Wednesday, July 8, 2009

John Cooper Clarke


7-8-09 John Cooper Clarke


The Bard of Salford!


7" DAY MY PAD WENT MAD, THE / A DISTANT RELATION EPIC UK EPCA 2077

1982 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

CD DISGUISE IN LOVE EPIC UK 519840.2

1978 14 TRKS (3 x bonus tracks) ('05 issue)

LP DISGUISE IN LOVE CBS UK CBS 83132

1978 11 TRKS

7" GIMMIX! / MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE EPIC UK EPC 7009

1978 2 TRKS no pic sleeve

7" GIMMIX! / MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE EPIC UK EPC 12-7009

1978 2 TRKS with pic sleeve; orange vinyl, shaped disc, cover

7" INNOCENTS RABID UK TOSH 3

1977 4 TRK EP; with pic sleeve

LP ME AND MY BIG MOUTH (Collection) EPIC UK EPC 84979

1981 11 TRK Collection

7" NIGHT PEOPLE / FACE BEHIND THE SCREAM, THE EPIC UK EPCA 2521

1982 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

LP OU EST LA MAISON DE FROMAGE? NOZE UK NOZE 1

1977? 23 TRKS Live

7" POST-WAR GLAMOUR GIRL / KUNG FU INTERNATIONAL CBS UK SCBS 6541

1978 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

CD SNAP, CRACKLE [&] BOP EPIC UK 477380.2

1980 10 TRKS

LP SNAP, CRACKLE [&] BOP EPIC UK EPC 84083

1980 10 TRKS with his book…

7" SPLAT / TWAT / SLEEPWALK EPIC UK EPC 7982

1979 3 TRKS with pic sleeve; twin groove

10" WALKING BACK TO HAPPINESS (10") EPIC UK JCC 1

1979 10 TRK EP; Live, clear vinyl – still not on CD, as of 7/09

CD ZIP STYLE METHOD SONY UK 4178.2

1982 16 TRKS (4 x bonus tracks) ('07 issue)

LP ZIP STYLE METHOD EPIC UK EPC 85667

1982 12 TRKS


I always enjoyed this stuff. I visited his website recently, and it didn’t look like it had been updated recently. The “Upcoming Gigs” were all from ’08!


Never met ‘im. Never ‘ad the chance to see him live – apart from on videotape. I love his (UK C4) ‘film’ “Ten Years In An Open Necked Shirt”, which I have an Australian VHS PAL copy of. I have a book of his, too. I only recently ran across my orange vinyl shaped disc of “Gimmix!” – it was stuck at the end of the alphabet in my LP collection, as it likely wouldn’t fit elsewhere – once upon a time (and then I forgot about it). And I found at least 2 of his re-mastered CD’s…my “Snap Crackle…” CD isn’t a version with bonus tracks, unfortunately. And you never see that stuff – around here, anyway.


I’m glad to see Mr. Clarke is still alive. It would be nice if he’d make a new album one day…or get another book published. I’d walk across the street to see him perform live.


Mr. Clarke, Ta! Thanks for the amusing turns of phrase and lurvely Salford accent.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Funny, I just watched URGH! A Music War, featuring Mr. Clarke for the first time in its entirety last weekend. The bands that I responded to the most, apart from longtime favorites were Chelsea, whom I'd never heard before. I'd heard of the Au Pairs but not heard them and was impressed to finally think about getting a copy of "Music For A Different Sex." Goodness knows I saw enough copies back in the day. But one of the bands I liked the best was the relatively obscure Alley Cats.

Apparently they were a SoCal band that had some dealings with Frontier Records and never amounted to much, but I really liked their sound. I always thought from their name on the soundtrack LP (which I never bought - I should have a copy) that they would be rockabilly. Being that they were not and had "Cat" in their name at the dawn of the 80s was probably their death-knell, I'm thinking.

I liked the film a lot and pretty much enjoyed it all, except for The Surf Punks and X. The selection of bands has held up well over the intervening 29 years. It touches a lot of significant 1980 touchstones and plays well in 2009.

Anonymous said...

Exene looks really strung out during the X segment, which doesn't help her already miserable vocals. Was she an addict?

Ron Kane said...

Likely...