British Mod Revival vs British Post Punk

[77clash]

Mod Revival by miles512 for me.

[clash77]

Mod Revival by miles512 for me.

Oasis Ruled!!!!

[JGJR]

Y'all are both NVTS nuts. British post-punk by leaps and bounds. I love the UK mod revival stuff, but other than The Jam, The Vapors and maybe The Chords and in more recent years, The Rifles and Len Price 3, I don't think it's produced any truly great bands.

[clash77]

Mod Revival by miles512 for me.

that you john??

[patient_ot]

I love the Jam and the Chords, but I'm much more of a fan of UK post-punk.

The other day I watched a short doc on the mod revival. My main takeaway was that it really wasn't necessarily about "mod revival" type bands,but more about reviving the mod style, interest in things like Northern Soul (and classic 60s soul/r&b in general)...for that the whole scene deserves way more credit than it gets...

[clash77]

I love the Jam and the Chords, but I'm much more of a fan of UK post-punk.

The other day I watched a short doc on the mod revival. My main takeaway was that it really wasn't necessarily about "mod revival" type bands,but more about reviving the mod style, interest in things like Northern Soul (and classic 60s soul/r&b in general)...for that the whole scene deserves way more credit than it gets...

patient ot..I agree!

[Welly]

Y'all are both NVTS nuts. British post-punk by leaps and bounds. I love the UK mod revival stuff, but other than The Jam, The Vapors and maybe The Chords and in more recent years, The Rifles and Len Price 3, I don't think it's produced any truly great bands.

Er, hello? Lambrettas put out arguably the best '79 era mod revival LP outside the Jam and Vapors.

[JGJR]

Y'all are both NVTS nuts. British post-punk by leaps and bounds. I love the UK mod revival stuff, but other than The Jam, The Vapors and maybe The Chords and in more recent years, The Rifles and Len Price 3, I don't think it's produced any truly great bands.

Er, hello? Lambrettas put out arguably the best '79 era mod revival LP outside the Jam and Vapors.

Lambrettas, Secret Affair, Purple Hearts, et al. always seemed like 2nd-tier mod revival bands to me, but maybe I should revisit that Lp.

[Welly]

Y'all are both NVTS nuts. British post-punk by leaps and bounds. I love the UK mod revival stuff, but other than The Jam, The Vapors and maybe The Chords and in more recent years, The Rifles and Len Price 3, I don't think it's produced any truly great bands.

Er, hello? Lambrettas put out arguably the best '79 era mod revival LP outside the Jam and Vapors.

Lambrettas, Secret Affair, Purple Hearts, et al. always seemed like 2nd-tier mod revival bands to me, but maybe I should revisit that Lp.

Beat Boys in the Jet Age - you shouldn't need to revisit it mate.

Secret Affair only wrote the anthem of the time.

Chords, Purple Hearts, Merton Parkas etc. were primarily singles bands, so struggled to make albums, usually ending up with one too many covers.

[JGJR]

Y'all are both NVTS nuts. British post-punk by leaps and bounds. I love the UK mod revival stuff, but other than The Jam, The Vapors and maybe The Chords and in more recent years, The Rifles and Len Price 3, I don't think it's produced any truly great bands.

Er, hello? Lambrettas put out arguably the best '79 era mod revival LP outside the Jam and Vapors.

Lambrettas, Secret Affair, Purple Hearts, et al. always seemed like 2nd-tier mod revival bands to me, but maybe I should revisit that Lp.

Beat Boys in the Jet Age - you shouldn't need to revisit it mate.

Secret Affair only wrote the anthem of the time.

Chords, Purple Hearts, Merton Parkas etc. were primarily singles bands, so struggled to make albums, usually ending up with one too many covers.

3 words for you: So Far Away.

[Welly]

Y'all are both NVTS nuts. British post-punk by leaps and bounds. I love the UK mod revival stuff, but other than The Jam, The Vapors and maybe The Chords and in more recent years, The Rifles and Len Price 3, I don't think it's produced any truly great bands.

