Pop & Rock Vinyl New Releases - News

NEW 2CD SET FEATURING TAMAM SHUD, THE SUNSETS, TULLY, RICHARD CLAPTON, SVEN LIBAEK, PYTHON LEE JACKSON, G. WAYNE THOMAS, FINCH AND MORE, AND INCLUDING PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MATERIAL.

A 2CD, 47 track collection of material from classic Australian 60s & 70s surfing movie soundtracks, curated and annotated by noted vintage surf music and culture expert Stephen J McParland.

Contains rare material - some unheard since the films themselves were screened - by TAMAM SHUD (including 3 tracks never before released), THE SUNSETS (including first time on cd for the recently discovered extended soundtrack versions of some of their classic tracks), TULLY, RICHARD CLAPTON, SVEN LIBAEK, G. WAYNE THOMAS, FINCH, PYTHON LEE JACKSON (7 tracks never before released), HANS POULSEN, BILLY GREEN (with Mike Brady doing his best Doug Parkinson on vocals), FINCH, PETER MARTIN (including two wonderful tracks with FINCH'S OWEN ORFORD on vocals), FROG HOLLOW, DOLPHIN RODEO and more.

The collection takes its name from the classic 1966 surfing film by PAUL WITZIG. 'A Life in the Sun' is celebrating 50th it's 50th anniversary this year.

Material is drawn from the following films: SURFING ROUNDABOUT (1965), THE SURFING YEARS (1966), A LIFE IN THE SUN (1966), THE HOT GENERATION (1967), RIDE A WHITE HORSE (1968), THE WAY WE LIKE IT (1968), EVOLUTION (1969), OVER UNDER SIDEWAYS DOWN (1970), SEA OF JOY (1971), GETTING BACK TO NOTHING (1971), MORNING OF THE EARTH (1972), CRYSTAL VOYAGER (1973), DROUYN (1974), ROLLING HOME (1974) and HIGHWAY ONE (1977).

Includes 28 page booklet with detailed liners notes by Stephen J. McParland (author of classic Australian and Californian surf music and culture books like 'Waltzing the Plank', 'The California Sound' and 'In the Studio with Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys').

Surfing and surf films were a huge thing in the '60s and '70s in Australia, and closely aligned with the music of the time. This is a celebration of both the music and the culture.
Advertising in SURFING WORLD, RHYTHMS and online.

Interviews with Lindsay Bjerre of The Sunsets/Tamam Shud, Paul Witzig and Stephen J McParland.

Collection will be worked to all Australian music and surf media, news and lifestyle outlets, ABC, Community and Coastal radio.

The second title in the Demon Records Deluxe range is The
Slider. This classic album released in July 1972 on the back of
three chart-topping T.Rex LPs provides a perfect snapshot of the
era the press dubbed T. Rextasy and is proof of Bolan s
extraordinary and enduring appeal across the generations. The
Slider contained two UK Number 1 hit singles, Telegram Sam and
Metal Guru the latter famously regarded by Morrissey as pop
perfection.

Packaged as a double-LP gatefold with printed inner sleeves, one
LP on silver coloured vinyl and the other on red vinyl. This
premium edition is a limited run and numbered. LP1 is the classic
album and the second LP is Rabbit Fighter: The Alternate Slider.
Rabbit Fighter is an alternate version of the original album made
up of alternate takes, demos and b-sides. A must have for any
fan.

Drums, bass, saxophone. Three main ingrediences for the three members in Kriget. In this gorgeous 7" they've added mad nice electronics. It's krauty, spacey, free jazzy etcetera, so forth, blah blah blah. Lets settle at free music for free people.
A-side Dincons bass seduces you so subtle that you hardly notice that you're about to take off for a ride that you can't fight. Only feel. When you think you've landed safe and sound its time for side
B: Sama kicks of like a no-nonsense session with a sleazy elektroschaman who wants to hypnotize and program you with so vicious methods that the CIA would be impressed. When the acid kicks in at the end it's time to breathe slowly and quietly repeat for yourself:
Keep calm and remember that being paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.

Hey, we should start a band. Dann Verpflichtungen und Logistik und Leben und Zeit und Raum. Das klappt nur selten, egal wie gut geplant es war. Gegründet 2014 auf dem Groezrock Festival in Belgien, wuchs Vanishing Life aus Unterhaltungen zu einer vollen Band.

