The Flying Lizards

The Flying Lizards were an experimental English new wave band, formed in 1976. They are best known for their eccentric cover version of Barrett Strong's "Money", featuring Deborah Evans-Stickland on lead vocals, which reached the UK and US record charts in 1979. They followed this with their self-titled album that year, which reached number 60 on the UK Albums Chart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Formed and led by record producer David Cunningham, the group were a loose collective of avant-garde and free-improvising musicians, including David Toop and Steve Beresford as instrumentalists, with Deborah Evans-Stickland, Patti Palladin and Vivien Goldman as main vocalists.

 

 

 

 

 

In August 1979 the Flying Lizards appeared twice on the BBC's Top of the Pops performing their hit single "Money ". They also appeared in February 1980, performing follow-up single "TV". Virgin Records extended the band's recording contract after the success of "Money". The group released their début album The Flying Lizards in 1979. The album included two songs – "Her Story" and "The Window" – written and sung by Goldman. 

The 1981 album Fourth Wall received praise from critics but did not sell well. Top Ten (1984), with vocalist Sally Peterson, released by Statik records, consisted entirely of covers, done in a similarly deliberately emotionless, and robotic style, (described by the NME at the time as "Sloane Rap"), including two singles, James Brown's "Sex Machine" and "Dizzy, Miss Lizzy", as well as an album track of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne". Cunningham and Peterson worked together on music production for film and advertising after Top Ten was released, including a re-recording of "Money". 

An album of dub instrumentals, The Secret Dub Life of the Flying Lizards, recorded by David Cunningham mostly in 1978, was finally released in 1995. The first two albums, The Flying Lizards and Fourth Wall, were re-released by RPM in 2010.

Alison Statton

Alison Statton (born March 1958) is a Welsh singer best known for her work with Young Marble Giants. Fans of the singer have included Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, Stephin Merritt, Belle and Sebastian and Renato Russo. 

 

 

 

 

 

Young Marble Giants were a Welsh post-punk band formed in Cardiff, Wales, in 1978. Their music was based around the vocals of Alison Statton along with the minimalist instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham. Their early sound was a sharp contrast with the more aggressive punk rock that dominated the underground at the time. Young Marble Giants released just one studio album, Colossal Youth, in 1980. They also released two EPs and recorded a John Peel session.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Young Marble Giants split up in 1981, she formed the jazz-influenced band Weekend with Simon Emmerson (Booth) and Spike Williams, releasing the album La Varieté in 1982 and a live EP, Live at Ronnie Scott's, the following year. She returned to music in the late 1980s and released two recordings with the guitarist from Ludus, Ian Devine as 'Devine and Statton', The Prince of Wales (1989) and Cardiffians (1990). After working with Devine, she released several records with Spike in the 1990s, starting with Weekend in Wales (1993).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young Marble Giants reunited for a number of live performances from 2007 to 2015 in Europe, the last one in London at the Royal Festival Hall during the Meltdown Festival curated by David Byrne.

 

 

Statton's singing has been called "coolly unadorned", cool and dispassionate, and ghostly and fragile, with a "shy, singsong delivery". Her vocal style is considered influential on many of the indie pop artists that followed.

Amaia Zubiria

 Today's post is dedicated to my mother, that's why it is in Basque.

 

Amaia Zubiria (Donostia, Gipuzkoa, 1947ko irailaren 11) euskal abeslaria da. Euskal Abestigintza Berriak emandako emakumezko abeslaririk garrantzitsuena. Haizea talde aitzindariko kantariak, 30 urteko ibilbidean, bakarkako lanak eta beste musikariekin osatutako egitasmoak tartekatu ditu.

