30.1.12

Сергeй Геннaдиевич Нечaев - Катехизис Pеволюционера (1869) Generation X- Your Generation (1977)


 The revolutionary knows that in the very depths of his being, not
 only in words but also in deeds, he has broken all the bonds which
 tie him to the social order and the civilized world with all its
 laws, moralities, and customs, and with all its generally accepted
 conventions.  He is their implacable enemy, and if he continues to
 live with them it is only in order to destroy them more speedily. 
 from: SG Nechaev- The Catechism of a Revolutionary (1869)
 
 In connection with the extreme maximalist tendencies of the end of the (eighteen) 'sixties the
sinister, grim, and characteristically Russian figure of Nechaev is of particular interest.
He was the founder of the revolutionary society called 'The Axe or the People's Justice'.
Nechaev composed the 'Revolutionary Catechism', a document of unusual interest,
unique of its kind. In this document is to be found the extreme expression of the
principles of atheistic revolutionary asceticism. They are the rules by which the genuine revolutionary should be guided, his manual, as it were, of the spiritual life. Nechaev's catechism is reminiscent to
a grim degree of Orthodox asceticism turned inside out and mixed with Jesuitism. He was
a sort of Isaac the Syrian and Ignatius Loyola of revolutionary socialism, the extremist
form of the revolutionary ascetic denial of the world. Nechaev was, of course, absolutely
sincere, and his fanaticism was of the extremest kind. His was the psychology of the
sectarian. He was prepared to burn his neighbour, but he was ready at any moment to be
burned himself. Nechaev alarmed everybody. Revolutionaries and socialists of all shades
rejected him and found that he was compromising the work of revolution and socialism.
Even Bakunin repudiated Nechaev.
 from: Nicolas Berdayev -The Origin Of Russian Communism (1937)

Here  are some links to The Catechism of a Revolutionary, written by Nechaev in 1869:


In Your Generation (1977) Generation X pay homage to the consequentialism that was the backbone of Nechaev's nihilist philosophy: 

28.1.12

The World Won't Listen

Johnny Marr later revealed that the back cover was Morrissey’s intentional visual joke; a portrait of four teenage girls whose faces bore an uncanny resemblance to the individual members of The Smiths. Left to right, the girls supposedly represent Joyce, Rourke, Marr and Morrissey. ‘We didn’t discuss it,’ said Marr, ‘but I understood'. 
From Songs That Saved Your Life by  Simon Goddard


 The sleeve was designed by Morrissey, using a photo by Jürgen Vollmer from the book Rock 'N' Roll Times: The Style and Spirit of the Early Beatles and Their First Fans.

Here's a link to a lossless download of the LP.  a selection of  funky FBI / Ministry of Justice / IRP  badges.

http://sradams777.blogspot.com/2011/10/smiths-world-wont-listen-2011-remaster.html

25.1.12

All Links Are Dead...

Secret Sound Machine

Here's a chance to catch Secret Sound Machine if you're in the South/ West Wales area:

 Next gig is with the acoustic circus at Lord Nelson, Kidwelly on Friday 3rd February... Hope you can all make it :-)
Thats The Lord Nelson, Lady Street, Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire SA17 4UD- see you there!
Also I'm hoping to catch up with The Machine next week to get an exclusive interview...

23.1.12

Sharing


I'm not trying to be alarmist.
I haven't been able to access Multiupload for 2 days now. http://www.downornot.com/ tells me it's ok (most of the time...)
I've checked a lot of links- files have been removed, servers temporarily not available etc.
Looks like a bad time to be sharing music.
I've always adhered to the view of the late lamented Joao Kartoshka that we should  support the obscenely wealthy global music industry whenever possible as they recycle and repackage material at the maximum cost to you and the minimum outlay for them.
As I wrote in an earlier post , Burning Aquarium is essentially about giving people the opportunity to appreciate music that they might otherwise have never heard- either because it’s not widely covered or no longer readily available.
Essentially this is an extension, on a much larger scale, of the days when I used to give my mates in the pub a tape and urge them to check it out.

Anyhow, let's wait and see what unfolds.
Maybe i'm just paranoid.

21.1.12

Patti Smith - Boarding House, San Francisco, CA (1976) Hey Joe/ Piss Factory (1974) Fixed Link.

 I'm going to write something here about Patti Smith being one of the most influential figures in post 1970 popular music. And I'm going to do this without referring to Bob Dylan or Rimbaud... Fuck!

