made t'other week. I don't know much about this lot either, except a few of them contributed to the previous volume. Research reveals that Gunslinger were based around one Alan Davey (pictured above) whom Discogs describes as the second-longest serving member of Hawkwind, so that's interesting, and perhaps accounts for why those two tracks are possibly my favourites on this tape. I'm fairly sure I saw Workforce live at the Green Dragon, Stratford-upon-Avon back in the early eighties - one of those sort of grunting funky Test Dept with a trumpet bands falling somewhere between Slab and Hula, as I recall, and very good too, although I suppose it might be a different band with the same name. In any case the internet doesn't seem to remember much about their ever having existed. Patrol were on the second A Country Fit for Heroes compilation on the studded leather No Future label, but that's about all I've found out about them. The Same was obviously Robert Cox, later of Rimarimba, and the man behind Unlikely Records who put out this tape. I assume he's probably also the man behind the track by Robert Cox.

A few of these are given here as [excerpts] because I couldn't be arsed to increment each individual thirty second snippet of something or other where artists contributed what sounds a lot like advertising for some album they were about to release, plus titling a single track as, for one example, The Black Box / We Care / Summary / Scenes of Today / Sandra / The Black Box as listed on the cassette cover struck me as cumbersome. Personally I wish they hadn't done this, because here, I've put together a montage of our best stuff for your compilation just seems to reduce the whole enterprise to advertising space, aesthetically speaking, regardless of some of that material sounding good; but, there's not much point in whining about it now, nearly four decades later, because each to their own, and admittedly the selection as a whole remains very, very listenable with plenty of surprises.

Download the twenty-four tracks and cover by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Swimming in the Sea - [excerpts]
2 - Workforce - Ten Fingers Only
3 - Jonathan Rush - Only a Nightmare
4 - David Rush - Laser
5 - Gunslinger - Someone's Got You in the Gunsights
6 - Gunslinger - Step into the Future
7 - The Blotchees - [excerpts]
8 - Extension-Two - [excerpts]
9 - Extension-Two - Extension-Two (Alone Again)
10 - Lurch - Real Time
11 - Robert Cox - A2 is Missing
12 - Patrol - SS Officer
13 - Patrol - Innocence
14 - Tom Cramp & the Epileptic Ducks - Cramposaurus Chant
15 - Tom Cramp & the Epileptic Ducks - White Stalk SB
16 - The Puush - Morning Rolls and Hot Coffee
17 - Suburban Storm Troopers - Switchblade & Crucifix
18 - Suburban Storm Troopers - Mau Mau
19 - Switch-Chord Roulette - Theresa
20 - Switch-Chord Roulette - Goliath
21 - The Same - Instrumental 7/3/82
22 - The Same - Auntie Meat
23 - The Same - Sampled & Held
24 - The Same - Sync or Swim
 
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Real Time 1 (1982) C90

Some Digital Dinosaurs yesterday.

I thought I'd run out of compilation tapes, having digitised all of those in my possession, then remembered that Robert Cox, the man behind Unlikely Records, had very kindly sent me digitised files of the volumes of his Real Time series which I hadn't already posted here. So these are tapes from the eighties which I've only heard this year for the first time, which is exciting. The two volumes I have in my physical possession were posted here and here,  and I'm sharing those links so as to avoid having to repeat myself as to what Real Time was all about.

I'm pretty much in the dark about most of these people. I recall the Digital Dinosaurs from back in the day, and it turns out they were from Coventry so I probably read about them in Martin Bowes' Alternative Sounds. There's a bit about them here, and I've just noticed that the excellent Mr. Zchivago has a shitload of material on his Die or DIY? blog. In Embrace were something to do with the guy from 3 Way Dance and Peter Becker of Eyeless in Gaza, amongst others, and I remember What a Nice Way to Turn Seventeen fanzine of Leamington Spa going positively apeshit over their album, from which I assume these excerpts are taken. I also recall Jonathan Rush from somewhere or other, and the Ffuts used to be known as the Stuff. I'm sure you all know who was behind EG Oblique Graph, and the Same was Robert Cox himself, which is why it probably reminds you of Rimarimba. I don't know anything about the rest, but hopefully you'll agree this is a nice little collection, full of surprises. Quite keen on the Emergency Exit tracks myself.

