Archive for October, 2004

Since the Klowns are on tour, thus making it be even longer before Destroy Your Radio is back up and running (along with the Live From Combustion Manor radio show), I figured it was time to share some selections from the vault with you my faithful readers. Hopefully this will expose you all (all 3 of you or so) to some fine punk rock music you may not have heard before and might want to seek out for yourself. That or you at least will get a peek into random records in The Punk Vault and can make your own list of “stuff I want to record on a visit to Combustion Manor someday”. I’ll probably do this once a week or so, whenever I feel inspired. So for the first selection we have a record that is a long time favorite of mine, yet largely ignored…

Sand in the Face - Self Titled LP (1986 Twisted Records)
Sand in the Face were from New Jersey and existed at a time when New Jersey was becoming a hotbed for punk and hardcore. They shared bills with their neighbors such as Adrenalin OD, Bedlam, Sacred Denial, Mourning Noise and lots more. I remember reading about them in scene reports in Maximumrocknroll and being interested not only for their name, but for the fact of where they came from and that the reports on them all sounded good.

If they releaed a demo to the masses, I never came across a copy. They appeared on the Hardcore Takes Over 2 compilation on Dirt Records, which was a compilation of New Jersey bands. They also had a song on the rare and obscure Master Tape Volume 2 compilation on Affirmation Records, both which came out between around 1983 and 1985.

In 1984 they recorded a 16 song full length album that wouldn’t see the light of day until 1986. It was released on Twisted Records which I am pretty sure might have been their own label, and was manufactured and distributed by the Independent Label Alliance, who from what I understand, screwed over everyone they worked with and must have had some evil contracts as I beleive everything that ever came out under that umbrella has never been reissued since by anyone. When the records were pressed, the labels were placed on the wrong sides so they put a sticker on the shrink wrap stating “Limted Fucked Up Edition” and stating the labels were reversed. There never was a second pressing, so every copy out there has the pressing error.

After that, they must have broken up and drifted off into obscurity as I never heard or read anything about them since. They were a 3 piece band: Paul on vocals/guitar, Michelle on bass, and Gus on drums. Their last names were not listed on the record so I have no clue what the members went on to do after S.I.T.F., if anything, nor what they may be doing today. If anyone from the band happens to stumble across this, please get in touch as I’d love to get some more information about the band.

Click here to hear “Song X” from the album (right click and “save target as…”)

Taken from The Cure’s website. I’ll be buying it for sure the day of release. I have a lot of the material on vinyl and cassette but it will be nice to have on the Ipod friendly format, along with the material that I don’t already have on something else. Best thing is, they finally are righting the wrong they did by removing “World War” from Boys Don’t Cry when it was released on CD as that was one of my favorite songs and it made no sense to remove it.

** The new release dates are 29th November 2004 worldwide and December 7th in the U.S. on Rhino **

Compiled by Robert Smith and Digitally Remastered by Chris Blair at Abbey Road, this 2 CD set is a must for all Cure fans as it contains 6 Previously Unreleased songs and 15 tracks on CD for the very first time! The 16-page booklet has sleevenotes by Johnny Black plus rare and previously unseen photographs from Robert Smith’s personal archive.

DISC 1 - Three Imaginary Boys

01. 10:15 SATURDAY NIGHT
02. ACCURACY
03. GRINDING HALT
04. ANOTHER DAY
05. OBJECT
06. SUBWAY SONG
07. FOXY LADY
08. MEATHOOK
09. SO WHAT
10. FIRE IN CAIRO
11. IT’S NOT YOU
12. THREE IMAGINARY BOYS
13. THE WEEDY BURTON

DISC 2 - Rarities 1977-1979

01. I Want To Be Old (sav studio demo 10/77 - previously unreleased song)
02. I’m Cold (sav studio demo 11/77 - previously unreleased version)
03. Heroin Face (live in the rocket, crawley 12/77 - previously available on ‘curiosity’ mc 1984)
04. I Just Need Myself (psl studio demo 1/78 - previously unreleased song)
05. 10:15 Saturday Night (rs home demo 2/78 - previously unreleased version)
06. The Cocktail Party (group home demo 3/78 - previously unreleased song)
07. Grinding Halt (group home demo 4/78 - previously unreleased version)
08. Boys Don’t Cry (chestnut studio demo 5/78 - previously available on ‘curiosity’ mc 1984)
09. It’s Not You (chestnut studio demo 5/78 - previously unreleased version)
10. 10:15 Saturday Night (chestnut studio demo 5/78 - previously unreleased version)
11. Fire In Cairo (chestnut studio demo 5/78 - previously unreleased version)
12. Winter (’tib’ studio out-take 10/78 - previously unreleased song)
13. Faded Smiles (aka I Don’t Know) (’tib’ studio out-take 10/78 - previously unreleased song)
14. Play With Me (’tib’ studio out-take 10/78 - previously unreleased song)
15. World War (on early copies of ‘boys don’t cry’ album 1979)
16. Boys Don’t Cry (single - also on ‘boys don’t cry’ album 1979)
17. Jumping Someone Else’s Train (single - also on ‘boys don’t cry’ album 1979)
18. Subway Song (live in nottingham 10/79 - previously available on ‘curiosity’ mc 1984)
19. Accuracy (live in nottingham 10/79 - previously unreleased version)
20. 10:15 Saturday Night (live in nottingham 10/79 - previously unreleased version)

