A Brief Return to the Days of Youth

 

I so wanted to share this one since I first heard it years ago but couldn't come up with a copy (that I could afford). I pieced it together but was missing the fourth track. This month when I was doing the Days of Youth I was determined to share this essential set. Thanks to friend jonder who shared the final track, I am able to present it in full.

Coming out at the time of Brexit, this anti-Brexit protest polemic features one of the finest post-punk supergroups in my opinion. These longstanding musicians with the eclectic mastermind of Jah Wobble collaborated on this CD single in protest of the then-current political climate.

A Very British Coup came about through the creative genius of bassist Jah Wobble, recorded with producer Youth featuring Wobble's former Public Image Ltd band mates Richard Dudanski on drums & Keith Levene on guitar together with lead vocals from Pop Group frontman Mark Stewart, additional bass / keyboards added by Youth with Charlie Wardle on Chinese harp along with loops from Andrew Weatherall / Nina Walsh. It doesn't get much better than this. 

 

Jah Wobble with Levene, Dudanski, Stewart, Weatherall , & Youth – A Very British Coup,
80 Proof Records 80P009CD, 2020.
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A Very British Coup
A Very British Coup (radio edit)
A Very British Coup (Dogma)
A Very British Coup (Youth Dub) 

 

 

Stay young,
NØ

A Rage of Angels

I threatened jonder with a different opening here, but it was just shock talking. I'll be much gentler now that I've had time to let my rage out through the raging sounds of Mark Stewart. 

 

The Pop Group's guitarist/saxophonist Gareth Sager said in tribute: "Mark was the most amazing mind of my generation. RIP." 

& On-U Sound's Adrian Sherwood added: "Thank you my brother. You were the biggest musical influence in my life and our extended family will miss you so much. Love forever."

I can say no more. Let the music speak.

First up is a selection of some of my favorite tracks, for one reason or another, to start things off.

Mark Stewart & - Anger is Holy, NØ Comp., 2023.

Rage of Angels
Instant Halo
Crawl Space
Dream Kitchen (unreleased 12“ version)
The Paranoia of Power
Survival
Zombie [Land]
Passivecation Program
Colour Blind
Fatal Attraction
Hysteria
Stranger
Don’t Ever Lay Down Your Arms
There are no Spectators
Rise Again

 

 

 

Mark Stewart - The Politics of Envy 2xCD, Future Noise FNMDX002, 2012.
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CD1 -
Vanity Kills
Autonomia
Gang War
Codex
Want
Gustav Says
Baby Bourgeois
Method to the Madness
Apocalypse Hotel
Letter to Hermione
Stereotype

Experiments EP -
Autonomia (Electro edit)
Robo Want Part 1
Robo Want Part 2
Letter Dub (The Dispossessed)

 

 

 

 

Mark Stewart - Exorcism of Envy, Future Noise FNMCD004, 2012.

Babycino - Mark Stewart
Sexorcist - Mark Stewart featuring Factory Floor & Keith Levene
Gustav Says Dub
Method to the Madness Dub
Codex Dub - Mark Stewart
Want Version - Mark Stewart featuring Factory Floor
Mirror Wars - Mark Stewart featuring Lee 'Scratch' Perry & Xacute
Letter (Full of Tears) - Mark Stewart featuring Keith Levene
Apocalypse Dub - Mark Stewart featuring Daddy G
Attack Dogs - Mark Stewart with Primal Scream
Killswitch - Mark Stewart featuring Kenneth Anger & Richard Hell

This is my letter, full of tears,
NØ

Lost but Not Forgotten

Being an acolyte of all things On-U Sound & a fan of Mark Stewart (Pop Group, Maffia, or solo), I've posted other MS & M offerings here & here. Now the latest.

In January of this year, Mute Records rereleased 1983s Learning to Cope with Cowardice
by Mark Stewart & Maffia (both 2xCD & 2xLP are already sold out).

Along with this reissue of the original comes The Lost Tapes, a collection that represents the outcome of a painstaking search & the presentation of previously unheard material. Brought together into a sequence of embryonic prototypes, frenzied dub versions, & new archive discoveries, The Lost Tapes chronicles the early ideas & unknown stories that defined the outset of Stewart & Adrian Sherwood's vastly influential work together.

