Suicide (1977) è uno degli album manifesto della new wave e una delle più sconvolgenti rappresentazioni in musica della nevrosi metropolitana. La band, formata dal cantante/poeta Alan Vega e dal tastierista Martin Rev, emerse dal fremito culturale che attraversò New York a metà degli anni '70 e affermò presto la propria identità di duo intellettuale, colto e maledetto.

Lo stile dei Suicide si fonda su violente caricature di strutture rock famigliari e consolidate. I giri armonici tipici del rock'n'roll e del rockabilly vengono riprodotti pedissequamente, ma a cambiare è il contesto nel quale sono immersi: non più un'atmosfera spensierata e trascinante, ma uno spettrale horror-show, dominato da una tensione e da un'inquietudine costante.

Mentre le tastiere di Martin Rev si esprimono attraverso algide pulsazioni ritmiche, che sembrano riprodurre il frenetico e alienante incedere di una catena di montaggio, il canto di Alan Vega, declamato e cadaverico, si fa carico di comunicare la nevrosi di chi cerca, non riuscendoci, di adattare il ritmo della propria esistenza a quello, insostenibile, della 'vita contemporanea'. Così, in pezzi come Ghost Rider (uno dei capolavori dell'album, insieme alla terrificante Frankie Teardrop), sentiamo la voce di Vega lasciare spazio a gemiti di insofferenza, respiri ansimanti, immediatamente campionati e ripetuti all'infinito dalle tastiere di Rev, come se la società post-industriale, spersonalizzata e meccanica, si prendesse gioco beffardamente delle sofferenze del corpo e dell'animo umano.

LINK: scheda dell'album su Ondarock

But the 70s also saw the emergence of an Australian New Wave, with filmmakers like Philip Noyce (Newsfront), Gillian Armstrong (My Brilliant Career), Bruce Beresford (Breaker Morant) and Peter Weir (Picnic at Hanging Rock) all taking advantage of what were mostly Government funds to create distinctively Australian works to local and overseas acclaim. Though it's worth noting the reception from overseas was usually more positive than our own shores.

"[The Australian new wave] has been extraordinary. It does hold great hope for the future. It has certainly taught the British film industry a thing or two. And as a whingeing Pom, may I say I'm damned jealous."

- Derek Malcolm, film critic for The Guardian, 1980
From David Stratton's "The Last New Wave"

Nowadays, it's almost impossible to imagine that an overseas critic could actually be envious of our film industry. While a good film or two does come out of Australia every now and then, a great many of them are major disappointments and sink without a trace.

It's important to remember that the greatest successes of the Australian renaissance were not produced in a Hollywood fashion of targeting the lowest common denominator of film audiences. While the 80s saw a surge in "Ozploitation" films and of course the success of the Crocodile Dundee and Mad Max franchises, the internationally lauded films that made of the core of this new wave (Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave, Newsfront, My Brilliant Career) were decidedly arthouse films.

The key to a resurgence in Australian filmmaking lies in the courage to support unique, challenging films that defy conventional Hollywood film structure. It was the courage of writers, directors, actors and producers to create unconventional, unique films that led to the highlight in Australian cinema history.

In the coming weeks and months, I'll be reviewing films that were a part of the Australian new wave, in the hope of showing why these films worked, to encourage others to seek out these kinds of films, and hopefully to encourage filmmakers, not to try duplicating these films, but gain the courage to express themselves in their own way.

http://voluntarybeatdown.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, August 07, 2007:

(re the know it all types from forums and shops)....."anyway, more than anything he and his minions loved to debate about what was ethical with steelheading. now bear in mind these dudes seldom fish much and if they did, it was for summer runs. they loved to think the stupid things mattered, trying to define everything instead of letting shit be and being down with the vague beauty of it all, trying out new stuff and making the game their own. guess they really rodded off on making steelhead fishing more difficult than it really is, most likely because they just sucked at it and needed something to blame or something."

"we make that observation freely admitting we suck at steelhead fishing as much as the next guy, as well, but whereas some dudes need to find an excuse for when the skunk saddles up and drop kicks your balls, we're more into finding an excuse to go fishing again so we can understand a little more about why we keep getting kicked in the sack."

Yes, it is crass and purposefully different writing than the boring text of most rags. But, you get the core point don't you and if it resonates with you then keep an open mind. Yes, I am sure their are other counter culture practices I might not care for....but, as long as they promise to not become the next generation of snobs then I'm good.       

