Wednesday 23 April 2014

The Best of Brought To Life - 100

Well, for this final sampler I'm completing the Dangerhouse story, bringing you some YouTube curiosities and filling the gaps with some devastating thrash. I hope it's been fun.

1. MOB 47 - 'Kärnvapen Attack' Röj 7" - Sweden - 1984
This devastating blast is the opening track from their 9-song E.P. And they're still doing it in back yards across the world.
2. DISCHARGE - 'Realities Of War' - Clay 7" - UK - 1980
And this was the opener from Discharge's debut. Very influential for a band that only seemed to have songs about war and 'the system'.
3. THE DEADBEATS - 'Kill The Hippies' - Dangerhouse 7" - USA - 1978
Scott, Geza and crew were a superb combination of twisted humour and twisted musical genius. 'Kill 'em cos their hair's too long, kill 'em cos their views were wrong'.
4. RHINO 39 - 'Xerox/No Compromise' - Dangerhouse 7" - USA - 1979
This double-barrelled attack had a more sparse sound but retained the energy of earlier Dangerhouse releases. Sadly, singer Dave Dacron died soon after in a car accident and they didn't release another record until the mid-'80s with Dave's younger brother Joel on vocal duties.
5. FEAR - 'Mengele' - New Wave Theater - USA - 1982
Well, Fear had no fear. This sweet little ditty was about one of the most repugnant creatures of the modern age, Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death. Unreleased at the time, the song would later be renamed 'Surgery' on the 'American Beer' album at the turn of the milennium. Visuals here.
6. DISCHARGE - 'Fight Back' - Clay 7" - UK - 1980
The opening track from their second E.P. Fuzzed-out thrash-o-rama!
7. MOB 47 - 'Rustning Är Ett Brott' Röj 7" - Sweden - 1984
The second track from their 9-song E.P.
8. PRIMITIVE CALCULATORS - 'Do That Dance' - Self-released 7" - Australia - 1979
The flipside of their debut single 'I Can't Stop It'. The A-side, like much of their stuff, is quite different.
9. BLACK RANDY & METROSQUAD - 'I Slept In An Arcade' - Dangerhouse 7" - USA - 1979
Black Randy's 3rd 7" platter, which made a belated appearance in the 1982 film 'Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains'.
10. DISCHARGE - 'Decontrol' - Clay 7" - UK - 1980
Discharge's 3rd 7" of 1980. Less speed, same power.
11. THE SUBJECTS - 'News' - New Wave Theater - USA - 1981
A wonderfully quirky song, and here's the legendary footage.
12. RHINO 39 - 'Prolixin Stomp' Dangerhouse 7" - USA - 1979
The flipside of the Dangerhouse 7".
13. DISCHARGE - 'Visions Of War' - Clay 12" - UK - 1981
1981 saw Discharge releasing a 10-song 12" E.P. called 'Why?' This was the blistering opener.
14. MOB 47 - 'Res Dig Mot Överheten' Röj 7" - Sweden - 1984
The third track from their E.P.
15. THE DEADBEATS - 'Final Ride' Dangerhouse 7" - USA - 1978
Another from their 4-song Dangerhouse classic.
16. DISCHARGE - 'A Look At Tomorrow'Clay 12" - UK - 1981
A slower one from 'Why?'
17. X - 'We're Desperate' - Dangerhouse 7" - USA - 1978
X's debut 7" was a bit low key and sentimental. This flipside however had much more energy. Live version from 'The Decline' here.
18. CASTRATION SQUAD - 'A Date With Jack' - New Wave Theater - USA - 1981
Some American Gothic now with white faces aplenty. Go girls!
19. DISCHARGE - 'Aint No Feeble Bastard' Clay 12" - UK - 1981
Another slower one from 'Why?' My favourite track.
20. MOB 47 - 'Vi Vill Ha Frihet' - Ägg cassette - Sweden - 1984
From the 'Sjuk Värld' cassette.
21. THE RANDOMS - 'Let's Get Rid Of New York' - Dangerhouse 7" - USA - 1977
Dangerhouse's first release was largely the result of the label's creators messing around in the studio. Somehow this cracker was stuck on the B-side.
22. DISCHARGE - 'Death Dealers' - Clay 7" - UK - 1981
From the flipside of their 4th 7" 'Never Again'.
23. MOB 47 - 'Fred & Rättvisa' - Self-released cassette - Sweden - 1984
The opening track on their 'Hardcore Attack' demo.
24. SANDY FURY & THE CLIQUE - 'Lifeline/Mommy' - New Wave Theater - USA - 1981
More classic New Wave Theater footage. The bass player was in Steppenwolf!
25. DISCHARGE - 'Doomsday' - Clay 7" - UK - 1982
We'll end it all with the flipside to Discharge's 5th single 'State Violence State Control'. After this they went full-on metal and I lost interest.
***BONUS TRACKS***
26. THE DEADBEATS - 'Let's Shoot Maria'
27. DISCHARGE - 'No TV Sketch'
28. X - 'Adult Books'
29. DISCHARGE - 'Tomorrow Belongs To Us'
30. MOB 47 - 'Polisstat'
31. DISCHARGE - 'Does This System Work?'
32. MOB 47 - 'Religion Är Hjärntvätt'
33. DISCHARGE - 'Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing'
34. MOB 47 - ' Vår Värld'
35. DISCHARGE - 'The Nightmare Continues'
36. MOB 47 - 'Lögner'
37. DISCHARGE - 'A Hell On Earth'
38. MOB 47 - 'Tank Pa Barnen'

