Newtown Neurotics – No Wonder records – 1979 – 1982 / Blyth Power – Rehearsal – 1987 / Rosemarys Baby – T.O.P.Y World Network Records – 1985 / The Epileptics 1979 – 1980 / Lee Perry – Lion Of Judea Records – 1978 / Leather Nun – Industrial Records – 1979

A KYPP catch up on recent You Tube posts that have been published recently.

Hypocrite

You Said No

When The Oil Runs Out

Oh No

Kick Out The Tories

Mindless Violence

Newtown Neurotics were based around Harlow, home of Stortbeat Records (released the debut 7″ single by Bishop Stortford band The Licks), Urban Decay, The Square, and The Playhouse and of course No Wonder Records.

I spent a fair bit of time in Harlow as a youth, a gritty concrete town made infamous as being the location for the 1968 kitchen sink drama ‘Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush’.
“Another silent newtown problem with no solution in sight” the Neurotics passionately sung on ‘Oh No’ one of the songs uploaded onto this YouTube post.

Other notable towns that Harlow is near to were, Bishops Stortford, a quaint market town with the Triad as the main venue. Welwyn Garden City, with the Ludwick Hall venue, and yet another newtown, Stevenage which housed the wonders of the Bowes Lyon House, a venue on the ‘professional’ punk rock circuit.

Harlow was also home the Jean Harlow / Bennys pub / club, where the BBC cameras were poised at a Combat 84 performance just in time for a bit of the old ultra-violence, between, I assume, different divisions of boneheads. I guess a nice bit of footage if you like boneheads cracking other bonehead’s heads.

There were plenty of 7″singles by British Movement band Combat 84 in stock, displayed prominently in the window of Star Time Records, the punk record shop in Post Office Walk near to the grey concrete market area. There were certainly many National Front members based in Harlow. At the time it seemed that those politics were favoured, so placing Combat 84 7″ singles in the window display guaranteed sales.

Countering bands like Combat 84 were The Newtown Neurotics, who’s members when the first two records were recorded and released on No Wonder Records, included Tig Barber, the drummer, Steve Drewitt (who had hair Joey Ramone style) and the lean punker Colin.

The debut 7″ record on No Wonder Records, ‘Hypocrite’ was a decent offering. Hypocrite had nice harmonies, and a Rudi style intro and riff coming up now and again throughout the song. ‘You Said No’ is the weaker song, a newtown love song with a slightly awkward ‘reggae’ riff, a bit Stiff Little Fingersesq. It wasn’t that this song was bad, but for me, it wasn’t particularly great either.

The second 7″ single (the third 7″ single released on No Wonder) had the Newtown Neurotics punching above their weight. Two magnificent tracks, ‘When The Oil Runs Out’ and my favorite Newtown Neurotics song ‘Oh No’. This 7″ single adorned with a great image on the picture sleeve really stands out, and is perhaps my favourite record of the locality.
‘Oh No’ is just a stone wall classic. I hope you can keep the interest up long enough to hear this song, the fourth song on this YouTube post.

No Wonder Records released a cassette tape ‘Pissed As Newts’ (an awful choice of title for a band like Newtown Neurotics although ‘Newts’ is a clever twist but whatever) which was a full length album with a selection of songs recorded live at Dingwalls with Tig drumming around 1980. This cassette tape was released in 1982 after Tig had left the band.

Around the latter months of 1981, Tig who had left was replaced by Simon. Colin was still a lean punker and Steve had a cropped haircut, making the band look a little more clean cut and sharp!

By the third 7″ single, ‘Kick Out The Tories’ No Wonder Records had got help from the Leeds based C.N.T record label. Effectively a joint label release.

‘Kick Out The Tories’ never dates as the lyrics seem to be valid whatever the decade, and no doubt will be well into the future. One of my abiding memories of Newtown Neurotics was at a gig at Harlow Square during the miners strike when the final chorus of ‘Kick Out The Tories’, was repeated as a mantra for what seemed like a whole two or three minutes. Everybody in the hall joining in on the rather extended chorus.

‘Mindless Violence’ although it was a great song, when wrestling against the glorious anthem of ‘Kick Out The Tories’, there was only going to be one winner.

The Newtown Neurotics went on to record some great political and personal material and the bands full length album ‘Beggars Can Be Choosers’ released on Razor Records, simply must be heard.

The Newtown Neurotics really were Harlow’s Clash to the younger audience.

Track listing:

Hypocrite
You Said No
When The Oil Runs Out
Oh No
Lets Kick Out The Tories
Mindless Violence

Blyth Power Rehearsal February 1987

This is a cassette tape of an early Blyth Power rehearsal after Andy, Curtis and Neil had left or been pushed out of the original line up.

This 1987 rehearsal was recorded prior to the new line up having performed any gigs.

WARNING: This audio contains bum notes.

For the second line up of Blyth Power, Josef enlisted the help of fellow Latimer Road soul Protag, infamous soundman for Meanwhile Gardens and many other alternative venues including the Rosebery Avenue Peace Centre.

Protag was a sometime member of Alternative TV and also in the late 1970’s performed with his own D.I.Y band, Instant Automatons. Protag went onto join Zounds for a while in the 1990’s.

Steve Corr was from the old Yeovil scene and was known to Josef from those early days. Steve was involved with Idiot Strength, and still is in fact.

