The Uber Rock Albums Club – Punk Rock Vinyl Overload
Written by Johnny H
Sunday, 03 July 2016 03:20
With Dom Daley off sporting a red, yellow and green bucket hat whilst tearing his way across the French nation and most of Europe seemingly shut down we have to admit defeat as we only received two 7” singles to review this month,. Rather than ditch our love of vinyl though we instead asked Singles Club founding member Johnny H to cast his eye over a plethora of vinyl LPs we’d received and give them a review. It just so happened to be that all the 12” beauties were of a certain musical genre too, so if you want to discover who the awesome Spit Pink are, you better read on…..
Rasender Stillstand – ‘Self Titled’ (Hart Scum Records)
First up this special edition of The Uber Rock Albums Club comes this black vinyl debut album from German hardcore DIY punks Rasender Stillstand. Pointed in the Uber direction by fellow countryman Max Motherfucker of the quite superb deathpunk band Christmas the Rasender sound isn’t actually a million miles away from what Max and Co do, with perhaps the only small caveat being that these guys sing one side of their debut in their native tongue. Not that this really matters, in fact the duel language used on tracks like ‘100% Rasender Stillstand’ actually adds to the band’s rough and ready DIY appeal. When singer/guitarist Frau Paula takes over the fully English language flip side of the LP via ‘Give Them A Fuck’ the band’s true potential is fully brought to the fore and tracks like ‘All Cops Are….’ and ‘Stand Up!’ only help to hammer this point home. This is a sound, well produced, debut album that fans of UK82 punk should check out immediately.
G.B.H. – ‘The Punk Singles 1981-84’ (Westword Recordings/Let Them Eat Vinyl)
Talking of UK82, (Charged) G.B.H. pretty much defined that scene (along with one other band, but more of them in a minute) for yours truly. I originally had this 22 track collection on CD back around the early part of the noughties bought for me (trivia fans) by a certain drummer who a decade or so later went on to feature in a couple of AC/DC videos. Re-released in 2016 on CD via Westworld Recordings and on glorious red vinyl via their sister company Let Them Eat Vinyl this collection starts with the legendary ‘Leather, Bristles, Studs And Acne’ EP and then winds its way through all of the band’s original Clay Records released 7” and 12”ers. Drop the needle anywhere on this album and you will get a classic track…
Discharge – ‘Grave New World’ & ‘Massacre Divine’ (Westword Recordings/Let Them Eat Vinyl)
The other UK82 band I was also referring to above was of course Discharge. What you need to be aware of however is that these two albums, originally from 1986 and 1991 respectively, are not exactly the same sonic ball of fury that propelled those early Clay Records classics ‘Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing’ and ‘Never Again’. No siree, in fact when I originally picked up a copy of ‘Grave New World’ back in the day I actually thought it was a miss-pressing. Checking the labels though, the song titles appeared to match up with the almost glam tinged rock that was oozing from my speakers, but what the hell had happened to Discharge? Thirty years on and it transpires that singer Cal had simply found his inner rock star and wanted to be the next Robert Plant. It’s kind of ironic then that he should then be briefly replaced by a certain Robert Barclay (otherwise known as Rocky Shades glam fans) just a few months later. Returning to this record in 2016 I actually found a few plus points in the sub-Tank NWOBHM riffing but again it is the “sky high” voice of Cal that really lets this baby, baby, baby down ‘Massacre Divine’ did see Discharge trying to recapture its glorious past but again it was let down by the band trying to follow the musical trend of the time (in this case thrash with just the merest hint of funk rock) rather than leading from the front as they had back at the start of their career. Both albums are re-released in 2016 on CD via Westworld Recordings and on via their sister company Let Them Eat Vinyl.
Now let’s get back to some new music shall we?
L
A FLINGUE – ‘Piss Tape Zero Quatre’ (Wanda Records)
I really did not know what to expect when dropping the needle on this six track clear vinyl EP from French outfit LA FLINGUE. I mean the record itself looked well arty with its minimalistic presentation and with no label on the vinyl all I was left with was a two inch obi strip with which to glean any information about the release. Okay, it was recorded in Marseille in 2015 and wait…fuck they’ve even manged to cram the song lyrics on this strip too…so what does it sound like??? Well ‘Tanz auf dem Müll’ is the same kind of high octane boogie punk that a band like Randy might have been playing a decade or so ago on the Burning Heart label, whilst ‘Porcelaine God’ kind of reminds me of another Burning Heart band, the mighty Division Of Laura Lee. This is a really interesting introduction to LA FLINGUE I now need to go and play catch up with their back catalogue.
The Suzards – ‘Les Suzards’ (Wanda Records)
Another intriguing album sleeve awaits me whilst inspecting the last Wanda Records release from Bordeaux based punks The Suzards. This twelve tracker looks like it might be some long-lost bootleg from Peter Gabriel oe someone like that but it is in fact more like a long lost Heartbreakers album. I suppose the L.A.M.F badge on the lapel of the jacket adorning the album sleeve (blink and you’ll miss it mind) could have been a bit of a giveaway, but it’s only when ‘Hate Me’ blasts out of the speakers that The Suzards really drop their art rock guard and finally let us into their world. Equal parts Manchester punk post the infamous Free Trade Hall Sex Pistols show and the aforementioned sleazy low slung guitar driven rock of Johnny Thunders’ post Dolls band, ‘Les Suzards’ is a delightful piece of vinyl that is well worth exploring should this type of thing tickle your coin purse.
Spit Pink – ‘Night Of The Lizard’ (Wanda Records)
Of the three Wanda Records released albums covered here, I have to admit that ‘Night Of The Lizard’ by German garage punks Spit Pink is head and shoulders my favourite. . This nine tracker immediately has me up on my feet and dancing around the room like a complete idiot as soon as ‘Fool’ musically stabs me in the eye. Think what early International Noise Conspiracy sounded like and you will not be too far off the mark in defining what Spit Pink) actually sound like too. Oh and before I forget please be careful out there if Googling the band’s name, it’s certainly not Spilt Pink okay. Things get really tasty though when ‘Knife’ stumbles in on an almost out of tune guitar line that is designed to intrigue and repel by equal measure, this track actually makes me think of long defunct UK glam punks Marionette and for anyone clued in that should be enough for you to go out and buy this. Fuck me there’s even a Venom riff thrown in for good measure on ‘Bad Dreams On Ketamine’, and if ‘Lizard’s Night’ doesn’t get you moving on the dancefloor then you must be dead already. Oh and (I know this aspect has concerned a few readers recently) Spit Pink look fucking great too.
‘Night Of The Lizard’ is a fantastic way to finish this special edition of The Uber Rock Albums Club because it pretty much defines what we love about rock music here at Uber Rock HQ. With that though it’s over and out for another month, and who knows Dom Daley might actually make it back from France in time to get the Uber Rock Singles Club open again sometime soon.