A short-lived punk band from Leominster in Hertfordshire who originally formed to play at street parties celebrating the Queen's silver jubilee. The Breaker label/studio was based in Birmingham and was owned by members of folk rock band Quill who briefly flirted with new wave themselves on their Blondie-esqe 'Love In A Jar' single. 'Punker' is the superior of the two tracks but 'What A Sucker' scores extra points for the Trumpton inspired intro.
01 - Searching For The Only One
02 - Hunchback Of Notre Dame
Mick Hucknall - vocals, Neil Smith - guitar, Brian Turner - bass, Kevin Williams - drums.
Mick Hucknall! I know, we could have done without all that Simply Red nonsense. Thankfully Mick's time with Frantic Elevators was much more interesting. This single in particular being a highlight. The two songs sound totally different yet both are wonderful in their own way. Has anyone heard the Elevators version of 'Holding Back The Years' and should it be avoided?
01 - Never Understand
02 - Mushroom
03 - Inside Me
04 - The Living End
05 - Inside Me
06 - Here It Comes Again / Cracked
07 - You Trip Me Up
08 - Just Like Honey
Jim Reid - vocals, William Reid - guitar, Douglas Hart - bass, Bobby Gillespie - drums.
This double radio show LP features The Jesus And Mary Chain recorded live at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles in December 1985. Various bootlegs reveal the exact dates to be the 21st and 22nd with 'Never Understand' (at the end of side 3 of the album) being recorded at the first show and everything else (the whole of side 4) at the 2nd. The version of 'Here It Comes Again' / 'Cracked' is heavily edited to cut out almost all the 'F' words and the 2nd version of 'Inside Me' (actually the first if the tracks were in the correct sequence) is also edited a bit.
The bootleg CD 'Suckonthis' includes both Roxy shows though it's missing two tracks from the 21st. The missing tracks are included on disc two of the 'Mushroom' double LP but leaves out several other tracks. There's also a nice 5 track 7" EP from the performance on the 21st and several tracks appear on other bootleg singles. Sound quality varies on the bootlegs, the 'Suckonthis' CD being excellent with the 'Mushroom' LP suffering from low volume. The sound on this radio show LP is perfect.
The material here was actually considered for inclusion on the new two CD + DVD re-issue of 'Psychocandy'. It did get as far as being transfered to CD from Douglas Hart's copies of the radio show LP's before being rejected. Looking at the tracks that were selected, B-sides, Peel Sessions, alt takes, early demos and even 'Jesus Fuck', it's easy to see why these live tracks never made the cut.
