Flood Of Subs

Another record that was available from Tim's old collection, but one that I wasn't sure that I really wanted to bother with was the Flood Of Lies record from UK Subs. I was late getting into the UK Subs, and even then I've only bothered with their first two records from '79 and '80. Did I really want to bother with their 5th record... because realistically, can a punk band maintain a level of quality for that long? I put the record on the list of possible options, but I really wanted to listen to it before buying.

I pulled up the Flood Of Lies album on Spotify and after one listen, I thought that I might be telling Jeff that I was going to pass on this one. Nothing here really stuck with me. However, I did really like the cover art on this record, so before I made too hasty a judgement, I figured that I'd better listen to it a few more times to see if it would grow on me. I'm glad that I did, because with repeat listens this got better and better.

Obviously this record is no Another Kind Of Blues, or even Brand New Age, but Flood Of Lies is still a fun album. Guess I'm going to have to go back and check out other early UK Subs records.

When I was checking out Flood Of Lies on Spotify, I noticed that there were a few bonus songs included there. While it took a few listens to start to appreciate the album, the song Another Typical City Living In Another Typical Daydream immediately hooked me. I checked on Discogs to see where the song was from and discovered it was on a single the band released in 1983. Since I had the Flood Of Lies record, I had an urge to add the single to the collection as well.

Thankfully there was a US seller with the 12 inch available at a fair price and I immediately snatched it up.

New-Clear Age

I was extremely late to the party when it came to the UK Subs and some how did not hear the band until 2016. I was heavily into the late 70's punk sound that year, and I was hungry to check out just about any band from that era. When I finally got around to listening to that first UK Subs album, Another Kind Of Blues, I instantly fell in love with the band, and that record became one of my favorite discoveries that year.

It took me some time to finally getting around to checking out the second UK Subs album, Brand New Age, and after downloading a copy, I really wasn't feeling it. It sounded really muddy and I wondered if I'd downloaded a shitty copy of the songs, but after checking a couple other options on Soulseek, they all just sounded muffled and I couldn't totally get into it.

I ignored the album for a year or so, until I decided to finally give it another shot a couple months ago. I noticed that the album was on Spotify, and figured that it might be more reliable than the downloaded version that I had, and I queued it up. Well damn, it finally clicked and I was fucking loving the record. Despite having only really discovered the album two months ago, it is already one of my most listened to records this year.

I love UK Subs colored vinyl and had to go with the clear option for Brand New Age. I'm not sure how many bands were playing the colored vinyl game back in the late 70's and early 80's, but the UK Subs albums and singles look amazing and make them fun to collect. In addition to this album, I wanted to grab some of the 7 inch records from the band as well...however, some international orders are seeing significant delays due to the global pandemic, and until things calm down a bit, I've backed off from ordering from overseas sellers. For now, I'm just happy to have received this album from the UK.

UK Stranglehold

A couple of years ago, I was first introduced to the UK Subs, and immediately fell in love with their first album, Another Kind Of Blues. The blue vinyl looked amazing, and soon I was interested in their colored vinyl singles. I grabbed the single for Tomorrows Girls, and threw a couple on to my Discogs want list. Two years later, I'm finally pulling the trigger.

All of the songs on the Stranglehold single ended up on the band's first album, so there wasn't really anything new here, but I believe that these songs are from a different recording session. The song Stranglehold is such a great and catchy tune.

Looking good on red vinyl.

Another UK Subs single that I picked up was for She's Not There. A cover song from the The Zombies out of the 60's, the UK Subs inject it with a shot of punk attitude. The song Kicks is from the UK Subs second album, Brand New Age, but everything else here is exclusive to this 7 inch. Definitely worth grabbing.

Green vinyl. These colors look so good that I've got an itch to chase some more of them. Maybe I'll get around to that in two more years.

Another Kind Of Blues

For me, 2016 has been an amazing year for new music...and by new, I mean music that is well over 35 years old, but that I'm just getting around to hearing for the first time.

After uncovering a couple late 70's Punk albums recently, I became a fiend looking for a fix...hunting high and low for hidden gems that I'd never heard before. UK Subs were one of the bands whose name kept showing up on the early Punk lists that I was digging out from the internets.

Initially, I kept writing them off and ignoring them. I'm not sure why. I suppose I kept thinking of them as some kind of Oi! street punk band, and I wasn't interested in that sound. After seeing their name repeatedly thrown around, I finally broke down, and dug out a youtube video of their first album, Another Kind Of Blues.

Say hello to my newest obsession. I couldn't get enough of it, and soon, the album had wormed it's way into my daily playlists. Reading up on the band, I found that there was a Punk wartime parody documentary, Punk Can Take It, and I even found a link for it on youtube to watch during my lunch break at work. The band obviously had my attention, and quickly climbed the list of records that I'd discovered and needed to buy.

The first 20,000 were pressed on blue vinyl, and finding one at a decent price from a US seller sealed the deal. It was mine.

The initial download that I'd grabbed of Another Kind Of Blues included a live version of a song called Telephone Numbers. It was a ripper of a song, but I noticed that it wasn't on the original vinyl release. So where did it come from?

After a bit of research, I found that it was a B-side song to the Tomorrows Girls single. Okay...I obviously needed this as well.

Both Telephone Numbers and Scum Of The Earth are essential UK Subs songs. As B-side exclusives, this single is mandatory.

I love that both of these were pressed on blue vinyl. Such a good look for 1979.