The exuberant brass motif that drives this swinging soul number sounds instantly familiar, perhaps because of the many lives this song has had since it was written by The Chi-Lites’ lead singer Eugene Record and Sonny Sanders.

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No one would pretend Nick Lowe was a punk – he had almost a decade in music behind him by 1976. But he plays a key role in punk pre-history.

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Here’s another Deep Soul deep cut from back in the Summer of Love, 1967 – the only hit for Helena Ferguson. And here’s a piece of pop trivia – the backing band is The Ohio Players.

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Here’s another of those not-quite-punk-but-nearly records that came out in the musical hinterland between pub rock and punk in 1976.

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The first time I heard this was in the musical car chase movie Baby Driver, which I love.
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(I’m) Stranded is just fantastic. It’s a perfect storm of Ed Kuepper’s buzzsaw guitar and Chris Bailey’s sneering vocal, anchored by the whirlwind of Kym Bradshaw on bass and Ivor Hay’s drums.

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Delving further into the roots of punk, I discover The Hollywood Brats, whose 1973 song Sick Of You is arguably the earliest example of the genre

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Not a single song, but a handful of them – from the four-track EP that made a little bit of punk history. Released in late 1975, Speedball was the first record put out by Chiswick Records, the UK’s first real indie label.

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Has anyone heard of these progsters from the Channel Isles? I haven’t. I saw their name while looking at a list of bands who played The Marquee in that transformative year of 1976. (more…)

In the early Seventies my brief flirtation with Welsh rock bands seems to have extended to a third, Budgie. (more…)