The Crash Action Winners - "Hurricane Fighter Plane" (1980)

Oh my God!.....LO-FI incompetance incarnate! Another classic recorded in some bedroom on a cassette, with cheap drums and guitars, spotty muffled vocalist and very little musical ability. Its like a ghost song summoned up by a punk rock medium from DIY Hell.
Looking at the cover of this single, it seems to display an interest in sixties psych/punk, which suggests a certain degree of musical sophistication, even if lacking in ability. The tune is in fact a cover of a Red Crayola song from "The Parable of Arable Land" lp (1967).
Apparently Mayo Johnson heard this record and submitted his critique as "Brave but misguided".
The b-side is a great self-penned number about ,what i can only imagine to be,Fate? Oh,those deep pensive teens.(Its great though!)

"Hurricane Fighter Plane" mp3
"Two Trains" mp3

Various - " Mell Square Musick EP " (No Rip Off Records) 1979

Another diy comp classick....... its hard to choose which band are the sloppiest on this disc! The Accused are unbelievable, very close in style to the Shaggs and Beefheart, but obviously Punk Rock.Of course this is accidental, but every tune is on the verge of falling apart.
The Cracked Actors track is my favourite, unsyncopated drumming with the cheapest drum sounds possible, weedily strummed guitar, spotty adolescent vocals and lyrics......perfection! This band sound like they must all be 15 or below, very remaniscent of later Prats.
The 021.....not to be confused with the 012.....are superior in ability,but not by much. Their moniker was to be seen daubed on the concrete under and overpasses of Birmingham in 1979, but it was obviously mistaken for an attempt to remind birmingham's citizens of their city's dialling code,as 021 disappeared from view very quickly after this record hit Rough Trade.

Track Listing:

Accused – Generation gap
Accused – Solihull
Cracked Actors – Disco?
021 – Robot (don’t wanna be).
Accused – Arrested
Undertakers – Illusions.

For Download click here (thanks to Killed By Death)

Hornsey at War - "Dead Beat Revival ep" (1979)

Getting back to proper DIY, here's the classic ep from Hornsey At War. Beautifully incompetant suburban diy punk from 1979. The sound of teenage pistols/clash fans struggling with their instruments, showning their heroes how to make real punk rock. The guitarist makes Steve Jones sound like Pat Methany,and Paul Cook as the Billy Cobham of punk.(Although Sid may well have been "bad" enough to be in Hornsey at War).Every track is on the verge of disintegration, the vocals have that classic recorded in a cardboard box feel, a blend between a mumble and a grunt.
All in all a charming and essential recording of an era that will never be again.(wipes tear from eye).

Track listing:

Hornsey at war
U C 2 Much 4 Me
Anti-ego
Dirt in My Eyes
No Roots

Download here!

Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band - " Lick My Decals Off Baby(Instrumental version)" 1970

More Die than DIY but,Couldn't let the weekend pass without paying tribute to a true musical/artistic genius that was Don Van Vliet.....aka Captain Beefheart, who died a couple of days ago.
A primary musical influence on the brave souls who endevoured to make their own music,no matter how negative the response was. And none has had to endure the negative response the good captain has had to deal with from the neanderthal lowest common denomonator types of this world. Believe it or not there are still some idiots out there who still find "Trout Mask Replica" unlistenable!?
So in tribute i post the great mans "Hit" record from 1970.....yes it got to number 20 in the UK album charts for one week........"Lick My Decals Off Baby". And you will probably never see an album like this grace the charts again, in these brown stained days of simon cowell influenced homogeny.
If you kids are reading this, download this record and try and emulate but not copy the artistic genius within.


Download some decals baby here!