The Barracudas

This blog has undergone lots of changes since it's inception.......I hope they've been favorable, I
change things up from time to time just to keep myself interested, of late, (say the last 3-4 months), I have relied on a LOT of guest material, and my "original" posts have been of the "mega" variety, The Stranglers one was stunningly (to me) popular, and the Dickies and Yo La Tengo were fun to do and well recieved too........but here's something I need to get back to doing now and again, which is to post a fine comp, such as this, from a band that I was, for whatever reason, never all THAT into, in other words, not a band that I havae a complete discography and a bunch of demos, boots and etc.......

The Barracudas, for me, were always sufficiently serviced by this comp, it's all I ever need from them.......I just don't really remember them making consistently good albums (although I'm likely wrong and someone will correct me), but as a singles-based bunch of dyed in the wool garage rockers, there is no better way to round up the best of thier stuff than a double disc anthology that is bursting at the seams with good stuff.

Don't get me wrong, same rules as always.....you have something by these guys you want to share, be it an LP release, a boot, or whatever (I assume they were a fine live act), PLEASE submit......some bands, well, you know, I have a load of material from, these guys, I think this is it.......but it rocks seriously in that wonderfully amatuerish, garagey way that so many of us love......well, I listened to this today (hey I have a THREE HOUR round trip commute to/from work) for likely the first time in 10 years, and hell yes, it holds up and any fan of garage rock should be all over this (if unfamilar).

OK, so who are/were the Barracudas? Well, originally the lineup was singer Jeremy Gluck, guitarist Robin Wills, bassist Starkie Phillips, and drummer Adam Phillips....the Phillips would leave shortly after formation, to be replacead by various others, but the Barracudas, in reality are Gluck/Wills, a pairing that works quite well.

This comp is laid out pretty well, with the great early singles "Summer Fun" and "I Want My Woody
Back" from thier early sessions, several psuedo-surf numbers such as "Surfer Joe" and "Surfers are Back", as well as a desecration of Love's "My Little Red Book" (yes, smart ass I know it technically isn't "Love's", but, so what?) highlighting the first disc.

The second disc concentrates on stuff from a bit later, which is still pretty good although not IN GENERAL essential.......if you liked what you heard on the first disc, check "Grammer of Misery", "Stolen Heart", and "I Thought You Sounded That Way Yesterday", and hear the band maturing before your ears.

OK, this is worthwhile.......if you are unfamiliar, you'll like it I'm sure......If you're already a fan, this is probably a redundancy for you, but it's a good introduction for the unindoctrinated, rocks like hell, and serves as an open invite to anyone who has any essoteric Barricudas material to help revive interest in a good, and underappreciated (by me even, I guess, as I have but these two discs to offer up) band.

THIS AIN'T MY TIME (ANTHOLOGY DISC 1)-01 I Can't Pretend/02 1965 Again/03 Summer Fun/04 His Last Summer/05 I Want My Woody Back/06 Subway Surfin'/07 Rendezvous/08 Neighbourhood Girls/09 Love Is Fun/10 Surfers are Back/11 My Little Red Book/12 We're Living In Violent Times/13 Somewhere Outside/14 I Saw My Death in a Dream Last Night/15 This Ain't My Time/16 Ballad of a Liar/17 Inside Mind/18 Hour of Degredation/19 Next Time Around/20 Takes What He Wants/21 On a Sunday/22 Surfer Joe

THIS AIN'T MY TIME (ANTHOLOGY DISC 2)-01 Grammar of Misery/02 Middle Class Blues/03
When I'm Gone/04 Be My Friend Again/05 Dead Skin/06 Eleventh Hour/07 Dealing With Today/08 Leaving Home Again/09 See her Eyes Again/10 Black Snake/11 Losin' Streak/12 Stolen Heart/13 Two Sides of a Coin/14 Adult Child/15 I Thought You Sounded That Way Yesterday/16 She's Alive/17 Can't Get Away From You/18 I'm The One/19 Wait For Everything/20 It's Easy/21 The Best Years

Comments welcome, opinions very important on bands like this, the ones of whom I am lacking in in-depth knowledge.......would LOOOOOVE to hear some boots or demos, even as-released LP's.......I'll try to be back tomorrow with something, I have, I guess, "rediscovered" the joy of sharing my music collection. Love to ya all!

Spoons

Hey, I'm gonna do my best to get you guys some different stuff on at least a semi-regular basis.......I'll maybe mix in a couple of "mini-posts" like this with some of my "mega posts" (The Stranglers, The Dickies, and Yo La  Tengo of late were quite successful as far as reader interest, next up? I don't know, possibly Siouxsie and thte Banshees, or even maybe the long anticipated (by me) Roxy Music (mu favorite band of them all) post............anyway, every band was not a giant......some just turned out a decent album or two, and I'm here for that as well.........

Tonight I have a pretty cool 1980's new wave/synthpop album that I enjoyed a bit at the time (albeit not my very favorite genre) from the band Spoons. Spoons were from Canada, I think this may have been album #2 for them, it's the only one I have or have heard........VERY typical of the era, those swirling synths and all, but all in all a fairly decent effort.

Spoons were vocalist/guitarist Gordon Deppe, bassist/vocalist Sandy Horne, synth-whiz Rob Preuss, and drummer Derrick Ross.........this album, 1982's "Arias and Symphonies" is NOT a "classsic", so to speak, but for someone who was 20 yearas old in 1982, hearing this LONG forgotten album generally can put a smile on one's now-50 something year old's face............

The best and most well known track on the disc is the single "Nova Heart", but, really, the whole thing is worth a listen as a time-trip experience.........if you were in college in the early 80's, you likely heard this disc, but perhaps the memory banks have erased it...........check it out and remember the early years of Reganomics.......

I'm gonna try to get up a few more posts like this, single album kinda stuff, between the mega-stuff.......and of course am always grateful as fuck for ANY guest submissions.......remember, the Big man LOVES you all, YOU are whom this being done for........I have LOTS more music to share with you, please at least leave a comment and say "This sucks", or "WOW forgot all abaout this one"........that's why we are here.

BigScott62 loves ya and hopefully will find time to post something tomorrow! Requests always welcome too!

01-Trade Winds/02 Smiling In Winter/03 One In Ten Words/04 No Electrons/05 No More Growing Up/06 Arias & Symphonies/07 Nova Heart/08 South American Vacation/09 A Girl In Two Pieces/10 Walk the Plank/11 Blow Away

Honest to God a pretty fair album for one I hadn't thought about in likely 25 years or so.....I like to do that though, dig out the material that I have FORGOTTEN and see what it sounds like to ADULT ears, relative to how it sounded to me as a "child"......lyrically, pretty smooth, and instrumentally a pretty near perfect typical slice of the stuff that was going around in the early 80's......lemme know what it does for ya, K?

Chokin' on the Stranglers

This Stranglers thing has really exploded....   so much wonderful guest submission material, and even now we have a bit more. First of all, my old buddy Petty Vandetta sends us a rare gem, the "Fire and Water" outtakes disc.... I never new it existed, but what a wonderful rarity for all the Stranglers fanatics.....

http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/PoM3lwcu/file.html

Also, a new friend of the Blog, Duncan Broohaw, submits a video link of the Stranglers performing "Nice N Sleazy" complete with strippers on stage.... if you love the Stranglers, as so many seem to, this is a wonderful rare gem you will want to experience....

http://www.filefactory.com/file/4giq3ye7a0t5/s-n-s-78.rar

By the way I've really enjoyed posting this weekend after such sporadic posting.......I will try to do better, keep the guest stuff coming, even if this becomes an all Stranglers blog.........love you all, as always!

How Bout yet another for today

I haven't done any heavy psych rock from the early 70's since forever, and as you know I have a super-soft spot for it..... I know my posting has been irregular, to say the least, of late, but I'm kicking out the jams this weekend so you know Uncle Scott will remain with you until they bury him........ just checked and I don't think I've posted this album before, "The Flow's Greatest Hits"...... and if I have, so what, it's a total piece of guitar freakout psychosis that I could listen to all day long.

The Flow were Pete Fine on guitar/voice, Steve Starer on drums, and Monte Farber on bass/voice....... Blue Cheer inspired all the way ( a GOOD/GREAT thing!), this slab will blow your fucking mind. The opener "It Swallowed the Sun" is the highlight for me, but the whole damn thing is beyond awesome........... you know I strive for variety and I've been in a small Stranglers/Guest Post rut due to becoming a career man again, but I pledge to ALSO start putting up more great shit like this, coz EVERYBODY needs to have a listen at this!

