It's all about the b-side (a journey through some of my favourite b-sides)

Back in the days when vinyl was king, and I was spending all my pocket money and paper round money on records, there was nothing more exciting than going into town after school and coming home with a handful of 7" singles where typically I had only heard the a-side, and then being completely blown away by the track, or tracks, on the b-side. For today's post I've decided to share a few of my favourites, along with their cover artwork.

I'm going to start with one of my absolute favourite tracks, Pssyche, by Killing Joke. The a-side of this 7" single, Wardance, is mighty enough, but the b-side, with even more angry, snarling energy is, to my mind, even better. It was released on the Malicious Damage label in 1980. Early copies included a reproduction army call up paper with the words 'Killing Joke' stamped across it. It's had a recent re-release as a red and black splattered 12" vinyl single on Killing Joke records, with 3 versions of Wardance and 2 versions of Pssyche. As with all recently pressed vinyl it will set you back over £20. The 7" version of the single is quite hard to track down. Ebay has a few copies, most without the call up insert, at various price points.

Killing Joke - Wardance / Pssyche, Malicious Damage records, c.1980

The only problem with my first choice is that is makes it hard to follow, but I like to think I've managed with this next track. The Prisoner, was the b-side to White Man in Hammersmith Palais, by The Clash, released, in four different colour sleeves, on CBS records in 1978. There are of course plenty of other worthy Clash b-sides, but I've decided to restrict myself to one per band for this post.

The Clash - (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais / The Prisoner, CBS records, c.1978

Next up we have another band, The Jam, who had a string of great b-sides to choose from and it wasn't an easy choice. Perhaps Butterfly Collector would have been the most obvious, but instead I've decided to go with See-Saw, which was the b-side to their 1979 release Eton Rifles. A bitter-sweet love song, which lyrically reminds me of The Who's So Sad About Us which The Jam also covered as a b-side appearing on their Down In The Tube Station at Midnight single from 1978.

The Jam - Eton Rifles / See-Saw, Polydor records, c.1979

Moving on now to the first band I ever saw, The Rezillos, although I think by the time I saw them they had morphed into The Revillos. The b-side I've chosen here is Mystery Action which was the b-side to their 1978 single, Destination Venus, released on Sire records. Both outstanding tracks, but for me the b-side nails it. Their first studio album, released on Sire records in 1978, Can't Stand the Rezillos, is an incredible debut album and worth checking out if you've never heard it.

The Rezillos - Destination Venus / Mystery Action, Sire records, c.1978

Next up I've chosen Leyton Buzzards and the b-side to their 1979 single, Saturday Night Beneath the Plastic Palm Trees single, Through With You. This is a great piece of snarly punk rock. If only they had continued in this vein, but seems some of the band had other plans and formed Modern Romance (who won't be featured here).

Leyton Buzzards - Saturday Night Beneath the Plastic Palm Trees / Through With You, Chrysalis records, c.1979

Before forming Shriekback, former XTC member, Barry Andrews, released a couple of solo singles in the early 1980's, the Town and Country EP and Rossmore Road. Both are great singles but I'm picking the b-side of Rossmore Road, with its wonderful title of Win a Night Out With a Well-Known Paranoic

Barry Andrews - Rossmore Road / Win a Night Out With a Well Known Paranoic, Virgin records, c.1980

Again this is one of those blog posts which could go on for considerably longer, but I'm stopping here with My Mind Ain't So Open, by Magazine, which was the b-side of their 1978 debut single, Shot By Both Sides.

Magazine - Shot By Both Sides / My Mind Ain't So Open, Virgin records, c.1978

As always, many thanks for reading and I hope you liked the post.

Cover versions of classic tracks by punk, new wave, and post-punk artists

 I've posted about cover versions before but never previously had the time to include any of the artwork of the releases, so I'm putting that right now with a new blog post about cover versions of classic tracks by punk, new wave, and post-punk artists.

