Various Artists – "Lead Weight (H.M. Rock Compilation From Neat" (Neat Records) 1981

 

A cassette only compilation from North East England, the official home of Black Metal.....mainly because Venom come from Newcastle and they have a track on this tape; "Angel Dust",which I am playing now as I type,and it seems to go on forever,despite the three minute timing printed on the insert!?...maybe it's their mate Satan fiddling with the space time continuum,the very fabric of time,giving us a small taste of listening to Venom for eternity,but only if you're naughty.

However,naughty or nice, the forty minutes of hard rocking NWOBHM,showcases various influences from Motorhead (thats gotta be  Venom innit?),plenty of poundshop Gillan-esque screaming (Blitzkrieg), and a band (Axis) who seems to want to be Queen?!

All on the legendary Neat Label from Geordie-land.....where that screechy bloke called Brian in the flat cap from AC/DC came from.

Newcastle has a lot to apologise for, especially their underachieving football team which Geordie fans seem to think are entitled as the greatest football team ever,despite achieving pretty much fuck-all in decades of existence. But at least they gave us Venom??.....even The god-awful Toy Dolls are Mackem as they came from neighboring Sunderland,so are not Geordie;but incredibly Sunderland have achieved even less than Newcastle on the football pitch.

Surprise Geordies include such luminaries as Sting, and Brian Ferry.Both very keen to hide their Geordie roots,...and who can blame them?

Eh! Hang on, didn't Penetration, the first NWOBHM band in my opinion  come from Tyne or Wear side? I did a review for the school mag in 1978 on Penetration's "Moving Targets, and dismissed it as Heavy Metal, not Punk. Of course I plagiarized paraphrased copied one of the music weeklies review section for such an outrageous assessment...but it was correct.They had that long haired chap,Fred Purser from Tygers Of Pang Tang in the band at the time,which upped the band skill level uncomfortably high.They were indeed the First New Wave of Britsh Metal band(or was that the Sex Pistols?),sneaking in under the Punk Radar, despite the crackly luminous vinyl it was pressed on.
Tracklist:

Raven – Inquisitor 3:44
White Spirit – Cheetah 4:44
Venom – Angel Dust 2:59
Axe – S.S. Giro 3:10
Blitzkrieg – Inferno 4:59
Aragorn – Noonday 2:55
Fist – Throwing In The Towel 3:40
Axis – Messiah 4:20
Bitches Sin– Down The Road 2:57
Warrior – Flying High 2:46
Satan's Empire– Soldiers Of War 6:50

DOWNLOAD a very neat compilation HERE!

Various Artists - "Scene Of The Crime" - Suspect Records – SUS 3) 1981

Ok, I know I'm not entirely conversant in the lost language of Heavy Metal,but I am struggling as to comprehend what is exactly occurring on the cover of this NWOBHM compilation.Is that riffing metal-head attacking a Policeman with his guitar? Otherwise known as an "Axe"....lingo borrowed from  beat generation Hip Talk.

The role of the Van is not too clear,but i'm guessing that is assuming the honor of the mythical beast-like metal chariot, the  Tour Bus,and that Copper (Traffic Warden?) is standing in the way of a string of very important Heavy Metal tour dates?

I don't recognize the brand of guitar,so I can't rule out it being one of those cardboard guitars as used in Air Guitar competitions at the Soundhouse?

Now that's cleared up, the first track seems to misspell 'Panzer' as 'Panza',and no they most definitely aren't to be confused with American Noise Rockers Panzey Division....if I spelt that correctly?

Anyway, whats good enough for the Slade is good for the Panza.

Appearing from the smoggy vista's of Sheffield, with fellow misspelling cohorts Def Leppard, their Englishness is revealed by their obvious obsession with World War Two.Apart from the name, the first track they offer up is called "Blitz", which sounds a bit like an amped up Status Quo in places,certainly a heads down no nonsense mindless boogie....and why not?

Savage, do their best Motorhead impression,despite Lemmy insisting that the 'Head' were never Heavy Metal (We're Rock'n'Roll), reminding one of that very argument in the comic Strips' Heavy Metal parody, "Bad News",where the band argue about this very subject:

"I'm not going any further until I hear Alan(Vim) say we're Heavy Metal!"

A line to rival anything in Spinal Tap!

I suppose I'm more like the Jennifer Saunders character, Sally Freidman, Britain's number one hot chick music journalist.(Watch it all Here)

Back to the Good News:

Manatou gives us one of those god awful Hair Metal Ballads to show us all that they, indeed, are not Just a Heavy Metal band (see above),a crime that Tyrant seem far too keen to repeat.

It all sounds like they left the EQ settings alone for the whole album to save time from maybe a 12 hour setting.The same time someone like The Fall would have taken back in the day.

