(TV) Better Late Then Never: Mojo & Record Collector from Jan. 2000

["Philip P. Obbard" <pobbard@yahoo.com>]

Hi all,

I meant to write this up before, but got lazy. Ok, now I'm back.

In last month's MOJO magazine (a UK music magazine), they've got an article by
Jon Savage (of ENGLAND'S DREAMING fame/infamy) called "How to Buy New York
Punk". In it, Savage lists his most essential NY Punk albums with short
write-ups of each. His list:

The New York Dolls' debut
Richard Hell - Blank Generation
Blondie - Plastic Letters
Patti Smith - Horses
The Ramones' debut
Television - Marquee Moon
Various Artists - No New York
Heartbreakers - LAMF
Suicide's debut (specifically the 2CD reissue with the live CD)
Talking Heads - Fear of Music

His write-up of MARQUEE MOON:
"After a failed trip to the studio with Brian Eno in 1974, Television shed
Richard Hell and delivered this masterpiece in early 1977. Intricate,
musicianly, yet propulsive (thanks to a great rhythm section), MARQUEE MOON
captured the period's covert impulse to a dark psychedelia: "You know it's all
like some new kind of drug / My sense are sharp and my hands are like gloves."
Missing in action: the great 1976 single, 'Little Johnny Jewel', which has been
lost for 20 years."

Ok, so the Eno/Williams session was probably in 1975, not 1974, and "Little
Johnny Jewel" was issued in 1975, I believe, not 1976, but otherwise... ok.

His write-up of BLANK GENERATION:
"With the current unavailability of Hell's best work (the songs cut with Neon
Boys in 1973/4), this is the only way to discover what the rep is all about.
With a great, integrated band - including demon guitarist Bob Quine - Hell rips
through his early, 'teenage news' repertoire with a vigour that only dips in
the disc's last third. 'Love Comes in Spurts', 'Down at the Rock 'n' Roll
Club', and the re-recorded 'Blank Generation' are definitive." 

Not sure I agree that Hell's best stuff is the Neon Boys material, but OK...
still, elsewhere, Savage doesn't seem to know that no less than 2 'un-muddied'
versions of Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers' LAMF have been issued since
1977 (LAMF Revisted and LAMF: The Lost '77 Mixes). Pretty shabby fact-checking
for a 'historian'...

As footnotes, he also includes Pere Ubu's TERMINAL TOWER, Suicide's second
album (the 2 CD reissue with the 1975 demos), and the Electric Eels' THEIR
ORGANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST. He finishes with, "Most urgently, there is a need
for a good singles collection, like Rhino's now out-of-print BLANK GENERATION -
THE NEW YORK SCENE 1975/8. And will someone please reissue 'Little Johnny
Jewel'?"

I just saw NO NEW YORK on CD (pricey Japanese import) the other day. I've never
heard any of these bands - is it worth hearing? Opinions, anyone?

Also in the January 2000 MOJO, their "Buried Treasure" feature is about the
Undertones fourth LP, THE SIN OF PRIDE, which got me to go back and listen to
this album some more. Apparently, the running order was changed by the label a
few times, which explains why some of the bonus material on the CD reissue is
better than the LP! (I also found a great Undertones site,
http://theundertones.net/undedisc.htm, which has a copious discography listing
one of the possible original running orders for SIN OF PRIDE). My favorite
Undertones album is still POSITIVE TOUCH, but SOP is filled with some great (if
muddily produced) material.

Ok, onto Record Collector, another UK magazine, for January, 2000. They have a
list of the "Top 200 Albums" of the century. Obviously, a flawed list, since
Television makes no appearances, though contemporary debuts by Patti Smith,
Pere Ubu, and the Ramones do appear, along with Blondie's PARALLEL LINES, and
some UK punk (Sex Pistols, Damned, Buzzcocks). And lots of stuff I can't even
bring myself to mention... as we've got a frequent Record Collector contributer
on this list, I have to ask: what the hell happened??!?! 

And why am I listening to the Clash's SANDINISTA! over and over? Why did I buy
it earlier this week? Why didn't they drop like 15 of these songs?!?!

--Philip

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