Hello folks!
A few bits to make your Friday that bit more interesting!
Firstly a heads up on some upcoming releases. The Galieo 7's rather ace new LP Tear Your Minds Wide Open! - 300 vinyl copies only containing an inserted CD with an extra track! It's due for release on November 10th.
And not forgetting our three reissued LPs by the Buff Medways. All on lovely WHITE vinyl! They're set for release on October 27th. Pre-order all these titles by clicking on the cover art below.
We've also a very limited amount of Cyanide Pills Sliced and Diced T-shirts up for grabs, first come first served!
And there's a two-night-stand by The SolarFlares at London's Water Rats venue this weekend. They're sold out but we do still have copies of their three reissued LPs!
The Galileo 7 - Tear Your Minds Wide Open! (LP + CD insert)
Medway garage-psych at its finest!
Limited to 300 vinyl copies with free CD featuring an exclusive extra track!
Prior perception is a right nause, especially when it comes to The Galileo 7. This Kentish quartet have now been kicking out keen psych-pop nuggets since 2010, over the course of four albums and several 45s, but vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Allan Crockford's illustrious past and parallel present, as bassist with a roll call of the greatest British bands of the past 30+ years – The Prisoners, The James Taylor Quartet, The Prime Movers, The Solarflares, Graham Day & The Forefathers – seems to have, weirdly, done 'em no favours. And in an age when peeps of a certain age are going goo-goo googly-eyed over the XTC back catalogue, rediscovering all manner of 60s psych-pop and garage treats, and lionising such moderne combos as Thee Oh Sees and Tame Impala, that the Galileo 7 haven’t reaped comparable plaudits seems just plain stoopid... (More on the DG website)
Joss Hutton, B-Side the A-Side, Sally’s Cafe, Timsbury, August 2017
www.facebook.com/bsidetheaside
The Buff Medways - Three reissued LPs on WHITE vinyl!
Steady The Buffs, 1914 & Medway Wheelers
**Release Date for all Buffs albums is 27/10/17**
*THREE CLASSIC MEDWAY GARAGE ALBUMS, ALL ON LOVELY WHITE VINYL! *
Billy Childish formed The Buff Medways in 2000. Their full name was Wild Billy Childish & The Friends of the Buff Medway Fanciers Association.
During the 19th century a breed a chicken was developed peculiar to the Medway area. The breed, now extinct, was a table bird for the London hotel market. The BUFF MEDWAY project, based at Fort Amherst, Chatham, attempted to recreate that ancient fowl through a selective breeding project.
The BUFF MEDWAYS cut a dash with their Victorian army uniforms and vintage Vox amps. The gear may be old but as one critic wrote the band were “the snarled lip embodiment of rock’n‘roll spirit rather than nostalgia or shabby revivalism”. Live and on record The BUFF MEDWAYS were all about great songs and vibrant raw energy – no frills!
The original line up was Billy on guitar and vocal, Johnny Barker (bass) and Wolf Howard (drums), both ex-Daggermen. Johnny later left the band and was replaced by Graham Day (The Prisoners).
They released two LPs for Graham Coxon’s label Transcopic Records Steady The Buffs & 1914, one on Vinyl Japan called This Is This. Their last album Medway Wheelers came out on Damaged Goods in 2005. A great 'Live & Sessions followed a few years later caqlled 'The XFM Sessions'
The Buffs called it a day in 2006, going out on a high with a sold out show at London’s Dirty Water Club on the 27th of October 2006.
But you probably knew all that...didn't you!
ALSO AVAILABLE...
THE XFM SESSIONS (LP / CD / DIGI)
CYANIDE PILLS - Sliced and Diced T-Shirts! only £9.99
Available in -
Ladies - Small, Medium & Large
Mens - Small, Medium, Large & XL
The band will be heading off for a few dates in Spain next month -
NOVEMBER 8: MADRID : Trash Can Music Club
NOVEMBER 9: BILBAO : NAVE 9
NOVEMBER 10 : ZARAGOZA : Lata De Bombillas
NOVEMBER 11th : VALENCIA : Magazine Club
NOVEMBER 12th : BARCELONA : Barbara Ann (at 12 MIDDAY!)
And don't forget their recent album and 7" single!
The SolarFlares Reissues - Out Now!
Psychedelic Tantrum That Was Then... And So Is This Can Satisfy You
Three long out of print albums. One making its debut on vinyl! Click on the pics for our online shop!
Britpop? Monged out berks in kagouls peddling poor rehashes of Rutles tunes and/or a lone JB beat? *blows raspberry* Meanwhile, down in Kent, ‘tween 1999 and 2003, much more interesting tuneage was afoot. Former Prisoners / Prime Movers cohorts The Solarflares had further distilled the myriad pleasures of hard-edged, soulful 60s beat-psych, powerhouse guitar/organ instrumentals, and world class (but never wanky) riffage into a classy package, replete with memorable, groove-heavy tunes with knockout harmonies and that big, bad beat. It’s fair to say that messrs Graham Day (guitar, vocals), Allan Crockford (bass, vocals), Wolf Howard (drums, vocals) and, latterly, Parsley (organ, vocals) deserve more acclaim, even from diehard fans of The Prisoners and their many other combos, which is where these three most welcome reissues come in…
Psychedelic Tantrum, originally issued by Anglo-German label Twist in 1999, is an invigorating, intoxicating mix of suss and strut, hitting yer lugholes running with the searing “Mary” and running through the dancefloor-friendly instro “Apollo Go-Go” to the tripped-out “Shadow of the Past” and a mighty take on The Misunderstood’s “Find a Hidden Door”. To say it’s quite a debut is a bit of an understatement, and as with the rest of their output, it sounds gloriously rich and timeless, like it could have been recorded at any point since late-1966…
That was Then… and so is This, their sophomore set, came out on Twist in 2000 and features less gloriously distorto production but don’t let that fool ya into thinking it’s a slouch – no sir. The album’s expanded, richer and more defined (dare I say, cinematic?) sonic palette encompasses kinetic acoustic riffery (“Miles Away”), fuzztastic beaters (“Sucking Out My Insides”) and the obvs Gerry Anderson-inspired (“Angel Interceptor”) – tis a stone pleasure, indeed!
And then we come to the ‘official bootleg’, as Allan calls it, namely Can Satisfy You, which the band put out on their Own Up label in 2003. Is this collection of live and studio cuts less than essential? Is it bollocks… no drop in quality, when it comes to corkers like the ‘electric’ version of “Miles Away” with Parsley’s killer organ that turns it into a mid-60s club soul classic, or on the slew of dynamite covers, which tell you more about where their heads were/are at better than anything I can write ya, including Wimple Winch’s “Save My Soul”, Ramones’ “Glad to See You Go”, Fire’s “Father’s Name is Dad” and the Sharon Tandy/Fleur de Lys/Rupert’s People classic, “Hold On”, the latter with Parsley on vocals, sounding like Don Fardon’s big bruvva!
So there you go, yer lucky buggers. Another three slices in the (thankfully) continuing history of properly unproper British rock’n’soul. As the Damned used to say, “Play it at your sister.” And if you’re an only child, well…
Joss Hutton
www.facebook.com/bsidetheaside
The SolarFlares - Live at The Water Rats - 13th & 14th October
The SolarFlares' gigs at London's Water Rats this Friday and Saturday are sold out. If you're going have a fab time! If not please enjoy this flyer.