Whatever happened to Napalm Shakedown? - In the beginning, there was nothing

Like a misguided intercontinental missile…

They shot across the Sussex night sky on the early evening of Thursday 27^th May 1982 only to immediately implode somewhere over Cross Levels. Napalm Shakedown were the ultimate one gig wonder!

No recordings, demos, ticket stubs or posters survive. A couple of murky images of young men in dark brown army shirts with severe Afrika Korps haircuts, taken at the infamous Archery rehearsal may survive somewhere in a closely guarded and faded WH Smith’s photo album. But certainly, no photo of the White Horses pre-gig run through ever existed, nor do any polaroids from Mr T’s garage. Napalm Shakedown were barely there before they disappeared.

Or so, everyone thought. The gig had lasted barely 40 minutes. From the truth, a story emerged, from the story a myth, from the myth a legend, a legend which grew and grew. By the middle of August barely 2 months after the event, a small but devoted following had evolved. Rumours of a whole rehearsal session recorded on a simple cassette player circulated – the legendary Archery Tapes. 

Within a year Napalm Shakedown were being quoted as a major influence on bands as far away as East Kilbride and Truro, Norwich & Shrewsbury. Imagine a post-punk, proto-funk Velvet Underground and you would be somewhere near the mark – all without a Warholesque Svengali pulling the strings or a Nicoesque chanteuse adding a hint of Nordic glamour to the proceedings.

The NapShack (as they had swiftly become known) saga continued to dilute and regenerate throughout the decade. Even as the former band members joined different outfits and forged new careers, the NS (as they later became barely known) virus mutated more and more…

By Jack Nash

(from the forthcoming book - Whatever happened to Napalm Shakedown? - 

Due out late 2023 on Soul Bay Press subsidiary 'Clandestino'

Bands I wish I'd been in #6 - The Pop Group

Born out of the debris of The Avon Soul Army and the catalytic impact of seeing The Clash and Sex Pistols early on in the nascent punk scene. The Pop Group swiftly took the punk rule book and ripped it up. Incorporating funk, free jazz, dub and punk soundscapes. The original band featured Mark Stewart, John Waddington, Simon Underwood, Gareth Sager and Bruce Smith. Their heady combination of James Brown, Albert Ayler, Funkadelic and King Tubby mixed with radical lyrics was a complete headfunk for a teenage suburban punk like myself. 

Their debut single 'She is Beyond Good and Evil' was the most searing combination of potent punk/funk and poetic imagery I'd ever heard. These boys were different to anybody else on the scene. This was followed by their debut album 'Y', which covered all the bases (and basses). The relentlessly funky chaos of 'We are time' & 'Thief of Fire' interspersed with dub piano melancholy of 'Savage Sea' - the album beautifully underpinned by Dennis Bovell's production work.


Then came 'We are all Prostitutes' the song that sold thousands and the (bootlegged) t-shirt that sold millions....

They then followed up with a second album 'For show much longer do we tolerate mass murder', an album that was even more political and featured The Last Poets and Mark Springer. An album that was pilloried by the likes of the IPC owned NME but still stands up as a fine piece of work - albeit not quite as remarkable as 'Y'. In amongst all this activity was a formal bootleg LP 'We are Time'... And then came the most joyous slab of Funk to come out of the UK in the 1980's - 'Where there's a will' b/w 'In the beginning there was rhythm' but the equally unconventional and fabulous The Slits.

The first incarnation of The Pop Group played their last gig at the CND march in Trafalgar Square in 1980 in front of half a million people. The gig featured old and new versions of the band and they finished with a version of 'Jerusalem', which to those of us present took on almost magical properties (We having sprinted through traffic whilst 'We are Time' ricocheted around the heart of London). It was a remarkable/shambolic day...

So, why do I wish I'd been in The Pop Group? Well apart from the songs, the free form mindset, the lyrics, the amazing iconography, the willingness to challenge the musical 4/4 status quo of punk (which very quickly simply reverted to rebel posturing, boring guitar solos and appropriating the language of tired old cock rockers), the courage to wear their politics on their (LP) sleeve and the desire to SEEK - they were the most dynamic live act I'd ever seen! 