Er, hello? Lambrettas put out arguably the best '79 era mod revival LP outside the Jam and Vapors.

Lambrettas, Secret Affair, Purple Hearts, et al. always seemed like 2nd-tier mod revival bands to me, but maybe I should revisit that Lp.

Beat Boys in the Jet Age - you shouldn't need to revisit it mate.

Secret Affair only wrote the anthem of the time.

Chords, Purple Hearts, Merton Parkas etc. were primarily singles bands, so struggled to make albums, usually ending up with one too many covers.

3 words for you: So Far Away.

I like it, but it's patchy. Compared to Lambrettas it's a damp squib. How would've it fared without their two Top of the Pops hits leading out each side?

[JGJR]

Y'all are both NVTS nuts. British post-punk by leaps and bounds. I love the UK mod revival stuff, but other than The Jam, The Vapors and maybe The Chords and in more recent years, The Rifles and Len Price 3, I don't think it's produced any truly great bands.

Er, hello? Lambrettas put out arguably the best '79 era mod revival LP outside the Jam and Vapors.

Lambrettas, Secret Affair, Purple Hearts, et al. always seemed like 2nd-tier mod revival bands to me, but maybe I should revisit that Lp.

Beat Boys in the Jet Age - you shouldn't need to revisit it mate.

Secret Affair only wrote the anthem of the time.

Chords, Purple Hearts, Merton Parkas etc. were primarily singles bands, so struggled to make albums, usually ending up with one too many covers.

3 words for you: So Far Away.

I like it, but it's patchy. Compared to Lambrettas it's a damp squib. How would've it fared without their two Top of the Pops hits leading out each side?

Good point and the singles are probably better overall (perhaps), but can you blame them for sticking those songs on the Lp? I know there is a long tradition of stand-alone, non-Lp singles in the UK, but still...

[Welly]

Can't really blame them, but they didn't have the material. Compare it to the Lambrettas only real hit being their cover of 'Poison Ivy' which turned out to be unrepresentative of and weaker than their other material. The rest of the album outshines the hit. Line up the Jam say 'Setting Sons', Vapors 'New Clear Days' and Lambrettas 'Beat Boys' and that's arguably the best three of the time. Vapors though, weren't really considered '79 mod revival even if Foxton was their manager and they toured with the Jam. They didn't seem to align themselves with it, more of a happy accident - just lucky Jam fans. Oh, and 'New Clear Days' in the U.S. was scrambled for the U.S. market with 'Turning Japanese' leading and (funnily enough) the tracks 'Cold War' and 'America' removed with the early single 'Prisoners' added. If you want to hear it properly, you need to check out the U.K. version. That is all.

[JGJR]

Can't really blame them, but they didn't have the material. Compare it to the Lambrettas only real hit being their cover of 'Poison Ivy' which turned out to be unrepresentative of and weaker than their other material. The rest of the album outshines the hit. Line up the Jam say 'Setting Sons', Vapors 'New Clear Days' and Lambrettas 'Beat Boys' and that's arguably the best three of the time. Vapors though, weren't really considered '79 mod revival even if Foxton was their manager and they toured with the Jam. They didn't seem to align themselves with it, more of a happy accident - just lucky Jam fans. Oh, and 'New Clear Days' in the U.S. was scrambled for the U.S. market with 'Turning Japanese' leading and (funnily enough) the tracks 'Cold War' and 'America' removed with the early single 'Prisoners' added. If you want to hear it properly, you need to check out the U.K. version. That is all.

I have both the US Lp and the CD reissue of New Clear Days which has all of those bonus tracks (can't remember if Captain Mod restored it to the UK track order or not), but I actually didn't know that!

