A Trillion Shades of Happy
Deleting Music is relatively newish and yet has a resonance for me that goes much further back. It touches on something that I, as a fairly longstanding, one might say elderly, member of the New Zealand music industry, albeit semi-retired, feel quite strongly about, and that’s our quickly evaporating musical past.
In particular the quickly evaporating New Zealand musical past.
I’ve written about this here before (and am too lazy to find the link but it’s there and garnered quite a few comments the last time, perhaps some two years back) but we seem to have not moved ahead much, at least publicly, in the interim. That said, I’ve not been inactive and some things are skipping ahead in small increments with like minded people.
Three things have made me decide to post again.
Firstly there is the release of Chris Bourke’s monumental history of pre-and early rock’n’roll musical history, Blue Smoke. Buy it please. Enjoy it — you will. Immerse yourself in the music — you can’t. Nope almost everything he writes about in the book is unavailable. You can’t buy it. You can’t even steal it online. The same is true of the overwhelming bulk of the music I listed last year on my Zodiac page. And much of John Dix’s Stranded in Paradise.
Secondly, two friends died. One, Ian Morris, has parts of his legacy in catalogue. Late last year I made the remastered Screaming Meemees’ album he produced available again. However, the two albums by Th’Dudes are unavailable as is any collection of their work, including the anthology I put together with the band in 2002 (deleted after Stebbings lost the rights to the band and simply never reissued). Huge parts of Ian’s work is simply MIA.
The other friend, Tony Peake, who I posted about here, has only one track available, on a compilation put together by the tireless Rob Mayes. Rob, who really deserves a knighthood (which he would never accept of course) for his work in preserving New Zealand, and in particular, Christchurch cultural history, has been working on a collection of Tony’s work with an unspecified arrival date in the far future. However, right now, and every day since it dropped out of the charts in the early 1980s, The Newtones’ Painting The Town Red has been unavailable aside from the fact that it’s become a Christchurch live anthem I’m told — a Louie Louie of its generation. But you can’t buy the bloody thing. You can’t even steal that one despite the fact it was a hit just before the digital age.
The third reason was the launch of this, a history of the Internet in NZ. Why can geekdom (many of whom I admire immensely before anyone gets defensive about the tag) get it together, whilst what is one of our most tangible and individual cultural gathering points and identifiers, simply can not.
The fourth reason is to prod my personal ennui on this. The longer we wait, the more we lose. I’m in Thailand but given the digital smallness of our world there are no longer excuses and one thing I’ve always been rather good at is taking on silly projects and trying to make them work.
Just to make the point stronger, the following albums, from 1974 onwards, all important musical landmarks (and some are rather good too) are either unavailable or only out there in shitty first generation CD issues with appalling sleeves:
- Car Crash Set
- The Dance Exponents (the Mushroom albums are in print but almost unlistenable, the Ze Disc one has never been on CD)
- The Body Electric
- Grace (wonderful sweet soul from the Ioasa Brothers)
- Fuemana (parts of it are on Amplifier)
- The Deepgrooves Double
- The Dunedin Double (will no doubt turn up as the Flying Nun reissue program takes hold, but has never been on CD and has been unavailable since the 1980s)
- Hello Sailor (there are a couple of comps out there, but all the original albums are unavailable and have been for decades)
- Th’Dudes (as above)
- Miltown Stowaways — Tension Melee — and the rest of the Unsung label catalogue.
- Urban Disturbance — 37 Degrees Latitude
- AK 89 — In Love With These Rhymes (the very first NZ hip hop collection — it may be awful — it may not be, I don’t have a cassette deck and that’s the only way it existed — but it’s ours and it’s a part of what we are)
- Ragnarok
- Schtung
- Push Push — A Trillion Shades of Happy (the 1991 Band of the Year). Unavailable since about ’95
- Sulata
- Waves (hugely regarded NZ Folk Rock album in its day and a band that were a major part of the same scene that gave us Split Ends/z)
- DD Smash (all albums, there but in shitty sleeves and covers — as JP Hansen points out, the Live album — an NZ number I recall — has never been on CD!))
