Blyth Power - Demo Cassette Tape - September 1987

Описание: This is a cassette tape of an early Blyth Power studio recording after Andy, Curtis and Neil had left, or been pushed out of the original line up.

I think this was the first recording of Blyth Power's second line-up, I do not own an earlier studio recording as far as I can see here in my collection of cassette tapes here at home, except for an early practice tape from January 1987 which I placed up on YouTube several years ago now.

Presumably I would have an earlier studio recording on one of my cassette tapes if an earlier studio recording was available, due to my eagerness towards collecting this kind of stuff in those days!

Anyway, this September 1987 recording session is thirty five minutes long, pretty much the live set at the time

Thirty five minutes is very long for a demo tape, but a demo tape this cassette tape was, sent out from the heights of the first floor of 'Crucial Corner' on the Caledonian Road in Kings Cross, the building that housed All The Madmen Records at the time, All The Madmen Records placed conveniently in-between Joly's Better Badges empire on the ground floor, and Geoff at Fck Off Records on the second floor.

This cassette tape was successfully used to punt the band to head honcho's of record labels, which was great. I am not sure whether many record labels came in for Blyth Power or not, creating some sort of tug-o-war over the bands signatures, well Joseph Porters signature, but whether there were many or no record labels interested other than Midnight Music, Midnight Music certainly expressed interest, and of course eventually got Joseph, and therefore Blyth Power signed up.

For this second line up of Blyth Power, Josef enlisted the help of fellow Latimer Road soul Martin Neish, AKA Protag on the bass guitar.

Protag was one of the infamous soundman for Meanwhile Gardens summer festivals, Grant Showbiz being the other. Protag attempted to capture the sound through his ropey PA system, generally successfully, at many other alternative venues including the Rosebery Avenue Peace Centre.

Protag was also the person that recorded the first cassette tape. 'A Little Touch Of Harry In The Night' that the original first line-up of Blyth Power had released in December 1984 on Rob Challice's 96 Tapes. The '96' meaning 96 Brougham Road in Hackney where Rob lived at the time, and with perfect synchronicity, the house where Protag recorded the songs that made up 'A Little Touch Of Harry In The Night' in the basement of that house.

Protag was a sometime member of Alternative TV, prior to his stint in Blyth Power, and he was also performed with his own D.I.Y band, Instant Automatons earlier than Alternative TV, back in the latter seventies.

Protag went onto join Zounds for a while in the 1990's, after his stint with Blyth Power.

Steve Corr was from the old Yeovil scene that birthed the Bikini Mutants, Null and Void, Rekovtheehessbruss, and the Mob, and was known to Josef from those days. Steve was the founding member, singer and guitarist with Idiot Strength, which was one of my favourite bands in the mid eighties, and I really ought to place one of that bands demos up on YouTube at some point.

The adorable Sian Jefferies was an original member of the Lost Cherries, a band from the early eighties, 1982 or thereabouts, who was press-ganged (not really) to back up Joseph on vocal duties, alongside Sarah who had survived the cull from the original line-up, unsurprisingly as Sarah and Joseph were a long-term couple at the time.

This new line-up of Blyth Power were practicing together during the first few weeks of 1987 in a basement in Kings Cross, near to where the All The Madmen record label was based at that time.

Blyth Power performed the first gig with this new line-up on the 3rd March 1987 at the same venue the original line-up of the band had bowed out on the 18th December 1986, the Sir George Robey pub in Finsbury Park.

This first gig on the 3rd March 1987, the band were incognito, under the name 'Night Porter' and were supported by Stitched Foot Back Airman and Hysteria Ward.

That gig went off okay so the band reverting back to Blyth Power.

The next gig was at Stevenage Bowes Lyon House with Culture Shock on 28th March and the third gig was held on the 5th April in Brighton at The Richmond pub.

All of those three gigs were great fun, and a pleasure to be in attendance at, well, for me they were!

The new line-up performed sixty gigs from March 1987 to January 1988 while still on the All The Madmen record label.

January 1988 was the end of Blyth Power’s All The Madmen days, with no record releases to their name for this second line-up.

Josef had signed up with Midnight Music, a label that had Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians on it’s roster so was used to quirky English bands.

All the recorded works from the second and any subsequent Blyth Power line-ups until 1991 were released on that record label.

Official press photographs both from my collection.