 

 

 

 

 

Haizearekin zuzeneko hamaika emanaldi eta bi disko grabatu ondoren —Haizea (Herri Gogoa, 1976) eta Hontz gaua (Xoxoa, 1979)—, Frantziara eta ondoren Iparraldera jo zuen, eta hainbat jazz musikarirekin hasi zen lanean. Horrela ezagutu zuen Pascal Gaigne (Tolosa, Okzitania) gitarrista eta musikagilea. Harekin lanean hasi zen 1983ko udan, eta bikote artistikoa osatu zuten hainbat urtetan. Tartean, Etxahun eta Etxahun diskoan (IZ, 1980) parte hartu zuen, Imanol, Niko Etxart eta Beñat Axiarirekin batera. Disko horretan Etxahun Barkoxe eta Etxahun-Iruri-ren piezarik esanguratsuenen berrirakurketa egin zuten.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zubiria-Gaigne bikoteak egindako lanak bi zutabe ditu: alde batetik, herri musikaren inguruan kaleratutako diskoak, eta, bestetik, zinemarako egindako musika. Egun argi hartan (Elkar, 1985) izena hartu zuen bikotearen lehen diskoak. Hurrengo urtean Kolorez eta ametsez (Elkar, 1986) kaleratu zuten. Aurrekoaren akustikotasun biluzi bera jorratzen zuen.  Zinemari dagokionez, Pascal Gaigne ezagutu baino lehenagokoa da Amaia Zubiriak egindako lehen lana, La fuga de Segovia (Angel Amigo, 1981) filmerako musika Xabier Lasa Haizeako gitarristarekin egin baitzuen. Gero, Tango kantuarekin parte hartu zuen La muerte de Mikel (Imanol Uribe, 1983) filmaren musikan. Dena dela, Gaignerekin batera egin ditu bere lanik esanguratsuenak: Zergatik Panpox (Xabier Elorriaga, 1985), Ander eta Yul (Ana Diez, 1988), Santa Cruz, el cura guerrillero (Jose Maria Tuduri, 1990), Loraldia, el tiempo de las flores (Oscar Aizpeolea 1990) eta Como tú quieras (Joseba Salegi, 1992). Ondoren, Gaignek ibilaldi esanguratsua egin du zinemarako musikaren alorrean (El sol del membrillo, Mensaka, Lucio...). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Txomin Artolarekin batera hiru diskok osatutako Folk-Lore sorta bilduma kaleratu zuen. Lehenak, Folk-lore-sorta 1 (Elkar, 1991), Folk-lore-sorta 2 (Elkar, 1992) eta Folk-lore-sorta 3 (Elkar, 1993). 

 

 

Gero, bakarkako ibilbideari heldu zion berriro Amaia Zubiriak, eta lau disko kaleratu ditu geroztik. Amonaren mengantza (IZ, 1995), Mami xuri (IZ, 1998), Haatik (Elkar, 2002) eta Nabil da (Elkar, 2008). 2021 urtean Adarra saria eskuratu zuen, Donostiako Udalaren eskutik.

The Untouchable

The Untouchable were a five piece all girl rock band founded in 1965 in Princeton, New Jersey who instantly gained notoriety and worked steadily, first in Princeton and later across New Jersey, to Philadelphia and New York City. They were together from ’65 to ‘69.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Founding members, Molly York, Dodie Pettit and Sheri Oman first formed a folk trio on acoustic guitars in 1964 which quickly changed to a rock band (with the inspiration of The Beatle’s success) in 1965 consisting of Dodie playing lead on electric Guitar, Molly bass guitar, Sheri lead vocals, recorder, and tambourine, Dodie’s sister, Kathy Pettit on drums and completing the band, Geri Lombardo on rhythm guitar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Beginning gigs were mostly free. “Battle of the Bands” at Princeton High School and Princeton Hospital Fete. This instantly introduced them to the local scene and the much-coveted jobs at the Princeton University Clubs on Prospect Avenue. Before the year 65-66 passed, The Untouchable were working almost every weekend. 

Notable Gigs and TV Show appearances from ‘66-‘69 include The 1966 Prince Tiger Dance, Princeton University with Jr Walker and the All Stars, Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, The Lemon Pipers, The Critters and Lester Lanin and his Orchestra ; Jerry Blavat’s TV Dance Party, The Zachery TV Show, and Ed Hurst’s Aquarama TV show.
Later in ‘67-‘68 they performed at The Palace Theater, Broadway, Central Park and Bryant Park for Helena Rubinstein events; and several times at The Electric Circus on St Marks Place opening for such acts as: The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd & Deep Purple. During this time they also were one of the opening acts for The Beach Boys at Rider College.

