High Holy Disco Mess!

DVA - High Holy Disco Mass

The Clock DVA split resulted in Adi Newton signing to a major. He unleashed this slap bass and horn driven (with Beggar & Co.) 12" single as just DVA. The term disco in the title is quite misleading because I just can't imagine this going down well in any nightclub - it is virtually impossible to dance to.

Don't let that put you off because it is a great track, featured on the twelve inch single in two full length versions combined with the abstract film noir jazz that is The Voice That Speaks From Within.

Ripped from a 12" vinyl single released on Polydor Records (POSPX 499) in 1982 to high quality and high resolution 24-bit FLAC audio.

A. High Holy Disco Mass (Extended Version)

B1. High Holy Disco Mass (Dance Macabre)

B2. The Voice That Speaks From Within (Triumph Over Will) Part One

Something Beginning With 'L'

The Box - Secrets Out

You may be aware, if you keep up to date with happenings on this blog, of my love of the early work of Sheffield's Clock DVA and by early I mean pre-1983. There have been several incarnations of Adi Newton's experimental visions but the most important and innovative was the era which spawned the classic album, Thirst.

The Thirst incarnation disintegrated when three fifths of the band parted company with Newton. Forming a new outfit The Box, they first recruited Cabs front man Stephen Mallinder as vocalist, but then settled on the energetic Peter Hope. Their debut album Secrets Out is the natural successor to Thirst (after all it is essentially the same musicians) but the songs were more compact, funky, jerky with a manic sense of purpose.

Hope dressed onstage like Sheffield's answer to Rob Halford, but his vocal style was much more akin to that of David Thomas. In fact, it easy to imagine that the influence of Pere Ubu contributed much to the overall sound of The Box.

Secrets Out is a manic collection of twelve 3 minute wonders, each of them contorts itself around you, then turns you inside-out with a weird jazz funk pop, crazy chopped guitars, flutes & clarinets toy with Hope's crazed lyrical prose & verse.

You need to listen to this album as a whole unit, it is the only way it can make sense. Each track almost bleeds into the next, not in the way of a prog concept album, but that you just to hear more after each piece, and that very next track satisfies that need and so on. It is such a disappointment when it all comes to an end.

Highlights have to be Something Beginning With 'L' (with Mal on lead vocals), the superb Strike (so blatantly ripped off by Sheffield devil children Arctic Monkeys - you always knew you'd heard that riff somewhere), the laid back flute-filled mellowness that is The Hub is like a pause for breathe until all hell breaks loose again, No Sly Moon is the tune Jarvis Cocker always wishes he'd written and the single Old Style Drop Down is a long lost indie disco classic. But it's far for me to tell you what the best tracks are, as you should all have your own favourites.

Lovingly ripped from a vinyl album released on Go! Discs Records (VFM4) in 1983 to high resolution and high quality lossless 24-bit FLAC audio.

A1. Water Grows Teeth

A2. Skin, Sweat And Rain

A3. Something Beginning With 'L'

A4. Strike

A5. The Hub

A6. Hang You Hat On That!

B1. I Give Protection

B2. No Sly Moon

B3. Slip And Slant

B4. Old Style Drop Down

B5. Swing

B6. Out

What's My Mission Now?

Gary Clail's Tackhead Sound System - Tackhead Tape Time

This came out just after the original Tackhead signed to a major. Bristol-based MC & builder, and On-U-Sound cohort Gary Clail overdubs the band's early singles with samples and rambles. Clail was essentially the sixth member of Tackhead and was to appear on the Reality, Half Cut For Confidence and Hard Left singles.

Loud dubby cut-ups and noisy heavy beats are the rule of thumb here - it is a dark tribute to the angst and despair of a Thatcherite Britain. It is industrial body beats from a generation who watched the industry and invention being sucked out of their country. It is a powerful reminder of how this era spawned some of the best and most original music.

Ripped from a vinyl album released on Red Rhino Records (TACKLP1) in 1988 to high resolution and high quality lossless 24bit FLAC audio.

A1. Mind At The End Of The Tether

A2. Half Cut Again

A3. Reality

A4. M.O.V.E.

B1. Hard Left

B2. Get This

B3. Man In a Suitcase

B4. What's My Mission Now? (Fight The Devil)

Blame It On The Bit Rate!

The third anniversary of this blog passed quietly by during the last weekend. I began archiving my vinyl collection in December 2008 and marked the event with the first pages here in late January 2009. I started with the MP3 format and two years later switched to ripping to lossless and uncompressed file formats so that I could enjoy them in their full glory through my hi-fi.

With over 150 identifiable blog followers (though an average of 500+ file hits indicates a good few of you like to remain anon), 400 pages of my inane rantings and over 570,000 page hits, I'd say quite a lot of you follow this project.