Mit Autry Fulbright II (...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead) als Motor und Ideengeber entstand zusammen mit Walter Schreifels von Quicksand und dem Bad Religion Drummer Jamie Miller das Line Up. Anfangs sollten des Weiteren der Trail Of Dead Sänger Jason Reece und Thursday's Geoff Rickley dabei sein. Reece musste allerdings aus Zeitgründen passen und auch Rickley hatte zu viel um die Ohren.

Allerdings veröffentlichte dieser dann Vanishing Life's Debüt Single People Running auf seinem Label Collect Records und war somit auch an der Entwicklung der Band beteiligt.

In the brooding reverberations of a music scene that has since become virtual folklore, Alice In Chains left a beer-soaked stage as glam-metal merchants Diamond Lie, returning two years later in 1989 with a Columbia contract on the strength of their demo tape. Alice In Chains will always be synonymous with the 'grunge' scene and while they were pioneers of the genre alongside fellow Seattle noise grinders Nirvana, they are equally valued as a tour-de-force in metal.
Their California shows at La Reina, Sheraton and the Westminster Forum in September 1990 define their celebratory status as Seattle grunge icons, but also reveal the band's raw, inner sanctum. Considered by many fans to be one of their finest concerts, the La Reina show is a significant reminder of the band's embryonic fire and depth. Promoting their debut album Facelift and on the cusp of a new musical phenomenon, this is the legendary Alice In Chains.
Live On Vinyl proudly presents the entire original KPFK 90.7 FM broadcast of Alice In Chains live at La Reina, Sheraton on 15th September 1990. Professionally re-mastered original broadcast with background liners and rare archival photos.

Most esoteric DEATH SS Album : the concept album dedicated to the magic of ALEISTER CROWLEY which marked the metamorphosis and the return on world metal scene of DEATH SS. For years now out of print and object of worship, it is reprinted in a limited edition of 666 copies with unpublished poster douuble - face in homage.

San Francisco-based producer Al Lover has spent the last several years evolving a unique approach to psychedelic music by way of exploring the common threads within it's various genres. His newest effort, 'Zodiak Versions,' sees Al exploring what he views as two musical styles that have defined modern underground music culture, Jamaican Dub Reggae and the German experimental 'Krautrock' from the 1970's. The main point of interest is how these genres were translated through the lens of Post Punk, Hip Hop and Post Disco Electronica to create what we see now as contemporary 'Indie' music.
The birthplace of Zodiak Versions is literally the long stretches of highway in mainland Europe, mainly in a tour van filled with the smell of Moroccan hash and tobacco smoke (not to mention the potent human funk only an extensive European tour can produce). Sketching out repetitive dub baselines and leads using only the keyboard of his laptop as a musical device, Al formulated the basic structures of the what would become these versions. Reminded of what artists like Kraftwerk and Neu! attempted to portray with the driving motion with their motorik beats and expansive washes of analog synthesis, Lover felt compelled to write music directly within the environment that had once inspired the original 'Krautrock' sound.
Once back in the states Al teamed up with good friends Burnt Ones in LA to add some touches of guitar and synth drone to the sketched out songs. At this time he was further introduced to the some of the lesser known efforts of Kraut pioneers that would later influence the rise of Ambient music. Returning home completely inspired, he added even more layers of analog Moog synthesizer, tribal percussion, and vintage rhythm box drum sounds before sequencing and mixing all the elements through a vintage Roland RE-201 Space Echo. The end result is is what you have here in Zodiak Versions.
With his last few projects, Al Lover has been bouncing back and forth between a more sample based remix approach and actual synthesized music composition. You can hear elements of his earlier works - Distorted Reverberations (of Reverberating Distortion), Vodun Moon, Goat Remixes, Sacred Drugs, Cave Ritual (& Redux) - in Zodiak Versions, but the music is heading in a more textured, droned out direction. An experiment in maximized minimalism. Subtlety and nuance hidden within an intense wall of sound, as if the psychedelic aspects of everything that influenced the record have been extracted and reconfigured to produce the sonic dub version of a bad trip.

