Sounds Single of This and Every Week/The Saints on Return of the Saint/Don Rickles and the Germs (Repost April 2012)

So the Dickies were the first of the Masque-era Los Angeles punk bands to hit the UK followed by the Go-Go's the following year. And although Alice Bag's memoir may be the superior read, you could do a lot worse than the excellent first half of Belinda Carlisle's memoir Lips Unsealed for some debauched tales of the era. I digress. The Saints were among the first to show the Brits how it was done, after the Ramones of course, and shared the stage with them as well in the UK. I am reminded of Dylan in No Direction Home trying to divine where all those early songs came from. Do Chris Bailey and Ed Kuepper wonder the same thing? Dylan and the Ramones where living in one of the most culturally rich cities in the world surrounded by scenes which offered early support. The Saints incredibly created some of the 1970’s most perfect music while in Brisbane. Anyone who has not heard The Most Primitive Band in the World which dates from 1974 really needs to do some backpedaling. While Brisbane 1973-74 was not like the backwater portrayed in the seminal Australian film Wake in Fright (which each and every reader of this site needs to see), it was close enough which makes the foundling Saints’ achievement even that much more incredible. These were not kids hanging out at the Riot House, seeing Iggy crawling on the sidewalk on the Sunset Strip, or camping outside Freddie Mercury’s hotel room and then forming a band. As I have said before, one of the truly unacknowledged cultural movers and shakers of the last half century is named Lenny Kaye. It was his Nuggets comp that hit Brisbane in 1974 - two years late you may note - (along with the contempo Dolls, Stooges, MC5, various 50's greats, the Missing Links etc) that powered this earth shattering music. Proof that record nerds who are fine musicians can change the cultural world, no? Anyway, here you have the review that changed the game, and an interesting video curio. My old pal Maxwell in LA is who hipped me to the original Saint on telly. So it makes total sense that the actual Saints who by then had decamped to the UK make an appearance on the Return of the Saint show in 1978. In the same year, and it is buried back in my subconscious that I saw it at the time it was broadcast (along with Joe Namath’s short lived Waverly Wafers), the Dickies appeared on Don Rickles’ CPO Sharkey AND the Germs got their first name check on national US television. Check it all out below.





Now this is the kind of thing that I would screen if I was given an IMAX theater with a bar:

Sounds Single of This and Every Week/The Saints on Return of the Saint/Don Rickles and the Germs

So the Dickies were the first of the Masque-era Los Angeles punk bands to hit the UK followed by the Go-Go's the following year. I haven't had a chance to read Alice Bag's memoir (try finding a copy in NZ), but you could do a lot worse than read the first half of Belinda Carlisle's memoir Lips Unsealed for some debauched tales of the era. I digress. The Saints were among the first to show the Brits how it was done, after the Ramones of course, and shared the stage with them as well in the UK. I am reminded of Dylan in No Direction Home trying to divine where all those early songs came from. Do Chris Bailey and Ed Kuepper wonder the same thing? Dylan and the Ramones where living in one of the most culturally rich cities in the world surrounded by scenes which offered early support. The Saints incredibly created some of the 1970’s most perfect music while in Brisbane. Anyone who has not heard The Most Primitive Band in the World which dates from 1974 really needs to do some backpedaling. While Brisbane 1973-74 was not like the backwater portrayed in the seminal Australian film Wake in Fright (which each and every reader of this site needs to see), it was close enough which makes the foundling Saints’ achievement even that much more incredible. These were not kids hanging out at the Riot House, seeing Iggy crawling on the sidewalk on the Sunset Strip, or camping outside Freddie Mercury’s hotel room and then forming a band. As I have said before, one of the truly unacknowledged cultural movers and shakers of the last half century is named Lenny Kaye. It was his Nuggets comp that hit Brisbane in 1974 - two years late you may note - (along with the contempo Dolls, Stooges, MC5, various 50's greats, the Missing Links etc) that powered this earth shattering music. Proof that record nerds who are fine musicians can change the cultural world, no? Anyway, here you have the review that changed the game, and an interesting video curio. My old pal Maxwell in LA is who hipped me to the original Saint on telly. So it makes total sense that the actual Saints who by then had decamped to the UK make an appearance on the Return of the Saint show in 1978. In the same year, and it is buried back in my subconscious that I saw it at the time it was broadcast (along with Joe Namath’s short lived Waverly Wafers), the Dickies appeared on Don Rickles’ CPO Sharkey AND the Germs got their first name check on national US television. Check it all out below.





Now this is the kind of thing that I would screen if I was given an IMAX theater with a bar:

Some Toy Love Love (and Tall Dwarfs)/Toy Love Week in Dunedin

Gotta love Chris Knox's favourite lps circa 1979: "Help," "Strictly Personal," "Wee Tam," "Plastic Ono Band" and "I'm Stranded." He adds in the single of "Heroes and Villains" and the b-side of Napoleon XIV "They're Coming to Take Me Away." Chris has been pretty consistent since day one. Alec names John Cale's "Paris 1919," the Beatles and Bowie. Both Chris and Alec are on the same artistic level as their influences no doubt about it. Toy Love was great and the Tall Dwarfs even better, and they were together even longer than the Beatles! Recently was listening to both of the Chris Knox and the Nothing cds and watched "Let it Be" on dvd and was wondering how Chris was doing. Clippings from the barn archive for the most part - most are not on the Toy Love webpage. The Toy Love clip was from Aussie show Countdown during the Sydney sojourn as seen on the "Sydney postcard." Other Toy Love clips are out there but that may have been the oddest given the lip synch. Incredible String Band for its influence.



These outfits are outstanding and they are the only guys to get away with it:

Knox on Cave/Flying Nun 1982/"Do Not Buy This Product"/Who is Bobzilla?

One of my all time favourite musicians is Chris Knox. Chris is also a great music/film critic and illustrator. Here is a 28 year old review of the Birthday Party's "Junkyard" from the barn archive which kinda says it all in approximately 200 words or less. Don't get Chris started on the Beatles or the Incredible String Band or we could be here all day. I know if Rollins reviewed this lp in '82, he would have had a hard time keeping it under 1,000 words. Please support Chris and purchase "Stroke" here.





From "Rip It Up" (November, 1982).