I'm mixing the facts around...

An often impeccable sophomore album from '86.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Mirrour - Black and White (1984, Windmill)

Yet another one I took a sheer gamble on.  Went into this one expecting something along the lines of Shoes, Rubinoos, heck maybe even the Bay City Rollers.  In the grand scheme of things, Mirrour had sort of a bedroom DIY thing in mind instead, with precious little of the aesthetics I had predicted.  They were certainly situated in the pop/rock realm, but in spite of the serious visages gracing the album jacket this L.A. quartet were a cheeky lot, with no less than two topical numbers ("It's Only School" and "Get the Edge") pertaining to the nature of compulsory education.  "Shattered" is the strongest and catchiest thing Black and White has going for it, yet might have amounted to something more compelling in the hands of a full-fledged power-pop band, which for better or worse Mirrour didn't quite embody.  I should mention both guitars and keys are employed here, the latter to an almost cozy and cutesy effect.  Another feather in their cap would be an Emitt Rhodes production credit...but how would a bunch of teenage '80s kids know Rhodes from a can of paint?  B&W isn't so much a disappointing record as it is an unlikely and anticlimactic one.

There's an above average amount of surface noise on this disk that I did my best to remedy. If it's a blemish-free version you're seeking, in doing my research on Mirrour I learned that an expanded, 40th anniversary version of this exists on streaming outlets including Spotify and Apple Music, along with a host of entirely separate albums by them, though it's not clear when they were recorded.  One would think these other recordings would entail a considerably more mature incarnation of the band, and though I haven't really had the chance to delve in myself it all looks promising. 

01. It's Only School

02. Double talk

03. Shattered

04. Modern Man

05. Shine it On

06. Get the Edge

Hear 

The Hippycrickets - No Shoes, No Shirt, No Dice! tape (1993)

These Atlanta-area denizens took a seemingly unnecessary risk in going with such a hokey moniker, one that doesn't do justice to their overarching potency, but whatever I suppose. Actually, this isn't my first Hippycrickets-centric post, as I shared their 1997 full length, Inconceivable!!! quite some time ago. Submitted for your approval, a 1993 demo of four tunes that would be recalibrated for that album.  "Don't Bother Me" finds the trio in question in an angsty and cantankerous guise. "Margaret Sez" could pass for a primo Material Issue or Cavedogs number, with the sobering "Fall Again," trailing not far behind. 

01. Don't Bother Me

02. Margaret Sez

03. Calling Colleen

04. Fall Again

Hear

Maybe then your glass slippers could leave you to a good nights sleep.

From 2002. A blind bargain bin find that really paid off. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Faith Global - The Same Mistakes (1983, Survival)

Suppose there was an album so impressive that someone named their music blog after it?  In the heyday of the "sharity" blogosphere, there was (and still is) indeed a site that took it's name from the very album I'm offering here.  Faith Global's lone LP, in my opinion, isn't of epochal, ground-shifting caliber, but it's still pretty damn good. Featuring ex-Ultravox (John Foxx era) guitarist Stevie Sheers, F/G were an even more sonically broader proposition, with heavy angularities in the vicinity of early '70s Bowie, Psych Furs, Japan, and more negligibly Gary Numan.  Heck, they even roped in Furs sax-finagler Duncan Kilburn for a few songs, thus fortifying my comparison.  More art-pop than snyth, and thankfully not run-of-the-mill new wave, F/G's arrangements were fairly dense, sophisticated, and downright stirring at times, particularly on the throbbing "Love Seems Lost" and "Hearts and Flowers."  Elsewhere, "Forgotten Man" dabbles with an irresistible funk groove, and the concluding "Facing Facts" emanates shades of "Space Oddity."

As you might imagine, The Same Mistakes blog once featured the album in question, but this rip was taken from my personal copy.  You can read their write-up, however the site's download link expired.  Regrettably, I'm not in possession of Faith Global's preceding 1982 ep, Earth Report.

01. The Same Mistakes

02. Forgotten Man

03. Hearts & Flowers

04. Knowing the Way

05. Love Seems Lost

06. Coded World

07. Yayo

08. Slaves to This

09. Facing Facts

Hear

People breaking the law just to make ends meet.

From 1993.  Was saddened to learn that one of the co-founders of this band left us last week.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Lime Spiders - Weirdo Libido ep (1987, Zimmer)

"Weirdo Libido" is likely the closest the Lime Spiders ever came to digging into real pay dirt, if only for the fact that the tune was featured on the Young Einstein soundtrack.  It's also a genuinely great number, capably exemplifying Spiders mouthpiece Mick Blood's utterly raspy panache clad to his band's relentlessly pounding garage-punk sway.  "Here With My Girl" ups the frantic ante a notch, regarding what sounds like a potential romantic triangle. If you bought the 45 of this these were the only songs you were served, whereas the 12" ep entailed four more - all live covers fittingly in the band's wheelhouse, including killer takes of Neil Young's Mr. Soul and Love's "My Flash on You."  

And speaking of covers, come to think of it, The Goo Goo Dolls threw their version of the Spider's "Slave Girl" onto their mega-platinum A Boy Named Goo in 1995 thereby earning Blood and his Aussie cohorts a splendid pile of dough (one would hope anyway). 