Hi kids!
Stop hang your heads low! Sure the northern blackness - that got us by our genitals for most of the year - is a reasonable reason. But tone down your despair. Focus on the, soon to come, bright confusion. Sure. Hoga Nord is for the children. And good fun in the sun. But most of all we're about dropping tunes that will fuck brains, legs and ears as clinically good as a treatment from an over experienced masseur. And what better time for a release when the spring and summer are rioting around the corner. Hoga Nord Rekords give you Higamos Hogamos on a four track instrumental Ep. This is something of a solo effort for Higamos Hogamos's Steve Webster - but in good assisting company by friends and viciously fonky machinery.

One common denominator for the Eps four tunes is an attempt to say fuck off to overkilled editing and instead indulging in the dynamics and tensions that steams from mistakes and magic created live. All with the intention to squeeze our sweetest and most sensitive nerves in waiting for the mothership to take us all upwards 45 deegrees.

Johari Window features the fine fretwork of original Higamos guitarist Toby Jenkins as well as Stipo Androvic on funk bass duties and Chris Hodges holding the groove together solid on drums. What might not be as apparent is the audio signal from the guitar being filtered into Steve's mouth through a hosepipe to make a ghetto talk box (Don't ask, just listen and freak out!)

N.Y. List was the product of Higamos guitarist Andrew Robertson spontaneously finding a fuzz box and a backing track waiting, ready for some first take inspiration.

For 'Sorcery' and 'Purest Space' it's time to give the human masses a rest and jam your momsys arse to mars!
To sum it up: Big fuck off spacediscorock, with elements of kraut, funk and hedonistic vibes to drag us all lost in dark and bright confusion!

Invisible Boy is a project fronted by Chris Bierden, bassist for Polica and vital contributor to many Minneapolis-based projects. Bierden has been preforming solo shows under the moniker Invisible Boy for the last 10 years.

The name is taken from the title of a song by Vampire Hands, a beloved psych/punk band in which Bierden was a founding member. This is the first Invisible Boy effort at arranging the material into fully formed songs.

Invisible Boy is about life, death, and a child's relationship to the cosmos. The music is meant to find empathy in a world that is often cold and indifferent.

When making this album, Chris applied the expert fort-building skills of his youth. A makeshift vocal booth was assembled out of three large orange floral couch cushions, two standing vertical upon chairs and one resting over top to create a pillowy square frame with sheets and blankets draped across the back. It stood only 4 feet tall, forcing Bieden to kneel while he cooed into an old East German microphone. Though not entirely structurally sound, it provided adequate insulation to absorb the reflections of his voice that would have otherwise bounced off of the low ceiling and walls of the basement in which he recorded.

Bierden has spent the last five years touring the world as the bass player and back-up vocalist for Poliça. He recorded bass and vocals on the last two Har Mar Superstar records, and developed other projects of note such as Heavy Deeds, Pony Trash, and Bones & Beeker.

LP comes with download code and printed inner sleeve.

Invisible Boy is a project fronted by Chris Bierden, bassist for Polica and vital contributor to many Minneapolis-based projects. Bierden has been preforming solo shows under the moniker Invisible Boy for the last 10 years.

The name is taken from the title of a song by Vampire Hands, a beloved psych/punk band in which Bierden was a founding member. This is the first Invisible Boy effort at arranging the material into fully formed songs.

Invisible Boy is about life, death, and a child's relationship to the cosmos. The music is meant to find empathy in a world that is often cold and indifferent.

When making this album, Chris applied the expert fort-building skills of his youth. A makeshift vocal booth was assembled out of three large orange floral couch cushions, two standing vertical upon chairs and one resting over top to create a pillowy square frame with sheets and blankets draped across the back. It stood only 4 feet tall, forcing Bieden to kneel while he cooed into an old East German microphone. Though not entirely structurally sound, it provided adequate insulation to absorb the reflections of his voice that would have otherwise bounced off of the low ceiling and walls of the basement in which he recorded.

Bierden has spent the last five years touring the world as the bass player and back-up vocalist for Poliça. He recorded bass and vocals on the last two Har Mar Superstar records, and developed other projects of note such as Heavy Deeds, Pony Trash, and Bones & Beeker.

Big Beat and GNP Crescendo's deluxe reissue CD programme dedicated to The Seeds has been a highlight of recent years for garage rock fans across the globe. Now we focus upon much-requested expanded vinyl editions of the legendary act's album catalogue, all cut from the original masters, and each featuring a bonus disc of appropriate outtakes and rarities.

