The Tenant – Tenant Records – 1979

Manifestation Of Your Sickness

TV Pharmaceuticals

Crisis anyone?

I have gone through most of my adult life through to this very point right now, knowing sod all about this record. Thought I would check the internet, zilch on there.

The band sounds like they have been influenced heavily by Crisis, it definately sounds like an English vocalist chanting away quite happily, the rest of the band, who knows?

This release comes in a U.S style sleeve (very very thin paper, but nice quality) with U.S style labels (dunked centre and shiny silver paper). Most 7″ single product released in the U.K in 1979 would have much thicker quality sleeve paper, and would almost certainly still have the middle intact, unless they were ex jukebox records (which generally meant ex chart singles) that were sometimes sold in newsagents for 20 pence or whatever. Could this be a band based in the U.S.A with an English vocalist? Or could I be completely wrong?

I need the help of Nic on this one, hopefully he has stored some information on this record, through years of storing other useless (!) information on crazy records that no one else has ever heard of, in his enormous brain. 

If Nic or any other KYPP browsers know anything of the history of this record / band then please give up the knowledge via the comments. 

Perhaps my quest for knowledge on this release is coming to a satisfactory end. Or perhaps not. We will see…

11 comments
  1. chris
    chris
    December 3, 2008 at 12:05 pm

    I think this should become a feature on “WEIRD RECORDS YOU PICKED UP AND HAVEN’T GOT A CLUE ABOUT”.

    Know what you mean about the thin paper sleeve and ‘Northern Soul’ style cut-out centre. Think I have a couple of records like that but not many. I remember picking up a single by The Demons after reading a review of them supporting Discharge at the Music Machine in Sunday The 7th fanzine and that had that sort of ‘school toilet paper’ style paper sleeve. perhaps an indication of the music there-in as i remember it being pretty crap.

    Though didn’t those vinyl copies of Crass’s ‘Tribal Rival’ come in that sort of sleeve too? Can’t check as some piss-insect nicked my copy 🙁

  2. Martin C
    Martin C
    December 4, 2008 at 1:59 am

    Fucking hell! This is the dog’s bollocks. I used to have the A-side track on a CD-R of Killed by Death stuff (mostly awful) but never had a track listing, so never knew who it was til tonight, and lost the thing during a flat move some time ago. Love the jagged guitar – one of those songs I really hope was recorded at 4am in some basement under a hospital.

    Given some of the colloquialisms, it does sound pretty British – maybe they used a cheaper US pressing plant?

    (PS- Watford, ha ha)

  3. Nic
    Nic
    December 4, 2008 at 10:01 am

    Great record…
    but – as you surmise, Penguin – this one is indeed a mystery…

    Despite being comped on the ‘Homework 2’ and ‘Killed by Death #20’ compilations, no-one sems to know anything about it…
    I sent a quick query to Chuck (of the Hyped to Death label who specialise in reissues of many great ‘Obscure’ / ‘D.I.Y.’ records: if you haven’t already, have a gander at the website and buy some of the releases: http://www.hyped2death.com/ )…
    He agrees that the sleeve looks like it was manufactured in the States, but the singers accent and use of British colloquialisms (such as ‘telly’) suggests a British heritage…However, Chuck also noted that the single is not mentioned in the ’45 Revolutions’ book…
    An e-bay listing claimed it was from New York (although this isn’t proven)…

    So, we are all none-the-wiser…

    My feeling is that it’s a US release, partly for the music, partly for the manufacturing elements, and partly for the sleeve collages which are more reminsicent of the American approach that the UK one (despite similarities)…

    Either way – a great single and definitely one worth putting out there for the old farts on here…and the Kids, of course, don’t forget the KIDS!!!

  4. Bloater999
    Bloater999
    December 4, 2008 at 10:17 am

    Really like this one – does sound English to me…

  5. Steve
    Steve
    December 4, 2008 at 10:00 pm

    For what it’s worth, an online tracklisting of KBD #20 (presumably lifted off the LP sleeve) lists it as a US release, so that’s clearly what the compilers thought.

  6. Styreneboy
    Styreneboy
    December 5, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    I’m afraid I can’t throw any light on this for you, but is anyone else reminded of Wire’s “Being Sucked In Again”?

  7. Roberto
    Roberto
    April 1, 2009 at 4:22 pm

    yes, they’re americans, this record is listed on the old International Discography of the New Wave, or VOLUME, i still have an old copy picked up in London in’81…great blog anyway, cheers

  8. Peter Feld
    Peter Feld
    April 23, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    I have a copy I picked up from my roommates in NYC in about ’81, they were into the downtown underground literary punk scene as it was then, I didn’t know much about the band but also understood that they were Americans. Thanks for posting!

  9. Raphael R
    Raphael R
    May 11, 2009 at 4:02 am

    FYI
    The Tenant was an NYC-based band that recorded only this one single (in 1979). The band consisted of
    Robert Appleton, vocals (ex-Gynecologists)
    Raphael Rubinstein, guitar
    Ursula Kinzel, guitar
    Terry Berne, drums

  10. T Berne
    T Berne
    March 2, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    As Raphael R indicates above, The Tenant was formed in the winter of 1978. They rehearsed in a loft on the corner of Greenwich and Canal streets which at the time was a squat inhabited by various denizens of the downtown scene. The space was also used by other bands and musicians, including members of the Heartbreakers. The band’s lyrics were written by lead singer Robert Appleton, and the songs were composed and developed by the band as a whole. Their repertoire consisted of some seven songs before they broke up in the spring of 1979 following their only performance at CBGBs. They recorded all seven songs at an independent studio in Brooklyn, though only Manifestation of Your Sickness and TV Parmaceuticals were released. The single appeared in various downtown record stores and spent a few weeks on the jukebox at Max’s Kansas City. The master tape containing all the band’s songs has been lost, but some unplayed copies of the single remain in the hands of band members.

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