The Rotary Connection: Aladdin LP (Cadet Concept, 1968)

Aside from the new Fairytale EP (which I must have played 15 times in the last 2 days), the record I’ve enjoyed the most this week has been Aladdin, the 1968 LP by the Rotary Connection.

I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again: when Dominic hands you a record and tells you to take it home, you take the record home and you listen to it, because the man knows what he is talking about. Whether you’re lucky enough that this interaction happens in person or whether you’re just reading his staff picks, Dom will not steer you wrong.

Dominic has mentioned the Rotary Connection and their visionary producer Charles Stepney many times in his previous staff picks, so I’ll leave it to you to dig through the archives on Sorry State’s site to piece together that wisdom. What I’ll tell you is that if the term “psychedelic soul” intrigues you, check out this album. To me, it sounds like Aladdin takes elements from baroque pop like the Left Banke and the Zombies, adds in some psychedelic rock elements (particularly fuzz guitars and raga rhythms), and combines that with the top-notch orchestration, musicianship, and songwriting the great soul labels of the 60s were known for. The results are magical. This album takes you so many places over the course of its 40-minute runtime, every single one of them incredible.

Best of all, as with many of Dominic’s recommends, with a little work you can score an original pressing of this record for about five bucks. What’s not to love?

What’s up Sorry Staters?

It’s been a while since I’ve written about a brand new release, so I thought I’d talk about a record I’ve been particularly stoked on, which is the new self-titled EP by Fairytale from New York.

Fairytale played at my old house (the Bunker) here in Raleigh in early 2020. They were super cool people and absolutely destroyed our little basement venue. That night, they hooked me up with a copy of their 7” flexi they had with them, which I lost somewhere in the house while raging in a drunken stupor. I stumbled across the flexi in the midst of the pandemic while I was pretty much never leaving my house. When I dropped the needle on that floppy, all I could think was, “Damn, I’m glad I didn’t lose this forever! I wish it was more than 2 songs…”

Now it’s 2021 and we’ve got this new 4-song EP, and it is NEXT LEVEL! At their core, I guess you could say Fairytale has a Swedish käng flavor to their sound. Still, there’s something else going on I can’t quite put my finger on. But then, it all made sense to me when I discovered this EP was recorded by the folks over at D4MT Labs. There’s a sonic quality to the production that sounds fuzzy and blown out, but still organic and powerful. It’s funny to frame it this way, but it’s like taking a raging D-beat band but through the lens of the leftfield, psychedelic sonic signature of bands like Kaleidoscope or Straw Man Army. Raging hardcore, for sure, but also kind of ethereal and otherworldly… Does that sound cheesy? I don’t know dude, for me it fuckin’ WORKS. The vibe I’m trying to describe is most noticeable in the guitars, which do NOT sound like they’re ran through a big amp with a hyper-compressed, clean heavy metal distortion pedal in front of them. The guitars go off in these outta control, frantic passages that are so intense. I love it. I’m a big fan of Joe B’s drumming too -- always fast, tight and punishing. The drums aren’t at all buried, but they need to compete under these thick layers of noise. But really, Lulu’s vocals make this record. So raging.

Another thing I wanna point out: It’s interesting to hear a band bring back samples. I tend to not be a fan of samples, but that’s because I associate them with like “party skate thrash,” where they’re taken from some stupid comedy and kinda bore me until the music starts back up. But the way Fairytale places these audio clips is well done. The clips are mixed with interesting soundscapes, like a pulsing radioactive buzz that just adds to the tension and atmosphere of the record.

Last thing… I wanna talk about the packaging! The vinyl itself comes packaged in a dark paper dust sleeve that’s been hand-stamped, which looks super classy. Pretty recognizably, I’m pretty sure Joe did the cover art too, which is kind of abstract, but suits the music (hope I’m not wrong haha). The sleeve is like an old school style foldout sleeve, kinda like the packaging on some old Finnish or Japanese 7”s, but it makes the entire record feel special and homemade.

This record is killer. Buy it, punk.

Thanks for reading,

-Jeff

Satan’s Satyrs: The Lucky Ones 12” (2018)

I had been jamming this pretty heavy online and decided I wanted a physical copy. I hit up an old friend who plays in this band and asked him if he had any extra copies lying around, and wouldn’t you know just a few days later this record was waiting for me on my doorstep (thanks Jarrett!).

My high school band and Satan’s Satyrs used to play house shows together in Northern Virginia like 10 years ago. And when I say house show I don’t mean a dingy, lawless punk house (although I have seen Satan’s Satyrs in those settings), I mean someone’s family home. It was the kind of thing where there were like 6 local bands playing and there was a cooler of Pepsi in the garage. Drinking was discouraged at these kinds of things because someone might get in trouble with their parents. My point being, I have been seeing Satan’s Satyrs for years and I even booked them a couple gigs when I was living in North Carolina. Their first album Wild Beyond Belief! Was a masterpiece. That record was written and recorded entirely by bass player and vocalist, Clayton Burgess. Over the years and a few albums and tours later, they are still a heavy hitting machine. Their most recent record, The Lucky Ones stuck out to me.

I’ll be honest, over the years I kind of fell off the wagon as a Satan’s Satyrs fan. I think I just wasn’t vibing with the whole 70s rock revival thing. But this record struck a chord for me. It’s catchy and heavy, like Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath smashed together (for context, I have also been on a big Thin Lizzy kick). The guitar work is delightfully sloppy and punishing, and then just a song later it could sound delicate and whimsical. There are even moments where it sounds like they are taking influence from southern rock. I also like the album art, which has two women lifting weights in front of what looks like a rendition of the Hollywood sign, but instead of “Hollywood” it says “The Lucky Ones”. The track titles are listed on the front cover as well, which I thought was a cool style. It’s some corny 70s revival shit, but I guess it ain’t always so bad! Last I heard this band broke up or is taking a break. We’ll see what happens in the years to come.

Hey everyone, how’s it going? Thanks for dialing up the ol’ Sorry State Newsletter and for taking the time to read it. It’s always appreciated.

