Post #700 - Huggy Bear - Our Troubled Youth

Huggy Bear is the kind of band I wanted to be in. Smart kids, co-ed, queer, as in "weird and outside", willing to go on Top of the Pops to to spit beat poetry over DIY guitars while preaching girl/boy revolution, making this progressive clatter during a time when punk was just breaking for the first time in a decade and a half. Even in middle age, this is still my soundtrack for throwing a snowball at a police car, for marching on the Reflecting Pool, for escorting folks past screaming Catholics outside the clinic.

"Our Troubled Youth" was Huggy Bear's half of their split with Bikini Kill, a co-released 12" between Kill Rock Stars of Olympia and Manchester's Catcall. The last time it was available was in 2008 when KRS reissued it. But there's no streaming, no Bandcamp downloads, no reissues. What we do have is last year's release of "Killed (By Kids" and the recent release of "Basic Strategies For Going Out", a 10" collecting Huggy Bear's two Peel Sessions. So, in celebration of 700 Primitive Offerings posts, here's "Our Troubled Youth". If you want the Bikini Kill side, that's available now via Bikini Kill Records.

Anyway, one of my all-time favorites. Thanks for visiting when you do.

Discogs

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various artists - Clancy Eccles' Reggae Revue At The V.I.P. Club (1970-1973)

This third release of Clancy Eccles'-produced reggae from Jamaican Gold is more historical curiosity for me than quality archival release. But you'll get boss sounds from Lord Creator and Third World, a few more Dynamites contributions, and Tyrone Taylor covering a Sly & The Family Stone classic, inna reggae style. And the liner notes are pretty damned fantastic. So ignore the graphic design that is better suited for a truck stop rack of greatest hits in the aughts, and give this one a spin. Satisfy your curiosity and scratch your reggae itch.

Discogs

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various artists - Bread: The Edible Napkin

Look, there's no way I'll ever look at the late 90s as a golden age to grow up punk. You could grow up poor & ugly, yet still be happy, because the shows were typically going to be $6 ($5 with a canned food donation) and if you didn't live in NYC or California, you had no expectations of being offered the opportunity to sell out. So you just did it with a bunch of like-minded nerds and freaks, raised on Lucio Fulci and "G.I. Joe" and Tetsujin-28 and Fugazi shows. If you were lucky, you'd run into folks like Var, who created No Idea down in Gainesville, and they'd introduce you to a world of new sounds.

It's how bands like Braid and Hot Water Music show up alongside Cavity and the Locust, right next to Skankin' Pickle and Against All Authority on the same bill or, in this case, on the same comp. "Bread: The Edible Napkin" came as a CD or double LP attached to No Idea #12. My copy of the zine was long ago donated to the CCAS zine library, but I've held onto my CD copy for almost 30 years since getting it. It's a great snapshot of the underground from that time, featuring names that continue to tour and play regularly, and those who made only slight inroads outside their home scenes. No Idea was always good about that, drawing the bands together under one banner of punk rock, regardless of what subgenre you could group them in. It became aspirational for me, whether I was making my own zine or booking shows, to pull from disparate tribes and bring them all together.

Discogs

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Gang Of Four - Songs Of The Free

It's been a year since I last posted an Infinite Zero reissue, so I guess we're due, right? And this one is long overdue.

"Songs Of The Free" was Gang Of Four's third full-length, their first without bassist Dave Allen (replaced by Sara Lee here), and, arguably, their final unequivocally great LP. The post punk is still there, but the agitpop has been replaced by a lot of early-80s synthpop. It's still great; after all, this record kicks off with "Call Me Up", "I Love A Man In Uniform", and "We Live As We Dream, Alone", which is one hell of a way to kick off a record. This Infinite Zero reissue was the first time this had been released on CD, and adds the "I Love A Man In Uniform" dub remix and "The World At Fault" from various "I Love..." single releases.

