If things go as
planned you should find a balloon on this page. It’s a Christmas gift from me,
what you do with the bloody thing is up to you. But have fun anyway. (If there’s
no balloon hard luck)
Being a lover of the Ranting style of poetry Richard Edwards' Cool Notes
always chimed nicely for me. Here in issue 5 there’s a focussed interview with
the ever entertaining Atilla The Stockbroker and The Alarm too are given the
third degree. There are mini features on Wall of Voodoo, The Insane Picnic,
Johnny 7 Combo plus news on Special Duties, The Members, The Chefs, The Gas,
David Rodigan, Steel Pulse, The Mood Elevators, B Movie, Talkover, The
Assassins of Hope, and Ranter extraordinaire, Seething Wells (RIP). Richard and
Cool Notes co-conspirator Kev cast their ears over effusions by Zeitgeist,
Twisted Nerve, Living in Texas, Felt, The Monochrome Set, Joe Crow, Thomas
Leer, The Nightingales, New Criminals 2, Twelve Cubic Feet, and The Apostles.
There are reviews of gigs featuring Stiff Little Fingers/The Alarm,
Talkover/Michael Smith, Dead Kennedys/Millions of Dead Cops/Serious
Drinking/Peter & the Test Tube Babies. At the Hop is part 2 of a feature on
‘Roots’ music and homes in on luminaries such as James Brown and the Flames,
The Harptones, The Spaniels, and The Mascots. A Brief Guide into Africa does as
it proclaims. A number of cartoons are sprinkled throughout and there’s the
near mandatory fanzine round-up and staff playlists plus some tips for those
wishing to make their own LP, write a play, have a bash at seeing Haley’s
Comet, or start up a brewery. Finally, there’s the, Those That We Left Out…and
Why section telling of missed opportunities with Haircut 100, Flux of Pink
Indians, Victor Romero Evans, UB40, Roman Holiday, and Dennis Bovell. Oh well,
you can’t have it all I suppose.
A4 scanned at 400 dpi (slightly eccentric page numbering retained from
the original)