Friday, May 19, 2006

In the world of bloggin' things come and go. Generally it comes down to people startin' off full of enthusiasm before they realize it takes a serious amount of time to keep those blogs up 'n runnin'.
Here's some new ones that will hopefully stay with us for a while: Low Down Kids is run by former Fierce label head honcho Steve Gregory. Focused on obscure 70s UK punk 'n powerpop 45s he throws up all kindsa obscure knowledge. Along similar lines comes Worthless Trash. "Nostalgia... And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits" as they say, but it goes deeper than just that. Robin Wills should need no introduction to alla you NBT readers out there. His Pure Pop blog is a cool personal look at all things "Power Pop, Pop/psych, Glam, Garage, Surf, 60's Girl Group and Protest/Folk Rock". Just for the fact that he had me diggin' out Stanley Frank's S'?Cool Days and Trevor White's Crazy Kids (just play 'em back-to-back and you'll understand!) I'm awardin' him NBT's blog-of-the-week status!
'77 The Year of Punk & New Wave by Henrik Bech Poulsen (Helter Skelter).
And yet another book on punk rock!, this one bein' of the reference guide variety. The basic "theme" is that it details every UK band that released a record in '77. The scope is surprisingly broad, everything from the Acme Sewage Co. to the Tyla Gang is included. Short biographies, detailed discographies, handsomely illustrated, in short; the works. I can well imagine pullin' this from the shelves frequently in the years to come to look up some arcane detail. Minor points? Well, it obvious that English ain't Poulsen's first language, and referin' to a punk-rock band as "cats" and their output as "platters" certainly feels kinda awkward (bein' in the same position, I'm well aware of the difficulties involved here!). And because they didn't have any records out in '77 the book misses out on seminal acts like Siouxsie, Slits and Subway Sect. That said, this does come recommended, just dig around a bit for a decent price and you're well set...