Beginning with the seething assault of "Intro" the collection provides a glimpse into a project Stewart originally intended for William Burroughs whilst "May I" presents a never-before-heard spectacle of raw Dubwise disorder recently discovered on an unmarked tape in an archive in France. Elsewhere there are significant coups in the form of "Paranoia", a pristine yet tough alternate version to "The Power of Paranoia", & "The Weight", another previously unreleased track that, in its forthright lyricism, reveals the vigor with which Stewart has, for many years, been committed to the Campaign Against The Arms Trade. Other revelatory moments include "Conspiracy" the first-ever collaboration between Stewart & Sherwood & "Jerusalem (prototype)", a historic first version of LtCwC's defining anthem, originally aired at the fateful CND rally in Trafalgar Square that signaled an end to Stewart's days in The Pop Group ver.1.0 & initiated his solo career.

Mark himself perceives The Lost Tapes as a document that now possesses a storied significance: "It was a real adventure discovering this forbidden history, a twisted tale of Muswell Hillbillies, French pirates, & a Dutch schizophrenic doctor doing psychic archaeology." Adrian Sherwood describes these works as characteristic of a distinct primitivism: "[The Lost Tapes represent] the early childhood of the songs before Mark & I conducted frenzied, scorched earth, slash-&-burn, twenty-hour mental manic editing sessions at Crass' studios that led to the birthing of the finished album."

Mark Stewart & Maffia - The Lost Tapes 1983, Mute Records 69759 , 2019.

Intro
May I
Conspiracy
Jerusalem (prototype)
Paranoia
Liberty Dub
Vision
Cowardice Dub
High Ideals & Crazy Dub
The Weight

You better grab this while it lasts.

Enjoy,
NØ

Puppetmaster T

Mark Stewart - The Puppet Master from Edit, Crippled Dick Hot Wax! CDHW 105, 2008. 

Blacklist this regime from existence,

NØ

You say Lunatic like its a Bad Word

Don't send help! The lunatics have finally taken over the asylum. Don't send help!

Mark Stewart -"The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum" from 2005s Kiss the Future.

As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade

UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 09/08/2013. Enjoy, NØ.


Since I started the heavy rotation of Singers & Players around here, I dragged out all the OnU Sound/Adrian Sherwood material (Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald, Tackhead, Mark Stewart & Maffia). This is one heavy, heavy chunk o’ vinyl. 1985!

from the OnU Sound website -

"Mark Stewart & Maffia"

"As teenage front man and mastermind of seminal Bristol post-punk legends The Pop Group (1978-80), Stewart already used his microphone as a weapon. In an era that saw public opinion and perception tainted by Thatcher, Reagan and the Cold War, The Pop Group emerged as one of Britain’s most radical exponents of new music and quickly gained notoriety well beyond the British Isles. Their until then unheard mix of punk, funk, dub, jazz and noise, countered by Mark Stewart’s scathing political slogans and lyrics (We Are All Prostitutes), easily counts among the most impressive, provocative and lasting manifestations of musical spontaneity seen, heard and experienced by the end of the 1970s.

After the group’s dissolution in the early 1980s, members of the Pop Group re-emerged in a flurry of new bands and guises: Rip Rig & Panic (featuring the then still unknown Neneh Cherry), Pigbag (with their surprise Top 10 hit ‚"Papa’s Got A Brand New Pig Bag”) and Maximum Joy. After a short stint with the New Age Steppers, Mark Stewart decided to pursue a solo career as Mark Stewart & the Maffia. His friend, On-U sound owner Adrian Sherwood, took care of production and mixed the Maffia on their various tours. With Doug Wimbish, Skip McDonald and drumming talent Keith LeBlanc Stewart recruited a truly exceptional rhythm section who had previously played with the likes of Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, James Brown, Madonna, Africa Bambaata, George Clinton, Tackhead and many others. Considered seminal milestones by many of his peers and fans, the solo outings by this‚ godfather‘ of Bristol’s eclectic music scene blend the most diverse of genres in a unique and unconventional mix of dub, funk, punk, techno, electro, noise – spiced up with a generous dose of Stewart’s trademark political lyrics and slogans.

Albums like As The Veneer Of Democracy Starts To Fade or Learning To Cope With Cowardice have left a lasting mark on the current music scene: icons in their own right like Massive Attack, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Carl Craig, Asian Dub Foundation and Nick Cave call Mark Stewart’s work a decisive influence."

Mark Stewart & Maffia - As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade,

Mute STUMM 24, 1985.
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Side A -

Passcivecation Program & (passcivecation dub)
Bastards
The Resistance of the Cell
Untitled (Call to Mecca)

Side B -

As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade
Pay it All Back
Hypnotized
Slave of Love
The Waiting Room

Enjoy,
NØ