(VA) A Touch Of Fringe: The Compilation

As regular visitors to my blog will attest, I try not to be a one-trick pony.  That is to say, that while I have posted a helluva lot of Canadian punk rock from the 70s, I try to keep things diverse.  As you'll also recognize, I try to post items that are no longer available. 

Case in point, this extremely rare release by the now-defunct, Fringe Records ("Fringe Product"):

A Touch Of Fringe brings together some of Canada's finest proponents of aggressive music.  You've got yer Dayglo Abortions, your Bunchoffuckingoofs, Razor, Slaughter, Sacrifice and so much more.  The genres on this disk run the gamut from Industrial, to Speed/Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Punk, Techno and Crossover.

Fringe Product was the brainchild of one Ben Hoffman, who also used to be the man behind The Record Peddler store and Record Peddler Distribution.  From the late 70s to 2000, Fringe was one of Canada's most important punk rock and heavy metal labels, if not THE most. 

(If you were of a certain age in 1988, you may remember that Fringe and Record Peddler were brought up on obscenity charges: a police officer from Nepean, Ontario instigated a criminal investigation of the Dayglo Abortions, after his daughter brought home a copy of Here Today, Guano Tomorrow.  The cover shows a picture of a hamster eating from a box of chocolates on nice satin sheets, along with a glass of wine. A gun points at the hamster.  The back cover, on the other hand, shows a depiction of the resultant carnage.  For the record -- if you'll excuse the pun -- a jury cleared the companies of all charges in 1990.)  


Anyway, click on the album cover to download a copy of 1993's extremely rare A Touch Of Fringe.

(VA) A Touch Of Fringe - The Compilation (1993):

1	Death and Horror Inc.	Pain and Courage	3:44
2	Sacrifice	Storm In The Silence	4:09
3	Disciples Of Power	Nature's Fury	5:31
4	Dayglo Abortions	Here Today Guano Tomorrow	4:55
5	Razor	Sucker For Punishment	4:03
6	Splatterpunk	Inner Sanctum	3:45
7	Dogs With Jobs	Stone Cold Killer	5:05
8	Bunchofuckingoofs	Coke The Real Thing For Real Assholes	2:26
9	Northern Vultures	Clean Up Verdun	4:19
10	Slaughter	F.O.D.	3:56
11	Mad	Special Olympics	1:44
12	Sacrifice	Re-Animation	3:51
13	Death and Horror Inc.	Climbing	4:43
14	Disciples Of Power	Crisis	3:55
15	Razor	Shotgun Justice	3:16
16	Dogs With Jobs	Dogs With Jobs	2:52
17	Sacrifice	Sacrifice	3:09

Uh-Oh Canada! - Vol. 1 (Fan Comp)

Here's an early Christmas gift for you:

This is a fan compilation I made, of nothing but Canadian underground rock from between 1975-1995. This is the first in a series of similar comps I'm putting together.

I've tried to put together a nice mix of different styles, from straight-ahead Punk Rock and Garage Punk, to Alt-Country, New Wave and Post-Punk, Jazz-Funk, Jangle-Pop, Space Rock, Industrial and Reggae. While many of the songs and artists might not be "definitive" of Canadian punk rock ("What...? No Teenage Head? No DOA?, etc."), during the time frame I've provided, I've tried to concentrate on some selections that might not immediately come to mind.

Rest assured, the so-called "definitives" will be included in subsequent volumes.

I know the cover is a bit cheesy and lame (trust me...it's hard to find good band photos out there without copyright -- this one's courtesy of Chris Barry and the late Bryan Damaged c/o Punk History Canada dot com). Originally I was going to call it "Uh-Oh Canaduh!"... but that was too much of a ripoff of the Oh Canaduh series of punk rock covers. I might re-change it altogether, I don't know.

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers.


