Tuesday 5 August 2014

The Desperate Bicycles - Smokescreen

"It was easy, It was cheap, Go and do it" was 'The Desperate Bicycles' mantra. For me the Desperate Bicycles were excellent, not sounding like most classic 'Punk' bands, but typifying the Punk ethos of DIY. Their songs were offbeat, and different to everything else at that time, and I loved it. I don't know why they have not reissued their material, and if they ever do I will be one of the first to buy it (even though I have all of the vinyls). If you do like this then you are in luck as Derek Erdman has collected all of their material in one place.

'Somkescreen' was their debut single, recorded in mono, with the same two tracks on each side. see what you think and leave a comment.

Band: The Desperate Bicycles
Label: Refill
Year: 1977
Tracks:
1. Somkescreen
2. Handlebars

Ripped from glorious scratched vinyl:

14 comments:

arstider said...

One of those singles that I never bought myself. Nice to hear it again.

Best wishes from Sweden

Anonymous said...

I didn't have this one. But thanks for the link, nice to hear the second single again. One of my favourites.
Robert - Stockholm.

Clint Iguana said...

this is just mind bogglingly spooky. was reading about the desperate bicycles in a book about DIY music this morning, so looked them up on the net and found a site with loads of MPfrees to down load and decided to drop by to let you know.... and low and behold, you have chosen today to post this.... amazing!

anyway...

http://www.derekerdman.com/ilovemilkshakes/october2004/Desperate_Bicycles_Anthology/desperatebicycles.htm

Clint Iguana said...

errrm... not sure if the whole link came out then, try going to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperate_Bicycles and follow the link at the bottom

Clint Iguana said...

right forget it.... just noticed you have put this link in your post, should have actually read it before getting so wound up.

i shall go back to dreaming about cardiff city and wembley now.

Anonymous said...

Check out the comments in the Punishment of Luxury post for a link to Laughing Academy

Craig.

Punkzer0 said...

Hi Clint, your messages are great, it is a bit spooky I agree. I watched Cardiff win, so now Man U are out I'm happy for you to win.

Punkzer0 said...

Cheers Craig I got it thanks. I also found a vinyl copy to add to the collection.

Clint Iguana said...

a litte bit of light relief for you.... go to http://www.aardvarkcymru.co.uk/harryhighways.htm and down load the 'oi mush' song. its by a jack from swansea, but we will let him off cos it is awesome... more punk than punk!

Punkzer0 said...

mmmmm Clint, not sure about that one.

Rupert Cook said...

DIY excellence. Have all their singles and the LP but still can't find the offshoot band's single, the Evening Outs 7" ,also on Refill Records. Put Desperate Bicycles into Youtube and see what you find.

Punkzer0 said...

Hi Rupert just spotted your comment, sorry for the delay. Thanks for the info I will check it out. I didn't even know there was an offshoot of the DB's

David Strongos said...

Hi, I've posted all DB songs, divided in two archives (singles and the LP), filtered with Adobe Audition (better quality, without "clics" and noise from the disc surface). See this at my blog: http://wwww.factor-zero.blogspot.com

Punkzer0 said...

Hi Strongos, thanks for the info. Nice blog I will add you to mine. Keep it up.