We've had quite a few interjections by the artists themselves, some have supported the work and contributed to the posts, others have asked for posts to be removed, and others have decided to reissue their work after reading the responses here. We've even had the lead singer of Porcupine Tree declare his love of Slab! on these very pages.

There has also been the odd exclusive donated by blog followers or friends of the band. we had the first public airing of the unreleased Joy Division/Warsaw track Pictures On My Mind (the most popular post by a clear mile), we've had somebody, claiming to be an employee of the JD bass player, ask for the Middlesbrough 1977 gig and sessions to be pulled (but not Pictures...?), yet no action has been taken against those who illicitly peddle the same product on eBay and other retail sites???

Has this all this ripping & ranting been worthwhile? ....I'd say yes. So what now?

The music blog community has been turned on its head by recent actions by the US Government. Sharing of digital products owned by others is illegal and there are laws to the protect copyright of the artist. But maybe the industry itself is responsible for what has happened. Over the past ten years to fifteen years, quality has been abandoned for quantity and pressure is being applied on persuadable politicians to help protect revenue streams. It is not the intention of any blogger to prevent any artist from making money from their work or encourage others to download a track illegally as an alternative to buying it. But think carefully before giving iTunes your dosh... Just how much money goes to the original copyright owner and how much goes to swell the Apple coffers? I very much support the theory that the MP3 format is contributing to the death of the music industry, those tiny little compressed files have little or no value and serve only as a cost saving tool for hard pressed record companies and a vehicle for their unimaginative wares. What advantage they have (and there are just a few) are of minimal benefit to the end-user except the portability and remove-ability of the format from one's hard drive. It is pleasing to see that alternatives to iTunes are evolving on the internet pushing lossless high quality resissues as FLAC files.

You will likely note that links are beginning to vanish from these pages. All files on Megaupload are now in the hands of the FBI and the last thing I want is an extradition notice! I hope they have bigger fish to fry. The rest will be gone over time and I will not be putting them anywhere else. The historic pages will stay live as an archive - that's all.

From now ESWA commits itself to the lossless format and where possible in 24bits. Readers should understand how to connect their PC to their hi-fi and configure the sound card for 24bit 96000hz audio. It is easier than you think and most sound cards come with a SPDIF coaxial output for connection to your amp. As an alternative most media drives now support high resolution FLAC files or you can still stream them on your PC or network using Foobar which will play just about anything.

I urge all bloggers of high quality and hard to find records to move away from vinyl MP3 rips and investigate the lossless formats.

The Human League - 3x7" Singles

Being Boiled : ripped from a 7" vinyl single released on Fast Product (FAST 4) in 1980 to lossless FLAC audio. This is the second pressing of the original mono single but with added stereo overdubs.

A. Being Boiled

B. Circus Of Death

Older readers may well remember nasty Saturday night British TV, where the BBC would waste the licence payers money by sending combover 70's celebs around the nations seaside resorts in a huge tent to perform as crass self indulgent variety acts. It was awful. I seem to remember its started as Holiday '75 and ended in the early '80s. This crackly little double 7" EP was The Human League's parody of their TV exploits back then.

Released in a multitude of versions, it broke the the lower reaches of the charts and was responsible for eventually breaking the band, though with yet another version of Being Boiled and a horrible Gary Glitter cover. Bands just don't cover Gary Glitter these days.

Holiday '80 EP : ripped from a very scratchy and slightly warped double 7" gatefold pack released on Virgin Records in 1980 (SV 105) to lossless FLAC audio. Allegedly a limited edition of just 15,000 copies - which wasn't considered many back then.

A. Marianne

B. Dancevision

C. Being Boiled

D. Rock'n'Roll/Nightclubbing

See comments for more info.

A Primary Industry - At Gunpoint

A re-ripped high quality lossless re-post from my copy of a rare 7" single.

A Primary Industry were the duo of Paul Hammond and Ian Cooper (with a few friends), whose debut 7" single was an early release on LTM Records. With abass and horn driven industrial funk sound, much akin to 23 Skidoo, At Gunpoint was hard to follow and subsequent releases on Sweatbox Records would never live up to it's promise.

Of note, Alan Hempsall of Crispy Ambulance is credited on the label and his label Aural Assault is listed as publisher. A Primary Industry's only album, Ultramarine was released in 1986 and has also featured in these pages. In 1989, API re-invented themselves as ground breaking squelchy electronic duo, Ultramarine.

