Six Word Sunday

"Dropped the toothpaste," he muttered, crestfallen.

New Wave for the New Week #129

It is temptingly easy to write off The Rezillos as simply "the UK's B-52's."  Certainly the similarities are obvious:  fun, kitschy party music; sixties-inspired yet futuristic neon costumes and hair-dos; male/female call-and-response vocals - that they were cut from similar cloth is clear.  But The Rezillos (along with their equivalently-named succesors The Revillos) occupied their own space on the music continuum, saw much greater immediate chart success at home than their American counterparts, and unfortunately disintegrated relatively quickly.

Formed in 1976 by a wonderfully-named contingent of Edinbugh art students (Eugene Reynolds, Fay Fife, Jo Callis,William Mysterious, Angel Patterson, Hi-Fi Harris, Dr. D.K. Smythe, and Gale Warning), The Rezillos set about creating a visual and sonic attack with strong ties to both the early-70s Glam scene and the late-60's girl-group sound.  Though they quickly aligned with the growing Punk movement, their happy outlook and cartoonish presence never quite seemed to fit that categorization.

After making their name on the club circuit, The Rezillos self-released their first single in 1977. "I Can't Stand My Baby" caught the ears of the folks at Sire Records, and after undergoing a minor change in lineup the band was signed and rushed into the studio to record their debut album.  Can't Stand The Rezillos, released in 1978, is one of the most wonderful artifacts of its era.  The lead single, "Top Of The Pops," was a Top 20 hit in the UK; the album itself also reached the Top 20. Zany originals like "(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures" and "Flying Saucer Attack" sit alongside well-chosen covers both known ("Glad All Over") and obscure ("I Like It"), and there ain't a clinker in the pile.  It may surprise more than a few to learn that one of The Rezillos' best-loved tracks from the album, "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight," was not an original, but in fact a cover of an obscure 1969 b-side from - of all bands - Fleetwood Mac (!) goofing as the imaginary Earl Vince and the Valiants.

At the end of 1978, The Rezillos - after yet another change in personnel - issued a non-LP single, "Destination Venus," which charted just under the Top 40.  Internal pressures in the band were too much, however, and The Rezillos blew apart, leaving behind a live LP, Mission Accomplished But The Beat Goes On, which basically recapitulates the album with a few surprises thrown in ("Thunderbirds Are Go!" is worth the price of admission alone; a cover of Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz" is both expected and enjoyable).  Both albums and both sides of the "Destination Venus" single, sans one cut from the live LP, are collected on the essential Can't Stand The Rezillos: The (Almost) Complete Rezillos CD.  If you do not own it, you need to.

In 1980, Reynolds, Fife and Harris were back with a new crew and ready to pick up where they left off.  Legal wranglings made it impossible to continue to use the name Rezillos, so they changed a letter and became The Revillos.  The first LP under the new name, Rev Up!, proved that they hadn't lost a step.  The title track, "Scuba Boy Bop," and "Voodoo" all could have fit well on Can't Stand The Rezillos; the concurrent non-album single "Where's The Boy For Me?" copied that sound even more precisely.  Other tracks saw the band moving in a more sixties-pop direction: "Motorbike Beat," "Bobby Come Back To Me" and "Yeah Yeah" evoked memories of AM radio hits of an earlier era.  Another fun, must-have album.

The Revillos then unleashed a string of singles that presaged a second LP: "She's Fallen In Love (With A Monster Man)," "Bitten By A Love Bug" and "Scuba Scuba" (not to be confused with "Scuba Boy Bop," mind you) were all nifty enough, but the album, Attack!, floundered, and again the band went their separate ways.

In the years since, the band's popularity has given them cause to reform and tour on occasion, and in 2008 they released their first new recording in 26 years, "No. 1 Boy."  Another Rezillos album would be quite welcome, but nothing more has been heard from them to date.

For this week's NW4NW entry, here's a collection of clips: The Rezillos performing their hit "Top Of The Pops" on, of course, Top Of The Pops; The Revillos' clip for "Where's The Boy For Me?;" and the newest Rezillos recording, "No. 1 Boy." Enjoy!

