Sunday, February 25, 2007

The Membranes - Pulp Beating 1984 And All That! LP


The Membranes were from Blackpool and formed in the early 80's. The band's first releases were on Rondelet Records but were later picked up by the cult label Criminal Damage. The records that they did on Criminal Damage brought the Membranes more attention. They were asked by John Peel to do a session, the only one they ever did.
The 'Pulp Beating' LP is a collection of songs from the 'Spike Milligan's Tape Recorder' 7" and the 'Death To Trad Rock' 12", both released in 1984. I haven't heard many other records of The Membranes but I think these were the hardest and most abrasive. Just listen to the sound of John Robb's bass!
John Robb was the core member of the band. He also ran the Vinyl Drip label.
Tracks 1 and 3 are from the 'Spike Milligan's Tape Recorder' 7".
Tracks 4 to 7 from the 'Death To Trad Rock' 12".
Track 2 probably from the 'Crack House' MLP.
More Membranes records are on the way.

Pulp Beating 1984 And All That LP (Criminal Damage-CRI MLP 130-1986)
1. Spike Milligan's Tape Recorder
2. Kafka's Dad
3. All Skin And Bone
4. Shine On Pumpkin Moon
5. Big Nose And The Howlin Wind
6. Myths And Legends
7. The Kiteman

New link!
Pulp Beating

23 comments:

Mystery Poster said...

Awesome! I was just thinking about them yesterday when perusing Phoenix Hairpins (terrific name, btw, matey!';o). I have the stellar "Everything's Brilliant" 12-inch on In Tape Records - was thinking of ripping it if you don't already have it.

At some point I am also likely going to rip and these vinyl EP's:
Hose - s/t (short album)
Noseflutes - The Ravers
Book of (Holy) Lies - Cryptic Memo

That is, if they are not readily available, or posted elsewhere...
..of course.

~MysP

Curious Guy said...

Mystery Poster,thanks for the appreciation. Don't have the 'Everything's Brilliant' 12" so go ahead. Any Noseflutes would be great too. Some of their 12"s are hard to find these days. Don't know the other two.
And thanks for that rare The Cultural Decay 12"!

Anonymous said...

thank you!!!
looking forward to hearing "spike milligans tape recorder" again.. i only ever had it on a tape i did off Peel and lost years ago...
i'm glowing inside..

Anonymous said...

Hi, I have Wrong place.. album only, and so I must thank you for these rare tracks too
bye Karlos

Anonymous said...

hi,I love your blog so much.I'm a Chinese,Can I make a link with you?here is my blog.http://ruins.blog.edu.cn,it's called Post punker's loneli place

Curious Guy said...

Hello to China,
added a link to your blog in the sidebar.
Good luck blogging.

Anonymous said...

Hey Mr Curious Guy - I have The Membranes "Kiss Ass Godhead" LP on Homestead from 1989. Let me know if you don't intend posting it and I'll gladly do the honours.

Anonymous said...

again, many thanks. noisey goodness from the membranes never disappoints.

Mystery Poster said...

I have some more Membranes lying about and have not gotten around to the rippage as of yet, let's coordinate. If English Paul does "Kiss Ass Godhead," that makes one less to fret over. Along with the aforementioned "Everything's Brilliant" EP, I could also do up the "Songs of Love and Fury" album, both from 1986. The covers are stylistically similar, so that's nice. In any case, let's link around to one another and split the load. What other stuff do you have in line, Curious Guy?

~MP

p/s You're very welcome on that Cultural Decay, it's one of my favorites..'natch.

Curious Guy said...

MP, you can go ahead with 'Songs Of Love And Fury'. I planned the 'Crack House' and 'The Gift Of Life'.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Many thanks for your excellent blog and taste. I'm discovering some good postpunk stuff thanks to you. Could you reupload the Membranes album 'Pulp Beating', please? Seems no longer downloadable...

Curious Guy said...

Blanchot, I'm busy re-uploading all deleted files. Will have the Pulp Beating upped tomorrow, OK?

Anonymous said...

OK, Curious Guy. Take your time. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Saw The Membranes play a free gig on the roof of a multi-storey car park in Nottingham in the summer of 1985. Helped them take their gear up in the lift. The gig lasted about 25 minutes before the police arrived and told them to stop. Went straight to the nearest record shop and bought "The Gift of Life".

Highlander said...

I've posted 'The Gift Of Life' for anyone thats interested.

Anonymous said...

I was at that same gig on top of the car park in Nottingham! Wasn't it supposed to be a national day of gigs in NCP car parks? I remember the AC Temple guys had something to do with it too.

As for Membranes stuff, I could probably offer up the Flexible Membrane um, flexi that came ( I think) with John Robb's Rox zine.

If I can find it ...

Anonymous said...

Good for people to know.

ROOKSBY said...

(Ahem) Track 1 here is "More Skin & Bone", not the brilliant "Spike Milligan's Tape Recorder"...

Yeah, I went to a couple of those carpark gigs too. Whatever happened to Kilgore Trout?

Curious Guy said...

Already thought that it was a version of 'All Skin And Bone'. Definitely a missprint on the record. Now need to hunt for that 7".

Chris said...

Great band, I really rate his new band Goldblade. John Robb is a great journalist/writer too, he's got a blog here http://bit.ly/5q8aNX

lsfolk said...

i still have the vinyl
one of my favourite records ever

Fat Reg said...

Incredibly, the whole gig is on YouTube (incorrectly dated as 1986) in five parts. Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpdWgISeDa0

Anonymous said...

big thanks from ukraine!