Let's start with Generation X and their cover version of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates Shakin' All Over which appeared on the b-side of 1979's Valley of the Dolls single. A simply great cover version, showing Generation X's rock roots rather than their punk sensibilities. Released in limited quantities on brown, marbled vinyl, although still fairly easy to find 'out in the wild' and also on Ebay for a reasonable price. Their first two albums still get regular airtime at mine, with their self-titled 1978 debut just pipping the 1979 Ian Hunter produced Valley of the Dolls album.

Generation X - Valley of the Dolls / Shakin' All Over, Chrysalis records, c.1979

I was aware of Captain Beefheart, from John Peel I'm guessing, but I never really listened to him until relatively recently, and certainly no more than 10 years ago. I was delighted to find however that the post-punk band, Magazine, formed by Howard Devoto after leaving the Buzzcocks, had covered his I Love You You Big Dummy, taken from his 1970 Lick My Decals Off Baby album, on the b-side of their 1978 single Give Me Everything. Again this single is readily available on Ebay for a reasonable price, and does appear 'in the wild' from time to time.

Magazine - Give Me Everything / I Love You You Big Dummy, Virgin records, c.1978

The Clash have many worthy cover versions to choose from but I've decided to restrict myself to those which appeared as single releases. Let's start with their cover of Toots and the Maytal's Pressure Drop which appeared on the b-side of their 1979 single English Civil War.

The Clash - English Civil War / Pressure Drop, CBS records, c.1979

And how about this for an epic cover version, again The Clash with the b-side of their 1979 single London Calling which featured a cover version of Willi Williams' track Armagideon Time. The 12" has even more cover version goodness with an 8 minute version, broken into 2 parts, Justice Tonight and Kick It Over. Both the London Calling 7" and 12" singles are becoming increasingly hard to find in their picture sleeves, of which there were different coloured versions, for a sensible price. I'm wondering now whether I should have also featured this single in one of my previous blogs posts Same record, different sleeves - a selection of punk and new wave vinyl records released in multiple sleeves.

If you're looking to track this one down, Ebay has a few at the time of writing. If you want to track down an original Willi Williams version that will undoubtedly take you longer to find and set you back a lot more.

The Clash - London Calling / Armagideon Time, CBS records, c.1979

The final Clash cover version I'll feature here is from their 1979 Cost of Living EP, with a cover of Sonny Curtis' I Fought the Law. Other tracks on the 4 track EP were Groovy Times, Gates of the West, and Capital Radio.

The Clash - The Cost of Living EP, CBS records, c.1979

Of course, by only including the singles I've missed out some other great Clash cover versions. From the reggae of Junior Murvin's Police and Thieves from the Clash's 1977 debut album, and Eddie Grant's Police on My Back, which appeared on 1980's triple album Sandinista, to the rockier cover of Vince Taylor's Brand New Cadillac, from the 1979 double album London Calling.

Next up we have the Jam who released a few cover versions on both single and album. I'm going to focus on a couple of my favourites here. Let's start with their cover version of The Kinks track, David Watts, which was released in 1978 as a double A side single with A Bomb in Wardour Street. Both tracks were taken from the Jam's 1978 album, All Mod Cons.

The Jam - David Watts / A Bomb in Wardour Street, Polydor records, c.1978

Also taken from The Jam's 1978 album All Mod Cons was the single Down in the Tube Station at Midnight which featured a cover of the Who's So Sad About Us on the b-side. The reverse of the sleeve features a picture of the Who's drummer, Keith Moon, who had recently died, so effectively a double tribute to him on this release.

The Jam - Down in the Tube Station At Midnight / So Sad About Us / The Night, Polydor records, c.1978

Other notable covers performed by The Jam include The Batman Theme from their 1977 In The City album, Martha and the Vandellas' Heatwave which appeared on their 1979 album Setting Sons, Wilson Picket's In the Midnight Hour, The Temptations' War, and The Who's Disguises which appeared as the b-side of their 1981 Funeral Pyre single.

