Thursday 14 May 2009

Roy White & Steve Torch

I'm not sure if I wrote about these guys before. Anyway, another discovery of a band from the 1980's who I never even heard of until about three years ago when I found this record in a dusty record shop back room.

There's a piece on them on the Music..isms blog, with music downloads. And another on 'Raiding the Vinyl Archive'. If you're interested in discovering lost music from the 1980's I recommend it.



Parade (this is recorded directly from vinyl)





Who's Asking You - White and Torch



Bury My Heart - White and Torch






Here's an email from Roy white from 2008, as he recounts events(taken from Bored Teenagers) . There's also a photo of Roy White from Liverpool University in 1977.

Hi Dizzy,
Wow, where did you get that photo???????
God we were cocky kids. Thought we were the business but in reality, were rather shit, ha ha.
I remember the gig as it was the last gig Berlin did. Memory rather hazy but we'd gigged for about a year and a half by the time of that gig. We got a few really good reviews in Melody Maker and Sounds and record companies were showing interest. Decca were showing the most and they strung us along, spent 3 weeks recording in London with Nick Tauber producing but they blew us out and signed Slaughter and the Dogs as their token 'Punk' band. That gig was a day or so after they told us and we were all quite depressed. Our roadie attempted to pull Dave Ambrose's (A&R guy from EMI who was showing interest) teeth out with a pair of pliers as we hated record companies at this point. I believe he was actually successful at pissing on his head from a balcony - such was our fury at being blown out by Decca. We eventually decided to carry on but changed the band name to 'Fun'. A track called 'I Heard You Call My Name' was included on the Liverpool compilation album 'Street to Street. Basically the same line up as Berlin. I left shortly after that album was released and joined forces with Steve Torch. Berlin days were quite amusing really. Joe Stummer once got up for a jam at a gig called Swinging Apple. We actually caused a riot at Wigan Casino because our roadie and a journalist from Sounds had sprayed 'Fuck You Pricks' across the back of the stage, then trashed the dressing room while we were on stage!! Even the bouncers wanted to kill us.
Anyway, thanks for igniting a long lost memory.

Cheers,

Roy


There's a feature on Raiding the Vinyl Archive in which Roy White gets involved in the comments.
Also see music..isms for more .





Bringing it all back to the present, here's Roy White in his band the Truemen

Fingerprintz - One of the great forgotten bands of the 1980s

I know, I've written about Fingerprintz on a number of previous posts but quite a few people have requested some music from them. I haven't been able to track down their music on sale anywhere, except on vinyl on ebay. I have no knowledge of a CD release of their music. So, here's a few tracks (recorded from vinyl LPs and found on a torrent on the web). I really love their music and i discovered this group some years back while going through the bargain bin at Easons book store. What a find! I paid 99p (or was it 50p) for the album Beat Noir and managed to find their two other albums just a few years ago.



Get Civilised - from Beat Noir



The Chase - from Beat Noir




Echo Head - from Beat Noir







And from Distinguishing Marks:


Bulletproof Heart



Houdini Love

Wednesday 13 May 2009

New vinyl album update

Here's what's on my wall at home at the moment. I wonder what it says about me? Most of it is electronic, eighties or retro in some way or other.

Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It (Vinyl). Bought from Caiman. Fast, great service! Comes with a free voucher to download the album on mp3. Now that's cool for the car stereo!



I love this album, as I mentioned before. Today I read in Mojo how they still describe this album. But I love it so much I even went out and bought the delux remastered edition, even though remastered on vinyl probably makes very little if any difference. Anyway, it still sounds great. And I love this cover.


Duffo - Bob The Birdman (Not sure which is the title and which is the artist). Bought it for 2 euros.

Barbara Stresiand's Greatest Hits Volume 2 (Vinyl) 3 euros. Can't go wrong there!


Don Dixon. Never heard of him (2 euros) but a great sleeve! And a great title for an album.


Tiga has a new album out. I bought his 12 singles for years and couldn't wait for his first album, which turned out to be very bland. Hope this one is better!


The first great Depeche Mode album in many years. I love the use of the old syths. Great vinyl package. Cost 26 euros but its double vinyl and includes a cd of the album (not sure what I'll do with that. Anyone want it?)


Miss Kittin is back with the Hacker!!! A bit disappointed though cause the vinyl version doesn't contain all the tracks on the cd!! What a pisser! And its double vinyl. Surely they could have found room for all songs.


Bought this from Caiman USA but for some reason they coudln't get it in stock so ended up buying in town for 16 euros.

Saturday 2 May 2009

Raphael Saadiq - Sure Hope You Mean It (Later Live...with Jools Holland)

Sometimes when I watch Jool's Holland on Friday nights on BBC2 I discover a gem, and this week Jools delivered! Tihis is Raphael Saadiq and I loved it so much I searched for it this morning on the web and it should be winging its way on beuatiful vinyl direct from the USA as I'm typing this! Can't wait to hear the whole album!

I love his girl singer. She's so into it.

Winnie the Pooh - Vinyl LP 1966

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I'm trying to get my two year old into music. Well, I'd like her to know what records are and how they work. And what better way than to buy her a couple of classic children's records. This is a 1966 edition on EMI of Winnie the Pooh by Kenneth Connor, Jim Dale and Cheryl Kennedy. My personal favorite from childhood is Teddy Bear's Picnic and it still sounds great so many years later. Really!