Continuing the theme from the first 2 volumes, covering the peak years of the post-punk movement. As usual featuring quite a few bands who should have been more widely heard, amongst more familiar names. Enjoy!
1. Wah! – The Death Of Wah! (5:45)
2. Girls At Our Best! – This Train (2:57)
3. Second Layer – In Bits (3:04)
4. Mission of Burma – Weatherbox (3:26)
5. This Heat – S.P.Q.R. (3:25)
6. The Turquoise Swimming Pools – Burst Balloons (3:59)
7. Delta 5 – Triangle (3:18)
8. The Happy Family – Puritans (3:13)
9. Scars – She’s Alive (2:58)
10. Guerre Froide – Peine Perdue (3:21)
11. Savage Republic – When All Else Fails… (3:04)
12. Bilders – Alien (2:31)
13. Pink Military – Back On The London Stage (3:04)
14. 23 Skidoo – IY (5:01)
15. The Wake – Patrol (3:31)
16. Mo-Dettes – Sparrow (4:12)
17. Blurt – Get (3:42)
18. Modern English – The Token Man (6:31)
19. Nikki Sudden – Knife My Heart (2:12)
20. Commando M. Pigg – Om Nej (2:12)
21. Josef K – Drone (3:06)
22. Crispy Ambulance – Bardo Plane (3:32)
1. Wah! – The Death Of Wah! (5:45) – from the album “Nah=Poo – The Art Of Bluff”, 1981
Wah!, and its number of incarnations, was a vehicle for Liverpool post-punk enigma Pete Wylie. Whether viewed as a prolific genius or as a blowhard lunatic with no quality control, there’s no denying that the larger-than-life Wylie was a steamroller of a character who did everything his way to the fullest possible extent. Wylie’s recordings might have varied stylistically throughout the years, but they each share the qualities of being loud, proud, and heartfelt.
2. Girls At Our Best! – This Train (2:57) – B-side to “Fast Boyfriends” single, 1981
Possibly the finest early eighties band never to have a chart single and they split up before having any real success. Their first single was the standard post-punk of the era, but even that had some nice twists like the powering out of Warm Girls with a riff that most bands would kill for, so good in fact that it would resurface on Fast Boyfriends.
3. Second Layer – In Bits (3:04) – from the album “World of Rubber”, 1981
Second Layer was an electronic-based outlet for The Sound’s Adrian Borland and Graham Bailey. Borland supplied guitars and vocals while Bailey provided keyboards, bass, and drum programming. Since the duo was central to The Sound’s sound, their side project retained some of that feel, albeit in a slightly detached fashion that’s to be expected when synths and drum machines replace more human elements.
4. Mission of Burma – Weatherbox (3:26) – from the album “Vs.”, 1982
Like many of their post-punk contemporaries, Mission of Burma’s efforts are largely concerned with extending punk’s original vocabulary without losing its essential rebellious spirit. Using rapid shifts in dynamics, unconventional time signatures and chord progressions along with tape effects, Mission of Burma challenges the prevailing idioms of punk while attempting to retain its power and immediacy.
5. This Heat – S.P.Q.R. (3:25) – from the album “Deceit”, 1981
This Heat were an experimental British rock band widely considered a link between progressive rock and such later experimental genres as post-punk, post-rock, and noise-rock. Their music touched on numerous different styles and genres, and was frequently confrontational and politically charged.
6. The Turquoise Swimming Pools – Burst Balloons (3:59) – from the compilation album “To The Shores Of Lake Placid”, 1982
Short-lived Liverpool post-punk band, which included past and future members of The Teardrop Explodes and Dalek I Love You. They had two tracks – “The Winds” and “Burst Balloons” featured on the Zoo Records compilation, To The Shores Of Lake Placid.
7. Delta 5 – Triangle (3:18) – BBC Radio Session with John Peel, September 2 1980
Delta 5 were a first wave Post Punk band, hailing from the fertile Leeds scene in 1979. For brief period they challenged Gang of Four as England’s finest political Post Punk outfit. However, where Go4 promulgated a populist/socialist and often anti-military ideology, Delta 5 focused largely on feminist issues. The band were prominent figures in the Rock Against Racism movement.
8. The Happy Family – Puritans (3:13) – A-side single, 1982
The Happy Family were the earliest vehicle for the cerebral songs of an Edinburgh university drop-out called Nicholas Currie – he was later to find his true vocation as a post-Brel, post-Gainsbourg “tender pervert” called Momus. 4AD’s attention had been attracted by a demo which also featured ex-Josef K guitarist Malcolm Ross. A three-song single, “Puritans” – which, if truth be told, owed a rather large sonic debt to both Josef K and Orange Juice.
9. Scars – She’s Alive (2:58) – from the album “Author! Author!”, 1981
Scars (originally known as The Scars) were a post-punk band that hailed from Edinburgh, Scotland, and were a part of that city’s bustling music scene of the late 70s – early 80s. They released number of 7“‘s from 1979 – 1981 and in 1981 they released their one and only album Author! Author! The band’s original sound was angular and offset with a dance-based rhythm section.
10. Guerre Froide – Peine Perdue (3:21) – from the EP “Guerre Froide”, 1981
Guerre froide (translating into Cold War) were a French group that emerged from the dawn of the 80s Post-Punk/Coldwave movements. The group imposes an aggressive, repetitive and hypnotically minimalist musical atmosphere. Their lyrics touch on visions of both existential and poetic crossings, and social and political criticisms. Live performances consisted of the band pumping out its throbbing sound .
