WHIRLWIND - Midnight Blue

WHIRLWIND  Midnight Blue LP 1980
Midnight Blue / Teenage Cutie / You Got Class / Honey Hush / Cruisin' Around / Stay Cool / Running Wild / Okie's In The Pokie / Heaven Knows / Big Sandy / Such A Fool / Nightmares / If It's All The Same To You / Stayin' Out All Night.
Produced By Billy Holliday & Tommy Doherty.
Whirlwind: Nigel Dixon: vocals, guitar / Mick Lewis: lead guitar / Chris Emo: bass / Gary Hassett: drums.

One of the first significant bands to emerge from the British rockabilly revival scene, Whirlwind was a potent live attraction in the U.K. and helped establish a tenuous but important link between the roots rock community and the growing punk rock underground. Whirlwind was formed in 1976 by singer Nigel Dixon and drummer Phil Hardy, both of whom were regulars at the Unit One Club in Uxbridge, near West London. Both Dixon and Hardy were fans of first-era rock & roll, and joined forces with Mike Lewis on guitar and Chris Emo on bass to begin storming the London club circuit. After a successful residency at the legendary club the Speakeasy, Whirlwind became a hot attraction in London and earned many fans on the burgeoning punk/new wave scene by opening for the likes of the Clash, Elvis Costello & the Attractions and Ian Dury & the Blockheads. Chiswick Records, home to such proto-punk notables as the Count Bishops, the Gorillas and Johnny Moped, signed Whirlwind to a recording contract in 1977, and after a pair of singles issued the group's debut album, "Blowing Up a Storm", in January 1978.

Not long after the album was released, Hardy left the band, but the group remained busy, with Gary Hassett taking over behind the traps. The group supported their second album, 1980s "Midnight Blue", with a major U.K. road trip opening for Blondie, but by the end of the tour, Hassett had developed a serious health problem; between this and the poor sales of the second album, the members of Whirlwind decided to call it a day. Nigel Dixon later sang with Havana 3 A.M., led by Paul Simonon, formerly of the Clash. Dixon lost his life to cancer in 1993; the disease also claimed Phil Hardy the same year. An anthology of Whirlwind's Chiswick material, In the Studio, was released in 1995. Allmusic

"...Whirlwind quickly proved no mere imitators of earlier styles. Founded by singer Nigel Dixon (who would later go on to play in Havana 3AM with ex-Clash bassist Paul Simonon) and drummer Phil Hardy, and joined by lead guitarist Mick Lewis and bassist Chris Emo, they quickly became an in-demand rockabilly band on the rock'n'roll club circuit and surprisingly were even supported by the burgeoning punk scene. A Speakeasy residence followed and a record deal for the infant Chiswick label that resulted in Whirlwind's debut album 'Blowin' Up A Storm' (complete with Stuart Colman sleevenotes and a Barney Bubbles-designed sleeve), released in January 1978.Phil Hardy left shortly afterwards and was replaced by Garry Hassett.By the time the band made their second album 'Midnight Blue', they were big enough to secure the support tour slot to Blondie. Sadly, during that tour, Hassett was taken ill and rather than change the line-up, they decided to call it a day.In a doubly sad 1993, Nigel Dixon succumbed to cancer and later the same year, so did Phil Hardy..." Source
Official site for Whirlwind
New album now available to buy HERE!
BUY "Midnight Blue" HERE!

THE LONDON COWBOYS - Relapse

THE LONDON COWBOYS  Relapse  2XCD  2008
Dance Crazy / Hook Line And Sinker / Blue Murder / Animal Pleasure / Wow Wow Oui Oui / Design For Living / Underworld USA / Bleed Me / Courtesan / Centerfold / Saigon / Reggae Cop / Going Through The Motions / Girl That I Love (The Idols) / You (The Idols).