- Herbs — Greatest Hits only available — not the seminal mini album or anything else
- Don McGlashan & Ivan Zagni ‑Standards
- Lava Lava (3 tracks only on Amplifier)
- DLT — The True School (the album that gave the world the number one NZ single Chains) & Altruism (I was shocked to find these two off the catalogue)
- Nathan Haines — Shift Left (don’t blame me, blame Universal for that one) & Soundkilla Sessions Vol 1
- Nemesis Dub Systems (a pretty major release at the time — gone for at least 15 years)
- Jordan Reyne (the first few albums)
- 3 The Hard Way (the first album and the first big NZ Hip Hop album)
- The New Loungehead — Came A Weird Way
- and Split Enz – yes the albums are available and they’re remastered, but the packaging is appalling. In fact, the same could be said of all Warners NZ catalogue reissues. The care taken is insulting.
Remember The Wastrels? Probably not if you are under 40. They were a really big live band in their day, from the South Island, influencing a whole bunch of other acts and filling bars and clubs. People that did see them talk very fondly of them, and they headed quite a healthy and briefly important regional subculture. Wanna buy their records? Wanna find an image of the band? Sorry…
How about the healthy dub/alt-hip hop scene in Auckland around the end of the 1980s? Missing any and everywhere. No images, no documentation, no stories, no music. Gone. It arguably helped pave the way for the whole downbeat scene from the late 1990s and beyond.
And there are literally thousands of singles, like The Newtones’ two 7“s, simply AWOL (and, yes, I’m as guilty of that as anyone, but I’m aware of it) with related artwork and imagery, plus the stories that surrounded them just gone.
That list above took me all of three minutes to compile (and I may need to be corrected on a few of those, but there are literally hundreds more). EMI’s New Zealand office, when it was still more than a marketing office for Australia, made a reasonable stab at the 1960s a few years ago, but the 1970s, 1980s and large parts of the 1990s have simply dropped off the radar.
The awful part is not only are these records disappearing but most are also gone from the public consciousness — forever. They may sit in a dusty cupboard in a library amongst a collection of a million other non-related cultural artefacts, although many do not, but unless this culture is preserved and offered back to the nation, it may as well be dead.
The venues are forgotten. Who knows where the Jive Centre in Auckland was? 1 It was the dominant venue which shaped rock’roll in widgie and bodgie Auckland. A whole generation spent their youth there.
The original masters, too, often old analogue multi-track tapes, are often either gone or close to gone. A central depository for these things is also required — climate controlled and secure.
The only bright spot is Amplifier and its aggressively active management, who, in conjunction with small labels like Ode, are, steadily filling gaps. There are all sorts of bits turning up on Amplifier and some I would have deemed lost forever. However, as worthy as that is, it still exists in a vacuum of sorts and it’s beyond a private e‑commerce site like that to archive everything.
It’s too much and unreasonable to expect the bands and artists to be responsible for their recorded and cultural legacy. Many of course have simply died, and we are now seeing many of the bands of the fifties and sixties thinned. Almost all the important promoters and crucial movers of those decades — Eldred Stebbing, Benny Levin, Phil Warren, Dave Dunningham amongst them – are gone.
Many, most, of the music made in the last decades in New Zealand, was made by small independent studios, or for tiny recording studios. The ownership of these recordings is at best grey. Who owns the countless recordings issued on New Zealand’s first indie label, TANZ (which stood for To Assist New Zealand Artists), or Benny Levin’s Impact? How about the Johnny Devlin masters? They were released by Phil Warren on his Prestige label and for a while, Festival was licensing these before they worked out they only had rights in Australia and even that was dubious. The Phil Warren Estate now claims these but has no way of cataloguing or preserving. How about the 50 or so releases on the tiny, but important Robbins label from Christchurch in the 1960s. Jon Doe’s Hit Singles label? Audion Records run from Auckland University around 1960–61?
And so it goes on.