01. Weirdo Libido

02. Here With My Girl

03. I Was Alone (live)

04. Mr. Soul (live)

05. Time of Day (live)

06. My Flash on You (live)

Hear

Red Letter Day - Released Emotions ep (1986, Quiet)

For a bunch of Brit punks, Red Letter Day weren't particularly obnoxious, but it seems that was hardly their m.o.. I can't quite envision this foursome on the same bill as say, G.B.H., yet this plenty spry ep (and second release overall) vaguely suggests what combos like Mega City Four and Perfect Daze would soon have heating up on the same stovetop. Released Emotions is all I've heard by these folks so far, but their catalog runs significantly deeper, and per their webpage, they're still extant in some form. 

01. Killing Ground

02. So Far Away

03. Spark of Love

04. Tomorrow Today

Hear

Best of the blog mix 2024.

I'm a bit tardy in posting my annual "condensed" adaption of a year's worth of uploads to this page, so I hope you'll forgive me. For better or worse 2024 has come and gone, and not counting Mystery Monday offerings, I only shared about 80-90 titles.  That was largely on par with 2023 and could be the norm going forward.  Not every piece of music emanating from this site is a sheer pearl or revelation, but I like to think that this pared down summation is pretty consistent, and as usual I've inserted a few random morsels exclusive to this playlist (denoted with an *)

Go Man Go's phenomenal "25 Years" is the clear runaway winner in terms of my finest retro score of the last 365 days and is placed at the head of the class.  As for the remaining 21 cuts I have virtually no preference, though the High Bees "Self Indulgence" comes within spitting distance.  Oodles of power pop (and adjacent) is yours for the taking here, be it from House of Pants, Green Ice, or even the little known Crowd who've never made an appearance here prior to this compilation.  There's also succulent post punk entrails emitted from the likes of Rifle Sport, Daddy-O and Mettle.  Plenty of great anomalies as well, but I won't give much else away, except for the last selection courtesy of the Specs, a coed combo featuring a teen Matthew Sweet, who were responsible for merely one original composition, "Look Out Girl (You Need a Direction)."  They made it count. Enjoy. 

01. Go Man Go - 25 Years

02. The Cavedogs - La La La

03. His Boy Elroy - New England

04. House of Pants - Photographs

05. Voices - Out Tonight

06. Flaming Mussolinis - Swallow Glass

07. God's Eye - Back Again

08. High Bees - Self Indulgence

09. British Properties - Eight Days a Week

10. Jules Shear - She's in Love

11. July 14th - Only One

12. Rifle Sport - Bedroom Full of Ice

13. Mettle - Evening Ocean

14. Intro to Airlift - Ed Is On No Side

15. Daddy-O - Run to Hide

16. DCD - A Passage in Time*

17. Tanjent Image - Suranland

18. Windbreakers - So Much

19. Glass Torpedos - Someone Different

20. Crowd, The - Passwords* 

21. Green Ice - Breakdown at Geneva

22. The Act - The Art of Deception

23. The Specs (Matthew Sweet) - Look Out Girl (You Need a Direction)* 

Hear

He just sits and stares.

Post-punk from 1986 that's far more moving than my lyrical clue might portend.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

XTC - Black Sea demos (1980)

Happy New Year, and welcome to night eight. I was debating what I was going to offer for the finale, and was on the fence about this one, as technically these were actually made available on the 2017 mondo bluray edition of Black Sea.  Well, for starters I don't own that highfalutin version.  Secondly, these files were sourced from a bootleg cassette (with a nominal amount of tape hiss intact).  Finally, it appeared that no one else was sharing this in FLAC, so I figured why not?

Most XTC fans will insist that the band never made an unsatisfactory album, and I can't argue with that at all.  But not all XTC records are equal, and their first two LPs, White Music and Go 2 (both from 1978) simply aren't as revered as those which followed. 1979's Drums and Wires is generally deemed as the beginning (though not necessarily the apex) of their halcyon era, and it's around this time a lot of folks jumped on the Partridge/Moulding wagon, particularly in the States.  

'80s Black Sea was arguably XTC's most consistent salvo to date yielding a pair of genuine signature songs "Generals and Majors" and "Sgt Rock. (is Going to Help Me." While I have no reason to frown on those tunes, I gravitate for deeper album tracks, and "Rocket From a Bottle" and "Don't Lose Your Temple" really quickened my pulse, and maybe a tad less so, "Respectable Street."  So far as I was concerned, there were zero throwaways, and I'll always regard Black Sea as one of XTC's career highlights.  These prototype variations (save for the instrumentals) don't radically deviate from the finished product, but they don't have to be in order to still fascinate. What's more there are three solo Partridge demos of songs that never carried over to the album or it's adjacent b-sides ("Pearl," "Monkeys in Human Skin Suits," and "Holding the Baby") that really might have been rendered into crucial nuggets in the XTC oeuvre had they had been fully fleshed out by the band.  Then again, maybe not, so I'll just let you decide.  Have at it.