01. It swallowed the sun /02. Searchin /03. Funny funkin woman /04. Mediations /05. Toccata 06. Bijinkes /07. Mousely /08. Troubadour between sets /09. Third movement /10. Get up & smile /11. Sunday night randoms /12. I saw a dog /13. Insanity creeping /14. Things we said today /15. Baghdad express
/16. Wynds

We got a bit more Stranglers-related stuff

Forgot about the Purple Helmets, which an Anonymous reader sent me a link for, actually I already had a couple of em..... A Stranglers side-project, The Purple Helmets is an ad hoc band, playing 1960's R and B numbers. The recording line-up was: Jean-Jacques Burnel, Dave Greenfield, John Ellis, Alex Gifford (a member of the Stranglers horn-section) and Manny Elias (drummer with Tears For Fears). The band was ostensibly put together (from an earlier incarnation) so that JJ and Dave could do some gigging between Stranglers projects. There MAY be more out there, but what I have are these two albums, "Ride Again" (1988) and "Rise Again" (1989).... for my dough "Ride" is the better effort, as we get fab covers of SO many great songs, "Over Under Sideways Down", "Tobacco Road", "Wooly Bully"...... not just carbon-cover copies either, reminds me of Bowie's "Pinups" project to a point. "Rise" is good too, though it suffers from a bit lesser of selection, highlights being maybe "Rosalyn", "She's Not There", "Oh Pretty Woman" and at least a few more.... track lists if you're interested:

RIDE AGAIN-01 Wooly Bully/02 Over Under Sideways Down/03 Don't Bring Me Down/04 We Gotta Get Out of This Place/05 Baby Please Don't Go/06 I Can't Explain/07 Whatcha Gonna Do About it/08 Keep On Running/09 All Day and All of the Night/10 Louie Louie/11 Tobacco Road/12 I Wanna Be Your Man/13 Hip Hug Her/14 Not Fade Away/15 I'm a Man

RISE AGAIN-01 Brand New Cadillac/02 I'm Crying/03 Rosalyn/04 She's Not There/05 First I Look at the Purse/06 Get Yourself Home/07 Oh Pretty Woman/08 homework/09 Don't You Like What I Do/10 Money/11 Under the Sun/12 baby Let Me Take You Home/13 Sha La Lee/14 baby/15 Everything's Alright.

Old friend Dave Sez submits a retrospective of JJ Burnel's work, a handy compilation of his solo albums and etc.... I hope I got the right one here, looks like a double disc......

DISC 1-01. Jellyfish/02. Never Too Look Back/03. Skin Deep/04. By The Sea/05. Garden Of Eden

/06. Dagenham Dave/07. European Female/08. Coup De Grace

DISC 2-01. Un Jour Parfait/02. Don’t Bring Harry/03. Norfolk Coast/04. Where I Live/05. Frog Crossing Road/06. Talking ‘Bout Me And You/07. In The End/08. The Kiss/09. Go Buddy Go/10. Something Better Change/11. Fred And George/12. Quark Strangeness And Charm/13. Big Thing Coming

Let's See If we Can Wrap-Up the Stranglers

It's been fun and it's been very popular, but I am JUST ABOUT out of material.... don't worry I'll get to some other stuff soon, what I have left here is a series of albums that I don't REALLY recall that much about, Hugh Cornwell's solo efforts..... been forever since I've heard em, BUT, if you are a true Stranglers fanatic, perhaps you will enjoy these or not.... just trying to go all out in the name of completeness....... here are his albums, chronologically......

1979 NOSFERATU-01 Nosferatu/02 Losers In a Lost Land/03 White Room/04 Irate Caterpillar/05 Rhythmic Itch/06 Wired/07 Big Bug/08 Mothra/09 Wrong Way Round/10 Puppets/11 Losers in a Lost Land (instro)

1988 WOLF-01 Another Kind of Love/02 Cherry Rare/03 Never Never/04 Real Slow/05 Break of Dawn/06 Club Land/07 Dreaming Again/08 Decadence/09 All the Tea In China/10 Getting Involved

1993 WIRED-01 Ain't It Strange/02 Make It With You/03 My Kind of Loving/04 Wasted Tears/05 Story of He and She/06 Ain't It Strange/07 Stop/08 Mr Insignificant/09 Turn Your Body Down/10 First Bus To Babylon

1997 GUILTY-01 One Burning Desire/02 Snapper/03 Nerves of Steel/04 Black Eyes, Black hair, Black Suit/ 05 Hot Head/06 Endless Day Endless Night/07Five Miles High/08 Sravendrabellagola/09 Long  Dead Train/10 Torture Garden/11 House of Sorrow

1999 BLACK HAIR, BLACK EYES,  BLACK SUIT-01 One Burning Desire/02 Snapper/03 Nerves of Steel/04 Jesus Will Weep/05 Black Hair Black Eyes Black Suit/06 Hot Head/07 Endless Day Endless Night/08 Not Hungry Enough/09 Sravendrabellagola/10 Long Dead Train/11 House of Sorrow




