Welcome to the RPM Record Club Seven Day Soundtrack, week ending Friday 28th April 2023. Here's your May Day holiday music; over to...

Tony -

"Pressed for time this week, so here's a single selection. Best to all."

Dave -

"Hi RPMers, hope you all had a good week . Here’s my 3 tunes."

Philip -

"There'll probably be no submissions from me next week, but for this week, does anyone remember the founding of Dead Reckoning Records in the 90s by musicians Keiran Kane and Kevin Welch? Not sure if they are still a going concern, but here are three examples of their early output."

"I should be back for Week 19, but meanwhile best wishes to all RPMers as always."

Jean -

"Straight forward picks this week. Hope everyone has a good Bank Holiday weekend."

John -

"Hello everyone, I hope you're all keeping fit and well in body and mind. Here are three tracks from albums I've listened to this week."

Alan -

"Room was made this week for one of my favourite 'post punk' singles following the demise of Mark Stewart but, seeing as how even that track is from 1979, that moves it into 'modern stuff' as far as I'm concerned so, as promised, here's three more modern tracks."

The Pop Group- 'She's beyond Good and Evil' (7" single released 2nd March 1979. Radar Records)

"So it's goodbye to Mark Stewart, leaving behind this monster 'post punk' single, produced by Dennis Bovell. Stewart is quoted saying the lyrics are " about unconditional love as a revolutionary force -- where idealism and energy mix poetic, existential, and political yearnings with the romantic idea of passing through nihilism and emerging on the other side with something positive, something beyond."  The single has featured in The Guardians "1000 songs you must hear", Q Magazines " 50 Ultimate British Songs" and US magazine Treble's "Top 200 songs of the 70's' and other listings. Although the Pop Groups lifespan was pretty brief , as was the recorded output of their original inception (just two albums and two and a half singles* in eighteen months) they achieved a certain notoriety due to the content of their songs and the causes they supported. Their last gig in their original incarnation was in front of 500,000 people at a CND rally in Trafalgar Square. The inevitable split occurred in 1981 with members dispersing to such diverse outfits as Pigbag, Maximum Joy, Head, the Slits and Rip Rig + Panic (the latter notable for the involvement of Neneh Cherry) and the U Sound posse. Stewart and two other original members reformed the band in 2010 and, in addition to rereleasing their earlier recordings ( complete with extra material) there was a previously unseen concert recording from their heyday and a single and live album by the latest lineup. They toured extensively in Europe, the USA (where they were feted by members of the Minutemen, Sonic Youth, Nine Inch Nails and Matt Groening of The Simpsons fame), Australia and Japan and appeared at Glastonbury on two occasions. Very much a cult band, they were, however, regularly praised by critics with cultural theorist Mark Fisher describing their sound as "both cavernous and propulsive, ultra-abstract yet driven by dance music’s physical imperatives.". Nick Cave enthused, after attending one of their gigs, "...It was one of those moments we just feel the cogs of your mind shift and your life is going to be irreversibly changed forever."  and the Guardian even went so far as to say that "the Pop Group "almost single handedly effected the transition from punk to post-punk," and that they " ahead of Gang of Four, PiL, A Certain Ratio and the rest, steered punk towards a radical, politicised mash-up of dub, funk, free jazz and the avant-garde" ."

*Their third single was split with The Slits, one side per band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL0tYowbIxE

"Thanks for the 'up' Jean. Strangely, our Odeon never had live music but the Gaumant did! Unfortunately it dropped off the gig circuit in the mid sixties (barring the odd gig by The Stranglers and one or two others in the eighties) but not before I'd seen the Stones, Hollies, Dave Clark Five (jeez, there goes my credibility!!) Inez and Charlie Foxx, Georgie Fame and many others. Over the road from the Gaumont is the small Regent Hotel where the Beatles stayed  before and after their gigs at the Gaumont. They would run the gauntlet of fans outside the cinema, dive into the van, head out of town and then circle back to stay at the hotel overnight. The owners still have the guests register with not only the Beatles signatures but also their home addresses and telephone numbers. 

Dave: loved the alternate VU track, if you ain't already got it, try to find 'Unripened: The Norman Dolph Acetate' which is the original different and/or uncut takes for the debut album, primal is a word that springs to mind!!! The acetate was found at a 'garage sale' for 75c and sold for $25000............

Next week, three of the sixties finest UK female warblers with covers of US soul songs!!! Betcha can't wait.............

The annual war against the 'daisy army' recently recommenced and, so far, they're bluddy winning!!!

Stay well."

Jayne -

"All the best RPMers, and thanks for the musical journey each week."

Nina -

"Hi folks - Another week, another 3 tracks. Enjoy the bank holiday weekend + take care all, Cheers!"

Piers -

"I have been revisiting old favourites this week and whilst looking for the original recording of Big Scotia by Burl Hammons, I came across this version which reminds me of ‘Concerto for Group and Orchestra’ the collaboration between Deep Purple and Malcolm Arnold in the late 1960s  (a birthday present from my brother)."

"Have a lovely May Day all! "

Jackie -

Tim -

"Oysterband gig coming up on Sunday; an acoustic tour by the 3 core members of John Jones, Alan prosser and Ian Telfer.....so here's some tunes..."

"Happy May Day!"

'Til Next Time...