SF Underground & Psychedelic Furs

Let's see... here's some vintage SF punk, and a rare Psychedelic Furs item...



various - "S.F. Underground"

4 track 7" EP (Subterranean Records - 1979)

1. No Alternative - "Johnny Got His Gun"
2. Flipper - "Earthworm"
3. Tools - "Asexuality in the 80s"
4. VKTMS - "Ballad of Pincushion Smith"

Back in '78-79 A friend of mine moved to San Francisco, got a job as a bouncer at Mabuhay Gardens and got into the whole SF underground/punk music scene. Occasionally he would come back to the midwest to visit, bringing lots of cool music (this is how I discovered The Residents and Tuxedomoon, to name a few) - including this EP. The No Alternative and Tools tracks on this comp actually became staples in a garage band I was playing in at the time. Good times...

----



The Psychedelic Furs - "Psychedelic Furs Commercial"

Not a rip of the "Dumb Waiters" single (CBS UK, 1981) - this is the transparent flexi-disc that was laminated over the sleeve it came in (you can sort of see it in the picture), which had a 5 minute 'commercial' for the soon-to-be released Talk Talk Talk album. A Brilliant marketing idea looking back on it now - got me totally psyched for the upcoming album. I probably played the cover as often as the single itself.

Elvis Costello - Alison (US single version)

Here's one more for today, kind of similar to the previous post in that it was a failed attempt to make a UK single more 'radio friendly' for the U.S. market...



Elvis Costello - "Alison" (US single version)

The idea here seems to be: take the album version, overdub some synth strings (Steve Nieve?), add more backing vocals (obviously Elvis himself), add a ton of reverb and market the thing towards Adult Contemporary radio.
This was released by Columbia in October 1977, backed with a live version of "Mystery Dance" (my copy is a double A-side reissue with "Accidents Will Happen").

The Who - Substitute (censored version)

First entry:



The Who - "Substitute" (US single version)

It's the censored version (released as a single in the US, Canada and South Africa in 1966), with substituted lyrics (how's that for irony).
It sounds to me like Roger completley re-tracked his vocal, plus about one minute has been trimmed from the original.

The altered lyrics:

I tried walking forward
but my feet walk back

replace the original:

I look all white
but my dad was black