Last week I steered you toward Eugene McDaniels and his great Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse album, which I mentioned was a big record in the crate digging scene and the source for multiple samples used by hip-hop producers. This week I am going to talk about an artist whose style and innervations had a huge influence on the early hip-hop scene and from whom the ripples of creation are still being felt. Sadly, he passed away last week, another name added to the roll call of departed artists. Let’s pay our respects to the mighty U-Roy then and celebrate his life and career and talk about a couple of his records that you may know but in particular, Dread In A Babylon from 1975.

As always with these staff picks, I hope to pique your interest or serve as a reminder. I’m not qualified to offer proper biographical information and never claim to be an expert on anything. I’m a music enthusiast and evangelist. If you like my selections, you are encouraged to jump down whatever particular rabbit hole we are looking down each week. I like connecting the dots in music and seeing how one thing influenced another and so on.

I have to imagine there are a lot of you reading that enjoy listening to reggae, dub, and other styles of Jamaican music, and so might already be familiar with U-Roy. Perhaps you know or have the record I am recommending? In which case pull it out and give it a rinse. For everyone else, a quick bit of background and information for context.

U-Roy, real name Ewart Beckford, was a Jamaican artist who pioneered the concept of “Toasting,” talking and singing over other records or rhythm tracks. His “Versions” of other people’s records became hits in their own right and put on to record the real sound of the dance hall where the DJ was the man on the mic rapping over the tunes that the Selector played on the turntable. In dance halls during the early 1960s, the DJ typically worked with one turntable and so would talk on the mic between records. These pioneers with royal names, King, Duke, Lord, Count, Sir and so on developed a rhythmic style whilst on the mic and it was this that U-Roy built upon and put onto a record for the first time. The success of U-Roy’s early records such as the immortal Wake The Town (credited as Hugh Roy) kick started a whole sub-genre of reggae music, DJ. Many other toasters followed in his wake, often copying his style directly but mostly adding their own spin on things.

Picking up on this technique was Jamaican born DJ Kool Herc, who took that concept from Jamaica and reinvented it back in the Bronx in New York. He realized he could find the best bits from records, parts that had drum breaks mostly, and extend that break by cutting in another copy on the other turntable and then rapping over the top. The idea of using two turntables wasn’t new; it was the staple of a good discotheque and the disco DJs were at the same time trying to figure out how to extend the beat on records to feed the dance floors. As disco developed, a big part of that progress was the introduction of the 12-inch single, which could fit more music onto a side than a 7-inch. This idea of a disco 45 12-inch was in turn adopted by Jamaican record producers who could now extend tunes into dub or DJ versions. Between Kingston and New York in the 1970s, one could argue modern dance music was born and made.

Back to our record. It came out first in Jamaica in 1975 with a different but just as classic cover on TR International, producer Tony Robinson’s label. Virgin records took over UK, US, and European pressing and distribution. The Virgin cover, like the original, sports an image of the holy sacrament being taken from the chalice and our star disappearing under a cloud of smoke. Although routed in Rastafarianism, it’s easy to see why the image appealed to music fans and lovers of wacky backy. This is prime mid-seventies reggae with U-Roy’s inimitable vocal style riding the rhythm. Musicians playing on the record came from the Sound Syndicate and Skin, Flesh And Bones bands. The latter becoming The Revolutionaries. Recorded at Joe Gibbs with Errol Thompson as engineer, Thompson or ET was one half of The Mighty Two with Joe Gibbs, who together produced tons of great reggae records during the 1970s. Check out Culture’s Two Sevens Clash for an example.

So, the pedigree is present in this record. It’s classic after classic beginning with the poppy Runaway Girl then cheeky Chalice In The Palace and on to more dread material like The Great Psalms and African Message, the latter an early run through of the Rockers flying cymbal sound The Revolutionaries band would perfect after. The album closes out with an instrumental, a take on The Wailer’s Trench Town Rock. It’s an Augustus Pablo like tune being as the lead instrument is a melodica but it is odd why the track remained an instrumental. I can’t imagine U-Roy was stuck for inspiration. Maybe he stepped outside for a smoke and the band kept playing. Whatever, it’s a nice and easy finish to a fine record.

As I have mentioned, I am a huge fan of Jamaican music along with the country and people. I was lucky during my times working on the cruise ships to visit much of the Caribbean, but always looked forward to visits to Jamaica. During the late 80s and throughout the 90s, I visited many times and took several vacations there between stints onboard ship. I even considered buying a home there, back when I was making decent cheddar.

I have many fond memories of adventures and good times on that beautiful island. Including recreating the cover art of this album. If you know what I mean? It was always so nice being met at the airport in Montego Bay by my friend Trevor who, as we pulled away in his car and the radio played Irie FM, would hand me a spliff the size of a baseball bat. Good times.

Of course, you don’t have to indulge in the herb to enjoy good music, and I shy away from the stereotypical idea that the two must go together. You can listen to reggae not stoned for sure, just as you can listen to any kind of music straight. I mean, isn’t there a scene devoted to just that? Respect to everyone and their choices, right? I will say that reggae music does sound awesome when you smoke weed. As does hip-hop.

I bought this album in the late 80s because I remember I was in college and getting more serious about my music and digging deeper. My reggae collection had some good records in it already as, luckily for us growing up in the 70s and 80s, reggae was in its golden period and having huge pop hits. Even kids like me, a goofy and shy white boy from a small town in southern England, would see reggae records in his local shops. But I was getting a Bob Marley record or a Trojan compilation and the odd single like Police And Thieves or Uptown Top Ranking because they were hits. Once I was a little older and meeting new people and going out more, it soon became obvious that I was clueless about music and had just barely scraped the surface of most genres. I felt I had to learn as much as I could and listen to as much as I could if I was going to be even a tiny bit cool. I still try to learn about and hear something new every day if I can. Anyway, one day I was in a record shop and saw Dread In A Babylon and knew that this would be a good record. It proved to be the case, and my hip points went up just a little next time my buddies and I had a listening party. It’s a record I still pull out and play and has been a great DJ tool over the years. I have a few other U-Roy records and used to have some CDs. They are all good. There’s a later one he did in the late nineties called Serious Matter, which I like and particularly the accompanying Dub LP. Another good 70s one is Natty Rebel from 1976, also on Virgin. On the title track U-Roy versions Soul Rebel by The Wailers, a track I love, and for me he breathes new life into it. Not that he is making these old tunes better, but recontextualizing them and bringing them up to date.