A new bass player, Jeanette Huber, joined the band replacing Molly York in 1967 just as The Untouchable gained a new management company, Koppelman & Rubin, in New York. Koppelman & Rubin were the managers of The Lovin Spoonful, Barbra Streisand and The Turtles, who had big hit records at the time. Koppelman and Rubin then paired up the girls with producer John Boylan to record original songs “Toll Booth” and “Sounds of Happiness/ Way to Fly” for single release under a new name chosen for them “Calliope”. Sadly, the band broke up in early 1969 before their big single “debut” could happen.

 

 

The Girls / The Sandoval Sisters

The Girls were an American all-female band from Los Angeles, California, United States. They called themselves The Sandoval Sisters and The Moonmaids before ending up as The Girls in 1965, when they signed a recording contract with Capitol Records.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The group was formed by sisters Rosemary (lead guitar), Diane (rhythm guitar), Sylvia (bass), and Margaret (drums and lead vocals) Sandoval. These East L.A. Latinas made more mainstream headway than many of their peers, recording for Capitol Records, appearing on TV, and nabbing a Fender guitar sponsorship.

 

 

 

 

 

They spent the first half of the ’60s working as The Four Queens, The Teen Bugs, The Sandoval Sisters, and The Moonmaids. The four girls first recorded as 'The Four Queens' on Teron Records : "A Cinder In My Eye" / "The Boy Next Door" (1964).

 

In these early incarnations they bore a poppy, ’50s-indebted sound, but that changed by the time they became The Girls in 1965. It was under this name that they released the Capitol singles “Chico’s Girl” (penned by the legendary songwriting duo Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil) and “My Baby,” a rugged but jangly rocker written by singer/drummer Margaret Sandoval. The group toured the Far East, which included performing for the troops in Vietnam.

Fertil Miseria

Fértil Miseria is a Colombian Hardcore Punk band founded in 1990 in the city of Medellín, Colombia.

 

 

 

 

 

The band was formed mostly by women which gave them great importance in the national scene, the band started with Yolanda Molina (drums) and Piedad Castro (bass), shortly after Vicky Castro (lead vocals) and Harley Sánchez "el alemán" (guitar) joined the band. In this way they played for a year until "el alemán" retired and was replaced by Juan Carlos Londoño (guitar).

 

The band had a more or less stable line-up until the beginning of 1999. Shortly after that they had several changes of integration, and this affected the stability of the band a lot.

Nowadays the band is still playing and is one of the most important bands in the Colombian punk and hardcore scene.

The Loveless

This group came from Tampa, FL, USA and it’s members were Zulema Rucker, Brenda Hilliard and Albert Bailey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their initial recording was for Charles Fuller who leased the Supremes sound-alike sides to Brent. By 1968 they were regular house guests at Atlanta’s famous Pink Pussy Cat club where they met producer Dave Crawford. He took the trio down to Muscle Shoals to record a session.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trio moved to New York in the late 60s where they met Sam & Dave and joined their revue for a couple of years touring all over the world under the name Faith Hope and Charity. Back in the Big Apple in the early 70s they joined up with producer Van McCoy who started off their impressive run of hits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Albert Bailey and Brenda Hilliard remained in the group through all the decade of 70's. Zulema left the band for a solo career after their first album, in 1971. They recorded six albums between 1970 - 1978.
Among their highlights are "So Much Love", their biggest hit "To Each His Own" and the cover version of Doris Troy track "Just One Look".

Jean Chapel

Opal Jean Amburgey, also known as Jean Chapel was an american rock-a-billy and country singer and songwriter, sister of Don Chapel, Martha Carson, Minnie Chapel, and mother of Lana Chapel, married to Salty Holmes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She was born March 6, 1925 in Lester County, Kentucky and died August 19, 1995 in Port Orange, Florida. She had her best success as a songwriter, charting 15 songs in the U.S. (mostly on the country charts), including "Lonely Again" by Eddy Arnold which was #1 on the U.S. Country chart in 1967.

 

 

 

 

 

"To Get to You" by Jerry Wallace rose to #12 on the U.S. Country chart in 1972. "Lay Some Happiness on Me" by Dean Martin in 1967 (co-written by Bob Jennings) was #6 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1947 Opal married country musician Salty Holmes. Between 1948 and 1953 they recorded prolifically, billed as Mattie O’Neil and Salty Holmes or as Salty and Mattie.