Alas,Heavy Metal,and its New Wave, is at the very least,both hilarious and entertainingly rocking....even the crap tunes to some extent.Especially when its recorded as cheaply as this.

Great Stuff,and a fine still life of British Culture that exists now here else on this planet.......well maybe on some very unusual exoworld after vomiting it through a wormhole......there i go again,Sally From Bad News!?

Tracklist:A1 Panza Division– Blitz 3:30
A2 Manitou – Manitou 3:32
A3 Savage  Let It Loose 4:15
A4 Sparta– Lords Of Time 6:07
B1 Tyrant – Day Of The Knight 3:25
B2 Panza Division – Delta 4 3:34
B3 Savage – Dirty Money 3:45
B4 Tyrant – Sanctuary 3:28
B5 Manitou – Overlord 3:39

DOWNLOAD this good news HERE!

Various Artists - "Kent Rocks" - (White Witch Records WIT KR 101) 1981

 

Sidcup,a borough of south-east London on the northern edge of das immigration Kapital of south east England.To be more precise ,Kent, where,in 2026 you can easily pop down Dover way and waste another grey afternoon picnicking on the white chalky cliffs watching the illegal immigrants struggling in their vastly overcrowded rubber dinghys, and count the dead children recovered by the coast guards.

The last thing one would be thinking about would be the minor incursion of NWOBHM into the chalky hillocks of the Kentish coastline. Kent Rocks the boats, but Human trafficking Kills......maybe Kent Kills could be a superior title for these sad ol'days. In fact if most of these desperate migrants were subjected to 40 minutes of "Kent Rocks" they,to a man, would paddle back to France screaming. I may send a copy to the despicable Racists in the UK Parliament,as a suggestion on how to defend our shores from these brown skinned chaps in a more humanitarian way....showing them pictures of Sidcup on their way to ensure that they will never return. Admittedly, Sidcup is a marginally better option than Gaza,Eritrea or any other Genocide saturated hell hole, but boredom does kill, even in Kent.

Having labeled this provincial compilation as strictly NWOBHM,I realise this is untrue. There's some New Wave,Indie Pop and a splash of Minimal Synth pop too!? Well,its got a NWOBHM Label title,and at least 50% of it is classic NWOBHM....so as far as I'm concerned its a NWOBHM comp from the provinces of coastal Britain in 1981 when Goth and Metal fought it out on the Beaches....minus the migrants of course,and fought it out on the Landing Grounds of provincial Kent,where the Gothic Operation Sea-Lion was well under way. In hindsight, i'm not sure who won,but, Iron Maiden did,somehow,conquer India,whereas I can't see many Bauhaus T-Shirts being worn on the streets of New Delhi.

There was a White Witch who worked in the same council run small business space as us. A bunch of Goth's worked a few units down the corridor from us,and made Goth Clothing.The one that they called "V" used to daub herself in white foundation,with black eyes, and the usual Goth regalia.

The Indian sweat shop further down from us had a problem, as the Traditional Indian Ladies refused to enter the building one day.When asked why, they cited the "Witch" in Unit 12/13. This was only resolved when she agreed to remove the white pan-stick and scale down the goth stuff.....which..haha...get it?....I thought was rather decent of her? Where is 'V' now I wonder? Probably ruling the underworld with pure evil arcing from her black fingernails....which interestingly was Syd James' character in "Carry On Don't Lose Your Head", otherwise known as Sir Rodney Ffingham aka 'The Black Fingernail'....a piss-take of the Scarlet Pimpernel....such sophistication? Such Class?....rather like NWOBHM herself?

Tracklist:

1.Renegade– Last Warrior
2.Stif Cremona– People Like You
3.Microgramma– Bus To Amsterdam
4.Dervish – Cyclone
5.Legend – Heaven Sent
6.Demon Pact– Escape
7.K.C.B. – Tomorrow
8.The Jerry Scales Band– The Man
9.Shane – My Song
10.Replaceable Headz– Primeval Ooze
11.Raw Deal – Cut Above The Rest

DOWNLOAD a small boat full of migrant metalheads HERE!

Various Artists– "In And Out Of Town" (Out Of Town Records – HOOT L.P. 1) 1981

Here's yet another over-view of pop groups from a grim place ooop Norff.This time it's the turn of sunny Stockport, a grotty satellite town of Manchester....such places are where most Manchester bands came from rather than from Manchester itself.Rather like all Manchester United footie fans come from anywhere but Manchester, places like Dubai,Welwyn Garden City, or Ulan Bator.

Name a famous Manc Band, you may challenge your friend of an evening,and he will predictably forward Joy Division as an answer,and be confident in this before the Smart Phone is activated to google it.Of course your Smart Phone will inform us that Ian and Steve were from Macclesfield, and Hooky and Barney were from Salford Town.