Here's a bootleg recording from 1976 : http://d01.megashares.com/dl/cEOsNMw/Patti Smith Boarding House 1976.rar
 
We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together; Privilege; Ain't It Strange; Kimberly; Redondo Beach;
Free Money; Pale Blue Eyes; Louie Louie; Pumping (My Heart); Time Is on My Side; 
Flying Saucers Rock and Roll; Gloria; My Generation

And here are two early tracks that were her first release in 1974 (not ripped from the original 7" tho...): http://d01.megashares.com/dl/9TjHLde/Patti Smith 7.rar

18.1.12

My Predictions for 2012 # 1

The bank holiday for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee will be on Tuesday 5 June. To form a long weekend of celebration the late May bank holiday will be moved to Monday 4 June.
So here's my prediction- Thatcher dies June 4th, giving the masses a true cause to celebrate on the 5th.




Image from Walker & Jones

17.1.12

Streets (Beggars Banquet Compilation)- (1977)

 I remember this  LP, the first ever release on Beggars Banquet. It's a great compilation.
Must have sold my copy years ago, but thanks to the excellent 666 Music For Life
blog you can get it here:

15.1.12

Death- For The Whole World To See (2009- recorded 1974) Fixed Link.


 I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. When I was told the history of the band and what year they recorded this music, it just didn’t make sense. Ahead of punk, and ahead of their time.
Jack White- quoted in The New York Times (2009)

 A remarkable record - a kink in the linear history of rock music.
The Hackney brothers started out as an R&B band, but, inspired by Alice Cooper, switched to rock (after Death they would play gospel and later reggae).
Ignore Wikipedia- this was recorded in '74, not '73 (the liner notes have the dates of the songs as being written in October- December '74), demos for an LP that was never released, not least because of the group's unwillingness to compromise over their name.
Black musicians from Detroit playing fast punk (but with a degree of musical polish) in 1974- I still can't get my head around it.
New York Times article here.

David Hackney – guitar; Bobby Hackney – bass, vocals; Dannis Hackney – drums 

13.1.12

The Smiths live at The Hacienda July 6th 1983

Another repost with restored links:

It's a pity you didn't sign the Smiths…
God to Tony Wilson, in the movie 24 Hour Party People.

Here's another film:
In 1982 Factory Records impresario Tony Wilson opened a nightclub in a disused Bollywood cinema . It was named The Hacienda (the name comes from a slogan of the radical group Situationist International: "The Hacienda Must Be Built", from Formulary for a New Urbanism by Ivan Chtcheglov) and given the Factory catalogue designation FAC 51.
This was The Smiths 14th gig, their 2nd at the Hacienda. To date they had only released one single. Two days previously Morrissey had given his first national radio interview on the David Jensen Show.
Press:
Smiths sign to independent label Rough Trade
The Smiths, generally considered one of the brightest prospects to emerge this year, have signed a long-term deal with Rough Trade Records. They say this "represents a conscious decision of preference" for the independent label, which was competing against three major labels, one of whom offered a six-figure cash advance. Their single 'Hand in Glove' has already been released, and they are currently in the studio with producer Troy Tate recording tracks for their first album and follow-up single.
New Musical Express
, July 9, 1983


Why the importance in carrying flowers?
Morrisey: "They're symbolic for at least three reasons. We introduced them as an antidote to the Hacienda when we played there; it was so sterile and inhuman. We wanted some harmony with Nature. Also, to show some kind of optimism in Manchester which the flowers represent. Manchester is so semi-paralysed still, the paralysis just zips through the whole of Factory..."

Sounds, June 4, 1983
Line up for those born too late or just plain indifferent:
Morrissey- voice
Johnny Marr- guitar
Andy Rourke- the bass
Mike Joyce- drums


These are AVI files. I play them on DivX player.
Use Windows Media Player?
Have a look here.

11.1.12

The Dictators Go Girl Crazy (1975)

My name is Malcolm McLaren
I have brought you many things in my time but the most successful of all
was an invention of mine they called punk rock.
 
So Malcolm Mclaren tells us in his movie The Great Rock n Roll Swindle that he invented Punk Rock.
Jon Savage, in his excellent study of Punk, England's' Dreaming, states:
In the autumn of 1975 British Punk had begun at 430 Kings Road...