Sian Jefferies was an ex member of the Lost Cherries who backed up Josef on vocal duties, along with Sarah who was not culled from the old line up.

This new line up of Blyth Power were practicing together during the first few weeks of 1987 in a basement in Kings Cross, near to where All The Madmen was based at that time.

Blyth Power performed the first gig with this new line up on the 3rd March at the venue the old band had bowed out of, the Sir George Robey in Finsbury Park.

On this occasion Blyth Power were incognito and supported Stitched Foot Back Airman and Hysteria Ward under the temporary name ‘Night Porter’.

That gig went off OK so the band reverting back to Blyth Power. The next gig was at Stevenage Bowes Lyon House with Culture Shock on 28th March and the third gig was held on the 5th April in Brighton at The Richmond pub.

The new line up performed sixty gigs from March 1987 to January 1988 while still ‘on’ All The Madmen.

January 1988 was the end of Blyth Power’s All The Madmen days, with no releases to their name.

Josef signed up with Midnight Music, a label that had Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians on it’s rooster so was used to quirky English bands. All the recorded works from the second and subsequent Blyth Power line ups until 1991 were released on that record label.

Official notification letter, photographs and first gig flyer all from my collection.

Love Songs By Rosemary’s Baby side 1

Love Songs By Rosemary’s Baby side 2

Rosemary’s Baby was the musical arm of Ricerche Studi Babalon (RSB), the Italian ‘access point’ of the Temple Ov Psychick Youth (T.O.P.Y.), which issued tapes, booklets, bulletins and videos.

Rosemary’s Baby’s main man was Pier Luigi Zoccatelli. His ideas were rooted in Aleister Crowley’s Thelema and Magick, later turning into Guenonian Christianism.

For Rosemary’s Baby’s first performance, Pier Luigi plastered the streets of Verona with posters, drawn up in the typical style of Italian funeral notices, simply announcing that “Rosemary’s Baby is born”. Unfortunately the local media thought that these posters announced the creation of a new group of Satanists in Verona. From that point on, the Verona public decided that Pier Luigi was a practising Satanist…

After the short lived Rosemary’s Baby days, Zoccatelli decided to wander down the rather dubious route of the Italian Alleanza Cattolica / Alleanza Nazionale. I do not endorse, or share the views of this fundamentalist far right Catholic organisation.

This very rare 12″ record got me a verbal ticking off from Genesis P’Orridge when one day he heard the record being played upstairs on the sound system at his home in Hackney.

No trouble with the 12″ record as T.O.P.Y. were distributing it, or me for using his sound system.

The problem was that his young daughter Caresse was in the room at the time. Genesis quite rightly in hindsight, did not appreciate Caresse hearing this 12″ record.

This is a 12″ record to summon demons with.

Flux Of Pink Indians demo 1980

The debut 7″ single by Bishop’s Stortford punk band The Epileptics alongside the original cassette tape from ex-Epileptics, the newly named Flux Of Pink Indians.

Sid, the drummer from Rubella Ballet was the new addition to Flux Of Pink Indians and was responsible for bringing a tribal sound to the band.

Some further information may be found on the KYPP link HERE.

The Epileptics flyers that accompanies the audio is from the collection of Bradley Hall.
The photographs of The Epileptics and supporters inside and outside the Bishop’s Stortford venue the Triad from the collection of Michael Mitchell. Michael is pictured on two of the photographs. He is one of the supporters lining up outside the Triad, and he is also featured in the black and white photograph.

The black and white photograph of Flux Of Pink Indians performing at Stevenage Bowes Lyon House with Sid the new drummer is from Tinsel’s collection.

The debut album from Lee Perry, or to be more precise the first album showcasing Lee Perry vocals on all songs. Songs arranged, engineered and produced by Lee Perry at Black Ark Studios, Washington Gardens, Kingston.

For further information have a look at the KYPP linked post HERE.

A decent album, and this copy, the original Jamaican pressing, is now worth a fair chunk of cash…

Which is nice.

Leather Nun from Gothenburg in Sweden, the country’s second largest city.

Uploaded is the debut Leather Nun 7″ record released on Industrial Records in 1979 and re-released on a 12″ record on Criminal Damage Records in 1984.

I have both records which is handy as the last track on the 7″ version ‘Ensam I Natt’ only lasts around fifteen seconds!

On the re-released 12″ version the full ‘Ensam I Natt’ track is pressed onto the vinyl. A good thing really as ‘Ensam I Natt’, along with the first track ‘No Rules’, are two blisteringly raw punk rock tracks, probably still two of the rawest recorded and released on vinyl. The Clash this ain’t.

For completest reasons I have added the full Criminal Damage 12″ version of ‘Ensam I Natt’ onto the end of this YouTube post, straight after the Industrial 7″ teaser finishes off that record.

Sandwiched between the blisteringly raw punk rock tracks ‘Slow Death’ is a slow bass heavy plodder concerning a victim of a bomb planted in an Italian railway station who was burnt badly but lived for several hours.

‘Death Threats’ was recorded earlier than the other three tracks and it was this track that Throbbing Gristle originally expressed an interest in. Members of TG and Leather Nun had been pen pals for a short time prior to recording this ‘industrial masterpiece’ with seemingly a hoover as the main instrument!

For a download of the full Criminal Damage 12″ record open up the KYPP post HERE.

Tracklisting:

No Rule
Death Threats
Slow Death
Ensam I Natt (part)
Ensam I Natt (full)