Before they were famous (I prefer their earlier stuff)

This post was inspired by the fact that none of my friends realised that bands like The Human League and Dead or Alive had recorded anything before they hit the big time. The singles below a a handful of my favourite tracks by bands that would go on to be huge stadium fillers but that, in my case, I prefer their earlier stuff.

Let's start with The Human League who probably entered most people's consciousness in 1981 when they released their third album, Dare, and the various hit singles that came from it. I'm not necessarily saying I don't like this period of The Human League, but I find their earlier, less commercial recordings more appealing. Heralding from the industrial heartland of Sheffield, home to other electronic / experimental bands like Cabaret Voltaire, their first single, Being Boiled, was released on the Fast Product label way back in 1978. A very different sound to what they would go on to produce in the 1980's, but an essential slice of post-punk / synth-pop.

The Human League - Being Boiled, Fast Product, c.1978

The Human League also released a 12" single on Fast Product, The Dignity of Labour Pts. 1-4, with early pressings coming with a free flexi. Despite its seeming rarity there are plenty of these available on Ebay at the time of writing this post. 

The Human League - The Dignity of Labour, Fast Product, c.1979

Although they signed to Virgin records after these releases, the success of their first few singles on Virgin was still minimal, although they did secure a Top of The Pops appearance with Rock and Roll Part 2,  taken from 1980's Holiday EP. I cannot claim to have heard them during their stint with Fast Product, but I was introduced to them by a school friend who has a copy of Empire State Human, released on Virgin records in 1979, and then again in 1980 where it troubled the UK charts at number 62.

The Human League - Empire State Human, Virgin records, c.1979

Let's swap artists now and now and move on to Dead or Alive. A band I cannot claim to having heard before they were famous, although I was aware of the name, but one whose back catalogue I discovered recently. Their first 2 singles, I'm Falling and Number Eleven, were released on Liverpool's Inevitable records, home to other Liverpool bands like Wah! Heat (more about them later), Modern Eon, and It's Immaterial. The single I'm going to feature here however, is their 1982 12" single, It's Been Hours Now. I could have chosen any of the first three as they are all excellent, but I wanted to shine a little light on the chap at the top right hand of the front cover, Wayne Hussey, who would of course go on to be part of The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission, via Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls.

Dead of Alive - It's Been Hours Now, Black Eyes Records, c.1982

No, 'I prefer their earlier stuff' post could possibly be complete without mentioning Ultravox, or should I say Ultravox! Many people will be aware of Ultravox following the success of their hit single, Vienna, but if I'm honest it leaves me a bit cold. Each to their own, but I much prefer the period from 1977 to 1979 where their vocalist was John Foxx, when they relased 3 stunning albums, Ultravox!, Ha1 Ha! Ha!, and Systems of Romance, none of which troubled the UK charts but they did secure a John Peel session in 1977, which as far as I'm concerned is more worthy by far than having a hit.

I'm going to choose their first single release for this post, Young Savage, from 1977, mainly because it's about as far away as you could possibly get from their later, post John Foxx, sound. Becoming increasingly hard to track down, this one will set you back a pretty penny on Ebay.

Ultravox! - Young Savage, Island records, c.1977

Next up we have stadium fillers, Simple Minds. However it wasn't always that way, and their early records are quite different from the songs that would make them superstars. Prior to signing to Arista records, and then Virgin records, Simple Minds released two wonderful singles in 1979 on Zoom records, Life in a Day and Chelsea Girl.

Simple Minds - Life In A Day, Zoom records, c.1979

Simple Minds - Chelsea Girl, Zoom records, c.1979

I was going to stop there with Simple Minds but didn't feel I couldn't move on without mentioning their  classic 1980 singles, I Travel and Changeling, both released on Arista records, and still largely escaping the wider public's attention. I Travel was released in both 7" and 12" formats, with early copies of the 7" coming with a free, two track, flexi disc. All versions of this release are now becoming increasingly hard to find out in the wild, although there are several on Ebay.

Simple Minds - I Travel, Arista records, c.1980

Simple Minds - Changeling, Arista records, c.1980

Having mentioned Wah! Heat above and their association with the Inevitable label, they now get their turn here. A band that somewhat confusingly changed their name from Wah! Heat, to Wah!, and then to The Mighty Wah!, and had their mainstream success with hits like The Story of the Blues, Come Back, and later with Sinful as Pete Wylie and the Oedipus Wrecks, but prior to that, as Wah! Heat, they released a couple of great singles on Inevitable records. Better Scream was released in 1979, and Seven Minutes to Midnight was released in 1980. Both brilliant songs which received acclaim in the music press at the time and featured on John Peel, for whom they recorded a session. Their debut album, Nah=Poo - The Art of Bluff, released in 1981 on Eternal records, is also a bit of a lost classic. Both of the singles turn up in the wild from time-to-time at reasonable prices, and are also fairly easy to find on Ebay.

Wah! Heat - Better Scream, Inevitable records, c.1979

Wah! Heat - Seven Minutes to Midnight, Inevitable records, c.1980

And finally for this short post, we move on to ABC. Yes, ABC, although not perhaps as most will know them. Prior to forming ABC, Mark White and Stephen Singleton were part of a Sheffield, electronic new wave / minimal synth band called Vice Versa. They released a couple of singles as Vice Versa, the first was Music 4 in 1979 on Neutron records, which is pretty much impossible to find unless you have deep pockets, and Stilyagi, in 1980, by which time Martin Fry had joined the band. Music 4 is listed at anything between £30 and £200 on both Ebay and Discogs. Stilyagi seems to go for less but still commands a hefty price tag.

Well, once again this was a post that could have continued for considerably longer, but it's now past my bedtime so I'll end it here. Other worthy contenders might have been Tubeway Army before their massive Are Friends Electric hit; the first single by The Police, Fall Out, from 1977; anything by The Psychedelic Furs prior to them hitting the big-time with Pretty In Pink, in particular their first two singles, We Love You and Sister Europe, and of course not forgetting The Leyton Buzzards (occasionally The Buzzards From Leyton) who released some quite impressive punk and new wave singles before morphing into Modern Romance.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more posts in the hopefully not too distant future.

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.