Curated by Dave Twist, released towards the end of the month, Un-Scene! Post Punk Birmingham 1978-1982 (Easy Action) is exactly what it says on the label, a collection of 18 rare recordings from the era of angular guitars and strained, declamatory vocals, comprising unreleased demos, hitherto lost studio tracks, and no-fi live artefacts, packaged in a gatefold sleeve with a booklet featuring sleevenotes by Twist and Stewart Lee, notes on the tracks and unseen images.
First up is We Are The Fashion, credited to the pre-truncated Fashion Music, as far as I can tell a never released track (neither as a single or on the Product Perfect album) recorded at Outlaw in 1978 and, disregarding the echoey late 60s pop la la las, a typical example of the trio’s staccato style with the sparse lyrics just comprising of Luke singing the title. One of the bastions of the scene, featuring Nikki Sudden on slurred vocals, Swell Maps are represented by Vertical Slum, Sudden also featured on his own Channel Steamer recorded in Battersea in 1981.
Twist puts in his first appearance behind the drum as part of Dada, John Taylor on lead guitar, with the bass rumbling Birmingham OK recorded on a portable cassette machine live at the Crown in Hill St in 1978, reappearing on the next track as part of The Prefects, another live recording from Oct 28 at the Festival Suite, The Bristol Road Leads to Dachau sprawling over almost ten minutes and written and sung by Rob Lloyd who went on to form The Nightingales (the only band here still making music today) along with fellow members Joe Crow and Eamon Duffy, showcased on 1980 Vindaloo track Idiot Strength. Crow also has his own solo contribution playing everything on The Final Touch, a hint of Bowie recorded in Mark Rowson’s front room in Moseley
Another ubiquitous name of the period was Dave Kusworth, his first credit here being as guitarist with TV Eye alongside Eamon Duffy on bass, Paul Adams on guitar and drummer Goff with Andy Wicketts on vocals for the almost poppy Stevie’s Radio Station. Kusworth and Adams were of course members of The Hawks, the cult outfit fronted by Stephen Duffy and again with Twist on drums, their track Big Store recorded in Bob Lamb’s bedroom. The last of the tracks to feature Twist’s drums as well as Kusworth’s guitar comes from the rather more obscure The Bible Belt whose brief A Fistful Of Seeds, fronted by Jeremy Thirby, has more in common with late 60s Nuggets style psychedelia garage.
Two more familiar names will be The Denizens, fronted by Andy Downer, and The Nervous Kind featuring the Comaskey brothers Owen and Paul on vocals and drums respectively, the former represented by the marching beat Ammonia Subway and the latter with Five To Monday which spookily presaged the sound of The Smiths.
Moving on and further less well-known names join the line-up with Cult Figures and the almost protoglam bass chug of I Remember, the slightly X-Ray Spex-like Fast Relief with Lindy Short on vocals and sax, the Public Image conjuring Vision Collision with Cara Tivey on keys, and the aptly named Dance, which featured subsequent Fashion bassist Martin Recci, with the handclappy driving Revolve Around You which surely has a touch of The Stooges to its DNA. The real find though is Lowdown International whose vaguely keyboards stabbing motorik Batteries Not Included features no other than football pundit, writer and BBC and BrumRadio presenter Adrian Goldberg doing his best John Lydon.
The collections rounded off with two final well-known names, The Pinkies with Jayne Morris on vocals and both her and Lindy Shortt on sax for Open Commune and, of course, The Au Pairs, their distinctive sound captured in Love Song.
Following on the heels of the recent anthology by The Hawks this is another highly welcome celebration of the city’s alternative music scene and serves as a prelude to the June release of On Record, a concept album billed as ‘a sonic love letter to Birmingham’ commissioned by Birmingham Music Archive to be released free for the Birmingham 2022 Festival and, alongside a new track from UB40, featuring a wealth of the city’s rising musical talent, including Bambi Bains, Cherry Pickles, Dapz on the Map, SANITY, and Tj Rehmi, and spanning Afrobeat, neo-soul, trip-hop, Asian electronica, folk, garage rock, jazz, reggae, RnB, Hip-Hop and UK rap.
