Anatole Frantz (France, 1978)

Punk/rock from France. There doesn't seem to be much about them online though copies of the record seem to be available.

Anatole Frantz - Scandale / Le monde est fou 7" (Sonopresse 2 S 008-16614, 1978)

Korroosio (Finland, 1981)

Korroosio were a pop-punk/new wave band formed in 1979. Their first recordings from 1980 were released on the Asfalttidisco compilation LP. Their second release and best known song, Hei Hei Hei, was first released in 1980 on the Vaahtopäät compilation LP. The same version of the song also appeared on the Kyllä Tytöt Ymmärtää LP in 1982 (reissued in 2012). It has since appeared on several retrospective Finnish punk/new wave compilations. The song was re-recorded in 1981 and released as a 7". The B side, Hän on niin puhdas, is the same version as the LP.

Korroosio - Hei hei hei / Hän on niin puhdas 7" (California CS 001, 1981)

You can find the original version of Hei hei hei on youtube. Here's a 2010 reunion version:

Äpyli (Finland, 1981)

Discogs calls this "lo-fi rock". Another calls it "minimal wavePunk". This one doesn't even try to assign it to a particular genre. I previously posted one of their releases as Äpyli Ja Utu Ptrui Tänne Prutui.

Äpyli - Junalla Timbuktuun / Nowe Czasy 7" (Selecta SES 009, 1981)

Benny Blue (France, 1979)

Benny Blue had a number of releases in 1979 - 1980 that are categorized as electronic / funk / soul / rock / disco / power pop / pop rock / Italo-Disco and even punk. This 7" is the one that falls into the power pop / punk category with the B side being the punk track.

Benny Blue - Singin' In The Morning / Made Cap 7" (Disc'Az SG 704, 1979) 


If you're more inclined towards disco / Italo-Disco then this might be more your style:

Ian G. Harling vs Andrew Rance (UK, 1979)

The 45 Revolutions book lists these two 7"s with an "index of collectability" of 2.5 - 3 out of 5, meaning they are "rare and collectable". The first A side of the Ian Harling 7" is described as a "clever New Wave pop/rocker" while the second A side is an "irresistible Ska/Powerpopper". Andrew Rance provides two "rather interesting compositional New Wave efforts with loose Powerpop(py) overtones". Neither came with a picture sleeve.

Ian G. Harling - Heavy Breathing / Black & White 7" (P T O Records, PT 109/209 / EJSP 9410, 1979)
Andrew Rance - It Really Shouldn't Matter / Cold 7" (Trash TRA 1001, 1979)

AKA (Japan, 1985)

Japanese punk/hardcore. What is it about the Japanese and flexi's? I hate the damn things!

Aka - Dara Dara Dara / Finger Love // 偽想愛 / とまらない 7" flexi EP (Jisatsu GL-006ES, 1985)

Fuzz (France, 1981)

Hard rock / punk from France.

Fuzz - Satan's Fans / Renonce Pas! 7" (Les Productions Amicalement Vôtre 8101.0201, 1981) 

Wasting time ...

Recently I made a trip to the Ottawa / Toronto area to visit family and some old friends. While in the area I checked out some local record stores and a few record shows. I had long ago decided spending much time at such places was pretty much a waste of time. This trip didn't do much to change that opinion. I did find a few interesting things for possible trades (such as an Active Dog 7" and the first Wheezing Dogz EP) but nothing from my main want list. If I ever actually see anything from that list for sale somewhere other than eBay or some other online auction I'll probably faint from the shock.

I did end up buying a bunch of records, mostly from dollar bins: Quebec 60s pop/rock, some 50s/early 60s Canadian country, some obscure 70s/80s Canadian things I expected to be crap (and they really were - hello garbage dumpster, meet really shitty record) and others just because I thought the covers were cool and might look good on my wall. Mostly the sort of thing I'd never buy online because the shipping cost would be far more than they're actually worth. So in that regard record stores do serve a purpose when you have some time to kill and they're around the corner. Sure, people still pull KBD rarities out of dollar bins but the sheer amount of garbage 70s/80s rock you have to sift through really doesn't make it appealing to me as a regular pastime. I also find with many stores that either someone working there scoops anything good that comes in, or it goes straight to eBay. Popsike / Collectors Frenzy / Museum of Canadian Music / (insert internet site here) says this is worth that much! eBay it is!

Record fairs really don't do much for me either. There's lots to choose from (and even more 70s/80s rock crud to dig through). There are often some gems to be had, but try and find them before someone else does. And that's if someone selling at the show hasn't nabbed it before the doors even opened. At one show, I heard some variant of "I saw that sold on eBay for ..." a number of times within minutes of going through the door. If I want to spend $$$ for it on eBay, I can do that from the comfort of home and not have to deal with a bunch of other record dorks. The only advantage is I can actually look at it first and see if "NM" is really NM or more like VG.

More music posts coming soon ...

Blank Generation (Canada, c1980)

Out Of The ... Igloo!! just posted the 12" EP from this Edmonton band. Since I've started digging through some old tapes lately, here is their only(?) other recordings. This is from a cassette recorded in 1980 I think. Some of the songs titles are just a guess.

Touchtones (USA, 1980)

This one is listed as power pop on Discogs. It's sort of catchy, especially the A side, but nowhere near punk as I recall at least one eBay auction suggesting.

