Trop Tard - Ils Etaient 9 Dans L'Obscurité LP

Thanks to Capa Nostra for this stupendous album. Finally I got the chance to listen to this. One of the best cold wave stuff I've heard from France.
Most bands from France are known for the -sometimes excessive- use of synths but Trop Tard (means 'Too Late') stayed far away from that. Only bass, guitar and a drum machine. On the French New Wave site, they state that the band had 3 members, even one on drums but I think the album was made by 2 guys.
And yes, Joy Division is the main influence but Trop Tard created something of their own with it. I really like the guitar work on the album. And the vocals are full of 'ennui'.
Seems that Trop Tard released a bunch of tapes as well. Probably impossible to find. Even the LP hardly turns up for sale. Think it was released in the mid-80's (1985-86).

Ils Etaient 9 Dans L'Obscurité LP (self released-F 001-198?)
1. Les Choses Qu'On Oublie Pas
2. Quelque Chose A Dire
3. Les Anges D'Aujourd'hui
4. Oublier La Vérité
5. La Chose
6. Maman
7. Trop Longtemps
8. Les Rêves De Peur
9. Oublier
10. Je M'Ennui
11. L'Analyse
12. Abandonné
13. Mort D'Une Ame

Link Removed. Buy the reissue on Infrastition!

Michal Turtle - Music From The Living Room LP

Getting on Mutant Sounds territory now. As the title suggests, these are home-made recordings by a certain Michal Turtle. Experimental synth weirdness, mostly instrumental except for 'Village Voice' that has female vocals by Laura. 'Jeka' is the odd one here as it sounds more like a reggae tune.
Couldn't find much info on Michal Turtle but when submitting this release on Discogs, someone else added this release in his collection and it is no one else but Michael (real name) himself. He lives in Münchenstein, Switzerland now and is a member of Dust, together with Jessica Knoll.
This album is really hard to get probably of Shout Records folding. So I think not many copies were pressed.

Michael on MySpace
Dust on MySpace
Dust website (has background info on Michael Turtle)

Music From The Living Room LP (Shout Records-LX006-1983)
1. Are You Psychic ?
2. Phantoms Of Dreamland
3. Village Voice
4. It's A Stop Sign Shirley !
5. Yak By Yak
6. Jeka

You can download the original rip as well as the remastered tracks here.

Screen Of Dreams - The Direction Of History 12"

4-piece postpunk band from San Francisco, CA. I know next to nothing about Screen Of Dreams so I would be glad if someone has more info on them.
I think the 'Direction Of History' is the band's only release. Decent wave with deathrock and some Bauhaus influences.

The Direction Of History 12" (Horizontal Music-no #-1983)
1. Call Of The Wild
2. China White
3. I Can't Remember
4. The Saviour


Screen Of Dreams (new link)

Plague Of Fools - 12"s

Thanks alot to Ken from Edinburgh for introducing me to this band. Never heard of them before.
Formed in 1983, Plague Of Fools consisted of 2 members, Tam and Stevie of local punkband The Sceptix.(correction: original members were:  Stevie Ewing (Bass), Gary Mill (Guitar), Tam Ewing (Vocals) and Paul McCluskey (Drums)). They were impressed by Killing Joke when they saw them live so another sound was needed. First they would call the band The Hoax but changed it to Plague Of Fools. The first recording is a 3-track demo (Thaw, Fools All Day, Shove). Angry Al of Playlist Records offered them a deal to release a record on the Partizan Pestilenti offshoot. 'Fools All Day' was released in 1984. The band gigged alot in Edinburgh and around. They even made it to London and they also played in Holland.
'Heart Of Hearts' is the band's second and last release.
In 1987 they changed their name to Roman Ha as they were bored with the Killing Joke clone accusations. A 12" 'Castle In The Air' got released in 1987 and contains a new version of 'Heart Of Hearts'. The band decided to stop playing live. Roman Ha became a studio project with Gary and Stevie as the only original members, releasing the controversial 'Vision Of Linz' LP. A sort of Laibach-inspired record depicting Adolf Hitler on the sleeve.
Many thanks to Ken of which I took info from his write-up on Playlist Record & related bands/labels.


Fools All Day 12" (Partizan Pestilenti-PART 001-1984)
1. Fools All Day
2. Child's Play
3. Fools Dance


Heart Of Hearts 12" (Partizan Pestilenti-PART 002-1985)
1. Heart Of Hearts
2. Ragnarok
3. Another Day

Plague Of Fools

The Second Coming - 7"/12"/Comp. Tracks

A few months ago I could finally obtain the very rare 'The Return' 12" of The Second Coming so now I can offer a complete The Second Coming discography.
The Second Coming was one of the goth-tinged postpunk bands from Barnsley besides Party Day and The Silent Scream.
The Silent Coming did their first gig in Leeds with Creatures Of Habit (later Tea House Camp). They used to practice in a community centre but had to play gigs for the kids there.
Their first release was the 'Incest/Faithless' 7". They made up a controversy about this record as the Royston Comprehensive School choir are singing on 'Faithless' while having the track 'Incest' on the flip. So they told a local reporter that lots of people were complaining about the single. But nothing about it was true.
'The Return E.P.' 12" was the band's second release. A double A-side 12" single that comes in a textured sleeve.
Another 4 tracks appeared on the comp. albums 'Bites & Stabs' and 'Torn In Two' of which I already posted the best tracks from.
All records released on Torment Records of which I think was run by the band itself.
Frontman Dean Peckett later joined Party Day. Drummer Dean Ormston also played in The Silent Scream. Look into my archives for Party Day and The Silent Scream.


