Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine/Nick Kent on Hawkwind 1972 (NME) and the Smiths 1986/Monoshock 2012

While in Melbourne a few weeks back, I managed to miss my old pal's Monoshock's warm-up gig in San Francisco. Warm up for what? You tell me. Japan, UK and continental festivals all finishing with an Australasian leg of the world tour ending here in NZ. Nice, no? That should have been what happened the first time. Instead, all we get for the gig is a 180 gram repress of one the 1990's quintessential records. Did Thirsty even listen to his free promo that we flung to him at the time? The rumble of "Cryptozoological Disaster" still defines the era for me - what is with all these self serving folks writing books about that era without including a CHAPTER on the making of this record. While missing the Monoshock gig, I did happen to find this old NME 1972 yearbook in a 1985-vintage psychotronic video shop (where the owner told my daughter not to touch the clamshell VHS cases as they were "collectible"!), and oddly not in one of Melbourne's forty plus record stores. That said, you get Nick Kent on Hawkwind. Lemmy drinking a Newcastle Brown Ale, Dik Mik in front of both the Sam Gopal lp AND "Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine." "From Bolan to Beefheart"!! It says it right there on the cover. After watching Monoshock, move yourself to some VINTAGE 1986 Nick Kent (right after John Peel) as he pontificates at 2:40 of the South Bank Show special on the Smiths. Dead on as always. Outstanding stuff. More Kent and Hawkwind in the archives here if you can be bothered to search.