Some days off ! (a Birdman fly)

As I'm working far from home all this week, (go to Paris, where I could see the Radio Birdman on wednesday !!), there won't be postings til next sunday. But as I post not so often, I guess it will not annoys you so much.
Thanks for those of you who read me. And enjoy the Shoes lp !

the Boomerang Effect !

"It may not have the hip thing to do at the time but Shoes carried on the pure pop traditions of the Beatles and the Raspberries during the late '70s and early '80s with a charming innocence and execution unmatched by the more derivative bands lumped into the category "power pop."



Shoes was formed by in Zion, IL, in 1975 by Jeff Murphy, John Murphy, Gary Klebe, and Skip Meyer -- the Murphys and Klebe all sharing songwriting duties. After one self-made and extremely limited album (only 300 were pressed), 1975's Un Dans Versalles, and the unreleased Bazooka (1976), they recorded their true debut for national consumption, Black Vinyl Shoes, in Jeff Murphy's living room and released it on their own label, Black Vinyl Records. Though it was barely distributed, enough critics and key people heard the record to start a word-of-mouth buzz. Eventually, Greg Shaw, the head of Bomp! Records, heard the record and arranged for the band to release one single, the brilliant "Tommorrow Night"/"Okay," on his label. A contract with Elektra Records soon followed. Elektra released the group's next three, textbook power-pop albums: Present Tense (1979), Tongue Twister (1981), and Boomerang (1982). Despite the instantly accessible, catchy quality of the songs, they were unable to achieve mainstream success -- among specialists however, these albums, along with the debut, stand as the high points of the era" (...)
(by Chris Woodstra from Allmusic.com)

You can read a whole interview of Jeff Murphy of the Shoes on :Perfect sound forever

Line up :
Gary Klebe - vocals and guitar
Jeff Murphy - vocals and guitar
John Murphy -vocals and bass

Tracklisting, Boomerang/ Shoes on ice (live 1981), New Rose fan club 028, 1982 :

In Her Shadow
Curiosity
Mayday
Too Soon
Double Talk
The Summer Rain
Under The Gun
The Tube
What Love Means
Bound To Be A Reason
Shake It Away
Tested Charms
Too Late (Live)
Hangin' Around With You (Live)
Cruel You (Live)
In My Arms Again (Live)
She Satisfies (Live)
Hate To Run (Live)

file (pw is wtai) : http://rapidshare.de/files/34370810/00018sho06.rar.html

You must break that semi-circular kind of mold...

with LMNOP !!
(80's Pop at his very best.)



LMNOP is Stephen Fievet, an Atlanta native whose deceptively sweet vocal style and fondness for near-bubblegum melodies partially hides about the most twisted, perverse sense of humor in rock & roll history.(...)
LMNOP first hit the pop underground with three self-released cassettes, 1982's LMNOP, 1984's LMNOP LMNOP, and 1985's LMNO3. Fievet's most accessible work, these tapes are ultra-catchy pop with clever lyrics, hooks aplenty, and Fievet's most deceptively innocent vocals. Fievet re-recorded some tracks from these three tapes for his first two vinyl albums, 1986's Elemen Opee Elpee and 1987's Pony, which sound like a cross between R. Stevie Moore and the Three O'Clock (...)
(rest of the story by Stewart Mason on Allmusic.com.)

For my part, LMNOPee Lpee is one of my favorite pop album , and while his weird texts could make me remember of Zappa or Captain Beefheart, we could also musically filed it between The Last, the Squeeze, Undertones, (listen to this guitar), and for the kind of compact and much personnal songwriting : Devo and Lloyd Cole. (waouh !)

Stefen Fievet have a web site, where you could find all you want to : from the music to his weird comics.

LMNOP is Stephen Fievet (guit, keys, bass, vocals), Steve Lange (drums, keys, vocals), with Tom Lewis (bass, keys), Ken Sailer (guit., bass)

Elemen opee elpee (New Rose 109 french edition;1986)

Tapes, Like A Diatom, Please Believe Me, Constant Change, The Big Ride, Wanna Write A Letter, Kaleidoscope, Escapes, Breakfast Cereal, This Is Logical Thinking, Semi-Circular, Impossible, Y?, Comparative Analysis,Sandwich Time For The Smaller Children.

file to get the album (pw is wtai): http://rapidshare.de/files/33445535/0017lmn06.rar.html

Out in the rain... the What For !

