various artists - The Groups Of Wrath: Songs Of The Naked City

This one was hanging out on a low shelf, all by its lonesome, when i came across it a few months ago. And the title on the spine gave me doo-wop or jazz noir vibes. So imagine my surprise to discover this was a compilation originally compiled by Marty Thau, owner of Red Star Records and NYC new wave impressiaro. Any look at the emergence of punk and new wave is going to gain my interest; the selections herein grabbed my attention:

• A pair of cuts from the New York Dolls' second LP
• Two Thau-produced Ramones demos from 1975
• The first Blondie single on Private Stock ("X Offender" b/w "In The Sun")
• One of my all-time favorite 45s - Suicide's "Cheree" b/w "I Remember"
• Two contributions each from Bloodless Pharaohs and the Fleshtones, both originally appearing on 1980's "Marty Thau Presents"
• A dynamic duo from Richard Hell & the Voidoids' 1982 LP, "Destiny Street"

There's a good chance that you're like me, and you already own a fair amount of these in their original forms, or as reissues, or part of other compilations. But it's nice to share something like this, with very distinctive curaation, and some Bob Gruen photography on the cover, with someone who hasn't discovered this era yet. I probably would have lost my mind if I had gotten this on cassette in 1991; so many groups I now find influential all gathered in one place, the same year I discovered Sonic Youth and Nirvana and Public Enemy. It's pretty cool to think about, which is why my niece is getting a copy of this in the mail in time for Thanksgiving.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Gang Of Four – Solid Gold & Another Day/Another Dollar

OK, it's been a month...let's post up another one of those Infinite Zero Gang Of Four reissues. As with the "Entertainment!/Yellow EP" reissue, this one combines a full-length with a North American 12"; in this case, "Another Day/Another Dollar" combines the crucial "To Hell With Poverty" 7" with a pair of 1981-era live tracks and the B-side from the "What We All Want" 7".

At the risk of sounding like a dick, I very clearly prefer the Dave Allen era lineup to all other Go4 lineups. Maybe it's a result of anti-disco prejudice, maybe I'm just an idiot. Although "I Love A Man In Uniform" is a straight bop...

Discogs

Click here to download.

James White And The Blacks - Sax Maniac

The older I get, the closer I get drawn to mutant disco.

There's something delightfully weird and, dare I say, special about that scene, so well documented by the likes of ZE Records back in the early 80s. This one didn't come out on ZE; it came out on Chris Stein' Animal Records, alongside Iggy's "Zombie Birdhouse" and the Gun Club's "Miami". A hell of a trio, if you ask me.

So, anyway, it's after midnight, and I have "God Told Me To" streaming on the TV, and Mr. Chance's version of "That Old Black Magic" stuck in my head, and maybe, just maybe, I'm longing for a New York City I only got to see the very tail end of. Fuck it; it's either this, or contort myself.

Discogs

Click here to download.

T.S.O.L. - Weathered Statues

While the moshers were originally less than enthralled, I've found myself listening to a lot of the post-"Dance With Me" T.S.O.L. Now, I'm no great fan of the more gothic "Change Today?" or the cock rock of "Revenge", but their last two records of the Grisham/Emory/Roche/Barnes lineup are pretty great examples of how hardcore could evolve without completely leaving the nascent form behind. Of the two, I prefer (obviously) the "Weathered Statues" EP, released in 1982; it's just a little bitter rawer, trafficking more in a 60s, psychedelic influence than the sun-baked deathrock of "Beneath The Shadows".

4 songs, 10 minutes, VIRUS 10. That's the extent of my insight on this record.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Mission Of Burma - Mission Of Burma

My first exposure to Mission Of Burma was via Rhino's "Faster & Louder" series back in 1993, which might as well just serve as my Rosetta Stone for the music I'd obsess over during next three decades. The first volume remains imprinted in my brain; it's the mixtape from the older brother I never had. It's hard to overstate the impact of hearing "Pay To Cum", "Dicks Hate The Police", "Get It Away", and, yes, "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate" all in the same place. Add in the cover art by Gary Panter, the photos by Ed Colver, Jenny Lens, and Glen Friedman, and suddenly I had a checklist of things to look for when I went to a record store, or when I started exploring modern art.

