Shrink - Valid Or Void - A&M Records - AMS7409 - 1979

David (a.k.a Chris) Banks left northern England in 1977, and headed to London to audition for 'The Secret.' The lead singer was Mickey Modern, the bassist was Benny Leopard, the drummer was Percy Cute, and two guitarists were taken on, Reggie Mental (Dave Murray of Iron Maiden), and Banks, now known as Shrink. The Secret set up a showcase for A&M records hoping for a record deal, so, unsure of Shrink's skill, they replaced him with a session guitarist. They then asked Shrink to be the support act for the showcase, possibly hoping he'd only make them look better. Instead, Shrink got a standing ovation and an A&M record deal. After the show, David recalls that a member of The Secret met him backstage saying he didn't know whether to shake his hand or smack him in the mouth. Apparently, they underestimated his performance ability, which incorporated gold face paint and silver bodysuits. One fan recalls that when he went to see Shrink in London of 1979, it was heavily attended by punks. When Shrink took the stage the punks gathered to the floor and began to bow to Shrink. In another account of a show at Phillippa Fawcett College in Streatham, attendees watched Shrink stop singing mid-song, and after what I imagine was an uncomfortable moment of silence, he burst into tears. "As the sobs got louder and his body convulsed, nobody knew whether to help him out, look the other way or laugh." This confusion is confirmed by the fact that at times in his performances he appears to be in agony. Shrink also made a cameo appearance auditioning/guitar smashing for 'Breaking Glass' in the movie of the same name.

Chris Spedding And The Vibrators - Pogo Dancing - RAK - 2C.006-98449 - 1977

Chris Spedding was a jazz guitarist turned session musician, and appeared on several interesting (and way more not-so-interesting) recordings throughout the 70s. I've only listed a handful, mostly those related to library, novelty, junkshop glam or 'punk.'

1972: Played guitar and wrote a song for Standard Music Library - Small Group Pop. The Spedding-penned song appears in the movie Serpico.

1973: Played bass on first LP by comedy trio the Goodies.

1973: Chris becomes the guitarist for Mike Batt's novelty creation, The Wombles. Apparently, when playing "live," the Wombles suits contained actual musicians. Chris Spedding as Wellington brought his trademark white Flying V guitar to the character.

1974: Teamed up with songwriter Mike Batt again to play guitar for a recording credited to Top Of The Pops dance troupe 'Pan's People' called 'You Can Really Rock And Roll Me.'

1975: Played guitar on theme song to music TV show 'Supersonic'.

1975: Played guitar on loads of Kenny songs. It makes sense that session musicians would have been used, since the band, formerly 'Chuff,' was hired to become 'Kenny' in order to milk some more from Tony Kenny's earlier success.

1976: In October Chris Spedding teamed up with the Vibrators to record 'Pogo Dancing' and 'The Pose' and while they were at it, he played guitar on their first A-side 'We Vibrate.'

Pogo Dancing on Supersonic:



Chris Spedding also has numerous production credits, but I'm only listing the few that interest me at the moment.

1976: Chris produced some demos for the Sex Pistols in which he wanted to highlight the ability of the rhythm section, especially Matlock's bass. He felt that muddy recordings were used by poor musicians to cover their flaws, and that his goal for these demos was to prove that this band could actually play their instruments. The Sex Pistols and McLaren decided it was better to sound like they couldn't play their instruments, so the demos were rejected and only released on bootlegs.

1979: Chris produced some demos for 'The Cramps' but Lux and Ivy thought they sounded too polished, so they've only been released on bootlegs.

Another TV appearance:



Live version recorded Friday, March 13, 1981 at Trax in NYC and released on 'Friday The 13th' LP:


From a 1977 interview:
""I'd appreciate it if you played down the punk rock thing," he says mildly, looking at me out of the corners of his soft brown eyes. "I don't want people to think that I'm leaping onto a bandwagon, when I can stand on my own two feet."
SURPRISING words for someone whose latest claim to fame-or notoriety is his involvement with the Vibrators, one of the new wave bands. "Pogo Dancing," their single, is threatening the charts right now. So dammit all, Spedding, explain yourself.
"Well first of all the Vibrators aren't really a punk band anyway. They're too old for one thing - one of them is thirty-two.""

Ishmael United - If You Can't Shout Saved You'll Have To Face The Penalty - Kingsway Music - 1979

Ishmael is a bible character and is also the pun version of Ian Smale's name. Ian started out in Ian & Andy, the Andy being Andy Piercy of After The Fire, who also produced this record. I guess since the theme of this record in title and appearance is soccer, the band name he went with for this record is Ishmael United. The music on the record emulates punk here and there, but also has some ska and pop-rock. Apparently he also made another LP the same year as Rev Counta and the Speedoze and a solo 7" of a strange electronic version of 'The Glories,' which is done differently on the Ishmael United LP.

