Re: song ID expiriment (LONG)

Friends,

I'm enlisting your help with this project. I'm trying to make CD-Rs for my brother that simulate the tapes described below. Folks on other newsgroups have already pointed me to long-lost tracks by The Necessaries, Medium Medium, and The Plugz. Can anyone help with any of these?


In 1982, my brother gave me a cassette of songs he had taped off
KJHK, the University of Kansas student radio station. This tape quite
literally changed my life. I heard for the first time the Clash, the
Specials, the Cramps, Pere Ubu, the Only Ones, and many more. I asked
for more, and my brother continued to supply me with hissy, one-channel
tapes he made off his mono jambox. I heard almost every important band
of the late 70s/early 80s on these tapes, as well as quite a few
insignificant ones, and despite the lousy sound quality, these tapes
were a huge formative influence on me as well as a dearly loved source
of entertainment.
Unfortunately, my brother rarely bothered to record the announcer’s
voice, so I was generally left to my own devices as far as trying to
figure out who the artists were. In many cases this was fairly easy,
and in others quite difficult. I’ve come across many of them
accidentally. I cannot adequately explain the giddiness I’ve felt when
a likely-looking record came in to the store where I work, and I dropped
the needle on it to the sound of some long-lost tune from one of these
tapes. However, a few have remained unidentified for years, and I am
absolutely haunted by them. The tapes have long since disappeared, but
bits of certain songs still flash in my mind. I described three of them
to the folks on the Audities newsgroup, and got one strike (It was a
Comsat Angels song. "Now I Know" indeed) so I thought I might try an
slightly expanded list on some other music enthusiasts.
I don’t wish to turn this into a punk-rock chain letter, but if you
know anyone who was or is into punk/post-punk college radio weirdness in
the late 70s/early 80s please forward this message to them. You have no
idea how much it would mean to this aging punk rock guy trying to
recapture slivers of his youth. I will try to reward those who can
provide info with CD-Rs of cool stuff, or obscure vinyl/CDs (if I can
find something you want), or something.

So here goes. All of these songs would have been from spring 1982 at the very
latest. And some of them, I admit, are awful.

1) A punk rock song that includes words that are something like "You
die rocker, you die red." "You bastard you" is the last line of the chorus.
2) A song whose chorus repeats the phrase (I think) "They walk up on
you." This one has some fairly prominent synths, if I remember correctly.
3) This song seems to consist entirely of falsetto/childlike voices
singing "la-la-la-la" over and over. The melody is 4-3-2-1 of a major
scale, but the tones remain the same while the chords change. (Great
musical notation, I know) And it’s not the Residents’ "La-La", as it’s
way too "normal" for that.
4) A disturbing little psycho-drama: As the music fades in you hear
the clanking of silverware as if a family is eating dinner as a father
begins questioning his daughter about "that Roger boy". The female
singer starts the song with the lyrics "Father is jealous/Father’s got a
car and he’s got a gun/Father’s got a gun and he’s got some scars." In
the middle of the song there appears to be a physical confrontation that
ends with the daughter threatening "Just try it, Daddy." I also
remember the line "Inside the house, naked."
5) Something that sounds sort of like a Pretenders out-take: Kind
of a Bo Diddley beat, and the lyrics to one verse are (I think)
"Everybody wants my car/Everybody wants my ride/So they can ride all
around like I ride/Everybody wants my car/ You better leave it alone."
Other verses are similar; just substitute "money", "man" etc. for "car".
6) A song with a queasy Farfisa riff that starts with the words (Images...not reality." Song also contains the line "Should I pledge allegience/To her."



Thanks for your time, your efforts are surely appreciated.

Best wishes,

Jon Harrison

Jon,

"you die rocker, you die red ... you bastard you" is The Red Rockers. You might remember they had a commercial "hit" in the 80's with a song called CHINA. Your song, however, is off their debut indie release, Condition Red. I think the name of the song is "You Know What I Think."

Hope this helps you.

johndoegirl-

Thanks so much. I suspected this might be the Red Rockers; the song was in fairly close proximity to their version of "Folsom Prison Blues" which is, I believe on the same LP? Anyway, one more thing to track down on eBay/Gemm.

Best wishes,

Jon

Song #3 sounds like it could be "Baby Judy" by the Hawaiian Pups. An edited version is available on a comp.
#4 is "Mother Is" by Ki Di Me, a 7" from 1981 (got the record right in front of me - it's on Read Records). out of print, available from collectors sites. There's a copy on eBaby right now for 10 bucks.

Mr. Fab,

Wow! Thanks very much, Mr. Fab! Is it possible for you tosupply an MP3 or CD-R of either of these tracks? I would gladly pay you very well for your time and effort.

Best wishes,

Jon

Song #2 is "They Walk Among You" by New Math. It was available on a great six(?) song EP. Afterwards, they changed their name to The Jet Black Berries, had a song on an Enigma compilation and dropped off my radar.

Wow, bhob, you're right. I hadn't checked this in a while. That song is actually much better than I remember it being. Much gratitude,

Jon

It's been years since I started this experiment, and I'm still working on it. I found a couple of the original tapes while rooting around in my parents house over the holidays,(I'm a little embarrassed to say how excited I was) and one of the tracks was #3 above, "Legionnaire" by Altered Images. (#5 is "Envy" by the Motels, btw).

Does anyone have any idea what these are?

These excerpts are from cassettes made off KJHK in Lawrence, probably in early 1982. The second track appears in the middle of a bunch of Mute Records and related singles (Phillip and His Foetus Vibrations, Robert Rental, Fad Gadget.) That may or may not be helpful.


These tracks have played in my head for a long time. Please help.

[www.littlehits.com]

[www.littlehits.com]

Thanks,

Jon

Since the first one seems to feature violin, it could be Nash The Slash. But I really don't know much about him.

My thought was that either one could pass for Tuxedomoon...but when I zipped through their first few albums, I couldn't find a matching tune.

Nash the Slash was my guess for the first one, but it's only a guess. I haven't heard his album in 30 years, and I only heard it once back then.

My other guess was Walter Steding, but it actually sounded like it might be good, so I don't think it could be him.

I've got a couple of Nash the Slash records, but it's been a while since I listened to them. Though, frankly, his stuff tends to be wilder and darker than this first mp3. Could be him, though.

Having just skipped through NTS's recorded output ca. 1978-1982, I don't think it's him, although I'm very intrigued by the Dreams and Nightmares LP, which has some cool (and vaguely familiar sounding) Eno/Krautrock/electronic instrumentals. Gotta pick that one up.

I really, really appreciate the suggestions. Much gratitude.

The second track is 'Wenn Der Südwind Weht" by Roedelius.