New Releases for Feb 2014
‘The Best of Heartbeat Records’
– Various Artists
24 Track CD & Digital Download. Released 10th February 2014
Heartbeat Records was set up in Bristol in 1978 by local folkie-type musician Simon Edwards and music store owner Tony Dodds to release the debut single by Bristol punk band Social Security. John Peel dubbed ‘I Don’t Want My Heart to Rule My Head’ “Charmingly rustic”, but then he would. With a free button badge coming with each copy, the record sold well and despite Dodds jumping ship after its release, the label was up and running.
With a few exceptions, Heartbeat largely moved away from punk into post-punk territory, serving up a dazzling array of clever, quirky bands – lots of sparse jagged guitars, busy drums and all the synths you could eat. But having said that, bands like Europeans, Apartment, The X-Certs, Glaxo Babies, The Letters, Stormtrooper, Art Objects and Affairs of the Heart, to name just several, were exploring very different styles giving the label a richly diverse roster that probably reached its peak with the release of Heartbeat’s 1979 compilation Avon Calling, described by John Peel (again) as “…really the standard by which the others must be judged in future. Because it really is superb there are 15 tracks on the LP, genuinely not a bad one amongst them, and a lot of really good stuff.”
And that went for Heartbeat as a whole, as you’ll hear on this comprehensive collection of the label’s finest tracks. The Best of Heartbeat Records is released by Bristol Archive Records on 10th February 2014 available on CD and digital download.
ARTIST: Various Artists
TITLE: The Best of Heartbeat Records
RELEASE DATE: 10th February 2014
LABEL: Bristol Archive Records
DISTRIBUTION: Shellshock
FORMAT: CD and Digital Download
CAT NO: ARC268CD
BARCODE: 5052571051221
Tracklisting:
1. GLAXO BABIES WHO KILLED BRUCE LEE
2. EUROPEANS EUROPEANS
3. THE LETTERS NOBODY LOVES ME
4. X – CERTS BLUE MOVIES
5. APARTMENT THE CAR
6. PRIVATE DICKS SHE SAID GO
7. GLAXO BABIES CHRISTINE KEELER
8. ART OBJECTS SHOWING OFF TO IMPRESS THE GIRLS
9. SOCIAL SECURITY STELLAS GOTTA FELLA
10. ESSENTIAL BOP CHRONICLE
11. APARTMENT WINTER
12. JOE PUBLIC HOTEL ROOMS
13. GLAXO BABIES ITS IRRATIONAL
14. SNEAK PREVIEW SLUGWIERD
15. DIRECTORS WHAT YOU’VE GOT
16. PRIVATE DICKS GREEN IS IN THE RED
17. DOUBLE VISION MY DEAD MOTHER
18. VICE SQUAD NOTHING
19. STINGRAYS SOUND
20. STORMTROOPER PRIDE BEFORE A FALL
21. FEAR OF DARKNESS FEAR OF DARKNESS
22. GLAXO BABIES SHAKE (THE FOUNDATIONS)
23. AFFAIRS OF THE HEART WATERLOO SUNSET
24. ART OBJECTS PAPERWEIGHT FLOOD
Duration: 78:10
Bandcamp digital download link = http://bristolarchiverecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-best-of-heartbeat-records
‘Fishfood vs.The Birth of Sharon’
– Andy Fairley
9 Track Limited Edition Vinyl (Screen Printed Jacket), CD & Digital Download. Released 3rd February 2014
‘This album is like the missing link in Bristol’s musical history. The good albums that is!! ‘ GEOFF BARROW – PORTISHEAD
As the 1970s blurred into the 1980s, the sparks generated by the City’s punk bands with their ‘can do attitude’ to the music business ignited and Bristol’s music scene burst into life with a myriad of separate scenes springing up across the city, reggae, jazz, power pop, jazz funk and post punk. Many of the latter were part of what was called the Clifton set, named after Bristol’s most famous Georgian suburb where they mostly lived, played and held court.
Alongside the better known Clifton bands, The Pop Group, Art Objects, Glaxo Babies, The Startled Insects and Rip Rig And Panic was Fishfood and its singer Andy Fairley who aptly enough was recruited, based mainly on appearance, in a Clifton pub. Like many great talents Andy burned brightly, but only for a short time, the nine tracks included here being the sum of his output recorded between 1980 and 1983.
The three Fish Food tracks are the earliest originally released in 1981 on the innovative “Bristol Recorder 2” compilation. The rest of the tracks are previously unreleased and date from three years later with Andy’s second band The Birth of Sharon. The music itself is experimental and avant garde, a mixture of influences from reggae to Captain Beefheart, from krautrock to industrial, from punk to funk, genuinely cutting edge; experimental there were no boundaries to their creativity.
This is a project born out of love for an artist that few have heard of. The album was compiled and the sleeve notes written by Howard Purse, who was Andy’s band mate in both bands. The sleeve design is a painting from local artist Jimmy Galvin who played guitar alongside Andy and Howard in The Birth of Sharon. Andy and his music touched them and thirty years later they wanted to expose it to a wider audience. Mike Darby and Bristol Archive Records are here for exactly this sort of project, genuinely original and creative music from Bristol’s past that has fallen through the cracks, blissfully ignored by the London centric music industry in the eighties it has finally found it’s spiritual home with us.
The music touched others, especially musicians, The Pop Groups Mark Stewart calls Andy his generation’s Chatterton, another great Bristolian talent lost at an early age, whilst Geoff Barrow chose Andy’s music for Portishead to use as pre gig warm up soundtrack. Andy’s music is still relevant today and now everyone can find out what the fuss is about and ponder over what might have been.
Andy Fairley’s “Fishfood vs. The Birth of Sharon” is released by Bristol Archive Records on 3rd February 2014 available on Limited Edition Vinyl with screen printed jacket, CD and digital download.
ARTIST: Andy Fairley
TITLE: Fishfood vs. The Birth of Sharon
RELEASE DATE: 3rd February 2014
LABEL: Bristol Archive Records
DISTRIBUTION: Shellshock
FORMAT: Limited Edition Vinyl (Screen Printed Jacket), CD and Digital Download
CAT NO: ARC269V and ARC269CD
BARCODE: 5052571051313 / 5052571052020
Tracklisting:
Vinyl Tracklisting:
Side 1
- The Art of Wanking
- Volition
- Now
- Modern Dance Craze
Side 2
- Sex Is A Language
- Film Titles
- Dry Ice Hot
- Man Made It So
- Seventeen Eels
CD Tracklisting:
- The Art of Wanking
- Volition
- Now
- Modern Dance Craze
- Sex Is A Language
- Film Titles
- Dry Ice Hot
- Man Made It So
- Seventeen Eels
Bandcamp link = http://bristolarchiverecords.bandcamp.com/album/fishfood-vs-the-birth-of-sharon