First to get the deluxe treatment is the Seeds' eponymous debut LP, long held in the highest regard as a touchstone 60s punk artifact. Including their signature hits 'Pushin' Too Hard' and 'Can't Seem To Make You Mine,' The Seeds' is presented here in its original mono mix, unavailable on vinyl since 1966.

The second disc in the package consists of outtakes from the period of the album's creation, virtually all of which are making their first appearance on vinyl. One selection - an alternate take of the classic B-side 'The Other Place' - is completely unreleased anywhere.

The package is housed in a handsome tip-on style gatefold sleeve with reproduction art and labels, and comes with an eight-page, heavily illustrated, full colour insert/booklet with detailed liner notes by reissue producer Alec Palao.

The latest project from two-thirds of Saint Etienne is a compact disc and deluxe double LP of English music that represented the transition from psychedelia to prog as the 60s moved into the 70s. Most of it is not an easy listen, but it's always interesting, melodic, melancholy, with jazz and folk touches.

While America may have licked its wounds at the turn of the seventies by turning to singer-songwriters, purveyors of homilies like teach your children well', Britain wasn't so ready to give up the trappings of psychedelia. And while the UK counterculture may have shed its faith in something bigger', it wasn't about to chuck out the mellotron.

This is how the day after the sixties felt: damp, fuzzy-headed, neither optimistic nor pessimistic but more than a little lost. British bands would mirror the ennui of the new decade with a new kind of music.

Lavishly put together, with two of Peter Mitchell's iconic photographs of 1970's Leeds.

The double LP is on 180g clear vinyl with a heavy card sleeve.

MATT ELLIOTT has rather an atypical course... He used to work under the pseudo THIRD EYE FOUNDATION - emblematic figure of the English electronic scene acclaimed for his atypical electro tinted drum' N bass. Since his first albums: The Mess We Made' (Domino Records) and Drinking Songs' (Ici d'ailleurs...), Matt Elliott turns to much more folk compositions, forsaking laptop and machines altogether - which will even disappear on Failing Songs', to return to more traditional instruments (guitar, piano, violin...).With his second album, he translates his former works' dark and oppressive atmospheres. "Drinking songs" puts an emphasis on distant voices and ethereal ambiences. Guitars and keyboards are getting softer, almost affectionate, sometimes overwhelmed by drum n' bass beats that carry the song upward. Choirs and echoes give an almost mystical dimension to the album. All the songs hold the audience spellbound.Because it's really about songs.

Failing songs' turns MATT ELLIOTT into a true songwriter, songs whose subtle melodies contrast with the hardness of the words. Between despair and cold anger, the texts talk about the liberal military evolution of the world that the author rejects. The titles are as sublime as melancholic, bitter and sad, impressed by Slavic music, Greek, and besides, sometimes punctuated of Spanish guitars. A sad music's party which however reduces the heart of its listeners... ''Elliott has drawn further inspiration from Eastern European folk and cabaret music, his stately compositions achieving a melancholic drama similar to Tom Waits or the Bad Seeds at their most theatrically downtrodden.'' Pitchfork Media.

Nazgûl was a mysterious two-piece band formed in 1996 in Monreale, a small village right outside of Palermo, Sicily. Their peculiar history and the consequent 'cult' status they built within the extreme metal scene makes them a story all their own. Inspired by Tolkien's literature (Nazgûl is a word from the Black Speech used to indicate the nine men corrupted by Sauron, and transformed into his dark and deathless servants) and the first wave of European black metal, Zakrathor (Vocals, Keyboard, Drums) & Thornset (Guitar, Bass) released their Omne est Paratum demos (consisting of two 15-minutes long songs) in 1998. These demos got them noticed by the Sicilian cult label Elegy, who released their astonishing first full length (on CD only!) in 2002. The sound of total mayhem and pure black metal craziness, mixed with medieval melodies sung completely in Latin make De Expugnatione Elfmuth impossible to imitate. Probably the most wonderful example of folk-black metal that ever existed, De Expugnatione Elfmuth is finally released on vinyl, nearly 15 years after its original release in this deluxe, gatefold, 180 gram vinyl version that finally gives justice to this authentic underground legend. Limited edition of 100 purple vinyl copies also available.