2001 HI-FI-01 Leave Me Alone/02 Gingerbread Girl/03 One

Day at a Time/04 All Colours of the Rainbow/05 Putting You In the Shade/06 The Big Sleep/07 Mis TeezyWeezy/08 Dark Side of the Room/09 Lay Back On Me Pal/10 Gingerbread Girl/11 The Prison's Going Down/12 Golden Brown (Live)/13 Always the Sun (Live)

2002 FOOTPRINTS IN THE DESERT-01 If You Wanted To/02 Everybody/03 I Can't handle It/04 Fresh Air/05 One Fine Thing/06 Lady In Mind/07 So  Sexual/08 Touch Touch/09 Venus In Furs/10 For What It's Worth/11 Keep It Under Your Hat/12 Coming of Age/13 Sex Bomb/14  2000 Lights


2006 Dirty Dozen Live-01 Duchess/02 First Bus To Babylon/03 Goodbye Tolouse/04 Picked Up By The Wind/05 Hanging Around/06 Black Hair Black Eyes Black Suit/07 Always the Sun/08 Nerves of Steel/09 Nuclear Device/10 Putting You In the Shade/11 Walk on By/12 No More Heroes

2008 HOOVERDAM-01 Please Don't Put Me On a Slow Boat to Talbridge/02 Going to the City/03 Delightful Nightmare/04 Within You Without You/05 Rain on the River/06 Beat of My Heart/07 Philip K Ridiculous/08 The Pleasure of Your Company/09 Wrong Side of the  Tracks/10 Banging On the Same Old Beat

Long Labor Day weekend,and I OWE you guys some stuff, I guess......

Well, I guess we've lost Brain, at least for now, I have invited him to become a regular guest contributor ala Cliff or jonder or whomever, we'l see if he takes us up on that. While I am at it, ANYONE wishing to be a guest contributor is welcome, this could be YOU..... anyway, over this 4-day weekend, I plan on putting up at least a few discs for y'all.... and the place I guess I need to start is wrapping up the Stranglers thing..... Now, understand this, the Stranglers thing as a whole has been one of my post popular "mega-Projects", understandable, they were great and had a very devoted following...... some of the guest contributions on the topic have been off thte charts..... I do still have a few left, which are solo efforts from Stranglers members..... mind you I haven't listened to these an awful lot, and it's been a long, long time, but to COMPLETE the Stranglers picture, I think it's a good idea to present these as well..... ommentary will be kept to a minimum as I really DON'T recall much about these albums, but, I hope you enjoy them.

OK, lets start with Jean-Jacques Burnell, the Stranglers' bassist and resident creep; I have three solo albums and if I recall, they are quite enjoyable.... I know he had a few more, but what I havae for you is "Euroman Cometh", "Euroman Cometh (Live)" and "Un Jour Parfait"..... let me know what you think, would you please?

EUROMAN COMETH-01Euroman/02 Jellyfish/03 Freddie Laker/04 Euromess/05 Duetshland Nicht Uber Alles/06 Do the European/07 Tout Comprende/08 Triumph (of the Good City)/09 Pretty Face/10 Crabs/11 Eurospeed (Your Own Speed)

EUROMAN COMETH  (LIVE)-12 Ode To Joy/Do the European/13 Deutschland Nicht Uber Alles/14 Eurospeed/15 Crabs/16 Tout Comprende/17 Freddie Laker/18 Jellyfish/19 Triumph of the Good City/20 Euroman

UN JOUR PARFAIT-01 Un Jour Parfait Theme/02 Si Je'tais/03 Weekend/04 Tristeville Se Soir/05 Un Jour Parfait/06 Via Dolarosa//07 Le Whiskey /08 Crazy (She Drives Me)/09 Garden of Eden/10 Reves/11 Waltz/12 Via Doloarosa (Spanish)/13 Le Whiskey (Dance Mix)/14 Elle Assure/15 Reve (12 Mix)/16 Les Mensouges Et Les Lames

I think if you give these a try you may find some unknown (to you) gems hidden here..... Burnell has a good bit of talent. Links in the comment section.

Next we have a colaboration between JJ Burnell and Dave Greenfield, entitled "Fire and Water".... didn't really recall it, listened and it's really pretty damn good,give it a spin.....

FIRE AND WATER-01 Liberation/02 Rain and Dole and Tea/03 Vladamir and Sergi/04 Le Soir/05 Trois Pedophiles/06 Dino Rap/07 Nuclear Power (yes Please)/08 Detective Privee/Consequences

Check it out..... next post will be a shitload of Hugh Cornwell stuff, and a couple more surprises to wrap up this Stranglers EXTRAVAGANZA!