Just to round things out and bring us back full circle to hip-hop and sampling, I have to mention the track Fortified Live by Reflection Eternal on Rawkus from 1997. A classic use of a sample in hip-hop. The record samples the beginning of Tom Drunk by Hopetown Lewis and Hugh Roy with Tommy McCook & The Supersonics from 1971. An early record featuring U-Roy on the Treasure Isle label. The Reflection Eternal EP was a big deal too when it came out. Featuring then new names, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek, it ushered in a new era of conscious hip-hop. It was also a contributing factor in me wanting to move to New York.

Here’s the two records for you to compare and check out.

https://youtu.be/lffTZFV1y60 -Tom Drunk

https://youtu.be/REmk4mx1UY -Fortified Live

There are some very worthy tributes and well written pieces out there on U-Roy and his career, so please have a little poke around the internet and fill in your knowledge. I should not be your one and only source of information about him. I just wanted to pay my tribute and offer my personal thoughts and recollections and if in doing so one or two more people get to hear the voice of Mr. Ewart Beckford aka U-Roy The Originator, then all well and good.

Here’s a couple of cuts to start you off.

https://youtu.be/Y37gTjNx4sA -Runaway Girl

https://youtu.be/VrFlbj8VY0 -African Message

Take care everyone, I’ll see you next time

-Dom

Earlier this week I had the time to sit down and browse the Sorry State Discogs account. I pull and pack a ton of orders during my shifts and keep finding myself jealous of the cool shit customers are grabbing. I couldn’t stand it, so I organized the SSR offerings, cheapest first, and scrolled for a long time, essentially bargain bin shopping online. It wasn’t long before I was telling myself I couldn’t pass up some records, so I started a cart and got to pick my order the next day. Here are some of my favorite things I picked up:

1. Tom Lehrer: An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer (1966)

I hate most musical comedy but have such a soft spot for Tom Lehrer. His records are usually within the bargain bin price, so I’ve lucked out on finding a good amount. I’d never seen this one in a bin, so of course I picked it up!

2. Sound in the Round (1958)

I haven’t listened to this one yet, but it’s a sound effects record from 1958 for $0.99, duh it came home with me. There’s one track that’s supposed to be ‘Nickelodeon’ so I’m interested to see what that’s about.

3. Various: Country And Western Guitars

Just some good ol’ country guitar. One of these upcoming weeks I’m going to write about the podcast Cocaine and Rhinestones; it’s a country music podcast that has super in depth information about how, not only the country music industry but the entire music industry, worked in the 20th century. It has also made browsing the country section at record stores (or on Discogs, I guess) so much more interesting.

4. Yo Gotti: I Got Them Single (2006)

I will admit the main push to look at the Sorry State Discogs was the crazy collection of early/mid 2000s singles we got in. I looked through it before we processed it and had a great time remembering the soundtracks to middle school dances. Daniel has started listing parts of the collection and some gems are already gone. I got to snag a few like this Yo Gotti track.

5. 7L & Esoteric: This is War Single (2004)

Had to pick this one up. 7L and Esoteric are now in cahoots with my fave, Holy Mountain Printing. And this song slaps.

6. OutKast: Ghetto Musick Remix Single (2004)

A lot of the singles in the aforementioned collection are weird club remixes, but that doesn’t make me love them any less. You can FIGHT ME but Speakerboxx/The Love Below is a great pair of OutKast albums. More nostalgia at work because that CD is one of the first I remember owning.

I seem to do this a lot, but this is a reminder to always dig in the cheap bins, online or in store, because that’s where some of the best shit is!

And as we say above, you can always combine a Discogs and Shopify order if you email us so check out the Sorry State Discogs account before you hit ‘buy’ next time!

Alice Coltrane: Ptah, the El Daoud 12” (Impulse, 1970)

Last week we picked up an interesting collection that had a few items I couldn’t resist keeping for myself. I imagine I’ll be writing about others in the coming weeks, but today I’m going to highlight Alice Coltrane’s third solo album from 1970, Ptah, the El Daoud, whose title refers to the Egyptian god of creation.

I have a few other Alice Coltrane albums like Journey in Satchidananda (her most famous solo album) and Universal Consciousness, but Ptah is harder to come by. I think copies may have come through the store once or twice, but this was the first time I gave it some attention. Journey in Satchidananda is a brilliant record I return to often, but even that didn’t prepare me for Ptah. While Ptah has the ethereal vibe I associate Alice Coltrane’s music (her trademark long arpeggio sweeps on the piano and her harp playing are all over this album), what struck me was how easy it is to listen to.

A lot of what we now refer to as the “spiritual jazz” of this period has strong currents of dissonance and disharmony, making records like John Coltrane’s Meditations, for instance, something of a bitter pill. However, Ptah keeps a tranquil, meditative feel throughout. That isn’t uncommon in jazz, but Ptah doesn’t sound boring or “ambient.” It’s music that is, at its core, tranquil, but still imbued with the complexity of the most out there experimental jazz. When I listen to this album, it absorbs my attention, but leaves me with energy and liveliness. There isn’t another release in my collection that does the same thing, and for me that’s a true mark of a keeper album.

Hey there Sorry State gang, I hope we find you well and thanks for reading our newsletter.

This week my pick is a record that as an original I have still not secured as part of my personal collection, although I have a reissue and we also have a decent reissue in the store.

Eugene McDaniels: Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse. Atlantic 1971

I’ve seen an OG a few times over the years, but it has always been too expensive for me to snag. A copy in nice shape will easily cost $100 but probably closer to $200. In recent years there have been reissues and you can find those for around $25-$35. My particular copy came out in the late 90s and is probably a “fan club” pressing and possibly a needle drop recording, but it sounds pretty decent. I remember scoring it at a WFMU record fair bargain bin box for $5.

So why all the fuss? How come it’s a difficult record to find and why do we care? Good questions, which I shall attempt to answer.

