"Guerrilla Girls! She-Punks And Beyond 1975-2016" by VARIOUS ARTISTS featuring Patti Smith, The Bags, X-Ray Spex, Mary Monday & The Bitches, Blondie, The Raincoats, Essential Logic, pragVEC and more (January 2023 UK Ace Records CD Compilation with Nick Robbins Remasters and Mick Patrick Notes) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Anything's Allowed..."

 

Ace Records of the UK specialize in CD compilations – always on the hunt for that collection they know you need in your urbanite domicile like an audit of the Trump Tower accounts system.

 

Well, along comes this unladylike left-field little bruiser to sort us boys out good and proper. "Guerilla Girls! She-Punks And Beyond 1975-2016" offers you 25 remastered odes of joy from the emergence of Seventies Punk and New Wave to Girl Power and the resurgence of Power Pop and She-Punk bands of the Twenties. "Guerilla Girls!" takes in many famous names – all of who have been telling their mum since the age of fifteen that an office job is not their primary goal just at the moment.

 

And what a great listen it is too – cleverly compiled by Ace's Mick Patrick with notes by fellow admirers Lucy O’Brien, Vim Renault, Lena Cortina and Patrick himself – you literally get 79-minutes of early giants like Patti Smith, X-Ray Spex, Blondie and The Slits - to new goers on the block like Babes In Toyland, L7 and Bikini Kill (with many other worthy points inbetween).

 

I love this little CD and have been giving it some since I first spotted it on their release schedules back in January 2023. It looks good - a cool digipak, huge 40-page booklet, great audio - top stuff. Time to honor the Punkettes who put the riot in Grrrls way back when nice ladies didn't engage in such lurid botherations. To the Day-Glo details...

 

UK released Friday, 27 January 2023 - "Guerrilla Girls! She-Punks And Beyond 1975-2016" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDTOP 1599 (Barcode 029667102827) is a 25-Track CD Compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows (79:00 minutes):

 

1. In Excelsis Deo / Gloria (Version) - PATTI SMITH (from the December 1975 US LP "Horses" on Arista Records AL 4066 - Full Album Version 5:40 minutes)

2. Survive - THE BAGS (December 1978 US 45-single on Dangerhouse BAG 199, A-side)

3. Iama Poseur - X-RAY SPEX (April 1978 UK 45-single in EMI International INT 533, B-side of "The Day The World Turned Day-Glo" - and on the November 1978 UK LP "Germfree Adolescence" on EMI International INS 3023)

4. I Gave My Punk Jacket To Rickie - MARY MONDAY & THE BITCHES (1977 US 45-single on Malicious Productions (no catalogue number), A-side)

5. I Didn't Have The Nerve To Say No - BLONDIE (from the 1977 album "Plastic Letters" on Chrysalis CHR 1168)

6. You're A Million - THE RAINCOATS (from the 1979 UK album "The Raincoats" on Rough Trade ROUGH 3)

7. Popcorn Boy (Waddle Ya Do?) - ESSENTIAL LOGIC (October 1979 UK 45-single on Rough Trade RT 029, A-side - and on the December 1979 UK LP "Best Rhythm News - Waddle Ya Play?" on Rough Trade ROUGH 5)

8. Expert - prayVEC (June 1979 UK 45-Single on Spec SP 002, A-side)

9. My Cherry Is In Sherry - LUDUS (July 1981 UK 45-single on New Hormones ORG 8, A-side - and on the 1981 2LP-set "The Seduction" on New Hormones ORG 16)

10. Kray Twins - MO-DETTES (from the October 1980 UK LP "The Story So Far" on Deram SML 1120)

11. Earthbeat - THE SLITS (August 1981 UK 45-single on CBS Records A 1498, A-side - and on the October 1981 UK LP "Return Of The Giant Slits" on CBS Records CBS 85269)