Hollywood / Overrated / Comeback / Better Still / Dragging In The Dirt / After Midnight / Overloaded / Countdown Love #1 / Heavy Heart / After A Fashion / Riding Shotgun / Backfires / Without Your Love / Countdown Love #2 / Too Right Wing (The Idols) / Bigger Splash (The Idols).

The London Cowboys: Steve Dior: vocals, guitar, harp / Barry Jones: vocals, guitar / Pete Wassif, Paul Wassif, Johnny Thunders, Sylvain Sylvain, Waddy Wachtel: guitar / Mike Monroe, Ronnie Asprey: saxophone / Rikki Sylvan, Jim Solar: keyboards / Chris Heilman, Sasha Kritsov, Glen Matlock, Pete Farndon, Arthur Kane, Tony James, Tony Levin , Steve Counsel: bass / Phil Rowland, Dan Gerous, Benny De Massa, Terry Chimes, Rick Morotta, MC Bones, Jerry Nolan: drums.

The London Cowboys' Relapse is a double-CD: one disc being the highlights of their releases, the other comprised of unreleased material. In both categories there are bonus tracks from The Idols.

The London Cowboys were based around Steve Dior & Barry Jones who in 1976 were an integral part of London’s fledgling punk scene. They had loosely rehearsed with Chrissie Hynde and Keith Levene and others until Barry started co-promoting the first 100 days of The Roxy Club, booking the bands and designing the flyers. His teenage pal Steve came down to see the Heartbreakers on a pre-opening gig and fell in with the band. When Jerry Nolan left the Heartbreakers in August ’77, he formed The Idols with Steve and Barry; they soon moved to New York where Arthur Kane completed the line-up.

The Idols recorded demos for Track Records in London and made waves in New York, releasing a single on Ork Records. When Sid Vicious came to NY, they were his first choice of backup band (documented in recordings and Steve’s notes in ‘Sid Lives’, FREUDCD095), but the planned recordings with Sid never got to happen. The Idols folded in 1979 when Jerry had work-permit problems getting back into the UK. Barry then got a job with Max’s Kansas City; Steve rehearsed with the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones & Paul Cook’s new band, The Professionals.

The London Cowboys first incarnation was in the early 80’s, Steve together with the Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock and singer Russell King, who issued a couple of successful singles in France. But when it came to an album, Steve fell out with King and brought back Jones and Nolan who both had returned to the UK, and took over vocals himself. The band continued for many years with Dior & Jones as the nucleus, with the Matlock/Nolan rhythm section substituted according to availability – Tony James, Pete Farndon and Terry Chimes amongst others filled those positions.

Later in the 80’s, the Cowboys’ brand of rock’n’roll found favour with record executives – Dolls-influenced bands had proved their dollar worth in the form of Guns & Roses and Billy Idol. MCA signed the London Cowboys with big plans that never materialised; then Chrysalis courted them. But no releases came out of that period, until now!
In late ’86 Jerry Nolan, Barry Jones and Glen Matlock teamed up again together with Johnny Thunders, for a tour of the world through 1987.

Johnny had earlier guested on a unreleased Cowboys session; after he died Steve teamed up with Sylvain Sylvain for a tribute song – both included here. Steve & Barry must be the only musicians who’ve played with both four members of the New York Dolls and four members of the Sex Pistols!
Barry now lives in LA. Steve Dior took a break from music for a while but is back with a new band, The Delinquents. Source
BUY IT HERE!

THE SLICKEE BOYS - Cybernetic Dreams Of Pi

THE SLICKEE BOYS  Cybernetic Dreams Of Pi  CD  2005
Escalator 66 / You’ve Got What It Takes / Life of the Party / When I Go To The Beach / Pushin' My Luck / Invisible People / Nagasaki Neuter / Say Goodbye / Time Spent Waiting / The Crawling Hand / Pictures of Matchstick Men / Marble Orchard / Gotta Tell Me Why* / Glendora* / Golden Love* / Forbidden Alliance* / Question Of Temperature° / Reverse Psychiatry° / Without A Word Of Warning° / Misunderstood°.
CD Bonus tracks: *Third Slickee Boys EP / °Found in the Truck of Kim's Orange Fury.
Produced by John Chumbris and the Slickee Boys.
Digitally remastered At Hit & Run Recording by Steve Carr.
The Slickee Boys: Mark Noone: lead vocals / Marshall Keith: lead guitar, keyboards, vocals / Kim Kane: rhythm guitar, organ / Dan Palenski: drums, vocals / John Chumbris: bass guitar / Emery Olexa: bass guitar.

