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.

Same record, different sleeves - a selection of punk and new wave vinyl records released in multiple sleeves.

 As many record collectors will perhaps painfully know, if a record has been released with several different picture sleeves, even if the record is no different there is almost a compulsion to collect them all. This post features a handful of my favourite such releases, mainly punk, new wave and post-punk singles and albums from the 1970s and 1980s.

Let's start with one of the punk pioneer groups, The Damned. On reforming in 1979 they came back with a vengeance releasing Love Song as the first single taken from their Machine Gun Etiquette album. The record was packaged in four different sleeves, one showing each of the band members. From left to right they are Algy Ward, Captain Sensible, Dave Vanian, Rat Scabies. And if this wasn't enough for the collectors, it was also released on red vinyl, making a combination of 8 different versions to collect. And if anyone wants to get really serious about this, Love Sing was reissued on Big Beat records in 1982, again with the 4 different sleeves, but this time on both blue vinyl and black vinyl, giving the collector a further 8 pieces to collect. Most versions are readily available on Ebay, selling for between £10 and £15.

The Damned - Love Song, Chiswick records, c.1979

Another band of the same era, Generation X, also released a single, King Rocker, with 4 different covers, again one for each band member. From left to right these are Tony James, Billy Idol, Mark Laff, and Bob Andrews. As with The Damned's Love Song these also came on coloured vinyl as well as the conventional black vinyl, so again 8 for the collectors to track down. Plenty of these on Ebay too, with the coloured vinyl versions regularly going for £20 - £40.

Generation X - Kind Rocker, Chrysalis records, c.1979

Staying with the punk genre, another band who released a sleeve for each of their 4 band members was The Lurkers on their I Don't Need To Tell Her single from 1978, released on Beggar's Banquet, BEG 9. From left to right they are Howard Wall, Pete Stride, Nigel Moore and Manic Esso. A few of these are available on Ebay at the time of writing at various prices.

The Lurkers - I Don't Need To Tell Her, Beggar's Banquet records, c.1978

No band members pictures on this release from The Psychedelic Furs, but 1979's We Love You 7" single was released with 3 different coloured sleeves. Their debut, self-titled album was also released with different coloured sleeves, pink, green and orange.

The Psychedelic Furs - We Love You, CBS records, c.1979

Manchester's finest, Buzzcocks, released their 1979, Steve Diggle penned single, Harmony In My Head, in 2 different coloured sleeves.

Buzzcocks - Harmony In My Head, United Artists, c.1979

The Clash released their 1978 (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais single with 4 different coloured die-cut sleeves. It also came in a die-cut, black CBS sleeve. Plenty of the latter on Ebay at reasonable prices, but the versions with the coloured sleeves command a fairly high prices these days.

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

Dr Feelgood released their 1979 single, Milk and Alcohol on black, white and brown vinyl, and with a variety of different coloured sleeves with 8 combinations in all.

Dr Feelgood - Milk and Alcohol, United Artists, c.1978

Martha and the Muffins, best known for Echo Beach but did release an impressive run of other material too, released their 1980 single, Saigon, with 3 different coloured sleeves.

Martha and the Muffins - Saigon, Dindisc records, c.1980

The first album by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark was originally released in 4 different die-cut sleeves before it was finally reissued with a printed sleeve.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Dindisc records, c.1980

There are probably many I have missed, but these are the first handful which sprang to mind.

Other worthy contenders for this list are:

New Order - Procession / Everything's Gone Green, released in 9 different sleeves.

The Tubes - Prime Time, released in 6 different coloured vinyl, all with the same sleeve.

Dr Feelgood - As Long As The Price Is Right, 3 different sleeves, 3 different coloured vinyl.

Ian Dury - Do It Yourself LP, 12 different wallpaper design sleeves.

Tenpole Tudor - Swords of a Thousand Men, 2 different sleeves

The Rumour - Emotional Traffic, 3 different coloured vinyl, all with the same sleeve (I can't help thinking Stiff records missed a trick here but not having the cut out in the traffic light which exposes the vinyl match the colour of the record. All sleeves have the space where the red light would have been cut out, regardless of the colour of the vinyl inside).