Six Word Sunday

OK, time to start writing again!

A Bit of My Hometown's Punk Rock History

Over at the always interesting ...tapewrecks... blog, Tom Quinn has curated an excellent oral history of Lancaster, PA's "First Punk Rock Band," The Bodies.  Better yet, he has rescued a handful of rare recordings of the band, who never released any records during their brief existence. 

The Bodies were essentially a cover band.  They learned Punk Rock from vinyl and snarled through the songs they liked best, spreading the good word to a bunch of misfit kids in the heart of Amish country.  There were very few originals in the mix, but The Bodies were still a band, a Punk Rock band dammit, and right here in Lancaster!  They were the ones who kicked open the door for our scene; they inspired other bands to start playing, and they themselves went on to join other bands through the years.

Get yourself over to ...tapewrecks... and read, listen and learn, my friends.  The story of The Bodies is not a unique one, but it is an important one for those of us who grew up in the scene around these parts.  Those of you who are from other places have your own "First Band" stories - I'd love to read them.  Those were good times...

New Wave for the New Week #128

A bit of a highly sought-after New Wave curio to share with you this week, in the form of NYC quartet The Go.  Formed in 1979, The Go were one of the innumerable bands that traced their inspiration back to The Ramones.  Armed with three chords and attitude, they felt ready to take the world by storm.  If they fell a bit short of that mark, at least they made an impression at CBGB's, where they debuted at an open audition night and were the only band asked to return for a paying gig.

The Go broke no new ground.  Their jangly power-pop-with-spiky-hair sound was already being plied by several bands, but something about them stood out from the crowd.  They had an energy, a personality, and they had the knack (pun intended) for writing memorably catchy songs.  The best of their repertoire would become the centerpiece of their lone vinyl release, the 4-song 45 rpm Instant Reaction ep.  Fans of bands like The Shoes or 20/20 will find familiar comfort within these grooves: the title track and "Don't Take Her Away" were both punchy, energetic tracks that became underground favorites; "She Gives A Color To Me" and "Tomorrow Night" showed a moodier side and hinted that commercial success could be theirs if only they'd find that big break. 

They spent nearly four years looking for that break, playing the NY/NJ club circuit, shopping demo tapes around from label to label, making local-access cable TV appearances.  Unfortunately, it just never happened, and by 1983 the band was no more.  Instant Reaction, however, became the stuff of legend over the years.  With only 1000 copies pressed, it remains a holy grail for Punk and New Wave vinyl collectors, and usually fetches quite a price if you can find it (I've never actually seen a copy!)

That collector interest spurred the release of a compilation album in 2005, also titled Instant Reaction, put together by the Japan's Wizzard In Vinyl label, containing all four cuts from the ep and as much demo and studio outtake material as they could find.  The 22-song import was reconfigured into a 16-song abridged version released stateside through Rave-Up Records.  Both go for roughly $20 - take your pick.

This week's clip is one I never knew existed, for The Go's "Instant Reaction." Gotta love the low-budget early music video feel of this one, from the oh-so-1980 clothes to the not quite accurate lip-syncing.  Still, it's a classic.  Enjoy!

Six Word Sunday

Insert Six Word Sunday post here.

New Wave for the New Week #127

San Francisco's Los Microwaves were a quirky Synth-Punk trio who played together from roughly 1978 to 1982.  Comprised of David Javelosa (a/k/a David Microwave), Meg Brazil and Todd Rosa, the trio created four excellent singles and one pretty decent LP during their existence, and proved to be a very popular live act.

Finding their sonic home base somewhere between Wall Of Voodoo and The B-52's, Los Microwaves imbued their songs with a mixture of the mundane and the surreal.  At times they were guilty of trying too hard to be goofy - occasionally at the expense of the song - but more often than not they hit the mark.

Their best work is found on their singles.  They debuted in 1978 with "I Don't Want To Hold You," a blippy pop song that Javelosa would later rerecord under the David Microwave moniker.  The following year the issued the "Radio Heart" single.  One of their most popular songs, "Radio Heart" chirped along, irresistibly pushed forward by a nagging bassline and Meg Brazil's best Cindy Wilson/Kate Pierson impression.  Strange whizzes and boings and whatnot bubble up through the melody, but never quite overtake the song.  Excellent.

