Au Pairs - Sense And Sensuality

Released on 1 June 1982 via Kamera Records, Sense and Sensuality is the second and final studio album by the influential British post-punk band Au Pairs. Following the raw, guitar-driven urgency of their 1981 debut Playing with a Different Sex, this record marked a significant sonic evolution for the Birmingham four-piece. The band expanded their sharp, dance-punk foundation by absorbing elements of free jazz, funk, cabaret, and art-pop. Driven by driving basslines, prominent horns, and vibraphones, the album peaked at number 79 on the UK Albums Chart and showcased a more rhythmically complex, experimental side to their songwriting.

Lyrically, frontwoman Lesley Woods continued her fierce exploration of the intersection between personal relationships and institutional politics. Tracks like "Sex Without Stress" and "Don't Lie Back" used sharp wit and unflinching honesty to lampoon societal pressures, sexual taboos, and emotional intimacy. Although the band imploded shortly after its release, Sense and Sensuality has earned a lasting legacy as a post-punk classic. Today, its enduring influence on alternative music is celebrated through various high-quality vinyl reissues, cementing the Au Pairs' reputation as ahead-of-their-time pioneers of feminist punk and danceable political rock.

Au Pairs - Live In Berlin

Recorded at a women's festival in Germany, Live in Berlin is an effective document of an economical, measured, and purposeful band, who were always well regarded for their live performances. The Au Pairs weren't the first feminist post-punk group on the block, but they were more accessible than the Slits and generally easier on the ear than the Poison Girls. Lesley Woods' voice dominates proceedings, as usual, and the set list includes most of the notable moments from the Au Pairs' limited catalogue.

Au Pairs - Equal But Different (BBC Sessions 79-81)

Equal But Different: BBC Sessions 79-81 is a vital historical compilation by the British post-punk band The Au Pairs, released by RPM Records in 1994. The album gathers 20 tracks recorded during the band's peak creative years for BBC Radio, including their celebrated sessions for legendary DJ John Peel. Known for their sharp, danceable funk-punk grooves and aggressive live energy, these sessions capture the Birmingham four-piece at their most immediate and unfiltered. The tracks offer a raw alternative to their studio albums, showcasing Lesley Woods' commanding vocals, Paul Foad's jagged guitar work, and a driving, propulsive rhythm section.

Lyrically and culturally, the compilation serves as a powerful time capsule of late-70s and early-80s radical feminism and socio-political critique. The Au Pairs used their platform to dissect gender politics, domesticity, and sexual power dynamics with uncompromising wit on signature tracks like "It's Obvious", "Come Again", and "Pretty Boys". By tracing their trajectory across three distinct radio sessions from October 1979 to January 1981, the release maps the band's rapid musical evolution right up to the launch of their seminal debut album, Playing With a Different Sex.

Aztec Camera - High Land, Hard Rain

Some performers never make a bigger splash than with their first record, a situation that the Ramones and De La Soul know all too well. If that's the case, though, said musicians had better make sure that debut is a doozy. Aztec Camera, or more specifically, Roddy Frame, falls squarely into this scenario, because while he has doggedly plugged away ever since with a series of what are, at times, not bad releases, High Land, Hard Rain remains the lovely touchstone of Frame's career. Very much the contemporaries of such well-scrubbed Scottish guitar pop confectionaries as Orange Juice, but with the best gumption and star quality of them all, Aztec Camera led off the album with "Oblivious," a mini-masterpiece of acoustic guitar hooks, lightly funky rhythms, and swooning backing vocals. If nothing tops that on High Land, Hard Rain, most of the remaining songs come very close, while they also carefully avoid coming across like a series of general sound-alikes. Frame's wry way around words of love (as well as his slightly nasal singing) drew comparisons to Elvis Costello, but Frame sounds far less burdened by expectations and more freely fun. References from Keats to Joe Strummer crop up (not to mention an inspired steal from Iggy's "Lust for Life" on "Queen's Tattoos"), but never overwhelm Frame's ruminations on romance, which are both sweet and sour. Musically, his capable band backs him with gusto, from the solo-into-full-band showstopper "The Bugle Sounds Again" to the heart-stopping guitar work on "Lost Outside the Tunnel." Whether listeners want to investigate further from here is up to them, but High Land, Hard Rain itself is a flat-out must-have.

Avengers – Avengers (The Pink Album)

I was asked a while ago if I had the 2012 2CD edition of the Avengers album. Well it looks like the goddess of torrents had indeed upped a copy in MP3 and as you can obviously work out for yourself; yes, I’m posting it here for all three of you to sample in your own time. The original post has been updated and is presented below…

No, wait…not THE Avengers but the Avengers from San Francisco…yeah? Ok, got it!

During the late 70’s, in San Francisco, the punk scene was a smouldering powder keg that was set to explode. Out of it would come such seminal bands as Flipper, The Units, Negative Trend and of course the Dead Kennedys. But the band that truly leads the way was fronted by the unlikeliest of people. A gifted and talented artist, Penelope Houston, who came from Seattle to the San Francisco scene and became the voice of The Avengers, a band that was directly inspirational to the bands that came after.
The Avengers, James Wilsey bass, D. Furious drums and Greg Ingraham guitar, were a San Francisco based punk band in the first wave of American punk. Penelope Houston, who later turned to folk music, was the singer and main song writer for the band, and was part of what made the band unique and memorable.
Their first EP release (and only while the band was originally together) was “We Are The One”, was released on Dangerhouse Records in 1977. After opening for the Sex Pistols final show at Winterland in San Francisco, Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones sat in the producers chair for a recording session for their second EP “Avengers”. This recording, released in 1979 a few months after the band had already split up, on White Noise Records features the memorable songs, "The American in Me," " Uh Oh!," "Corpus Christi," and "White N!gg3r." Brad Kent played guitar on "Corpus Christi."

The album called “Avengers” (sometimes referred to as the Pink Album) was released in 1983. It featured tracks recorded through the band's whole time together, and was compiled by drummer Danny Furious.

Ashbury Heights – Three Cheers For The Newlydeads

Does this look edgy enough for you? How about the fact that the young lady (Yasmine Uhlin) looks like she’s about to strangle the bloke (Anders Hagström) with his own tie? Then there’s the dark greenish tint to the whole decaying cover? And the fact that the album title seems to imply that we’re celebrating recently deceased people? This album is unusually dark, because when people think of the word “edgy” they think of people and songs that are overwhelmingly angsty and depressing. The duo of Ashbury Heights utilizes only synthesizers to create an extremely catchy album that one can either dance along to or sing along to (or both if he/she is in a gutsy, edgy mood). Yet as much of a synthpop album as one can want, this is far too potent and punchy to be wimpy synthpop. In fact it's quite European catchy darkwave future-pop.

Arctic Flowers - Straight To The Hunter

It's a tumultuous world out there, something Portland, punk band Arctic Flowers know all too well. On their third album, Straight to the Hunter, they are taking time to address the issues that have plagued them. Many outlets not traditionally interested in music of the sort that Arctic Flowers make have taken notice of the LP, but that’s a just reward for a band nearly ten years into their career. Perhaps the most high profile recognition for Straight to the Hunter came from NPR, who gave the Portland quartet a (justly) glowing review, prompting me to wonder how many bands that have self-released their albums, as Arctic Flowers have done with this new LP, get such an honour. I think my favourite review from among those just discovering Arctic Flowers is one that stated, “They remind me of a young AFI.”

And that’s a comparison with which I heartily disagree, of course. Although Arctic Flowers have accumulated genre tags like “deathrock,” “gothic rock,” “postpunk,” and other such along the path of their nearly ten year career, it’s probably best to go into listening to Straight to the Hunter without these ideas in mind—that is, without any of the preconceptions that are nowadays loaded into those genre tags. No, Straight to the Hunter is hewed from older stone, from a solid chunk of good old fashioned early 80s peace-punk, from a time when “postpunk” still referred to music that had come directly out of the punk scene (and hence was called postpunk); when it meant largely guitar-driven bands like early Joy Division (or, more aptly, Warsaw), Killing Joke, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and bands that would comprise the early goth-punk milieu, part of which was also counterintuitively called “positive punk” by some music writers in the early 1980s.

In the past, guitarist and founder Stan Wright described their music this way: “Our sound is a mix of punk, deathrock, post punk, and Goth; aggressive but at times danceable and melodic.” And that’s still an apt way to describe the band, especially on this album. From the opening, muscular guitar licks on “Hallow Water”, it’s clear the band is operating at the height of their power. Bassist Lee is absolutely on fire on the second song, “Glass On Ice,” which serves as the effective title track for the LP. Stan Wright can play intricate postpunk lines that weave in and out of Alex’s vocals, but at a moment’s notice these are traded out for blunt power-chord riffs that bolster the driving force of each track. Every morsel of Straight to the Hunter’s 11-songs is packed with moody, raw power. One of the highlights of the LP is “Dreamer,” a cover of the 1981 song of the same name by midwest hardcore punk band Toxic Reasons. It’s a song that is an impassioned plea for hope in a world that seems intent on crushing it. And that’s the desperate spirit that propels the music of Arctic Flowers; hope for peace, and peace of mind, in a world slowly decaying.

Arctic Flowers - Procession 12”

Arctic Flowers are a punk band from Portland, Oregon. Now this may be important to some folks based purely on pedigree. And yes, the skill and experience of guitarist Stan and drummer Mike Clifton definitely shines through in this band. But the other half of the group, Riot Gurl newcomers Lee and Alex, on bass and vocals respectively, land the knockout punch with killer vocals and a dark, melodic solid rhythm section.
Arctic Flowers’ sound is unabashedly UK punk with lots of good, angular, melodically ambitious songs, but not in a way that sounds derivative and hackneyed. On this 12” vinyl-only EP singer Alex’s commanding presence and vocals are tailor-made for this kind of music. The songs sound tough and don’t delve into cliché as this genre so often did in its golden age. The guitars have that cool '80s sound and the production is quite reverb-y, especially on the nocturnal "Strange Ports Of Call." What more can we ask of a modern age punk band; take what you know and love, make it your own and do it well! If I were giving grades, Arctic Flowers would be top of the class.

Anti-Nowhere League - We Are... The League

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Anti-Nowhere League - Streets Of London 7”

Balls, warts ‘n all with that threat of violence right off the bat, the Anti-Nowhere League kicked off their reign as punk royalty in 1981 with a blistering cover of the Country Folk classic, “Streets Of London”. Not that the A side really mattered half as much as the legendary B side. “So What” became notorious for being banned and having copies of the single removed from sale by hordes of angry men dressed in blue. Freedom Of Speech, just as long as you don’t actually try it…anyway there’s nothing left to gain now except for having the download on your pooter for consideration in today’s world.

