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The Fire Dept.The Fire Dept. - History of Fen Punk Vol. III [leda009] ()

The greatest English beat group of the last twenty years... Their First LP was put out by Billy Childish on and their second was on Yep! of Hove, and now this one here in association with Cormorant Recordings of Brighton, England... Whatever possessed them?? Maybe the Polaroids...


This audio is part of the collection: LedaTape

Artist/Composer: The Fire Dept.
Date: 0000-00-00 00:00:00
Source: Brighton and Hove, 1988-97
Keywords: Epic Garage Rock

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Notes

Provisional entry due to intense and excrutiating excitement... More details soon!! I (SS) wasn´t in this group but I was associated with them - as detailed at www.pinkstainless.net/simon - maybe like Jerry Garcia was with the Jefferson Airplane, or any of The 5th Beatles except George Martin, who would be Liam Watson, or Pete or Stu coz I was´t in the group, or Yoko for that matter coz there is a limit to how much I dig ´em. Alfuckingright then, Peter Blake, I admit it... Damn!

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Reviewer: mlwvandenberg - - December 19, 2008
Subject: Not music.
I doubt this is serieus music, because it sounds like a youtband.

Reviewer: NPalmer - - April 27, 2008
Subject: If you enjoyed listening...have a look at some photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feastofpalmer/sets/72157603918094578/

All the best

Neil

Reviewer: Simon Strong - - September 29, 2004
Subject: edited from a review from www.rockhunteronline.com
This CD is as primitive as a stoneage TV being used to bang nails into the first wheel in frustration at not being able to tune in to the wife-dragging world cup final!!! Frankly, though, half the tracks are shit

Theres some nice flourishes of plank-spanking mayhem on The Spartan Dreggs Yes I Can, a Sonics-style rave-up, and an alternate version of the Fire Depts Mental Block to the one your eagle-eyed reviewer spotted on the Sympathetic Sounds of Toe-Rag LP out on Sympathy for the Record Industry earlier in 2003. This version ditches the industrial-strength tape phasing and relies on heavy controlled feedback. Basically, it howls like a cat on heat. Useless fact, useless fact fans (On the contrary, in my opinion fact fans are actually quite useful!Ed.): Mental Block was originally done by early-80s Bristol mods The Reaction, as written by Sean Thomas, who was guitarist in Dover folk-rockers The Mystreated for a bit in the mid-90s, before he buggered off to the Continent to pursue his abiding interest in ball-squeezing hipsters, smoked meats and fine cheeses.

Theres a range of stuff on offer on Fen Punk that goes way beyond the psych-punk-folk-rockin fare of their 90s garage contemporaries. Examples are the Fire Depts Kinks-style Dolly Clackett, a sturdy belter with a heart of gold, the toe-curling fuzz punk of The Right Hand Paths When, and the smooth, blue-eyed Frat-Soul of Neale & The Fauns Whos Got My Love? With the exception of the last half dozen tracks, which were recorded at Toe-Rag in its long-demolished underground Shoreditch baseapparently, a former MoD command and control centremost of the stuff here is grade-Z ultra-primitive thud, with some oddball looning thrown in for light relief. Like I said, about 50% is sheer crap-ola, but its got balls of steel. In fact, some of the early recordings make The Gories sound like Spiritualized!!! Even better, unlike most limited edition comps, this ones not even for saletheyre givin em away!!!!