Success breeds many things: contentment, comfort, worldliness, conceit, arrogance, envy and  contempt. Flyfishing risks being depicted as the equivalent of fat cat Republicans or Democrats out of touch with core values and the common man. Beltway mentality that isolates. Such isolation infects the privileged if they don't maintain a balance in life. The contempt for this arrogance is implicit in the new wave, I previously referenced in Flyfishing's New Wave (Staid v. Edgy); July 12, 2008. The new wave is the rebellious bunch that I couldn't hope to copy in their writing style. The new wave is anything but weak minded...crisp, sharp, witty, pissy and I have to say right on. Their contempt for flyfishing's gurus would be borderline class envy bullshit that the left spews were it not for the true arrogance of their targeted contempt. They are right on.

Can there be any better line than the one above: '...trying to define everything instead of letting shit be and being down with the vague beauty of it all, trying out new stuff and making the game their own. ' I have written about 'the moment'. Everything that infuses ego, arrogance and one-ups-manship only dilutes that moment. The moment should not be about ego but about pure joy....drunken joy over being in touch for that enduring moment. My comments are by no means a 'beatdown'....I will leave it to the beatdown crew to nail the ("a famous steelheading dude with a famous bigass beard who might live out east of here and he used to talk tons of shit about us") arrogant ones of Maupin, Welches, Sisters & Tigard.

The successes and blessings of their hard work and travels went to their head. Monied customers knelt at their feet and paid for the infusion of creds to enhance bragging skills. These past ski bums, hippies and renegades (pay attention beatdown crew) were the previous cutting edge and I am sure ruffled the feathers of the then stodgy elite. But, as said, their successes and cornering of the market went to their head. Manufacturing reps played into this by making only certain shops capable of carrying products, thereby excluding other shops as less worthy. A class system amongst the shops exists and the traveling know it alls move from shop to shop searching for the ego laden environment, where they can feel most at home spending, bragging and preening.  Lost in all this is the ordinary flyfisher. Not just the new wave contingent, but all manner of hard working people, with little time, limited disposable income and only seeking real knowledge to experience the juice of 'the moment' (see June 14, 2008 post here: Why Flyfish~The Moment).

Note there are several excellent shops in Warm Springs, Portland, Eugene, Bend, Redmond, Oregon and beyond in the NW. You are welcomed by decent men and women, who don't cop an attitude. Equally traveled and storied but humble. Frequent these shops. Boycott the effete snobs; turn from them like an infectious rash.

http://mattstansberry.wordpress.com/2007/11/09/fly-fishing-blog-inspires-lofty-rants-on-the-industry/ (Upstream in Oregon is always right there....course I am a year late but I write as I feel it....so, I'm still behind the curve...just like school in the old days).

Growing up in suburbia in the 1980s, the lines of division were clear cut: you either liked Depeche Mode and Simple Minds (before "Don't You" came out) or you were a fan of Motley Crue and Judas Priest. Thanks to the gift of CFNY 102.1 and some older cousins with taste I fell into the former category and eschewed the black leather/spandex/big hair of the latter. New Wave begat Madchester which begat Britpop and so on and so on. One thing remained constant though, the lead singer of any British pop band always had a swagger, a grasp on irony, intelligent banter, and was never more than a few seconds away from calling a boring American interviewer a "tosser". I'm not exactly proud to link you readers to Muchmusic, but their blog has a listing of the 10 "most fierce" British leads in music. I guess the descriptor "fierce" is what excluded Thom Yorke.....

Terry Chambers, Brit drummer and founding member of XTC

AUDIO1
80's CLASSIKS - THE ULTIMATE 80'S MEGAMIX (MP3)

