At the risk of already becoming redundant and/or predictable, I've come back to post some more about the Forgotten Rebels, but in this case I come bearing actual albums. These are all out of print now, so I don't feel bad. The main impetus for this post was the recent acquisition of This Ain't Hollywood. I snagged it from another blog, which claimed it was a vinyl rip of their 1981 album. Now, it nearly is a vinyl rip of the album however, for some reason in place of the original version of 'Surfin' on Heroin', there is the 1986 remake that appears on The Pride and Disgrace. The remake distinguishes itself from the original by being slightly longer with some additional sound effects, namely puking. It's still great...just not the original. But every other song on This Ain't Hollywood is just as good as I remember it being. I think I mentioned earlier that it's been at least 15 years since I've heard the album in anything other than a hissy old dubbed cassette. I'd forgotten how good 'Memory Lane' with its "I won't stop and stare, I'm far away but not there..." refrain and the title track is just as fantastic as ever. Same with the pissy 'England Keep Your Stars', which is worth repeating in full:I remember you so many years ago
What I saw in you, I don't know
I saw stars when I opened your door
They landed on our fair shores
Their novel accents made them so rich
While I'm stuck playing In a rotting ditch
Now London don't swing like a pendulum do
England keep yer starts
So won't you keep yer stars
England Keep yer stars
Won't you keep yer stars
England keep yer stars
Through Canada and America they played the biggest arena
They took money from our pocket then they got ripped off
I wanna be so bloody rich, I wanna be a snob
and make my wife a bitch
Now London don't swing like a pendulum do
England keep yer stars
Radio loves the English bands
Radio loves the American bands
Have they censored Canada to get their money from foreign lands?
Rebels like us who have it rough
Canadian radio will not play our stuff
Now New York don't swing like a pendulum do
England keep yer stars
So in honour of getting this long awaited album I thought I'd put up their debut In Love with the System and The Pride and Disgrace. I probably like the debut as much as the This Ain't Hollywood, and this version also contains some bonus tracks of their earliest songs like 'Forgotten Rebel' and 'Reich 'n Roll'. The Pride and Disgrace released in 1986 tones down the obvious glam rock of their previous album and bounds more towards straight rock and roll. You can't really call an earnest cover of the Beatles 'Rain' punk rock, although perhaps the lead-off track 'Ethiopia' with it's ragging on LiveAid (i.e. Ethiopia, forget about, Ethiopia, the whole bloody thing is a sham...what do we ignore our own poor with rich rock stars and celebrity boors) can still make a case for them being pissed off. And the rape-murder story 'Little Girl' still kind of freaks me out. ('...and you found, yes you found a brand new romance, little girl in the snow, you should have stayed home, baby it's cold out there tonight'), but these are buttressed against wonderfully goofy tracks like 'I Am King' ('I'm so great, I'm so cool I am the king and the Rebels RULE'), 'Live Strippers' and 'Underwear'. It's actually a better album than I remember.
Also, as promised in that previous post. A shot of me getting ready for the Rebels show in 1992. It is 10am.
