Streets Of Fire - OST (1984)

Primarily made as a way for Walter Hill to combine, in his own words " everything I thought was cool when I was a kid" into one film. Which means you get lots of rain, neon, 50's greaser gangs, cool cars, jokes in tough situations, leather jackets, guns, fire, explosions and hot 80's women ( Diane Lane back then, come on!). He then managed to combine these with such cool things as Lee Ving punching out Rick Moranis, Diane Lane doing a pretty good lip syncing job, Micheal Pare over doing his tough hero act while still kicking lots of ass in his high waisted slacks, more ass kicking from a grubby, pseudo lesbian mechanic, William Dafoe in some PVC waders and a pretty sweet, pumping 80's sound track. With all these elements how could it possibly fail? Well it did, and turned out to be Walter Hill's biggest commercial failure. Despite being the main inspiration for Capcom's greatest future arcade achievement, Final Fight and being a true classic of cheesy 80's cinema. There really is no justice in the world.
The music was originally meant to involve Bruce Springsteen's song of the same title as the film, but on learning that it would be recorded with a different vocalist so Diane Lane could lip sync to it, he decided to pull out of the deal. Which left them with Ry Cooder, Jim Steinman, The Blasters (awesome) and Face To Face ( who also played the backing band The Attackers and also recorded the best song on here "Nowhere Fast") to fill out the soundtrack. Which they all do pretty well. its a solid effort from everyone. With the exception of "Nowhere Fast" and "Tonight Is What it Means To Be Young" most of the rest of this soundtrack has sunk into obscurity, which is a real shame as it contains some really good stuff. The doo wop tracks are good and both contributions by The Blasters are worth investigating.
Anyhow, here it is........................

Streets Of Fire - OST

Jackman - S/T (2010)

Some nice and nasty noise for Boxing Day. This is put out by the culter than cult folk at Posh Isolation. 5 tracks of mega lo-fi, sexually repressed, bedroom black metal that veers dangerously close to something approaching Brainbombs being abused in a burning orphanage. This was a really limited tape so I don't feel to bad about putting it up here. Bathe in the mess.

Jackman - S/T

Jason Dill used to rule.

Awesome skater. Went a bit loopy but I still approve of that. Popped up on the Osbourne's so I stopped liking him. Still, this is one of his best, if not the best skate sections he ever did for video. It comes of the awesome Photosynthesis VHS from Alien Workshop back in 2000. The music is the best song Radiohead ever wrote.

Toadliquor - The Hortator's Lament (2003)

Having spent all weekend under the influence of illness, I have fallen back on my usual tactic of getting over any bug or virus. Its a very simple but effective policy. Bombard your insides with all manner of drugs and potions, watch horrible revenge films like The Horseman, Dead Mans Shoe's and The Embodiment Of Evil and listen to twisted, horrible music. Of which, Toadliquor is most certainly very horrible indeed. Eschewing the melodic aspect of a lot of other doom, these Californian oddballs instead layered so much filth and noise on top of the standard doom framework and in doing so created one of the most claustrophobic and horrible things ever, ( I usually hate using overly dramatic phrases but in the case of this its justified ) an album that makes you want to have a bath after its finished. You do feel like you have just been wading through some industrial quality sewage.

Toadliquor - The Hortator's Lament

Albums that influenced Oliver #3 : Cryptopsy - None So Vile (1996)

