An A-Z of my iPod: Part21 - U

U.

Well I nearly went with one of my all time favourite albums by The Undertones then changed my mind and nearly chose The Ultras album Surf-Pop-Sludge but in the end went for Ultravox!

Yes, Ultravox with a !

Not the Midge Ure shite of the Vienna years but proper John Foxx fronted Ultravox! from 1977 with their debut eponymously titled album. Ultravox!

Still sounds good after all these years.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part20 - T

And so we get to T.

Not sure this technically counts as a T but my iPod thinks it is.

So here's Thee Fourgiven and the 20th Anniversary issue of their 1985 debut album 'It Ain't Pretty Down Here'

The bass player is Dog Town skateboard legend Ray Flores.

I nearly bought one of these decks when they came out in 2002. I reckon this must be the wildest design ever. Would be a shame to grip it I guess but I expect most of them never got ridden as they are BDS decks.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part19 - S

Too much choice for S.

Most bands seem to begin with S, especially Surf bands.

Surfin' Lungs, Surfer Blood, Surfaris, The Surf Mariachis, The Surf Raiders, The Surfdusters, The Surfin' Robots, Surfmen.

And of course The Surf Punks.

My Beach was officially their second album although it was just a rehash of their first small label release on a big label.

Check out that skateboard guitar, Turning Point deck.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part18 - R

R.

The finest instru-mental surf-punk rock 'n' roll band from Germany...

...The Razorblades.

The Dark Side Of The Beach

Cheers to Buz for turning me onto them...

An A-Z of my iPod: Part17 - Q

Not a lot of Q's on my iPod.

In fact only a newish discovery of mine Queens Of The Stone Age.

2005 album Lullabies To Paralyze

An A-Z of my iPod: Part16 - P

P...

I gotta lotta P's on my iPod.

The Passions, Paul Weller, Pere Ubu, Peter Bruntnell, Peter Frampton, Peter Tosh, Pigbag, Pink Floyd ;-) , The Piranhas, PJ Harvey, Placebo, Plasticland, Plastics, Pokey LaFarge, Poly Styrene, The Pop Group, Porcupine Tree, Portishead, Primal Scream, Prince, The Prisoners, Psychic TV, Public Image Ltd, Pulp, and todays choice...

The Psychedelic Furs and their eponymous (good word that) first album.

This was an absolute favourite album of mine in early 1980 when it was released, I played it over and over, it still makes the hairs on the back of neck stand up when I hear the 2 minute intro to India building to it's climax.
I don't think they ever bettered this album, great sax.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part15 - O

Not much O on there.

OMD, Orange Juice, The Orb...

Here's their 2010 collaboration with David Gilmour, yes that bloke from Pink Floyd, I don't really like Pink Floyd honest...

Metallic Spheres

An A-Z of my iPod: Part14 - N

Not so much choice with N.

New Order, Nikki Sudden, New York Dolls, Nick Cave, New Age Steppers etc.

But this N is one of my all time favourites...

Naz Nomad & The Nightmares and their one and only album from 1984 'Give Daddy The Knife Cindy'.

Naz Nomad & The Nightmares were in fact the Damned. The album only contains two original tracks but the rest are all excellent cover versions of 60's garage tracks. At the time of hearing this album for the first time when it came out I wasn't even aware of some of these tracks being covers but it led me into the 60's garage scene.
Luckily I saw Naz Nomad & The Nightmares play live a couple of times.

An A-Z of my iPod: Part13 - M

Halfway there now.

M.

Lotta M's on my iPod.

Magazine, The Members, The Marketts, MC5, Mark Stewart, Messur Chups, The Meteors, Misty In Roots, Mungo Jerry, Moloko...

Very nearly carried yesterdays theme of The Medway Sound on with The Milkshakes but then noticed Man and their 1969 album '2 Ozs Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle'.
How could I resist an album that contains a track entitled Spunk Box.

I first stumbled across the Welsh Psychedelic Prog Rockers on the compilation 'Greasy Truckers Party'

An A-Z of my iPod: Part12 - L

And so we get to L.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Lemon Jelly, The Lemon Pipers, Les Sexareenos, Link Protrudi & The Jaymen, Little Axe, The Lively Ones, Luke Haines.
I very nearly chose The Lambrettas but in the end went for...

The Len Price 3 and their 1st album from 2004 Chinese Burn.

Garage/Pub Rock with a Mod influence the latest in a great tradition of what has become known as The Medway Sound.