Rock 'n' Roll Suburbano de Londres

v/a - Rock 'n' Roll Suburbano de Londres
Chiswick 17.1401/9, Spain 1979.


Yet another curiosity from Spain, this LP compiles the EPs by Riff Raff, Jook and Drug Addix. Lengthy sleeve notes that I won't even begin tryin' to translate, but the point seems to be that there were a lot of good new bands in London at the time, which is hard to argue with I guess...

Tracklisting:

A1. Drug Adddix - Gay Boys In Bondage
A2. Drug Adddix - Addington Shuffle
A3. Drug Adddix - Special Clinic
A4. Drug Adddix - Glutton For Punishment
A5. Riff Raff - Cosmonaut
A6. Riff Raff - Romford Girls
B1. Riff Raff - What's The Latest
B2. Riff Raff - Sweet As Pie
B3. Jook - Watch Your Step
B4. Jook - La La Girl
B5. Jook - Aggravation Place
B6. Jook - Everything I Do

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Jakko - Straining Our Eyes 12"

Jakko - Straining Our Eyes (extended)/Grab What You Can, Something In The Mirror
Catalogue number: Jakko 1 (promo only 12")
Release date: May 1982

From the press release: "Michael Jaksyzk, also know as Jakko, is a 24 year old singer, guitarist, writer.

His first band, 'Soon After', played their way to the semi finals of the 1975 Melody Maker Rock/Folk competition.

Soon after 'Soon After' he formedthe enigmatic '64 Spoons', a sort of jazz rock Bonzo Dog.

Their only vinyl legacy was one E.P. which is now nearly impossible to get.

More recently he has played guitar with Dave Stewart's 'Rapid Eye Movement'

This led to his involvement on Dave's first chart succes, 'What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted', and his debut album.

Assisting Jakko on many of these projects has been John Clarke on drums/percussion and trumpet player extraordin(h)air Ted Emment, currently resident with the Teardrop Explodes.

Besides these two Jakko utilises two other musicians on his debut L.P. 'Silesia'; these are Annie Whitehead on Trombone and Dave Jackson (late of the late Van Der Graaf Generator) on Saxophones.

Anyone interested in the Canterbury scene, Henry Cow, Van Der Graaf, Fripp etc should find something for them in Jakko's efficient pop styling."

All the Jakko info you'll ever need can be found on jakko.com

Vince Taylor postcard

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rarities (4)

Radio Stars - El Autentico Yo/Madera Noruega
Chiswick 02.1392/5, Spain 1978.

Damned artwork outtakes

Work in progress shots of the artwork for two Damned releases that recently turned up on eBay.

New releases from Ace

This month's batch includes a Music Machine double disc, the 2nd volume of the Mirwood Story, Wanda Jackson, the Champs and the Everly Brothers. Check it out here.

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...