Purple Hearts - The Jimmy Pursey & Paul Weller Demos (White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.2)

The Purple Hearts were one of the leading bands of the UK mod revival of the late '70s/early '80s and they recorded the community's enduring anthem, "Millions Like Us". At times, they closely resemble the '66 Who, and they even lend more credibility to a '66 Bowie single than the original. Of course, The Jam's influence was apparent. These are some basic and brief things that someone unfamiliar with Purple Hearts should probably know. Today's post is not intended as an introduction, but rather, it is addressed to those who have been in the know for ages. So, I collected all the studio demos they recorded with punk rock/mod punk figures like Jimmy Pursey from Sham 69 and Paul Weller from The Jam, supervising these sessions, in one place. The six Polydor demos produced by Jimmy Pursey show a rougher edge than the final versions of the well known songs like "Millions Like Us", "Frustration" and "Jimmy" (my fave one by them ever!) and they are in fact early versions of their brilliant singles! The two demos produced by Weller, "Plane Crash" and "Concrete Mixer" were originally intended for Modfather's own Respond label. They were recorded at Polydor again in 1981, but went unissued. And they're all awesome, trust me!

Cute Lepers - WFMU, East Orange NJ, 07-09-11 (Radio Broadcast, Bootleg)

 

I was dusting off my back-up HDDs this morning and stumbled upon this awesome radio broadcast of The Cute Lepers from 2011 on WFMU. I admit it, I love the Briefs, but the Cute Lepers were everything I like about punk rock. With one foot in early 80s power pop and the other one in the late 70s British mod revival. Imagine the early Rezillos singles, the Boys' first two albums with a good dose of The Chords and a retarded reverence for Johnny Thunders. Sound quality is excellent and so is the performance! Can't remember where I found it to give credit, my apologies in advance to the original uploader.

The Taxi Boys - Taxi Boys (White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.1)

 

The poor sales of the Real Kids’ first LP prompted Felice to become a roadie for the Ramones, but soon after returned to Boston and formed the Taxi Boys (the name was obviously taken from an old Real Kids song), whose two EPs continued the Real Kids' tradition of the highly energetic 60s influenced garage rock 'n' roll, only a little poppier production wise. Felice and the gang (half former Real Kids members and half future ones) are in fine form on both. The Taxi Boys dates from 1980 to 1981, and the last thing they released was in 1982, but by then they had returned to the Real Kids name again. After all, all these songs were written as Kids songs, according to John Felice. 

Gathered here are all their recordings as Taxi Boys of course and if you need a few pointers to go on, there's still plenty of Eddie Cochran guitars and Heartbreakers-esque melodies, only this time filtered through the Shoes or the Flamin Groovies from the late 70s point of view. 

The Sonics - Live & Home Recordings, 1964 (White Trash Soul 60s Punk No.1)

In terms of savagery and frenzy, they were the closest thing ever to Little Richard, just a little more amped up (ok, VERY!). The Sonics were white trash souls like you and me, absolutely and madly in love with R&B and rock'n'roll. Punks like the Parypa brothers, Gerrie Roslie, Bob Bennett and Rob Lind paved the way for anti-racist behaviour, not Elvis. Roaring guitars, pounding drums and fevered howls trying to imitate their black idols invented punk rock in the garages of their fathers around the world, not Malcolm McLaren. And dad Parypa recorded almost every Sonics rehearsal in the early 60s, including, of course, these ones. The live recordings are captured by a man in Seattle named Doug Patterson, who owned an Ampex tape machine and frequently wrote on tape the Teen Time shows on KTNT-AM Tacoma Radio to collect songs for his own teenage garage band. Fandom indeed! Since these recordings were made before the release of their debut single "The Witch", the focus is on covers and instros and the audio is definitely good for AM radio broadcasts that are six decades old.

This homemade product/selection comes from Norton's "Savage Young Sonics" and "Busy Body!!! Live in Tacoma, 1964". If you don't already have these, head over and buy the vinyl — it contains some of the rawest punk rock ever recorded!