PLAYLIST
Audio1 Radio Intro
Krush Groovin' All-Stars - Krush Groovin'
Run DMC - Sucker MC's
New Edition - A Little Bit of Love (Remix)
World Famous Supreme Team - Hey DJ
Mary Jane Girls - All Night Long
Sly Fox vs Queen - Lets Rock You All The Way
Tears For Fears - Shout (1984 US Remix)
Bob Marley - Could You Be Loved
Culture Club - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me (DJ LBR Mix)
Nena - 99 Red Balloons
LL Cool J - Rock The Bells
Nu Shooz - I Cant Wait
Bananarama - Cruel Summer
Blondie - Rapture
Grandmaster Flash - Adventures On The Wheels Of Steel
Zapp - More Bounce To The Ounce
Parliament - Flashlight
George Clinton - Atomic Dog
Queen - Another One Bites The Dust
Run DMC feat. Aerosmith - Walk This Way
Run DMC - Peter Piper
Hall & Oates - I Cant Go For That
Timex Social Club - Rumors
Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
INXS - Need You Tonight
Indeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
Prince - Kiss
Bcyde - Wonder Kiss
David Bowie - Let's Dance
Michael Jackson - Rock With You
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Michael Jackson vs. Kelis & Biggie - Milkshake (Remix)
Janet Jackson - When I Think Of You (Jam It Remix)
Cameo - Word Up
The Whispers - Rock Steady
Young MC - Bust A Move
Tone-Loc - Funky Cold Medina
When In Rome - The Promise
Depeche Mode - Strangelove
New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
Yaz - Situation
Human League - (Keep Feeling) Fascination
Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Beastie Boys - Girls
Motley Crue - Girls Girls Girls
The B-52's - Love Shack (12-Inch Remix)
Billy Idol - Mony Mony
Michael Jackson - Beat It
Quiet Riot - Cum One Feel The Noize
Styx - Mr. Roboto
Soft Cell - Tainted Love (Spiral Tribe Mix)
Toni Basil - Mickey (OG Edit)
Twisted Sister - Were Not Gonna Take It
Devo - Whip It
The Romantics - What I Like About You
A Ha - Take Me On
Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me (OG Edit)
Parafyn - Sugar Goin Down On Me
Joan Jett - I Love Rock & Roll (Greg J Edit)
AC/DC - Back In Black

Então, seguem dicas de boas bandas gringas novas que estão rolando por lá (depois fazemos uma lista das brazucas, tá?):

The Days num momento “pintou sujeira!”

The Days: pop / rock / alternativa, do Reino Unido
Pop rock indie muito, muito legal. Lembra Libertines, mas não soa como uma cópia.

Cold Hands: parece nu-metal emo. Mas não é

Cold Hands: indie / rock / new wave, do Tennessee, EUA
Passeia entre estilos e adere à onda new rave, com músicas ideais para festas. Já pra pista!

Anton Mink: blasé cool

Anton Mink: rock / indie / alternativa, de Kentucky, EUA
O vocal, feminino, lembra a Karen O., do Yeah Yeah Yeahs, e o jeitão dance pop metidão soa como brit pop. É a evolução do Cansei de Ser Sexy. Sacou?

Skank Sinatra: electro / house / big beat, do Reino Unido
Já vale pelo trocaralho do cadilho. É o batidão do Sinatra. Som eletrônico, que em alguns momentos resvala no rock. Voltemos à pista!

Zoot Woman: não é o Echo & The Bunnymen disfarçado

Zoot Woman: alternativa / pop / eletrônica, de Londres, RU
Infelizemente não está no MySpace a ótima versão que eles fizeram para "Das Model / The Model", do Kraftwerk, mas tá valendo. Já sacou a onda, né? Som novo com ótimas influências de Kraftwerk, Joy Division, Soft Cell, Depeche Mode... Já gostei!

Tinha mais duas indicações, mas vou deixar pra outro dia, só pra poder atualizar mais aqui. Mesmo porque estes links aí já são suficientes para te divertir durante este fim de semana.

Aproveite o rock. E aproveite também pra ir tomar um solzinho e ativar sua vitamina D, pra não ficar velho logo. Eu tô indo.

Valeu!

This song in many ways was the follow-up to the kind of style that Costello had achieved with his song "Almost Blue" which was included on the Imperial Bedroom album of the previous year. Like that song, this one had Chet Baker in mind melodically speaking, going one further by including Baker on the track, playing trumpet. This stylistic turn was emblematic of Costello's wandering interest in exploring other styles, breaking out of his well-established ‘angry young man' label which marked the first phase of his career. Ironically, this is a very angry song, perhaps one of his angriest.

In 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a set of landmasses off of the South American continent, and home to a great many sheep. However, they were British sheep; the islands in question were still a part of the British Commonwealth. Reasons for a military response remain to be controversial to this day, but the British Navy was dispatched to the area, and battle commenced.

Daily rags in Britain worked up a media frenzy, the flames of nationalism in Britain were stoked, and ultimately lives were lost fighting to take back the islands thousands of miles away. While this was going on, many justifications for the war were centred around the promise of a job boom and industrial prosperity which war would bring to depressed areas.

