Monday 15 September 2014

The Homosexuals ‎– "The Homosexuals' Record" (Recommended Records ‎– RR 18) 1984


From the same fertile London Squats as This Heat, here's a band name to rival the Bathroom Renovations and Danny and the Dressmakers as 'best band name' ever. I wish i'd thought of it. The Homosexuals (and they were beaten up for it too), existed in London squatland from 1972, and recorded mostly to mono cassettes for themselves and friends. Hardly releasing anything in their lifetime, except a couple of singles and an e.p. between 1978 and 1982; this record collects the releases and selected highlights from the bucketload of cassettes they recorded. I prefer this collection to the 3cd astral Glamour set on Hyped2Death, as it cuts out the boring chaff and leaves the quality that this band were more than capable of, if they cared.Their angular guitars, complex melodies, and experimental leanings distanced them somewhat from the punk rock being created by their contemporaries, and has now cemented them as uk DIY legends. So much so that they(Bruno Wizard and backing band!) have now reformed and are touring.
Also the group members released various other records as various alias (which have be posted earlier on this blog), like L.Voag, Just Measurers , Amos and Sara, etc.
A reissue of the first single, 3 tracks from The Homosexuals EP, 6 songs* from the live-to-tape session at Surrey Sound that was one of the first things recorded there (You can tell which songs those are because of the awful distortion), 3 alternate mixes ** and Jim's wonderful "False Sentiments." Remastered by Bob Drake. Bruno's handsome mug appears on the cover courtesy of one of Suzy's videos... 

(Before any sad fucker mentions it, Yes, it's the CD version from 2003....yawn).

Track Listing:

1) My Night Out *
2) Technique Street *
3) Vociferous Slam (a different mix from the EP with some tape-wobble but many more effects) **
4) Soft South Africans "#1" (a previously-unreleased rough-mix) **
5) Neutron Lover *
6) A Million Keys *
7) Naming of Parts *
8) Kiss With Venom *
9) Divorce from Reality
10) Hearts in Exile (45 version)
11) All About Cheap
12) Soft South Africans (45 version)
13) False Sentiments
14) Mecho Madness (a radically different mix from the EP) **
15) Astral Glamour
16) The Birds Have Risen
17) Collapsible You (a longer, more dub-stye mix that turned up in Chris Cutler's unused tapes: the 3:45 original is on George Harrasment and AG)
18) Snapshots of Nairobi (instrumental: never released: there's also a live vocal version on Astral Glamour)
19) "Soft South Africans (raw)" Actually this is the original rough mix of "Hearts in Exile" with all the vocals and the three guitar-parts that Bruno faded out (in response to which Anton faded Bruno's vocals up-and-down, dub-style. This is the pre-mixing counterpart to the rough mix of "SSA" from the LP and it's an incredibly major "find" (It'll be on Astral Glamour, too, of course.)
20) Walk Before Imitate (from the Recommended 2LP sampler)
21) Still Living in My Car (from Venceremos)


DOWNLOAD the homosexuals' mp3 zip file HERE!

3 comments:

Doorst hatslam! said...

JUDAS naw Ya tawkin! Surely there is nothing more to be said about this release ... apart from rub some fluoroquinolones on the grooves. 1972 indeed! Earthquake lasting 20 seconds destroys most of Bingol, Turkey.

Jonny Zchivago said...

You talk a strange language,may be you've ingested too many fluoroquinolones? They should be avoided as they are the primary cause of the rise of the Superbug! Earthquakes are real fun!

PaBbLo said...

Muchas gracias or thank you very much !