01 Living Through Another Cuba [instrumental]

02 Sgt. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)

03 Rocket From A Bottle

04 Towers Of London

05 Smokeless Zone [instrumental]

06 Ban The Bomb [instrumental]

07 No Language In Our Lungs

08 Pearl [Andy Partridge solo]

09 Holding The Baby [Andy Partridge solo]

10 Monkeys In Human Skin Suits [Andy Partridge solo]

11 Burning With Optimism's Flames

12 Paper And Iron (Notes And Coins)

13 Travels In Nihilon

14 Don't Lose Your Temper

15 Respectable Street

16 Generals And Majors

MP3/FLAC

The Act - Too Late at 20 (1981, Hannibal)

Is this my favorite retro discovery of the year?  Hard to say, as even in the eye of the beholder these things are difficult to quantify.  At the very least it's well above average, despite not being particularly visionary or inventive.  And though I've encountered this title years ago on a sadly defunct, and quite frankly outstanding blog, I didn't consider sharing it until I found a personal copy of the record, used and abused as it was.

If you have any familiarity with The Act, such beforehand knowledge likely resides in the fact that this was Nick Laird-Clowes band prior to enlisting as the frontman for the Dream Academy.  Not that there's much novelty in that mind you, but for what it's worth don't expect to hear any contemplative elegies to Nick Drake on Too Late at 20.  Instead, what the Act had in store was well-executed and concise power pop, bordering on the skinny tie variant.  Taking cues from the likes of more visible contemporaries, including but not limited to The Records, Nick Lowe, and less-so Joe Jackson, the quartet in question really don't place any new fabric to the table.  Other than the vaguest of finagling with dub rhythms on "Protection," Too Late... plays it safe...yet never calculated or rote.

Nick and the lads are at their most potent on "The Long Island Sound," "The Art of Deception" and "Get it While You're Young," and the sprite title piece - all of which slot into a mode akin to a more pedestrian Elvis Costello.  Despite this seemingly vanilla tableau The Act really did possess the songwriting chops and incisive melodies to turn what could have been an ordinary record into something considerably more substantial.  In 2024, that was good enough for me. 

01. Too Late at 20

02. The Long Island Sound

03. Touch and Go

04. The Art of Deception

05. Protection

06. Sure Fire

07. Skip the Beat

08. Zero Unidentified

09. Ok Jerko

10. Get it While You're Young

MP3/FLAC

V/A - Home Runs Vols. 1 & 2 (Songs That'll Take You All The Way) (2000/02, Sound Asleep)

The number of homegrown various artists collections compiling rare, turn-of-the-decade power pop and punk singles that seemingly materialize out of the blue never ceases to amaze or impress me, even in the event when I may not own physical copies of them. In previous years I've shared multiple volumes of well-curated series like Teen Line, Powerpearls, and Every One a Classic.  Home Runs (Songs That'll Take You All The Way) courtesy of  Sweden's Sound Asleep Records quietly cropped up in the early 2000's gathering up dozens of vintage of should-have been classic 45 sides from the late '70s to the mid '80s with a similar aesthetic to the aforementioned, and I've got volumes 1 & 2 on tap for tonight.

As much as I'd like to give insight to all of the 41 bands represented, a much more cursory synopsis will have to suffice.  For starters, there's not much overlap between the bands covered on Home Runs and Wilfully Obscure, though there are some relatively higher profile names that we've covered - Seattle denizens The Heats and Moberlys for starters, not to mention The Windbreakers are present, and I think I've namedropped the likes of Screen Test, Beat Rodeo and perhaps even the Incredible Casuals, but that's about the extent of it.  The rest of these names, generally speaking, are uncharted territory for the bulk of us...and as such are ripe for further picking and examination.  And what of this cavalcade of virtual unknowns you might ask?  The Shakers and Jimmy True are jangle-merchants of the highest order, New Jersey's Modulators are loosely on par with Shoes, and X-Dreams are a cheeky, rollicking blast.  Elsewhere, New York's Beatles-indebted Poppees appear with the melodious "If She Cries," Meantime proudly take a cue from Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, and the Hi-Fi's featured a young Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, prior to their more renown stint in the long-running Blue Rodeo.  By no means are these the only highlights, but I'm not about to give anything further away.  I will mention there's a third volume in the Home Runs series that I still need to get my hands on...and I think you know what that portends.  Cheers.

Volume 1 (2000)

01. Gary Private – Home Run

02. Barry Knoedl – Baby Don't Give Up

03. Windbreakers - I Never Thought

04. Rikki Rush - Donna

05. The Patriots - That Way

06. Young Fresh Fellows - How Much About Last Night Do You Remember

07. Pete Holly & The Looks – What Did I Say

08. Eric Collis - Someone Better

09. The Rooms - She Loves Me/She Loves Me Not

10. The Shakers - Til I'm Gone

11. David Hines - I Go to Pieces

12. The Impossible Years – She's No Fun

13. David Quinton – Does It Matter To You

14. Willie English - I Can't Have You

15. The Badbeats - Lies

16. Tom Wilson - Break Down Your Door

17. Dynette Set - Learn to Love

18. X-Dreams – Space Shuttle Stowaway

19. The Incredible Casuals – Money Won't Buy You Happiness

20. The Mercenaries - oh Sally

21. Tommy Rock - It's Later Than You Think

Hear

Volume 2 (2002)

01. The Dawgs- Shot of Your Love

02. The Poppees - Is She Cries

03. Modulators - She's So Cynical

04. Tom Stevens - Just One Night With You

05. The Heats - Nights With You

06. Beat Rodeo - Mimi

07. Moberlys - You Know I Know

08. The Rubinoos - Gorilla

09. Saucers - A Certain Kind of Shy

10. Jimmy Rue - Cheap Fun

11. The B-Girls - Fun at the Beach

12. The Toys - I'm Telling You Now

13. The News - Don't Talk to Me

14. Meantime - Two For One

15. The Shout - Sha-Day-la-Day

16. Hi-fi's - Look What You've Done

17. The Nads - You Don't Know Me

18. Screen Test - I Am Sincere

19. Buddy Love - I Just Wanna Hold You

20. The Right Profile - Underneath the Window

Hear

Big Black - 5 Hard Noises demo (1982) & Live @ Exit, Chicago, IL 11/25/84

This is a sad fu%kin' blog post.  I'll be lucky if I don't bust out crying.  In fact, 2024 was a tremendously sad f'n year overall.  On an otherwise non-descript spring day it was announced that Steve Albini perished from a sudden heart attack May 7.  The world didn't see it coming. While the sometimes cranky and invariably idealistic recording engineer and musical auteur hasn't popped up very frequently on these pages, the recordings he made with seminal proto-industrial punks Big Black, and later, Rapeman resonated with me substantially when I was younger.  

For those who regularly tune into this site, the mention of his name (and furthermore Big Black)

might strike ya'll as the biggest curveball I've hurled yet.  That's fine.  I'm not really here to sell you or evangelize, because I came to the realization decades ago that Albini's music was hardly palatable to everyone, especially those of us more aligned to pop-centric musical constructs.  However, I hope a few of you will take this dive into B/B's nascent steps, if only to illustrate they weren't entirely (anyway) the abrasive, Dadaistic malcontents they were routinely painted as.  True, stiff drum machines and coarse vocals don't necessarily emanate fruity rainbows and daisies, yet on 5 Hard Noises, a solo demo concocted by Albin to win over recruits for his then upstart combo, there's a distinct post-punk undercoating suggesting Joy Division as much as say, Cabaret Voltaire.  The icy sparseness of "I Can Be Killed" and "Peeled" belie warmer notions should you opt to pursue the glints of light at the far end of the tunnel.  I'll reiterate, not for everybody, but 5 Hard Noises provides fascinating insight into Big Black's blossoming vision.  

By 1984, the lineup had fanned out to entail Santiago Durango on guitar and Jeff Pezzati (courtesy of Naked Raygun) on bass (and I think sometimes live drums). The November '84  gig live in the band's hometown of Chicago I'm presenting is an above-average audience tape featuring songs from B/B's first trio of eps: Lungs, Bulldozer, and the then unreleased Racer-X which would drop within the next year.  The band was still a good year-and-a-half out from their debut full length, Atomizer, but the crowd is treated to a preview of "Big Money," and the live staple "Cables."  By now, B/B's dense, signature sound had reached fruition, albeit the tempo and sheer intensity of future material would be heightened considerably during the latter half of their tenure.  There's plenty of banter in this set, but I don't hear anything particularly unnerving/amusing, and it certainly doesn't overshadow the music. Btw, I only have MP3s to offer for the demos.

5 Hard Noises (1982)

01. Jump the Climb

02. I Can Be Killed

03. Peeled

04. Live in a Hole

05. Rip

Hear

Live @ Exit, Chicago, IL 11/25/84

01 Seth

02 Rip

03 Live in a Hole

04 Albini on Kraut

05 Il Duce

06 Dead Billy

07 Albini chats

08 Deep Six

09 Cables

10 Albini on Pezzati

11 Big Money

12 Texas

13 stage chat

14 Pigeon Kill

15 Shotgun

16 The Crack

17 Racer-X

MP3/FLAC

The Clash - Give 'Em Enough Demos (1978)

Yet another band I haven't featured on here, and obviously of a higher stature...and not-quite-obscure.  When I made a conscious decision to listen to punk in my mid-teens I had long been acquainted with "common" classics in the Clash canon - "Should I Stay...," "Rock the Casbah," "London Calling."  Songs all of us have heard to death, so much so they've taken on the air of classic rock.  It was time to excavate deeper however, and the most recent edition of The Trouser Press Record Guide left no doubt in my mind that the band's 1977 debut was all but essential listening.  In short order after reading that I did indeed listen, and the American iteration of The Clash got a workout on multiple tape decks for numerous years.  But I wasn't going to stop there.

The next order of business was to obtain Joe Strummer & Co.'s subsequent albums, and Give 'Em Enough Rope and London Calling were utmost priorities.  While I sincerely appreciated the band's ambitions (and for the most parts, songs as well) entailing L/C I did find the album as a whole a bit over-lauded, with Rolling Stone going so far as to insist it was the finest album of the '80s.  As it turned out ...Rope, their "difficult" second album wasn't so difficult at all, wherein the boys did make a progression from the debut without eschewing it's vim, rambunctiousness and overarching social critique. It was apparent to me that "Complete Control" from The Clash foreshadowed what they had in store on ...Rope - just a tad more melody and negligibly curtailed tempos. They were maturing at their own whim - one that just so happened to be at a pace parallel with the logical progression of any decent punk band that wanted to be relevant beyond the late 1970s.  "Safe European Home," "Tommy Gun," "All the Young Punks," and the driving-as-all-get-out of "Drug Stabbing Time" were the most stimulating throw-downs they had accumulated to date, and for me ...Rope placed the Clash in a unique, and dare I say hallowed pantheon. 

So here we have a collection of prototypes for the record I so fondly speak of.  The demo variants are not at all far removed from the finished product.  Certainly rawer, but the arrangements and gait are almost inseparable.  I suppose this might suggest that the demos in themselves aren't particularly revelatory, but the songs are, and that's what counts.  I obtained a rip of these tracks secondhand, which were taken from a vinyl bootleg.  There was a skip about 40 seconds into "European Home," and while it was requested that the track be re-ripped, the call unfortunately fell upon deaf ears.  I went in and removed the skip and applied a very brief fade in/out.  I was able to locate an unblemished version of "European" from a second source, but only in MP3 form which I tacked on as a reference.  Furthermore, I gently futzed with the tone and color of the album jacket just for the heck of it.  Enjoy.      

01 Safe European Home
02 English Civil War
03 Tommy Gun
04 Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad
05 Guns On The Roof
06 Drug-Stabbing Time
07 Stay Free
08 Cheapskates
09 All The Young Punks (New Boots And Contracts)
10 Groovy Times

MP3/FLAC

Three astounding eps: Green Ice, the Zulus, and That Petrol Emotion.

Every Chanukah I tend to alternate between offering up a volley of singles or a trio of eps, and this year I opted for the latter. Even with just three records, it's the equivalent of three regular blog entries, so I try to make them count, and even made a point of taking to task three acts that have somehow never made an appearance on W/O prior to this evening.  So without further ado, let's have at it, starting with...

...Green Ice, who hailed from the 'burbs of Seattle, and are just one of many acts I've shared from the greater Emerald City that possessed not a smidgen of grunge in their DNA.  Even more so, none of the gents in this quartet (to my knowledge anyway) parlayed their talents to higher visibility endeavors post G/I.  That's a shame, because the men in question boasted three-minute, power-pop moxie for days and turned in four bona fide keepers on their lone record, with "Breakdown at Geneva" taking the 'lost-classic' cake.  I know that some of you might be begging me for comparisons, and although none in particular come to mind, Green Ice would've slotted in on Strum & Thrum seamlessly.

Green Ice - s/t ep (1986)

01. Breakdown at Geneva

02. Color Blue

03. Talking in Tongues

04. Shattered Eyes

MP3/FLAC

Though some of us wouldn't be prone to admitting it, a sizable block of the Zulus humble fanbase only learned of the group after the fact, when it was revealed circa the release of Sugar's 1992 smash, Copper Blue, that drummer Malcom Travis could vouch for role of Zulus (not to mention HSR) percussionist on his resume to boot.  In actuality, the fulcrum of the Zulus was Larry Bangor and Rich Gilbert, two of the more prominent alum of Boston's artful kinksters Human Sexual Response.  Bangor's near-maudlin vocal histrionics went a long way in defining the Zulus' edgy post-punk inclinations.  Though by and large the foursome in question had some divine creative juices flowing concerning the "Bones" ep depicted to your left, the same wasn't said for their debut full length, 1989's Down on the Floor, which encouraged many to crow the band's rough edges had been sanded down.  At any rate, fast forward to 2020. Long having been defunct, the Zulus released the sprawling multi-disk Cockfight in a Bullring, an archive of their early epoch featuring two CDs of studio material - all the tunes from this ep, previews of songs to be revamped for Down on the Floor, and roughly two full albums' worth of wholly unique songs that saw the light of day for the first time.  The Z's even reunited for a proper 2022 sophomore album, Outer Space, which I evidently slept on.  

The Zulus - s/t ep (1985, Greenworld)

01. I Can't Wait To Tell You The News

02. At the Subway

03. Back to Sleep

04. Kings In The Queen City

05. Can't Stop Having Fun

06. Gotta Have Faith

MP3/FLAC

"But I only liked their early stuff!" he decried.  That certainly isn't the case for every band I follow (I suppose a few prime examples would be Husker Du, Jimmy Eat World and The National, among loads of others), but for my time and money, That Petrol Emotion never surpassed their 1986 debut, Manic Pop Thrill, not by a longshot as far as I was concerned.  Even a recent discography box set wasn't able to get me on board for the remainder of their repertoire.  Incredibly, there were still a few odds and ends circa-Manic that the aforementioned box missed, many of which found a home on In the Beginning.  Composed of 1985 recordings made when the band was still an indie proposition, Beginning culls together non-LP goodies like their ace early single, "Keen," b-sides "Happiness Drives Me Around the Bend," "V2," and a pair of drumless 4-track demos.  I wouldn't say this 10" is the most ideal way to acquaint yourself with the Petrol's stripe of UK indie pop spiked with user-friendly psychedelia, but it's a rewarding footnote. 