(...and it works !!)
There is so much time passed since my last note, so it's time for... action now !
After the Kliek, and to return on dutch beat, like I had promess sometime, here is a fabulous beat band form Berlin that you can't live without.

"The kings of beatmusic in the eighties in Germany. Unrivaled and already a legend this band had it all. They were like the Pretty Things, the Kinks, The Who, The Downliner's Sect packed together in one !
"Bad night" is from their legendary first ep (...)"
(from the notes of Mike Korbik, owner of Twang Records, on his double cd comp "Tomorrow's pebbles today !" published in 1995)
* Heard about Mike on his page on : Myspace

I'd like to add the Outsiders (holland) in the list of influences this great band had.
This is one of the best records of my beat collection of the eighties, and you can file this alongside the records of other classics like the Creeps, the Wylde Mammooths, the Beatpack (soon on action Time), the Tell Tale Hearts,... to name but a few. Thanks to Twang Records for his very good taste, and his work in the eighties.

The What For were :
Urs Zelle : vocals; Pete Johannsen : drums; Martin : guitar; Boris Borowski : organ; Klotte/Thomas Starke : harmonica; Stephan Schulz : Bass guitar



Tracklisting of the album:

The What...for ! (Twang Records 1989)


01 Mach' mich an
02 Meany geany
03 You hurt me
04 He doesn't work
05 You drive me crazy
06 She's gone
07 I want it all
08 Of hopes and dreams
09 Comin' home.
10 By your side
11 Clarabella
12 Heartbeat
13 Her
14 The cost of living

In bonus, I add the Out in the rain ep (Twang 1991) :


15 Out in the rain
16 Rotkarierte petersilie
17 How I feel
18 Say alright





and 19 "Bad night", one track from their first (and sought after) ep that you can listen right now to cry alone in your bedroom :





(thanks to J-Marc Varlet from Varluche Records for having sent me the picture of the cover.)



the file : http://rapidshare.de/files/31477051/00016wf06.rar.html
pw,of course : wtai
Enjoy everybody !!

Bunnys are wild !!

Un morceau rare des Bunnys, un des groupes phare du mouvement garage japonais ‘Group sounds" des 60’s. Ce dernier est tiré d’un ep que l’on m’avait enregistré sur K7 et dont le titre écrit en caractère japonais m’est resté indéchifrable .
nb : la pochette très belle du disque présenté ci- à côté ne correspond néanmoins pas au mp3.
 Anyway, enjoy !

I discovered The Japanese Bunnys about ten years ago, when visiting a friend those collection is about 60's punk and garage fuzz ep and singles with picture sleeves.
He sorted me this single, (or ep), with a great colour ps,and recorded this fantastic song for me. As frantic, wild and mad as this one, I didn't know at this period. (listen to the "hoo ha" of the singer and the super fuzz solo at the middle, it's grandissimo !)
But I can't read japanese writing, and even with some research on the web, I couldn't find what this title is all about.

Perhaps you could help me ?


And now, a great bio of Takeshi Terauchi and the Bunnys,from the Fancymag.

ps : there are two superb compil of singles (apparently) of the Bunnys on PVine, but I don't know them, and I didn't recognize the japanese signs of the title on the tracklisting of both.
More info on : Blues interactions

and for the lovers of surf sound, and Takeshi Terauchi, I strongly recommend this : Wfmu.org, where you could listen the mp3 for "This is Terauchi Bushi", by Takeshi Terauchi with his first band, Bunnys.

I wish I had answered

Vanguard Two-Fers
VSD-21/22

"Launched in the late 60s, originally, this was a budget-priced ($5.98) series of double disk "best-of" recordings in gatefold sleeves, instantly enlarged to include several originals and spoken word recordings from their backlist. The design was Vanguard's rote Colonel Parker marketing ("Give 'em a picture of the boy and his name") file-shot/name formula which nonetheless gave Vanguard a distinct look. There was generally no text inside, the center fold being a collection of small photos or a large one - generally blurry". (from Greg Pennell of Farina Files1)

I wish I had answered by the Staple Singers is a great song full of soul that you can find in the magnific compilation Great folksingers of the sixties
My personnal one is a french vinyl edition, with an orange sleeve, but it's the same inside. It's worth the buying.

Enjoy this track right now : I wish I had answered