In The Trashcan
Records GEM076
"Do you wanna know true confessions? About a psycho
chicken in the shadow of an electric guitar. It's OK,
this is rock 'n' roll..."
This 1980 single contains two parody versions of the big Talking Heads hit "Psycho killer" from 1979. One side is the "beeped" version, the other is the "clucked" version. The Fools hailed from Massachusetts.
It's almost as excellent as the Lurkers' original 1977 single. Garage punk from the Medway scene in 1996, released by Wild Wild Records from France. The B-side is on vol 21.
David Byrne's band that made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I particularly like the Brian Eno produced album "Fear of music". This comes from that great 1979 album which contains nothing but classic tunes. My favorite is "Heaven" and then this one, hidden as the B-side of "Life druing wartime".
My fave Lurkers songs are "Shadow" and "Ain't got a clue". This is the flipside of the latter, a 1978 release on Beggars Banquet. On this particular song you'd swear they were the UK Ramones.
Still this is for me the best Blondie cover version ever! In the whole wide world no band has ever played a Blondie song like this 1996 recording by Belgian combo Sin Alley featuring pre-Triggerfinger Ruben Block and his then-girlfriend Martine van Hoof. No wonder Lux and Ivy were in love with the tiny singer and her fantastic vocal power.
Great version of Mickey and Thee Milkshakes' 1982 single release by the biggest American fans. This 6-track EP from 1995 contains 5 Childish/Hampshire compositions and one own (see vol 84).
B-side of "Union city blue" and much better. No Blondie song will ever beat the power of "Detroi 442", my fave Blondie song. In 1979 Debbie Harry was already a world pop star.
This was the second 45 released from the 1995 session at Toe-Rag Studios (see vol 34) and it's a free single given away at a Christmas party that same year. And of all the songs Billy Childish wrote for this outfit this one still remains a personal fave. Released on Toe-Rag Records.
The song title says it all… Even in Japan they discovered the genius of Ludo Mariman, singer-guitarist and songwriter of The Kids, Belgium's best known punk rock outfit and considered all over the world as one of the very best ever. And then suddenly, the Japanese group broke up in 1995 after a mere 3 years' existence. Fifi and Sammy reunited with another band, Firestarter.
Perhaps the weirdest Motorhead cover song ever. Recorded in 1988, yet unreleased until 1993 when Behemoth Records decided the time was right. Drummer Byron Reynolds and bassist Mike Occhiato played before with The Joneses, a crazed glampunk outfit from Los Angeles. Here they sound like bluegrass redneck hillbillies, under production of Billy Zoom, founding member of cowpunk band X.
People sometimes ask me what's my favourite Kids song. It's this one. It's even better than "Do you love the nazis" or " Bloody Belgium". The Kids started in 1976 with a 12-year old bass player, his 16-your old brother on drums and a 21-year old guitarist. Two years later a second guitar player joined with the recording of their second album "Naughty kids". This song was produced by the (in Belgium) legendary Sylvain Van Holme. A 1979 B-side release on Mercury.
Too bad this was just the "Ace of spades" flipside, because it's a hell of a rocker that deserved more. Ian Kilmister aka Lemmy, Phil Taylor and Eddie Clarke were Motorhead when they were at their best in 1980.
East Coast punk rock band founded in 1982 with a large output. In 1995 they decided to cover The Undertones' "Get over you" and it appeared on the Surf Goddess EP on Lookout!Records. I don't know why but when an American band plays a UK punk song it always sounds a bit... queer.
Perhaps Dead Moon's best song ever gets a great rendition by this Norwegian garage punk quartet, recorded in 1999, yet unreleased until 2001 by Wrench Records from London. I enjoyed their live show at Tiki's in 2001 and will never forget the crazy drummer girl.
From their debut EP on Good Vibrations, reissued by Sire a month later in 1978. It also appears on their first album. It's accessible punk pop, with an unlikely frontman, Feargal Sharkey, who later went solo, successfully.
In Lintfabriek, once Belgium's best venue, this song was their most asked, although it was only a B-side. Released on their own Tombstone Records in 1993 it's one of the best songs Fred Cole ever recorded. He was already a veteran, since he'd been singing for bands such as Lollipop Shoppe (remember their "You must be a witch") in the mid-60s. His wife Toody sings also on this garage classic, cut on the same record press that gave us The Kingsmen's Louie Louie about three decades earlier.
