The Expelaires - 1979-80 Recordings

The only link between the Expelaires and Liverpool is that they were signed by Zoo Records.
The band in fact formed in Leeds in 1978 and conssted of Craig Adams (on keyboards and guitar), David Wolfenden (on guitar, later in Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and The Mission) and Grape (on vocals, later in 3000 Revs and Groovin’ With Lucy). To this nucleus soon was to be completed by the addition of Mark Copson (on bass) and Carl ‘Tich’ Harper (on drums, later of Girls at Our Best). This line-up supported the Teardrop Explodes and Echo and the Bunnymen (on which occasion they come to be noticed by Drummond and Balfe’s Zoo Records). Also because of this connection the band earn some credibility and, in June 1979, was invited to record a Peel Session.

Peel Session (1979)
- It's Alright Mother (aka Call me Mother)
- Dashboard
- Nasty Media
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Apparently, during these sessions yet another song was recorded, which was then to appear as the b-side on the Expelaires’ first single, in September 1979:

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To See You (1979)
- To See You
- Frequency

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A few months after this, also due to the limited success of the single, things started to go wrong: first, Copson quit, to be replaced by David Harper (later of Five or Six) and Craig, too, left not long after the release of their second single Sympathy (Don’t be Taken In) (b/w Kicks) in January 1980. The song will appear in the compilation Hick from the Stick released the same year.

Expelaires 1979-80

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - 1985-86 demos

After the huge successes of the previous album and after 18 months of extensive touring the band took some time off just. After all the members returned from individual holidays they were brought back together in Ireland by ZTT to start writing the next release. The first track to be penned was Warriors Of The Wasteland, which was reported as a possible next-album title as early as July 1985. By now feelings between Holly & the rest of the band were becoming strained, musical directions being one of the main problems. In fact, the Lads had grown in their appreciation of studio knowledge and (along with their love for playing live) wanted to carry this sound onto the new album, whereas Holly wanted to keep it dance based, a sound he always loved. The lads would record demo’s on their four track portastudio downstairs at Boris House then pass the tapes onto Holly to write the lyrics and record the vocals in his room. After Ireland they all travelled to Ibiza for a short while to lay down tracks at Mediterranean studios, about half of the album had been written by this point.

Mediterranean Studios demos (Nov. 1985)
- All climb up to heaven
- Delirious
- Maximum joy
- Our silver turns to gold
- Waves

(All Climb up to Heaven was to be re-worked and appeared as Kill the Pain on the Liverpool album, together with Maximum Joy . Waves was to be the b-side of the single Watching the Wildlife. Delirious and Our Silver Turns to Gold would remain unreleased ).
After two weeks, next was the Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, The Netherland.

Wisseloord Studios demos (1985-86)
- All Climb up to Heaven
- Sunny 2 (aka For Heaven’s Sake)
- The Strippah
- Warriors End
- Watching the Wildlife

(The Strippah and Warrios End would remain unreleased.)
The final demos before the album were released at Trevorn Horn’s Sarm Studios in mid to late 1986.

Sarm Studios demos (1986)
- Pocket Vibrator
- Rage Hard
- This Wasteland (aka Kill the Pain)
- Warriors of the Wasteland

“Trevor Horn had promised the band he was to be producer of the new album, however, Steve Lipson (his junior) took the producer role - unbeknown to the band - this only created more feelings of discomfort. Steve was perhaps to easy going. Holly would turn up at 9 am in the studio to start with, the lads preferred starting late in the afternoon and working through the night, as a result very little time was spent with each party recording at the same time, ZTT later claimed Holly appeared for only 23 days recording out of a seven month period, although Holly was going through some personal & private trauma’s at this time he would later reveal in his Autobiography.
The album with around 11 tracks recorded was eventually completed and passed onto to Trevor Horn to mix for it’s release, he was now acting as Executive Producer. This process took around 5 months as Trevor was busy with other artists on his books at the time. In the end, the new album Liverpool was released on October 20, 1986, Liverpool eventually contains only 8 tracks and sounds very different to Welcome To The Pleasuredome. Holly later said that he didn't like the new style that the Lads were attempting and was sometimes bemused at their approach, preferring the 'electronic dirty disco' style of Pleasuerdome. The Lads as said earlier had learned much over the last few years, technology had advanced and recording wise they wanted to move on from an electronic sound to a much more live fee, in fact the original pre-produced Horn tracks from Holland were even more ‘Rock’ sounding than the released final mix of the album.”
(http://www.steveirving.entadsl.com/FGTH/html/fgth_history3.html)


FGTH – demos 85-86

Box of Toys - 1983 Peel Session

Box of Toys were born from the ashes of A Select Committee (1981-83), a powerpop band formed by Brian Jones, Tim Lees (both later of Something French), Steve Downey (later of Come in Tokyo) and Andy Redhead (on drums, percussion and synth). Even before the band broke up in 1983,in 1982 Redhead teamed up with Phil Martin (on sax, keys and vocals, formerly of 3D), Roy Campbell (on bass and vocals) and Brian Atherton (on vocals and synth, later of The Light).
Before releasing any single, the quartet recorded a session with John Peel in April 1983.

Peel Session (April 1983)
- When Daylight Is Over (Sunset)
- Time Takes Me Back
- Precious Is The Pearl
- I'm Thinking Of You Now

Within a few months (august 1983) I’m Thinking of You now would be the band’s first single (b/w Old Man Rome, see dedicated post below) and other two tracks performed during the session, Precious Is the Time and When Daylight Is Over (Sunset) were two appear on the second single of the band (12” version, together with a second b-side, It Goes Without Saying). The band split in late 1984, and Andy Redhead joined a later version of 3D.