At Gunpoint : ripped from a 7" vinyl single released on Les Temps Modernes (CSBT V.V) in 1984 to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A. At Gunpoint

B. Perversion

See Comments

A Short Intermission

Various Artists - The Men With The Deadly Dreams

Courtesy of blog follower shivascending, here is a very rare cassette compiled by Geoff Rushton on the Whites Stains Tapes label from 1981. Notable amongst the tracks are cut-ups by Cabs, Chris Watson and Richard H. Kirk, two unreleased live tracks by 4AD supergroup Rema Rema and some nob twiddling by former Throbbing Gristle man, Chris Carter. Really good stuff!

A1. Christopher R Watson – News Cut-Up 2/5/81

A2. Rema Rema – Why Ask Why?
A3. Eyeless In Gaza – Pale Saints
A4. Culturcide – Land Of Birds
B1. Chris Carter – Climbing
B2. Rema Rema – Christopher
B3. A House – Words From A Radio
B4. Richard H Kirk – Powermad
B5. M A Peacock – Voices

Part One

Part Two

Various Artists - Northern Lights (Issue Four)

The final in a series of four cassettes in the Northern Lights series was released in February 1982. This tape is most notable for the two early tracks by Yorkshire Goths, The Danse Society who went on to have a few minor hits later in the decade.

A1. Howard Walmsley – Walking Heat (Soundtrack Extract) & Interview

A2. Danse Society – We're So Happy
A3. Dave Hines – Monolog
B1. Mark Miwordz – Interview
B2. In Pop – Itching And Twitching
B3. Danse Society – Woman's Own
B4. Ginger (1st Hacienda Manager) – Interview

New Link

Shriekback - Jam Science

Strangely deleted and never reissued, this was the band reaching their peak when it came to recording an album. The early singles were superior work, and I always found the first two albums a tad fiddly and unnecessary in places. The importance of a good producer is also evident when comparing the Y Records release with this, the Arista (RCA distributed at the time) release. Paul Groucho Smykle has coated everything in a smooth adhesive-like production which bonds ten very different tracks into a highly cohesive and enjoyable listen. It is funky in all the right places, soft and gentle in others, the lyrics as always mean little with Carl Marsh and Barry Andrews sharing the vocal roles with great effect.

The band went on to break America with the Oil & Gold album but silliness began to creep in with big bad nemesii and silly songs about fish isolating their original audience. I won't be ripping my copy of Oil & Gold as it has recently been reissued.

Jam Science : ripped from a vinyl album released on Arista Records (206 416) in 1984 to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A1. Hand On My Heart

A2. Newhome

A3. Achtung

A4. Party Line

A5. Midnight Maps

B1. Mercy Dash

B2. Under The Lights

B3. My Careful Hands

B4. Suck

B5. Hubris

Not Available

Shriekback - Hand On My Heart (Remixes)

Two remixes of Hand On My Heart by Adrian Sherwood and one by Paul Groucho Smykle, backed with the superb Nerve, all ripped to lossless FLAC audio from a 12" vinyl single released on Arista Records (SHRK 221) in 1984.

A1. Jumping On The Ribcage With The Digital Rasta

A2. Nerve

B1. Cloud Of Nails (Pump Up A Storm)

B2. Mistah Linn He Dead

Not Available

Shriekback - Jam Science (Y Records Version)

Somebody was asking for this. I'm not 100% sure as to the history of why there are two versions of this album, with differing tracks. I prefer the Arista UK release as the tracklisting is stronger, the re-recorded versions of Hand On My Heart and Party Line are better, and Paul Groucho Smykle's final production is sublime and unique in places. Dave Allen is a follower of these pages ...any chance of the story behind it all, Dave?

Jam Science : ripped from a vinyl album released on Y Records (YLP 504) in 1984 to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A1. Under The Lights

A2. Building Up A New Home

A3. Hand On My Heart

A4. International

B1. Putting On The Pressure

B2. Party Line

B3. My Careful Hands

B4. Midnight Maps

Not Available

The Three Johns - Democracy

Very probably the best rock band ever not to feature a drummer! A hearty collection of eight classic singles released by The Three Johns features the brilliant English White Boy Engineer (originally written as a Mekons track I'm told) and Pink Headed Bug, as well as blogger faves AWOL, Do The Square Thing and the topical Death Of The European. The latter two feature the full 12" single versions. I picked this up for a quid in a certain London second-hand store before xmas. A bit scratchy in a few places but bloody essential! One day I well get around to ripping Atom Drum Bop.

Democracy : ripped and declicked from a vinyl album released on Abstract Sounds (ABT 015) in 1986 to lossless FLAC audio. Best quid spent in 2011!

A1. English White Boy Engineer
A2. Pink Headed Bug
A3. Men Like Monkeys
A4. Windolene
A5. Two Minute Ape
A6. Rooster Blue
A7. AWOL
B1. Do The Square Thing
B2. Zowee
B3. Death Of The European
B4. Brainbox
B5. Sold Down The River

Not Available

Various Artists - Northern Lights (Issue Three)

The third in a series of cassette magazines released via New Hormones in October 1981. This one is notable for the 1979 interview with Ian Curtis.

A1. Biting Tongues – Iyahboune

A2. Jonathan Hyams – Monolog
A3. Untitled [Percussion Improvisation] (Live Croft Farm, High Legh, Cheshire May 1981)
A4. Ian Curtis – Monolog (Live Oldham St. Pub, Manchester October 1979)
B1. Nausea – Vocal Expression
B2. Malcolm Whitehouse – Interview
B3. Untitled [Percussion Improvisation] (Live The Old School, High Legh, Cheshire May 1981)
B4. Biting Tongues – After The Click, Dialogue

Not Available

Shriekback - Care

Care : lovingly ripped from a vinyl album released on Y Records (YLP 502) in 1983 to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A1. Lined Up

A2. Clear Trails

A3. Hapax Legomena

A4. Petulant

A5. Lines From The Library

B1. Brink Of Collapse

B2. Sway

B3. Into Method

B4. Evaporation

B5. In : Amongst

Not Available

Shriekback - Tench

Tench : ripped from a vinyl album released on Y Records (Y21) to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A1. Sexthinkone

A2. A Kind Of Fascination

A3. All The Greek Boys (Do The Handwalk)

B1. Accretions

B2. Mothloop

B3. Here Comes My Hand Clap

Not Available

The Box - EP

On the subject of Clock DVA, I have begun to re-rip The Box catelogue to lossless Flac with the aim of replacing my ancient mp3 soaked discography post from a few years back. For those who were unaware, The Box were formed by three-fifths of Clock DVA, who all decided they'd had enough and jumped ship. They roped in nutty local Sheffield frontman Peter Hope and turfed out some fantastic post-Beefheart inspired industrial jazz-punk.

The Box EP : ripped from a 12" vnyl EP released on Go Discs (VFM 1) to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A1. No Time For Talk

A2. Burn Down That Village

B1. Unstable

B2. Hazard

B3. Limpopo

Not Available

Clock DVA - White Souls In Black Suits

Happy New Year to all blog followers. To kick off 2012, this is not so much a vinyl rip - it is more of a painstaking reconstruction from multiple sources. I have two versions of this release, the 1982 vinyl and one of the many unofficial CDs which snuck out of Italy on Contempo. The vinyl is as crackly as hell and the Italian CD masterings leave much to be desired. The original version of this album was as a cassette on Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records released in 1980. It features contributions by several members of Cabaret Voltaire.

I think you'll agree that this stuff should be heard at its best, so until Vinyl On Demand get around to their much vaunted DVA vinyl boxset, here is the result of my work, all caressed with love & care from vinyl and CD. The result is a fuller and warm sound (no limiting required), with space and depth in the mix. It works well and breathes life into what was essentially a fifteen hour jam cut down to an album of work. This is hardly music for iPod and deserves to heard lossless.

This is Clock DVA under going a change. Under a metamorphosis from industrial tape loops, noise and electronics to more natural instruments with sharp stabbing guitars, plucked bass, sax and flutes. Two or three of the tracks can actually be described as songs. In places, it becomes warped neo-jazz improv, in others, a post-punk drone. Adi Newton even finds time for poetry. This new direction was eventually to evolve on to the band's first proper album, Thirst.

White Souls In Black Suits : ripped from a vinyl album released on EXpanded Music (EX 24) in 1982 and a compact disc released on Contempo Records (CONTEDISC 157) in 1990, and lovingly polished and wrapped up in glorious lossless FLAC audio.

A1. Consent

A2. Discontentment (Parts 1 & 2)

A3. Still/Silent

A4. Non

B1. Relentless

B2. Contradict

B3. Anti-Chance (Soundtrack : Keyboards Assemble Themselves At Dawn)

Clock DVA - Live Tour 1992

Ripped from an unofficially released CD album on Smurf Records (SMURFCD 92-01) to high quality lossless Flac audio.

1. Intro

2. Man-Amplifiers

3. Technogeist

4. Axiomatic & Heuristic

5. Bitstream

6. Fractalize

7. NYC Overload

8. Final Program - Decoded

9. Encore Attend

10.Sound Mirror

11. BitstreamRemix

12.The Hacker

Various Artists - Northern Lights (Issue Two)

Northern Lights Issue Two : ripped from a cassette album released in August 1981 to lossless flac audio.

A1. So Much Fault/Perfectly In Control (Live) - Dislocation Dance

A2. Andy Winters Interview

A3. Album Release News

B1. 23 Skidoo (Live) - Eric Random

B2. Dick Witts Monolog

B3. Hiya (Live) - Dislocation Dance