Tuesday 5 August 2014

One On The Clapometer - Seven Inch l.p.

A real little gem here from PaulSpizzle, and a personal one as well, considering Paul was in the band.

All of the band members were from 'Prestatyn High' and the band was originally called 'The Officially Unnoticed'. They practiced at 'Prestatyn Town FC' changing rooms on a Thursday night, and later changed their name to 'Thursday Night Is Music Night'.

The band members were originally Paul E Mer (Paulspizzle), Muss (Mark Jones) and Duggie (John Douglas) who left fairly soon, then came along Stephen Hughes on steam powered organ, followed by brothers Steve and later on Tim Roberts. Unfortunately Paul was replaced due to musical differences (Paul liked the Lurkers (didn't we all), UK subs, etc. and the rest of the band preferred Joy Division)

So what about the music, well track 1 'As Time Goes By' is a cover of an old forties jazz song by 'Dooley Wilson' which I cannot imagine whose idea it was to cover this, but they have covered it brilliantly and for me it is the stand out track(for those of you who may not know the original I have included it, so you can hear why this was a strange cover - this song also has famous clips from Bogart e.g. Of all the gin joints in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine" but unfortunately they are not in the cover).
The other three tracks you can clearly hear the bands influence from Joy Division and the Fall, especially 'Long Term Investment' which is my next favourite track. Interestingly 'Mystery Car' was played by John Peel but for me is the weaker track of the four. Obviously there were a few other people who like this as the ep also made 'Sounds' obscurest charts

So what do you think of One On The Claopometer?, leave a comment and tell ASFM.

Band: One On The Claopometer
Label: Beaky Trout
Year: 1980
Tracks:
1. As Time Goes By
2. Long term Investment
3. Mystery Car
4. Hip Sounds From the Orthopedic Ward

Mystery Track:
Singer: Dooley Wilson
Label: United Artists
Year: 1943
Tracks:
1. As Time Goes By

Ripped from Paul's glorious scratched vinyl:

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice one! remember finding this in Beanos along with One Gang Logic a few records down. thought it was the same band at first, both with that one finger approach to their sound. I go with Long Term Investment; "this record goes round for less than one pound, it makes a funny sound, it's really quite profound..."

Punkzer0 said...

Hi Rich thanks for your comment, I missed those lyrics on the couple of listens I have had, but L like those lines, excellent.

Rupert Cook said...

Only yesterday outbid on ebay for this. It sold for £56. I may have to scour Wales for this one.

Punkzer0 said...

Hi Rupert, I wish I had the funds to collect again, but i guess I can always come back top it someday. Do you plan on posting any of those gems you have purchased over on your blog? Happy to do it over here if you are interested.

Anonymous said...

Nice to see this in cyberspace , surely not sold on ebay though ?
Best wishes to Paul but to correct matters I founded OOTC with Mark and paid for the record with him
also did lyrics except for "as time..."
Good website !

Punkzer0 said...

Hi Steve, thanks for the comment and the compliment, much appreciated. It might of been that it was me who got the wording wrong, so thanks for setting the record.

If this had been mine, I wouldn't of sold it and one day when I'm in the money again I will try and track down a copy.

You don't happen to have a scan of the cover, do you?

By the way, it was a great record, shame you didn't record anything else.

All the best Gary

Anonymous said...

Oh god yes, sorry hope I didn't mislead. I was with the band the Officially Unnoticed with Mark and John which we all know came to nothing. I remember jamming with what was to become OOTC for maybe 6 or 7 sessions (can't really remember who else was there) before being given the elbow. I'd like to state that none of the ideas in the record ever came from me as I was off on my own tangent. Hopefully I've raised some new interest in this recording. Anyway best of luck to Steve and Mark and let us know if you guys ever have a reunion gig...I'll be around to support at a shot. Finally I hope you kept some discs back to make a mint on ebay now :)
Cheers
Paul