I knew all that,even without a Smart Phone to hand;but due to our over-relience on these brain extensions from Hell, i'm not even sure of my own name anymore without googling it.The death of the Pub Quiz.

There is also the grim prospect of the soon to be released AI-phone, who will roundly take the piss out of your for not knowing that Joy Division wasn't a Manchester band.....a band who coincidentally,will be also probably be your future AI-phone's favourite band.

Also,incidentally, Stockport inexplicably has been twinned with a medieval French Town near my humble abode;namely Beziers.Site of one of the most terrible medieval atrocities during the wars of religion. Perpetrated by the earl of my birthplace in jolly old England,the rabidly anti-semetic Simon De Montfort, Earl of Leicester.He ordered the mass slaughter of the Cathars,by burning them to death in Beziers Cathedral.Don';t worry De Montfort got his just desserts ,and had his Bollocks chopped off and stuffed in his mouth......but this didn't stop Leicester naming a renowned concert hall after him, and also One of the local universities.

If you come from Stockport, then under the rules of Football fanaticism you have no choice but to support Stockport County, your local team,and accident of birth......if you come from Manchester itself,then you should be a Man City fan....there is NO CHOICE!

So these days,Manchester Citzens will have to put up with being funded from the vast wealth of Saudi Arabian Football fan Oil Barons,which is a tad in contradiction of the Football Fan Rulebook is it not?.....another big negative is that the Gallagher brothers are fair weather Man City fans apparently,scoffing at all the light blue plebs from their separate executive boxes.

One other thing that the Mancunians are good at,especially in the early 80's, is making a decent tune in the Post-Punk stylee.It all not bad,with only a couple of cringe laden vocal-isms from the ones who had silly dreams of pop stardom  

 

Tracklist:

A1	Stress –	The Real
A2	C.C. Crim–	Little Girl
A3	Belgian Bitch–	Can't Say No To You
A4	Zanathus–	Baby Baby
A5	Objet D'Art–	For Your Love
A6	Marquis De Sade –	Egyptian Lovers
A7	Cinema Eluminare–	Dangerous Vision
B1	Paris & The Atmospheres*–	Don't Really Love Me
B2	Revue–	Jody
B3	The Images –	Oh Baby
B4	Ride  -	Fairground
B5	John The Poser–	Disappearance Of Ruth
B6	Zanti Misfitz–	Constant Buzz
B7	Airplay –	The Last Time

DOWNLOAD a bit of the old in and out from the sex capital of Lancashire HERE!

Various Artists– "Cry, Havoc!" - (Compiled By Stoke Musicians Collective) - Slip Records – (SLID 1) 1981

 

Hey!Here's a surprise!

After another long repose,the most logical place to re-boot my blogger come-back has to be,of course......Stoke-on-Trent(?).......The birthplace of UK82/D-Beat,and anything else wearing a studded leather bikers jacket.Yoo know who I mean, Discharge GBH, Clay Records and all that involuntarily Celibate white young male stuff(I think its pronounced 'InCell' in nu-speak. 

The potteries,as this grim land-fill site in the black country of the UK, was known, could have done a lot worse than that dubious claim to be lame,and so they did, with yet another of those provincial compilations unleashed upon those disinterested bunch of smug Southerners at Radio One. 'Tis also yet another Musicians Collective, that seemed to multiply like a cancer throughout the New Wave era.

The worst ones were those who were obviously trying their hardest to write a catchy tune,captured on secondhand 8-track tape by a cynical Martin Hannett type refugee from the 60's at the council funded recording facility. Arriving too late for the Wave,which 1981 was, not all of these bands can be dismissed as Nu-Wave white boy funksters,, Reggae-lite costello clones, or Spherical Objects style Fall plagiarizers. There was at least one Minimal Synth (All The Madmen), and the 'oooh ain't we weird' number (Amphibrach Enallage etc), and the 'not-too-Bad band,which in this case is the Platinum Needles......a drugs reference perhaps?

In fact i'm quite enjoying listening to this as i write some misinformed splurge;yes even the cringe parts....purely out of a September years need for nostalgia i may add,but it keeps me relatively non-suicidal dunnit?.....and i never managed to mention Donald Trump once!? 

Tracklist:

A1 Vermilion Hair– Private Eye 3:10
A2 The Decks– Drowning In The Airwaves 3:36
A3 Platinum Needles– Organised Disruption 3:52
A4 The Lemmings– Young At Heart 3:03
A5 White Lightning Blues Band– Neat Scenes 3:02
A6 Doris– Many Miles From Home 3:08
A7 All The Madmen– Superior Life 3:03
A8 The Heaters – Expensive Jeans (Reggie) 3:31
B1 Walter Mitty– Screaming Till The Sun Goes Down 3:57
B2 The Uninvited– Doing The East Berlin 3:02
B3 Vermilion Hair– Hidden Meaning 4:08
B4 White Lightning Blues Band– Shake It Again 1:55
B5 Strate Angel– Rock-O-La 4:19
B6 Time Out – Still On Ice 4:05
B7 Amphibrach Enallage And The Catalectic Paragoge– Re: Bertha De Cool 1:19
B8 Platinum Needles– Telford 2:39

DOWNLOAD and cry HERE!