"...While continuing to play in the DC area, the band began to gain notice outside of the area as well. The sold out shows and wild, almost rabid fans at each concert was well known here, but in 1983 Minneapolis, Minnesota's Twin Tone Records caught wind of The Slickee Boys. Twin Tone records was a daring indie label which was responsible for putting out the early records of The Replacements and Soul Asylum, among many others. A 7 inch single-"When I Go To The Beach" b/w "Invisible People" was released in 1983. 5000 copies were pressed and a respectable 2,221 were sold by Twin Tone. (This was actually a re-release of a Dacoit Records single of which 3000 were pressed in DC). The song was a good time party record-Noone sings about "drinking beer for breakfast" and partying all afternoon. A favorite at many a beach throwdown! The B-side is a spooky organ driven song that offers an interesting contrast to the usual Slickee fare.

These songs were brought along for the ride on The Slickee Boys first "proper" record-1983's Cybernetic Dreams Of Pi. This record showed that The Slickee Boys had emerged out of The Cramps/Yardbirds garage and instead offered smartly crafted intelligent guitar pop with loads of hooks, careening guitar solos and good humor to boot. The record starts off with the bouncy "Escalator 66". Co-written by Marshall Keith and Mark Noone, drummer Dan Palenski later described the song as "Marshall's answer to 'Highway To Hell'. He must have figured if the other bands were taking the highway, the dumbass Slickees would be on the Escalator." Other stand-out tracks included "You've Got What It Takes" with one of the coolest instrumental "intros" of any song-period and "Time Spent Waiting". Pi is a superb debut that smashed any conceptions of what psychedelic or garage rock should sound like. This record ended up selling close to 7,000 copies. The line-up at this point consisted of Kane, Keith, Noone, Palenski and John Chumbris on bass, who also helped produce the record. For many fans this is considered the definitive line-up-but of course I'm sure there are some naysayers who may squabble on that point..." Source

"Cybernetic Dreams of Pi", released in 1983, is The Slickee Boys second "proper" album (third, if you count the compilation album "Here to Stay"), and the first to be recorded all in one place at the same time. It was released on LP by the Minneapolis record label Twin/Tone (TTR 8337). Along with songs penned by the band, there are cover versions of songs by Hamilton Streetcar and the Status Quo. To support the album, the band shot music videos for "Life of the Party" and "When I Go to the Beach", the latter video receiving semi-regular airplay on MTV, thanks to a second place finish on that channel's Basement Tapes show.
The LP was also released by the German Line label (1000 copies on white vinyl with significantly different cover artwork and on New Rose, too (with the Twin/Tone cover art).
An expanded CD version was released on Dacoit in 2005 (catalog number 2005-3). The CD includes eight additional songs: all four songs from 1979's 3rd EP ("Gotta Tell Me Why", "Glendora", "Golden Love", "Forbidden Alliance") plus four songs "found in the trunk of Kim Kane's orange Fury" ("A Question of Temperature", "Reverse Psychiatry", "Without a Word of Warning", "(I'm) Misunderstood"). The cover art was slightly altered. Wikipedia
Thanks To JPaul!
BUY IT HERE!

DIG IT! N° 60

Numéro 60 !!! 60 numéros ... énorme pour un fanzine ! On en espère 60 autres de la même qualité !
Dig It! c'est tout le rock qu'on aime: real & raw mais ça reste du rock avant tout !
Abonnement obligatoire ICI !

CAVANNA 1923 - 2014