Episode Three

The Rezillos are pretty much the greatest new wave outer space Scottish monster combo of all time. you can tell that the band shared a love of sixties Garage Rock and the picturesque Girl Group glam of the Ronettes and the Shangri Las, The Rezillos found themselves inadvertently caught up in the Punk or New Wave movement. Their debut single, I Can't Stand My Baby, shot them to underground fame initially via airings on John Peel's radio show. It also makes me want to learn to play the bass.
The vicious is a band compiled of members from other bands including international noises conspiracy and the regulators. Their songs are the kind you can't get out of your head. They are from Sweden too. Who would of thought. It seems that there are a lot of awesome bands coming from Sweden in all genres. The Vicious are totally catchy and enjoyable melodic punk rock. The song "The Walking Dead" is a perfect example of that. Speaking of enjoyable I added a catchy number by Oi! pioneers Cock Sparrer off their album Shock Troops. Which when you listen to sounds so much more rock and roll than Oi! Anyway it's an awesome song.

'Ere we go 2-3-4! It's not often that an album makes you feel both happy and sad at the same time. But True Love Stories does exactly that, with its often hilariously told, but straight-up tear jerking tales of the unlucky John being dumped by a long line of girls. All of this is set to frenetically played punk-pop, and some of the most simple, yet funniest lyrics I've ever heard.




Jilted John never achieved the same success here in America as in his native England. We Americans tend to take our rock and roll far too seriously for this sort of nonsense. I'm not even sure he even made another record after this one. But as novelty records go, True Love stories has a great little punk rock kick to it. The lyrics, though often pretty hilarious, actually tug at your heart strings a bit too. Best of all, the pop hooks are the sort that you can't get out of your head once you hear them. I can't get enough of this song.

The Stranglers are one of those bands that are hard to describe, they have a sound that is distinctly their own. Part of the punk movement of the seventies, they were more advanced musically and lyrically than most of the Britain's punk bands. There is no denying the fact that they had more in common with the musical dexterity and overall sound of the Doors. But the Stranglers had something that the Doors did not and it was the grinding melodic bass lines of Jean Jacques Burnel which added an earthiness and an in-you-face immediacy nor did they have that gritter keyboard sound and touch of Dave Greenfield. Also, their lyrics were less unashamedly poetic and more streetwise. I've always wondered how an amazingly talented band could be so overlooked.



I present all my evidence in the set. Listen and get hyped!!

Northern Soul/Soul
Set 1
Connie Austin - Ball of Fire
The Butlers - She Tried to Kiss Me
Tommy Dark - Wobble Legs
John Bowie - You're Gonna Miss a Good Thing
The Channels - I've Got My Eyes On You
The Majestics - I Love Her So Much (It Hurts Me)
All of My Life - Detroit Soul

Punk
Set 3
The Rezillos - Can't Stand My Baby
The Vicious - The Walking Dead
Jilted John - Jilted John
Cock Sparrer - Teenage Heart
Subhumans - Love is...
The Stranglers - Hanging Around

---

The Universals - New Generation
One of the finest pieces of soulful funk ever to come out of Florida! 'New Generation' has been on of the most sought after 45's on the funk scene for a long time - hardly surprising given it's super heavy groove and amazing vocals, plus the fact that it never saw any distribution, making it rather hard to track down. This song appears on Jazzman compilation 'Florida Funk' and is available on 45 as well.






Marvin Holmes - Find yourself pt.1.
This is Marvin Holmes with his 70's band the Funk Company. Listening to the song, it's as relevant today as it was over 30 years ago. It's on an LA label called Kimberly Records but the band was originally out of Oakland. This song appears on this first volume of Bay Area Funk compilation that was released on Luv. N' Haight.







Black Cat - Kingston Cardova.
A very limited press 45 on Peripheral Enterprises Records from a new funk act from NYC called Black Cat. Two covers on here in their own unique raw funk fashion of Johnny Guitar Watson's "lovin' You" and on the flip side a funky cover of The Meters "Cardova" tune called "Kingston Cardova."








Sly and The Revolutionaries - Cocaine
Sly Dunbar released his fifth album of dub instrumentals under the name Sly and the Revolutionaries. Black Ash Dub boasts a great lineup, including Dunbar himself on drums and his mate, Robbie Shakespeare, on bass, plus Ansel Collins on organ, Bingy Bunny on guitar, producer Jah Thomas, and mixing by Prince Jammy and Scientist. Though Dunbar made a much better producer than he did an instrumentalist, the sheer accumulation of talent on this session assures great results. Each track on this album is a tribute to a drug paraphernalia. This song also appears on Madlibs Blunted in the Bomb Shelter compilation as well as King Tubby - Cool Down Version and King Tubby - A Better version (that appears on the EP).


Barry Brown - Peace Dub
This song could be found on Midnight Rock at Channel One: Barry Brown/Showcase. This album is a definite treat for all Barry Brown fans. It features adaptations and dub versions of some classic Barry Brown material from 1979 to 1981. In the 1990's, Brown's health deteriorated, suffering with asthma and substance abuse problems, and he died in May 29, 2004 in Sound Waves Recording Studio in Kingston, Jamaica, after falling and hitting his head.





Funk
Set 2
The Universals - New Generation
Dayton Sidewinders - Funky In Here
The Detroit Sex Machine - Rap It
Together/Funky Crawl (J Rocc's edit)
Marvin Holmes - Find Yourself pt.1
Dorando and the Ice Picks of Soul - Why Can't We All Just Get Along (Re-Edit)
Black Cat - Kingston Cardova
Calypso King and The Soul Investigators - Baby! It's Delicious!
Amral's Trinidad Cavaliers - 90% of Me is You

Dub Reggae
Set 4
Sly & The Revolutionaries - Cocaine
King Tubby - Cool Down Version
King Tubby - A Better Version
Augustus Pablo - Up Warika Hill
King Tubby - Say So
Lennie Hibbert - Real Hot
Barry Brown - Peace Dub