Die Öwan – "Öwanism" (XA Record – XA-2007) 1981

 

Firstly,I have no idea what the Tracklisting is,but the pix and info here are the best I can be bothered to put forward. Its largely irrelevant anyway.Just see it as 4 long tracks that merge together to become something Avant Garde filtered through the dirty underpants of the collective teenage mind......which this stuff is ,if accidentally ,which always beats the deliberate nonsense that the intellectual elite like us to see as something unattainable.But...There are two types of unattainable; the genuinely unattainable or the pretentious shite that no-one wants to 'attain' anyway. The coming age of Artificial Stupidity is upon us,so the unlearning process that we hear mentioned so often is on its way like a cavalry of good taste coming to kill their women and children in the name of Art. Machines will free us from slavery very soon,and we can live the Nietzchean utopia of the creative ubermensch .

This particular example of Nietzchean Ubermenschen called Die Owan from former the former Axis Hinterland of Japan, involves the DIY lo-fi Punk of a couple of Teenage sons of Nippon banging out endless numbers of short barks and enregistering them within the noble medium of Audio Cassette,back in the daze.

Are these Prats the Japanese Prats, or West Germany's own bunch of Prat-a-like Punk Kinder Die 2.Liga? 

Who knows? Who cares? Either way, its great simple Japanese bedroom thrash,by those who had obviously heard Wire's 'Punk Flag' a few years after it's release.In fact somewhere within the rumpus there pops up a Wire cover,and even "Bored Teenagers" by The Adverts makes an unexpected,but welcome appearance. Dee Dee Ramone countin's and a frantic TR 606 drum machine, makes this an exhausting experience,so when you've had enough,just click the stop button and sit in a darkened room for half-an hour,then hopefully you may forget....until the next time....then you're back in the room

Tracklist: 

1		Anti Children = アンチチルドレン	1:17
2		Where Is Your Love? = ホエア・イズ・ユア・ラブ？	1:19
3		Keihan Ondo = 京阪音頭	1:17
4		No Love = ノウ・ラブ	1:16
5		Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha = ハ・ハ・ハ・ハ・ハ	1:01
6		Hirakata = 枚方	0:28
7		Loadstar = ロードスター	1:03
8		Red Hirakata = レッド枚方	1:39
9		Sadness Song = 悲しみの歌	0:28
10		Kue Song +4 = クエの歌	1:16
11		Gary Koketa = ゲイリー こけた	1:55
12		V's Song +12 = Vの歌 +	1:20
13		Kechi Theme = ケチのテーマ	0:49
14		Cholge Man Theme = チョルゲマン	0:08
15		Bald Eno = ボールド・イーノ	1:19
16		Floor No Kuchi +11 = フロアの口	1:42
17		Sakura = 桜	2:00
18		Lost My Head = ロストマイヘッド	5:12
19		Cholge Man Theme/ Bald Eno (live) = チョルゲマンのテーマ/ボールドイーノ	1:49
20		Ex. Buzzco Timer (live) = Exバズコタイマー	1:54
21		Floor No Kuchi +2 (live) = フロアの口	0:49
22		Harimoto Jin (live) = 張本人	0:16
23		Crying My Hage +11 = 俺のハゲは泣いている	2:42
24		Sabita Hage +12 = さびたハゲ	5:31
25		Hage No Chan Chaka Chan +11 = ハゲのチャンチャカチャン	0:30
26		Suterare Hage + 11 = すてられハゲ	1:53
27		Ikuzo Wa Rasta +12 = イクゾはラスタ	1:52
28		Keihan Dub = 京阪ダブ	2:02
29		Time Shock = タイム・ショック	1:23
30		Chotto Dekakeruwa  = ちょっと出かけるわ	2:18
31		Dareka Haitteruyaro Detekoi  = だれか入ってるやろ、出てこい	1:57
32		Rasta Theme = ラスタ・テーマ	0:44
33		Here Rasta Comes Now = ヒアラスタカムズナウ	3:43
34		Arigataya Song = ありがたやのうた	1:58
35		Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha (demo) = ハハハハハ	1:03
36		Anti Children (demo) = アンチチルドレン	1:25
37		Loadstar (demo) = ロードスター	1:09
38		GHC  (live)	7:53
39		Dareka Haitteruyaro Detekoi  (live) = だれか入ってるやろ出てこい	1:16
40		No Love (1979 version) = ノウラブ DOWNLOAD to achieve  OWANism like a spunking jap-eye HERE!	1:33