Nazgûl was a mysterious two-piece band formed in 1996 in Monreale, a small village right outside of Palermo, Sicily. Their peculiar history and the consequent 'cult' status they built within the extreme metal scene makes them a story all their own. Inspired by Tolkien's literature (Nazgûl is a word from the Black Speech used to indicate the nine men corrupted by Sauron, and transformed into his dark and deathless servants) and the first wave of European black metal, Zakrathor (Vocals, Keyboard, Drums) & Thornset (Guitar, Bass) released their Omne est Paratum demos (consisting of two 15-minutes long songs) in 1998. These demos got them noticed by the Sicilian cult label Elegy, who released their astonishing first full length (on CD only!) in 2002. The sound of total mayhem and pure black metal craziness, mixed with medieval melodies sung completely in Latin make De Expugnatione Elfmuth impossible to imitate. Probably the most wonderful example of folk-black metal that ever existed, De Expugnatione Elfmuth is finally released on vinyl, nearly 15 years after its original release in this deluxe, gatefold, 180 gram vinyl version that finally gives justice to this authentic underground legend. Limited edition of 100 purple vinyl copies also available.

Formed in 1986, Favara, Sicily's thrashers Nuclear Simphony released their legendary Choir Of Desperation demos right before appearing on the Metalmaniax compilation on the Durium label, along with the cream of the crop of the Italian metal scene of that time (Vanadium, Strana Officina, Skanners, Sabotage and Danger Zone). That release and the instant underground notoriety that came as a result, consequently paved the way to an agreement with the Metalmaster label from Milan for their full length debut. Recorded in Berlin in 1988 with engineer Harris Johns (known for his work with groups like Sodom, Voivod, and Kreator), Lost In Wonderland is still considered by many as an unmissable chapter in European thrash metal history, and the absolute masterpiece for this criminally underrated band, whose place is deserved right next to Schizo and Incinerator, the 'holy trinity' of the Sicilian 80's thrash metal scene. Reissued on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl, with full reproduction of the original artwork and inner sleeve. Limited edition of 100 yellow vinyl copies also available.

Formed in 1986, Favara, Sicily's thrashers Nuclear Simphony released their legendary Choir Of Desperation demos right before appearing on the Metalmaniax compilation on the Durium label, along with the cream of the crop of the Italian metal scene of that time (Vanadium, Strana Officina, Skanners, Sabotage and Danger Zone). That release and the instant underground notoriety that came as a result, consequently paved the way to an agreement with the Metalmaster label from Milan for their full length debut. Recorded in Berlin in 1988 with engineer Harris Johns (known for his work with groups like Sodom, Voivod, and Kreator), Lost In Wonderland is still considered by many as an unmissable chapter in European thrash metal history, and the absolute masterpiece for this criminally underrated band, whose place is deserved right next to Schizo and Incinerator, the 'holy trinity' of the Sicilian 80's thrash metal scene. Reissued on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl, with full reproduction of the original artwork and inner sleeve. Limited edition of 100 yellow vinyl copies also available.

A popular name in the tape trading years of thrash metal, Catania, Sicily's renowned death metallers Sinoath's first two demos Forged in Blood from 1991 and Still in The Grey Dying from 1993 allowed the band to build a huge legion of fans all over Europe, mainly thanks to their huge use of keyboards and their professional approach to studio recording, both still not common in those days' extreme metal precepts. Research is their first full length, originally released in 1995 (only on CD format) on the small Polyphemus label right before going into a hiatus that lasted many years (their follow up is from 2007!), a fact which definitely did not help Sinoath reach the popularity they deserved. A pure gem of melodic old school black/death metal, Research finds one of most iconic underground cult groups of the Italian extreme metal scene at the peak of their powers. Recommended for all fans of Celtic Frost, Venom, Candlemass, and the likes, Research gets the vinyl reissue treatment 21 years after its original release, in a luxurious edition on 180 gram vinyl. Limited edition of 100 red vinyl copies also available.

