V/A Rodney on the ROQ- Compilation LP (Posh Boy, USA, 1980)
Why is that records such as this first of three volumes of RODNEY ON THE ROQ have never been re-released (except for two best of volumes, one on vinyl in the UK, one on CD)? I mean, c’mon – hit after hit, from alpha to omega. Take this version of one of the very best songs ever written – “Bloodstains” (AGENT ORANGE) blows away the other two version (on the first 7″ and on the fab “Living in Darkness” 12″). Same for ADOLESCENTS’ “Amoeba”! The CIRCLE JERKS, you know that, should have called it a day after the first “LP”, so their song is the weakest here. UXA we love, KLAN is great, BLACK FLAG deliver their most aggressive song ever (what a sound!) and RIK L RIK is out there in the “Outback”. The flip has poppier sounds, nevertheless they’re all smashers! CROWD, DAVID MICROWAVE, the invincible NUNS, FENDER BUDDIES, VIDIOTS plus an unreleased SIMPLETONES jump-a-rounder.
But, frankly, I only took my time to rip this for the last song, listed as “Surprise” done by a band called NEW YORK. It’s actually a gal named Cristina covering Peggy Lee’s “Is that all there is” and drastically changing the lyrics, turning the song into one dark dyonisian chant. This really has freaking me out, it’s so fucking great! Isn’t this exactly the kind of music Quentin Tarantino would use in a movie soundtrack? If anybody has more on Cristina (and yes, I can google myself), please please share.
Help yourself or the social workers will! (<– clicking that link means you’ll be downloading the whole played to decomposition comp with all its crackling and rumpling, compressed into one large zip file)
jj.n wrote:
Thanks a bunch! I loved this record sin 1983 when my sister was an au-pair outside L.A and bougth this for me. I never found the version of Adolescents Amoeba thats on this album (which are far better than the other slower versions I found with them) as an mp3 anywhere as one example.
Posted on 20-Oct-07 at 10:18 am | Permalink
Oppression/Depressio wrote:
cant tell you how much I love your blog. this is such a great record!!
Posted on 20-Oct-07 at 10:48 am | Permalink
Eddie wrote:
These were the songs that introduced me to underground punk in 1981 and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Posted on 20-Oct-07 at 12:48 pm | Permalink
Eddie wrote:
Anyone who thinks that 1984 was the year when L.A. punk died is out of their fucking mind! It was just getting started!
Posted on 20-Oct-07 at 12:50 pm | Permalink
Lawrie wrote:
Cristina… I have her 2 albums and can upload once the cable co brings me internet (2 weeks of blackberry only internet, ugh.) 1st album is great. Lyrics are wonderfully witty.
Posted on 20-Oct-07 at 3:00 pm | Permalink
mosh wrote:
“One of the most interesting labels was New York’s ZE Records, home of James White and the Blacks, Kid Creole, the Waitresses, and others. One of the best records ZE released was by label head Michael Zilkha’s fiancee, CRISTINA. Poised to crack the hit parade in England, her recording of “Is That All There Is?” by legendary songwriters Leiber and Stoller was withdrawn owing to a dispute. As an import, the song became a massive hit on Rodney’s radio show and we were glad to include the recording as a bonus track on “Rodney on the ROQ Vol. 1″
-Liner notes from “The Best of Rodney on the ROQ”
Posted on 20-Oct-07 at 4:42 pm | Permalink
puzzled wrote:
great compilation, thanks! this blog is an endless source for entertainment.
ps: nice legs and nice zippo
Posted on 21-Oct-07 at 9:53 am | Permalink
Ian EBH wrote:
I heard this one tape a few years ago and loved. Vinyl copies have always been a but out of my price range (I didn’t even know there was a reissue!). Sweet post, thanks!
Posted on 21-Oct-07 at 12:15 pm | Permalink
stinky82 wrote:
I think, looking for wax on e-bay (for example) is waste of everything. If there are old punks willing to share their stuff with us via MP3 format…I´m satisfied. It´s about noise, not vinyl.
Posted on 23-Oct-07 at 10:27 am | Permalink
Marko wrote:
Thanks for posting this!! I had the cover song in my head yesterday and couldn’t remember what comp it was on. Now I’m going to have to rig my stereo so I can play the record and mp3 simultaneously just to annoy the pets and neighbors.
Oh yeah, you know I’ll be dancing too!
Posted on 24-Oct-07 at 12:25 am | Permalink
Tony wrote:
20 years into punk and I’ve never heard this LP from start to finish- thanks for posting the whole thing. It’s a mixed bag for me, though. The version of “Bloodstains” does blow the other two out of the water- wow!! I prefer the version of “Amoeba” on the Adolescents 1st LP from a year later. Ya, the Circle Jerks song sounds weak on here- it sounds much better in a different mix like on their 2nd LP. And for me, the song works best in the skate-ploitation cult classic “Thrashin” and the specific scene they use it in. But here they got the “Posh Boy” treatment production-wise. That Klan’s “Pushin Too Hard” has always sounded good to me so it’s nice to hear it again here. I have a rip of this Klan cassette circa ‘79 full of unreleased stuff that I should put up on my blog in the future… when I get around to it. The guy that taped it for me was around L.A. back then and said it was an official thing they put out. UXA, Crowd, Rik L Rik and other tunes on here all just sound mediocre to me. And the poppier tracks on side 2 are just “eh” for the most part. I have a copy of Rodney on The ROQ v.3 that is the same format, punk mixed with pop. The punk stuff on it is great like Pariah, Vandals, etc. but the poppy stuff for the most part on it is pretty bland. Anyone seen the documentary on Rodney called “The Mayor of Sunset Strip”?
Posted on 25-Oct-07 at 2:04 pm | Permalink
godoggo wrote:
Hi, this is Brooke Shields and I have my radio tuned in to Rodney on the Roq!
Wow, I never realized there were actually people who listened to side 2. At least not more than once.
BTW, all I know about the Nuns is that apparently one of them became a born again Christian, because I remember him in the audience of Wally George harassing some Christian Death-type band.
Posted on 02-Nov-07 at 12:58 am | Permalink
Resident Clinton wrote:
Holy crap, I just found out about Cristina myself. Both of her albums are available for download on emusic. And they are both pretty darn good.
Posted on 14-Nov-07 at 12:24 am | Permalink
Bat Guano wrote:
Yes “Is That All There Is” is included on the emusic edition of her first album.
Thank god I found this — every time I play “Surprise” by “New York” on my weird little radio show the kids go nuts and demand to know exactly who it is. “Uh, it’s some secret track from an out-of-print album I downloaded on the internets,” isn’t an answer I like to give.
Posted on 14-Nov-07 at 10:25 am | Permalink
fred g sanford wrote:
NUNS ! well yeah, godoggo then you missed somethin good. I don’t think they ever made an album but there were some excellent singles. I had three at one point. All on obscure california labels
One had a stooges cover.
I was selling one on e-bay not long ago but there were no takers. ( I prefer MP3 also personally )
I don’t know what ever happened to them. That christian -story is a new one on me.
nice blog, bro
Posted on 16-Nov-07 at 8:49 pm | Permalink
Greenman67 wrote:
Thanks much. Picked this up at a swap meet just south of LA in 1984. Lost it and have been searching off and on for many years. This is such a classic and now I can turn my teenage son onto these fine tunes.
Posted on 09-Mar-08 at 1:06 pm | Permalink
Mayor of Sunset Strip - Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fan Forum wrote:
[...] CLASSIC. In fact…. if anyone’s interested, I found Volume 1 (1980) on a blog with a download link HERE. Listening now, and it sounds even better today than it did—28 YEARS AGO???? GAWD I’m an old [...]
Posted on 16-Jul-08 at 4:47 pm | Permalink
krotix wrote:
Thanks for the Blog. I just turned 50 and remember getting into Punk in 78, after the initial wave including the 60’s Bands, Glam, and the very small 76 beginnings. Having lived through Arena Rock, Prog, etc it was and still for me continues to be something I will cherish to the end. There are so many genres and there is so much history to Music, it’s awesome. I have to say it is the small Bands and not so celebrated people like Bingenheimer that have accounted for more than they will ever know!!!
Posted on 02-May-09 at 12:27 pm | Permalink
Jay Thurston wrote:
Rodney on the Roq, every Sat. and Sun. night from 8-12. I never missed a show of his from 1979-1982. Introduced me to some wonderful bands. This album is the best of the 3…you can tell by all the snaps, crackles and pops on mine. Hahahaha…
Posted on 02-May-09 at 6:56 pm | Permalink
Mr.Morton wrote:
My father was on this album in the band Bearded Clam, they did a Circle Jerks song, Wild In The Streets, and we often make jokes about it and me and my brother got him a recording device for his computer and he has put the songs from that album on his computer, so I have files I can send to be burned.
Posted on 11-Jun-09 at 3:58 pm | Permalink