The earliest reference to print to 'punk rock' came in the early 70's, and the Garage bands of the 60's were retrospectively given the label by Lenny Kaye,  writing the sleeve notes for the Nuggets album in the autumn of 1972. For the etymology of the term punk rock see Jon Savage's blog.
The Ramones made their vinyl debut in the USA in April 1976, but of course, no homegrown 'Punk' records appeared in the UK until the Damned released New Rose in October 1976 .
Listening to John Peel's Punk Rock Special (December 1976) we can hear the sort of things that punks were listening to, and much of it had been around a while (in rock n roll terms) by the time the Pistols released their debut (Anarchy in the UK) in November 1976.
Look at the first few (pre Sex Pistols) issues of Punk (which first appeared in January 1976); the mag covers Lou Reed, The Ramones, Talking Heads,  Patti Smith, Television, David Johansen, Richard Hell, The Heartbreakers, Blondie, Iggy Pop, The Dictators and Eddie and The Hotrods...
Ah, whatever. Looks like there were two things happening at the same time, New York and London. Both trying to put a bit of life back into rock, probably the first post modernist take on pop music (although Ziggy Stardust has a valid claim to this). And at some point (the release of The Ramones?) they inevitably came together.

Here's a great American LP from the pre- punk days:




Review from Punk
 
The Dictators were formed in New York City in 1973.
There's a rehash of John Holmstrom's 1977 write up on The Dictators here: http://www.thedictators.com/punkmag.html.


9.1.12

There Is No Authority But Yourself...


Anarchy is a personal choice, an act of commitment, a decision in your own head to pursue a life that is ENTIRELY your own, free of restriction, free of fear, free of intimidation. OK, so you won’t change the world tomorrow by becoming an anarchist today, but it’s a start.
Everything has to start somewhere, where better than in yourself?
Crass, It’s Your Life, Live It (flyer) c.1980


‘There Is No Authority But Yourself ’:The Individual and the Collective in British Anarcho-Punk
Rich Cross
Music & Politics 4, Number 2 (Summer 2010)

6.1.12

The Cramps Live at Napa State Hospital (1978)

This is a repost from 2009 along with restored links:


In much the same way that I still refer to all recorded music as ‘records' I am still inclined to refer to any moving picture media as ‘a film’. I may post the occasional film, but it won’t happen that often.
The other day I was leafing through The British Journal of Psychiatry and I came across an article on music therapy for in-patients with schizophrenia
(2006 189: 405-409. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.105.015073 if you’re interested) that reminded me of this film.
Whatever you want to call that genre of raw B- movie horror punk that has its roots in early rockabilly and still flourishes to this day, The Cramps bestrode it like a 60 foot woman. The Cramps coined the phrase Psychobilly (or rather, lifted it from a Johnny Cash song). How about Rock n Roll?
Napa State Hospital, California a 500-bed, four-story, Gothic-style asylum opened in 1875, when the institution in San Francisco became overcrowded.
In June 1978 The Cramps gave a free concert for patients at the Napa State Hospital that was recorded on a Sony Portapak by the San Francisco collective Target Video.

Line up:
Nick Knox- drums
Lux Interior – vocals
Poison Ivy -guitar
Bryan Gregory –guitar

In his treatise Meanings of the Intellect al-Farabi (872–950), dealt with music therapy, where he discussed the therapeutic effects of music on the soul. Robert Burton wrote in his 17th century  classic work, The Anatomy of Melancholy, that music and dance were critical in treating mental illness, especially melancholia.So how about this?

http://d01.megashares.com/dl/tO0su6C/THE CRAMPS-live at Napa State Mental Hospital.rar

These are AVI files. I play them on DivX player.
Use Windows Media Player?
Have a look here.

4.1.12

Fixed Links...

The links for the 2009 music posts are now fixed.  For some I have added links to alternative sources. There's videos of The Smiths and The Cramps that I will renew very soon.
I'll tackle the 2010 posts later this month. Meanwhile if you come across a dead link let me know, it's a big help.
Enjoy the music and thanks for your ongoing support.

3.1.12

Jeffrey Lewis - 12 Crass Songs (2007)

Exactly what it says on the cover, 12 Crass songs covered by Jeffrey Lewis.

You can have a listen by downloading it from the cosmozebra blog.

1.1.12

Бригадный подряд (1986)

Kolya  Mikhailov — vocals, guitar
Dima Babich — bass
Sasha (Santer) Lukyanov — guitar
Igor (Said) Sayikin — drums
Fedya (Hippo) Lavrov — percussion, sound effects.

Leningrad, The Soviet Union, 1986. The city was at the forefront of the Soviet underground music scene.
Cracking, raw hardcore sound here, heavy distorted guitars, some Oi type chanted vocals. Only 192 kbps but hey, this was Leningrad.
The group's name transliterates as Brigadni Podryad , which is, by my reckoning, something like 'mercenaries' (hired brigades)?