Postscript.
I was initially concerned that their return in 2011 would tarnish their name. I had no need to fear - live they are still an astonishing proposition and I did finally get to fulfil my ambition at Komedia in Brighton a couple of years ago. Mark Stewart thrust the mic forward for me to sing... 

"Where there's a will, there has got to be a way..."

Excelsior!

Bands I wish I'd been in #5 - A Certain Ratio

A Certain Ratio (ACR) are a post-punk band formed in 1977 in Wythenshawe, Manchester, England. While originally part of the punk rock movement, they soon added funk and dance elements to their sound. This coincided with super funking drummer Donald Johnson joining. They are sometimes referred to as "post punk funk". The band's name was taken from the lyrics of Brian Eno's song "The True Wheel" from the 1974 album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy).

The group's longest serving original members are Martin Moscrop (guitar, trumpet), Jez Kerr (bass, vocals) and Donald Johnson (drums, vocals, bass) who joined after the first drummer less single (All Night Party/Thin Boys). Two of the original members subsequently left the band: Simon Topping (left in 1983 for Quando Quango and later joined T-Coy), plus guitarist Peter Terrell, who left in 1982. Keyboardist Andy Connell, who joined in 1982, left to form Swing Out Sister in 1985.

A Certain Ratio's first recording contract was with Factory Records in 1979. They released The Graveyard and The Ballroom only on cassette in 1980. This led them to put out  To Each..., released in 1981. Their first album was blighted by a studio technician who reset all of the panel prior to the final mixdown. The impact of which significantly hindered the final pressing, with the final mix not truly reflecting their new found funky dynamic.

Despite being signed to Factory (and the labels notoriously industrial aesthetic) ACR were heavily influenced by the NYC funk scene. Their sound incorporated latin tinges too. Their magnificent second album Sextet featured NYC vocalist Martha Tilson and captured the funky vibe that To Each... had hinted at.  

This was followed up by I'd like to see you again, the cover of which showed the band in the Hacienda nightclub. The album took the band even further away from the bleaker landscapes of the traditional Factory artists (Joy Division, Section 25, Crispy Ambulance etc). I'd like to see you again was the last album to feature Topping and Terrel.

The second age of ACR is regarded by some as their best. The keyboard work of Andy Connell and sax of Tony Quigley fleshed out their sound. As someone who saw a lot of the band at this time (Lance Corporal Franks of the notorious ACR Barmy Army reporting for funk patrol sah!) their gigs became euphoric events. 

Studio albums Force and Good Together followed (the latter their first for a major label). The album failed to produce a hit, leading to the band's departure from the label, which whilst I'm sure was very frustrating for the band was never important for their fans. In the early 1990s, they signed with Rob's Records, owned by New Order manager Rob Gretton.

The trio of albums they released in the 90's acr:mcr, Up in Downsville and Change the station all hit the spot. With the title track of the second of those albums in particular becoming a firm favourite on the PNUK dancefloor (@ The Foundry, Shoreditch) at the turn of the millennium.

In 1990 Creation Records reissued the albums on CD and in 2002 Soul Jazz Records reissued the albums with bonus tracks (but using the same masters as the Creation editions.) Further re-issues and a live recording from 1980 have also been made available on the LTM label.

A Certain Ratio were initially managed by Tony Wilson. They feature in the film 24 Hour Party People where Tony Wilson (played by Steve Coogan) described them as "having all the energy of Joy Division but better clothes." Martin Moscrop was Musical Supervisor of 24 Hour Party People.

I reckon I must have seen the band over 30 times and from the very first gig at the basement in Brighton to the most recent one in East London they have consistently sent me home happy with their unique mix of Manc samba, punk and fundamentalist funk!

Although the band does not play full-time any more, they continue writing, recording and performing. Jez Kerr has released a thoroughly enjoyable solo album 'Numb Mouth Eat Waste' and it is hoped that the band will follow up their 2008 release Mind Made Up in due course. And if they are looking for a second guitarist to splatter wah wah guitar all over their funk, then I am available!