That strangeness would overtake the next single, the wonderful "Time To Get Up!" This may have been the most perfect encapsulation of Los Microwaves' sound: discordant keyboards, off-kilter sound, and Brazil's take as the reluctant sleepyhead combine to create one of the better singles of the genre.  Both "Radio Heart" and "Time To Get Up" appeared on Los Microwaves' lone album, Life After Breakfast.  While the good stuff on the album is truly fantastic (the two singles, "What's That Got To Do With Loving You?," the title track), the filler is at times difficult to get through.  Some bands are simply better as singles bands, and Los Microwaves were one of them.  A final single, "I Can't Say," was released in 1982, and that was the last of Los Microwaves.

This week's NW4NW entry includes an audio-only clip for the outstanding "Radio Heart," and the only promo video Los Microwaves made, "Life After Breakfast."  Enjoy!

Six Word Sunday

Happy Father's Day to dads everywhere!

New Wave for the New Week #126

The history of Punk Rock is littered with tales of tortured, misguided souls who destroyed themselves with drugs.  The most well-known cases (Sid Vicious, Darby Crash) were particularly sad because it seemed no one ever tried to stop them, and they were certainly incapable of stopping themselves.  A third case, one which gets considerably less press, at least saw his bandmates make it clear to him that there was a problem, but it was too little, too late.

Malcolm Owen formed The Ruts in 1977 with Paul Fox, Segs Jennings and Dave Ruffy.  They infused their take on UK Punk with Funk, Dub and Reggae, creating a sound that landed about midway between The Sex Pistols and The Clash.  After two years of playing the pubs and clubs circuit, they had their first single in the record shops, 1979's "In A Rut," which remains one of the best singles of the era.  In a bit of eerie foreshadowing, the b-side was a song called "H-Eyes," a warning against the dangers of heroin addiction in which Owen sings, "...it's gonna screw your head, you're gonna wind up dead..."

The popularity of "In A Rut" got The Ruts signed to Virgin Records, who promptly issued two more singles, "Babylon's Burning" and "Something That I Said," both of which became decent hit records in the UK, and demand for a full album began to grow.   That album, The Crack, appeared in September of 1979, with the two Virgin singles re-recorded for the LP, as well as some new material.  One of the new tracks, "Jah War," was released as the next single; its Dub Reggae sound was an abrupt shift from the sneering Punk of the earlier singles, and helped The Ruts reach a wider audience (especially since The Clash had already begun to blaze the trail from Punk to Reggae).

The following year, The Ruts released the outstanding single "Staring At The Rude Boys," but Owen was becoming unreliable due to increasingly heavy drug use.  After a sixth single, "West One (Shine On Me)," the rest of the group fired Owen, giving as reason their inability to work with him in his addicted state.  After a short period of inactivity, the band and Owen reached an accord and reuinited.  One would assume that part of the reconciliation would have had to include Owen getting the help he needed, but it never happened.  On July 14, 1980, Malcolm Owen was found dead of a heroin overdose at his parents' home, only 26 years old at the time of his death.

Later in the year, The Ruts released a second album, Grin And Bear It, as a tribute/goodbye to Owen.  Containing the new singles as well as an assortment of demos and live material, it's a brief window into what could have been.

The rest of the band continued on for awhile under the name Ruts D.C. ("da capo," a Latin musical term meaning "from the beginning"), following the Reggae/Funk path the band had begun to explore and adding bits of Jazz to mix, but the fire was gone.  Had Owen not destroyed himself with heroin, The Ruts may well have evolved into the equal of The Pistols or The Clash; the potential was certainly there.  As it is, we are left with an album and a half's worth of material and the question, "What if?"

Our clips this week nearly bookend The Ruts' recording career. First up is the classic "In A Rut," and then the excellent "Staring At The Rude Boys."  Enjoy.

Six Word Sunday

Have you joined The Revolution yet?