Moving back to punk bands now, we have The Damned who released a live cover version of the MC5's Looking at You on the b-side of their 1980 single, There Ain't No Sanity Clause.

The Damned - There Ain't No Sanity Clause / Hit or Miss / Looking At You, Chiswick records, c.1979

And staying with The Damned, they also covered the glam rock classic, Ballroom Blitz by The Sweet on the b-side of their 1979 single, I Just Can't Be Happy Today.

The Damned - I Just Can't Be Happy Today, Chiswick records, c.1979

Bauhaus, the post-punk / goth band from Northampton released a couple of singles which were cover versions. The one I'm featuring here is their cover version of T-Rex's Telegram Sam, which was released on the 4AD record label in 1980, in both 7" and 12" formats. There seem to be a good few copies of this on Ebay although surprisingly quite pricey. Their other cover version released as a single was, of course, Ziggy Stardust.

Bauhaus - Telegram Sam, 4AD records, c.1980

And finally, for a bit of fun, I've chosen the Dickies cover version of Banana Splits (The Tra La La Song), released on delicious yellow vinyl. I've chosen this mainly because as a kid I loved the Banana Splits TV show, and also because The Dickies do a mean cover version.

The Dickies - Banana Splits, A&M records, c.1979

Other worthy contenders would be:

A Certain Ratio - Shack Up

Knox - Gigalo Aunt (originally by Syd Barrett)

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dear Prudence & Helter Skelter (originally by The Beatles)

Skids - All The Young Dudes (originally by David Bowie, and then Mott The Hoople)

Wedding Present - pretty much all of the b-sides they released in their series of 12 Hit Parade singles from 1992. Plenty of opportunities on Ebay to track down the 12 individual 7" singles, or easier maybe , although perhaps less fun, to buy the Hit Parade compilation album instead.

I could probably have continued at some length on this topic but it's time to end the blog post now.

A trawl through the music and artwork of the singles released by The Skids

 Having recently blogged about the singles of one of my favourite bands, XTC, I was wondering what I could blog about next which perhaps had a similar theme of singles released in different formats, limited editions, etc. One band which sprang to mind was The Skids who released numerous singles on coloured vinyl, picture disc, double singles, etc.

To make the discography complete however, I need to start with their first single, which was released in a conventional picture sleeve and on black vinyl. Having formed in the summer of 1977, The Skids first single, Charles, also referred to simply as The Skids EP, was released on No Bad records in 1978. The other 2 tracks were Reasons and Test-Tube Babies, all written by lead guitarist Stuart Adamson. Being released on a small, Scottish independent record label, this release is now quite hard to track down 'out in the wild'. Ebay does have a few copies but they will set you back £15 and upwards.

The Skids - Charles, No Bad records, c.1978

After their first release The Skids signed to Richard Branson's Virgin records in 1978 and released a handful of albums and singles. The first of these was Sweet Suburbia, which was released as a limited run on white vinyl. At the time of writing, Ebay has a few copies on both black vinyl and white vinyl, for reasonable prices, although the white vinyl version will cost you more.

The Skids, Sweet Suburbia, Virgin records, c.1978

The next single by The Skids was a 4 track E.P. called Wide Open, released in 1978. This came in both 7" and 12" formats, with the 12" format being pressed on red vinyl. The E.P. charted at number 48 in the UK charts, with The Saints Are Coming regarded as the lead track. The other 3 tracks were: Of One Skin, Night and Day, and Contusion, all of which appeared on their first John Peel session.

