Sonido Chiswick

v/a - Sonidos Chiswick (17.1380/6, 1978)
v/a - Sonidos Chiswick vol. 2 (17.10468/5, 1979)


Roughly translated as The Sound Of Chiswick, these two Spanish promo-only compilations are a weird but wonderful set, if only for the title translations. I mean No Hay Rusos En Rusia should be clear enough, but what about Querida, Tengamos Otro Nino?
Anyways, the sleeve designs are kinda dull, and it's not really clear what Movieplay (the label's Spanish licensee) is trying to promote.
The first disc holds a good enough selection of material from Chiswick's first three years existence. The tracklisting runs like this:

A1.Radio Stars - No Russians In Russia
A2.101'ers - Keys To Your Heart
A3.Little Bob Story - You Make Me Crazy
A4.Jeff Hill - I Want You To Dance With Me
A5.Bishops - Train Train
B1.Sniff'n' the Tears - Fight For Love
B2.Johnny Moped - Darling Let's Have Another Baby
B3.Rings - I Wanna Be Free
B4.Rocky Sharpe & the Razors - Drip Drop
B5.Radiators - Television Screen (album version)

The Sniff'n' the Tears song probably makes one of it's earliest appearances, as Fickle Heart wasn't issued in the UK until late 1978. Little Bob Story's You Make Me Crazy is an odd choice and hardly their best. The same goes for the much inferior version of Television Screen that ain't a match on the 7" version. Also note that both the Bishops and the Radiators appear here with their shortened monikers even tho' their material dates from before the name changes.

The second volume focuses on the reissue side of things with one side filled with tracks from the Hollywood Rock 'n' Roll LP and the other with a selection from Link Wray's Early Recordings.

A1.Alis Lesley - He Will Come Back To Me
A2.Glen Glenn - Everybody's Movin'
A3.Glen Glenn - Would You
A4.Glen Glenn - I'm Glad My Baby's Gone Away
A5.Glen Glenn - One Cup Of Coffee
A6.Glen Glenn - Blue Jeans
A7.Don Deal - Don't Push
B1.Link Wray - Ace Of Spades
B2.Link Wray - Cross Ties
B3.Link Wray - Scatter
B4.Link Wray - I'm Branded
B5.Link Wray - Jack The Ripper
B6.Link Wray - Fat Back
B7.Link Wray - Mr. Guitar
B8.Link Wray - Run Chicken Run

No arguing with the tracklisting this time, as it's all prime stuff. But what is really curious about this one is that all tracks are mixed together DJ-style, makin' it completely useless for radio play, something you'd figure might come in handy when sending out promo copies, and especially on side 2 creatin' a rather unpleasant Link-on-45 effect...