The question ‘is it worth it? A new winter coat and shoes for the wife, and a bicycle on the boy's birthday?' was, for the time being, not being asked - at least in the Daily Mail. It wasn't being asked by the military junta in Argentina either. They had invaded the islands in order to win the favour of nationalists who had argued the ownership over the Falklands for generations.

But this song demands that the question be answered. Is it worth it? Is it worth it to risk the lives of young men and women for economic and political gain? Is this really about defending a way of life? Or, was the whole thing an opportunity for the governments of both nations to distract their citizens from the inadequacies of their leadership, and turn the tide of uncertain political currents toward electoral dominance?

Who knew that this tune, and the questions found in it, would remain to be relevant over 25 years later?

In addition to Elvis' version of the song, Robert Wyatt's cover version is a favourite among many, his brittle-yet-angelic voice bringing out the sadness in the track perhaps to an arguably greater degree than Costello's take on it.

Enjoy the clips.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Doubleday Publishing had a broadcasting division. They owned stations in several cities: Denver had KHOW, Minneapolis had KDWB, Detroit had WLLZ, Washington D.C. had WAVA, New York had WAPP, and St. Louis had KWK (which, by the way, had been a prominent St. Louis R&B station in the 1960s).

Doubleday had purchased KWK in 1976. At the time, their frequency was dark. A flood had damaged the transmitter three years earlier. When they did sign on in November 1978, they began as Top 40. One year later, they (as well as other Doubleday stations) shifted their format to AOR, and added an FM. KWK's tightly focused format proved very popular for several years, until CHR regained popularity in 1983.

What was unusual about this station was that both KWK AM and FM had separate AOR formats (not to mention the fact that AOR was a rare AM format anyway). They did a morning/afternoon drive simulcast, but they had different jocks at other times of the day.

KWK-AM featured a two-hour program called "Freeform," which aired six nights a week. The show included a mix of new wave and progressive rock cuts.

I had been a fan of KWK in the late '70s/early '80s and listened to it probably more than I listened to KSHE-95. I was aware they were also broadcasting on the AM dial but I didn't mess with that much since the signal was pretty weak and it sounded so good in FM, anyway. Why bother with AM, right?

Well, sometime in early 1983 my world was turned upside-down by the discovery of a nightly radio show on KWK's AM side called "Freeform" that was hosted by a British DJ named John Hutchinson ("Hutch" would later go on to be the board op for David Lee Roth's shortlived syndicated morning show in 2006). I stumbled upon this show one night while I was bored and flipping through the AM dial, just goofing around, basically. The funny thing is, I had the tape running while I was doing this...

But before getting more into that, a little background: Prior to hearing that show, I was your typical teenager listening to typical teenage rock and pop of the era, mostly the stuff that I'd hear played on the FM side of KWK... my favorite band throughout junior high (ya know, "middle school" as they call it now) was ELO and I also had records (and 8-tracks!) by bands like Foreigner, Queen, Blue Oyster Cult, AC/DC, REO Speedwagon, Rush, Judas Priest, Bowie, ZZ Top... you name it. I also loved '50s and '60s rock'n'roll and would often listen to (and tape record) songs off of the oldies station. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Creedence, Kinks, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Doors, Monkees, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc. I'd listen to Casey Kasum on the local Top 40 station and would make my own lists of songs that I liked, and run out to Peaches and buy the 45s... mostly early '80s new wave pop hits by bands like Bow Wow Wow, Felony, J. Giels Band, The Vapors, The Waitresses, Wall of Voodoo, Missing Persons, The Tubes, The Fixx, Thomas Dolby, The Stray Cats, The Romantics, Romeo Void, Berlin, Blondie, The Cars... you name it. Looking back, I'm not sure why but I just never seemed to be exposed to any of the really early punk or new wave music that was making such waves internationally from around '77 through '82. It's probably because I had other interests (baseball, girls, my silly coin collection, etc.) and I'd be one of those late bloomers when it came to going headlong into music.