The Skids - Wide Open EP, Virgin records, c.1978

Moving on to 1979, which was probably The Skids most commercially successful year, they released 4 singles and 2 albums. Their first single release of 1979 was the track they are probably most remembered for, Into The Valley, taken from their first album, Scared To Dance. Limited copies were pressed on white vinyl. The b-side was TV Stars, featuring a role call of soap actors (Ena Sharples, Stanley Ogden, Albert Tatlock and Annie Walker from Coronation Street, and Sandy Richardson, David Hunter and Meg Mortimer from Crossroads), and also John Peel and Kenny Dalglish. Into the Valley reached number 10 in the UK charts and also featured in John Peel's Festive 50 of 1979 at number 37. Black vinyl versions of the single are fairly easy to come by on Ebay and discogs, the white vinyl version less so.

The Skids - Into the Valley, Virgin records, c.1979

Their next single, Masquerade, featured Bill Nelson on keyboards, and he also has production credits. The track did not appear on their Scared To Dance album. Initial copies of the single were released as a limited edition doublepack in a gatefold sleeve. The other tracks were Out of Town, Another Emotion, and Aftermath Dub. This single charted at number 16 in the UK charts.

The Skids - Masquerade, Virgin records, c.1979

Later the same year, The Skids released their second album, Days In Europa, from which 3 singles were released. The first of these was Charade, with Grey Parade on the b-side. No coloured vinyl or free single with this release, which charted at number 31 in the UK charts. Again Bill Nelson is credited as the producer and also has a writing credit on the b-side.

The Skids - Charade, Virgin records, c.1979

The Skids last single release of 1979 was Working For The Yankee Dollar. This was released as a limited edition double single in a gatefold sleeve. The other tracks were Vanguard's Crusade, All The Young Dudes (the David Bowie song where Richard Jobson swaps out the lyric "who needs TV when I've got T-Rex" with "who needs TV when I've got Subway Sect", and Hymns From a Haunted Ballroom, which was taken from a John Peel session. The single made number 20 in the UK charts.

The Skids - Working For The Yankee Dollar, Virgin records, c.1979

As we move into 1980, the final single to be taken from the Days in Europa album was Animation, with Pros and Cons on the b-side. This reached number 56 in the UK charts.

The Skids - Animation, Virgin records, c.1980

1980 saw a change of personnel for The Skids with William Simpson leaving and being replaced by Russell Webb in time to start work on their 3rd album, The Absolute Game. I won't cover this in any detail here as this post is just about the singles, but early pressings of The Absolute Game album came with an extra album, Strength Through Joy.

The first of 3 singles to be taken from The Absolute Game was Circus Games which was released with a free colour poster of the band. The single peaked at number 32 in the UK charts.

The Skids - Circus Games, Virgin records, c.1980

The 2nd single to be released from The Absolute Game was Goodbye Civilian. This was released as a limited edition picture disc, as well as in a conventional picture sleeve. The b-side was the curiously titled Monkey McGuire Meets Specky Potter Behind the Lochore Institute.

The Skids - Goodbye Civilian, Virgin records, c.1979

The final single to be released from The Absolute Game was A Woman in Winter. The b-side featured a live version of Working For The Yankee Dollar. The single was issued in a gatefold sleeve (stating 'Comic Book') including an 8 page comic booklet titled "Skids Pirate Gold".

The Skids - A Woman in Winter, Virgin records, c.1980

Shortly after this release, both Mike Baille and Stuart Adamson left the band, the latter to form Big Country. The Skids continued with Richard Jobson and Russell Web, creating their fourth album, Joy, in 1981. Two singles were released from the album, but neither troubled the UK charts and The Skids dissolved in 1982.

Fields was the first single to be taken from Joy. It was released in 2 different 7" single sleeves, one with Richard on the cover, the other with Russell. It was also released on 12" where the covered featured both members. The b-side on all releases was Brave Man.

The Skids - Fields, Virgin records, c.1981

The Skids final single, also taken from the Joy album, was Iona, with Blood and Soil on the b-side.

The Skids - Iona, Virgin records, c.1981

So , we come to the end of The Skids single releases. Once again, many thanks for reading, and if you're interested why not check out some of my other blog posts.