That Petrol Emotion - In the Beginning ep (2016, rec. 1985)

01. Keen

02. V2

03. Zig Zag Wanderer

04. Happiness Drives Me Around the Bend

05. Keen (4-track demo)

06. V2 (4-track demo)

MP3/FLAC

Big Star Quintet - White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ - 8/22/24

This one's a bit of a whopper, if only in terms of sheer length (and size, should you opt to download the lossless FLAC version of this set).  No, this isn't Big Star, not as they were in their first go around in the '70s, or even in their reunion iteration in the 1990s and beyond, when at best they only boasted 75% of the original lineup. Truth be told the most recent incarnation of the group, now billed for rare live dates as Big Star Quintet, is more of a glorified tribute, merely with only drummer Jody Stephens on board from the original roster.  But as far as tributes/homage/legacy acts are concerned, BSQ are veritably all three, perpetuating the tradition of one of rock and roll's most epochal yet neglected entries.  

Performing on the 50th anniversary of Big Star's second LP, 1974's Radio City, for a Jersey City, NJ audience on August 22, 2024 the BSQ lineup consisted of Stephens, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Jon Auer (Posies), Chris Stamey (Db's), and Pat Sansone (Wilco, Autumn Defense) all of whom pass the mic around.  In addition to hitting every number on Radio City (in album sequence), they manage to approach #1 Record in it's entirety, lick the edges of Third/Sister Lovers, and even take the late Chris Bell's classic 1978 single "I Am the Cosmos" for a spin around the block  31 songs total, performed with the utmost reverence to the original compositions, albeit exuded with the kind of passion and vigor Big Star's relatively brief back catalog deserves.  And to think BSQ pull of the whole enchilada so flawlessly without two of Radio City's key architects, Alex Chilton (d. 2010) and Andy Hummel (d. 2010) on board is illustrative of how these songs have endured despite Big Star's paltry album sales in the '70s, and not really enjoying exhaustive reexamination and exposure until almost two full decades later. It's unclear what future (if any) touring agenda Big Star Quintet are plotting, so this well-recorded audience tape is something to savor.  Many thanks to whomever tracked and shared the files for this one.

The FLAC version will take up approximately 1.36 GB, so I'm making a drastically less sizable MP3 adaptation available as usual.  Full track list below.

01 Feel

02 The Ballad of El Goodo

03 Don't Lie To Me

04 The India Song

05 O My Soul

06 Life Is White

07 Way Out West

08 What's Going Ahn

09 You Get What You Deserve

10 Mod Lang

11 Back of a Car

12 Daisy Glaze

13 She’s a Mover

14 September Gurls

15 Morpha Too

16 I'm In Love With a Girl

17 Watch the Sunrise

18 My Life Is Right

19 Give Me Another Chance

20 When My Baby's Beside Me

21 Blue Moon

22 I Got Kinda Lost [Chris Bell]

23 Nightime

24 Jesus Christ

25 Try Again

26 ST 100-6

27 I Am the Cosmos [Chris Bell]

28 Thirteen

29 In the Street

30 You And Your Sister [Chris Bell]

31 Thank You Friends

Jody Stephens: drums, vocals

Jon Auer: guitar, vocals

Chris Stamey: guitar, keyboards, vocals

Pat Sansone: guitar, keyboards, vocals

Mike Mills: bass, keyboards, vocals

MP3/FLAC

Rare tapes! - Mike Viola & Snap, Overwhelming Colorfast, and Shufflepuck

Welcome to night one.  Collectors of all stripes are always searching for "grails," so to speak, few and far between as they may be.  At any given moment there's no shortage of vinyl and aluminum on my ever expanding want list.  Pricy as those tricky titles may be, most of the records and CDs I need to fill in the gaps are out there so long as I'm willing to pony up the cabbage.  Cassettes, on the other hand, particularly original demo tapes and cassette-only albums are typically much scarcer - in some cases limited to a few hundred, dozen or even just a handful copies.  But on these rare reels often sit under-released music that never made it past the demo phase, and thusly even the swankest, most audiophile-coveted turntables and component CD players will be of no use whatsoever in playing them back.  Here are three unearthed chestnuts, from my teaming shoe and storage boxes.

There's precious little in the W/O permanent collection representing Mike Viola and/or his crew The Candy Butchers, given that the vast majority of his catalog is officially available from all the usual suspects.  The four song Don't Break My Fall, though technically not a demo, is however of particular scarcity, especially the vinyl incarnation - so image my delight when I spotted a sealed copy of the cassette version at the now sadly defunct In Your Ear Records in Boston a few years ago.  So far as I can tell Don't Break... was the first in a long line of recordings to bear Mike's namesake, and while he and the accompanying three-piece Snap may have looked like reformed metalheads, power pop was pulsing through his veins as far back as the mid-80s when this EP reared it's precious obscure head.  The primo title cut finds our protagonist already finagling with the hook-addled panache of Rundgren and Costello.  As for the remaining numbers, even the frivolously dubbed "I Don't Wanna Die a Pizza Maker" drops a few hints at the quantum strides he would muster in the ensuing decades.  If you're new to Mr. Viola, I recommend starting with the Candy Butchers 2003 magnum opus, Hang on Mike.

