Disc of the day
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Magnificent late-'50s singles round-up that keeps on giving.
Features Disc of the day
Various
Do The Pop!
(Shock Records, 2002)
Oz Nuggets 1976-1987.
Compiled in 2002, these two great CDs document the history of the Australian garage rock scene as built around two keystone bands in Sydney in the mid-'70s: Radio Birdman and Brisbane visitors, The Saints. Two groups that "rocked like demons... and together lit a flame under successive generations of bands", as compiler Dave Laing notes in his terrific accompanying essay. Like Nuggets curator Lenny Kaye, Laing's is a triumph of archaeology, a single-eyed search through the minutiae of the Sydney scene and beyond to uncover some genuinely forgotten gems - like Savage by The Fun Things [http://www.myspace.com/thefunthings], whose sole EP was recorded in a day, a thrust of the groin in the general direction of Detroit and the group had disbanded by the time it was released.
Like a teenage rock Twilight, Do The Pop! traces the Saints/Birdman bloodlines, following a trail of garage rock DNA as bands feed off each other and celebrate shared touchstones. Traces of Stooges/MC5 pass through The Saints to The Psycho Surgeons, on to The Lipstick Killers (nearly all the bands names take the definitive article - one notable exception being the Birdman/Stooges supergroup New Race, taking their name from an early Radio Birdman teen rabble-rouser, also collected here). While in Perth a more artful, New York trash aesthetic runs through The Victims and into the '80s with The Scientists (whose wonderful, sleazy, Crampsy Swampland kicks off CD2) and on to The Hoodoo Gurus. Radio Birdman's Rob Younger produces numerous bands inspired by his own, including the mid-'80s power blast of The Hard Ons.
Radio Birdman and The Saints appeared on the same bill on just three occasions according to Laing, including a legendary gig at Paddington Town Hall in Sydney in April, 1977. Punk's Grand Vizier Jon Savage sends out a clip of The Saints there every now and again (just so we don't forget). Fresh faced, unselfconscious and blissfully unaware of any pre-existing notion of 'punk' or 'cool', they look and sound like no-one else. Do The Pop! shows what happened next.
Jenny Bulley
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 12/11/2009
Further Listening
Various – Do The Pop Redux Part 1 (Savage Beat, 2007)
Various – Tales From The Australian Underground Singles 1976-1989 (Festival, 2003)
Various – Nuggets, Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 (Rhino, 1998)
Previous Disc of the day
-
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Magnificent late-'50s singles round-up that keeps on giving.
6:00 AM GMT 20/11/2009
-
-
Isley Brothers - The Brothers: Isley
The Cincinnati siblings bed into their heavy period.
6:00 AM GMT 18/11/2009
-
Lee Morgan - Search For The New Land
The trumpeter's most soulful excursion entrances MOJO messageboarder.
6:00 AM GMT 16/11/2009
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-
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Really great collection of Aussie garage rock, and if you like that then check out from the same label "The Rock 'n' Roll Disease". Bloody fantastic DLP full of punk, trash, glam, garage etc. One of the best compilations ever ever ever!!!!
Posted by Alexander Meerkat at 1:40 PM GMT 12/11/2009 Report Abuse
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