Personal ACR Top 10

1. Si firmir o grido (Womad festival live version)

2. Knife Slits Water (12")

3. Rialto (Sextet)

4. Sesamo Apriti - Corco Vada (I'd like to see you again)

5. Flight (12")

6. Do the Du (Casse) (12")

7. Brazilia (12")

8. Mello (12")

9  Guess who?  (12")

10. Abracadubra (Sir Horatio 12")

Album[edit]

• The Graveyard and the Ballroom (December 1979) – FACT 16 [cassette] 
• To Each... (1981) – FACT 35 
• Sextet (1982) – FACT 55 
• I'd Like To See You Again (1982) – FACT 65 
• Force (1986) – FACT 166 
• Good Together (1989) – A&M ACR 550
• acr:mcr (1990) – A&M 397 057-2
• Up In Downsville (1992) – ROB20 
• Change The Station (1997) – ROB50
• Mind Made Up (2008) – reissued via LTM (2010)

Singles[edit]

• "All Night Party" / "The Thin Boys" 7" – FAC 5
• "Shack Up" / "And Then Again (live)" 7" – FBN 1
• "Flight" / "Blown Away" / "And Then Again" 12" – FAC 22
• "Do The Du (Casse)" / "The Fox" / "Shack Up" / "Son And Heir" 12" – FACUS 4
• "The Double 12" " (12" 2 x 12", 7 tracks) – FACT 42 – Italian Import inc FAC 22 and FACUS 4
• "Waterline" / "Funaezekea" 12" – FAC 52
• "Knife Slits Water" / "Tumba Rumba" 7" – FAC 62-7
• "Knife Slits Water" / "Kether Hot Knives" 12" – FAC 62-12
• "Guess Who?" (Parts 1 and 2) 12" – FBN 17
• "I Need Someone Tonight" / "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" 12" – FAC 72-12 (
• "Life's A Scream" / "There's Only This" 12" – FAC 112
• "Life's A Scream (Edit)" / "There's Only This (Edit)" 7" – FAC 112P
• "Brazilia" / "Dub" 12" – FBN 32
• "Wild Party" / "Sounds Like Something Dirty" 12" – FAC 128
• "Mickey Way (The Candy Bar)" / "Inside" / "Si Firmi O Grido" 12" – FAC 168
• "Greetings Four" EP – "The Runner" / "Inside" / "Bootsy" / "Fever 103" (all session versions) 12" – MASO 70004
• "Bootsy" / "Inside" 7" (Australian only) – FAC 1667
• "Bootsy (Remix)" / "Mickey Way" 12" (Australian only) – FAC 16612^[9]
• "The Big E" – A&M
• "Backs to the Wall" / "Backs to the Wall (Dub)" / "Be What You Wanna Be" (ACR version) 12" – ACRY 517
• "Your Blue Eyes" / "Thin Grey Line" / "Coldest Days" 12" (also on 7") – ACRY 534
• "Won't Stop Loving You (Bernard Sumner version) / "Repercussions" (ACR remix) / "Love Is The Way" (Instrumental) 12" – ACRY 540 – UK No. 55^[7]
• "Won't Stop Loving You (Bernard Sumner version) / "Won't Stop Loving You (Norman Cook remix) / "Won't Stop Loving You (Cook Instrumental) – ACRY 540 – This was essentially a hurried re-press by A&M in an attempt to push the single up the singles chart (it failed).
• "Good Together" – EP – A&M 12"
• "Shack Up (Machine)" / "Shack Up (Man)" / "Shack Up" (Norman Cook remix) / "Party Up" 12" – ACRYDJ 590 – Promo only
• "The Planet" / "Loosen Up Your Mind" 12" – 12 ROB 2
• "27 Forever (Bubble Bath Mix)" / "27 Forever (Fix Mix)" (both remixed by Jon Dasilva) 12" – 12 ROB 5R
• "Mello" / "Dub" / "27 Forever" (Jon Dasilva remix) / "Moist Dub" 12" – 12 ROB 6R
• "Tekno" / "Tekno" (Way Out West remix) 12" – 12 ROBS 18
• "Soundstation Volume 2" EP – "Samba 123" (Fila Brazilia remix) / "Yeah Boy" (Sons of Samarkand remix) / "Yeah Boy" (DJ Die) 12" – 12 ROBS 22
• "Shack Up" / Human League – "Being Boiled" 12" – SJR 57-12 (Soul Jazz Records)

Compilations and live albums[edit]

• A Certain Ratio Live in America (Live Album, 1985) – DOJO 47 (Castle Communications)
• The Old and the New (Singles Compilation, 1986) – FACT 135
• Looking for a Certain Ratio (Remixes, 1994) – CRE159B
• Early (2002) – SJR60 (Soul Jazz Records)
• Live in Groningen (2005) – LTM 2443

Thanks to Wikipedia for discography!