I've found, over the years, that just about any track from this is a floor filler at your local indie sleaze night. Don't believe me? Well, that's your right, man.

Discogs

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various artists - Clancy Eccles' Rock Steady & Reggae Revue At The Sombrero Club (1967-1969)

I long ago reached that stage in my collecting where if it looks interesting, and it's cheap, I'm guaranteed to buy it, no matter the presumed quality. So it was that I turned up a dollar copy of this last year while I was digging through an otherwise-boring pile of 90s pop and alternative CDs. Of course Clancy Eccles' name is going to stand out to me. And if it ends up being a bunch of lo-fi live recordings from the dawn of reggae? All the better.

Not so fast, reggae fans. These actually seem to be a bunch of super-deep Eccles-produced cuts from 1967 to 1970, a number of which hadn't been collected in 2001. The first of four volumes that would emerge on the Dutch Jamaican Gold label in 2001, what's great about this is being able to listen to the mutation from rocksteady into reggae, and to hear someone like Lee "Scratch" Perry performing in front of a group of artists who you otherwise wouldn't associate him with. There are other names who I own a bunch of records by: Alton Ellis, Busty Brown, and Theophilus Beckford. And a few that I've never encountered before. It's all tied together with the backing of the Dynamites, augmented by folks like Jackie Mittoo, Lyn Taitt, and Ernest Ranglin. This was a welcome discovery in the dollar bin, and a perfect play when it's in the 30s outside, even on a cloudless day.

Discogs

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various artists - The Big One / City Of L.A. Power

I was pretty annoyed with Discogs recently, and it's all my own fault.

Right before the holidays, I recieved an order on my Discogs account. It was a simple one off; a Tim Hecker CD, sold for $10, plus shipping. And, hand to God, I thought I'd shipped it. But, friends, I did not. And Discogs shut my account down. Which means I could not only sell stuff (not a huge deal), but I couldn't buy anything. Not with all this Christmas lucre in my pockets. But I took my lumps, quickly refunding the customer once I confirmed that their order was, indeed, sitting two states away in my "Out" basket. But it was only last week that Discogs lifted the ban hammer on me.

This is a long way around the block to this two-fer from Flipside Records, the label attached to the esteemed SoCal zine. This was part of my last order on Discogs, a throw-in with a couple of Infinite Zero splurges. There are some big names from early in their careers here, with Green Day and the Offspring headlining with Bad Religion. The beloved Lance Hahn provided songs from both Cringer and Monsula; he was still a bit off from J Church taking off. There's a collaboration between Melvins and Steel Pole Bath Tub, some AmRep representation from Distorted Pony and Helios Creed, and a track from Sandy Duncan's Eye, who I still think is probably the most underrated noise rock band from this era.

"The Big One / City Of L.A. Power" is missing two songs from the latter; the Paper Tulips' and TVTV$'s contributions can only be found on the 1991 single-sided vinyl. Are we missing out on something? Shoot, man, track down a copy and let me know. I just got back on Discogs.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Small Faces & Friends

The things I know about Small Faces could fit on an index card. I know that "Ogden's Nut Gone Flake" is one of the first concept records (if not the first), that Kenny Jones replaced Keith Moon as the Who's drummer after Moon died, and that "Whatcha Gonna Do About It?" is a killer proto-punk banger. Oh, and Steve Marriott left to start Humble Pie, which led to Rod Stewart & Ronnie Lane joining the leftover members to start Faces, whose entire catalog I celebrate.

See, an index card.

But, in the estimation of Mojo Magazine, they also had some cool friends. I'll cosign Nico (performing a Gordon Lightfoot composition) and the Nice; one of my favorite Teutonic vocalists AND some proto-prog featuring Keith Emerson is worth checking out. I only knew Murray Head from teaching me about one night in Bangkok; I discovered via this freebie from 2014 that he was a label mate of Small Faces with his 1967 single "She Was Perfection". There's an early Rod Stewart solo cut from 1968, and compiler Rob Caiger even whipped up a pair of Small Faces rarities.

