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The Pop Art Experience
Tune In, Turn On, Trip Out. Be warned this post contains a mix of different music genres from back in the day!
It was all packaged up on a simple cassette entitled 'Against The Tide'. I have to say I honestly don't miss cassettes that much, they were usually a bit hit and miss in terms of snagging up and unravelling, they were however, at the time, fantastic to some degree back in the day for shoving in your Walkman, making portable listening possible, before the easy days of Smart Phones and MP3's. Many a cassette I owned unwound itself on players I had at the time, ruining some really good albums and personal mixes (ah! the days of the naughty C-60 home created recording!). If you are old enough you might remember the slogan 'Home Taping Is Killing Music', for a read about it go to: myth-reality-home-taping-is-killing.
Anyway, enough already! On to the post...
This track is taken from a Compilation of Various Artists called 'Against The Tide' on the Bite Back! record label. I am assuming that by the cassette all of them were bands from Portsmouth. This particular number from brilliantly entitled 'Tune In, Turn On, Trip Out' by Paul Groovy & The Pop Art Experience. An awesome piece of Garage Rock Sound...
The Band were:
- Bass, Percussion – Steve Herlihy
- Drums, Percussion – Joanne Irwin
- Guitar, Backing Vocals – Steve Clarke
- Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica – Paul Groovy
The band's sound was kind of akin to Garage Rock. Paul Groovy was actually part of the whole Creation Records scene, evidently helping Alan McGee hand fold and wrap 7" singles and he also had his own fanzine 'Groovy Black Shades'. Catch more about him at Spinoutproductions.com. Pleased to say they were at least 'knocking around' in 2020 and releasing 'He's A Liar', which is really very good!
Experimental Rock
The track listing on the album is quite diverse, from quirky Avant-Garde Experimental Rock with Renaldo & The Loaf. You can take a listen to 'Hat's Off Gentlemen!' originally released as a cassette E.P. on the 'Rotcod Productions' label in 1980....hmmm guessing it might just be a self-financed release looking more at the label.
Again these were a Portsmouth based duo consisting of Renaldo Malpractice a.k.a. Brian Poole and Ted the Loaf a.k.a. David Janssen. Please have a visit to their website and gallery on renaldoloaf.com.
Surf Punk/Garage Rock
For a change I had actually heard of some of the bands on the cassette, Emptifish; a Surf Punk/Garage Rock band from the same area and formed in 1983. I had previously caught their track 'I Want That Girl' released on the Indie 'Crystal Records' label in 1986 on the wonderful You Tube site Charlie Spliff's 'Garbage Grails', please go visit the music is awesome!
Post Punk Psylons
Another band I recognized was a Post Punk outfit called The Psylons as I have their track, which actually reached #13 in the U.K Indie Chart of the day called 'Run To The Stranger' on a compilation album I brought years ago called 'The Indie Scene, The Story Of British Independent Music'. The album was a 'Various Artists Compilation' released in the 90's which was one album from a collection which started with music from 1977 and ended in 1986. Still have the majority of the albums on vinyl in my collection. Catch another brilliant track from them from 1988 called 'Waiting Nation'. I also read on You Tube in comments that they did a pretty amazing cover of 'Interstellar Overdrive' by Pink Floyd too! They also managed to get on two 'Peel Sessions' before calling it quits in 1995.
UK82 Punk
'Against The Tide' also featured a hardcore UK82 punk band called Ad Nauseum catch their sound at the link 'Brainstorming E.P.' originally released on the indie 'Flicknife Records' Label which was eventually taken over by Cherry Red Records in '92, but re-opened under it's own name again in 2010 catch the website at flickniferecords.co.uk
The whole cassette is brimmed full with such a wide range of music, here is another offering from another Portsmouth based Indie Rock band called Cranes, you can catch their first album released in 1986 called 'Fuse' at the link.
Punk/Mod Revival/New Wave
Finally what appear to be a mod revival style band called Treble X (catch more about them at Bus Stop Lovers), with a track called 'What To Look For' released originally in 1983 on the 'Rockshop Record' label the actual track on the 'Against The Tide' album features a track 'So Happy' which was originally released in 1988 on the 'Crystal Records' label. Have a look at the link for Crystal Recordings, a fantastic insight and wonderful photos of some of the bands featured here who recorded at the studios.
The track listing for 'Against The Tide' can be found on Discogs. Go look it up!
No doubt about it, this album contained a snapshot of bands of the day and a plethora of eclectic sounds all from a specific area. Portsmouth had (and probably still has) a wonderful and rich source of different sounds that I am sure we can appreciate!
Video Thanks
All You Tube Sources featured at the links
Picture Thanks
Photo by Girl with red hat on Unsplash
Info Sources
Discogs, Rate Your Music, Wikipedia