Poll Results - Band you wish you had been in

1 - Modern Jazz Quartet
2 - The Smiths
3 - The Temptations
4 - The Clash
5 - The Wailers
6 - The Special AKA
7 - Alternative TV

Bands I wish I'd been in #4 - The Hip Troop

Hey, hang on a minute...

I think the time is getting closer. One night only?

Bands I wish I'd been in #3 - The Temptations (Circa Psychedelic Shack)

"Psychedelic Shack, that's where it's at!"

How good would it have been to be in The Temptations during their psychedelic period of the late 1960s/early 1970s. The addition of Dennis Edwards to the Temptations coincided with the adoption of a new sound for the group by producer Norman Whitfield, and in the autumn of 1968, Whitfield began producing psychedelic-based material for the Temptations, derived primarily from the sound of funk band Sly & the Family Stone. This new style, which debuted with the Top 10 hit single "Cloud Nine"[14] in October 1968, was a marked departure from the David Ruffin-era ballads, leading the group to a new and higher plateau. The instrumentation was funkier, the beat was hard-driving, and all five Temptations traded lead vocals, similar to Sly & the Family Stone. "Cloud Nine", the centerpiece of the group's landmark Cloud Nine LP, was a Top 10 hit and won Motown its first Grammy Award, for Best R&B Vocal Group Performance of 1969.

The blending of the Motown sound and psychedelic rock sound resulted in a new subgenre of music called "psychedelic soul", also evident in the work of Diana Ross and the Supremes ("Reflections", "Love Child"), Marvin Gaye's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", and the music of The 5th Dimension, The Undisputed Truth and The Friends of Distinction. More Temptations psychedelic soul singles would follow in 1969 and 1970, among them "Runaway Child, Running Wild" (a number-one R&B hit), "I Can't Get Next to You" (a number-one pop hit), "Psychedelic Shack" and "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)". The group's other important albums from this period include Puzzle People (1969) and Psychedelic Shack (1970), which includes the original version of "War". Oh to have been let loose on the wah pedal then...

Current Members
Otis Williams
Ron Tyson
Terry Weeks
Joe Herndon
Bruce Williamson

Past members
Elbridge "Al" Bryant
Melvin Franklin
Eddie Kendricks
Paul Williams
David Ruffin
Dennis Edwards
Ricky Owens
Richard Street
Damon Harris
Glenn Leonard
Louis Price
Ali-Ollie Woodson
Theo Peoples
Ray Davis
Harry McGilberry
Barrington "Bo" Henderson
G. C. Cameron

Bands I wish I'd been in #2 - The Special AKA (1978-1981)

"Bernie Rhodes knows don't argue!"

Formed in 1977 by Jerry Dammers, Lynval Golding, Silverton Hutchinson and Horace Panter (also known as Sir Horace Gentleman), the band was first called The Automatics, then The Coventry Automatics. Terry Hall and Roddy Byers (also known as Roddy Radiation) joined the band the following year (along with me!), and the band changed its name to The Special AKA The Coventry Automatics, and then to The Special AKA. Comrade Joe Strummer of The Clash had attended one of their concerts, and invited The Special AKA to open for his band in their On Parole UK Tour. This performance gave The Special AKA a new level of national exposure, and they briefly shared The Clash's management. A dalliance which culminated in their joint manager Bernie Rhodes getting a fairly robust character assassination in their first single 'Gangsters'.

The Specials began at the same time as Rock Against Racism which first gathered in 1978. According to Dammers, anti-racism was intrinsic to the formation of The Specials, in that the band was formed with the goal of integrating black and white people. Many years later Dammers stated, "Music gets political when there are new ideas in music, ...punk was innovative, so was ska, and that was why bands such as The Specials and The Clash could be political."