Once I did get clued into the fact that there was something else out there aside from the bland and predictable AOR that I'd been listening to for so many years, I could usually find some of this stuff at Peaches, and would take chances on full-length LPs that had that new wave look about them (Devo, Adam & The Ants, Sex Pistols, Robert Gordon, X, B-52s, Joe Jackson, Fabulous Poodles, Gary Numan, XTC, The Clash, The Buzzcocks, Ramones, Elvis Costello, The Polecats, The Knack, Split Enz, The English Beat, etc.). This was before the days of challenging college or independent, public radio (for the most part), there was obviously no Internet and it was also before we had MTV. Jet Lag Magazine and a few other local punk & new wave fanzines had been in print for a couple of years, but it would be a while before I would know of their existence. Luckily, I didn't live very far from KYMC, and I discovered that station (at the time with a power output of just 10 watts - barely covering a ten-mile radius around the West County YMCA) around the same time and that, combined with the aforementioned discovery of "Freeform," greatly increased my interest in this exciting new music and also my desire in wanting to host a radio show of my own, and it wouldn't take me long before I was on the air myself at KYMC, spinning, of all things, ska and reggae! (It wouldn't be until my senior year of high school that I would hear hardcore punk for the first time, thanks to friends introducing me to bands like the Circle Jerks, Fear, Minor Threat and the Germs.)

Anyway, so here I was, a very musically curious 17-year-old kid hungry for something, ANYTHING different or unusual. I was already sick to death of the typical '70s arena rock that I'd grown up listening to, so I would turn on the radio on my Zenith boom box and go up and down the radio dial, first FM, then AM, in search of whatever interesting stuff I could find. That's how I discovered this show on KWK AM 13.8 with a host that was playing this great mix of new music without regard to your typical radio format boundaries. Punk, pop, new wave, rock... all on the same show, and a commercial station at that. Talk about a breath of fresh air! I was hooked. I made many tapes of this stuff that I'd hear on the radio, but unfortunately only kept a couple of them. I still have several tapes of my shows on KYMC and may put together a couple podcasts of that stuff in the near future... we'll see.

Below I have a link to an MP3 that was ripped from a cassette tape I recently unearthed in my basement. I had obviously stuck the tape in the deck, hit record, then started scanning the dial for something worth taping. That is when I happened upon "Freeform"... you can hear it right there on the tape, flipping through some stations, then settling in on KWK, fuzzy static and all (the station had a pretty weak signal). The first song I heard was Sting's version of "Tutti Frutti" from the newly released Party Party soundtrack. It sounded decent, so I kept the dial on the station and continued to record much of that show. After that I listened religiously. John Hutchinson was responsible for introducing me to a lot of artists I'd never heard before, and played others that I'd only heard on KYMC, heard about from friends at school, or had seen the records in the shelves at Peaches. Within a few months I had been transformed from being your typical '80s teenager into a full-on punk/new waver.

So with that, I present for you, KWK Freeform, circa January or February 1983. As I mentioned before, KWK's signal was a little rough when I recorded it, but I think you'll enjoy this one:

[blip.tv ?posts_id=1093968&dest=-1]
Download MP3

I did some further digging online recently and found a couple of other recordings of the same program from a few months earlier that someone else had put online. I downloaded them, re-ripped the files in mono (for a much faster download) and added them to my Blip account, too. These are from October 22, 1982:

PART 1 | PART 2

Enjoy!

The Neon Judgement son un grupo belga formado en 1981 por Dirk Da Davo y TB Frank, fueron unos verdaderos pioneros en mezclar guitarras con elementos electrónicos, sintetizadores y cajas de ritmo. Esta canción se edito en single en 1981 y es todo un clásico del electro-pop. Más información en su página o en su MySpace.

[audio=http://agaudi.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/03-the-fashion-party.mp3]

This week's Retro Video is the 1982 single 'Nova Heart' by the Canadian synthpop group Spoons.  Enjoy!

MP3 Spoons-Nova Heart

ნორვეგიული ჯგუფი რომელიც საკმაოდ კარგ და "ბნელ" პოსტპუნკს უკრავდა და რომელიც ადრეულ 80ანებში მოღვაწეობდა. პროსტა რას გვანან? :E

Fra Lippo Lippi - In Silence

Label: Uniton
Catalog#: U-003
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: Norway
Released: 1981
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: New Wave, Goth Rock
Size: 83,0 MB
Bitrate: 320 kbps
Password: ufologia

Tracklisting:
A1 Out Of The Ruins
A2 A Moment Like This
A3 In Silence
A4 Recession
B1 The Inside Veil
B2 I Know
B3 Quiet
B4 Lost

{link.ge}

http://www.yello.ch/

When, how acquired: 2008, iTunes

Why: Curiosity. Spin named New Wave its best album of 2007.

What do you think? Against Me! turned out to be nothing like what I expected. As they came out during the early part of this decade, I expected them to be either emo or I-hate-my-dad metal. Pays to do some research, Tully!

They started out as what someone called punk-folk (which to me sounds like contradictory styles, but...). This album, their first for a major label (Sire), is a very straight ahead rock record, one that really showcases two aspects of lead singer Tom Gabel's talents -- his songwriting and his powerful voice.

Against Me! dives into several different styles of song, from hard-hitting protest to contemplative. Highlights include the title track, the duet with Tegan Quin of Tegan & Sara called "Borne on the FM Waves of a Heart", and the last song, "The Ocean."

Rating: B+

Fate in your collection: Keeper

Watch this: "White People For Peace"

It was the beginning of the semester and he was the only person in that French class, a foreign language elective, who would talk to me. He told me he was friends with some friends whom I'd jam with and I believed him. I needed his company also because I was the only freshman in that sophomores-populated class.

Later on, I learned that he was, indeed, a certified music geek. In between French grammar quizes, we would talk about the whole range of music genres from bands like The The to Guns 'n' Roses to Megadeth to Aztec Camera.

I didn't dare ask him if as to the why and 'where from' of his offer. I figured he needed the cash for rent. Students from the countryside, like him, who go to the city to study usually fell short on their budget.

For less than P300, I got the entire The Cure discography from Three Imaginary Boys (which IMHO is their best album cover) to Disintegration. That was thirteen albums including two double albums. I already owned some of the albums like Standing on the Beach: The Singles, but since I was not a true-blue The Cure fan, I didn't dig deep into their catalog. I was, however, intrigued by the things I had read about them. And what better way to get to know the band was to listen.

Because The Cure has a tendency to be achingly saccharine (Robert Smith can't help it with a voice like his, can he?), I gave more time listening to the dark (Goth, to some) albums which included Faith, Pornography and Seventeen Seconds. For those who fell in love with The Cure just because of In Between Days, they would definitely get a shock listening to these albums. Most of the songs are gloomy and repetitive like being lost in a dull dream. There is seldom a hint of the sun-shiny pop Robert Smith has been known for except maybe for the track Play for Today but that's not even a happy song.

I also listened extensively to Staring at the Sea : The B-Sides*. It was a mish-mash of genre from Goth to New Wave to Pop and the the classically-arranged A Few Hours After This.

I instantly liked this song because it stood out from all the other The Cure songs I'd heard before. To me, this song is easily on top of the most heartbreaking of all of Robert Smith's songs. It features a wailing Smith backed by an orchestra replete with a timpani thrown in for extra measure.

Jonel never asked me about 'the discography.'  Together with aforementioned friends, we would eventually hang out, jam in the football field after ROTC, and talk about music and literature (he was a fan of Franz Kafka). We talked about girls, sure. But, because we were geeks, we only talked about them.

I don't  recall  last time I saw Jonel or the other guys. Last I heard, Jonel took up law and was practicing in his hometown in Mindoro. Before moving here, I often thought about those times whenever I saw my The Cure cassette discography. Now that I've left all my cassette tapes in Manila, it remains to be seen how I will manage remembering.

(* When The Cure's catalog was released on CD, Staring at the Sea was adapted as the title of the 'Best of' which included some tracks that weren't in the original cassette and LP release).

a lucky find of Ebay. i've not seen this listed elsewhere - notthat i think it is particullary rare or expensive, but it's a nice item. pity Ballard isn't one of my fave authors really - still it has Drowned World, which is excellent

Judging by recent samplings of the traffic to this site, most of you are Americans. So, here's more background on the musical landscape that existed up here in the Great White North in the early 1980s. We loved English pop. We loved it so much, that we made our own version of it, much like the English in turn loved American blues in the 1960s. A lot of what was made here in that vein was completely derivative, utter dross in fact. I won't name names here. The only reason it played so well, I'm sure, is that the CRTC's Canadian content laws made sure it did.

But, some wasn't dross at all. Some of it took on a life of its own.

Blue Peter's "Don't Walk Past" was one of the good ones - great ones, in fact. Now, it was clear that they were pulling hugely from Avalon-period Roxy Music, Japan, and Berlin-era Bowie. As such, their sound wasn't exactly breaking new ground, and the fact that their name was taken from a long-standing BBC children's program put them square into Anglophile country, even if the music wasn't enough of a hint. But, it was done with such attention to detail, and was played so well (I still love that central rhythm guitar riff...), that it holds its own as one of the best singles of that year.