Box of toys - Peel 83

V.A. Thru’ the Back Door (1980)

American compilation of artists on Back Door, a label formed by The Blitz Brothers, it represented possibly the only chance for the bands included to get to the audience of the Big Country. The selection of bands has very little to do with the orientation of this blog: little Liverpool and little post-punk. As a matter of fact, The Donkeys were a power pop act from Wakefiled (who released five singles during their carreer). Mark Kjeldsen was the founder member of the London based The Sinceros (1978-1981) and The Strutters before going solo. The Tearjerkers where 5 young lads from Northern Ireland who formed a power pop band in 1978 amid the Punk explosion of the late seventies. The Agony Column are a band from Leeds who also play powerful and articulated pop, and released a couple of singles. The only exceptions amid this bunch of rockist pop acts is represented by Dalek I and the label guys themselves, The Blitz Brothers.
The first two Dalek I tracks are the single versions of the songs also featured in the band first album. The Blitz Brothers track is the a-side of the band’s second single, released the same year (b/w Walking All Alone).


Thru' The Back Door (1980)


1. The Donkeys - No Way
2. Dalek I - Dalek I Love You (Destiny)
3. Mark Moesgaard Kjeldsen - Are You Ready
4. Tearjerkers: - Fingers
5. Dalek I - The World
6. The Blitz Brothers - Rose Tattoo
7. The Donkeys - You Jane
8. Tearjerkers- Comic Book Hero
9. Mark Moesgaard Kjeldsen - Something's Happening
10. Dalek I - Freedom Fighters
11. Tearjerkers - Murder Mystery
12. Agony Column - Love in the Head


Thru’ the Back Door (1980)

Faction - Faction (single, 1981)

For this blog users, the history of the band and of this single is already known. After the interest manifested by Grace Jones in re-recording the track Faction appeared on the band’s extended ep, Hillon and Redmond decided to play about the track at Amazon studio, with the collaboration of friends Joe Musker and Pete Wylie. Eventually they came up with version suitable for a single release.



Faction (1981)
- Faction
- Wrong Again


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Faction 1981

(Major thanks to Endorphin)

Teardrop Explodes - Live at Eric's (September 1979)

This gig was recorded on 16 September 1979, when the Teardrop Explodes had just released their first two singles Bouncing Babies (February) and Sleeping Gas (July). It dates back to the period when the band was reduced to a trio (Cope, Finkler and Dwyer) with Dave Balfe filling in on keyboards (after Paul Simpson and later Jed Quinn both left for the Wild Swans). The peculiarity of this gig is that the tracklist include songs written during the period of A Shallow Madness, namely Straight Rain and Read It in Books and a cover of Aretha Franklin’s Save Me.
A nice testimony of the Teardrop’s early live activity.

Live at Eric’s (1979)
- Second Head
- Brave Boys Keep Their Promises
- Sleeping Gas
- Take a Chance
- Ha Ha I'm Drowning
- Read it in Books
- Straight Rain
- Camera Camera
- Went Crazy
- Bouncing Babies
- Save Me

Teardrop at Erics

Mutants - 1977-78 Recordings

Birkenhead band formed straight from school in the summer of ’76 by Keith Wilson (aka Keith 'Kid' Steele, on guitar, later of Geisha Girls) and Paul Codman (aka Paul Pleasant, on drums, later in Egypt for Now and Geisha Girls) inspired by the pub rock of Eddie and the Hot Rods and by raw approach of the Stooges and MC5. After several changes the official line-up included, besides Keith 'Kid' Steele and Paul Pleasant, Sweet William on vocals, Al Sation (aka Paul Brady later Crawl, Ulterior Motive) on bass, and Roddie Rodent (aka Roddie Gilliard, later Muffin Man) on guitar.
The Mutants played their first ever gig at Mr. Digby’s in Birkenhead (with Slaughter and the Dogs) and quickly established themselves as an easy target for music criticism: they were too spikey, fast and ‘punky’ for a rock audience and too ‘rocky’ for a punk audience. For this reason they were banned from the premier new wave venue Eric’s due to their ‘unsuitability’. (Apparently, they responded by covering the entire club exterior, doors and all, with hundreds of posters for their upcoming gigs at the Havanna. And later, Eric’s would attempt to book the band at double their usual fee but the band at this point refused the offer). Their London debut was at the Roxy in Covent Garden, supporting The Police.
The Mutants released their first single in 1977:


Bos sman (1977)
- Boss Man
- Backyard Boys’



The single got some favourable reviews and even peaked at number six in the ‘Sounds’ new wave chart in October ’77, even though the band were disappointed, as the record failed to capture the raw energy and excitement of their live sound. The band continue touring extensively through the North, but when the time came to go back into the studio, the lack of commitment from a major label and the subconscious awareness of their inability to realise that ‘mass-market break’ took its toll. Keith Wilson, left just before the band released their second single:


Schoolteacher (1978)
- Schoolteacher
- Lady
- Hard Time



After the release of the single the band continued for several months, but due to the diminishing enthusiasm the Mutants split in late summer ’78.

Mutants

(see also http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/mutants.htm
and http://whycontrol1977.blogspot.com/2008/03/bombsite-fanzine-1977-mutants.html thanks why control)