GLAXO BABIES “MAXIMUM SEXUAL JOY” (1980)
JAMS TO THE MAX!
The Glaxo Babies are a long-time favorite…so much so that I secretly maintain (it’s been some time) the official Glaxo Babies MySpace page on behalf of vocalist Rob Chapman.
The Glaxo Babies were a Bristol band from the late 70s, probably best known for their song “Who Killed Bruce Lee?” and “Shake the Foundation” (later covered by the Pop Group, with Ari Up from the Slits). Rob Chapman left the band after the release of Put Me on the Guest List, and joined Sam Dodson’s Transmitters. The remaining members of the Glaxo Babies went on to form Maximum Joy with vocalist Janine Rainforth and a former member of the Pop Group. The Glaxos reformed in 1985 to make some recordings, most of which can be found on The Porlock Factor, a Cherry Red release from a few years back. “Maximum Sexual Joy” is probably one of the wildest cuts you will hear—from their more experimental debut full-length, Nine Months to the Disco.
—Jamillah
*this is my last post on 100 DAYS OF DISCO for some time. I hope folks have enjoyed my posts as much as I’ve enjoyed participating in this projects with friends and loved ones far afield. I will be continuing to maintain my covers blog, SECOND WAVE, in the meantime and will drop in here periodically. xoxo
If the album cover alone doesn’t slay you, prepare yourself for the tunes.
Scottish new wave/post-punk band The Associates are a largely underrated gem. The duo, fronted by outrageously gifted vocalist Billy MacKenzie, were active between 1979 and 1990. This is a cover of the number 1 song in America the week of my birth, “Love Hangover” by Diana Ross (or so I’m told).
I only discovered this cover tonight, sorting through LPs I’d purchased but had not given a listen. I’ve had a copy of The Associates’ debut, The Affectionate Punch (1979), for sometime, and “Tell Me Easter is on Friday” from their second record Fourth Drawer Down (1981) has been a fixture on many a mix CD I’ve made over the last two years. How I’ve overlooked Sulk to just this evening is a mystery. Suffice to say, it is a completely brilliant release, definitely their most danceable, party-ready album in all its theatrical glory.
Mackenzie also worked with Yello, Shirley Bassett, British Electric Foundation, and Paul Haig of fellow Scottish act Josef K. Alan Rankine, the other half of the Associates, works currently as a record producer. Robert Smith of the Cure, Martha Ladley from Martha and the Muffins, as well as members of SPK and the Mekons have contributed to Associates records or performances.
Billy Mackenzie’s suicide in 1997 has been eulogized in song famously by The Cure (“Cut Here”), Siouxsie Sioux (“Say”, as the Creatures), and Morrissey (“William, It Was Really Nothing”). In June of this year, a play entitled Balgay Hill was performed at the Dundee Rep Theatre in Mackenzie’s hometown celebrating his life and career.
Here is more Associates—a performance of “Club Country” on Top of the Pops. SO SO SICK!
**cross post from SECOND WAVE, another blog I maintain. —Jamillah
Pigbag - “Brazil Nuts” (1982)
I come to this place with a limited knowledge of disco as my mother understood it—the very stuff she danced to in the New York nightclubs of yore. I do, however, know a bit about a certain flash in the pan crossover genre often referred to as “Mutant Disco”. The term coined by the proprietors of Ze Records in the early 80s to describe music in their stable, made by scrappy UKers often affiliated with the post-punk era who thought it was high time to boogie…by any (appropriated) means necessary.
Pigbag on Wikipedia here
Comprehensive Pigbag fansite here
—Jamillah