Ref: '90's vs '80's

[ANDREW GARIBALDI]

Keith wrote:
OK, so what *were* the space/psych groups from the 80s (other than BAS)
that
never found an audience around the world?  Pick the handful you liked
best,
and give us a short description if you would.  I liked BAS enough to
wonder
if there truly were some others.  I guess other than HW, F&R, and the
Hawkfan 12 bands (UZero and the like), the early 80s is a gigantic hole
for
me.  (Well, Eloy did some decent stuff too.)  But it wasn't then until
TAT
('88?) and the discovery of Ozrics, Tubliah Dog, etc. that I realized
there
would be others appearing in the mists.

And finally, can any of this stuff still be found?  Or has any of it
appeared officially on CD?

Phew - well, short of spending a couple of hours telling you the story
of the underground in the '80's and totally boring you all to deat, let
me be more general.
First, when I said I could name 100 great bands of the '80's, I wasn't
restricting it to just space and Kraut rock - sorry if I inadvetently
whetted your appetite there, Keith, for bands that don't exist - but
Andreas is quite right when he talks about the first two or three years
of the '80's being a bit thin on the ground. For me during that period,
the main country that was producing unique and great music was still
France, and even though the main players continued to be some of the old
players, the music produced was exquisite. Check Musea's superb 'la
Discographie Du Rock Francais' for the complete story of the French
music scene, easily a compatriot to the Freemans' excellent book on
Krautrock. But the '80's were dominayed by one main thing - the 12 inch
single. In the Uk, everything had to be on 12" to be a hit. From that
came the first tru fruits of the industrial music scene and the rise of
the producer as band member, with the remix taking on godlike
proportions - witness my lord-knows-how-many versions of the track
'Poison' by The Weathermen, for proof of this - but it was important as
a lot of great music came out of this, underground bands such as Portion
Control, 400 Blows, O Yuki Conjugate, What Noise, and the list goes on.
On the other side of the fence, the synth music scene exploded in the
'80's with the rise of the UK artists' music easily eclipsing the stuff
from the '70's fall-out and that stuff came out on LP and cassette by
the truckload, alot of it still sounding good today, which is more than
can be said of the Kraut scene at the same time - and of course the
Americans were knee-deep in space music and new age, but the early
pioneers sold like the clappers.
On the guitar front, leaving heavy metal and peroxide pop (Darling Buds,
Primitives, Transvision Vamp, etc)out of things, you had a bit of a
resurgence in the prog scene in the early-mid '80's, but the best bands
were on tape only, yet again, and jamming/psych guitar bands such as the
excellent Rhad, released a tape and were never seen again.
Honestly, it was all there - see my memoirs in about ten years time for
full details.
But, as you are all saying, '90's is best!!!
Is this the last word on the subject?
Oh, and by the way, the new Moonloonies CD is out now and it's fab (you
do know who the Moonloonies are don't you all - includes Crum, who
played with the Hawks on the '95 and '97 tours and on a couple of the
live albums). The 'Thrilling Adventures' CD is great - all agreed? I
spoke to the guy at Voiceprint, and we're no nearer an answer on the UK
version as to whether or not it's a different concert and even when it's
out yet.
I've rambled enough for now - see 'ya!
Andy G (Dead Earnest)