UPDATE: They did in fact restore the UK track order, but anyway I heard the CD version first so those songs are definitely indispensable. That was a very common thing. I was just talking to Greg off-list about the early Elvis Costello albums and how they had different track orders in the UK and US, same for The Clash, Generation X, et al.

[Welly]

It is.

[Welly]

UPDATE: They did in fact restore the UK track order, but anyway I heard the CD version first so those songs are definitely indispensable. That was a very common thing. I was just talking to Greg off-list about the early Elvis Costello albums and how they had different track orders in the UK and US, same for The Clash, Generation X, et al.

Yeah, to make it more palatable for U.S. consumers. A bit like how they'd change the name of U.S. confectionary in the 60's/70's for the U.K.

[JGJR]

UPDATE: They did in fact restore the UK track order, but anyway I heard the CD version first so those songs are definitely indispensable. That was a very common thing. I was just talking to Greg off-list about the early Elvis Costello albums and how they had different track orders in the UK and US, same for The Clash, Generation X, et al.

Yeah, to make it more palatable for U.S. consumers. A bit like how they'd change the name of U.S. confectionary in the 60's/70's for the U.K.

Yeah I generally think the U.S. versions in some cases like the first Clash Lp are botches (as Greil Marcus called it in one of his books) and I think it was criminal to take out "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" from the running order of This Year's Model's second side (and to take "48 Hours" off the 1st Clash Lp; I can honestly take or leave the others they took out, but still prefer the UK running order even though I heard the US one first), but in some cases it improves the Lp like with the 1st Generation X Lp.

[Welly]

Yeah I generally think the U.S. versions in some cases like the first Clash Lp are botches (as Greil Marcus called it in one of his books) and I think it was criminal to take out "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" from the running order of This Year's Model's second side (and to take "48 Hours" off the 1st Clash Lp; I can honestly take or leave the others they took out, but still prefer the UK running order even though I heard the US one first), but in some cases it improves the Lp like with the 1st Generation X Lp.

I'd always side with what the band intended (if they even had a hand in the original running order, ha ha) or the original version. From my experience, it's an important part of the process. It's like a er, how you say... 'mix' tape?! Certain songs will work better together and flow a certain way. ALL albums have two sides - a game of two halves. This does NOT translate to CD or digital. So for example, even though three out of four of our old band's albums were only on CD. All the tracklists are graphically represented as two sides.

[clash77]

The Jolt lp as well as The Clues "No vacancies" ep are two other records that should be mentioned here..I agree that the Jam , Chords, Lambrettas lps were top notch..As for Secret Affair, I do like them but think they were at their best during the brief New Hearts era..2 solid singles including the "anthem" Welly mentioned..

[patient_ot]

I nearly bought that Jolt cd reissue a few times. Might get it eventually. Not familiar with the Clues and never heard a full lp of the Vapors...maybe i'll check them out.

I really like a lot of the old 60s mod rock stuff like early Kinks (tho I love their "twee" albums also), the Creation, the Eyes, early Who (first 3 lps only), the Action, Small Faces, etc.

[JGJR]

I really like a lot of the old 60s mod rock stuff like early Kinks (tho I love their "twee" albums also), the Creation, the Eyes, early Who (first 3 lps only), the Action, Small Faces, etc.

I like most of these bands, too (don't think I have ever heard the Eyes unless you mean the late '70s LA punk band). The Kinks were perfect up to and including Muswell Hillbillies.

[gregpolard]

Did somebody say Oasis?

[patient_ot]

I really like a lot of the old 60s mod rock stuff like early Kinks (tho I love their "twee" albums also), the Creation, the Eyes, early Who (first 3 lps only), the Action, Small Faces, etc.

I like most of these bands, too (don't think I have ever heard the Eyes unless you mean the late '70s LA punk band). The Kinks were perfect up to and including Muswell Hillbillies.

I like Muswell too...the Eyes I'm referring to:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/369463-Eyes-The

[john stabb]

clash77 wrote -
"
that you john??"