We have a film archive. We have a TV archive. We archive papers, documents, books, newspapers and just about everything else. Is it asking too much for a dedicated NZ Music Archive.…..
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“Is it asking too much for a dedicated NZ Music Archive……” Hear, hear!
Also, I’m pretty sure almost all of the Xpressway back catalogue is OOP, and damned if I’ve seen This Kind of Punishment on CD.
Add to that all the Corpus Hermeticum stuff — No Fun (in the US) recently re-released A Handful of Dust’s Thee Philosophick of Mercury and Now, God, Stand Up For Bastards as a double CD — well done, but missing all the awesome sleeve notes which are half the joy of a HOD album.…. Don’t think anything else has ever been reissued.
we have an organisation who are tasked to archive content.
there it is in 2 c of their governing act.
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1989/0025/latest/DLM158014.html#DLM158014
but since they’re too busy directing all their funds toward 5th albums by the feelers don’t hold your breath. they’d only fuck it up anyway.
as an aside: there was at least one CD from This Kind Of Punishment released out of the US
great post Simon if something isn’t done we’ll lose so much about what kept us sane and busy before this global age
Good thinking,good words, the comments on Robbins Records resonanted with me ..that appears to be underdocumented.. I gather everything that I see on that label because I want to know more.. I pick up/buy it all ..
The Unsungs’s etc will be documented but the uncool at the time bands/labels will disappear. Keep on drawing attention to them. Also what about that label Orly Records.. who.where?.. also Talent City from the 1960’s (they released a single by The La De Das, )what else did they did they release??
Speaking of Ian (and what a horrible loss that is), is his Tex Pistol album available?
Oh, and the Live DD Smash album “Deep in the Heart of Taxes” (with a stunning version of ‘Guilty’) was never issued on CD.
@JP I think much of the Pagan catalogue — the albums at least — is available. But the singles.….
And yes I knew the live album was missing.
I agree entirely, Simon. Regarding the Dunedin Double, I’d love to see it re-issued as well. However, this may be hampered due to Sneaky Feelings’ master tapes being lost (so the rumour goes). There’s no songs from it on the Positively George St comp, either.
Regarding This Kind Of Punishment, US indie Ajax re-issued A Beard Of Bees and In The Same Room (with the ‘5 by four’ ep added) in 1994. There was 1000 copies of each album on vinyl, so I assume there was at least that many on CD. German label Raffmond re-issued their s/t debut on CD in about 1998 or so.
Rightly or wrongly, various blogs have these releases available, should you wish to, ahem, access them.
Graeme Jefferies is still in Europe as I understand, but Peter Jefferies is back in New Plymouth these days.
If it’s still available… Paint The Town Red by Newtones is on a compilation put out by EMI a couple of years ago called ‘Christchurch The Music’.
There is an archive where you can find the music listed above. Search the National Library catalogue (http://nlnzcat.natlib.govt.nz/) and there they are!
The National Library is doing its best to collect all music released in NZ and by NZers overseas, in ALL formats (Cassette, CD, Vinyl, Lathes, digital files). There is a lot, and it is very easy to miss some. We rely a lot on the independents in particular to contact us about their releases.
Any of the music in our collections can be accessed by the public. We don’t distribute, but it is here to be heard, which is not a bad thing.
contact me at gavin.pascoe (at) natlib.govt.nz for more info.
Hi Gavin, I know that the National Library collects the physical releases but what I’m talking about is far, far more than that. We require, I think, a cultural document of the musical times with a strong web interface which brings them, their times, the people who made them (not just the musicians) and the scenes, to life. We also need to preserve things like the masters and provide a central respositary where master tapes and the like can be stored and repaired. An archive can also work towards aiding private enterprise to reissue or to offer a central research database for such. And, very importantly, it needs to be a dedicated archive with just music as it’s focus.
Great post, Simon. About 8 of those albums you list are on Deep Grooves. So wish they were back in criculation, (esp Deep Grooves comps) just to show that AK did the funky-regggae-dance-thang over a decade before the Welly reggae sound took over BBQs and cafes nationwide.