Blue Peter played at my high-school that year, and they of course played this tune. Lead singer Paul Humphrey (not to be confused with OMD singer Paul Humphreys...) was a figure of urban cool, dressed as he was in the very same style as he had been in the official video for the song. Rock shows like this in early 80s Canada displayed all of the aesthetics of late 70s British indie, with musicians dressing as if they'd stepped out of a Dirk Bogarde film, all suits and floppy hair. Blue Peter did not disappoint.

By the next year, new wave was just about dead and American pop began to regain some of the foothold it had had to share with a second wave of the British Invasion. But, for a brief while, things were oh so continental in the suburbs of Toronto.

For more information about this Canadian band, check out the official Blue Peter band website.

Enjoy!

Mejor decir que es hogar de algunas de las mejores bandas de los últimos años : Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, The New Pornographers, The Organ, Feist y, uno de mis favoritos, MSTRKRFT. Enjoy!

ja, auch ich hab in den achtzigern solche musik gehört und geliebt. was ich meiner älteren schwester zu verdanken hab, die nebst für spacigen italo-disco auch einen hang zum obskuren new-wave pflegte. auf der heimischen stereo anlage hörte ich dann diesen neuen sound und fand ihn sofort super. mit 16 jahren war ich dann etwas extrovertierter als auch schon, was sich schnell an meiner lustigen garderobe zeigte. mit einem schwarzen mantel, einem nietengurt und mit spitzen new-wave schuhen bewaffnet, fuhr man mit den freunden und mit dem mofa (in meinem fall eine gepimpte CIAO mit goldenem pulli und serpentone auspuff = 75 km/h!!) in die nächste provinz disco und man tanzte nächtelang (damals dauerte die nacht bis zwei uhr morgens!) mit ausufernden arm und beinbewegungen die wände an. tönt idiotisch? war es irgendwie auch. aber es hat spass gemacht.

und viel anders ist es heute ja auch nicht. ok, die garderobe hat sich etwas verändert, aber seltsame frisuren tragen sie zum teil immer noch, oder zumindest seltsame sonnenbrillen. irgendwie sehen einige damit wie insekten oder pornostars aus. und je nach induzierter substanz benehmen sie sich dann auch noch so. und wenn heute jemand eine wand antanzt, vermutet man eher auf eine überdosierung mit verschiedensten, lustigen substanzen. aber das ist ja auch irgendwie new-wave...

Website
MySpace

Pete Wylieის პოსტპუნკ ჯგუფი ლივერპულიდან რომელმაც რამოდენიმეჯერ შეიცვალა სახელი თავიდან იყო Wah! Heat, მერე ერთერთი გიტარისტი ტოვებს ჯგუფს და პიტი ჯგუფს არქმევს Wah!ს და 1981 წლის ივნისში შეცვლილი ჯგუფის ახალი სადებიუტო ალბომი გამოდის სახელად Nah Poo! The Art Of Bluff რომელსაც დღეს წარმოგიდგენთ :E მერე კიდე შეიცვალეს სახელი Shambeko! Say Wah! ერქვათ და ბოლოს The Mighy Wah!–ზე შეჩერდნენ.
იქ შეცდომით მიწერია წელი ფოლდერზე 2001.. 1981ია სინამდვილეში :E

Wah! - Nah=Pooh - The Art Of Bluff

Label: WEA Records (New Zealand)
Catalog#: 600101
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: New Zealand
Released: 1981
Genre: Rock
Style: New Wave, Post-Punk
Size: 56,9 MB
Bitrate: 320 kbps
Password: ufologia

Tracklisting:
A1 The Wind-Up (4:45)
A2 Otherboys (3:54)
A3 Why D'You Imitate The Cutout? (3:10)
A4 Mission Impossible (2:40)
A5 Somesay (5:16)
Written By - Pete Wylie/Rob Jones
Written-By - Rob Jones (6)
B1 The Seven Thousand Names Of Wah! (4:45)
B2 Sleeppp (4:10)
B3 Seven Minutes To Midnight (4:34)
B4 The Death Of Wah! (5:45)
Written By - Pete Wylie/Neal

{link.ge}

Bob Casale, AKA Bob 2, Musician (Devo)