Nope, not me. But I don't think there were very many worthy of attention Brit Mod Revival groups, either. The Jam were the best of them all but they did have a load of Punk in them, too. There were a few decent songs in their by Housemartins, Secret Affair, The Jolt and the Chords. I've yet to hear the Vapors debut other than "Turning Japanese" but I'm curious. Other than that, 70% of the others were really throwaway in the cut-out bins. Brit Post Punk has to win by at least a dozen bands. At least it does for me.

[clash77]

clash77 wrote -
"
that you john??"

Nope, not me. But I don't think there were very many worthy of attention Brit Mod Revival groups, either. The Jam were the best of them all but they did have a load of Punk in them, too. There were a few decent songs in their by Housemartins, Secret Affair, The Jolt and the Chords. I've yet to hear the Vapors debut other than "Turning Japanese" but I'm curious. Other than that, 70% of the others were really throwaway in the cut-out bins. Brit Post Punk has to win by at least a dozen bands. At least it does for me.

ha no wrong john!! talking to Warrior there Stabb..

[JGJR]

clash77 wrote -
"
that you john??"

Nope, not me. But I don't think there were very many worthy of attention Brit Mod Revival groups, either. The Jam were the best of them all but they did have a load of Punk in them, too. There were a few decent songs in their by Housemartins, Secret Affair, The Jolt and the Chords. I've yet to hear the Vapors debut other than "Turning Japanese" but I'm curious. Other than that, 70% of the others were really throwaway in the cut-out bins. Brit Post Punk has to win by at least a dozen bands. At least it does for me.

A few things: this is the first time I've ever seen The Housemartins referred to as a Mod revival group.

You need to hear The Vapors' New Clear Days. Sure, it's kinda Jam-lite, but the songs are fantastic.

[Welly]

Housemartins

80's indie band.

Brit Post Punk has to win by at least a dozen bands. At least it does for me.

Obviously, but mod revival is essentially post-punk anyway so...

[JGJR]

Housemartins

80's indie band.

Brit Post Punk has to win by at least a dozen bands. At least it does for me.

Obviously, but mod revival is essentially post-punk anyway so...

Indeed and the precursors to Paul Heaton's next band, the more well-known Beautiful South but anyway Housemartins had some UK hits and were contemporaries of Billy Bragg as I think the 2nd artist ever signed to his label Go! Discs.

Plus, the cover of Lifetime's Hello Bastards is a direct rip-off of the cover of The Housemartins' London 0 Hull 4.

And I agree that mod revival is one aspect of post-punk for sure.

[Ed Roach]

The Housemartins have to be the most under-rated band from England - ever.

[JGJR]

Speaking of mod revival stuff, I mentioned The Rifles before and their new album is quite stellar (at least on first listen).

[clash77]

Some more mod bands worth checking out..if you're into this stuff.
The Mods( Canada) or the UK band( formerly known as The Stingrays "Countdown" ep
X certs
Long Tall Shorty( formerly Les Elite- Pathways ep is solid)
Teenbeats
Reactions( Either the Uk or the US band)
Moderns( Sweden)
Docent Dod( Sweden)
Vertebrats(US)
Squire)
Modest Proposal(US)
To name a few..As for US 90's era, I would put the Insomniacs and the Odd Numbers at the top of my list..

[77clash]

"I Ain't Done No Wrong" - Long Tall Shorty

Top 10 Mod Revival track IMO

[Welly]

it's kinda Jam-lite

C'mon, there was a lot more to them that. The Chords were Jam-lite (or Jam with Foxton on vocals).

Was wondering why no-one had mentioned Squire, so...

Beggar (Mods Mayday - kinda Dr. Feelgood)? Manual Scan (San Diego, zine editor Bart Mendoza)? Bureaucrats (OK, so they were UK punk brothers who moved to Canada, but the art and this killer song have a definite '79 mod feel)...

[clash77]

it's kinda Jam-lite

C'mon, there was a lot more to them that. The Chords were Jam-lite (or Jam with Foxton on vocals).

Was wondering why no-one had mentioned Squire, so...

Beggar (Mods Mayday - kinda Dr. Feelgood)? Manual Scan (San Diego, zine editor Bart Mendoza)? Bureaucrats (OK, so they were UK punk brothers who moved to Canada, but the art and this killer song have a definite '79 mod feel)...

A perfect song..wish this band had released an lp at the time..

[77clash]

Get REady to Go

[clash77]

Ed Ball and his first few bands..The Times..Television Personalities..O level.Teenage Filmstars....Then there's Creation records but I'm not a fan of much on that label..

[patient_ot]

I know that they came a bit later, so maybe they weren't technically part of the Mod Revival, but The Prisoners sound very 60s mod-influenced to my ears. I've got their first 3 albums as cd reissues and think they're all pretty good.

[JGJR]

Ed Ball and his first few bands..The Times..Television Personalities..O level.Teenage Filmstars....Then there's Creation records but I'm not a fan of much on that label..

TVP were definitely not mod revival, but an enormous and generally unacknowledged influence on the '80s and beyond UK indie scene (Creation, et al. which you noted) as well as all indie-pop, twee, et al. I don't know their stuff that well, honestly, but I really like what I've heard. Jens Lekman, The Clientele, Futureheads and many others have covered their songs. I know Hunter will disagree, but he will just have to get schooled on them at lunch.

[JGJR]

I know that they came a bit later, so maybe they weren't technically part of the Mod Revival, but The Prisoners sound very 60s mod-influenced to my ears. I've got their first 3 albums as cd reissues and think they're all pretty good.

They sound like it to my ears, too. A Taste of Pink is a great record in that style. Proto-Childish/Headcoats if you will.

[clash77]

Ed Ball and his first few bands..The Times..Television Personalities..O level.Teenage Filmstars....Then there's Creation records but I'm not a fan of much on that label..

TVP were definitely not mod revival, but an enormous and generally unacknowledged influence on the '80s and beyond UK indie scene (Creation, et al. which you noted) as well as all indie-pop, twee, et al. I don't know their stuff that well, honestly, but I really like what I've heard. Jens Lekman, The Clientele, Futureheads and many others have covered their songs. I know Hunter will disagree, but he will just have to get schooled on them at lunch.

Ha yea matt, About TVP, I agree but felt I should mention them along with his other bands which were certainly Mod revival bands..As for Creation, again, I agree.not much there for me but I believe he had a role in start of that label..Just thought Id mention it anyway..A few bands I know of that had releases on the label that you might know..Jesus and Mary Chain(whom I like) Bmx Bandits..Swervedriver..neither of these do a thing for me though.

[JGJR]

I really like a lot of the old 60s mod rock stuff like early Kinks (tho I love their "twee" albums also), the Creation, the Eyes, early Who (first 3 lps only), the Action, Small Faces, etc.

I like most of these bands, too (don't think I have ever heard the Eyes unless you mean the late '70s LA punk band). The Kinks were perfect up to and including Muswell Hillbillies.

I like Muswell too...the Eyes I'm referring to:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/369463-Eyes-The

I must correct myself then. I looked them up since the description was familiar and like I thought, I have knowingly heard at least a few songs by them ("When the Night Falls" and "I'm Rowed Out") on the great Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond, 1964–1969 box set. Now I really wanna to pull that set out of storage. It's been a while! I saw on their discogs page that they (like The Who) did a version of The Everly Brothers' "Man with Money." I would like to hear that, too.

[JGJR]

Ed Ball and his first few bands..The Times..Television Personalities..O level.Teenage Filmstars....Then there's Creation records but I'm not a fan of much on that label..

