Girlschool

My eyes have scanned an enormous amount of secondhand junk over the (extended) weekend. Sadly it was mostly just junk and I've come home with just a few items..

On Thursday I went to an auction for charity at a convent. That was to say, I went to the viewing. Because apart from an needlework portrait from the 1980s (God knows how it ended up with the nuns!) there was nothing of interest to me. The portrait was a bit like this (less Madonnaesque but I think you get my drift):

Imagine this in needlework! It truly was a masterpiece, but I dreaded the thought of having to sit through the whole auction. I even skipped the homemade cupcakes and tea, and went straight for dinner in town instead.

Today I went to my usual car boot sale. I did manage to scoop up some great 7" singles for just 20p a piece. I bought ten, including songs by Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfield, The Smiths and The Specials. And the vendor recommended me a cover of Soul Man by Sam Moore (of Sam and Dave) and Lou Reed. Of course Lou Reed's version is completely soulless, which is pretty hilarious.

Saturday I went to some charity shops on the other side of town. Fresh junk! Maybe the fact that my friend and I were chatting so much explains my meager score, but I only bought one item, spending a whopping 99p: a record by Girlschool. Girlschool is the best British all-female metal band from the 1980s. Well the best (female) metal band ever, period. These girls were clearly respected for their music and virtuoso guitar riffs and not for their looks!

I've got their first three albums and the one I found yesterday is their fourth, Play Dirty (1983). Like all the metal from the mid 80s their sound is more stadium like (and more mid-tempo) on this one. Commercially it wasn't such a success as their previous albums, but the songs are still good and catchy. Personally I prefer their earlier work as well, so here are two of their hits from way back in the days. I suggest you download them (and get all their other hits), put them on your iPod, listen to them while you're on your bike and I promise you'll get to where you need to be in a jiffy!

Girlschool - C'mon Let's Go. Download it here.

Girlschool - Demolition Boys. Download it here.

Gems from the East and the West

I'm a big fan of girl groups; they make up a substantial amount of my record collection. So you might imagine the thrill when I came across the cd Let's A Go-Go! Singapore and Southeast Asian Pop Scene 1964-69 at Earwax in Brooklyn. Which is a nice little store by the way. They don't have a huge selection, but what they have is all good (lots of reissues that are dirt cheap). The 31 tracks on the cd feature not only girl groups, but also boy bands and solo female vocalists. It's a rather nice compilation of pop songs, rock 'n roll, beat, garage and surf in several languages. These are two of my favorite songs:

Betty Chung - Bang Bang (yes that's a Nancy Sinatra cover). Download it here.

I couldn't find out more about Betty Chung than she was (is??) Chinese and also an actress and played in a Bruce Lee movie.

Dara Puspita - A Go-Go. Download it here.

Dara Puspita were one of the more successful girl groups in Indonesia in the 1960s. What made them really stand out at that time was that they played all their music themselves. Their live shows are supposed to be really wild and quite a sensation! And all this in an oppressive regime, where you could be jailed for playing rock 'n roll. There is a greatest hits album out on the Sublime Frequencies label, which I desperately want to get a hold of.

I also bought the double LP West Indies Funk 2. I have no means of letting you hear anything off this record, but just to give you a taste here's a track of volume 3: a steel drum version of Hold On I'm Coming!! Also highly on my wish list as you will understand.