GOOD MORNING

We have two releases lined up for the end of next week: A double LP from legendary New Wave band The Chefs and the third album from The Guy Hamper Trio feat. James Taylor. Then in November the new album from Indignation Meeting and a repress of a Christmas classic!

Both of these first two titles are out on October 18th. More info below and as always click on the cover art to pre-order

The Chefs - Records & Tea: The Best of The Chefs and Lost Second Album (2LP)

From the ashes of the thriving underground punk scene in Brighton in 1979, a band of songwriters called The Smartees emerged. They never made any records but after their demise one of the guitarists, Carl Evans, approached bass player Helen McCookerybook to ask her if she’d like to write some songs with him. He’d already set one of her poems, Food, to music, and they played their first gig with just three songs, each of which lasted just over two minutes: you can hear Food, Sweetie and Boasting on this compilation. The Chefs original drummer, Rod Bloor, contributed the seeds of the song Records and Tea before returning to his native Manchester. Soon, augmented by James McCallum on additional guitar and Russell Greenwood on drums, the songwriting duo started recording for local label Attrix records, firstly two tracks on their Vaultage 79 album, followed by the Sweetie EP and then 24Hours which was championed by BBC Radio 1’s John Peel, who invited them to do a session. A residency at The Moonlight Club in West Hampstead, London, tempted them all to relocate to the big city, and a move to Graduate Records saw the re-release of 24 Hours. Graduate also commissioned the album tracks included here, which were languishing in the band attic and have not been released until now. The band split up in 1982, heading in different musical directions: Helen switched to guitar and formed Helen and the Horns, Carl formed Yip Yip Coyote, Russell joined John Hegley’s Popticians, and James left the music industry. In our short three years we’d spent hundreds of hours writing and rehearsing our songs, recorded three sessions for the BBC, appeared on two compilations, piqued the interest of top pop producer Pete Waterman, and played countless gigs around the UK.

We thought we’d been together for thousands of years!  We hope you enjoy our music.

Helen McCookerybook  2024

The Guy Hamper Trio feat. James Taylor - Dog Jaw Woman (LP)

Here we have the third LP by the excellent Guy Hamper Trio, featuring James Taylor on Hammond organ, and Guy Hamper on guitar (sometimes called Childish) and what a first-class LP this is! 'Instrument of Evil' in particular has a very eerie vibe. We asked the man himself what was the inspiration for it?

G.H. The track is the sequel to ‘7% Solution’, which featured on the last Guy Hamper Trio LP (with Thee Headcoats standing in as rhythm section). A 7% Solution being the amount of morphine Dr Watson administered to Sherlock Holmes. For ‘Instrument of Evil’ I took Sherlock Holmes’ later designation of his syringe as “an Instrument of Evil”. This is originally a quote from the bible-

"Wicked men do at times reject God's purpose for the state, transforming the good of civil government into an instrument of evil."

Point of interest: Morphine addiction happens to tie in with another aspect of the song. In the section that nods to Elmer Bernstein’s main title theme to the film of the book The Man With the Golden Arm, in which the main character is also a morphine addict. Another ingredient - we added six-string bass to that section in tribute to Jet Harris - he formerly of top group The Shadows, who recorded a great version of Bernstein’s classic. To top it all off the record sleeve references the fine graphics of the great Saul Bass. The track also features contributions from Tom Morley (trumpet) and Anna Jordanous (sax) . Both Were a pleasure to work with. My job at the wheel is to basically make a playground and let Jamie, Anna and Tom loose in it with very little direction, apart from pointing out the swings and location of the roundabout. I told Tom “you’re a Spanish trumpeter stood on a hill in Spain.” For Anna, I think we said “go low and nasty.” Other titles are taken from early poetry chapbooks I made in my youth. 'The First Creature is Jealousy' and 'Dog Jaw Woman' being examples. The title 'Incense Rising From a Censer’ comes from

Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, a book I really recommend. Prayer rises to God on the smoke of the incense burning in the censer. I imagine this track being some kind of antidote to ‘Instrument of Evil’.

They are all excellent tracks. I imagine film companies will be queuing up to use many of them.

Other Guy Hamper Trio titles available from Damaged Goods

All The Poisons In The Mud CD/LP (DAMGOOD589CD/LP)

Man in The Mouth of a Cave 7” (DAMGOOD597)

Instrument of Evil 7” (DAMGOOD617)

INDIGNATION MEETING - A MODEL WORLD    LP/CD/DIGITAL  - 15th November

Here at DGHQ we loved listening to INDIGNATION MEETING's self-released debut album Trouble In The Shed so much we eventually got in touch with them and we released it on vinyl for the first time in August to coincide with their appearance at this years Rebellion Festival in Blackpool.

They now have a second album! A Model World is out in November on CD and limited-edition RED vinyl LP.

Vocalist/drummer Peter very kindly talks us through three of the (train) tracks here...

The Trainspotting Song: Now, as a train geek, I go out filming trains an awful lot, and one thing you can’t help noticing whilst out in the wilds of Staffordshire or the moors of Lancashire are a whole load of unnecessary ‘Private Land’ signs. This song is my response…

The Talyllyn Railway: The history of the Talyllyn Railway is a fascinating one that I’ve long since wanted to explore, due to its unique nature as the first railway to ever be taken over by volunteers. This is the result!

The Middleton Railway: As a volunteer at the Middleton Railway, I had felt that a song needed to be written for quite a while. However, our guitarist Michael, ended up beating me to it!

(You can find Peters description of every track on the new DG shop here)

We also have a few copies of their debut album 'Trouble In The Shed' on Great Western Green vinyl, don't delay!

AND...Can you hear those sleigh bells a ringing....?

NO? Well you'd better grab a copy of this then...if you missed it the first time around...

A DAMAGED CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR YOU from DAMAGED GOODS - LP - 29th November

Is back in a very limited repress for Christmas 2024 on SNOWY WHITE vinyl too.