12. Das Ah Riot - BUSH TETRAS (May 1981 UK 45-single on Fetish FET 007, B-side of "Things That Go BOOM In The Night")

13. Bitchen Summer (Speedway) – BANGLES (from the December 1982 US Compilation LP "Rodney On The ROQ Vol.III" on Posh Boy PBS 140)

14. Shakedown – AU PAIRS (from the August 1982 UK LP "Sense And Sensuality" on Kamera Records KAM 010)

15. It's About Time – THE PANDORAS (1984 US 4-Track EP "The Pandoras" on Moxie MM 1044)

16. Come On Now – THE PUSSYWILLOWS (from the 1988 US LP "Spring Fever!" on Telstar TR003)

17. Rules And Regulations - WE'VE GOT A FUZZBOX AND WE'RE GONNA USE IT!! (From the 1986 UK LP "Bostin' Steve Austin" on Vindaloo Records FBOX 1)

18. Her Jazz – HUGGY BEAR (February 1993 UK 45-single on Wiiija/Catcall TROUBLE 001, A-side)

19. Bruise Violet – BABES IN TOYLAND (from the 1992 CD album "Fontanelle" on Reprise 9 26998-2)

20. Rebel Girl – BIKINI KILL (from the 1992 LP "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" on Kill Your Rock Stars KRS 206)

21. Pretend We're Dead – L7 (from the CD album "Bricks Are Heavy" on Slash 9 26784-2)

22. What's Wrong With You – BRATMOBILE (from the 2002 CD album "Girls Get Busy" on Lookout! LK 280)

23. Let Go Of The Past – THE TUTS (from the 2002 CD album "Update Your Brain" on Dovetown DT007)

24. Hot – THE REGRETTES (from the 2015 CD album "Feel Your Feelings Fool" on Warner Brothers 557260-2)

25. Silver Spoons – SKINNY GIRL DIET (from the 2015 CD album "Heavy Flow" on Fiasco 013)

 

The card DigiPak is cute but the chunky 40-page colour booklet is a serious bit of writing genius and investigation – each track with its 45 or LP or CD pictured above. LENA CORTINA and VIM RENAULT of PunkGirlDiaries.com have contributed and the factoids come at you fast and furious. This is a compilation that celebrates the not-so-pretty – the girl who is not asked to dance but wants and deserves love and sex just as much as the rest. Their voices come seeping through and as you can expect, some of it none to pleased with the norms of a male-dominated industry (an impossibly likeable Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex is on the cover).

 

NICK ROBBINS did the Remasters and power and passion comes a roaring out – from the near church silence of Patti Smith to the velvet-glove rock guitar of Skinny Girl Diet – there will be more than one occasion where you may need to turn down the stereo for fear of neighbour intervention. To the chunes...

 

Even now in 2023, the Patti Smith reworking of the Van Morrison Them 60ts classic "Gloria" into her "In Excelsis Deo" is a stunning listen – years ahead of its let's go wild and damn the torpedoes attitude. DJ and National Treasure John Peel loved the privately pressed Mary Monday track, while Poly Styrene sends up herself and everyone else for that matter in her "Iama Poseur" jab – a great X-Ray Spex single side. When you listen to The Raincoats strumming urban guitars and do-it-yourself Talking Heads angst - it's hard now to imagine the impact of ROUGH 3 - a label that would become dominated by The Smiths in the Eighties. They sounded like a homeless Patti Smith dreaming of Them's "Gloria" and somewhere to get a nice bag of chips - extraordinary stuff and a brill choice for left-field lovers. That is then reinforced by Essential Logic's "Popcorn Boy..." who sounded like the lovechild of Sparks and Cockney Rebel and early Jam acoustic guitar - all mad vocals and heavy-on-the-bass and social lyrics. It's a right slice of Joy Division barbed wire - love it. The earth is busy burning energy and light bulbs as clouds cough in The Slits drum-pounding ya-ya "Earthbeat" - another quirky you will either love or loathe or both. 