In 1979 shortly after drummer Hutchinson left the band to be replaced by John Bradbury, Dammers formed the 2 Tone Records label and released the band's aformenetioned debut single "Gangsters", a reworking of Prince Buster's "Al Capone". The record became a Top 10 hit that summer. The band had begun wearing mod/rude boy/skinhead-style two-tone tonic suits, along with other elements of late 1960s teen fashions. Changing their name to The Specials, they recorded their debut LP Specials in 1979, produced by Elvis Costello. The album lead off with Dandy Livingstone's "Rudy, A Message to You" (slightly altering the title to "A Message To You, Rudy") and also had covers of Prince Buster and Toots & the Maytals songs from the late 1960s. In 1980, the EP Too Much Too Young (credited to The Special AKA) was a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart, despite controversy over the song's lyrics, which reference teen pregnancy and promote contraception.

Reverting once again to the moniker The Specials, the band's second album, More Specials was not as commercially successful and was recorded at a time when, according to Terry Hall, conflicts had developed in the band (Although being a teenager in Eastbourne I was blissfully unaware of such tensions - despite my being in the band?!).Female backing vocalists on The Specials first two studio albums included: Chrissie Hynde, Rhoda Dakar (then of The Bodysnatchers and later of The Special AKA), Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey (of The Go-Go's). In the first few months of 1981 the band took a break from recording and touring, and then released "Ghost Town", a non-LP Specials single, which hit number one in 1981. However, shortly afterwards, Staple, Golding and Hall left the band to form Fun Boy Three.I also left at the same time to do my summer job in the Swan Laundry.

Dammers then drastically revised the line-up of the band, adding vocalists Stan Campbell and Rhoda Dakar, and began working again under the group name The Special AKA. The resulting album from the new line-up, In the Studio, was less successful, although the song "Free Nelson Mandela" was a #9 UK hit.The latter contributed to making Mandela a cause célèbre in the United Kingdom, and became popular with anti-Apartheid activists in South Africa. Dammers then dissolved the band and pursued political activism.

The rest of the band with the exception of Jerry & I reformed a couple of years ago. Jerry has been doing his Sun Ra inspired project The Spatial AKA and I, well I've been doing this blog amongst other things...

Bands I wish I'd been in #1 - Alternative TV (1976-1977)

How much Longer? Action Time Vision?

Do I need any more reasons? Oh, ok then.

Alternative TV were formed by Mark Perry, the founding editor of Sniffin' Glue punk fanzine, with Perry and Alex Fergusson.Early rehearsals took place at Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records studio with Genesis P-Orridge on drums.

The band's debut on record was "Love Lies Limp", a free flexi disc issued with the final edition of Perry's Sniffin' Glue fanzine. On this single Perry and Fergusson were accompanied by John Towe (ex Generation X) and Tyrone Thomas. Towe left to join the Rage and was replaced by Chris Bennett. This line-up was the most straight-forwardly "punk" version of ATV and the version I wanted to be in, although they combined short fast songs with extended pieces such as "Alternatives To NATO", in which Perry read an anarchist political text and envisaged the possibility of a Soviet invasion of Britain. Shortly afterwards they released the "How Much Longer" / "You Bastard" 7" in December 1977. The A-side was a pointed critique of punk style: "How much longer will people wear/Nazi armbands and dye their hair?"

At the end of 1977, Perry sacked his chief collaborator and co-writer Fergusson (and I suspect he'd have axed me then too!). The latter went on to form the short-lived Cash Pussies and, a few years later, Psychic TV along with Genesis P-Orridge. He was replaced in ATV by Dennis Burns.

A dub influenced single, "Life after Life," was released as well as a debut album, The Image Has Cracked. The band's second album, Vibing Up the Senile Man, saw the band take a more explicitly experimental direction however, which alienated the music press and me. Around the same time, a live LP, split with commune-dwelling hippy band Here and Now was released (a document of their tour together), marking the band's movement further away from the ever more very predictable punk/new wave scene. Alternative TV soon evolved into the avant-garde project, The Good Missionaries (taking the name from a track on the 'Vibing' album), releasing one album, "Fire From Heaven" in 1979.

I on the other hand carried on to get two O-levels before joining The Specials (in my mind...)