THE LONE ROCKER: LARRY LAZAR

(Nite-Club Records, Hollywood, CA, 1978)

Thanks to Collin for laying this on us!

GREEN LITE

ROCK N ROLL REFUGEE

Gee, with all the BRAIN LAPSE featured content lately you’d think I had too many marijuanas and blew all my dough on hot bananas and hamburger cream. And if that last sentence is incompressible to you, you must, of course, buy the magazine.

One I didn’t review, but love all the same is the second single by THE LONE ROCKER: LARRY LAZAR - a 45 which is already a top hit with vacant canines everywhere!

The 70s New Wave Explosion - much like the British Invasion - inspired singers, talkers, players, swingers and doer’s from all sides of life to come out of the concert halls and into the street. The street our Larry landed on must have been the curb in front of Rodney’s English Disco. And despite the party being four years dead, the Lone Rocker’s gonna rave on! Backed by the rhythm section of the feted Hollywood Stars (one crappy LP on Arista; one entirely unreleased LP for CBS), Lazar hammers out danger, warning and love between his rock/roll brothers and his sisters in what can only be described as THEE ULTIMATE genre collision of Kim Fowley, Lou Reed and Neil Diamond from a guy who looks like Eric Idle's ugly cousin! Total D.I.Y. street level, lounge-punk intrusions that are so late for the trend they’re practically five years ahead of their time!

Not buying it? Take one look at Larry’s live set-up - carrying the message to all the kids on the street in his own VERY home-made t-shirt and two practice amps hanging from a gun-belt - and tell me you’re not sold. …then listen to ’Rock ’N’ Roll Refugee’ and tell me you’d rather listen to the Weirdos.

ALL TIME LEADING LARRY’S:

1. LARRY ZBYSZKO!

2. LARRY LAZAR!

THE LONE ROCKER: GET BEHIND HIM BEFORE HE GETS PAST YOU!

SKIN "ZUN ZUN"-LP

King Records K28A- 173

1981

Woah!!

This is hands down the best Japanese Punk record I've ever heard... THE BEST..

Zun Zun is the Skins 2nd LP, the first record Skinless came out a year earlier and had a decidedly new wave sound while this LP is totally PUNK! There is definitely some studio magic on a few of the tracks but on the whole it's a stripped down, no nonsense LP that has remained both mysterious to Japanese dudes and completely unknown to us goobers here in the states.

Both Skin LP's were accompanied by a single. Manzoku Dekinai ( I Can't Get No Satisfaction) b/w Modern Times was released in 1980 in conjunction with the release of Skinless, and in 1981 the single Virgin Complex b/w Inochi Shirazu ( You Should Run Again) was released alongside Zun Zun. None of the tracks on the singles are exclusive and can be found on the LP's.

Skin members were:

TATSU- guitar, backing vocals

WAKU- vocals

JUNICHI- bass, backing vocals

DOMINO- drums

LP tracks are

A side
1. Just Go
2. Ballade Ballade
3. Fashion Boy
4. You Drive Me
5. Dance Music Dance
6. Kurutte Night (Crazy Night)

B side
1. Virgin Complex

2. Inochi Shirazu (You Should Run Again)
3. Television
4. I Love S.E.X. (Super Excitement)
5. Soshite Daremo Inakunatta (And Then There Were None)

I've asked a Japanese friend to translate the liner notes of this LP for me so expect an update soon! Also, I've made the single tracks available above, if you dig them,,get the LP

here.

MARBLES Forgive & Forget b/w Computer Cards

1977. Jimboco Records.

A. Forgive and Forget


B. Computer Cards



Excerpt from interview in Brain Lapse (buy it!) with Howard and Dave Bowler of Marbles:

Howard: ...I think we really wanted to gain a wider audience and make the music more sophisticated. I think that that's what 'Forgive and Forget' was. It was recorded in a much more expensive setting, although we didn't pay for it. I don't know how it got financed. It got picked up by Vince Scelsa and played on the radio. We didn't know it was one the radio but we got telephone calls from people saying 'Hey, it's on the radio.' And that was it.


Dave: That was about a year or two after 'Red Lights.' The sound of the band was changing, too. Jim's influence was getting a little stronger at that point, too.