Mike Viola & Snap - Don't Break My Fall (1987, RPM)

01. Don't Break My Fall

02. Rainbows

03. I Don't Wanna Die a Pizza Maker

04. Room For One More

MP3/FLAC

 

Overwhelming Colorfast may have made your acquaintance on these pages, when I got this whole ball o' wax rolling upon sharing their delightful Sourdough ep (1995) along with a preceding '92 single.  This San Fran-area treat put their howling, blustery Husker Du indebted noise to pasture by the turn of the millennium, leaving us with three highly consistent albums alongside considerably more petite but powerful releases like this self-titled cartridge circa 1990.  I only came into possession of it relatively recently, but I can imagine the excitement of what it must have been like hearing this right before O.C. had a national presence - raw, amped-to-the-hilt, yet engagingly melodic. It's punk pop enhanced with the deftness and dexterity of classic rock minus the beer gut.  The originals are pretty remarkable, but so is their fairly straightforward reading of "She Said, She Said."  This one is a real treat if you took a liking to their 1992 debut LP, also self-titled.  

The Overwhelming Colorfast - tape (1990, Two Car Garage)
01. Yap!
02. Forest
03. Try
04. The Pink & the Red
05. Yup!
06. She Said, She Said
07. Veil
08. Fearless

MP3/FLAC

Last but not least, here's a band I've already sung my praises about (heck, I've technically shared 2/3 of this ages ago) but as the saying goes, it bears repeating. Shufflepuck made waves in L.A.'s indie circuit in the Clinton-era and happened to be near and dear friends to their slightly more visible cohorts, Weezer.  Sonically, Shufflepuck were in the same wheelhouse, yet the Adam Orth helmed-quartet wielded an even crunchier guitar heft and a more concussive modus operandi.  The absolutely blistering "Where the Hell is She," a par-excellence underdog paean bearing a FAT, intoxicating power chord is just as effective as any damn AC/DC riff these ears have encountered.  And much like early Weez, the 'pucks quality control was on a 'blue album' level, not yielding a nanosecond of filler.  The band recorded an album intended for release on Interscope in '96, but the long and short of it all is that it was shelved...until this year. Finally brought to market as a privately pressed and extremely limited vinyl LP, it's finally seeing the light of day physically and digitally.  Two songs from the cassette I'm offering here tonight made the migration to Shufflepuck's Album, but the third number, "Naked With No Covers On" is very much exclusive to this tape and thoroughly worth your while.  Enjoy! 

Shufflepuck - tape (1994)

01. Where the Hell is She

02. Fool Like Me

03. Naked With No Covers On

MP3/FLAC

Man I’m gonna destroy your cover!

A generous, Chanukah-worthy passel of demos spanning 1978-80 from one of the best in the business.  

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Watching the candles burn...it returns Wednesday night.

With a half-smile and a somewhat lighthearted *sigh,* my burdensome endeavor and your annual holiday treat is upon us in roughly three days folks.  This well may be the first time the Festival of Lights commences simultaneously with Christmas day, at least in all the years I've been performing my Chanukah routine on Wilfully Obscure.  Starting right around sundown on December 25, I'll be gifting you eight consecutive nights of the most coveted (or at least I like to think) volley of un/under-released vinyl, bootlegs, live offerings and demos.  Will I outdo myself from previous years?  In all likelihood, no, as the well gets a little more barren every year, but I'm going to sure as hell try.

You might be asking what initially motivated me to begin this tradition altogether.  For one, it gives me a convenient excuse to share several mind-blowing "gifts" instead of just one big reveal on Christmas.  Secondly, Chanukah represents personal relevance to me.  We all know you were envious of that kid down the block who had a yarmulke festooned to their head, who was given the privilege of lighting the menorah, and of course, reveling in eight glorious nights of presents.  Once again, I'm paying it forward.  Previous Chanukah entries have featured Wire, Velocity Girl, Jellyfish, Husker Du and Teenage Fanclub, but name recognition is hardly a guarantee.  As in past years, there will definitely be familiar faces, but also provocateurs that have never or infrequently garnered face-time on W/O.  Bear in mind that what's crucial and/or special to my ears may not be of equal essence to yours, but humor me folks.

At the top of each Chanukah upload will be a thumbnail photo of a menorah, with the appropriate number of lit candles to denote each succeeding evening until all eight slots in the candelabra are occupied on the concluding night of January 1. 

• Look for the first Chanukah posting this Wednesday evening, and then for the remaining seven nights 'round supper time all next week. 
• Mystery Monday will be taking a break the week of Monday the 29 so as not to disrupt or distract from the continuity of the eight consecutive nights of the holiday.
• Some offerings will be made available in FLAC (in addition to standard MP3).