Firstly, it’s a record which many of you will have heard but not even known about. Reason being, it’s a sample heaven and has been used by hip-hop producers since the late 80s-early 90s. Pretty much every track has a sample. For most of us we would have heard it through its use on records by A Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys, Eric B. & Rakim, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Jungle Brothers and more recently Earl Sweatshirt. Of these, Tribe’s use is the most noticeable and high profile and are what caused the record to become sought after in the 1990s during the golden era of sample based hip-hop and the rare-groove scene. As soon as people worked out what record producers used, an entire army of crate diggers hit the streets looking for these elusive gems. Some were easy to find—check your parents’ record collection—others not so much. Headless Heroes was a case in point, and there are reasons for its scarcity.

A bit of back story, all of which you can read about in more detail on-line, of course, so I’ll keep it brief. Gene McDaniels had been writing, producing, and performing music since the late 1950s and had a sizable hit in the 1960s with One Hundred Pounds Of Clay. A solid performer himself, his real strength was in his writing. The protest song Compared To What was his and was made famous by Les McCann & Eddie Harris but covered by many including Roberta Flack and more recently by John Legend & The Roots. Although written in 1966, it still holds up. McDaniels had a close working relationship and respect for Roberta Flack and wrote other songs for her, including her hit Feel Like Makin’ Love. Compared To What put McDaniels on the government radar as an anti-establishment type.

After Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, McDaniels left the U.S. and lived in Scandinavia for a little over two years. When he returned to America, he had renamed himself Eugene McDaniels and went by the performing name of Rev. MC D.

The first record he released on Atlantic in 1970 was called Outlaw, and it features a cover that you just know must have had the old white establishment’s knickers in a knot. A black man in a cowboy hat, clutching a bible standing next to two women, one black, one white, who are holding guns and striking revolutionary poses. Yeah, that’ll do it. The record itself is excellent and has many highlights. Not as good as Headless Heroes, but a companion record for sure.

Our record came out the next year in 1971, and the story goes that Nixon and Agnew had a reel-to-reel playback of the album in the Oval Office and were offended by what they heard, resulting in Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegun receiving a phone call from the White House instructing him to kill promotion for the record and to pull McDaniels from their roster. The truth of this story is hard to confirm, but whatever happened it would go a long way to explaining why original copies are so hard to find and why, when they do surface, they are typically promo copies.

Although career wise, McDaniels still had income from production royalties, it would have been interesting to see whether with proper promotion the record could have had a bigger impact when it was first released and how it could have changed the minds of those that heard it then and how those ripples would have changed future heads. As it was, the record slipped into obscurity and remained that way until rare-groove DJs and producers picked up on it almost two decades later.

As for the record itself? My words can’t do it justice. Please listen to it. Lyrically it is so on point and was relevant then and just as so now. Songs about life, love and religion over tasty drumbeats, psychy guitar bursts, punchy bass lines and cool keyboard lines. It’s a Soul-Jazz album par excellence. A tough listen if you are “The Man” or even Mick Jagger. He takes a verbal beat down from McDaniels on the track Jagger The Dagger. This was one cut sampled by A Tribe Called Quest on their People’s Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm album. The song on Heroes is about how Jagger had/was profiting on his borrowing of black culture. Another fave track is Supermarket Blues, which is a proto-rap classic. Definitely listen to that. Last track The Parasite (For Duffy) is a song about Native Americans that starts off in a head nodding groove but takes a darker turn as you listen to the lyrics. Sometimes the truth hurts. It did back in 1971 and it still does in 2021. This is a record for the ages. It has held up and may even be more relevant now.

Listening to the words of the title cut brings that home. Here’s a snippet.

Nobody knows who the enemy is

Cause he never goes in hiding

He’s slitting our throats

Right in front of our eyes,

While we pull the casket he’s riding

Better get it together,

Better get it together,

And see what’s happening

To you and you and you

See what I mean? A perfect example of music and records being like newspapers and books, carrying vital information for those seeking knowledge. Plus, a dope AF cover with duelling Samurai warriors.

Here’s a link to Eugene McDaniel’s website where there is a lot of information about his career and music http://eugenemcdaniels.com/

and I’ll leave a link to a couple of key cuts for you to check out, but I would encourage a full listen to the entire album. Dig it.

https://youtu.be/vk5qT-BYjTY - Supermarket Blues

For those local, stop by and snag the reissue copy we have in the store.

Cheers everyone. Thanks for reading. I love you all.

-Dom

I can’t remember where I first heard this tape, maybe through Sickhead Records? They did the Malaysian pressing last year. I didn’t realize there was a Ukrainian pressing also til just now haha. Anyway, I heard Instinct? and thought it was fucking killer, so I reached out to see if they had a US version and they did not, yet... This might be cheesy for me to write about a cassette my label is releasing, but whatever.

I don’t feel like this style is easy to pull off without being boring, and it’s not so common in the USA either. Of course, yes, this band sounds like Doom. But to me there are other obvious influences, namely Japanese 90s crust/HC. I don’t mean metallic crust, but the punishing kind. While this band plays fast, they don’t fall into the “crasher crust” category. But they sound similar to bands like Abraham Cross, Crocodile Skink, Deceiving Society, etc. Those bands are some of my all-time favorite Japanese bands, so I think Instinct? fucking rules. In my opinion, bands like Abraham Cross are distinguished by their clear Discharge and käng influences, but their influence is like next level and seriously amplifies all sonic elements of their homage in the most brutal fashion; no metal, no funk, no death...

On Friday, February 20th, BPDT will release this Instinct? cassette alongside another cassette from our homies, Tizzi. You can check out both the jams tomorrow (2/20/21) here https://bunkerpunks.bandcamp.com/, of course SSR will stock copies soon too. I’m busy and tired, so this one will be brief. Thanks for reading my words, ‘til next time..

Laurie Anderson - O Superman

This single is super weird, but I listen to it way more often than I thought I ever would. Something about the minimalist synths and the vocoder vocals.

I first learned about Laurie Anderson from an art history perspective in a class about technology in modern art. It surprised me to learn this song charted and was popular for a while when it came out because it’s so simple. Not to mention weird. It’s a super weird song with super weird lyrics.