Incest/Faithless 7" (Torment Records-RV 666-1984)
1. Incest
2. Faithless


The Return E.P. 12" (Torment Records-RV 667-1985)
1. Return
2. Bedlam
3. I Gave You Everything
4. Angela

V/A Bites & Stabs LP (Torment Records-TOR 1-1985)
1. Scarecrows
2. Thorns

V/A Torn In Two LP (Torment Records-TOR 2-1986)
1. More More More
2. Take Me Away


The Second Coming

Disappointed A Few People - Fuck With Christ 7"

The 'Dead In Love' LP was posted yesterday and Ormand Murk already gives us the 'Fuck With Christ' 7".
Sounds completely different than the album. Both tracks more in the goth/postpunk vein. Released by Disappointed A Few People themselves in 1984.
Thanks to the generosity of Ormand Murk!

Scan of sleeve taken from Discogs courtesy of Sorrow-Vomit.

Fuck With Christ 7" (Les Disques Noirs-NOIR-1-1984)
1. Fuck With Christ
2. We Shall Die Again


FWC

Disappointed A Few People - Dead In Love LP

And yes, another donation by Eleni.
I only knew this band by name. I'm not very familiar with postpunk/wave bands from Canada.
Disappointed A Few People were from Montréal. Before this album, the band released a 7" called 'Fuck With Christ' in 1984.
'Dead In Love' was released on the Psyche Industry label, better known for records of punkbands like S.C.U.M., the Asexuals and No Means No. But it seems that the album was also released in Belgium on Play It Again Sam.
Eleni also gave me a link to member Ian Stephens, who was a poet and released some spoken word albums. He sadly died in 1996 of AIDS-related lymphoma.
The last track originally by French chansonnier Leo Ferré.

Dead In Love LP (Psyche Industry-PIR 011-1986)
1. Dead In Love
2. Soft Blue Veins
3. Lips Of The Cross
4. Teresa
5. Ecstasy
6. Idols Of Faith
7. Black Wine
8. La Solitude

Dead In Love

Everest The Hard Way - Tightrope 12"

Another contribution by Burl Veneer.
This is the sole release of new wave band Everest The Hard Way. Also released as a 7", but here you get the 12" with an extended version of the title track and 2 extra tracks. Think early Simple Minds, Music For Pleasure,... Could have been better known if they continued but are now completely forgotten.
This 12" was issued on Do It Records, run by Robin Scott of M (with the hitsong 'Pop Muzik'). Other bands on Do It were Adam & The Ants, early Yello, Snakefinger and even Renaldo & The Loaf. First 7" 'Moderne Man' of M also released on Do It.

Tightrope 12" (Do It Records-DUN 17-1982)
1. Tightrope
2. Quarter To Six
3. When You're Young
4. Take The Strain

Tightrope

Five Or Six - Four From Five Or Six 12"

As requested by per23. I suppose this is one of the last releases of Five Or Six. I think these tracks were issued on a comp. CD on Cherry Red. But they should do a proper reissue of this band as they deserve it.



Four From Five Or Six 12" (Cherry Red-12 Cherry 43-1982)
1. This Is For The Moment
2. Think
3. Rushes
4. Theme

Four From

Faith Global - The Same Mistakes LP

Here's another donation of Eleni.
Must admit that I never heard Faith Global before. Actually it is the band of Stevie Shears after he was kicked out (?) of Ultravox after the 'Ha!Ha!Ha!' album.
Eleni gave me a link to another blog with more information here.
Only this album and the 'Earth Report' 12" were recorded.
For fans of early new wave so perhaps not everyone will dig it. Faith Global records are not easy to find these days.

The Same Mistakes LP (Survival Records-SUR LP 003-1983)
1. The Same Mistakes
2. Forgotten Man
3. Hearts & Flowers
4. Knowing The Way
5. Love Seems Lost
6. Coded World
7. Yayo
8. Slaves To This
9. Facing Facts

Faith Global

Dole - The Speed Of Hope LP

First post for 2008 kindly donated by Eleni.
Here's the sole full length of Belgian band Dole(named after a little town in the East of France). Before the album, Dole released a string of 7"/12"s of which some tracks appear on the album.
To be honest I didn't know Dole that good. The band started in 1981 playing covers mainly. But after getting more support, the band started to write their own songs. Their early tracks were recorded with a drum machine. But from 1985 they got a drummer.
'The Speed Of Hope' was produced by no one else but Adrian Borland of The Sound who sadly left us a few years ago by jumping under a train.
All of Dole's records were released on Play It Again Sam and the LP was also released on major Polydor and even in Italy on Supporti Fonografici (Christian Death, Attrition, Chromagain, Weimar Gesang,...). There is a CD reissue from 1997 with some extra tracks but this one is deleted too.

The Speed Of Hope LP (PIAS-BIAS 27-1986)
1. Slumberland
2. The Dream
3. Maybe Tomorrow
4. I Say
5. Rumroad
6. A Day
7. Third Man
8. Satellite

Dole