I'll post volume two in another couple of weeks once I'm back from my holiday in Airstrip One.

Download the twenty-eight tracks and cover by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Syd Nairda - Nevada
2 - Lurch - High-Steppin' Mamma
3 - Digital Dinosaurs - Sideways Man
4 - Digital Dinosaurs - Red Fire Engine
5 - Jonathan Rush - Synthasalsa
6 - Jonathan Rush - New Dawn
7 - Y Celfi Cam - Mab y Gweinidog
8 - In Embrace - [excerpts]
9 - EG Oblique Graph - Scar
10 - The Ffuts - Luscious Love
11 - The Same - 453-549
12 - Tom Cramp & the Epileptic Ducks - Die for Doggy
13 - R.J. Curd - [excerpts]
14 - Emergency Exit - Falling for You
15 - Emergency Exit - Voices
16 - Part Form - [excerpts]
17 - Future Future - Operator
18 - The Toy Shop - [excerpts]
19 - Extension-Two - Gaps
20 - General Motors - Tubular Turd
21 - General Motors - Live Wasp Omelette, Lung
22 - Piers of the Realm - Manic
23 - Someone Else - Something Else
24 - The Same - Set Zero
25 - The Same - Hot & Cold
26 - The Same - Larruping Shuftly
27 - The Same - If You Want To, Do So!
28 - The Same - Du Ma Casa
 
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Doc Mustard and the Cobalt Kid - Nudie Beaches (1986) C20

It probably isn't called Nudie Beaches. It probably isn't called anything, but that's the first track and Demo is boring, even if that's what it is. I don't have a cover for this, or even the original tape as this was a demo I copied onto another tape with a load of other stuff.

Doc Mustard was Andrew Oliver, a much-loved busker of Coventry and then somewhere or other in Cornwall, who passed on just a couple of weeks ago so this is additionally a sort of tribute. Back in the eighties he was half of Doc Mustard and the Cobalt Kid - little fat guy with one of those faces which meant he always looked surprised playing the synth, plus a beanpole-style hairy metal dude in stripy trousers in guitar solo heaven so er... Soft Cell with more of a Benny Hill vibe, maybe. Oliver was something in the Coventry music scene for a while, playing in various ska or reggae bands of the time. I saw him when he played Maidstone College of Art with his Cobalt sidekick, possibly '85 or '86.

As you will hear, it's a bit music hall, maybe a bit Ian Dury, or even >shudder< Black Lace, and probably never got too many rewinds on the Sonic Youth tour bus, but in a live setting this stuff was so weirdly in your face and clearly gave no shits about seeming even remotely cool, and was accordingly very difficult to resist. Listen close and you can sort of imagine how it would have been had Brian Eno ever produced Bad Manners, or summink, particularly on You Go Your Way.

So here's to you, Mr. Oliver, obviously a much loved figure amongst the many who knew him, or even just knew of him. There's a load more out there on Soundcloud if anyone wants to have a look around. I'd link a few of the news articles I found but most of them require that the reader wait three or four minutes while all the shitty pop-up adverts sort themselves out.

Download the five tracks by clicking on this link.

Tracks:
1 - Nudie Beaches
2 - The Facts
3 - It Isn't Easy
4 - You Go Your Way
5 - Something to Say
 

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An Oral, Narcissical, Narcotical, Industrial Affair (1983) C30

I suspect this was one of those ideas which didn't seem quite so amazing to its creator next morning. I don't think CFC025 ever made it into any of CFC's photocopied lists of available tapes, and having slipped it onto the sticker with which he tried to promote the live Nocturnal Emissions cassette which was eventually vinyled as Chaos (tough - if all you beardy hipster shitbags can have your 'vinyls' then I get to use it as a verb), Cause for Concern's Larry Peterson seemed reluctant to further push the thing.

'What the hell is it,' I asked.

'You wouldn't like it,' he said.

'But what is it?'

'It's nothing. Anyway I've deleted it now.'

etc. etc.

Somehow I eventually managed to diddle a copy out of him, no art, no cover, just a tape with those generic CFC labels designed by Kevin of We Be Echo; and I listened to the thing, and it all became clear.

Actually, contrary to Larry's expectations of the morning after, I found it very entertaining.

Download whatever the hell this thing is by clicking on this link.

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