Gorillas – "Message To The World" (Raw Records – RWLP 103) 1978

Jess Hector's 'Message to the World, as printed on the back cover to their/his only official album release in their lifetimes, has been ignored,as has this rather over-produced dee-rocked debut and final album by the Gorillas, formally the Hammersmith Gorillas who took their name from London's pro-Castro activist group the Hammersmith Guerillas.....although i suggest that Jess and the boys probably couldn't give a fuck about all this anti-human political bullshite......hence the piss-take replacing Guerrillas with Gorillas?

Jesse has his Marc Bolan warble center stage on this one,even managing to remove all the Funk from Hendrix's "Foxy Lady" as made by late period T-Rex....sounds good on paper.

All his hero's were dead, even by 1978, so whats a boy to do but try to resurrect their souls using the new age Voodoo that is Rock and Roll?.....it didn't work, Hendrix is still very dead,as is the wonderful Marc Bolan,whose kids TV show , "Marc" was a primary influence on the young Zchivago.It had my second experience of Punk Rock on it, Generation X, Eddie and the Hot Rods...who everyone thought was 'Punk', and why the fuck not? They were faster than the Ramones,and no Glam influence either.The Jam,the LP of which (In The City),my sister had,so I nicked it.....their best album by far.

Marc's old mates The Radio Stars were on it, i thought The Boomtown Rats were good????......can't win 'em all?....but best of all was Hawkwind,in their punk phase with "Quark Strangeness and Charm"...a classic.

The series and Marc's life ended with a ramshackle duet with David Bowie....his last performance before his wife,The Tainted love legend Gloria jones, drove their mini into an old sycamore tree near Queen’s Ride in London. What delights has this tragedy deprived us of,one could only guess.He did ,however, write and record the same song over and over again....but what's wrong with that if it's a Good'un.

An interviewer once asked Angus Young of Aussie Pub Rock legends AC/DC why they had made the same album ten times over?

He replied thus, " I find that quite insulting, its the same album Eleven times over actually,get yer facts right mate!.

I'm certain that Jesse Hector wouldn't mind at all that my blurb is all about Marc Bolan rather than him.We can't all sit among the elite in Rock'n'Roll Valhalla can we?

Tracklist:

A1 Foxy Lady
A2 I'm A Liar
A3 I Need Her
A4 Going Fishing
A5 New York Groover
B1 Outa My Brain
B2 Waiting For You
B3 No Way In
B4 Last Train
B5 Message To The World

DOWNLOAD and get the message HERE!

The Hammersmith Gorillas – "Gorilla Got Me" (Big Beat Records - CDWIKD 185) 1999

 

This is what CD's were invented for....surely?....,Primarily so we could get all of The 'Ammersmiff Gorilla's non album work in one place.

If you look closely at the sartorially elegant gentlemen on the cover,you may have noted that two of them were last seen in proto-Punk flag bearers Crushed Butler. Sporting a fine set of muttonchops would be rockin' warhorse Jesse Hector, with the late Alan Butler himself (he fell off a horse),sporting a rather fetching Steve Marriot on heat haircut.

Alongside, Eddie and the Hot Rods,Doctor Feelgood,Ducks Deluxe and the Bishops, The Hammersmith Gorillas helped keep alive the Rock and the Roll for the poor kids who, sadly, came of age post Sgt Pepper, as part of the Pub Rock circuit around 1974,which basically served the same purpose as the Ramones/Heartbreakers end of the arty New York CBGB's/Max's scene; but with a lot more Rock'n'Roll and a lot less pretentious bohemian prancing involved.Out of which sprang forth most of the 'Punk' groups. Basically,the formula reads something like this Pub Rock plus Ramones,plus Glam plus the Sex Pistols management created what was now called Punk Rock in 1976....unsquared. A formula, if left unchecked,or applied incorrectly, will lead to a New Wave of British Heavy Metal....which it did.

The Gorillas,as they were known,in their contracted Punk Rock form,were certainly a mixture of Glam, which had its own more nostalgic revival of Rock'n'Roll going on and the hooligan friendly Slade inspired Bovver Rock of the pre-punk period.

These chaps certainly know their Rock history,selecting to cover the two main precursors on how to be a punk Rock group,namely "You Really Got Me" and "Wild Thing"....that's where the seeds were sown,maybe cross-pollinated with a bit of "Johnny BeGoode" and "Louis Louis",from here sprung hither the mutant.