On the TANZA label — I’ve got a cd that was reissued a few years back, compiled by Jim Sutton. see http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~jimnost/Jim%20Sutton%20-%20Nostalgia%20CD%27s.htm
Good thoughts. My understanding is the Impact masters are at Stebbings. The Waves album’s copyright is owned by band leader Graeme Gash who I understand isn’t keen on a reissue. They also recorded a second album that was never issued…their label Direction went under prior to its issue. There were a lot of masters stored at EMI’s distribution centre but I’m not sure what became of them when they moved locations 5 years or so back. Written history of those great apartment blocks the Gluepot and Bell Block Hotel in NP would be timely.
Peter, yep, I’ve got that (Vol 1). I don’t think it was licensed or legit, but who knows who owns that stuff?
Andrew, I retrieved loads of 24 track masters from the dumpster outside Harlequin, in a mad panic when it was torn down. Most, I gave back to the bands. The Phillips / Phonogram / PolyGram stuff up to the mid 1980s was all notoriously trashed in Wellington when they moved north.
The problem with most of this stuff too is that nobody knows who owns what. The Impact masters might be safe, but who owns things like the Allison Durban master. Louise Hunter had all Benny’s paperwork but she said to me a few years back that that stuff was all missing. It’s a quagmire that needs sorting.
I wouldn’t disagree with anything on your list (some of them may not be my sort of thing but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important). I’d also add:
* Low Profile — Released at least one album and three twelve inch singles and almost had a novelty hit with “Elephunk in my Soup”. Heard that one played on National Radio a couple of years ago.
* From Scratch — “Drum/Sing” etc., at least two album length releases (one on Flying Nun and I don’t know who did the other). A third album has been released on CD.
* The Hulamen — “Beer and Skittles” mini LP. I think they’re part of the same family tree that spawned the Holidaymakers who had a huge hit.
* The Swingers — Only “Practical Jokers” is easily available. Their AK79 recordings and a couple of early singles are findable with work but I’ve never seen any of their later material — “Punch and Judy” or their contributions to the “Starstruck” soundtrack — on CD. Similarly unobtainable is Phil Judd’s first solo album (although I think he was fairly firmly domiciled in Australia by then).
And there’s also the guilty pleasures which may not be important important, but which I’d still like to hear again (or just hear for the first time):
* Coconut Rough — The only thing of theirs that the public remembers is “Sierra Leone”, but they released at least three singles and I’m fairly sure there was an album. The album was already unobtainable in record stores by about 1986.
* Hip Singles — At least three songs (one of which popped up on a compilation LP many years ago). Finally found a single of the third song on Trade Me a year or so back.
* Thin Red Line — One album, two EPs and at least one cassette tape.
* Katango — One single I have faint memories of thinking wasn’t so bad.
* Satellite Spies — I’m fairly sure they released a whole album.
And then there’s others, in categories such as “I’d want it in a plain brown wrapper” (Monte Video and the Cassettes) or “It’s not for me, it’s for the boss” (the Knobz album) that I’m sure at least someone, somewhere, wants to listen to again.
But, basically, everything I’ve listed (and a good proportion of what’s already been mentioned, including your list) is something I’d happily pay actual money for actual CDs of if they were ever available. (I’ll just have to make sure the boss reimburses me for his Knobz album).
DLT..Shift Left.. you are joking!
This is a very sad situation.
Mind you when I had a hard drive disaster a few years back I was amazed how much stuff in the UK was now deleted from just last decade.
Daveosaurus, pretty much anything to do with From Scratch resides in the Elam archives/library now — I am currently working with Phil Dadson to sort these out a bit and make them more digestible. This includes posters, mechanical artwork, photos, correspondence, clippings, press kits, receipts… It’s a big project and this is only one band, but we are lucky that Phil (and more recently Elam) has kept everything, independently of whatever label he was working with from project to project. Phil and FS are an interesting case because he(/they) is of equal interest to the art world so he appears in lots of collections and archives. BTW, most FS releases have made it to CD in one form or other and Phil has had a lot of masters digitised too. Watch this space
Huge worry to lose this chunk of our heritage. All is not lost though — Jordan Reyne has some of her early stuff on her web site — available for free download too … http://jordanreyne.com/
Maybe others have stuff available too.
Hi Dave,
Steve Garden will have the low profile recordings as part of his wider collection. Search on Rattle records, Garden Shed or his name.
Have a look at http://sounz.org.nz/finder/show/people?query=Don+McGlashan&x=30&y=10 for From Scrath and other more serious composer related music.
It looks like Sounz is trying to do some form of archive but try searching for John Quigly (Bongos/ Big Sideways etc.) and it falls down although http://www.zulu.co.nz/about.php shows that John is still out there making music.
I have seen some of the other pieces you mentioned around the place — Big Idea has some of the back story on Thin Red Line for example. Greg F is still around (ask him for a copy.)
http://www.soundarchives.co.nz Radio NZ has some of this and much of it is sitting in garages and private collections around the country side.
Simon & Andrew have hit the nail on the head here.
There is a gap in the music archive for NZ for all sorts of reasons. With the software & other archiving resources being easier to come by — what is needed is a project to define what should be done and how to preserve our cultural artefacts in a better less random sort of way.
I have talked with many music related collectors, journalists and others in the past few months and it does seem that a project is a good idea.
Watch this space.
Hi Simon,
speaking of Car Crash Set: somebody said that the opening music for RTR in this clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDHhM2CQqUE) is by them. Do you know if that is so?
If not, don’t spose you know who it IS?
–s
No, but it sounds a bit proggy for CCS. Trevor Reekie is the one to ask
Hi Simon
Yep you are guilty 2. Where is “Class Of 81” or “We’ll Do Our Best”?
If a full release is out of teh question cany you not get these things on Itunes or a download site where they can be purchesed from before your target market dies off?
Other fav’s that appeared to be never available & or released in miniscule amounts those lovely Kiwi Samplers we used to get like Kiwi Fruit Salad/ Barking Up The Right Tree/ Goats Head Soap even Outnumbered by Sheep??? I think Roger being incharge of Fnun again is great hopefully he will look at “year by year” box sets collecting up eps/45s that were only ever on vinyl for the more obscure as well as well known Nunsters. I realize this syuff may be only available in “recorded from vinyl formats” but that can be done well as you note (Rob Mayes for Pope!) & I am sure if source material is disclosed as reason for quality of sound people will understand.
I second the demand for Coconut Roughs album I am stunned at the arrogance of Mushroom not releasing that One of our most underrated bands known for only one song.
Also Trevor if you are reading this how about the CCS stuff I know there was a vinyl release by a foreign label for CCS but I want on CD/MP3 ( or Ipod friendly files) how else can I torture the Mrs in the car? & the Mockers 2 The recent release “best of” had unless my ears decieve me had the album not the single versions of the songs so how about all 3 albums+ bsides ????( & the live one 2) Come on Trevor all those screaming girls must still want Mockers stuff for nostalgia if nothing else!
First Simon, the Harlequin dumpster story is just that, a story and not true, there was no dumpster. All the Harlequin tapes that belonged to artists were returned to them, and to the labels, I have the rest. I’m also collecting vinyl and cd copies (where they exist) of everything recorded at both Harlequins and have been pretty successful so far. The plan is ultimately to digitize everything and make them available on the net. I too spent far too much of my life in the studio to lose all of that music.
But generally I agree with you, it should be collected in a central repository for preservation and made available to the listening public as part of New Zealand’s music history.
Memory is vague, Doug, but I know I retrieved 24 track masters from the trash outside. Who put them there, I don’t know, but several of us rushed down that day to save what we could. It may not have been a skip but I ended up with all sorts of bits — Narcs, Mushroom stuff and so on. I gave it back as I could and some sat in my office for a decade or more before I passed them on to another party for safe keeping.
Glad, though that you are collecting stuff. The legacy of what was recorded at Harlequin is quite amazing.