Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Richie Havens 1941-2013

R.I.P. Richie

Friday, 5 April 2013

Panache #13, 1980

 
Wading through the fanzine pile for this latest post I struck the Panache seam and was frankly amazed that none have appeared here as yet. It's amazing because Panache was a top flight publication and a personal favourite. Anyway I've hastened ahead to #13 primarily to make the astonishing The Cravats interview more readily available. Panache was of course headed-up by Mick Mercer with input from Surly Yout, Jorn and Eric. Interviews: Another Pretty Face, Animals & Men, Ski Patrol, The Cravats (9 pages of small type! + The Shend’s poem, Varicose Veins), The Chaps, and Siouxsie & Steve Severin (intemperate at times on account of MM’s earlier snubbing of an interview offer). There's a review of Derek Jarman’s, The Tempest, Stamp Out Snogging is a call to ban kissing at gigs. There's a handful of reviews: 7”s - The Visitors, Attempted Moustache, Beast; 12” - The Photos + a small article on Toyah + much much more – really, it’s rammed with tons of writing, cut-ups and snippets. Serious value for money.
 
A4 scanned at 600 dpi

Thursday, 28 March 2013

Stabmental #2, 1979

 
Tom Craig's and Geoff Rushton's prettily dark Stabmental is a killer fanzine. Oodles of enthusiam from Oundle sees interviews with Chain of Dots (members incl' Garry Bailey, Sharron Borelam, Nag, Bendle, Igor, Mick Clark [One Gang Logic]), Rema-Rema, Clock DVA (feat' Adi Newton of Gun Rubber fame), The Lemon Kittens, and I'm So Hollow; reviews of The Raincoats, Yet Another Temple (tape), and P.I.L.. Ratcheting-up the Sheffield quotient with The Neutron Manifesto. 3 pages are given over to The Tape List - exhaustive I doubt but it is at the very least a fair stab(mental): The Accelerators, A Classic Slice of Teenage Angst, Coventry ZZZ, Daark Inc. Records (Tank Death, Animal Dance, Staff Incompetence, The New Pollution, Your Animals, Everyone Wants to Win, FurFur, Carcass Analysis), Digital Dinosaurs, Elephant Death, The Door & Window, Blank Space, An Hour of Torture, Wye, The Weird Tales Cassette, The Horrible Nurds, Fuck Off Records/Weird Tapes (Back to Sing for Free, Danny & The Dressmakers, 200 Cancelations, Autoverite, Androids of Mu, Weird Sampler, Scars on Sunday, All I can Hear is the Hearing Aids, 39 Golden Grates, Distortion Dub-Funhouse/Living Deadno, Grand Union Canal Mystery - Anthrax for the People), Fine Products, Flat Out, The Industrial Record Cassette Collection, I'm So Hollow, Infrascan, Phillip Johnson, Paul Leckie, Methods of Execution, Paul Möller, Metabolist, Obvious Products, Out of Print, The Popes, Eddie Re, Solo Sam, Chris Scott, Trokkoids, Violent Death Records, Warsaw Pakt, Paul A. Wells, and Waldo Records. For those wishing to savour some of the above delights I highly recommend a trip over to Die or D.I.Y., where many of these tapes have been discussed and uploaded.
 
A3 folded scanned 600 dpi

Monday, 11 March 2013

Voice of Buddha #2, 1980

We've common goals.
We deliver the goods.
We are the kind of men
Who can do the job;
Same fear, same blood;
Same tears, same mud;
Same heights, same hopes;
Same laughs, same jokes.
 
As flagged in the VOB#1 posting this here second, "Happy Issue" of VOB features interviews with Mayo Thompson, John Peel, Adam & The Ants, and The Jam (+ preview of Going Underground lyrics). Elsewhere there's Poet for the 80s?; a piece on Dave Waller along with a review of DW's and Mr. Weller's Riot Stories, Notes From Hostile Street (incl John Cooper Clarke, Linton Kwesi Johnson, and Patrik Fitzgerald). Practise Makes Perfect offers a brief unravelling of Wire. A solitary review of The Bodysnatchers at the (London) Lyceum. Michael and James dish up some snippets of news - notably the Nips split! Not forgetting the smattering of VOBgraphics throughout.

A4 folded scanned at 600 dpi
Voice of Buddha #2      

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Tidal Wave #1, 1980

I've noted this as issue 1, though I think it is in fact another one-off affair. Not that its being a stand-alone diminishes its appeal in any way. On the contrary - and this particulary applies to the most welcome interviews - TW is a veritable gem. It was a sole effort by Terri with "thanx [to] Esther for the endless cups of tea and the wonderfulness". The fanzine overall is dedicated to Ian Curtis and in 2 seperate wee articles Terri laments the passing of the esteemed Joy Division frontman. As indicated, there's an excellent selection of interviews with The Tea Set, A Certain Ratio, Young Marble Giants, and The Teardrop Explodes. Joy Division and ACR at the Moonlight under review and Terri's top platters in the Tidal Wave Playlist. TW is yet another Better Badges production. Top flight gubbins.
 
A4 scanned at 600 dpi
 

Thursday, 21 February 2013

Kevin Ayers 1944 - 2013

R.I.P. Kevin

Thursday, 14 February 2013

Kick #3, 1980


 
“The vagueness of our discontent is the mark of its permanence”. Ahhh, it’s refreshing to come across a choice Orwell quote as a foreword to this fine fanzine. To be clear though, vagueness does not appear to afflict the Kick organisation’s enthusiasm for the spirit of Punk – that enthusiasm being particularly evident in Richard Cabut’s input here – itself bolstered by contributions from Anne Crawford, Chris Gibson and Lill (“if you’re reading get in touch”). Kick #3 sees The Fall, Bauhaus (David Jay), and Pneumania interviewed; gigs by This Heat/The Elevators, Simple Minds/Martian Dance/Wasted Youth, and UK Decay/The Wall/The Dark reviewed. Richard Cabut and Lill offer brief essays on Punk in, Occult Chemistry and A Rather Suss Piece on Punk & Life Thru a Foreign Punk’s Eyes respectively. Luton Punks sneaks a peek at UK Decay, Pneumania, Statics, Urban Warfare, Cinematix, Nervous Surgeons, Project 4, Dresden Maniacs, The Mandies and The Demons. There’s no playlist! Thank Clapton then for the short fanzine round-up and props to Better Badges, without whom (the inestimable Joly MacFie) many of the fanzines posted thus far on ee may never have come into being let alone enjoyed such a wide distribution. I tell ya, a proper celebration of BB on ee is well overdue. In the meantime, if you haven't seen it already, you’ll enjoy this excellent BB article.     

A4 scanned at 600 dpi