Last nite my uncle and I went to see Godzilla at the Tivoli. The original Godzilla, in Japanese with English subtitles, and no Raymond Burr. I have never seen this version of the film, I have only ever seen the American version so this was a real treat for me. From what I remember of it (admittedly, it has been awhile since I watched it), it was like a totally different movie. This version is actually quite serious, a drama movie more than a monster movie, and it sends a message about H-Bomb testing, nuclear waste and its negative results.

The film was part of the Tivoli’s periodic “movie appreciation club” or something like that. They have these movie night’s there twice a month on a monday nite. They charge more than the usual admission to the theatre for these, especially for non-members, but they also do things like have discussions, occasional auctions of movie stuff, and they will sell beer and wine. After the movie, a couple film teachers from College of DuPage talked about the movie and fielded comments from the people who stuck around. About 1/8 of the crowd stayed for it, so while the movie got a large turnout, the post-movie thing didn’t.

It was a fun time, and I’m really glad I got to see this version and was glad they did it at my favorite theatre. I missed it when it was played in the summer in Los Angeles by a week, as it was gone before one of my many trips there this year. I hope they release this version in the US on DVD. It being big G’s 50th birthday this year, I think they’d be a fool not to.

Update: My uncle sent an email to Rialto inquiring about a DVD release and they sent him the following.

The DVD rights for the restored GODZILLA has been picked up by a company called Classic Media. They will release it next year.

John Peel passed away. For the story go here.

I found this pair of articles that give the most detailed descriptions of the changes throught the many versions of Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back. This is easily the most comprehensive list ever complete with screen shots and audio clips and this guy picked up on stuff that even I, after seeing the movies probably 100 times each in my life, wouldn’t have even caught.

In most cases I’m in agreement with the guy’s opinions on what was good/improved, and what sucked ass. The two things that bother me most of the recent DVD set was the replacement of the spirit of Anakin at the end of Jedi, and the replacement of the dialog during teh scene on Dagobah when the creature spits out R2D2. Oh yeah, and them replacing the dance number in Jedi with that stupid CGI muppet band, ugh! I can’t wait for this guy to write the final installment and see what he says about that stuff.

Well, after battling sickness for a full week, and even caving in and going to the doctor (because work demanded a note for missing so many days), I am back in the swing of things, albeit slowly. Thanks to being couch-ridden for a week, I am way behind in things I needed to do. If you are expecting something that you bought off of me last week, they will ship tomorrow. I was able to pack everything up yesterday but since I had to go to UPS this morning, I had no time for the post office before having to get to work.

So tonite on my first day back to reality, I am going to see the original Godzilla in Japanese w/English subs, sans-Raymond Burr, with my Uncle over at the Tivoli. I’m looking forward to it and my Uncle bought me the ticket for my bday which was nice. Its funny that my uncle and I actually have more in common than my dad (his brother) and I do and that my sister has more in common with our father than I do, even though they don’t talk to each other.

This saturday I’m taking Lady Combustion to see Social Distortion. I was a huge Social D mark back in the early days of punk, and I was lucky to see them once when they were mostly still the same band. These days it is only Mike Ness and a bunch of guys who had nothing to do with the greatness that was Mommy’s Little Monster and prior. The new album is actually one of their better works, but it still isn’t the same. Lady C, however, is a huge Social D mark and thus the reason for us going. She’s way overdue for doing something that is something that she wants to do and not me. Last time I saw Social D was probably 1991, and it was a decent show, but nothing like when I saw them in 1987 or 88 when they played with Sham 69 and the Zero Boys at Cubby Bear. Now that was something!

So I heard today about that whole Ashlee Simpson fiasco. The thing that got me was what pop star doesn’t lip sync their music when they are “playing live”?! I would have been more shocked to find out she actually sings or even writes her own music! In another note related to her, I am pretty sure that while home sick, I was flipping channels and came upon TRL and the crappy MTV network and the fuckwad metrosexual who hosts the show was saying how she was punk. I was like “what the fuck?!” the host was easily the biggest moron on the face of the planet, and proved he was borderline retarded, but what pissed me off was I think he actually beleives that shit like that, and Gaye Charlotte and the like ARE punk! I think us real punks should file a class action lawsuit against MTV for their besmirching of our beloved punk rock name. Now there is a small chance that since I was sick, I halucinated the whole thing, but I was pretty damn coherent despite my having one foot in the grave.

Lastly for today, thanks to my good friend Jeff, I have acquired some holy grail items of punk rock records all listed to the left. It was the biggest and most unorthodox trade in history, but it worked out to both parties favor, and thanks to him I was able to procure items for the vault that I would never be able to afford, nor be willing to pay the actual cash for in today’s market. The Punk Vault will forever be grateful to him for it.