Punishment of Luxury – Laughing Academy (E.M.I., 1979, Lemon, 2010)
Late seventies Scottish art-punk, like a cross between XTC and Gang of Four.
The Gits – Spear and Magic Helmet 7” (Empty Records, 1991)
Viva Zapata!
Bob Dylan – The Witmark Demos (Columbia, 2010)
Rough takes of all the early sixties Dylan, from the finger-pointin’ phase up to the derangement of the senses one.
The Receivers – Drop Out (Indie, 199?)
Unheralded American punk rock n’ roll band who cover the Buzzcocks’ “Boredom” as a way to mark their territory.
The Queers – Back to the Basement (Asian Man, 2010)
Anyone (realistically, just me) who was worried that after the pop-tastic “Munki Brain” that Joe Queer would overcompensate with a forced back-to-basics follow-up album should just lighten the fuck up.
“MySpace“http://www.myspace.com/thequeers
The Biters – It’s Okay To Like… (Underrated, 2010)
In which the band puts the bite on power-pop.
X – Under the Big Black Sun (Elektra, 1982)
This album marked the end of X’s critical honeymoon but the start of a stunning growth spurt.
The Bangles – 1981/1982 (Indie)
This early, out-of-print material lays the paisley on even heavier then their major label debut, which, truth be known, is a damn fine piece of retro-sixtiesness itself.
“Bootleg Link”: Coming early tomorrow…
The Go-Go’s – Beauty and the Beat (I.R.S., 1981)
Y’know the people who sneered this album off back in the day, including yours truly, need to give themselves a retroactive kick in the ass.
The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaiman & Chris Grimly (Harper Collins, 2008)
Demented little childrens’ book a la Edward Gorey.
