White SS
White SS? Bit of an odd one this. Atrocious cover, atrocious name and an even more atrocious dress sense! You would be forgiven for thinking it would be some racist claptrap. Instead you get a paean to euthanasia ‘A Mercy Killing’ over a semi acoustic jazzy track sounding more like Caravan. The same applies to the last track ‘Pornography’ which has extra weird noises to boot. The middle track, the live ‘I’m The One’, is the pick of the bunch. A fuzzed up psychedelic rocker sounding somehow like Primal Scream mixed with The Users & Iggy Pop.
All very strange and if you ask me and sounds like musos disguised as punks. Released on CIA Records 1978. Weird! Some nice trouser flareage and poses going on that cover.
Then suddenly all is revealed in an email from Big Dave 22.11.2004
“This was a band of public school guys from the Watford area who thought that they could do better than most of the total bollox that was being released at the time. Also something of a backlash against the kaftan-wearing, bearded dope smokers who were reviewers in the music press then. They never gigged under that name. this was the era of the Anti Nazi League etc etc and the feeling was that people might get the wrong idea and think that they were racist nutters or something.
Love the ‘Design? by Nigey’ because let’s face it there’s no frikkin design!
The tracks were (believe it or not) professionally recorded – but the limiters clipped the volume, which is why they sound so dreadful. The ‘live ‘ track was not live at all – it just sounded worse than the others..I remember sticking those dreadful covers on the record sleeves – took a whole weekend – also wrote the lyric sheets.. The NME saw through it – they said “as concentration camp guards, this lot would make good poodle breeders”
The C.I.A. label was a name that Gray made up on the spur of the moment and the product was distributed through Rocket Records (they used to distribute the old Trojan reggae stuff) down in Harlesden. Try doing that now, you wouldn’t even get through the door!!!! There were only ever 200 pressed”
TalkPunk
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