My second exposure to Mission Of Burma came a couple years later, when I turned up a cherry copy of Ryko's "Mission Of Burma" double LP for some stupidly-low amount of money at one of the numerous record stores that used to dot Fells Point. Maybe I paid $12 for a copy that didn't look like it'd ever been played and still had the obi strip on it. Ryko was still a couple years away from their comprehensive remastering program, and all that Ace of Hearts material from the 80s was out of print, so I snagged this, alongside a copy of "London Calling" and "Q: Are We Not Men?" for less than it'd cost to get a newly-pressed copy today.

There's been a couple rounds of reissues since then; the aforementioned 1997 Rykodisc remastering campaign, and Matador's consolidation of most of the Burma catalog in 2008. Matador has kept those records in print in really nice editions on vinyl, including a really sick copy of "Signals, Calls, And Marches" on orange wax that they released with Newbury a few years back. But this, comprised of their contemporary material released before their 1983 breakup, as well as a pair of live cuts and unreleased cuts, still lives near and dear to my heart. When I saw a seller who I was ordering another record from had it for a few bucks on CD, well, I knew what to do...

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - Singles: The Great New York Singles Scene

So what we have here is a load of classic record sides from various New York independent bands of the mid- and late-70s, collected on a single cassette, courtesy of the gang at ReachOut International Records, better known to the likes of youse as ROIR. What a great label: the home to the first Bad Brains and Bush Tetras records, the Stimulators tape, Glenn Branca and Suicide and Lee "Scratch" Perry and G.G. Allin and the Raincoats and just a metric fuckton of amazing sounds from downtown when it was still a beautiful shithole where you could get an apartment for $75 a month.

They're all stone cold hits. One could slap the original 1974 cut of "Piss Factory" of Patti Smith on as side A, track 1, fart on a snare drum for the remaining 87 minutes of a C90, and it'd still be worth it. But to then follow up with a pair of Ork Records releases ("Little Johnny Jewel Pt. 1" and a pre-Voivods "Blank Generation"), and you know you're in for sheer excellence. While the remainder of the tape isn't quite as Hall of Fame as those first three, they're all an awesome sampling of pre-Koch DIY NYC. There's the John Cale-produced Model Citizens, and Theoretical Girls, featuring Glenn Branca, both presaging the No Wave scene. Invaders and the Speedies turn out a pair of power pop cuts that, had they come out of L.A. or the Midwest, would have influenced generations of tunesmiths who wanted to be something more than KISS or Cheap Trick. Even the Mumps, playing something akin to post-glam, wouldn't truly get their due for years until after vocalist Lance Loud died.

Despite the last release of this coming in the early 90s, only some of these cuts have gotten collected elsewhere; I'm thinking specifically about Numero Group's awesome "Ork Records: Complete Singles" box set from 2015. Still, with the weather turning a bit cold and a leather jacket becoming climate appropriate, this is a good way to tune into some old stuff that wouldn't otherwise be easy to track down.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Big Youth - The Chanting Dread Inna Fine Style

What we have here is the CD reissue of an American collection from 1982 of Big Youth, toaster extraordinaire, and his A-sides issued on his Negusa Negast. As best as I can tell, it's the Soul Syndicate backing him on most of these cuts, with drop-ins from the likes of Augustus Pablo, Carlton Barrett, and Dougie Bryan. I don't know if you can call this a greatest hits, per se, but it's pretty hot. I love the original cover art from the 1982 Heartbeat release; why they redesigned it, and gave it that darker, 90s look, is beyond me.

This was one of those $3 Goodwill finds that I picked up at 50% off sticker after it'd sat on the shelves for several weeks. I love it when I come across these things; it's boggling to me that something like this could still be there, two months after going into the store. There aren't a lot of joys in this world right now, but turning up a cool record like this, long out of print, is one of the ones I have left.

Discogs

Click here to download.

"The Beastmaster"...in glorious 4K UHD

Marc Singer and Tanya Roberts in "The Beastmaster" (Don Coscarelli, 1982)

Mediafire is acting the damned fool, so I think it's a good time to shout out Vinegar Syndrome for their lead title for November. Yes, I'll do a full workup on the entire lineup, but this one's so good, it deserves its own spotlight.

If you grew up in the 80s, and had basic cable, then you definitely watched "The Beastmaster" on WTBS. It's a nexus of genre perfection: a sword & sorcery tale, directed by Don Coscarelli ("Phantasm", "John Dies at the End"), and starring a perfectly cast Marc Singer in his signature role. It is quintessentially 80s, and I'm not ashamed to say it shaped my tastes that linger today. Does it have moments of horrifying gore? Check. Some tangental T&A? Check. A character actor icon, chewing the scenery like they're starving? Check. Much better production value than you'd ever expect. Check and check. It was one of the first R-rated movies I ever saw (if not the first), and I think I've owned at least half a dozen copies across all formats.