A popular name in the tape trading years of thrash metal, Catania, Sicily's renowned death metallers Sinoath's first two demos Forged in Blood from 1991 and Still in The Grey Dying from 1993 allowed the band to build a huge legion of fans all over Europe, mainly thanks to their huge use of keyboards and their professional approach to studio recording, both still not common in those days' extreme metal precepts. Research is their first full length, originally released in 1995 (only on CD format) on the small Polyphemus label right before going into a hiatus that lasted many years (their follow up is from 2007!), a fact which definitely did not help Sinoath reach the popularity they deserved. A pure gem of melodic old school black/death metal, Research finds one of most iconic underground cult groups of the Italian extreme metal scene at the peak of their powers. Recommended for all fans of Celtic Frost, Venom, Candlemass, and the likes, Research gets the vinyl reissue treatment 21 years after its original release, in a luxurious edition on 180 gram vinyl. Limited edition of 100 red vinyl copies also available.

Limited edition vinyl Ex Nihilo in Nihilum, according to the work of Et Moriemur voted among the top three best metal albums from Andel. This training Czechoslovak proposes a Doom metal existential. Their melodies are superb, lush, elegant, of great beauty (Chronical of Chaos) This album is memorable not only for its lyrics, but out of respect for the significance of the atmosphere (Doom-Metal). The songs have a dark atmosphere and the voice it adds an extra to the music (Lords of Metal) Simplicity is its value (Ave Noctum). With their second album, the Czechs Et Moriemur propose the most interesting European realities in the field gothic doom-death. (Iye Zine) And 'like listening to a piece of classical music: everything is perfectly thought out and everything fits perfectly (Phobia zine)

Fixing Clocks are neighbors and allies Thomas Shiner (Doc Delay) and Zachary Martin. Much like the guts of a timepiece, the concentric moving parts of melody and thump are at the heart of these two synergisitic soundscapes. It's an ode to the beautifully strange and twisted compositions of psychedelic lore, yet completely original and with their own candid charm.

emon Records is proud to announce the first Saxon release in a new deal: a nine album vinyl box set, containing all of Saxon's
classic studio albumsreleased between 1991 and 2009 (Solid Ball Of Rock, Forever Free, Dogs Of War, Unleash The Beast, Metalhead, Killing Ground, Lionheart, The Inner Sanctum, and Into The Labyrinth).
The hand-numbered outer slipcase box features a specially-commissioned, beautiful brand new cover painting by
Saxon's artist-in-residence, the legendary Paul Gregory.
All nine albums have previously only had extremely limited eleases on vinyl in either Germany, Italy or the UK. We now present them on 180ram vinyl, all with inner sleeves featuring all the lyrics.





















































[ZZA] B5 | Sea Of Life
[ZZB] A1 | (KILLING GROUND) Intro
[ZZC] A2 | Killing Ground
[ZZD] A3 | Court Of The Crimson King
[ZZE] A4 | Coming Home
[ZZF] A5 | Until Hell Freezes Over
[ZZG] A6 | Dragon's Lair
[ZZH] B1 | You Don't Know What You've Got
[ZZI] B2 | Deeds Of Glory
[ZZJ] B3 | Running For The Border
[ZZK] B4 | Shadows On The Wall
[ZZL] B5 | Rock Is Our Life
[ZZM] A1 | (LIONHEART) Witchfinder General
[ZZN] A2 | Man And Machine
[ZZO] A3 | The Return
[ZZP] A4 | Lionheart
[ZZQ] A5 | Beyond The Grave
[ZZR] A6 | Justice
[ZZS] B1 | To Live By The Sword
[ZZT] B2 | Jack Tars
[ZZU] B3 | English Man O'War
[ZZV] B4 | Searching For Atlantis
[ZZW] B5 | Flying On The Edge
[ZZX] A1 | (THE INNER SANCTUM) State Of Grace
[ZZY] A2 | Need For Speed
[ZZZ] A3 | Let Me Feel Your Power
[ZZZA] A4 | Red Star Falling
[ZZZB] A5 | I've Got To Rock (To Stay Alive)
[ZZZC] B1 | If I Was You
[ZZZD] B2 | Going Nowhere Fast
[ZZZE] B3 | Ashes To Ashes
[ZZZF] B4 | Empire Rising
[ZZZG] B5 | Attila The Hun
[ZZZH] A1 | (INTO THE LABYRINTH) Battalions Of Steel
[ZZZI] A2 | Live To Rock
[ZZZJ] A3 | Demon Sweeney Todd
[ZZZK] A4 | The Letter
[ZZZL] A5 | Valley Of The Kings
[ZZZM] A6 | Slow Lane Blues
[ZZZN] B1 | Crime Of Passion
[ZZZO] B2 | Premonition In D Minor
[ZZZP] B3 | Voice
[ZZZQ] B4 | Protect Yourselves
[ZZZR] B5 | Hellcat
[ZZZS] B6 | Come Rock Of Ages (The Circle Is Complete)
[ZZZT] B7 | Coming Home (bottleneck version)