At first listen it doesn’t sound like much going on… a conversation? A poem? Anderson bases the song structure on an 1885 aria. The different vocal treatments create some sort of conversation with... god? America? There is a very noticeable political undertone to the song and the music video that still feels relevant today. The song came out in 1981 when there was a lot going on with politics, technology, art, and the world at large. O Superman tackles a multitude of issues from the time that are, again, relevant to today.

As I mentioned, I learned about this song and music video in an art history class about technology and art and I feel like this is the perfect example of worlds colliding. This is one of the first times I learned about popular culture colliding with art, and I think that wouldn’t be possible without adding things like video and modern techniques and instruments. I love how this song is using the advent and integration of new technology in art to critique the state of technology and the world. Today, we’re no stranger to synthesized vocals and sounds in the charts, but in 1981 it was met with mixed feedback. This song charting at all shows a turning point in both art and pop culture. Today they are heavily integrated; sometimes it’s hard to discern the two. And that brings up a whole discussion I could go on forever about. One benefit of loving fine art AND shitty reality tv shows.

Anyways, if you have any interest in weird music technology, fine art, the political climate of the early 80s, or just weird synthy songs, O Superman is a great track to check out.

This week Singapore’s Sial, who released the great Tari Pemusnah Kuasa LP on La Vida Es Un Mus last year, did a guest set on online radio station NTS. The set is archived here, and I’d encourage you to listen. They play a killer mix of old punk (Discharge, Gauze), new punk (Tozcos, Kurrakä), and a bunch of cool pop music from Southeast Asia that was new to me.

I’ve listened to NTS Radio a lot lately. Sometimes I don’t have the mental energy to choose what music to listen to, and NTS’s live DJs beat the hell out of any algorithmically generated playlist. NTS is sort of like college radio, but grown up; the weakness of a lot of college radio is that the DJs are often younger and not as knowledgeable, but NTS’s cadre of DJs is impeccable. Paco from La Vida Es Un Mus has a regular show that constantly introduces me to new music, and there are frequent guest sets from artists like Bad Breeding, who delivered a killer set of vintage anarcho punk.

Some NTS shows are organized by genre, while others are more freeform. If you dig into the genre tags, you’ll find some punk and metal specialty shows, but what’s incredible about NTS are all the shows dedicated to genres I didn’t even know existed. Check out the shows that fit your interests (you’ll find that NTS’s archive is ENORMOUS), but don’t forget to check out the live stream every once in a while to have your mind blown by something new.

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Let’s talk about the Belching Penguins for a minute:

Hailing from the Tampa area, Belching Penguins were a staple of the Florida hardcore scene from the mid-to-late 80s. The band’s only proper release, Draft Beer… Not Me, came out in 1986 and is an unsung rager from the latter half of Reagan-era US hardcore. Listening to this killer LP, in terms of songwriting but MOSTLY in terms of production, there are noticeable sonic elements indicative of the era. The Belching Penguins at their core were a fast 80s hardcore band, but the guitar sound hints at the Crossover sound on the horizon. Old flyers from FL hardcore shows often feature BP on the bill with bands like DRI and Suicidal Tendencies, so this gives a good idea of what the vibe was like at a Belching Penguins gig. But then again, maybe Belching Penguins were just born too late for the way they sounded. With a foot in an earlier period of punk, I still hear attitude and riffs that remind me of classic early 80s hardcore. To me, songs like “Forget The World” and “Suburban Life” have more in common with early Wasted Youth than with Crumbsuckers or something.

In terms of the artwork, song titles, and lyrics, there is an element of crudity and silliness when you dig into the Belching Penguins. But hey, nothing wrong with a bit of humor in your hardcore, right? Still, amongst the 18 tracks featured on this LP, there are moments of innocent, but well-meaning ideas and politics. I dunno dude, it’s what I’d expect from a bunch of young punks from Florida.

Needless to say, I love this band. I was lucky enough to score an original copy of Draft Beer… Not Me a while back for relatively cheap. Now it fetches $80+, which seems crazy to me. Sorry State just stocked reissue copies of this LP released by Daddy Kool Records, which I’m pretty sure is a small independent store in the Tampa area where Belching Penguins are from. AND—the reissue LP even comes on beautiful crystal clear vinyl! We’re selling them for only $14, so if you’ve slept on the mighty Belching Penguins, do yourself a favor and grip this rager quick!

Thanks for reading,

-Jeff

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you. Whenever and wherever you are reading this week’s newsletter, I hope it finds you well.

This week my pick has been influenced by the news of yet another sad passing in the music world. We learnt that Mary Wilson, founding member of one the greatest pop groups of all time, The Supremes, passed away Monday at 76. Her legacy as a solo artist, group member, and activist will live on and cannot be underestimated. Her story and that of The Supremes and Motown can be easily researched and you should do so if you are only vaguely aware. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Supremes I’ve realized I’m a lot older than some of you dear readers, and information that I take for granted might not be as familiar to all of you.

The Supremes were the flagship act on Motown. Mostly due to boss Berry Gordy’s interest in Diana Ross, but certainly because of the huge talent all the girls possessed. Gordy groomed the group as a classy, uptown act that would appeal to black and white audiences. They appeared in beautiful gowns and hairdos and favored a polished, feminine, and sophisticated look and approach. As a group, they notched up a dozen number one hits and became stars worldwide. Chances are The Supremes were the first act that most people heard when introduced to Motown. I can vividly remember being at a youth disco in the mid-seventies and hearing You Can’t Hurry Love for the first time and thinking how great it sounded. A love affair with Motown, Soul music and records began that night. Kudos to the DJ for playing adult themed records to us kids that night. Anyway, The Supremes along with Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Marvelettes and Martha & The Vandellas, defined the Motown sound and ruled the mid-sixties charts home and away. The Motown influence on the British Invasion acts cannot be under-played. The Beatles were big fans. It was a wonderful era of cross Atlantic inspiration as the ball of creativity passed back and forth between the US and the UK. Beatles covering Motown. Motown covering Beatles etc. etc.

Motown and soul music in general connected to the working-class kids of Britain and laid the foundations for what we now term Northern Soul. But that’s a whole other story.

Back to The Supremes. Although a four piece in their early days, the core of the group was Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Diana Ross. Although it took a minute to find the right song and to register a hit, from early 1964 through 1967 it was hit after hit. Where Did Our Love Go, Baby Love (their first UK number one), Come See About Me, Stop! In The Name Of Love, Back In my Arms Again, all hit the top spot. Ballard, however, was replaced by Cindy Birdsong in 1967 and when Ross herself left for her solo career to be replaced by Jean Terrell early in 1970, it left Mary Wilson as the only original member. She remained throughout the 1970s until the group disbanded. Other members came and went, including a brief return by Cindy Birdsong in 1973, who had left the year before to start a family.

The 70s Supremes records get overlooked by most, but for those in the know, these records hold some real gems. The last couple of albums have some good disco era soul music and for my money, the second post Diana Ross Supremes album from 1970 called New Ways But Love Stays might be their best. With Ross’s replacement Jean Terrell handling the leads and produced by Frank Wilson, the album contained the hit Stoned Love and embraced the funkier and slightly psychedelic side of soul music that elsewhere at Motown producer Norman Whitfield was making with The Temptations and The Undisputed Truth. My favorite track is It’s Time To Break Down, which has become a digger’s nugget. It always went down well as a DJ track for me and has been sampled by hip-hop producers, most notably by DJ Premier for Gang Starr. The album artwork too is a little different from previous Supremes records, sporting a more “Black Power” look from the girls on the front cover and back photo.

Years ago, in the 1990s, I was fortunate enough to be working on a cruise ship that had Mary Wilson as one of the star acts. I got to see her perform up close and had the opportunity to say hello and briefly speak to her. It was a huge honor and is banked in my vault of treasured memories. Talking of the ships, I was also lucky to be the personal dining room waiter to jazz legend Sarah Vaughan during one of my early voyages. A story for another time, but I still get chills thinking about how amazing it was to have conversations with her.

So, let us raise our glasses to Mary Wilson, The Supremes, Motown, and all the incredible artists that created this treasure trove of American music. Artistry so fine, it made such an impact, the ripples are still being felt around the world. This is The Sound Of Young America and is what helped make America Great. Part of history now, hopefully not just remembered in February, but celebrated year long.

Here’s a link to the cut I mentioned above for you to enjoy-It’s Time To Break Down

https://youtu.be/be3wN2E9VGE

and also, another one of my fave Supremes tracks that still goes down well when played to a dance floor, a song called Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart that came off their 1966 classic LP The Supremes A’ Go-Go.

Until next time kids - Dom

I know there are always bands that play USHC like this (I mean duh, we do live in the States), but since the pandemic began I feel like we’ve seen an increase of such bands. While all the bands I heard were killer, I think that Quarantine is the cream of the crop. This band is called Quarantine, but it’s got nothing to do with Covid-19. The band began in 2019 after a member of Savageheads moved down to Philly. This dude, Jack, wrote all the songs and also released the tape on a new label called Damage United. It was recorded and released early 2020 (still before there were any known Covid-19 cases in the States). It originally came out in a quantity of 175, but I think they sold quickly. I first learned about this band after the tapes had sold-out. I was messaging a friend of mine, Chris, who is also a transplant to Philly. He is excellent at playing every single fucking instrument, and an amazing song writer. Anything he does is always fucking killer, he’s been in too many bands to list. We were lucky enough to have him throw 50 tapes together for us to slang here in Raleigh. We’ve already blown through most em, so act fast if you wanna grab one! They come with a sick double-sided j-card with more folds than you can handle! Plus a sticker. If yer reading this and missed out, e-mail me cos I might have a copy for you. I think I have a copy or two of the Sirkka tape as well (in.decay@yahoo.com). Quarantine has an LP in the works and will be out soon on Damage United! I leave you a message from Quarantine to the elite. ‘Til next time...

I haven’t been paying attention to much music outside of my record collection. I buy a lot of things and don’t listen to them for an embarrassing amount of time. As I’ve been organizing, I’ve been trying to go through my “to listen” stack because it’s getting out of hand. It’s been fun and I’m having a hard time choosing just one thing to talk about, so here’s a few…

Lights Out! Murder Castle Radio Play 12” (1974)

This is a radio play from 1943 and surprisingly dark for the time. It’s a conversation between a woman and a man who murders women in his “murder castle.” The B side is equally entertaining with a story called “The Witch’s Tale” narrated by a witch from 1852.

Ruth Welcome - Zither Magic 12” (1959)

I couldn’t refuse an album cover with a witch holding a zither. One of my favorite bargain bins to date! Honestly, it’s just zither music, but it’s enjoyable and good background music. Also, it’s a witch holding a zither.

Various: Folksong Festival Sampler 7” (1967)

I have a thing where I always put on a Scholastic Records release because I’m rarely disappointed. The last thing I was expecting was a song called “I Wanna Die Easy;” the lyrics are in the title. It’s a great song, but it’s funny to see it on a Scholastic release. The rest of it has some great old folk songs, but I’m so glad I own it for that one song alone.

I realize after writing about these, they are all bargain bin finds from various places. My favorite part of record collecting, and the part that expanded my collection the quickest, is digging through bargain bins and finding some weird shit. I’m never disappointed. It’s always worth it to dig, even if you have to get down! I forgot to take a picture of these particular releases so here's a picture of Eggroll arguing with me about sitting on my record player.

Last week Dominic wrote about compilations, and this week I added one to my collection so I thought I’d write about it. I think my friend Osamu turned me on to this compilation years ago. I liked it immediately and returned to the digital files he gave me from time to time. I’d been after a vinyl copy for a long time, and finally a cheap one popped up at Torn Light Records in Cincinnati and I smashed that buy button.

The word “punk” is conspicuously absent from this record’s title, though an inclusive definition of the term might include these bands. While you won’t find any studs or mohawks on these singles, they’re all from the punk era, but aim for a more commercial sound. A few of them (like the Pleasers) would have fallen into the early 80s mod revival scene. Protex is the best-known band on the record (though they appear with their Polydor single “I Can’t Cope” rather than any of their Good Vibrations-era tracks), though I imagine most of these bands are staples of UK dollar bins (at least they were pre-vinyl revival).

I’m a huge fan of Protex, but my favorite track on this record is the Secret’s 1979 single “Night After Night.” I’m partial to punk/power-pop bands with a heavy Bowie influence… I’d put the Boys and the Only Ones (two of my favorite bands of this ilk) in that category, and this song by the Secret (I’m unfamiliar with their other material) fits the same mold. “Night After Night” starts with a goofy, dramatic-sounding vocal in the verse, then builds tension through a long pre-chorus section. I think they tease us for extra long in that section because they know this track’s chorus is so fantastic. It has a broad, memorable melody and the lead guitar and vocals harmonize in a way that seems almost surreal. It sounds very 70s to me, like I could imagine the track appearing in an episode of The Love Boat. It’s a total power-pop earworm on an album chock full of them.

I was glad to find this album on Discogs because it is clearly a bootleg. While it’s marked as unofficial on Discogs, they haven’t banned it from sale (at least not yet). I think the cover art looks kind of cool in its way, but the sound quality varies from track to track, and it sounds like most of the songs come from vinyl rips. It’s all about the track curation, though, and that is excellent. The slapdash execution even adds to the charm, if you ask me. Oh, and there’s also a second volume, and while it’s not as good as this one, it’s worth having.

Check out “Night After Night” by the Secret:

What’s up Sorry Staters?

So I was racking my brain trying to think about what to write about for my staff pick this week. We’ve been getting a ton of cool new releases and restocks in, but for whatever reason, if I’m being honest, I’ve felt too busy for anything to hold my attention.

I’m going to try to frame this in a way that doesn’t insult anybody or bum anyone out:

As much as I love me some raging hardcore made by teenagers, I don’t know if it’s that I’m getting closer to 30, but lately I feel like I finally understand bands like Magazine and The Stranglers. Not that these bands represent a demographic of “what to listen to if you’re an aging punker.” Still, when I was younger and immersed in hardcore, I remember listening to these bands and not understanding it and even being kinda turned off by them. I dunno if it’s that as I’m getting a bit “older” (relatively speaking) I’m feeling like I don’t need all-out rage and intensity from my punk anymore, or god forbid that my taste is “maturing.” I don’t know why it’s making me trip out so much, but like am I calming down? I had a moment where I was listening to the song “Hanging Around” by The Stranglers and thought to myself: “Damn, that organ part is sick!” I felt concerned, like why do I like that? Upon revisiting a few records I lump into this category, I don’t know why, but I just can’t get enough. Of course, I’m sure most people would still consider these punk bands. But you know what I mean… you see photos of these guys and they don’t have charged hair or studded leather jackets. I hate to use the word “scholarly,” but I think part of the reason I steered away from certain bands was because they have an air of intellectualism. Then again, one song I’ve played over and over is “Rhythm of Cruelty” by Magazine, which has a pop sensibility and the riff doesn’t sound too far off from Black Album-era Damned to me.

It’s funny though, whenever we get in new records by certain bands one might describe as “experimental,” Daniel always jokes on them saying, “Oh, I see you finally discovered Fun House by The Stooges.” But just because I’ve been digging this stuff lately doesn’t mean I’m going to start my “mature” punk band. Or at least I hope not. Don’t worry, I still like Poison Idea and Totalitär.

Why don’t ya go ahead and jam that Magazine track for me.

Thanks for reading,

-Jeff

Replacements: Don’t Tell A Soul 12” (1989)

I have been a Replacements fan since I was teenager. Tracks like “Androgynous,” “Kiss Me On The Bus,” “Alex Chilton,” and “Can’t Hardly Wait” were my anthems for a long time. My old band, Concussion, used to cover “Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out.” Arguably, all of those tracks come from the more classic era of The Replacements and I never explored too much past the album Pleased To Meet Me. I had given Don’t Tell A Soul and All Shook Down (their last two official albums) a listen many years ago, but wrote them off as too soft or too “adult” sounding. In the past year I have explored more of Paul Westerberg’s solo material and I have been enjoying it. A friend of mine reminded me that Don’t Tell A Soul and All Shook Down are basically Paul Westerberg solo albums, sonically and in vibe, so I gave it another go. Somewhere along the way I picked up both albums on cassette and they have been on heavy rotation on my tape deck. I was debating which album to write about and ended up deciding on this one. Maybe I listened to DTAS more recently and it’s fresher on my brain (either way I recommend both).

DTAS is a big leap from their previous album Pleased To Meet Me. It sounds like a precursor to the melancholy 90s sound we all recognize. It’s reminiscent of an Americana kind of sound that takes notes from blues and r&b while still hanging onto 80s rock sensibilities; kinda like if Bruce Springsteen wasn’t such a cornball. The songwriting is more mature and maybe that’s why it took me a while to come around to later era Replacements. Maybe I’m getting older and my taste is changing a bit, or maybe it’s just that I now understand what Paul Westerberg is trying to do. I feel the same way about a band like Fugazi whom I was introduced to at a young age, but it never stuck because my young punk brain didn’t have patience for it, but now Fugazi is another band that I have on heavy rotation. I don’t think that Don’t Tell A Soul is an album you can listen to once and understand it, but once you realize Paul Westerberg is a fuckin’ genius and perhaps one of the best American song writers of all time, you’ll love it.

Hey there friends out in Sorry State land. How are you this week? Keeping it together? I feel you.

I wasn’t sure what to talk to you about this week. Nothing new there. Life and the world at large are throwing so many things at us daily that music appreciation seems trivial. It’s not, but finding inspiration can be difficult. I sit in my home surrounded by thousands of records and sometimes wonder what to play next. I still have the hunger for new sounds, and listening to a new record will keep me occupied. There are times though that you need to hear the familiar. Music has the power to attach itself to memories, points in our lives that were important to us. I can’t tell you where and when I first read a book or saw a film that I like, but I can recall hearing a certain record for the first time and how it affected me. Hearing a song or an albumcan transport us to a time and place of our lives. Hopefully bringing back good memories, but sometimes not. This week I want to talk about just that.