Whatever, the Gorillas had great Haircuts and recorded for legendary Punk Label Raw Records, straight outta Cambridge.

Tracklist:

The Hammersmith Gorillas
1 You Really Got Me
2 Leavin' Home
3 Eleanor Soapdodge
4 I Live In Style In Maida Vale
5 Luxury

The Gorillas
6 She's My Gal
7 Why Wait 'Til Tomorrow
8 Gatecrasher
9 Gorilla Got Me
10 Move It
11 Song For Rita

The Hammersmith Gorillas
12 Moonshine
13 Shame Shame Shame
The Gorillas
14 Feel It Easy
15 Miss Dynamite

The Hammersmith Gorillas
16 You Can't Judge A Book (By Looking At The Cover)
17 Leavin' 'Ome
18 Come On Down
19 Jailhouse Rock
20 Wild Thing
21 Keep On Chooglin'
22 Foxy Lady

23 It's My Life (Raw Single)

24 My Son's Alive (Raw Single)

25 I'm Seventeen

DOWNLOAD a 'gorillas' without a single damon albarn in sight HERE!

The Killjoys - " Demos,Peel Sessions, Live, and Singles 1977-78" (a Die or DIY? Compilation)

As previously mentioned ,Birmingham spawned two reasonably well known second wave punk groups in 1977; the excellent Prefects, and the somewhat less excellent Killjoys, fronted by one of the few punk frontmen with naturally curly hair.
The killjoys managed one pretty decent single on the near perfect Raw records, and a couple of other tunes for the label compilation "A Raw Deal", but quickly descended into trying to write 'competent' pop songs like the ones in their second Peel Session from 1978.
This was a nasty habit that infected Kevin Rowland for most of the eighties and beyond, as he became the living embodiment of the oft used phrase; "like punk never happened".
Especially during Dexy's hillbilly phase! Probably thee worst ever band image ever imposed on the listening public, alongside "Come On Eileen" being admissible for evidence for crimes against humanity in the international court of human rights.
OMFG!? Rowlands throaty whine fills me with an unstoppable desire to slice my ears off and fill the remaining holes with sound absorbent insulation foam.
Hard to believe that our Kevin was once the angry looking sneery focal point for Brum's second ever punk band. 
Not only did the vocalist go on to create great aural evil, the female bass player, Ghislaine, went on to commit more crimes against rock in New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Band 'Girlschool'!! .....terrible stuff.

Track Listing:

01 Naive(Raw Single 1977)
02 Johnny Won't Go To Heaven(Raw Single 1977)
03 At Night(Alternative Take 1977)
04 Recognition(alternative Mix 1977)
05 At Night (Rough Mix 1977)
06 Back to Front[Peel Session 11-10-77)
07 Naive[Peel Session 11-10-77]
08 Recognition[Peel Session 11-10-77)
09 At Night [Peel Session 11-10-77]
10 Spit On Me[Peel Session 01-02-78]
11 Smoke Your Own[Peel Session 01-02-78]
12 All The Way[Peel Session 01-02-78]
13 Ghislaine[Peel Session 01-02-78]
14 Recognition[Studio Demos 18-10-1977]
15 Back to front[Studio Demos 18-10-1977]
16 At night[Studio Demos 18-10-1977]
17 Is That What She Said (Live 1978)
18 Johnny Won't Get To Heaven (Live 1977)
19 At Night (Raw Deal compilation 1977)
20 Recognition (Raw Deal compilation 1977)
21 Naive (Unedited Version)
22 Johnny Won't Get To Heaven (Unedited Version)

DOWNLOAD to kill your joy HERE!

The Downliners Sect ‎– "Showbiz" (Raw Records- Unreleased RWLP 106 / Sky Records ‎– Sky 301) 1977 / 1979

The Downliners Sect were a British sixties punk band who played rough and ready UK style R&B with a punk attitude.No ambitions towards musicianship or musical advancement, they kept it primitive and never sold out to this day!
Like the 'Pirates' they re-emerged around 1977 recognising fellow spirits in the Punk Rock movement, and got picked up by Lee Woods superb RAW label. They released a single, and proceeded to record the album, but RAW ran out of cash and it remained unreleased. That is until the band stole the tapes and had it released in Germany instead, to total public indifference.

Lee Wood(Mr Raw Records): "I recorded an album with them. I paid many thousands of pounds and then they “stole” the tapes from the studio and sold the tapes to a German record label.

That’s gratitude for you!"

I suppose that's a Punk Rock thing to do?!

Also during 1977 The Downliners Sect were partly responsible for two of the greatest Punksploitation albums of all time, with "The Vacants" and "FU2".....highly recommended, and you can download them from this blog HERE! and HERE!

The 'FU2' album has a few, much improved, souped up versions of songs from this "Showbiz" LP.

The Vacants album is just one of the greatest 'lost' masterpieces of Punk/Pub rock ever.

Tracklist:

Showbiz 4:02
Let's Ride 2:44
Break Up 3:40
Frustration 2:50
Out Of School 3:28
Playing My Guitar 3:03
Richmond Rhythm & Blues 2:28
Loose Ends 3:48
Wild Time 3:21
Red Hot Mama 2:46
Blue Coup De Ville 3:01
Mismanagement 5:37

Bonus Tracks:

Killing Me (Raw Single B-Side 1977)

Showbiz (Original Raw single version 1977)

The DOWNLOADer's sect is HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Raw Deal!" (Raw Records – RAWL 1) 1977

When the human race is on the brink of inevitable extinction in a hundred years or so, and a database of all great human achievements is launched into space to preserve this culture for some lucky nascent alien race? To maybe learn from,and hopefully avoid the same fate. The person who has the job of including the greatest ever record labels has to include Raw Records in the top three or four!? (perm any two from Ron Johnson, Fuck Off, Factory,ESP,Impulse,Rough Trade,Deleted,etc to make up the remainder of top places).

There ain't a shit track on either “Raw Deal” or “Oh No! It's More From Raw”,and I played these to death back in 77-78.

I remember taking my flares wearing Australian cousin 'down town' to go record buying during the height of Punk Rock. Visiting the UK for the first time since 1968, it was like he'd arrived on another planet; Punk Rock was not such a huge phenomenon back in Oz, where the Beatles and Abba still ruled supreme with da yoot. Strange from a land that gave us The Saints, The Victims, and Radio Birdmen!? 

After enduring a rendition of The Users “Sick of You” played at ear bleeding volume,he told my Mother that he'd “never felt so old!”.Outside of the UK,certain North East coast US cities, parts of California and Sweden(?), it was the same story everywhere.

This is the punk sound I prefer, no charlie big potatoes here; punk from the provinces. Even the laughable cockney-isms of the young Kevin Rowland from the Killjoys, who came from Birmingham. 
This is Outsider punk;a melange of Chuck Berry riffs, pub rock, teen angst,glue,speed and lager; the spawn of hopelessness. Forget chart friendly unit shifters like The Buzzcocks,these tunes were unlikeable;unless you understood ,emotionally,where they were coming from. Having a future wasn't good enough for these kids.

The fucking problem is, give 'em (the modern thoroughly brainwashed 'facebook' generation) a couple of quid in the back pocket, a steady income, new television and X-Box and they (who the fuck are 'They' anyway?), could do any atrocity and no fucker would complain. This was the problem with Punk Rock ,before Joy Division and industrial music; too much focus on the smaller picture, unemployment, boredom, and lack of money. When the real problem was this illusory system with fake goals, carrot and stick slavery, and the unelected controllers behind a fraudulent one party democracy. The current situation is one of an Orwellian Reality that we have been stealthily manipulated into accepting with almost zero dissent. Where's the punk rock today?............its here on “Raw Deal”, kids with No Future from 1977; how right they were after all? We've got a future but we don't fucking want it!

Musically, we've got all the Sick Things tracks that never existed, an errant Users studio track, and the Psycho's muttering the taboo about being British and ,gasp, White! Its all good,if not great.

Tracklist:

A1	–Users, The	I'm In Love With Today
A2	–Acme Sewage Co.	I Don't Need You
A3	–G.T.'s, The	Millionaire
A4	–Bloodclots	Louie, Louie
A5	–Sick Things	Bondage Boy
A6	–Psycho's	Soul Train
A7	–Killjoys	Recognition
A8	–Sick Things	Anti Social Disease
B1	–Sick Things	Kids On The Street
B2	–Killjoys	At Night
B3	–Psycho's	Young British & White
B4	–Acme Sewage Co.	I Can See You
B5	–G.T.'s, The	Move On
B6	–Zhain	Get Ready
B7	–Sick Things	Sleeping With The Dead

DOWNLOAD a raw deal HERE!