Touchtones - Dance All Night / Time (Won't Pass Me By) 7" (For The Eighties FOR THE 80's A/B, 1980)

Gangster (Netherlands, 1978)

This is the first single from this excellent Dutch glam/punk band. I'm still looking for the second one at a reasonable price.

Gangster - Run For The Police / Loving All The Time 7" (Mercury 6013 507, 1978)

Ny Våg - Svensk Punk book

It looks like I missed out on the first edition of this book. Just too many crazy things going on in my life the past 6 months. I see there is now a revised version of it available, but without the CD that the first version had? I can get the new version of the book easily enough ... but would anyone be willing to send me a cd-r copy or mp3's of the CD - or know somewhere I can buy the book + CD? 

Children Of The Morning (1972 - 1974)

This Italian based group released 2 7"s between 1972 and 1974. Both have been blogged previously - the first (Hey America, America) was released in several European countries. Discogs lists the Italian, Dutch and German releases. Mine is French. I think there are also Spanish and Portuguese versions. The second was issued only in France and Italy as far as I know. These aren't very raer and shouldn't be too hard to find if you would like the original records.

Children Of The Morning - Hey America, America / Children Of The Morning 7" (Spot ST 40020 (France), 1973)
Children Of The Morning - Ku Klux Man / Lady Lady 7" (Disc Az SG 490, 1974)

Silver Laughter (USA, 1976 - 1978)

This Iowa group released 2 LPs. Both are listed in the Acid Archives book which includes the following comments:
Handle With Care - ... a mixture of Beatles-inspired 1970s pop and backwoods rural rock ... the more countrified and boogie rock songs are pretty bad ... about two-thirds of this is very good.
Sailing On Fantasies - ... drops all of the backwoods aspirations of the first ... confident, inspired pop band and the album is solid straight through.

In addition to the 2 LPs, there are at least 2 45s with tracks from each LP.

Silver Laughter - Angela (Angel Love) / No One Can Do It 7" (Fanfare 4064, 1976)
Silver Laughter - Don't Feel Bad / Turn It Down (You're Too Loud) 7" (Fanfare 4076, 1978)


Since my original post I received more info from Mike (now Mick) Orton (bass and keyboards). If you are interested in original LPs or CDs you can reach him at: mick (at) sfresidence.com. He also has created a Silver Laughter web site.

  
Here is some of the info that Mick provided: 
The first album, Handle With Care, was a collection of songs. Some were written by Jon for his band, Silver Laughter, before I joined; some were my songs from my band, The Contents Are (later called Tabernash). The rest were written specifically for Handle with Care. That is why the thing sounds kind of disjointed. One of the reviews noticed that the first album did not have the cohesiveness of the second album. All of those tunes on Sailing on Fantasies were written and arranged at about the same time.

A little background is that my daughter found an article on Silver Laughter’s Sailing on Fantasies with a reference to Handle With Care.  It had a few inaccuracies when it was published at http://www.glorydazemusic.com/articles.php?article_id=4407, so I contacted the author and gave him more background. This caused him to write a second review for PopGeekHeaven http://www.popgeekheaven.com/music-discovery/lost-treasures-silver-laughter.

Handle With Care

Goin’ to be Mine and Grey, Cloudy Skies were songs I wrote and recorded with The Contents Are:/Tabernash while Getaway Woman, Take My Money and Whiskey Heaven were songs written by Jon for the original Silver Laughter (before me).

The rest of the songs were written and arranged by Jon and me for the album. Jon and I loved the Lennon and McCartney collaboration and adopted it for ourselves regardless of who came up with the original idea.

Sailing on Fantasies

Silver Laughter was a touring band that played around the Midwest and Canada. We would spend two to three weeks at a time in night clubs with an occasional one nighter at ballrooms around the cities in which we were popular. During the day, if we weren’t learning new cover songs to keep the dance crowds happy, Jon and I were writing songs for the second album. The band rehearsed to get the basic arrangements. Once we were in the studio we started adding layers. The only thing we didn’t do were the strings and horns which were recorded after the studio sessions were completed. Bob Parker, a friend of our manager, Art “Smart” Stenstrom, wrote the horn and string arrangements with input from the band. The first horn arrangement on Don’t Feel Bad made it sound like a game show theme song which we nixed right away.

These days the band is spread all over the country, but we are still in touch. If there ever was a reunion, the original drummer, Kim Ludtke (Jon’s brother) would probably play. He was the first drummer when I joined, then Paul (from The Contents Are:) took over. After Paul decided to quit, Kim was coming back. We played a few jobs and had publicity photos taken, but broke up shortly afterward.

The original band after I joined, left to right clockwise: Kim Ludtke - drums, Mike (now Mick) Orton – bass and keyboards, Mark Zaputil – lead guitar and Jon Ludtke – lead and rhythm guitar at the bottom center.

Agaton 6 (Sweden, 1977)

Although this record is listed in the International Discography of The New Wave book there is really nothing punk or even "new wave" about it. On the back of the sleeve you can see the band dressed in their best  "new wave" gear. The song "Ge mej ett glas vatten" ("Give Me A Glass of Water") is said to be a cover of Bob Dylan's "I Pity The Poor Immigrant". Not really caring much about Dylan, I'll leave that for someone else to figure out. Overall though, I still mostly like the record.

Agaton Sex/6 - Ulrike / Ge mej ett glas vatten // Kling klang / Göteborg EP (Lindö NR 01, 1977)