(VA) Uh-Oh Canada! - Vol. 1 (Fan Comp):

	1 Tankhog I Woke Up In Love This Morning 3:17 2 54-40 Walk In Line 4:20 3 222s First Studio Bomb 2:21 4 Viletones Dirty Feeling 3:04 5 Nostrils I'm Vile 2:16 6 Crash Vegas The One That Keeps Me Running 4:41 7 Red Tide My Son Is A Kuwahara 1:21 8 Cottage Industry Theme From Superstar 3:54 9 Shuffle Demons Spadina Bus 3:59 10 Ceramic Hello Sampling The Blast Furnace 4:27 11 Jr. Gone Wild Poet's Highway 4:15 12 Heimlich Maneuver Takin The A-Train For Jesus 3:27 13 Gruesomes For All I Care 3:09 14 Grievous Angels Gordie And My Old Man 3:38 15 Payola$ China Boys 3:17 16 Simply Saucer Nazi Apocalypse 3:10 17 Animal Slaves Cocoon 4:21 18 Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet Having An Average Weekend 2:37 19 Rupert Bailey and the Swingers Mississauga Evacuation 6:49 20 Moev Yeah, Whatever 5:53 21 Eastbound To Kennedy Bang 3:48 22 The Negatives Echos 4:02

htroF & kcaB

Back and Forth was the self-published debut album from Skinny Puppy, released in 1984. It was supposed to be a limited edition of 50 copies but only 35 were actually made. The first 15 copies were dubbed at a normal speed, while the remaining 20 were dubbed at a high speed, making them slightly inferior to the first 15. This album was remastered and rereleased in 1992 as Back and Forth: Series 2, with additional tracks. The inner sleeve includes a detail of George Tooker's 1950 painting Subway.



These tracks appear in a remastered form on BACK AND FORTH SERIES TWO.
The mix of 'Sleeping Beast' included here is a different (and shorter)
mix from those included later on the 'Remission' and 'Back & Forth
Series 2' releases.

Skinny Puppy - Back and Forth (1984):

1	Skinny Puppy	Sleeping Beast (B+F1 Raw)	5:33
2	Skinny Puppy	K-9 (B+F1 Raw)	3:29
3	Skinny Puppy	Quiet Solitude (B+F1 Raw)	4:36
4	Skinny Puppy	The Pit (B+F1 Raw)	3:15
5	Skinny Puppy	Dead Of Winter (B+F1 Raw)	7:02
6	Skinny Puppy	A.M. / Meat Flavour (B+F1 Raw)	1:53
7	Skinny Puppy	Edge Of Insanity (B+F1 Raw)	1:28

(VA) Metallica: Old Garage Inc.

Ten years ago, Metallica released Garage Inc., a compilation album of covers they had recorded since their inception until 1998. It includes all their b-side covers, and the entire $5.98 EP: Garage Days Re-Revisted
which has been out of print since its original release in 1987.
Then some joker on Soulseek thought it would be a good idea to put together Old Garage Inc., featuring all the original artists of the songs Hetfield, Hammett, Newsted, Ulrich and Burton covered.
(S)he didn't design an album cover: just a listing of the tracks. Click on the album "art", to download.

(VA) Old Garage Inc.:

1	Diamond Head	Helpless	6:48
2	Holocaust	The Small Hours	7:08
3	Killing Joke	The Wait	3:45
4	Budgie	Crash Course In Brain Surgery	2:39
5	Misfits	Die, Die My Darling	3:09
6	Misfits	Green Hell	1:53
7	Diamond Head	Am I Evil	7:45
8	Blitzkrieg	Blitzkrieg	3:49
9	Budgie	Breadfan	6:07
10	Diamond Head	The Prince	6:14
11	Queen	Stone Cold Crazy	2:16
12	Anti-Nowhere League	So What	3:10
13	Sweet Savage	Killing Time	2:39
14	Motörhead	Overkill	5:12
15	Motörhead	Damage Case	3:02
16	Motörhead	Stone Dead Forever	4:35
17	Motörhead	Too Late, Too Late	3:27
18	Bob Seger	Turn The Page	5:03
19	Thin Lizzy	Whiskey In The Jar	5:45

This is the cover of the original album. But you can't download anything: