Menace – Illegal Records 1977

Screwed Up

Insane Society

Call me an audio slut if you will…

But if two members of the KYPP fraternity (John Several Last Names and Al A) both jump out of the holes they are hiding in, and scream “MENACE” in one desperate voice in my direction, then I (as a kind of person who is in fact sensitive to the needs of the KYPP public) will stick it on sharpish.

You see…it is all in the service. The difference is quality, blah blah blah.

This 12″ record is the first release by Menace. A great release although sticking two tracks lasting six minutes in all, onto a 12″ platter, which of course cost much more cash back in the day, is not my idea of good value. Still, as I got it on the cheap, second hand, in a junk shop in 1980, I can only feel for the original owner of this master piece. Whilst of course, rubbing my hands in glee with the purchase of this legendary piece of plastic for about 20p (which was still a fair amount in 1980, but not as much as KYPP fanzines cost at the time, what a rip!)

Pogo away chaps…Hope you both make it through the night!

49 comments
  1. Stewart
    Stewart
    June 14, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    Have you noticed how this thread has veered away from Menace, lol!

    OK, all you techy types – I downloaded a bootleg from this webby place and it is in FLAC format. Where can I find a good FREE audio converter which will convert FLAC files to WAV files????

    And Penguin, I hope you’re not suggesting I’m not into ‘proper’ reggae… (*winks*) There’s lots more plate glass windows in the world… (*winks again*)

  2. Phil
    Phil
    June 14, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    Remember before the riots no shops had metal shutters?

  3. Jah Pork Pie
    Jah Pork Pie
    June 14, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    @Stu-> “Where can I find a good FREE audio converter which will convert FLAC files to WAV files”

    Try MediaMonkey from http://www.mediamonkey.com – an excellent bit of kit. I use it for my entire MP3 collection and it will convert most anything to most anything else (except protected Apple files) very flexibly. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a tool to manage large libraries of digital music. There’s a free version and a Gold version. The free one will do what you’re after and a great deal more. I understand that there are people who download the serial numbers for the Gold version from isohunt (it’s the same program, just needs to be unlocked). This is very naughty and you shouldn’t do it!

  4. Jah Pork Pie
    Jah Pork Pie
    June 14, 2008 at 2:17 pm

    Menace were full of energy, weren’t they? GLC was the record I put on when I needed just that little bit of extra energy and spite before going out to a gig. Well, that one and “Live In A Car” by the UK Subs.

    Can anyone tell me why there’s a tirade at the end of Chaotic Discord’s “Great Rock and Roll Swindle” (live version) at Chaos UK? The singer goes mental about them. Am I missing something?

  5. Penguin
    Penguin • Post Author •
    June 14, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    No Stewey,the comment was not directed at you, not at all, although saying that, my collection would of course be, superior 😉
    It was written after a big jollie in Highbury, over 40 ex punk scenesters attended John No Last Names brief homecoming visit.
    Just reread the comment. Funny what one writes when a little wobbly! Reads a little hectic…

  6. Stewart
    Stewart
    June 14, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    Jah Pork Pie – Thanx! I shall check it out immediately!
    Penguin – Hey, I have a copy of ‘No Woman No Cry’ by that Babs Morley woman… I think you’ll find that qualifies my collection as ‘superior’…

  7. Phil
    Phil
    June 14, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    umm..When are we gonna get down to cock size’s

  8. Stewart
    Stewart
    June 14, 2008 at 4:22 pm

    Phil – Gay men and their cock sizes, eh?!?! (*winks*). Are we posting photos?

  9. Phil
    Phil
    June 14, 2008 at 4:34 pm

    nothing like a good 12″

  10. Stewart
    Stewart
    June 14, 2008 at 5:12 pm

    Jah Pork Pie – Excellent link! Works a treat! (I was a LITTLE bit naughty…). Thankyou! 🙂

  11. Jah Pork Pie
    Jah Pork Pie
    June 15, 2008 at 11:25 pm

    @Phil-> ‘ nothing like a good 12″ ‘

    That’s me you’re talking about!

    In the sense that I have indeed got nothing like a good 12″ 😉

  12. Jah Pork Pie
    Jah Pork Pie
    June 16, 2008 at 1:20 pm

    @Pengy-> “Funny what one writes when a little wobbly! Reads a little hectic”

    Surely you mean “Reads a little HERETIC”? 😉

  13. Jah Pork Pie
    Jah Pork Pie
    June 16, 2008 at 1:28 pm

    @Stu-> Why did you want to convert FLAC into WAV format? FLAC is lossless anyway (Free Lossless Audio Codec), same as wave format as far as I know. MediaMonkey will let you play FLAC directly, burn them to audio CD or convert to whichever bitrate MP3 you want. It’ll also let you convert them “on the fly” straight to an iPod or other device and keep the originals as they were. I keep tracks in FLAC now that I’ve got a higher-capacity hard drive rather than converting them down. If you want to convert them though, MP3 at 256kbps is more than enough to keep the sound decent, especially with punk stuff. And if you convert it to 64kbps, it sounds like you’re listening to the Radio 1 Top 20 on an old AM radio, circa ’78! 🙂

    Also, another bit of free software you might want to have a look at if you’re using a USB turntable to digitise music is Audacity (from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ ) which will let you edit tracks and select tracks from a whole album’s worth of audio automatically. It’s also got good filters for crackle and pop from old records, plus other effects. It can look a bit daunting at first but it’s pretty straightforward and very useful.

  14. Stewart
    Stewart
    June 16, 2008 at 1:35 pm

    Hi Jah Pork – Will FLAC files play on my old CD player and old in-car CD player though?!?! Neither will play MP3 files, for example, but they both play WAV files, which is why I converted them to that format.

    Yes, Audacity came with the turntable. I can only use the basics, but that’s all I need. Ta!

  15. Jah Pork Pie
    Jah Pork Pie
    June 16, 2008 at 4:51 pm

    No – but I think you can convert “on-the-fly” to WAV, that’s to say get MediaMonkey to copy onto your CD burner in WAV format and leave the originals as they are. Or you can just use the “Burn Audio CD…” menu item to make a CD that will play on anything.

  16. Stewart
    Stewart
    June 16, 2008 at 4:56 pm

    OK, ta, I’ll have a look (think i might have deleted the FLAC files now though – but helpful for future downloads…)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *