Newtown Neurotics - Beggars Can Be Choosers (Punk UK 1983)

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The Newtown Neurotics (later just The Neurotics) are an English punk rock/post-punk group formed in 1979. They are noted for their openly political music.

As The Newtown Neurotics, the band began their career playing punk heavily indebted stylistically to The Clash and The Ramones. They released a series of singles from 1979 - later collected on the album 45 Revolutions per Minute - and debut album Beggars Can Be Choosers in 1983. Over the course of the 1980s, the band dropped the "Newtown" from its name and simply became The Neurotics; along with the name change came a stylistic broadening, including slower tempos and horn arrangements. They released several albums on noted UK postpunk label Jungle Records. 

Lead singer and guitarist Steve Drewett took openly socialist stances in his lyrics throughout the course of the band's career and currently displays an anarcho-syndicalist sticker on his guitar. When the bassist, Colin Dredd, contracted pleurisy, he left the band; Mac (Travis Cut /The Pharaohs /The Skabilly Rebels) was brought in to play bass for some farewell shows (at which the band's entire catalogue was played), and the band called it quits in October 1988. Drewett went on to form an Afropunk band called The Indestructible Beat, which disbanded in 1995. Steve Drewett plays occasional solo gigs.

The band reformed as The Newtown Neurotics for reunion shows in London and Brighton leading up to Blackpool's 2006 Wasted and 2008 Rebellion punk festivals, their biggest British audiences to date. A new rhythm section of David Walsh (Drums) and Adam Smith (Bass) (Both from Harlow Newtown) have been backing Steve Drewett since 2007, including an appearance in the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool for the 2009 Rebellion Festival. In 2010 Steve Drewett made his first US appearance, playing at The Big Takeover magazine's 30th Anniversary festival.

In 2015 Simon Lomond rejoined the band for a string of dates including a performance at the Rebellion Festival. Original bassist, Colin Dredd (Masters) died on 19 May 2015.

This courageous trio from Harlow, Essex, has a great lesson to teach groups: how to infuse a striking mixture of sociopolitical awareness, brains, and down-to-earth, super-intelligent heart (on the sleeve, big time) into modern music. This is post-punk rock & roll with fun, energized appeal, with well-played ensemble work and a string of zippy, kinetic chord changes. 

One can dance, think, feel, and most of all be inspired to action by listening to such music, and leader Steve Drewett was one of the unsung giants of early-'80s indie Britain. Long before the amateurish riot-grrrl movement, big guy Drewett attacked sexism, gender roles, and domestic violence (from "No Respect": "No man is a 'whore' he invented the name/No man is a 'slut' he feels no shame." From "Agony": "When was the last time you saw a man cry on TV?"). 

Elsewhere, the remake of the Members' great 1978 single "Solitary Confinement" with Drewett's new words as "Living With Unemployment" might be the high watermark for '80s socialist-tinged, slice-of-life protest songs; it's heartfelt and real. And the competent punk-reggae of "Newtown People" is a scathing condemnation of their little town's bland, suffocating myopia. 

Albums like this make listeners proud instead of sickened to be a rock fan. [There are only 1,250 copies pressed of the Dojo reissue of the Neurotics' first LP, originally issued by Razor U.K. in 1983. But 1,250 is better than nothing.

01. Wake Up  05:34
02. The Mess  04:15
03. Get Up And Fight  03:25
04. No Respect  02:36
05. Agony  04:16
06. Newtown People  04:380
07. Does Anyone Know Where The March Is?  2:46
08. Life In Their Hands  02:58
09. My Death  03:19
10. Living With Unemployment  05:11

Bonus Tracks
11. Blitzkrieg Bop  02:07
12. Fools  02:52
13. When I Need You  02:48

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Humble Pie & Colosseum - BBC Radio 1969-1971 (Bootleg)

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HUMBLE PIE BIOGRAPHY:
A showcase for former Small Faces' frontman Steve Marriott and one-time Herd guitar virtuoso Peter Frampton, the hard rock outfit Humble Pie formed in Essex, England in 1969. Also featuring ex-Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley along with drummer Jerry Shirley, the fledgling group spent the first several months of its existence locked away in Marriott's Essex cottage, maintaining a relentless practice schedule. 

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Signed to the Immediate label, Humble Pie soon issued their debut single "Natural Born Boogie," which hit the British Top Ten and paved the way for the group's premiere LP, As Safe as Yesterday Is.

Town and Country After touring the U.S. in support of 1969's Town and Country, Humble Pie returned home only to discover that Immediate had declared bankruptcy. The band recruited a new manager, Dee Anthony, who helped land them a new deal with A&M; behind closed doors, Anthony encouraged Marriott to direct the group towards a harder-edged, grittier sound far removed from the acoustic melodies favored by Frampton. 

As Marriott's raw blues shouting began to dominate subsequent LPs like 1970's eponymous effort and 1971's Rock On, Frampton's role in the band he co-founded gradually diminished; finally, after a highly charged U.S. tour which yielded 1971's commercial breakthrough Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore, Frampton exited Humble Pie to embark on a solo career.

Smokin' After enlisting former Colosseum guitarist Dave "Clem" Clempson to fill the void, Humble Pie grew even heavier for 1972's Smokin', their most successful album to date. However, while 1973's ambitious double studio/live set Eat It fell just shy of the Top Ten, its 1974 follow-up Thunderbox failed to crack the Top 40. 

After 1975's Street Rats reached only number 100 before disappearing from the charts, Humble Pie disbanded; while Shirley formed Natural Gas with Badfinger alum Joey Molland, and Clempson and Ridley teamed with Cozy Powell in Strange Brew, Marriott led Steve Marriott's All-Stars before joining a reunited Small Faces in 1977.

In 1980, Marriott and Shirley re-formed Humble Pie with ex-Jeff Beck Group vocalist Bobby Tench and bassist Anthony Jones. After a pair of LPs, 1980's On to Victory and the following year's Go for the Throat, the group mounted a troubled tour of America: after one injury-related interruption brought on when Marriott mangled his hand in a hotel door, the schedule was again derailed when the frontman fell victim to an ulcer. Soon, Humble Pie again dissolved; while Shirley joined Fastway, Marriott went into seclusion. At the dawn of the 1990s, he and Frampton made tentative plans to begin working together once more, but on April 20, 1991, Marriott died in the fire which destroyed his 16th century Arkesden cottage. He was 44 years old.

COLOSSEUM BIOGRAPHY:
One of the most influential of the early British progressive rock bands, Colosseum fused an adventurous approach to rock with strong jazz and blues influences and classical keyboard accents; they earned a loyal and lasting following though they never scored a major breakthrough hit. Colosseum was founded in 1968 by saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith, bassist Tony Reeves, and drummer Jon Hiseman; the three had previously worked with John Mayall, playing on his album Bare Wires, and Heckstall-Smith and Hiseman were formerly members of the Graham Bond Organisation. 

The first lineup was completed with the addition of Dave Greenslade on keyboards, Jim Roche on guitar and vocalist James Litherland, who took over on guitar when Roche soon departed. After making their live debut in Newcastle, Colosseum earned a valuable ally in legendary BBC disc jockey John Peel, who featured the band on his Top Gear radio show. Fontana Records signed the band, and their first album, Those Who Are About to Die Salute You, was released in 1969; it fared well in the charts, and the lead-off track, "Walking in the Park," was issued as a single, though it proved to be the only 7" from the group. 

Colosseum's second album, Valentyne Suite, appeared later the same year; it was the debut release from Vertigo Records, the influential progressive and hard rock label. (Vertigo and Fontana were both affiliated with the Dutch recording firm Philips.) 1970's Daughter of Time featured a new lineup of the band; James Litherland left to form the band Mogul Thrash and Tony Reeves moved into production full-time, and Colosseum added guitarist Dave Clempson, bassist Mark Clarke, and lead vocalist Chris Farlowe. 

Another Colosseum album, The Grass Is Greener, appeared in 1970, but it was in fact a revised version of Valentyne Suite, released only in the United States and featuring four of the original selections from the LP and four new songs. 

In 1971, Colosseum jumped ship from Vertigo to the newly formed Bronze Records and recorded a handful of shows at Manchester University and the Big Apple club in Brighton; the band broke up before they could complete a studio album for their new label, and 1971's Colosseum Live would prove to be the last release from the group's first era. In 1975, Jon Hiseman launched Colosseum II, a more jazz-oriented combo which also featured Gary Moore on guitar and Don Airey on keyboards; the new group released three albums before parting ways in 1978. 

In 1994, the Daughter of Time lineup of Colosseum reunited for a concert tour, and a live album was drawn from the concerts. The band issued a new studio album in 1997, Breads & Circuses, and Colosseum has reconvened for periodic recordings and live shows ever since. Saxophonist Barbara Thompson (who is married to Jon Hiseman) frequently appeared with the reunited version of Colosseum, and became an official member of the group following the death of Dick Heckstall-Smith in 2004.

Several years after the dissolution of Colosseum, Jon Hiseman recruited Gary Moore and Don Airey to form Colosseum II. The mandate this time, however, was not the jazz- and blues-inflected rock of the original band, but a full-tilt journey into hyperkinetic jazz fusion that stretched the players about as far as they could go. 

The band proceeded to play and record with a passion for three years or so, before running out of steam. The first album featured vocalist Mike Starrs, who moved on to metal band Lucifer's Friend when the combination failed to work out. Also departing was bassist Neil Murray, who was replaced by John Mole. 

Andrew Lloyd Webber used the band for Variations, a composition for his brother, Julian Lloyd Webber. With three highly regarded albums to their credit, Colosseum II called it a day. 

Hiseman went on to do session work and to play with the United Jazz & Rock Ensemble. Sanctuary released an expanded version of their debut (Strange New Flesh: Upgraded) in October of 2005.

Humble Pie & Colosseum & Colosseum II 
BBC Radio 1 Sessions 1969-1971

Humble Pie
01. Natural Born Boogie
02. The Sad Bag Of Shakey Jake
03. Heartbeat
04. Desperation
05. Big Black Dog
06- Rollin' Stone
07. Four Day Creep (cuts off)
08. The Lights (Start Missed) includes Tommy Vance with track info.

Colosseum
09. A Whiter Spade Than Mayall

Colosseum II
10. Put It This Way
11. Intergalactic Strut
12. Lament
13. The Inquisition

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