Well-documented as one of Frank Zappa's favourite ever groups and instantly recognisable as the BLUEprint of 80's Mancunian electro pop, the inflated alter-egos of Gerry & The Holograms (and their unrivalled brand of conceptual sarcastic synth pop) successfully remodelled, ridiculed and redefined plugged-in punk before hitting the self-destruct button and burying the evidence under a pile of hand-mutilated microgrooves for over 35 wet summers.

Having risen from the electronic embers of Manchester's first genuine psychedelic band, via Vertigo commissioned prog and experimental theatre, then refined through the musical mind behind the most inspired vinyl moments of Martin Hannett, John Cooper Clarke and Jilted John - the onliest discography of the GATH anti-band remains unrivalled as the most idiosyncratic and enigmatic pivotal post-punk artifact from the first electronic entrenchment of pop.

A consistent inclusion on record collector want-lists, transcending both decades and musical genres, the first-and-only listenable 2 track record by this masked art-rock studio duo, entitled Meet The Dissidents' originally appeared in record racks in 1979, selling-out instantly only to be sequelised by a totally unplayable situationist-inspired follow-up which was glued into its own sleeve destroying the grooves in the process (rivalling that of Peter Saville and Durutti Column's Debordist sandpaper re-hash by at least 3 years). With a life-span shorter than the hours on their studio bill, the band would find bedfellows amongst other incognito groups like Naffi Sandwich, The Mothmen and Blah Blah Blah within the Absurd Records stable - a daring Mancunian imprint that sat awkwardly between older and younger half-sister labels Rabid and Relentless. With a 11 release library of mostly non-returning faceless atonal electronic punk/DIY industrial bands Absurd would spearhead and pre-empt the subsequent decades of Mancunian independent record labels that followed in the footsteps of the more commercially successful Factory Records (while also drawing comparisons with Spiral Scratch, Test Pressings, Object Music and Throbbing Gristles' Industrial Records). Despite just one official title to their name however, the true identity behind Gerry And The Holograms would unify those sister-labels and collectively play an important supporting role in Manchester's independent music history with a story which goes back as far as most rain soaked memories can attempt to forget.

Cowboy in Sweden, the soundtrack to the 1970 cult classic film of the same name, is quite possibly the purest distillation of the Hazlewood sound, lush melancholy country pop with a pinch of humor
Lee Hazlewood spent a good part of the late 1960s traveling the globe, cutting records and inking business deals. A string of hits with Nancy Sinatra enabled Lee to build a mini media empire Lee Hazlewood Industries and afforded him nearly unlimited resources...for a time. By the end of the decade LHI Records had burned piles of cash, gone through a half dozen distributors and failed to achieve the kind of chart success Boots" had promised.

Fortunately for Lee there was a land where he was still on the top of the charts, a place where women flowed like Brannvin...Sweden was calling.

While on an LHI promotional tour in Stockholm, Lee crossed paths with Swedish director Torbjörn Axelman. I met Lee through my script girl, in Stockholm in 1969,' remembers Axelman. "We noticed we had very many similarities, interests, and the same backgrounds. It led to many productions during our 38 years of close partnership and friendship.' The partnership showed Lee the way forward and allowed him an easy exit strategy from the LHI house of cards that was crumbling in Los Angeles.

Light In The Attic records continues its Lee Hazlewood series with this expanded reissue of Cowboy in Sweden. Released as the last LHI LP, Cowboy in Sweden was a soundtrack to the 1970 cult classic film of the same name starring Lee Hazlewood. The film was a surreal psychedelic account of Lee's journey to his new homeland, while the soundtrack was a perfect compilation of Hazlewood's strongest songs recorded over a prolific globe trotting three year period. The production scope of the album was the most ambitious of his career, recorded in Paris, London, Los Angeles and Stockholm with a slew of talented session musicians, producers and arrangers.

Cowboy in Sweden is quite possibly the purest distillation of the Hazlewood sound, lush melancholy country pop with a pinch of humor ("Pray Them Bars Away"), a dash of bummer ("Cold Hard Times'), some beautiful ladies to sing with ( Leather & Lace' & Hey Cowboy') and even a couple anti-war protest songs to be topical ("No Train to Stockholm' & For A Day Like Today'). The David Bitter Sweet Symphony' Whitaker arranged orchestral pop of What's More I Don't Need Her' and the stone cold Hazlewood classic The Night Before' cement the album as Lee's peak on LHI records and ironically the label's swan song.

Clear Vinyl LP in gatefold sleeve, limited to 500

Hurled in to turmoil as a result of being turfed out his rented flat and eager to flee the clamor & turbulence of the city, Lomond Campbell gave up on urban life and decided to move in to a decrepit, asbestos-ridden school deep in the rural highlands of Scotland. His plan was simple: turn this dog-eared, orphan building that nobody wanted into his recording studio. Cautiously setting audio equipment up between the drips from the dilapidated roof, he began work on his debut album.

Black River Promise charts this transition from white noise to near-silence and sees him reflecting on his new environment amongst the imagery of the lyrics. The title track is a yearning plea to an enigmatic 'black river' to honour a contract to carry him 'to the mouth of the sea', The Misery Bell describes the propagating waves of despondence hunting down the next victim in amongst the 'hollows and hills'.

Brutes in Life showcases Campbell's proclivity for a pop melody - a trait always apparent as chief songwriter in music/art collective FOUND, further seen in The Lengths and Every Florist In Every Town, both blissfully celebrating calamitous relationships. A cover of Nuala Kennedy's Coal Daughter tears deeper into the landscape followed faithfully by tragic closer Hurl Them Further.

The record includes two instrumentals - Fallen Stag climbs from a whisper to a swashbuckling roar and Acharacle heckles and growls with equal parts menace and melancholy. Both were recorded live in a 500 year old castle, along with the Pumpkinseeds, a 10 piece string ensemble assembled by cellist/arranger Pete Harvey (King Creosote, Modern Studies, The Leg).

Originally asked by Campbell to throw together a few chord swells', Harvey found himself writing evocative, spiraling arrangements that would come to span the entire breadth of the album. Harvey's complex string compositions mesh with Campbell's Takoma Records inspired cyclical guitar playing to create an impressionistic highland eeriness which pays homage to Forever Changes, Five Leaves Left and Sea Change

Hurled in to turmoil as a result of being turfed out his rented flat and eager to flee the clamor & turbulence of the city, Lomond Campbell gave up on urban life and decided to move in to a decrepit, asbestos-ridden school deep in the rural highlands of Scotland. His plan was simple: turn this dog-eared, orphan building that nobody wanted into his recording studio. Cautiously setting audio equipment up between the drips from the dilapidated roof, he began work on his debut album.

Black River Promise charts this transition from white noise to near-silence and sees him reflecting on his new environment amongst the imagery of the lyrics. The title track is a yearning plea to an enigmatic 'black river' to honour a contract to carry him 'to the mouth of the sea', The Misery Bell describes the propagating waves of despondence hunting down the next victim in amongst the 'hollows and hills'.

Brutes in Life showcases Campbell's proclivity for a pop melody - a trait always apparent as chief songwriter in music/art collective FOUND, further seen in The Lengths and Every Florist In Every Town, both blissfully celebrating calamitous relationships. A cover of Nuala Kennedy's Coal Daughter tears deeper into the landscape followed faithfully by tragic closer Hurl Them Further.

The record includes two instrumentals - Fallen Stag climbs from a whisper to a swashbuckling roar and Acharacle heckles and growls with equal parts menace and melancholy. Both were recorded live in a 500 year old castle, along with the Pumpkinseeds, a 10 piece string ensemble assembled by cellist/arranger Pete Harvey (King Creosote, Modern Studies, The Leg).

Originally asked by Campbell to throw together a few chord swells', Harvey found himself writing evocative, spiraling arrangements that would come to span the entire breadth of the album. Harvey's complex string compositions mesh with Campbell's Takoma Records inspired cyclical guitar playing to create an impressionistic highland eeriness which pays homage to Forever Changes, Five Leaves Left and Sea Change