Metro on German TV show Hits A Go Go/Criminal World live 17th April 1977 Hamburg

Metro’s self-titled 1976 album is one that I often pondered when rifling through second hand bins throughout the 1980’s. It was not until Roxymania struck that I actually took the plunge. Although yer typical beard scratcher collector type would not be caught out owning the lp, it is not unlike the perfect out of tyme - or ahead of your time - lps for the 70's albeit of the non-garage rock variety. Like Clap’s Have You Reached Yet or Fortune Teller's Inner City Scream, i.e., garage records 8-10 years too late or too early, the Metro album sits ahead of its time either like a great early 1980’s new wave record or the final album of Roxy’s great 1972-1975 run. Mind you Sparks' "Wonder Girl" from 1971-1972 was/is THE preminent pre-new wave, new wave song (and the first IMHO).  That the Metro lp is from late 1976 London meant that punk stopped it dead in its tracks for the most part. That is unless you were David Bowie. Although the Iggy cover on Let’s Dance may be what first one to gain traction, the cover of Metro’s 1977 single “Criminal World” on Let's Dance just shows that someone clearly was paying attention. Peter Godwin, Duncan Browne and Sean Lyons all had been playing for years prior to Metro - the timing was just slightly off.  I had never seen any live footage before so was pretty excited to see that Peter Godwin has posted the very first television appearance by Metro on German tv with what sounds like live vocals over a backing track.
 

Greg Shaw Reviews Clap's "Have You Reached Yet?"/Who Put the Bomp! Summer, 1974

I have been a huge fan of Clap’s 1973 lp “Have You Reached Yet?” lp ever since the first time I heard it on a kinda muddy sounding bootleg, and have mentioned them a bunch. Just a perfect out of tyme - or ahead of your time - lp for the 70's (kinda like Fortune Teller's "Inner City Scream"). "Have You Reached Yet?" was clearly one of those lps you didn’t think you would ever get to hold in yer hands, let alone a new vinyl edition of the lp in MONO (which sounds fantastic). So, I finally landed an out-of-print copy put out by perhaps the best reissue label in the world, Sing Sing outta NY. What jumped out in the new liners by Phast Phreddie Patterson is that he says: “around 1976, I gave my copy of “Have You Reached Yet” to Greg Shaw, who wrote about it in his Bomp! Magazine – thus igniting the legend of Clap.” Well, while I was researching to find real time reviews of the lp, I found that Greg Shaw reviewed the lp as early as the Summer 1974 issue of “Who Put the Bomp!” when the lp itself may have only been a year old (even though Greg says the lp is from 1971 in the review - perhaps said in the grip of "Love It to Death" comparisons). Did he end up reviewing the lp twice? What is intriguing is also that the review says “the cover’s great too – its got a photo of a lizard-skin platform boot on a stool with a flashlight beam on it!” Does anyone know whether there was an earlier press of the lp with that cover? The boot photo is on the back cover as a small snap, even smaller than the band photo or logo. Anyway, another essential purchase if you can still find it.

Heavy Metal Thunder/(Back to the) Future Blues/The December 18, 1972 Showdown Between Clap and Sugar Boy

A little known secret about American proto-punk is that some of the greats morphed from "blues" bands led by omnivorous rock animals who embraced (at one time) the ballroom rock led by their British brethren. Or, at the very least, they dipped in the same wellspring originating in Chicago in the 1950's . An entirely different strain of British fiddle proto-punk (Cockney Rebel, Doctors of Madness etc) will be the subject of a future post and seemingly come from a mutant strain altogether. It was a given that these American folks loved the VU, Stooges, Doors, Nuggets-era garage bands (and actually played in them in real time), early rock n' roll/r'n'b and rockabilly etc, and of course the string of Stones 45s from 1964 onward. Cleveland had Laughner's Mr. Charlie (c.f. Laughner's lyrics to "Cinderella Backstreet" about playing them blues learned "from the Engish dudes"). In Boston, Matthew MacKenzie, Scott Baerenwald and Willie "Loco" Alexander's Bluesberry Jam mined much of the same inspiration that early Aerosmith took from (Jeff Beck Group, early Humble Pie, Yardbirds, the Who, Stones, etc). In Texas, certain of the pre-Nervebreakers had a serious "English" blues band going prior to adopting a slightly glam/Alice Cooper bent. Baltimore's great George Brigman as we know lived and breathed British blues killers and all around heavies the Groundhogs (as do we all). Add in some serious Faces worship (as acknowledged by Steve Jones and Killer Kane), and yer gettin' warmer. And now, Don Waller - god bless him and why not support the man and buy the Imperial Dog's dvd here or from Forced Exposure - has given the info we needed not only on cross town rivals, Clap, but laid out, as a public service of sorts, the covers the pre-Imperial Dogs Sugar Boy were playing. All I can say, is that I dig it. May not be everyone's cuppa, but I gotta say there are some favorites here, from Black Pearl's post-Barbarians, muscular MC5-styled, three guitar white soul to Peter Green-era Mac. As you can read on the Imperial Dogs page, the blues bent was soon ditched in favor of the darker, amphetamine-tinged, master race rock that we have come to know and love.









According to Don, the set included stuff from the Move, BOC, Black Pearl, the Climax Blues Band, Crazy Horse, the Faces and Eddie Cochran. What they had been playing prior to ditching their blues hound rhythm guitarist were covers of Z.Z. Top, Free, Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown, Willie Dixon, Earl King, Chuck Berry, Dylan, the Small Faces, Stones and Who. When are the tapes of that expanded Sugar Boy set(s) gonna be released?

CLE via Japan or a Pre-Electric Eels - Ladies and Gentlemen, Murahachibu

One of my numererous intentions is to share with you various pre-punk favorites from the dark ages. Not unlike the South Bay's unheraled Clap, what happens when you get a garagey/glammy, Stones-influenced band: something not unlike the Dolls. You also get, in this instance, something approaching the brilliance of "Flapping Jets" by the Electric Eels. This track, appropriately titled "Ah," is from 1971's "Kutabirete." If I could turn it up to 11 for you I would.



Here is string of clips from a Japanese dvd, looking like outtakes from Bob Gruen's "All Dolled Up"!! Anyone have spare Marahachibu vinyl to trade?



Now a live version: