Debut LP Magazine Vol. 01

This is the premier issue of Debut magazine which was started in Germany and brought over to the UK in the early 80s. It was given to me by my friend Price James who is a great friend and fantastic video director, having done videos for Shitdisco, Simian Mobile Disco, The Teenagers and Friendly Fires. Check out his stuff here. Each magazine featured a full 12" lp with various artists. I have chosen to put the complete magazine up on the web and it has all kinds of amazing pictures and material from that time. I will put up the rest of the pages and songs in early January when I get back from vacation but in the meantime you can see some pages below.

Page 2-3 Contents
Page 4-5 Michael Jackson, Ultravox, Tracey Ullman, Eric Gavin, Status Quo
Page 6-7 Curtis Mayfield, The Clash, Cocteau Twins, Style Council, Paul Weller
Page 44-45 Thor
Page 56-57 Philip Salon, Mud Club, Tasty Tim, Fouberts, Greenpeace

Also some interesting info about the Mud Club here.

A1 Big Country Harvest Home (4:10)
A2 Fiat Lux Secrets (3:26)
A3 Niagara Calls All Your Love (4:05)
A4 The Special A.K.A. Bright Lights (4:10)
A5 Wang Chung Talk It Out (3:42)

B1 Kudos Better Late Than Never (4:23)
B2 Mezzoforte Rockall (4:05)
B3 Danse Society Red Light (Shine) (2:52)
B4 Snowy White Lucky Star (6:08)
B5 Pale Fountains Natural (3:20)
B6 Thompson Twins Watching (3:48)

I also recommend you check out the Evil Twins art experience before it closes in January. It`s going on at the Le Gun gallery near London Fields in East London and involves excellent photos from my friend Patricia Niven and her collaberators. It`s much more fun than most gallery shows because you crawl underground and there`s special discoveries and it`s like a proper Alice in Wonderland experience - I wish more art shows were like this. Details here.

Get Chickenized - Frank Chickens

This is a fairly eccentric vinyl lp from the 80s which a friend asked me to digitize for her. We previously featured a great track from Frank Chickens here. I don't find most of these track to be super poppy or dancefloor friendly, but they are certainly interesting compositions - ranging from slow 80's groove to 80s pop. I think in particular the theme of this album seems to be a commentary on the situation of these Japanese women performers in the UK. This was not their first album and it appears they are commenting on the way that others perceive them as strange foreigners. In particular I think the lyrics to the lady love song Two Little Ladies are amusing including this:

"One of their games was putting books all over the floor
So that they can walk without touching the floor
They put a big book on Impressionism by their favourite window
So they can stand close together looking at the sunset over bushes
They called this occasion romantic on top of Impressionism"

I think this LP was actually signed by one of the band members Kazumi (if you look in the picture above). Probably the most catchy track is Yellow Toast. By their own admission (video below) they sing "interestingly badly". What is what most indie bands dream of, from what I can tell.



Side A

A1 We Say You Say
A2 Sacred Marriage
A3 Street Angels, Tokyo
A4 Two Little Ladies
A5 Solid Life

Side B

B1 Japanese Girl
B2 Island Inside Island
B3 Young Summer
B4 Chicken Ondo
B5 Yellow Toast

Finally - my friend Matthew (Wowow) Stone has decided to start the "Interconnected Echoes" blog in which he links from interview to interview various people's ideas on what life is all about. It's a great idea that I wish I had started and you can read what I think about life here.