Various Artists - Tales From The Australian Underground

The appetite for reappraising Australia's relatively recent music history shows no sign of abating: this excellent compilation follows similar sets released in 2002; respectively Shock Records' 2-CD fifty-track 'Do The Pop!' set and Ravens' single-disc, 'Born Out Of Time', both of which collectively and comprehensively covered the very best of Australia's almost unrivalled garage-rock output from the late '70s to the late '80s. For anyone remotely interested in Australian music of that era both are essential purchases. 'Tales From The Australian Underground' approaches the period from a wider perspective, both chronologically; covering a longer period than either of its illustrious predecessors, and more daringly, also stylistically. Although there is some overlap, barely a handful of the tracks are available on either of the other aforementioned albums. By broadening the selection criteria beyond the better known garage and guitar output on 'Do The Pop!' and 'Born Out Of Time', 'Tales From The Australian Underground' makes for a far more eclectic collection and perhaps suffers a little because of it. In fairness though I doubt few such disparately collated compilations could provide an entirely satisfactory listening experience from start to finish. In any case that's really only a minor criticism for this is a lovingly compiled artefact that actually comes strongly recommended. Comprehensively annotated, the album's thirty-six-page booklet provides riveting details on all forty-five tracks featured as well as on the wider underground scene as it developed from its DIY origins following debut releases by Radio Birdman and The Saints, bands both still held in huge regard and as good if not better than many of the more revered punk bands that crawled out of The Roxy or CBGBs circa 1976, and whose output has subsequently influenced huge numbers of bands worldwide ever since. Adrenaline-inducing bursts of garage rock, snotty punk bile, odd-ball experimentalism, sublime pop and indecipherable noise, this collection has it all. Admittedly as alluded to previously it is highly unlikely all tracks will suit everyone but there is plenty here to more than justify the necessary investment. 'Tales From The Australian Underground' is sonic archaeology and genuine treasure-trove to boot. Featuring classic material by Radio Birdman, The Saints, Fun Things, The Birthday Party, Sunnyboys, The Triffids, The Eastern Dark, Someloves and The New Christs alongside lesser known gems by acts such as Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast, Venom P. Stinger (precursors to The Dirty Three) and Ups & Downs, make for an entertaining and educational two and a half hours of anyone's time. Like a good reference book you could find yourself dipping into this for years to come. Apparently more than a thousand singles were considered during the five years it took compiler, Tim Pitman, to complete the project. Dedication!

Angelic Upstarts - Teenage Warning

Rather surprisingly one of my favourite albums from this period has become the Angelic Upstarts Teenage Warning. Why surprising then? ...Well it came as a surprise to me because I just wasn't expecting them to be a band I would especially like (due to their skinhead ‘Oi’ connotations) let alone love all over again. In fact The Upstarts barely registered with me at the time of the release of Teenage Warning in 1979 when the punk explosion was dissipating yet it is the best discovery I have made since delving into the punk archives. Of course I was aware of the excellent aggravated single "I'm An Upstart" and the title track rang a few bells....very loudly... with its terrace chant vocal backing but the rest...well it's like hearing a new release.
Teenage Warning isn't a classic album by any means. It's very limited in what it does (but then again so was most punk) and the song-writing isn't always the best but somehow I find even this lack of craft endearing, something which would probably make them puke but then how elementally punk is that. The aforementioned tracks are the strongest but I also like "Never Again " , "The Murder Of Liddle Towers" and "Police Oppression " but really though pretty much the album whole is a blast ...a one dimensional one but a blast none the less. Mensi sings with goggle eyed fervour and it's always great to hear a band who sounded genuinely angry. Why aren't there any bands like this around now? (If there are and I have missed them please educate me) The world is (arguably) more up the spout now then it was then so there is still plenty to be irate about. Maybe Mensi was right...... maybe no one was listening.

Newcastle’s (South Shields) Upstarts are already, for obvious reasons and not so obvious reasons, being prepared by the vulture voyeurs as the successors to Sham 69. I’m not sure what that means. I suppose it means that because of appearance, anthemic noise, naive determination and the violent impulses of their crass visions they’re set to attract similar sorts of publicity-soaked fans, and thus to adopt the lethal mantel of the voice of the hairless confused.

Such thoughts are a sad indication of the way factions and labels have unfortunately established themselves, and how spitefully bigoted people can be. The problems of greatest concern to Angelic Upstarts in the coming months will not be how to expand and extend their music, but how to control the indulgent, ignorant fervour that is likely to greet it. Jimmy Pursey’s career as Personality has been crushed, or at least redirected and compromised, by the unprecedented interference of thugs who took their vague identification with Pursey’s frail and hopeful philosophies to ludicrous and disturbing depths. The Angelic Upstarts have it in them to be the pop group the Damned never were. But they won’t be given a chance.

