As I approach the one year anniversary of the blog this coming April, I'll be posting regular podcasts that include songs from the many bands and artists I have written about over the last year, as well as reply to requests to hear songs from my own band Bigger Thomas. I'm also planning to record a podcast which features songs from all three Bigger Thomas albums as a prelude to sharing music from our upcoming record which is currently being mixed by King Django at the Version City Recording Studio.
This first podcast focuses on some of my personal favorite songs from bands I've profiled over the last year. For this first podcast I've made an effort to include out-of-print and very hard-to-find singles and unreleased songs. All the songs on this podcast were recorded immediately prior to or during the height of 2-Tone in the UK and US. I included a number of bands on the periphery of 2-Tone in the UK, namely The Ammonites and ska-punks The Piranhas from Brighton, The Ska-Dows from London and The Akrylykz from Hull. I also added a nascent version of 'Ranking Full Stop' by The Beat recorded for a Peel Session in late 1979. Of particular interest to reggae fans will be songs by Capital Letters and the original reggae punks Basement Five. Finally, leading off the podcast is mod band The Lambrettas with a bouncy 2-Tone take on the 50's classic 'Poison Ivy', Los Angeles ska icons The Untouchables with their early single 'The General and the hardest working man in ska, Mr Mark Foggo with a tale of the choices facing an unemployed man in early 80's England (though it is sadly relevant today here in the U.S, for millions of people)
This first podcast focuses on some of my personal favorite songs from bands I've profiled over the last year. For this first podcast I've made an effort to include out-of-print and very hard-to-find singles and unreleased songs. All the songs on this podcast were recorded immediately prior to or during the height of 2-Tone in the UK and US. I included a number of bands on the periphery of 2-Tone in the UK, namely The Ammonites and ska-punks The Piranhas from Brighton, The Ska-Dows from London and The Akrylykz from Hull. I also added a nascent version of 'Ranking Full Stop' by The Beat recorded for a Peel Session in late 1979. Of particular interest to reggae fans will be songs by Capital Letters and the original reggae punks Basement Five. Finally, leading off the podcast is mod band The Lambrettas with a bouncy 2-Tone take on the 50's classic 'Poison Ivy', Los Angeles ska icons The Untouchables with their early single 'The General and the hardest working man in ska, Mr Mark Foggo with a tale of the choices facing an unemployed man in early 80's England (though it is sadly relevant today here in the U.S, for millions of people)
Here is the playlist of the first podcast:
The Lambrettas - Poison Ivy
The Untouchables - The General (7" single)
Mark Foggo - The Choice
The Ammonites - Dressed To Kill (1980 rehearsal tape)
The Ska-Dows - Apache (7" single)
The Akrylykz - Gunslinger (Unreleased studio track)
The Piranhas - I Don't Want My Body
Basement 5 - Silicon Chip (7" single)
Capital Letters - Smoke My Ganja
The Beat - Ranking Full Stop (Peel Session Recording 5/11/79)
Hi Marco.
ReplyDeleteBeen visiting your site on and off for quite a while now, and enjoy reading your take. Thought I'd finally say "great job", and add some other comments.
I see the Lambrettas listed here, and I recall you once posted something about them, yes? Of course, they were not part of the Two-Tone explosion, and I can tell you it was record company insistence that caused them to record Poison Ivy. The bass player (this writer) was the guilty party in suggesting they ska the thing up a bit instead of doing a straight re-do à la The Stones, Coasters, et al.
It was big hit in the UK, but the band took lot of shit from the British music press, as did so many other bands back then.
The only other attempt by them of anything approaching ska was from the first first LP, a song called "Watch Out, I'm Back" - but as you know, the Lambs were essentially a mod-revival power-pop band.
I think I am correct you once wrote a page about Mark Bedford, bassist from Madness? Been looking, but can't locate it in your blog. Is it available?
All the best,
Mark Ellis, Los Angeles.
(Bass with the original Lambs lineup, 1979-82)