Classic punk rock from Cleveland

 

Of course I’m talking about Cleveland, Ohio here rather than Cleveland in the UK where I’m from.

The general Cleveland/ Detroit area could make a good claim to be the birthplace of punk being the home of such groups like MC5, Stooges, Rocket from the Tombs, Pere Ubu and Devo among others.

The Pagans were a Cleveland band from the late 70s although I think they have quite a 60s garage punk sort of sound, probably helped by the fact that there are a few covers of 60s songs among their repertoire.

The 18 tracks here cover all their studio recordings between 1977 and 1979 and are taken from the Buried Alive LP and Don’t Leave Me Alone single.

rapidshare.com/files/124563304/pagans.rar

UK skate punk

Unlike the US, skateboarding only enjoyed a brief fad in the UK in the late 70s then seemed to die out before making a gradual comeback from the late 80s onwards, initially among mainly grebo/punker type kids.

Like many teenage punk kids I had a skateboard but to be honest I was never really any good and it was more of an accessory on which I could put various stickers and paint band logos.

About 1989 (I think) a UK skateboard magazine – called Skateboard – was launched and the first issue came with this free 7″ flexi-single featuring some of the current UK hardcore groups around at the time.

What I like about this single is that not only does it show how closely connected the skateboarding and punk scenes were at this time but also the wide range of different sounding groups that were considered to fall under the term hardcore. From the grindcore/deathmetal noise of Napalm Death and Carcass to the more typical punk of Jailcell Recipes and the blues-tinged sound of Sink all these groups at that time were considered to be part of the same scene.

Skateboard magazine also used to have a really good music review section that covered all sorts of alternative groups.

Skateboard flexi-single

01. Dr & the Crippens – Braindead
02. Napalm Death – Muscle Head
03. Intense Degree – Skatebored
04. Sore Throat – Half Pipe
05. Sink – Bluesman
06. Carcass – Superration
07. Jailcell Recipes – Our Recipes

http://rapidshare.com/files/122926942/skateboard.rar

Highway To Hell

 

I’ve noticed that at the end of this month Boss Tuneage is releasing a comprehensive discography of Stupids material, however the tracks from this special 10″ souvenir of the Australian Highway to Hell tour, undertaken with the Hard-Ons, are not included – probably because it’s not strictly just Stupids and Hard-Ons material but rather a number of cover songs performed by various members of those groups and their road crews.

There was always a lot of humour running through both the Stupids and Hard-Ons material – setting them apart from many of their more doom-laden crusty contemporaries – as can be seen by the between track banter on this record. You can really sense just how much fun they had recording this.

The Stupids were one of the first British groups to be heavily influenced by the American hardcore sound and likewise were probably the first British skate punk group.

To my mind they are one of the most important groups of the UK hardcore scene and their stuff is absolutely essential.

http://rapidshare.com/files/121311157/highwayhell.rar

Legal Weapon

 

I had a request for this album by Legal Weapon but I couldn’t believe it when I checked and found that this classic record from 1982 is not currently available.

Legal Weapon are another Southern Californian/Los Angeles area group who, while maybe not as well known as some of the other groups from that scene, certainly had their fair share of well known members. The two permanent members were singer Kat Arthur and guitarist Brian Hansen and their first EP – No Sorrow – had Patricia Morrison (Bags, Gun Club, Sisters Of Mercy, Damned) playing bass while on this album – Death Of Innocence – they are joined by Steve Soto and Frank Agnew from the Adolescents on bass and second guitar.

Sound wise I’d say this album kind of sits somewhere between fairly typical Southern California punk but with a higher number of slower, more anthemic type songs and Deathrock, the Californian version of goth that so many of those early punk bands seemed to gravitate towards.

http://rapidshare.com/files/119616077/legal_weapon.rar