The Upstarts, a bunch of apparently illiterate and petulant Geordie hooligans, have dropped into a position where they could well be forced to confront the danger, with little outside help or compassion. But, for now, stupidly avoiding the issue, what must be done is to celebrate the release of their debut album on Warners after the illustrative JP Production fracas. It’s cuddly, with a few pin pricks of frustration. Teenage Warning is the audacious, frantic, Pursey produced work of four youngsters from the north east of England, whose fate of dockyard dole and premature drunken middle age has been temporarily halted. I don’t expect I’ll play it many times, but it’s good to have around.

There are 12 fun, energetic and explosive punk metal expressions here that have been blasted out of confusion and frustration with unexpected consistency and effective crudity by people who still seem shocked that they have found a way to vent their feelings. Tradition has it that this the Upstarts one burst. From here on they are destined to go the way of Slaughter And The Dogs or Eater or The Damned or, of course, Sham 69. The fate of such groups has always been all but certain, because of limitations and immaturity. These groups though, do leave behind records, made so affectionately and convincingly, that are at worst atrociously bad-good and at best raucously loveable and, in a tritschy way, timeless.

This is a classic of that genre.

Cheaply packaged, excruciatingly but proudly designed, it contains five pulp gems that place it many rungs higher than the Eater or Dogs bursts, and only just below the Damned debut. The ultimate masters of the genre, Clash and Sex pistols, are credited as ‘inspiration’…along with the Northumbria Police. In many ways the album is something like that which Sham would have made if they were less Pursey dominated and directed…a record of urgent unity. There is no outstanding individual like Pursey in the group and Pursey’s production seems to exaggerate all the Pistols/Clash aspects to splendid proportions. This is predictable, punk condensed heavy metal without the parody of the Pistols, the imagination of The Clash, the starstruck indulgence of Slaughter, the comedy of the Damned or the sloppiness of UK Subs. The purest late 70’s punk rock, in fact: excitable, blank songs that snap leave me alone, moan about the problems of young life, loathe the Police, mock students, scream at the kids to be united, and advocate a sensible form of anarchy. Dedicated to their Mums and Dads, and put together with the passionate feeling that it is the most adventurous, brave and poetic music of its time. What can you say? What can you do?

Not the greatest listening experience, but I had great fun reviewing it, and in years to come it will no doubt say one hell of a lot about the times when it was made. Love them, but don’t abuse them.

Paul Morley’s review of the Angelic Upstarts’ first album from the NME, 11 August, 1979.

 

Anne Clark - The Very Best Of

Songwriter and pianist Anne Clark has been a cult figure since the early '80s and has amassed a rather sizable catalogue despite her small but rabid following. She writes nearly-Gothic love songs full of obsession and pathos, and pretty orchestral settings with clever instrumental figures and stinging piano runs and minor-key epiphanies. She's a consummate artist, playing to her strengths while trying to subtly, but surely, extend her reach, and always following her own muse, even when it takes her into dissonant territory. Most of her albums are out of print even on CD, and sell for collector's prices when they can be found. This is too bad, because Clark has assembled a solid, if quirky, and passionately honest body of work. This best-of German-only collection from the British poet, musician and artist, issued by Beehive is truly that. It features 19 personally selected tracks dating all the way back to her 1982 debut album and clocks in over 75 minutes. The album includes four rare bonus tracks such as the Live in Montreal version of "Heaven", and remixes of 'Self Destruct', 'Our Darkness' and 'Hope Road'. Simply put, without being able to collect her singles or albums, this is as good as you can do without getting ripped off in the bargain. Anne Clark's best-of presents a wonderfully deep portrait of a complex and misunderstood artist who deserves far more in terms of the recognition she has thus far received. This is truly a beautiful collection by a great poet and composer.

Anne Clark - The Sitting Room

Always more of a reciter (albeit a powerful one) rather than a singer, Anne Clark delivered her debut masterpiece with The Sitting Room EP, a work of fluid synthscapes that effervesced like the formations of a lava lamp (Oh My!). "The Sitting Room" set the tone, which in just over two minutes managed to bridge the kosmische wanderlust, symphonic romanticism and new-wave futurism. Further triumphs were encountered in the tormented musique-concrète of "Swimming", the dreamy ambientorama "An Ordinary Life", the transparent requiem "Shades", the fragile synth-folk ("Short Story"), and the electronic dirge "All We Have To Be Thankful For". The very short duration of these tracks only makes their quality more impressive. [Whoever wrote this must have been eating a dictionary for breakfast. The album is OKAY; it is neither awesome nor rubbish. Sometimes it is better that we sit here in silence and just absorb.]

Anna Domino - East And West

Following a few months after her 1983 debut single "Trust, In Love," East And West provided the fuller foundations for Anna Domino's later reputation, later sealed by her full self-titled debut in 1985. This effort, though only five songs total, captures much of Domino's ability in essence; even her penchant for excellent covers. In this latter case the song of choice is Aretha Franklin's "Land of My Dreams," delivered as a cool, post-Martin Hannett/Durutti Column wistful semi-lament. Similarly, the remaining originals are, as is so often the case with Domino, songs both of the moment and recalling earlier eras. More murkily post-punk than much of her later work, songs such as "Everyday (I Don't)" and "With the Day Comes the Dawn," with echoed vocals and a low moody crawl that suggests much of the Factory label's early output, give contrast to Domino's distinctly non-goth vocals. Whether for reasons of confidence or preference, she's much deeper in the mix than she would be later, but the effect isn't disconcerting. She's helped, in retrospect, by a striking collection of musicians; Tuxedomoon's Blaine Reininger on well-chosen saxophone parts, Virginia Astley on piano, Luc Van Acker with various contributions; and the result, while transitional, is still of interest both to the Domino fan and in its own right.

Annabel Lamb - Once Bitten

Maybe I've been a little bit in love with very girl singer I've ever listened to - From Cilla Black and Sandie Shaw to Keren of Bananarama and Patti Palladin. Annabel Lamb is a blind date, yet already I know from repeated plays of "Once Bitten" that she's a soft, sensual seductress. With a voice that drips with honey-coated tenderness over a crushed heart of bitter experience, she transcends the accepted limits of female vocalists and instead (like Grace Jones, like Marianne Faithfull) she immerses herself in the emotions of her music. A song such as "Take Me In Your Arms" evokes a wistful melancholy desire for love and lust that far outstrips the trite limits of a "love song". It aches for physical reassurance, throbs with a need for warmth and affection, yet has an indefinable romantic quality of sheer pleasure through the fantasy longings of the lyric. There's a tremendous human frailty at work here; the sympathetic, supportive understanding of lovers' failures and regrets: not in any slushy, over-sentimental manner - sure, there's a lot of sentiment, which is a different thing altogether - but with the cold, steely-eyed logic of one so shattered by betrayal that tears are a thing of the past. The sleeve starts the muted mood that is somehow articulated more poignantly by the wailing saxophone on "Dividing The Spoils Of Love" than even by that song's explanation that "it's too late now, I'll be leaving soon, I can hear the car, All these rooms seem strange to me." In truth, with her weary down-trodden desire for love in danger of being smothered by continual dismay and distrust, Annabel Lamb shares more with Ellen Burstyn in Alice doesn't live here anymore than with any other pretty young torch chanteuse. Even amidst such reflective mournful material - and the quality of her song-writing is wonderfully strong- Annabel retains and unbowed spirit that boasts both the rough edges that make Grace Jones such an exciting interpreter of emotions and the smooth sensuality that Annie Lennox brings to the Eurythmics' glowing music.

With songs like hypnotic instrumental "Snake Pliskin" and "Backwards through the looking glass", Annabel Lamb is a talent to be cherished.

And loved.

JOHNNY WALLER