Did You Spill My Pint?

If London had a CBGBs it wasn't The Roxy or The Marquee Club, it was Islington's Hope & Anchor (of course it had to be a pub, right), and this seminal compilation substantiates that.

It's all here to be heard: the juxtapositions reveal all.

The old guard, represented by Steve Gibbons, The Pirates, and dear old Wilko; and those who retained an older style, such as The Pleasers, Dire Straits, and to a certain extent Sean Tyla's Tyla Gang - who never sounded more like an English version of Tom Petty and The Hertbreakers - are heard alongside the new young gunslingers and upstarts: X-Ray Spex (Poly Styrene being the only woman on the album!), The Saints, Suburban Studs, The Only Ones, 999 and XTC, a band who were already years ahead; already sounding post-post-punk.

And there's Steel Pulse, the then great ambassadors of the new wave of British reggae.
To have seen them at that time in a London pub must have been something else.

There wasn't much to the Hope & Anchor back in the nineteen-seventies.
No real stage as such, just a raised area in an airless, heaving, chamber-like bar.
But the historicity of the place is immense.
And this compilation is its ossuary.

Various Artists - Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival (1978)

Wilko Johnson Band - Dr. Feelgood
The Stranglers - Straighten Out
Tyla Gang - Styrofoam
The Pirates - Don't Munchen It
Steve Gibbons Band - Speed Kills
XTC - I'm Bugged
Suburban Studs - I Hate School
Wilko Johnson Band - Billy
XTC - Science Friction
Dire Straits - Eastbound Train
Burlesque - Bizz Fizz
X-Ray Spex - Let's Submerge
999 - Crazy
The Saints - Demolition Girl
The Only Ones - Creatures of Doom
The Pirates - Gibson Martin Fender
Steel pulse - Sound Check
Roogalator - Zero Hour
Philip Rambow - Underground Romance
The Pleasers - Rock and Roll Radio
Tyla Gang - On the Streets
Steve Gibbons Band - Johnny Cool
Wilko Johnson Band - Twenty Years Behind

Cd rip to mp3s
Return to the Front Row here

Macca Do

So here's some mainstream booty for y'all.

A few tracks gathered from one of the first big get-together charitee-type-affairs, collectively titled Concerts For the People of Kampuchea.

I've only got a small sample of what was put out, but I've been careful in my selection, as a lot of what was put out wasn't that great.

All the tracks were recorded at London's Hammersmith Odeon back in 1979.

Included here are two tracks from The Who: a groovy rendition of 'Sister Disco' with tasteful, bluesy, dubby outro, and a well belted out - when Daltrey could still do it - 'Behind Blue Eyes'.

Two tracks from Dave Edmunds' Rockpile, including a guest performance by Planty, who lends vocal for a pub-rock version of 'Little Sister'.

Next up, a right blistering bender from Queen [!], their epic 'Now I'm Here', and they never sounded heavier or better, and I'm not even a fan.
(I only really like 'Get Down, Make Love' and 'Killer Queen' [O yeah, and 'Flash', that one's quite good]).

This eclectic bagatelle comes to an end with the song that apparently inspired John Lennon to get off his bed, turn off the television, and go and cut an album (Double Fantasy), raising him back out of obscure privacy and making him a popular figure and recognizable icon once more.

So in a way, Wings' 'Coming Up' could be said to be responsible for Lennon's death... in a way... if you know what I mean.
;)

The Who - Sister Disco
The Who - Behind Blue Eyes
Rockpile - Crawling From the Wreckage
Rockpile (with Robert Plant) - Little Sister
Queen - Now I'm Here
Wings - Coming Up

Quality rip from cassette @320kbs.
Rock out here

Ooh, Honky Tonk

Acquired this from a guy who ran an indie record shop in Finchley.
He was an extreme Deadhead - aren't they all - and because Jerry Garcia plays lead on the opening track this guy had a handful of these.

He gave a copy to me not because we shared a common love for all things Dead but due to my interest in the music of Jorma Kaukonen; which just so happens to be the stand-out material on this collection.

Kaukonen's acoustic recordings are really where his chops lie, and there's a couple of fine pieces here: one solo track from Too Hot to Handle, and one track unique to this sampler with "special friend" [!] Robert Zantay; he plays the lyricon; whatever the heck that is.

There's also a tasty Hot Tuna track; beefed up greatly by Kaukonen and Casady jamming with notes unleashed by Papa John Creach and his soaring, magic fiddle.

As for the other tracks; well they're okay: the Savoy Brown tunes are pretty good; The Burritos are good, but essentially this really showcases Kaukonen's work.

This was released on CD - although now deleted - but the Kaukonen tracks weren't included; making this little selection even more special.

O thank you Deadhead from the past... and I hope you are still alive and kicking.

Various Artists - The Relix Sampler (1985)

Decent rip from vinyl @320kbs
A little surface noise - not the best of pressings; "Side 2" is better.
Sampler here