When Vinegar Syndrome announced their 4K restoration and upcoming UHD/Blu-ray release, I immediately plunked down for a pre-order. And why? Let's start with that restoration. "Beastmaster" has never been released domestically on Blu-ray until now, so the timing for a cleanup of John Alcott's cinematography from the original 35mm interpositive is just right. VS has already shown what they can do in restoring films in the past year with their releases of "Rad" and "Tammy and the T-Rex"; for those of us with memories of rabbit ears and fuzzy images, the anticipation to see a perfect copy is overwhelming.

The few extras announced so far are also blowing my mind. Coscarelli and co. have sat down with both current and contemporary materials to put together a multi-part making-of documentary; based on his previous commentaries and documentary appearances, this should be just as entertaining as the film itself. The discs come with a 40-page bound book about the film, as well as some mind-melting artwork for the covers by longtime VS designer Earl Kess. It's all a far cry from Umbrella's 2018 Australian Blu-ray release or the old Anchor Bay DVDs.

In short, this is a gotta have. It's not a cheap release, either: at $59.98, it's the most expensive single title from Vinegar Syndrome to date. It's currently on preorder at vinegarsyndrome.com for $39.99. As far as I can tell, that's the only place to grab a copy at this point. So get on your horse, pre-order now, and come back in a couple weeks when we talk Black Friday at Vinegar Syndrome.

Black Flag - The Complete 1982 Demos Plus More!

See, I told you I'd be right back to some dumb punk rock shit.

The Black Flag/Unicorn/MCA injunction is one of my favorite stories about the music business. Flag signs a deal with Unicorn Records to co-release "Damaged", gaining Black Flag access to better distribution. Al Bergamo at MCA, Unicorn's parent company, hears (about) "Damaged", decides it's "anti-parent", and blocks it from release. SST restickers the 25,000 LP run on Unicorn. Unicorn files suit against Black Flag for breach of contract, leading to contempt of court charges against Greg Ginn and Chuck Dukowski and a three year embargo against any releases under the Black Flag name.

So it came to be that it took three years, and two lineups, until the Flag would fly again. Robo left his drum stool shortly after recording "Damaged", and in his place would sit Chuck Biscuits, formerly of D.O.A. While nothing official was ever released from this five-piece, they did record a number of demos, collected here on this bootleg CD-R. We get a mix of tracks from "My War" and "Slip It In", featuring Rollins on vocals, Ginn and Cadena on guitars, Dukowski on bass, and Biscuits on drums. I really prefer the '82 quintet. I think Bill Stevenson's drumming continues to get better over time, but Biscuits was at the top of his game on these demos. Hank still hasn't dove full-blown into LSD poet, and Dez on second guitar allows Greg Ginn to go wild, while still retaining an underpinning on the songs. It's also the Dukowski's last recordings with the band before the Duke would move onto SWA. In short, it's a leaner, meaner version of a pair of classic hardcore/grunge records that wouldn't come out for another two years.

And, because I'm a giver, I've left on the 1984 Radio Tokyo sessions that typically appear on CD versions of the 1982 demos. It's three songs from "My War" and an interview, featuring bearded Henry Rollins, stoned Greg Ginn, Kira Roessler on bass and Bill on drums. It's a cool tack on, considering Kira didn't otherwise record any of the "My War" cuts, and I'm always a fan of a "live in the studio" session.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Scientist Wins The World Cup

YO! SCIENTIST!

I dunno why people in this part of the world keep dumping amazing dub records into Value Village and Goodwill, but I'll be damned if I complain. I came across this fun disc a couple years back for all of $2, which makes it a fine purchase. This is the final record Scientist mixed at King Tubby's Studio before he moved over to Channel One. All the Greensleeves themed records from that time period are excellent, but I'm sharing this because it fits the "dollar bin" theme, and who doesn't like a good soccer cartoon cover? This is also the 2002 CD reissue, which includes six extra tracks.

Dub is not for everyone. But if studio wizardry is your bag, well, this one waves a big ol' wand over some Roots Radics tracks and weaves some magic. I've always felt like dub is a great work-from-home soundtrack. Great sounds, few distractions. Check this riddim out, bud.

Discogs

Click here to download.