Steve (Brain Lapse): How did you guys get involved with Jimboco Records?


Dave: I don't know. What was Jim's last name?


Howard: I don't know, but I think he was a fan.


Dave: He was a fan with money.


Howard: Yeah, and he wanted to start a label. We were looking for any financing we could get to do recordings.


Steve: Why do you think Vince Scelsa chose 'Forgive and Forget' over 'Computer Cards'?


Dave: I think the song appealed to him and he started playing it. Somehow he was tuned into the New York scene. I don't think I even ever heard it play on WNEW. That was a big radio station in New York City. We were pretty thrilled about it but we were pretty naive. We didnt try to do anything with it. We didn't try to contact him. We didn't mention it to anybody. We were just continuing to play figuring, Well, life will just figure itself out.

JETS - TEARAWAY b/w IMPOSSIBLE

TEARAWAY

IMPOSSIBLE

It recently occurred to me that the B side of this 45 hasn't been posted anywhere yet ( I don't think..) One of my all time favorite UK powerpop singles.

The Jets released their lone record in November of 1979, further proving that Decca records could pick great punk/powerpop singles for their label while at the same time through terrible distribution and promotion allow those records to disappear into thin air. This 45 is pretty scarce and demo/promo copies seem to turn up more frequently than stock copies leading me to believe that very few of these singles actually hit the stores.Both Faulkes and Craig were also in the band Stagefright in the mid 1970's.

Band members were:

John A. Faulkes - (guitar/vocals)

Michael Rigg- ( bass/vocals)

Ian Craig- ( drums/ vocals)

Collin McCourt and Don Gould share the production credits.

P.S. --- Recently we've been getting some emails from bands who have seen their records posted on this blog. If you were in this group or have any knowledge of the members current whereabouts please drop us a line at info@singsingrecords.com. We would love to hear from you!

SKOGIE -The Butler Did it b/w I Won't be Pushed Away

Mill Town Records 1973

THE BUTLER DID IT

I WON'T BE PUSHED AWAY

Thanks again to Collin for posting this great 45!

Picking up from where Jeremy’s last entry left off, I thought I’d post the single by Skogie that I briefly reviewed in Brain Lapse.

If you know me, you know my main collecting jones outside of power pop is independent, pre-punk pop and rock singles from the early-to-mid-70s. Records by the likes of the Boyz, Amnesia, Marbles and Fans that reveal the existence of a vital and vibrant rock underground that stands in contrast to typical ‘77 Year Zero orthodoxy and, in some ways, surpasses the latter style with greater levels of inventiveness and sophistication.

Active on the local Twin Cities’ live circuit since at least the beginning of the decade, Skogie sound like nothing so much as new wave fully formed and four years early. Both sides of their lone single are pleasing pop amalgams, mixing together shades of Roxy Music, the Raspberries, art rock and bubblegum with lyrics in a light-hearted 10cc vein. The band shared the same management as future Titan! stars, the Boys, and later recorded an album that, while, not equaling the quality of their single is still enjoyable, especially for ARP synthesizer fans. The band, which included Demi Moore’s first husband, Fred, relocated to Los Angeles by the end of the decade, changed their name to Nu Kats and released a series of records on Rhino before splitting in 1982.

BENNY BLUE - SINGIN' IN THE MORNING b/w MADE CAP

SINGIN' IN THE MORNING

MADE CAP

Just got back prom Paris yesterday and I picked up some great singles while I was over there. This 45 from Benny Blue is totally top notch! The A side sounds glitter band-ish with a really great phasing guitar line. B side ( Made Cap?) is a total Plastic Bertrand one off played at breakneck speed. According to Brain Lapse magazine Benny Blue has an LP out as well but I haven't heard it. Also, if you're record shopping in Paris I highly recommend stopping by Plus De Bruit they had really great stuff and the prices were fair.

CRAIG BEVAN AND THE TOURISTS - No Movies Tonight

NuCraz Records, 614.  1979.

A. No Movies Tonight


B. Islands


Craig Bevan and The Tourists were from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and released this single in 1979.  Apparently there was an LP released in '81 which I'd love to hear if anyone's got it.