That's it in a nutshell. Download responsibly. 

Naúx - Light, Traps And Exploding Wires (1982, Noise New York)

In 2010 when I shared the four art-damaged song-things constituting China Shop's lone 1981, Atomic Notions I was already a solid convert, but my fascination with the defunct combo would morph into something even more profound in the ensuing years.  At the nexus of C/S's woozy but comely amalgam of lower Manhattan post-punk-cum-no-wave/funk/avant soiree was late prime mover Naúx (supposedly pronounced Nah-ooj) aka Juan Maciel.  His most renown exploit was that of one-time guitarist in a latter lineup of Richard Hell and The Voidoids, but I preferred hearing him up front and center.  As luck would have it, there would be an extended reel of China Shop outtakes to delve into, but I was too piqued to stop there.  

Without much sleuthing online I was pleased to learn of a Naúx solo venture, a one-off LP, Light, Traps and Exploding Wire arriving merely a year after China Shop ostensibly shuttered.  Painting from the unpredictable sonic palate that made Atomic Notions such a beguiling treat, Light, Traps'... most engrossing salvos including "Don't Know Love," "Forget Just Once," and "Atlantis" were akin to the choicest (albeit perplexing) persuasions C/S offered.  Here, however, the bass guitar was uber prominent, not to mention doubly more elastic. Naúx exuded a clear penchant for challenging his audience, and no doubt himself, but for virtually every time he threatens to breach into something completely leftfield he counters with a naggingly accessible poise, reminding me why I took such a keen interest in the first place.  I'd be remiss if  I didn't mention that Robert Quine had a hand in this album as well.  Light, Traps'... has previously endowed it's rays into the blogosphere, but what's presented here is my own private rip of the album, and by extension this meager critique. 

01. Mammoth Tarpits

02. Forget Just Once

03. Don't Know Love

04. The Tiger Waits for Me

05. Too Much Sex

06. This Dance of Conflict

07. Sounds and Daughters

08. Transmissions

09. Atlantis

10. Face to Face

11. World Without End

Hear

Farmers - Packed in an Urban Area ep (1982, BFM)

One of the only morsels of punditry I've encountered surrounding this platter is the notion that Farmers were a no-wave proposition.  Truth was, they reportedly had ties to the Bay Area, the Bowery, not so much. Musically, there was more going on here than shronk and abrasiveness, though frequent insertions of free jazz sax and brass indicated they weren't necessarily vying for the airwaves - not by a long shot. Call Farmers art-rock if you must/may, though their hot mess did flirt with tuneful affectations seeping into the likable title cut and the subtly post-punk informed "A Frozen Lake."  A spartan webpage exists for the band, with some more background details and numerous audio files, however I'm presenting my own rip of Packed... which I like to think turned out quite well.  

01. Packed in an Urban Area

02. Bakshish

03. Close Shave in Burma

04. A Frozen Lake

Hear

Maybe in another year you could be a butterfly.

 Power pop from 1999.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

VA - Three on the Tree 7'' (1994, C/Z)

A follow up to the label's choice 4 on the Floor 7" compilation from a year prior, C/Z Records threw another numerically named micro-comp onto the fire with 1994's Three on the Tree.  The biggest draw here was an exclusive cut from Engine Kid, purveyors of dynamic, Slint-indebted noise rock whose "Thigh With a Desolate Thorn" pushes the quiet/loud/quiet envelope to it's breaking point.  Vexed were mainstays on the C/Z roster, and one of the only combos that I didn't explore more thoroughly during their tenure.  "P6" is two-and-a-half minutes of gritty grunge-ola with the sort of roiling, punky underbite exuded by labelmate's Coffin Break.  Meanwhile, Wreck's "Your Monkey's On Fire" is Three's... most valuable asset, with it's bendy guitar fills winning me over from moment one.

A1. Wreck - Your Monkey's on Fire

A2. Vexed - P6

B. Engine Kid - Thigh With a Desolate Thorn

Hear

Johnny Rey & the Reaction - More Than I Can Do ep (1984)

At least a bit more promising than it's sleeve implies, More Than I Can Do doesn't quite paint Minneapolis' Johnny Rey and his crew as power pop/wave-sters, albeit this five song disc (that would go without a sequel well into the next century) proves they were certainly more potent than your typical singer/songwriter hustlers.  No gimmicks here, and despite it's copyright date this quartet completely circumvented keyboards.  "The New Way" is spiced up with a nervy saxophone line, the danceable "Streetlife" naggingly reminds me of Jo Broadbery and the Standouts/Local Operator, and the jangly title cut isn't unlike a welterweight Elvis Costello.  Really not disappointing at all for a debut, just not particularly revelatory.  Rey would record outside the realm of the Reaction, prior and subsequent to More Than I Can Do, but evidently the band reconvened for a 2018 ep, This Modern Age, that I can't find much more in the way of specifics about besides a standard Discogs listing.  You can read a 2012 interview with the man of the hour here.

01. The New Way

02. Streetlife

03. More Than I Can Do

04. Automobeat

05. Flesh & Blood

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