the homossexuals record

my personal fave is the nancy sesay & the melodarians "c'est fab" 7"

There was a write up in Ugly Things some years ago (used to be available online, actually, but seems to have disappeared), according to which the tracks on the ReR/Recommended comp are really just the tip of the iceberg. I've managed to track down a good 40 or 50 tracks via Soulseek of supposedly Homosexuals or related tracks. But it's really hard to tell what, if anything, is actually by them or a band containing members. Supposedly members of the collective recorded under the names: L. Voag, George Harrassment, Bing Selfish, Amos & Sara, Nancy Sesay, Ici La Bas, Sir Alek and the Phraser, Sara Goes Pop, Tesco Bombers, Milk From Cheltenham, Just Measurers. I've heard only a handful of these. Based on what I have heard, I'm not sure how much it's worth tracking down the rest. The 16 cuts you've got are probably the best.

There are, every few years, rumors of a pending CD compilation. God knows if it will ever happen...

http://web.archive.org/web/20011030150442/www.hyped2death.com/hsview.html

The 16 songs on the Homosexuals' Record include many of the best, but as Jess said, that Nancy Sesay single is a MONSTER--I know of no other record that sounds like it. The L. Voag album also has some fantastic stuff. Also exceptionally worth tracking down: "Jesus," from a cassette called _VencerWEmos_... and I tend to get "You're Not Moving the Way You're Supposed To" stuck in my head too.

There are two Die Trip Computer Die albums, both of which have at least a couple of very good songs. I've never been clear on whether Bing Selfish was actually one of the Homosexuals proper or whether they were just good friends.

Best songs to start with: "Soft South Africans," "My Night Out," "Vociferous Slam."

I like "Walk Before Imitate" an awful lot.

julio unknowingly steps into the chapel perilous of homosexuals related projects.

is orchestre murphy a homosexuals-related thing or do i just think that because it's on alcohol records?

lauren, i will try to get a copy to dan, so maybe you'll get to see it.

and

''my homosexuals-lovin' pal made a two-disc cdr of homosexuals/post-homosexuals stuff that he was hoping to get clearance to release properly (i think a lot of stuff on slsk came from his comp).''

well, if anyone can sort me out and wants to do a trade then I'm up for that as the likelyhood of me ever getting any of this stuff is v slim indeed.

also: T. weiss was the fella who sorted me out with the CDR. cheers.

thanks for the info everyone.

Hey, yeah, there's more Homos stuff then anyone can possibly imagine and more keeps turning up. I'm working on a discography that I'll post to my website eventually http://www.acuterecords.com

The thing about the Ugly Things interview, is the for a few years people took it at face value, despite knowing that L Voag likes to have fun with people. Recently Chuck Warner got in touch with Bruno(and brought him to the last WFMU record fair, where I was lucky enough to meet him, though briefly) and apparently the negative way it paints Bruno isn't completely true. This is why Chuck took Johan's interview down from the Hyped2Death website and I took my old essay down.

Regarding the wonderful George Harassment LP, it is not, as previously thought, Anton solo, but has material written by Bruno as well.

In any case, I gave up on the idea of a release long ago. I believe Chuck may be working on an official release of the material written by Bruno, with Bruno, and I will continue to offer Acute as a home for it.

Ted Murphy of the Orchestra Murphy, I believe played drums with the Homosexuals or a Homosexuals side-project at some point. There were quite a few people associated with the band. btw, that Orchestra Murphy CD on Alchohol is a total gem!

Bing Selfish worked with L Voag while they were both in Barcelona. L Voag produced a record called Space Hopping which I have a cassette of. It's quite fun.

And while lots of the homos related stuff is "out there" and maybe not as worth checking out, some of their very best material didn't, for whatever reasons, make it onto the Recommended LP. Total Drop, Prestel, You are Not Moving the Way You're Suppose to, the Vencewemos tracks, Walk Before Imitate, the Sir Alick single etc. After having lived and breathed the Recommended LP for the better part of 6 or 7 years, when I finally heard all this other stuff it was like having my earwax cleaned out for the first time.

In any case, there will soon be an acute records website with official info about our releases so far(The Theoretical Girls and Branca's the Ascension) as well as informative sub-sites regarding other obsessions of mine, namely a visual discography of the Homosexuals and the most comprehensive Arthur Russell resource, so stay tuned....

lauren, i had just got in post optimo. i have so much adrenalin after doing the club that it is usually about 8am before i can sleep.

September 2003:
Currently I am working on remastering lots of tracks by The Homosexuals for a new ReR CD release. I hadn't heard this group until now and I think it's great stuff! (done in the early 80's)....

October 2003:
Finished the remastering of the Homosexuals...

so... how's this coming about? does ReR have the authority to release this stuff?? i can't imagine they'd do it without some sort of legality?

=================================================
> is the homosexuals material only the
> stuff that was released previously on ReR?

Chris said - "all the LP and 8 other tracks."

BD
=================================================

so that'd be direct from Chris Cutler.

my question on the legality of reissuing it comes down to the problems discused in this thread - band members not really wanting to have anything to do with it. i can only assume that ReR still hold the rights to releasing this material after all this time.

in any case, at least something's being done.

"Now, for the first time, UK experimental label ReR Megacorp in conjunction with Morphius Archives are happy to present the entire Homosexuals discography on one CD, including an audiophile restoral of the original 1984 ReR release The Homosexuals Record, plus the remainder of their entire recorded discography on one 73 minute CD (including four recently unearthed and previously unreleased/unmixed tracks which were only recently discovered to exist)."

i heart the homosexuals

But if I was to guess, the extra 8 tracks would be the 6 from the Ici Las bas ep (which includes Total Drop, which appeared on the ReR sampler 7") and perhaps Prestel and You Are Not Moving The Way You're Supposed to, or perhaps Walk Before Imitate(only released on the ReR 2xLP) and something else?