TVP were definitely not mod revival, but an enormous and generally unacknowledged influence on the '80s and beyond UK indie scene (Creation, et al. which you noted) as well as all indie-pop, twee, et al. I don't know their stuff that well, honestly, but I really like what I've heard. Jens Lekman, The Clientele, Futureheads and many others have covered their songs. I know Hunter will disagree, but he will just have to get schooled on them at lunch.

Ha yea matt, About TVP, I agree but felt I should mention them along with his other bands which were certainly Mod revival bands..As for Creation, again, I agree.not much there for me but I believe he had a role in start of that label..Just thought Id mention it anyway..A few bands I know of that had releases on the label that you might know..Jesus and Mary Chain(whom I like) Bmx Bandits..Swervedriver..neither of these do a thing for me though.

I love both JAMC and Swervedriver, so sorry that you don't dig 'em. I've heard of but have never knowingly heard BMX Bandits. In any case, Creation is one of the most famous UK indie labels ever. I like a lot of their stuff. I'm just curious if there's anything you like on that label.

[xxxHunterxxx]

Ed Ball and his first few bands..The Times..Television Personalities..O level.Teenage Filmstars....Then there's Creation records but I'm not a fan of much on that label..

TVP were definitely not mod revival, but an enormous and generally unacknowledged influence on the '80s and beyond UK indie scene (Creation, et al. which you noted) as well as all indie-pop, twee, et al. I don't know their stuff that well, honestly, but I really like what I've heard. Jens Lekman, The Clientele, Futureheads and many others have covered their songs. I know Hunter will disagree, but he will just have to get schooled on them at lunch.

I love the Television Personalities. The guy who taught me how to play bass was in a band that were on Dan Treacy's label.

[JGJR]

Ed Ball and his first few bands..The Times..Television Personalities..O level.Teenage Filmstars....Then there's Creation records but I'm not a fan of much on that label..

TVP were definitely not mod revival, but an enormous and generally unacknowledged influence on the '80s and beyond UK indie scene (Creation, et al. which you noted) as well as all indie-pop, twee, et al. I don't know their stuff that well, honestly, but I really like what I've heard. Jens Lekman, The Clientele, Futureheads and many others have covered their songs. I know Hunter will disagree, but he will just have to get schooled on them at lunch.

I love the Television Personalities. The guy who taught me how to play bass was in a band that were on Dan Treacy's label.

And your current band's label did several TVP tributes. This makes sense now, but I could've sworn you said TVP were awful on the old board. Anyway, sorry! I guess you were kidding or am I remembered it wrong?

[john stabb]

A few things I wanted to add: I think of "Happy Hour" by Housemartins as a Mod-revival song, not their other material so perhaps I spoke too soon. And I like Modest Proposal (from DC area) with our own Hankskin on bass. Maybe I haven't heard some of the better Mod-revival bands so I'll have to look into that. The ones I've heard on those 80's comps really didn't do much for me.

[JGJR]

A few things I wanted to add: I think of "Happy Hour" by Housemartins as a Mod-revival song, not their other material so perhaps I spoke too soon. And I like Modest Proposal (from DC area) with our own Hankskin on bass. Maybe I haven't heard some of the better Mod-revival bands so I'll have to look into that. The ones I've heard on those 80's comps really didn't do much for me.

Have you ever heard Nushu's version of "Happy Hour?" It's absolutely wonderful.

[john stabb]

Now I have, JGJR. Very nice rendition. I'd like to hear it with a bit more balls. Like to cover it sometime.

[john stabb]

clash77, I really dig that Bureaucrats song Singer sounds like Jimmy in "Quadrophenia" aka Phil Daniels of "Parklife" voice-over. I am going to look into these lads.

[john stabb]

Guess what I really need is someone's own Best of British Mod Revival comp CD-r if anyone here's willing to share online or post. Any givers

[Welly]

clash77, I really dig that Bureaucrats song Singer sounds like Jimmy in "Quadrophenia" aka Phil Daniels of "Parklife" voice-over. I am going to look into these lads.

No problem.