Get it here

OK, that's it, I hope you've enjoyed these 2,500 tracks. They're all very dear to my heart. The blog will remain open for as long as I'm allowed for any e-mail or comments. There haven't been many, but thanks to all those who offered support and encouragement, and, most of all, thanks to all the bands for making such wonderful music. It's been an honour.

15 comments:

  1. Wow, no more posts? Is that because of the lack of comments? Thanks for these great compilations anyway - they've reminded me of some long-forgotten classics and introduced me to a lot of cool new stuff too!

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  2. No problem Eric. The lack of comments I kinda expected. Most blogs have similar issues. It's the digital age and there's so much stuff on the net these days no-one seems to have much time for conversation. Many discussions are cut short by the ease of googling for answers these days - it shouldn't stop opinions but the art of conversation is, sadly, a dying one. My aim for the blog was simply to share my 100 'Best Of' CDs, so, mission accomplished (but the beat goes on).

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    1. Missing these comps - are you sure you won't do any more?

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    2. Pretty sure. I never quite got over the fact that no-one knew the full lyrics to The Huns' 'Glad He's Dead, or wanted to share them, or at least discuss them'! It's quite soul destroying to invite discussions when you're writing stuff only to find that people just want to download the music, which is fine, but eventally you realise that you'd rather spend your time doing something more interactive.

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  3. much appreciated fo' all yer efforts!!! now, since we've completed th' warm up exercise, how 'bout ya post every volume o' "Brought To Life"?!?

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    1. Ha! Since it took me 8 months to post the 100 Best Of's it would probably take me 8 years to post all 2,000 of the original CDs! We're getting the broadband taken out on 1st of May anyway so my computing days will soon be restricted to the local library! Times are hard . . .

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  4. Hey Man!
    Thank you for all the impressive Work!
    Hopefully you'll go on with this as a 'normal' Music-Blog...
    If you're looking for something -> maybe I can help?
    Cheers from Berlinn to the Land of Hope & Glory,
    Nolti

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    1. Thanks Nolti, but my blogging days are over for the time being. I now fully appreciate the work that goes into running a blog, and the community has my respect! Maybe I'll come back to it in future . . . we'll see.

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  5. Thanks for the time & effort! I've grabbed all 100, it was a great mix of classics & rarities that should be classics. I love that Mob 47 is still around, and playing someone's yard in L.A. no less!

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    1. Thanks Chris. Yes, now I'm just waiting to see Fear Of God playing for the Chelsea Pensioners!

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  6. Enjoy life and music and flowers and women and beer and traveling and food and..... mybe you come back one day, would be nice... PROST!!!

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  7. I've just discovered your blog...awesome and well done. It's going to keep me busy for the next few days as I work my way through. What's the story behind the original 2000 cd series I've not heard about it before.

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    1. The story? Well, when the original Killed By Death LPs came out I was sorta disappointed that they mostly didn't include the B-sides so I started collecting them myself and making my own CD-R series, for my own personal use really as I'd sold my record collection to pay off debts. The name BTL is a play on KBD. After a while I didn't know where to stop - I first started including a lot of powerpop and new wave and then I included some more well-known bands and eventually I began including LP tracks, demos and finally some live stuff till I ended up with 2,000 CD-Rs! It's rare that I included a full LP as there was usually at least some mediocre filler on albums back then so it's not fully comprehensive of the era but I discovered so many cool tracks via the net that I felt it necessary to share them again via this blog. I did knock out a few copies on e-bay for those who didn't have the patience to search and collect but that's been knocked on the head by e-bay policies and my Paypal account is now closed.

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  8. Been enjoying looking through your selections. Shame the links end in the 60s but I'm not asking for a repost because I know what a hassle it is. Anyway thanks for the work putting this together.

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    1. Thanks Sid. Unfortunately we no longer have broadband (hard times) so I could maybe manage the odd repost using the library PCs but so many are now dead I can't really use up thatmuch PC time at the moment.

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