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Hey there Sorry Staters! What’s happening? We appreciate you stopping by and taking a read of the newsletter. Always.
So, last week I tempted fate by mentioning football and right away my Reds go and have a terrible day at the office. Typical. I’m sure that raised a laugh from some of you out there reading. That’s okay, trust me I see the funny side too.
Anyway, this week there were some interesting new arrivals awaiting me when I came to work after my weekend off. I’m not sure whether my colleagues will touch on any of them, but the one that I would like to talk about is a compilation of the singles released by the independent punk label Groucho Marxist Record Co:Operative from Paisley, Scotland in the late 70s/early 80s. The label only put out four singles, but packed a lot of quality and variety across those eight sides of vinyl. When I was back in Glasgow last year visiting my cousin, we drove past Paisley as it is so close and just the other day, I was looking at a photo of the Walrus Fountain in Paisley that my cousin took. Couple that with a recent listen to The Vaselines and I was perfectly primed for some good Scottish pop and punk sounds. This compilation did not disappoint.
GMRC was run by a printer named Tommy Kayes, who was a member of a Clyde side anarchist group. Local politics, police suspicion and ties to Rock Against Racism were the main influences and driving forces behind the label and the bands that they recorded. Across the four singles, eight different bands/artists are represented, the first two singles being various artists EPs.
Musically, the sound is D.I.Y. punk and typical of the try anything approach that similar labels and bands were adopting across the land. XS Discharge come across like a mix of The Clash and Buzzcocks with a dash of Public Image Limited for good measure. Defiant Pose sound like The Undertones and could easily have been on Good Vibrations. Mod Cons kick the collection off with a humorous but true song about the state of 70s council housing. It’s a catchy number and you could see it being a hit if the lyrics were about girls or something other than damp flats.
Other than the shorter run, GMRC share a similar aesthetic as labels like Good Vibrations and a host of other independent labels that were circumventing the mainstream and doing it for themselves. As I began writing this piece in the store, Jeff and I were listening to a couple of Crass comps which collected all the demo tape submissions that they received from around the country. They’re called Bullshit Detector and are worthy of adding to your collection if you don’t already have them. There are quite a few gems across the two volumes we played, but we thought the second set was the better. If we had to pick. I love all these regional compilations that document the scenes outside of London and the other major cities. So much creativity and talent on display and, when outside of the mainstream, often weird. Weird is good of course and so is being able to say whatever you want without fear of being censored. Songs about real-life issues, politics etc. is what you get, and that’s exactly what infuses every tune that GMRC released in their brief two-year lifespan. A quote from Tommy taken from a fanzine interview perfectly sums up the label’s philosophy: “No way do we cater for happy consumers, who clock in the following morning, content because they had a fun night. We are anti-specialists: you don’t need big promoters to organize gigs, IPC to publish fanzines, professionals to take photos, record companies to make records, lawyers to tell you what’s right from wrong.”
Every track is a winner here and based on prices for the original singles that’s just not the opinion of a few shut-in collectors. They are not completely out of reach though, especially if you live in the UK and can find a local dealer, but perhaps this comp will increase interest and more people will be on the hunt now. Or not, you never can tell. I admit ignorance to the label and the songs, but I am sure more seasoned punks out there are long aware of these great records. Clearly, the good folks at Sealed Records were and many thanks to them for the great job that they have done on this release. The record sounds good first and foremost, so good job there, but the packaging is the hero here. You get a whopping 40-page 11x11 booklet included which is full of press clippings, photos, essays, track information and zine interviews. Very cool and informative. Get this one in your cart pronto. We have a few copies in stock currently, but you don’t want to sleep on this one.
Okay, that’s it from me. Thanks for taking the time to read the newsletter. I’m sure my colleagues came through with their writings. I’m not blowing smoke when I say that I look forward to reading what they are into each week, as they always educate and entertain me.
Peace and love - Dom