Hands down, the finest example of technical, brutal death metal going. Not only was it unbelievably fast but so precise with its song writing. I was sat in my friend Solon's house as was the custom at least 5 nights a week, when he put this on. Straight away, that sample from Exorcist III and then the berserk opening blast of Crown Of Horns ( which is still one of the best intros on any death metal album) smashed out of the speakers with Lord Worm's howl over the top.
That is reason enough in my mind, but then the album continues as it starts. More blasting, more crazy riffs, tons more guttural rumbling and high pitched screaming and then the bass. That is what still stays with me on this album, and the next two they followed this up with, the bass work of Eric Langlois. That is a huge influence on my own style and as far as finger style playing in extreme music goes, no one beats Langlois. Of course there is the piano and bass lead into Phobophile that everyone remembers and there is no denying the power when that blast rips in but Langlois brings quite a few of his own tricks to the table. Subtle little string pops and twangs. Tiny little dynamic shifts that benefit the album fully. This was the first album he played on and you can see the huge difference his style brought to the table. Listen to Blasphemy Made Flesh then this. No contest. They did follow this up with Whisper Supremacy and ...And Then You'll Beg which are both pretty solid albums and even more technical. They lost Lord Worm, had a few other vocalists, Lord Worm returned then left again, they recruited new members, changed direction as bit ( pretty shonkily if you asked me, they invented this style) and continue to tour and record. I sorta lost interest after ...And Then You'll Beg. I still blast this out all the time tho. The ultimate in technical death metal without sacrificing brutality and speed for technique. Something a lot of so called tech bands could do with taking note these days.

Cryptopsy - None So Vile

Here they are in there rehearsal space in 1996.............

The Jesus Lizard - Peel Sessions (1991/92)

Its The Jesus Lizard. I shouldn't have to say anymore really. This is a mix of two separate sessions they did for John Peel (god rest his soul) back in 1991/92. A nice bass heavy mix. They don't have the Albini clarity to them but I love how you can hear Sims bass thundering away behind Denison's guitar screeching. Don't think these ever got officially released other than being passed around the Internet. The Peel sessions where good.

The Jesus Lizard - Peel Sessions

Armour Of God - 3 Tracks (2000)

There really isn't much more that can be said that hasn't already about the overwhelming loss of Johnny Morrow back in 2002. You cannot deny the power of Iron Monkey and you would have to be blind to not be aware of its influence still to this day. Armour Of God was a project that involved JPM and his ex-Monkey band mates Jim Rushby and Justin Greaves alongside Sean and Marvin from The Varukers. The best way to describe the sound would be Infest pumped up on steroids while throwing in huge Boston style mosh riffs. Completely untrendy, no frills, aggro hardcore with those vocals raging over the top.
These three tracks saw light of day as a split with 3rd Stone on the Threefold label back in 2000. I have only included the Armour Of God tracks as I don't like the 3rd Stone side. The above picture is courtesy of the jacket destroying madman known as Nabbe.

 Armour Of God - 3 Tracks

As far as I know, these are the only recorded evidence of Armour of God. I have heard things over the years but nothing has ever really come up. If anyone knows different then seriously, swing us a line.

Sam & Dave - Hold On, I'm Comin (1966)

Gritty, classic soul/R&B masterpiece. Allegedly the title track was written after being rushed to finish up having a whizz, song writer David Porter responded with "Hold on, I'm comin". One of the finest vocal double acts ever. Without Sam & Dave we wouldn't have no Blues Brothers. And where would we be then?

Sam & Dave - Hold On, I'm Comin

Creation Is Crucifixion - In_Silico + Antenna Builder (1998)

Famed for ranting for ages, devolving Gameboys, erasing supermarket bar codes, releasing stuff on obscure and obselete formats and annoying all and sundry with subversive lyrics. Creation Is Crucifixion always seemed at odds with there chosen path in my eyes. Playing ripping, technical death/thrash/jazz/grind hardcore influenced metal and avoiding using half decent studios seemed a little odd. But it is saved by the fact In_Silico kicks much ass when it comes to removing your face not just with the brutal musicianship but also with the interspersed noise tracks (something they would go onto explore a lot more). You can read all about there funny little ways elsewhere online so here is there best album in my opinion with the added bonus of the unreleased Antenna Builder session tracks. Recorded on tour while in Germany. I remember seeing fliers for the brief UK leg of that tour. Never made any of the gigs, a fact that a friend always rubs in my face. Never got released, but there is talk of a long overdue discography. I got them over at the pretty sweet Robotic Obscurities blog. So here is a lost but very important piece of underground music history.

Creation Is Crucifixion - In_Silico