Pope - JohnPaulGeorgeRingo

Like a lot of great bands, I discovered Leatherface just after they broke up. It was Jack Rabid and The Big Takeover (now in its 40th year!!!) that had banged that drum and served as John the Baptist to Frankie Stubbs' Jesus. So, of course, as soon as the impressionable 16-year-old Ape Mummy reads about Sunderland's finest, he goes looking for Leatherface records. Of which there are none available in mid-90s southwestern Virginia. Because small town record stores just don't carry the early Domino catalog.

And so it happened that it'd take another two years until I'd even hear the melodious tones of Mr. Stubbs, and that was via Pope, the band he started with bassist Andy Crighton after Leatherface. The 12" originally released by Rugger Bugger in the UK during Pope's short life-span would get a reissue on CD via the then-embyronic Tokyo label Snuffy Smile in 1996. By then, Frankie had moved on to his next trio, Jesse. But I found the CD during an early visit to Reptilian, and discovered that, even though it wasn't Leatherface, this absolutely lived up to the hype.

I kind of wish I still had that CD; it sells for a pretty penny these days on the secondary market. I believe this rip comes from BYO's 2001 reissue of "The Last" 12" on CD; the Pope songs were tacked onto the back end of that CD. It's the sort of passionate punk rock, in the vein of Stiff Little Fingers, that has inspired so many kids, myself included, to write from the heart, proficiency be damned.

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