The Minutemen - Doctor Wu

The Minutemen were such geniuses in their own right, I feel a bit guilty that their first appearance here is with a cover (of a Steely Dan song, of all things). I suppose the reason for that is that much of their music is the kind that I cerebrally appreciate without necessarily enjoying, if you know what I mean. Though lumped in with the LA punk scene, it would always be more accurate to describe them as post-punk - and even within that genre they were unique, drawing on jazz and funk influences to a degree almost unheard of by their contemporaries. Unfortunately, not being a fan of either jazz or funk, I couldn't really get into a lot of their stuff. But I always felt kind of bad about it.

In any event I did love this one, first of all because I thought it was brilliant that they covered it in the first place - an '80s punk band covering Steely Dan? Seriously? - and secondly because I love what they did with it, the dual vocals where one person sounds like he's trying to do a faithful version and the other is clearly taking the piss. As I said...geniuses.

It's from their 1984 (third) album Double Nickels on the Dime.

Joy Division - Isolation

A lot of Closer, Joy Division's second album, is too bleak for my tastes. Musically, that is; it's all pretty bleak lyrically but I don't find that quite as off-putting. Especially when those bleak lyrics are as stunning as some of these ones are.

Gang of Four - I Found That Essence Rare

Entertainment! is a great album from start to finish but this is probably my personal favourite on it - catchy as hell and with sharp, clever lyrics, the kind that sound good even if you don't know what they mean and sound even better once you work out what they do mean. This is why I love the Gang of Four.

The Au Pairs - Armagh

Powerful piece from the Au Pairs' 1981 debut album, Playing with a Different Sex, written about the (mis)treatment of Irish female political prisoners in a British jail. I always think of the opening lines to this song whenever Guantánamo is in the news.

Simple Minds - Chelsea Girl

Now here's a trip down memory lane. What a different band Simple Minds were back then! The keyboards remind me of a Van Morrison song (not that one), Jim Kerr looks like Gary Numan, and there's some rather wankery guitar in the middle. Still, there's an infectious song underneath it all, and I love an infectious song no matter how embarrassingly it's dressed.

Their second single, from 1979.

Mission of Burma - Trem Two

MoB's second 7", from 1982. It's not an obvious single, I don't think; it strikes me as one of those album tracks that you don't really notice for the first couple dozen listenings and then one day you think, "Fuck me, this is bleeding brilliant." Or maybe that's just how I reacted to it, having first heard it as an album track a couple years after the fact. Whatever. It's a great song either way, a tense and moody piece that sounds like MoB were listening to a fair amount of Manchester post-punk in that Boston garage of theirs.

 

Felt - Evergreen Dazed

I don't think I've posted anything yet from the Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty mini-LP, Felt's 12" debut, even though it's my single favourite thing they've ever released. Every song on it is so exquisitely crafted, the vocals (where there are any) wisely downplayed, Martin Deebank's guitar doing its intricate dance around (and occasionally with) Lawrence's strums, the almost tribalistic rhythms, and the austere production rendering it all even more fragile. It's a stunning work, and I can never decide if I wish it were a full-length because there might be more of it, or if I'm glad they left it at six songs instead of risking spoiling it with filler. I've been pondering that question for almost thirty years now.

This is the opening track, an instrumental, a perfect instrumental where you don't even notice there aren't any vocals or if you do, you don't miss them because the song has everything it needs without them. Everything.

And if I sound like I'm swooning, well, this record does that to me.

Bush Tetras - Things That Go Boom in the Night

Here's a classic of the no wave genre, which I've developed a greater appreciation for in recent years. It was Bush Tetras' second single, released in 1981. Its predecessor "Too Many Creeps" seems to be the song they're best remembered for but I think this one is much better. It's rather Au Pairs-ish which is no bad thing at all.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dazzle

The opening track to 1984's Hyæna, and the last Banshees single I really liked. 'Twas all kind of downhill from here.

There is an official video on YouTube, but I think Siouxsie's antics in it detract from the song so I'm posting this one instead. Just listen.

The Three Johns - Death of the European

I heard this song for the first time shortly after it was released (1985) but I always assumed it was older than that. It has a really early-'80s post-punk feel, I think, even though it's fairly pop by the Three Johns' standards. Though you certainly couldn't accuse them of going mainstream where the lyrics were concerned. Or the cover art for that matter.

The Teardrop Explodes - Camera Camera

B-side to their 1979 debut single, "Sleeping Gas". It barely sounds like the Teardrop Explodes; in fact, to my ears it barely sounds like Julian Cope singing. Come to that, it barely sounds like "singing" at all. But it's still a good song.

The Chameleons - In Shreds

The first and best Chameleons single...still kicking ass after all these years.

Modern English - Just a Thought

I would guess that over 90% of the people who know Modern English at all know them only for that song. And most of them would probably hate this. It's from their 1981 debut album, Mesh and Lace, which is a pretty dark affair...sort of Bauhaus meets the Sound or the Comsat Angels. They were on 4AD after all!

Felt - Trails of Colour Dissolve

The b-side to their 1982 third single, "My Face Is On Fire", which I always preferred it to. It's Felt still very much in their early minimalist post-punk mode; even Maurice Deebank's legendary guitar is fairly muted in this one, with the drums being, unusually, the most prominent instrument. I absolutely love this era of Felt.

Not an official video. It's kind of cool, though.

Fire Engines - Candyskin

Their second single, from 1981. It's far less abrasive than their debut and also far less well-known. Interestingly it and its b-side, "Meat Whiplash", both gave their names to bands that followed, though I can't say I remember much about the namesake of this one.

The Furies - I Couldn't Get Arrested

OK, now this one is a complete mystery. I have it on a mix cassette that someone made for me a long time ago, but with no identifying information apart from the name. The only Furies I can find anything about were an early Vancouver punk band but I'm pretty sure this isn't them. I'd date it to the very early 1980s; it has that sort of minimalist art-rock thing going but that could just be because it seems to have been recorded very cheaply. Anyone know anything???

Prolapse - TCR

A band I was never quite sure what to make of. Prolapse were from Leicester (though you'd never know it from Mick Derrick's thick Glasgow accent) and made music that could generally be summed up as "post-punk", although they fell between that genre's initial heyday and its 21st century revival. Which probably explains why nobody else really knew what to make of them, either. In fairness, though, they pushed the envelope of even as elastic a genre as that one - as you can hear from this song, which is really just a piece of manic pop. Very manic.

If you don't know what their name means, incidentally, don't ask. Just don't.

BPeople - I Said Everybody

Late '70s/early '80s no-wave sort of band from LA. I picked up a 7" of theirs when I was around 15, I think I found it in a bargain bin or something and thought it looked interesting. I didn't really "get it" at the time though. Rediscovered them a few years ago and while I don't think I was missing a lot, they had their moments, all right. If you're into this sort of thing, you can download a compilation album here.

Public Image Ltd - Public Image

I never took to PiL, despite being a big fan of early post-punk generally. I'm not really sure why. I still find John Lydon one of the most interesting musical personalities around, so maybe I should go back and give his band another listen.

Anyway, here's one I always did like: their debut single, from 1978.

The Chameleons – Thursday’s Child

I haven’t posted nearly enough Chameleons here, and I see that I haven’t posted anything that isn’t on their magnificent 1983 debut album Script of the Bridge.

I’ll rectify the latter omission at some point. But not today.