Radio What Wave Playlist Oct 27/16 7" Of Pleasure In The Heart Of The City
The title of this one comes from the Nick Lowe song, In The Heart Of The City. A classic adventure tune that several combos from London have covered live over the years to appreciative crowds. After all, it's a dance tune you can shake your ass to and at the same time identify with the subject matter. And since this show is covering only 7" records released here in London, and these records/songs were more than likely played downtown first (at the various watering holes/clubs) we tied the 2 together and came up with; 7" Of Pleasure In The Heart Of The City. Besides that, it not only sounds good, it gives a sexual vibe that many of these records gave upon first listen and many still do! So enjoy the sounds of the singles of London from about 1978 right up to today. In no way is this a complete playlist of all the 7" records released in London in this time frame, just a select choice few.
1. The Demics.....In The Heart Of The City....live recording from 1978 at The Cedar Lounge. Just had to start the show with the title song and was probably the first place many of us heard this song!
2. Jim Ashby....Speed City....this is from the 2007 re-ish on Speed City Records. This was a documented nick name for London for a short time in the late 60's/early 70's. And it's a fucking great song that ties so many sounds, noises and ideas all into one quick 3 minute jab in the ear! My favourite record to come out of London Ontario!
3. The Hippies....How You Gonna Live? 1982 release from this band that played long gone places like Fryfogles, The Embassy, The Victoria and at least once at The Cedar Lounge. Somewhere there's video footage of this combo at Fryfogles.
4. Excelsior.....Pornos....2014 on the It's Trash label. A combo that is still in existence and features a coupla members of The Drop Outs, a band that moved away, disolved and the members got sucked back to London. Maybe they came back just to form this combo and to make me wonder why they don't add a greasy sax to the mix to bring this raunch back to its late 50's roots. The potential explosion is scary!
5. The Sinners....No Brains....from a 1980 7". Summed up the times perfectly for the masses, but people in the know realized that it takes a lot to appear dumb! Just ask The Ramones. This combo soldiered on to become Spiral Scratch (releasing an LP) and then morphed into The Crawling Kingsnakes, which still exist in some form on rare occasions these days but in Hamilton.
6. The Perks....McPig....1978 and possibly the very first new wave/punk 7" released here in London. Highschool project or just some kids having fun, this one goes for huge bucks in the collector market as so few have survived the years. The brother of The Demics guitarist was involved in this one....Steve Brent, whom I went to college with.
7. Regulators....What's In The City....1979 and on Ready Records out of Toronto. Saw this combo a number of times at The Cedar Lounge and for some reason, at the Polish Hall where they had gigs back in those days. They were much better live than on record as were many.
8. 63 Monroe....Henry the 8th....1983. They started as NFG (and had some killer songs), morphed in to 63 Monroe, then became First Date for awhile and then back to 63 Monroe. They are still around to this day and are now billed as legendary.
9. Flying Squad....Fie On You....1988 and on a compilation called 4 Whom The Bell Tolls which came free with What Wave zine 16. Flying Squad could clear a room faster than anyone due to the facial antics of singer Tim Murphy. But if you stayed long enough to listen, you'd suddenly realize not only is Tim a fantastic singer, but this band can really rock!! Biker rock or which they were the sole proprieter of in this town.
10. Legend Killers....Gunpowder....from their 1989 7" EP Better Than Hammerin'. Singer Earle Rutherford was a torrent of energy and could wreak havoc on any room that would have them! Started as a 3 chord cover combo that evolved into a fine tuned rockin' machine and from there veered into the heavier rock sounds of the day.
11. Johnny Terrien and the Bad Lieutenants....Happy Wanderer....from a 2007 release on Speed City Records. London's longest running Ramones style punk band who recently celebrated 20 years together!
12. Ross Daily....Radio Sucks....from 1996 and features that old fart from behind the counter of Speed City Records on lead vocals/whinery! The message hasn't changed in 20 years and probably won't.
13. Conning Tower....Indian Dancing....from a 1984 release and features veterans Billy Wallace (drummer of choice for many), Linda Harvey (rock bottom bass) and Mark Goodwin who presently helms Montreal combo The Mighty Pfud, a really fine pop outfit! The title of this one probably wouldn't be considered proper these days, but that sure didn't stop it from getting stuck in my noggin' long after this show was put to rest.
14. Second Thoughts....Wound Up....1980 release and this combo used to play at places like The Cedar Lounge and Fryfogles and also feature the above mentioned Mark Goodwin. Ya, London had/has an incestuous music scene as do many other communities.
15. Uranus....Gilligans Island....from 1980 and this song was used as an intro to a program on Toronto's CFNY for many years. Didn't amount to squat royalties for these guys. Uranus were the first of the new wave/punk bands to play The Cedar Lounge and regularly packed it in wherever they played. And they had a top 10 hit on AM radio with You're So Square! Quite an achievment for a London Ontario band!!
16. New Grand....Playing It....1995 release and on a label called Bubble Gun Records which released a couple of records from London.
17. Whipping Wind....Don't Get Into it....2011 release that came with a CD which had more songs than the record. Some fine powerpop sounds here.
18. Red Arms....Hindsight....2016 release on Yeah Right Records who have released several other records from London and beyond, including the brand new UIC LP. RA harken back to the days of 90's sound, but add their own touches to give it a real edge. And they still play live and are well worth checking out.
19. Crash 80's....Thrills....1980 release. Tough to chose which side of this sucker to play as both are such excellent songs that don't really sound like anyone else. One of my fave records to come out of London! Some of these characters later emerged as Suffer Machine and released an LP that is well worth checking out.
20. Generics....Outcast Of Society.....1985. They started as a bunch of noisy snotty nosed kids who evolved and released this record that is still revered by many to this day. And it's been booted, possibly more than once which only happens to the best.
21. Bitchlove....Shoot You In The Face....2014 laser cut release. Bunch of noise from this one man band that we managed to play at the wrong speed for a little while. There's at least one other laser cut release by this character.
22. Pelicans....New Wave....1978 release and comes out of Brantford Ontario, about an hour east of London. Don't know much about this one, but it seems like the art gallery in the Brantford railway station may have a story or 2.
23. Strait Jacket....Dance To The Beat Machine....mid 80's release from Stratford Ontario and probably the only release under this name. There may have been some Leotard Geeks involved in this.
24. Heart Attack Kids....Platonic Love Bomb.....2014 release from this duo who have since released an LP and seem to be the darlings of the hipster punks at the moment. Caught them live once, and they do put on a fun energetic show!
25. The Finks....Can't Say No....1987 release and one of the few combos to get into the powerpop thing here in London. The bass player moved off to Vancouver and joined garagepunkers The Fiends and still plays to this day.
Hope you enjoyed this journey though London's musical past via the 7" record. Some of these records might even be available at the London Record Show happening Sunday at Centennial Hall from 11 to 5. Come say HEY at the table!
And thanx for all the crazy phone calls, facebook messages, emails and Heys and on the fly requests!
Catch us back again next week, when we hope to have The Tuns on a phone interview as they play Call The Office that night.
Here's a link to the archived show:
https://chrwradio.ca/program/radio-what-wave
