The Ledge #621: Another Tuneless Racket, Vol. 1

Anyone who has listened to recent episode of The Ledge has heard me wax (somewhat) poetically about Steven H. Gardner's four-part series of Another Tuneless Racket - Punk and New Wave In The Seventies books. They are quite possibly the greatest documents of late 70's punk and new wave music. Gardner is a master at combining strong (at times atypical) opinions with deep, deep research.

Volume one of this series is subtitled "Origins", and deals with artists that had their first records out by 1976. Tonight's show includes one or two tracks by the 18 artists he profiles, along with snippets of his commentary on the bands and/or the individual tracks. Admittedly, most of these acts are no stranger to this show, but there are a handful of groups who I had to research to put this broadcast together. (Later volumes include a plethora of performers I had no knowledge of prior to reading about them, which for me is the greatest treat with books of this sort.)

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1. Dr Feelgood - She Does It Right

2. The Dictators - The Next Big Thing

3. The Dictators - Stay With Me

4. Patti Smith - Gloria

5. The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

6. The Modern Lovers - Government Center

7. The Real Kids - All Kindsa Girls

8. The Real Kids - Taxi Boys

9. The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop

10. The Ramones - Rockaway Beach 

11. Graham Parker & The Rumour - White Honey

12. Graham Parker & The Rumour - Thunder And Rain

13. Little Bob Story - High Time

14. Deaf School - Capaldi's Cafe

15. The Count Bishops - Route 66

16. Eddie & The Hot Rods - Do Anything You Wanna Do

17. Blondie - X Offender

18. Blondie - Hanging On The Telephone

19. The Saints - (I'm) Stranded

20. The Saints - This Perfect Day

21. Television - See No Evil

22. Television - Friction

23. Richard Hell And The Voidoids - Love Comes In Spurts

24. Richard Hell And The Voidoids - Blank Generation

25. The Damned - New Rose

26. The Damned - Fan Club

27. Ultravox - Saturday Night In The City Of The Dead

28. The Stranglers - (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)