VA - Just a Bad Dream, Sixty British Garage & Trash Nuggets 1981–89 [2018] (3 x CD's)

 

BRITISH GARAGE

VA - Just a Bad Dream, Sixty British Garage & Trash Nuggets 1981–89 [2018] (3 x CD's)

Cherry Red charts the UK's 1980's Garage Rock revival, otherwise known as Trash. The underground U.K. music scene of the early '80s was dominated by post-punk and new wave, but percolating below the surface were several scenes that looked back to the past for inspiration. Loads of bands were besotted by the garage punk sound of the mid-'60s, the rockabilly sound of the '50s, and the '60s mod scene, and when they filtered it through punk it came out sounding trashy more often than not. Cherry Red's Just a Bad Dream: Sixty British Garage & Trash Nuggets 1981-1989 gathers up the various threads of this very loosely defined scene, and over three discs does a fine job of capturing the raucous sounds of the era. Chief early movers on the scene were the raw beat group lovers Thee Milkshakes, jumped-up mods the Prisoners, the garage-meets-surf Stingrays, and psychobilly wildmen the Meteors, and they are all represented. All the sounds that were scuttling through the underbelly are represented nicely by well-chosen tracks. There are loads of psychobilly, mod, and garage rock with some truly inspired revivalists behind the mikes. Anything with Lenny Helsing involved is sure to be great -- tracks here by the Green Telescope ("A Glimpse") and the Thanes ("Don't Let Her Dark Your Door") are highlights. The same with the man who is the poster child for the scene, Billy Childish. Along with Thee Milkshakes, there are plenty of Childish-related bands on hand, including the Delmonas with their great early girl group-inspired "He Tells Me He Loves Me" and Thee Mighty Caesars' "Little by Little." During this early part of the era covered by the set, Alan McGee's Creation Records dipped into psych and garage in their early days, with the Jesus and Mary Chain's brilliant cover of Syd Barrett's "Vegetable Man" and the Jasmine Minks' rollicking "What's Happening" on hand to inject some noise pop into the proceedings. The three discs are filled with fun romps like Ug and the Cavemen's silly "Go Gorilla," slick rockers like the Tall Boys' "Ride This Torpedo," swirling psych-pop like the Delmontes' "So It's Not to Be," and the Wolfhounds' howling punk blast "LA Juice." The wide scope of the bands gives an idea of how wide-ranging and diverse the scene was, even within its narrow confines. Only a few duds here and there as well as some dodgy moments of misogyny that could have been skipped keep this from being a classic box set. As it stands, it's merely great, which should be enough to inspire some serious revisitation of an era that was unique and produced a lot of wild and swinging sounds.(AllMusic Review by Tim Sendra )

If you devoured pebbles box sets and craved raw primal rock and roll beat, garage and Psych but felt that the British bands were under-represented, then this is the box set for you. Covering the Years 81 to 89 when the scene was in rude health. There is something here for you. Almost every cut is a killer and the few that aren't are dam good too.

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Track lists

CD1

01 Thee Mighty Caesars Little by Little 2:09

02 Cannibals Submarine Song 2:01

03 Barracudas Next Time Around 3:01

04 Sting-Rays June Rhyme 3:00

05 Sid Presley Experience Hup Two Three Four 3:43

06 Prisoners What I Want 3:02

07 Bugs Just a Bad Dream 2:51

08 Green Telescope A Glimpse 2:53

09 Dentists Writhing on the Shagpile 3:10

10 Ug & The Cavemen Go Gorilla 3:35

11 Vibranaires I Hear Noises 3:15

12 Biff Bang Pow! The Whole World Is Turning Brouchard! 1:27

13 Aardvarks Drive Me Wild 2:19

14 Margin of Sanity Get What I Can 2:39

15 Discords Little Miss Misfit 1:41

16 Mild Mannered Janitors Dirty Jean 3:44

17 Blow–Up 125 2:04

18 Auntie Vegetable Stroll On 2:47

19 Inmates Mr Unreliable 2:52

20 Naz Nomad and the Nightmares Just Call Me Sky 1:45

CD2

01 Sexton Ming You Can’t Polish a Turd 2:20

02 Escalators Munsters Theme 1:32

03 Jesus and Mary Chain Vegetable Man 3:34

04 Tall Boys Ride This Torpedo 2:21

05 Thanes Don’t Let Her Dark Your Door 5:20

06 Bananamen The Crusher 1:49

07 X-Men Talk 2:58

08 Emptifish I Want That Girl 4:24

09 Morticians I Don’t Care 3:45

10 Meteors Swamp Thing 2:59

11 Jasmine Minks What’s Happening 1:50

12 Nutmeg And in England They’re Going Mental 4:49

13 Prime Movers Livin’ in My Own Nightmare 2:22

14 Mindreaders Fever in My Pocket 2:52

15 King Kurt Nervous Breakdown 2:46

16 Stayrcase I Know You Lied 2:09

17 Daggermen One More Letter 2:43

18 Psylons Waiting Nation 5:26

19 The Wigs The Dead 2:03

20 Thee Headcoats Young Blood (live) 1:48

CD3

01 Playn Jayn You Weren’t Born You Were Created (live) 3:54

02 Milkshakes Brand New Cadillac 2:28

03 Surfadelics Don’t Be Sorry 2:30

04 Marionette Too Far Gone 3:44

05 Beatpack No Great Shakes 3:16

06 Unholy Trinity Rock and Roll Traitor 3:50

07 Delmonas He Tells Me He Loves Me 2:37

08 Wolfhounds La Juice 3:44

09 Revolving Paint Dream Garbagebrain 2:58

10 Clapham South Escalators Leave Me Alone 3:11

11 Primevals My Emancipation 4:19

12 Change Lings Shelter From the Rain 4:33

13 Surf Rats Plutonium Mind Shock 3:57

14 Golden Horde The Curse 2:29

15 Delmontes So It’s Not to Be 2:26

16 Gruff Farmer John 1:56

17 Krewmen The Hell Train 3:37

18 Sunglasses After Dark Hellhag Shuffle 2:22

19 Jackals Ringing in My Ears 2:58

20 Screaming Dead This Is the End of the World (demo) 1:28

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