11. Savage Republic – When All Else Fails… (3:04) – from the album “Tragic Figures”, 1982
Savage Republic was a seminal Los Angeles Tribal-Industrial-Art-Punk band from the 1980s, currently reformed and active with a different line-up. They were influenced by a diverse array of music, including Glenn Branca, Can, DNA, Amon Duul, PiL, The Pop Group, Joy Division, Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, The Ventures and Flipper, as well as a variety of ethnic music from around the world.
12. Bilders – Alien (2:31) – from the album “Beatin Hearts”, 1982
Bilders is a New Zealand indie-alt-rock-garage band (aka Builders) — musicians sometimes of quite different styles, but The Bilders roots are basically proto-punk, psychedelic garage and kiwi DIY pop-rock.
13. Pink Military – Back On The London Stage (3:04) – from the album “Do Animals Believe In God?”, 1980
Pink Military was one of the few groups to come from Liverpool during the post-punk era of the late ’70s and early ’80s that took from non-rock scenes like disco and reggae. While most of the acts that came from the Liverpool club Eric’s were more rock-based (Echo & the Bunnymen, Wah!, the Teardrop Explodes), Pink Military had more in common with the non-Liverpool groups of the time that looked outside of rock & roll’s history for inspiration.
14. 23 Skidoo – IY (5:01) – from the album “Seven Songs”, 1982
23 Skidoo cross industrial, punk, hip hop, funk, jazz and tribal elements. The band had interests in martial arts, burundi and kodo drumming, Fela Kuti, The Last Poets, William S. Burroughs, as well as the emerging confluence of industrial music, post-punk and funk.
15. The Wake – Patrol (3:31) – from the album “Harmony”, 1982
Illustrating their initially dark, almost gloomy post-punk style, the Wake’s debut single, “On Our Honeymoon,” came out on their own Scan Records in January 1982. Though it didn’t chart, press reaction was favorable enough that the quartet signed to the era’s leading British indie, Manchester’s Factory Records, and released their first album, Harmony, in October of the same year.
16. Mo-Dettes – Sparrow (4:12) – from the album “The Story So Far”, 1980
The all-female Mo-dettes were formed in early 1979, originally calling themselves The Bomberettes. And although the assumption is that they were a mod band, this is incorrect: some called them punk, others thought they were more pop-punk, while still others compared their music to that of early Raincoats or Slits.
17. Blurt – Get (3:42) – A-side single, 1980
Formed in 1979 by brothers Ted and Jake Milton with guitarist Peter Creese. The band made their recording debut on Factory Records, but released albums on many different labels throughout their thirty-year career. Over the years Ted Milton has kept the band going with several line-up changes, but maintaining the idiosyncrasy and originalty that has marked the Blurt sound from the very beginning.
18. Modern English – The Token Man (6:31) – from the album “Mesh and Lace”, 1981
Inspired by the stylish gloom of Bauhaus and Joy Division, Modern English released the singles “Swans on Glass” and “Gathering Dust” before recording their 1981 debut LP Mesh & Lace. Boiling with raw anger, dissonant rhythms, and weird noises, Mesh & Lace confused some U.K. critics while mesmerizing others. A year later, the group streamlined their sound, dropping much of Mesh & Lace’s gothic experimentation.
19. Nikki Sudden – Knife My Heart (2:12) – from the album “Waiting on Egypt”, 1982
After the post-punk band Swell Maps dissolved in the early ’80s, lead singer Nikki Sudden began a diverse and maddening solo career, during which he performed with a number of different bands and side projects. Sudden released his first solo record, Waiting on Egypt, in 1982, followed closely by The Bible Belt in 1983; both records recalled Swell Maps.
20. Commando M. Pigg – Om Nej (2:12) – from the album “Commando M. Pigg”, 1981
Commando M Pigg were a female fronted act that formed in 1980, dropped the “M Pigg” around ’86 and eventually released a grand total of seven albums before finally calling it a day in 1990. Musically, influences of early Siouxsie and the Banshees, Raincoats and Lilliput are obvious. Sometimes reminiscent of the first Björk attempts with Tappi Tíkarrass or Kukl,while jazzish elements are not absent (especially in the use of saxes).
21. Josef K – Drone (3:06) – from unreleased album “Sorry for Laughing”, 1980
Musically, they resembled their label mates Orange Juice in fusing post-punk guitars with funk and disco rhythms. They were influenced by American bands such as Pere Ubu, Television, Talking Heads, and The Voidoids, and British bands such as Subway Sect. However, in terms of their lyrics and image Josef K were always far more downbeat and austere than Orange Juice, and were never to match Orange Juice’s commercial success. They were also described as sounding similar to Joy Division but “less doomy”.
22. Crispy Ambulance – Bardo Plane (3:32) – from the album “The Plateau Phase”, 1982
Alan Hempsall and Robert Davenport formed Crispy Ambulance in Manchester in 1977, originally as a two-man outfit, adding two further members, Keith Darbyshire and Gary Madeley, to the line-up in the following year. With original influences acknowledged as Magazine and Hawkwind, they co-wrote nearly all of their material and developed a distinctive style that has attracted a modest but international following.