This one's even got a pretty cool cover. Not something I typically see in Mojo comps, but here, it's poppin'.

Discogs

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various artists - Bloodshot Records Lonely Hearts Valentine's Day Sampler

Another St. Valentine's Day is upon us. And while some of my still-blogging brethren "celebrate" with a sad bastard emo band or a Love Stinks mix, I'm going to go in the opposite direction. Herein, I present to you a free sampler I downloaded from Amazon Music in 2011, compiled by the cheerful folx at Chicago's Bloodshot Records. If you're going to be alone on the corporately-blessed Luv Day, you might all well turn up the honky tonk, pour three fingers of Evan Williams, and belt along to some back catalog from the same gang who also brought us some great Mekons, Sadies, and Lydia Loveless records over the years. It's a time honored tradition, and while we here at Primitive Offerings won't be joining you (we'll be snuggling with the missus, god willing and the creek don't rise), we wouldn't dare mess with tradition. Or Texas. But that's neither here nor there.

Discogs

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various artists - Suburban Home Records Teaser

Eight tracks from three bands on one CD-R. All cowpunk, trucker caps, flannel, and Hot Water Music pins on a backpack torn from one too many boxcars.

This one is one I can still sing along to from memory. It got an awful lot of play, in lieu of going out to shows in 2006 & 2007. Tim Barry was making a transition from beloved frontperson of Avail to singer-songwriter territory. Matt from Planes Mistaken For Stars was part of a new Denver band called Ghost Buffalo, trodding some of the same ground that Murder By Death and Lucero were traipsing upon. Then there were the honkytonkers in Drag The River, who came to my attention because it featured Chad Price from ALL and Jon Snodgrass from Armchair Martian. Suddenly, it was all clear to call back to those country records that were playing in my early childhood, to embrace George and Tammy and Merle and Loretta. Because the punks who hadn't pivoted to an electronic future were rediscovering their country pasts.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Beloved (A Treasury Of Classic British Indie Rock)

Far be it for me to miss a second straight week of Mojo Mondays. And with St. Valentine's Day right around the corner, what better time is it to celebrate our beloved 80s British indie bands?

From the Monochrome Set and Orange Juice (shout out to The New Vinyl Villain for their ongoing OJ/Edwyn Collins singles series) through the Sound and Half Man Half Biscuit, all the way up to McCarthy and the La's, this is good confirmation that this was a classic era of indie for the UK. Universally, none of this broke in the States at the time of its release, but I sure as hell keep an eye out for these records in secondhand stores and thrift shop bins. This is the kind of physical media that the Gen X'ers seem to still be ditching if they didn't 86 it all when streaming really took hold. It's one of those "beggars can't be choosers" situations, where you're paying a premium to seek out specific records. But if you're down for a bit of aural adventure, you can finally determine why Julian Cope is held in such high regard, why Cherry Red is still reissuing Felt recordings 40 years on, and why you should give a damn about Pete Wylie and his various iterations of Wah! (Heat).

Discogs

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various artists - Dim Mak Records Sampler, "I'm like a stepping razor don't you watch me i'm dangerous

Long before Steve Aoki became a famed cake thrower, but after he booked HC & emo bands to play shows in his dorm room at the Pickle Patch at UCSB, he was a purveyor of some renown for the cutting edge of indie rock. This 23-year-old relic comes from just before he linked up with Bloc Party and helped break them here in the States. So it has sprinklings of fun stuff from Pretty Girls Make Graves, Panthers, the Gossip, Die Monitr Bats, and the Von Bondies. I'm partial to the contribution from post-Huggy Bear outfit the Phantom Pregnancies, as well as a live Soledad Brothers cut. It's a fun reminder of the time when the hardcore kids were playing house records alongside riot grrrl, and coke mirrors with the logo of your band were a crucial element of your show merch. 

Discogs

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