 

Marriage, brothers and violent men creep about the decidedly uncomfortable upbeat rhythms of "Kray Twins" - the Mo-Dettes taking on East End notoriety with a very British New Wave cavalier feel. And again the long shadow of David Byrne's Talking Heads and their neck-jerk beats permeates the brilliant "Das Ah Riot" by Bush Tetras - sounding huge here. I must admit to lack of knowledge on the very cool instrumental "Bitchen Summer (Speedway)" by The Bangles - an early 1982 stab at Link Wray greatness. The Au Pairs want us to give everything we are told by the media and Government a little thought and not be so willing to be brainwashed – their "Shakedown" a forgotten goody. Byrds type guitar jangles via The Smiths Johnny Marr run through the veins of The Pandoras EP-track "It's About Time" while that Sixties retro vibe bops out of "Come On Now", a short but very cool under two-minutes cover of The Kinks song by The Pussywillows.

 

There must be more to life, rules and regulations to blindly obey – Fuzzbox rile in their 80ts Punk vs. 60ts Girl Group "Rules And Regulations". But the first real sign of hurt and rage and pent-up anger hits hard with Huggy Bear when they tear into "Her Jazz" – which is in turn followed by the even more Nirvana-screeching attacks in "Bruise Violet" by Babes In Toyland – said to be about Courtney Love. Born of the same ripped-shirt in a nunnery attitude is "Rebel Girl" – a grungy in-yer-face shouter that sounds like a call to revolution rather than an invitation to waltz. L7 smartly break up the riffage and Hard Rock of "Pretend We're Dead" with a great middle eight and C'Mon C'Mon chants that give it a girl-Ramones feel. And on it goes...

 

For sure "Guerilla Girls! She-Punks And Beyond 1975-2016" is not the faint of heart and those needing a few quiet moments to contemplate Zen consciousness. It wants to shake you up, like they did, and I for one think these brave pioneers have pulled it off big time. Ace does it again...

"Hard Workin' Man: The Jack Nitzsche Story Volume 2" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (October 2006 Ace Records CD - Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Like Someone In Love..."

I worked in the rarities department of a well-known and well-respected London record shop for 20 years and music-biz insiders (for the want of better words) know the name JACK NITZSCHE well - a behind-the-scenes arranger and producer of real genius. We know him well - most others don't.

Well - England's Ace Records are determined to rectify our collective musical myopia on a musical force whose legend only grows since his way-too-early passing in 2000 at the age of 63 – Chicago's Jack Nitzsche.

Nitzsche's resume is jaw dropping in its sheer variety - initial arranging stints with visionary loon Phil Spector and the Specialty Records label in the Fifties (Crystals, Ronettes, Darlene Love and Larry Williams) - shaping the sound of Sixties luminaries like The Rolling Stones, The Monkees, The Righteous Brothers, Bob Lind, The Turtles, Neil Young - aiding and abetting The James Gang, Crazy Horse, Ry Cooder, Mink DeVille, Graham Parker and The Ramones in the Seventies – moving into soundtracks like "Head" (The Monkees), "Performance" (Mick Jagger), "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest", "Blue Collar" (with Captain Beefheart) and later on in the 80s and 90s on "Hot Spot" (with John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis and actor Dennis Hopper). His final discovery in 1999 was the Willy DeVille soundalike CC Adcock from Louisiana (there's a four-page interview with Adcock at the end of the booklet that makes for revealing and affectionate reading).

Some say Jack was a direct descendent of the German classical composer Wagner and a relative to the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. In fact legend has it that Jack's Mum (a renowned witch apparently) was the one responsible for dropping the 'e' in the family surname because she felt it conjured up some numerical bad vibes and dodgy voodoo jabberwocky of some kind (don't you just want that on your Facebook page). The e-less Jack even nabbed an award for co-writing "Up Where We Belong" from the 1983 global film smash "An Officer And Gentleman".