The Golant Pistons - Gorilla Suite - Rock Extra / Changing Seasons Of Rock - Selected Sound 9099 / ST 134 - 1982

It appears that the Golant Pistons included Tony Cox, Al Hodge, Bunk Dogger and a drummer credited as Foxy. My guess is that Tony Cox, who did some arrangements for UK records boss/convicted sex offender Jonathan King, was Bunk Dogger's connection to releasing his first (and best?) solo record. Bunk Dogger is also credited with playing guitar on a song on the Tone Deaf and the Idiots' Catastrophe Rock LP. He wrote all the songs on the 'Changing Seasons Of Rock' LP, and 'Gorilla Suite - Rock Extra' contains most of the same songs, with a few Cox numbers thrown in. Both were released on library music label Selected Sound. One song on both LPs is described on the back as 'fast heavy rock with electric guitar solo,' and is called Hunter Killer.

Most of the other songs on the records are rock revivalism, but synth-pop tune 'People In Advertisements' stands out.

Alan Feanch/Pierre Dutour - T.V Adventure - Crea Sound 46554 / Mondiophone MON 54 - 1980

Pierre Dutour is responsible for some interesting library music under that name as well as his Ted Atking alias, but the two versions of 'Fanatical Punk' found on this library record are far more utilitarian. At least the title track is good.

Enter 'O Clisma ‎- M'Aggio Accattato Nu Tavuto / 'A Ditta Protesta - GEB - CD 5019 - 1978

This "band" is either named after the high priest character from a 1928 Italian poem 'Ifigonia in Culide,' or is named 'Enema,' the possible English translation of enteroclisma, or both. One song title translates into 'I Bought Myself A Coffin' and the other to something like 'A Firm Protest.' At least one part of the sleeve didn't require translation, the words 'Neapolitan Punk' are written fairly small on the front. Combine that with the band name, song titles and the nails-in-your-face-biting-a-skull-in-chains cover art and one might expect a different sounding record. The songwriting credit goes to Adelmo (or Nino) Buonocore. Prior to the Enter O'Clisma releases, he wrote songs for others and for his own vocal recording persona Adelmo Ferrari. And in 1978 and onwards, he used the name Nino Buonocore, at first doing some soundtrack work and taking a stab at new wave by hiring London band Live Wire for his first LP.

Chrys Alice - Qu'Est C' Que J' Deviens Dans Tout Ça - Carissima 2097 984 - 1979

This record shares writing credits with Yocki, Bigoudis and the B side to Charlotte Julian's Queen of Punks record, although in this case Chrys Alice sounds more deserving of that title, but only if Yocki is crowned king.

Yocki - 10 Heurs Du Matin / Bobby - Fly F.20.744 - 1980

 I suspect this was written by Michel Delancray (credited here as De Lancret) a.k.a Serge Charoff, another library composer responsible for Chrys Alice's 'Qu'Est C' Que J' Deviens Dans Tout Ça' who also worked with the folks at Carissima responsible for the Bigoudis record, although this is much better. Both sides heavily emulate Plastic Bertrand and if the pants and the pose on the sleeve or the Chippendale's insert didn't reveal how vanilla this record is, the lyrics surely do. A nice touch is the fan club info and the font of fingers.



Some lyrics for 10 Heurs Du Matin:

It's ten in the morning
And I take my coffee
And I do nothing
I'm a slacker
I'm like a golden butterfly
I do not work
But I sing for my friends

And for Bobby:

Oh my dog ​​is loyal
Especially when I'm angry
He always tells me the same way:
Wow wow! I'm Bobby
This is a really very nice little poodle
Especially when I say "lie down"
He replied as follows:
Wow wow! I'm Bobby

Telescope - Bye Byes (Ain't Nice) - Pentagon Records ‎PENT 5 - 1977

Some Telescope records included a glossy insert with a picture of Telescope himself. The keen observer would notice that the person pictured is also on the Italian sleeve for 'The Crunch' by RAH Band and is the keyboardist for RAH Band's Top Of The Pops performance. Apparently, this air-keyboardist is Andy Clark who played with Be-Bop Deluxe among others and wrote a string of KPM library music records.

Carlo Trenta & The Demons - Tough Boy, Rock Da Box - CJT Records CJT-130 - 1981

Carlo Trenta (a.k.a Carl J. Trentadue) writes that this album was advertised on NBC 900 times. It features a keyboard player who went on to play with Steppenwolf and a guitar player/songwriter whose career highlights are inclusion on some soundtracks, most notably the animated Transformers movie soundtrack from 1986, a couple of Jean-Claude Van-Damme movies and the Sailor Moon dub. 'Tough Boy, Rock Da Box' has since been re-released digitally under Carl's new moniker, 'Capt. Johnny Rush And The King Chinook Band' and with modified cover art. This is likely due to the fact that Carl now identifies as a Christian and has left the world of demons and semi-nude ladies behind him. What isn't clear is why the reissue calls the first song 'Tough Boy's A Hunk' rather than 'Tough Boy's A Punk.' It's not as though the vocals were re-recorded to accommodate the title change. Perhaps it is just another of the many typos on his fascinating cdbaby page.

The redesigned cover art is littered with cut and paste clippings of fish conservation slogans and seafood company logos. He writes "Captain Johnny Rush and the King Chinook Band will be touring and during their show will be talking about what can be done with the government to clean rivers and increase the number of salmon in our Pacific Ocean, rivers, and lakes. Captain Johnny Rush owns a seafood company. All pictures on the front of the album cover are special dedications to Mr. Trentadue's business associates. None of the pictures are intended to denote sponsorship." Carl recently uploaded a somewhat sleazy music video for 'Wild Cat Woman' from back in the day.