Reissues of obscure 1970s and ‘80s worldwide punk rock are not uncommon. It seems that not a week goes by that some little-known band from the era getting a reissue of their rare $600+ single.
Sadly, IMHFO, most of the bands were pretty ordinary at the best of times…lacking guts, originality, style or any other characteristics that can make olde time punk so great. These two releases here are the minority. If you call yourself a punk grab these pronto.
The Babeez 7” is brought to by Melbourne label Buttercup Records who have also issued titles by The Meanies, The Chosen Few and Deathwish. The Babeez were one of those great Melbourne punk bands from 1977 whose three-song single “Nobody Wants Me” is right up there with Razor, Rocks and The Leftovers in the Aussie ‘70s punk gold stakes.
This three-song single includes two early versions of songs from the first 45 and to hear them in this even more stripped down sound is a treat. It sounds like a well-captured four-track recording. The guitars are not as prominent as the versions on the first 7” but it’s great to hear the vocals as clearly as this.
Bass player Julie Jordan’s very cool backing vocals on “Hate” remind me of the way contemporary Aussie band HITS have (seemingly randomly) applied backing vocals on a lot of their tracks. The never-before-heard song (apart from a rare cassette only release) “Mainline Honey” is a bit more melodic than “Hate” and “Dowanna” and point towards the direction that the band was heading, which was almost Punk-Bubblegum.
This EP was released in three different and collectable editions so get in quick (or wait for the upcoming album).
Broken Talent were from Palm Springs, USA, and in 1985 somehow amongst all of the inter-band chaos (as explained in the liner notes) managed to record a 7” “Bloodslut”. Now, 30 years later, we get a full LP of tracks from that time.
Broken Talent have been described as like a drunker version of the band Flipper. Hmm I can’t see that (although a few songs do begin with slow fuzzy bass) to me they are a bit like early Black Flag with great songs, cool snotty vocals and attitude by the truckload to back it all up. They don’t sound afraid to experiment or go beyond what may have been considered punk.
“My God Can Beat Up Your God” is perhaps best known as being covered by Antiseen whose version is more grunge than punk.
For such an original sound (in the realms of Punk) Broken Talent ‘s really existed by the skin of their teeth (read the full story in the liner notes.) Only 500 copies of this LP were made so get in quick.
- Babeez
- Broken Talent