This is the second volume of three Various Artists CD compilations Ace have put out chronicling his amazing legacy - the first "Hearing Is Believing: The Jack Nitzsche Story 1962-1979" on Ace Records CDCHD 1030 (Barcode 029667008327) came out 28 March 2005 and the third installment "Night Walker: The Jack Nitzsche Story Volume 3" on Ace Records CDCHD 1430 (Barcode 029667059923) finally arrived 30 June 2014. We're going to deal with an overlooked nugget - piggy-in-the-middle – Volume 2 from 2006. Here are the Hard Workin' Men and the Teardrops At Dawn Women...

UK released 9 October 2006 - "Hard Workin' Man: The Jack Nitzsche Story Volume 2" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDCHD 1130 (Barcode 029667022323) is a 26-Track CD compilation stretching from 1960 to 2004 (Volume two in a series of three) that plays out as follows (76:25 minutes):

1. Hard Workin' Man - JACK NITZSCHE with vocals by CAPTAIN BEEFHEART (from the 1978 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to "Blue Collar" on MCA Records 40897) - written by Jack Nitzsche, Ry Cooder and Director Paul Schrader)
2. Surfer Finger - JACK NITZSCHE (Previously unissued 1966 Reprise Recordings instrumental recording)
3. Just Like That - THE ROBINS (1960 USA 7" single on Avree 5001, A-side)
4. I'm Gonna Be Strong - FRANKIE LAINE (1963 USA 7" single on Columbia 4-42884, A-side)
5. You Just Gotta Know My Mind - KAREN VERROS (1965 US 7" single on Dot 16780, A-side)
6. Some Of Your Lovin' - EMIL O'CONNOR (1962 US 7" single on Columbia 4-42617,A-side - Phil Spector co-write)
7. Nobody Needs Your Love More Than I Do - TAMMY GRIMES (1966 US 7" single on reprise 0487, A-side - a Randy Newman song)
8. It's In His Kiss - MERRY CLAYTON (1963 US 7" single on Capitol 4984, A-side)
9. Don't Put Your Heart In His Hand (1963 US 7" single on Reprise R-20176, A-side - written by Jackie DeShannon and Sharon Sheeley)
10. Just Once In My Life - THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS (1965 US 7" single on Philles Records 127, A-side - Spector, Goffin & King song)
11. Teardrops 'Till Dawn - TIMI YURO (1965 USA 7" single on Mercury 72478, A-side)
12. Like Someone In Love - BOBBY VEE (Previously unreleased 1965 Liberty Records recording)
13. Baby I'm So Glad It's Raining - THE SATISFACTIONS (Previously unreleased Sunset Sound Recorders 1965 recording)
14. Blow Your Mind - THE GAS CO (1965 US 7" single on Mirwood 5501, A-side)
15. Woman In Love (With You) - DONNA LOREN (Previously Unissued 1968 Capitol recording)
16. As Long As You're Here - ZALMAN YANOVSKY (1967 US 7" single on Buddah BDA 12, A-side)
17. A Man Needs Love - NOONEY RICKETT (Previously unissued 1966 recording)
18. Mr. Soul - THE EVERLY BROTHERS (a 1968 Warner Brothers recording first issued on the "Nice Guys" UK LP on Magnum Force Records MFLP 1028 in September 1984 - a Neil Young song from his days with Buffalo Springfield)
19. You Know What I Mean - THE TURTLES (1967 US 7" single on White Whale 264, A-side)
20. Porpoise Song - THE MONKEES (1968 US 7" single on Colgems 1031, A-side - Goffin & King song)
21. I Don't Want To Talk About It - CRAZY HORSE (from their February 1971 debut LP "Crazy Horse" on Reprise Records MS 6348 - Danny Whitten song later made famous by Rod Stewart)
22. I'm The Loneliest Fool - JACK NITZSCHE (1974 unreleased solo LP first issued 2004 on the "Three Piece Suite" CD album on Rhino Handmade RHM2 2287)
23. Don't Touch Me There - THE TUBES (June 1976 US 7" single on A&M 1826-S, A-side)
24. Bank Robbery - JOHN LEE HOOKER, MILES DAVIS and TAJ MAHAL (1990 US CD and LP to the Dennis Hopper Soundtrack "The Hot Spot" on Antilles 846 813-2)
25. Break Away - THE NEVILLE BROTHERS (from the 1978 US LP "The Neville Brothers" on Capitol 11675)
26. Stealin' All Day - CC ADCOCK [Charles Clinton Adcock] (from the 2004 CD album "Lafayette Marquis" on Yep Roc CD 2040)
Tracks 2, 12, 13, 15 and 17 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
Tracks 1, 10, 18, 19, 21 to 26 are in STEREO – all others are in MONO

Compiled by MICK PATRICK and TONY ROUNCE - the 24-page booklet is a veritable feast for the eyes and a properly in-depth read – 26-tracks expertly put together by two names synonymous with good reissues. You get rare pictures sleeves for The Righteous Brothers on Spector's Philles and Merry Clayton on Capitol, a promo photo of The Turtles in colour and an NME front cover that features the Spector Girl-Group-pastiche "Don't Touch Me There" by The Tubes. Apart from occasional forays into the late Seventies and beyond – the vast majority of the songs are Sixties and come in evenly spread dollops of hard-hitting Mono and speaker-spaced Stereo. I've never heard the Beefheart track with so much muscle and that huge soundstage that Spector got is wonderfully realized on The Righteous Brothers track (superb NICK ROBBINS remasters).

Featuring 12-tracks new to CD - the compilation starts on a very oddly-placed but still mightily catchy 1978 Stereo cut – the fantastic Muddy Waters 'I'm A Man' blues riff of the compilation's title track - "Hard Workin' Man". I mention this because much of the CD plays like a Sixties Pop and Rock fest rather than a late Seventies Johnny Winter stomper – so don’t be expecting a lot of that. The ladies bring up the melodrama Soul sides in real upbeat chest-bracing style – Tammy Grimes, Merry Clayton and a Northern Soul Scene fave – Timi Yuro. Nitzsche's own instrumental "Surf Finger" gets a CD airing for the first time too and damn good it is too. Overlooked discoveries include The Everly Brothers doing a very cool cover of the Buffalo Springfield song "Mr. Soul" penned by our favourite Canadian whinge bag Neil Young. It's a 1968 Warner Brothers out-take that would have to wait until 1984 in the UK to see release on vinyl. Loving this...

And its slightly trippy vibe makes for perfect bedfellows with The Monkees, The Gas Co and the hilarious Tubes track towards the end of the disc - "Don't Touch me There" (I'll try not to honey). Emotional wallop comes with the 1971 Danny Whitten masterpiece of heartbreak he penned for Crazy Horse and their brilliant debut album - "I Don't Want To Talk About It" – a song that would of course be made into a global smash by Rod Stewart in 1975 on his "Atlantic Crossing" LP on Riva Records. The other inclusion likely to send you running for a whole album purchase is the incredibly sexy and cool "Bank Robbery" theme from "The Hot Spot" Soundtrack of 1990. It features a truly stellar line up of groovy types - Miles Davis on Trumpet, Taj Mahal on Vocals and Guitar, John Lee Hooker on Second Guitar with Roy Rogers on Slide Guitar. And what a fantastic groove it is. The compilation ends on the Seasick Steve/Willy DeVille Blues mojo of CC Adcock bringing the production values right up to the present day.

It’s not all genius for sure (some of the Pop tracks can feel period twee) – but the best thing you can say about any CD compilation called Volume 2 is that it made me want to own Volume 1 and 3 as well. And I will admit that Jack Nitzsche Volume 4 will be welcome too.

Jack Nitzsche Volume 2 is recommended...e or no e...