Skip to content
Hey there Sorry State gang, what’s happening? Another eventful week in the books and hopefully you all had a good one.
I’ll admit right off the bat that I got a little emotional on Monday. It marked the end of an era in history and made me feel homesick, something that I don’t tend to feel having lived outside of the UK for so long now. Although not officially so, I consider myself partly American, as I have been here more than half my life. Speaking to my mum, I could tell she was feeling the sadness. My sister ended up going to London during the week and took some amazing pictures of the sights there and she also went to Windsor on Monday and was amongst the crowd lining the route as the Queen’s hearse drove past.
Last week I spoke about the great new release of Charles Stepney music called Step On Step and this week I was able to play some tracks from that collection along with some of his other key productions and arrangements on the Face Radio show I do with my partner Matt. It felt good to be spinning records that day and to work out my emotions through the music. I think we had a good show, and it was very pleasing to get a thumbs up a couple of days later from no other than the daughters of Charles Stepney. That was cool.
Although it might appear that I only listen to cocktail jazz in my space-age bachelor pad, I do still listen to loud rock ‘n roll. This past week it was cool getting yet another version of The Heartbreakers L.A.M.F. to compare with my others, and I’ve been blasting that. This new one sounds good, and if you don’t have any version already in your collection, it’s worth picking up. However, that record is not “new” to me, and I needed something else. What better place to look than in the racks here at Sorry State. We had a UK pressing of Circle Jerks Wild In The Streets that somehow hadn’t been snagged, so I thought I would grab that. Not to be, as a customer beat me to it. No problem, there’s a nice reissue out with bonus live cuts and a cool booklet. Let’s find something else. Jeff had just listed a copy of China White’s Danger Zone EP and recommended it. I wasn’t familiar with the record from these California punks that came out in 1981. Gave it a few listens, and it was hitting the spot. Our Jeff knows his onions. Great, into my hold pile it went but only to see another smart customer spotted it on our webstore and bought it. Good for them, a canny choice.
So, two choices down and onto the next. Third times the charm, as they say. A while back, one of our good friends here at Sorry State had told me about the band Annihilation Time and how good their cover of Thin Lizzy’s Bad Reputation was. We had a copy here, and I put it aside along with two of their LPs. I’ll admit my hold pile here fills up, and over the weeks since putting those Annihilation Time records aside a few other more pressing purchases came up. So, fast forward to this week and needing that rock kick, it was time to break ‘em out. I blasted both albums plus the single in the store, and they hit the spot. Not trying to be a poseur I won’t tell you all about the band and their history like I know all about them, but I can tell you they formed in Southern California in the early 00s and have had a couple of line-up changes since their beginning. Their second LP simply tilted Annihilation Time II is considered a classic now and I can see that. It has shades of psychedelic music in with the mix of 80s HC and 70s punk. I like it and will probably buy a copy at some point but for me the first LP was the one I needed to buy first. I like the songs and directness of it all. Good stuff.
I’m late to this party so won’t blather on too much more. You are probably hipper to these guys than I am. I still haven’t heard the third LP they made for Tee Pee Records, but it’s on my list of things to look out for and play. Thanks to Mike for turning me on to them. Investigate if not familiar. Okay, that’s all I got for you. Go play some records and we’ll see you here next week.
Cheers - Dom