Whilst chatting with and assisting one of our regular friends here at the store, the conversation about records got around to the 80s and the band Frankie Goes To Hollywood. We had a copy of their debut LP Welcome To The Pleasuredome sitting in our bargain bin rack and I persuaded Adam to take it, convincing him that the record was more than the couple of hits and still stood up. Here in the US, they were considered one-hit wonders with the song Relax, although the song Two Tribes and the album also charted. People remember the hype and all the Frankie Says T-shirts and not much else. Their follow up LP flopped, and singer Holly Johnson left the band for a solo career and legal disputes with ZTT, the band’s former label. However, from late 1983 through 1984, Frankie ruled the British charts and were everywhere. Their story and rise to fame is interesting and I encourage you to explore the internet and read. I remember that time vividly, particularly the release of the first single Relax. I was a schoolboy and obsessed with music and the charts, and each week would listen on my transistor radio to the new chart list being read out at lunch time every Tuesday. Relax had been making waves in the clubs since its October 1983 release and was quickly rising up the charts. The band performed on Top Of The Pops and there was a risqué video made for the song. The song was at number six when prime time Radio One DJ Mike Reed suddenly realized what the song was about and on air removed it from the turntable. The BBC promptly banned it. Thing is, by next week the song was at number one and stayed there for five weeks straight and remained in the charts for most of the year. As they had banned it, the BBC couldn’t play it each week or have the top band in the country appear on its flagship chart show. Irony. Frankie followed up Relax with the song Two Tribes and then The Power Of Love and album Welcome To The Pleasure Dome. All went straight to number one. At the time this equaled the record of having the first three singles go to number one held by fellow Scousers Gerry And The Pacemakers. The record was later broken by The Spice Girls.

Although not from Liverpool, I feel a very close bond to the city and its people. From early childhood I have been a supporter of Liverpool Football Club and loved bands that come from Merseyside. At the beginning of this year, we suffered another sad loss with the passing of Gerry Marsden, lead singer of the aforementioned Gerry And The Pacemakers. He and his group will forever be linked to Liverpool FC thanks to their version of You’ll Never Walk Alone, the anthem sung before and after every game. With this sad loss and also the current dip in form of the Mighty Reds, I was feeling down in the dumps. After the conversation with Adam in the store about Frankie, I went home and dug out my copy and stuck it on. It still holds up for me and transported me back to another time and place. Also, that they reference Gerry And The Pacemakers on the record with a sort of cover of Ferry Across The Mersey, tied everything together and made listening now just as relevant. Aside from the incredible songs Relax and Two Tribes, there is a lot more to enjoy on the double LP. They even cover the songs War by The Temptations, Do You Know The Way To San Jose, made famous by Dionne Warwick and (cough) Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run. There is also the odd bit of dialogue in between tracks and scouse humour. Finishing with the great ballad The Power Of Love. The latter being the final single that went to number one and a song whose lyrics should have some worth these days. Actually, listening to Two Tribes again, a song about the East-West Cold War, it sounds just as relevant although the two tribes fighting are now within our own country. Two Tribes is a massive tune. Hearing that, particularly the various mixes made of it, in clubs at the time was an experience. Kudos to producer Trevor Horn and his studio team for coming up with such a great contemporary sound that, although strongly linked to the time, still stands up.

At the same time as I was revisiting the Frankie record, another LP came through our bargain bin that also came out from the same period and has a Liverpool connection. It’s the soundtrack to the film Letter To Brezhnev. The film is a romantic comedy set in Liverpool during the 80s and concerns two Russian sailors on leave in Liverpool who meet a couple of girls on a night out. It has some good moments and offers a glimpse of life on Merseyside in the mid 1980s. The soundtrack has some good moments too. One of my favorite groups, A Certain Ratio, are on it with a track called Wild Party, but the highlight for me is Bronski Beat and their Hit That Perfect Beat. What a great pop song. It was used in the film to soundtrack the party scenes and I defy anyone who might be on the lash out in a club and that comes on not to want to dance. Great stuff. I haven’t watched the film since it came out and it may or may not have aged well, but I think I would enjoy it again. It was another part of my life journey growing up and I ended up being sailor myself and visiting Russia and falling for a girl there. Kind of a reverse of the movie.

So there you go. Music and memories tied together. You will have your own and will make more as life goes on. I would encourage you to pick up either of these records at your local record emporium or wherever else you buy music. They shouldn’t set you back very much at all and I think you will get great value for money, especially for the Frankie LP. The gatefold cover art alone is worth the price of admission.

Here are a couple of clips to get you started. Check out some of the extended remixes for more.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you all next time. Go make some memories with records. Oh, and pop music can have punk attitude btw just in case some of you are questioning my choices this week. Lol. Peace.

Dismachine / Cumbrage: Split 7” (Your Own Jailer Records, 1995)

I search discogs for copies of this record all the time. It’s a highly underrated record, so they are usually cheap but not often in the USA. I like to get copies of underrated shit and give them to friends or pen-pals. I searched this week and saw Sorry State had listed a copy, haha. I thought about buying it, but instead I am highlighting it here in the Newsletter, hoping it will find a good home. I first heard this split cos of Dismachine. Dismachine is cool, but I only heard them cos they did a split with Totalitär. They blast a lot. Usually I hate that, but to be honest, I fucking love how they do it. It’s not like grindcore-y; it just sounds like literal insanity. I write about this EP cos of the other side of the split, Cumbrage. Both these bands feature Jan Jutila, THE Swedish d-beat master. I understand how cheesy that sounds, but I don’t care… it is true. Jutila is like the Kawakami of Sweden. I’m sure most people do not read the shit I write here, and certainly not consistently, but I have written about Jutila before in a Staff Pick, when I wrote about Times Square Preachers (another fucking killer 90’s Swedish band). I also mentioned his recording studio, his label, and the countless amazing releases he mastered. I don’t wanna repeat myself, or take the time/space to explain shit again so you can read about it here if you want! As I write this I am at the shop which means I don’t have my records to inspect to give the full nerdom. Jutila is in both bands though. I forget what he did in Dismachine, but I’m pretty sure he sang in Cumbrage. Anyway, I mentioned before the real reason I write about this is cos the Cumbrage side. This shit is mid ‘90s but sounds like traditional käng. So damn good. In the same vein as Harass and Dispense, other top-notch 90s Swedish mängel you need to peep asap if you haven’t alongside this split! If yer turned off by the blasts in Dismachine, don’t skip out on Cumbrage cos they come after the Dismachine tracks.