And what about the Sir Alick single, that was considered a "homosexuals" release. No, there's no way this CD is the "entire recorded discography"!)

This also doesn't take into consideration that the original ReR homosexuals LP was mastered from tapes and has slightly different versions of material released elsewhere, like the Homosexuals LP. I have a CD-r that came from someone who got it from Kugelberg I think where songs like Technique Street and some others sound vasty superior then what was on the ReR LP. Oh well.

Anyway, I chatted with Chuck Warner about all this at the record fair and later w/ Jason Gross, I think it's more complicated then it seems. Recommended has the rights so far as they own the tapes which I believe were given to them many years ago. I believe Chuck is working with Bruno to compile much more extensive selections, but primarily of Bruno's contributions. Who contributed what? I don't know.

better then nothing, I suppose...

dan

The Homosexuals -Astral Glamour 3CD box set... A comprehensive re-release of the entire Homosexuals catalog to date: their two singles, The Homosexuals EP, the Venceremos cassette, the LP, and all the stuff they put out under pseudonyms on the Black Noise label (Sir Alick, George Harrassment/Masai Sleepwalking, and the six "bands" on the Ici la bas EP). (All the stuff on the It's War Boys label belongs to Jim and for that, well, you'll have to wait a while longer..) Coming early in 2004 with tons of artwork, photos, brilliant sound...and at least the first half of the Homosexuals amazing bio.

it's coming and I'm still suprised/annoyed that they continue to list it as their "entire recorded discography."

The other thing I find funny is that 3 or 4 years ago, when I finished compiling my 2 CD set of Homosexuals and related, which many of you have heard or downloaded, I sent a copy to someone who worked at Morphius because they were considering giving me a manufacturing/distributing deal for Acute Records and the then imminent Theoretical Girls CD. My contact there ended up leaving the company and his superior dropped the ball and never wrote me back.

Meanwhile, I was always under the impression that that Recommended hadn't reissued the record because they didn't have the rights or the agreement of the band members. But they have tapes.

I suppose I will buy both the ReR release and Chuck's release and hope everything is covered, but it's a shame that on one hand you have ReR releasing an incomplete CD with potentially lower quality tracks(for instance, if Astral Glamour is taken from the master tape to the Homosexuals LP instead of from the master tape to the Homosexuals EP or the vinyl EP, it won't sound as good. If you've heard both the ReR ep and some other versions of the songs, the mixes are very different.) On the other hand Chuck will no doubt release a comprehensive set with excellent liner notes, but will it be a CD-r?

Then it says "two ultra-rare 45s" What other 45? The only other 45s I know of are the Number is Bigger 45 with the 2 songs Prestel and You are Not Moving As Fast As You Should Be(2 versions) and the Sir Alick single that was also released as the Homosexuals with the songs Nursery Chymes and In Search of the Perfect Baby. Right there are 4 songs, released as the Homosexuals, argubably as good or better then anything on the LP, and none of them are on the ReR release. As far as the extra tracks, Collapsible You and perhaps Snapshots( I don't recall) are from the George Harassment LP, but are by no means the best, there are some truly amazing and beautiful moments on that record. Walk Before Imitate is of course essential and from the ReR sampler, and Still Living in My Car is only one of the many songs on the Vencerwemos cassette, and again, not nearly the best. And there's nothing from the Ici Las Bas ep. Not even Total Drop which ReR must have a tape of because they put it on the ReR sampler 7".

I just suppose I'm frustrated that this is being advertised repeatedly "the entire Homosexuals discography." All I know is a few weeks after this comes out, Chuck Warner is releasing a 3CD set, that may make anyone who purchases this feel silly. It's not like the stuff ReR is leaving off is weirder or more lo-fi, in fact it's some of their most accessible and accomplished work!

The HOMOSEXUALS are coming, and in the interest of clearing up some confusion, the complete Homosexuals/Black Noise discography is online now at http://hyped2death.com/Homosexuals.html

I've been answering a lot of queries lately about the two reissues since Morphius (the US distribution for the single CD reissue due out 1/6) sent out some out-of-date pre-release information by mistake.  They'll have the corrected version up at their site soon, but here's what I can tell you about what's going on.

The Homosexuals Record CD has the whole LP in much-improved sound plus 5 bonus tracks (including two that even the few happy HS completists haven't heard yet).  You'll love it...but

The Homosexuals' Astral Glamour that we're putting out in late February or early March will be THREE full CDs and it will contain everything they released (including all versions from the single CD, by agreement with Recommended/ReR Megacorp) and more.  It comes out 6 weeks after the single CD hits the stores (Jan.6).  There'll be plenty of art, photos, etc as well as another two hours of music, so no one will feel ripped off if you had to buy the Recommended disc too because you couldn't wait...

Highlights of the triple-set that are NOT on the single-CD include:

#11 and #18 of Johan Kugelberg's all-time top 100 DIY records (the second and "third" Homsexuals 45s")

http://hyped2death.com/Kugelberg100.html 

"Total Drop", "Collected of You", ALL of the Ici la bas EP, and all but one song each from the Venceremos cassette and the George Harrasment/Masai Sleepwalking LP.

Plus restored vocals to a dozen never-finished instrumentals and several more never-released tracks from the badolddays...

Happy new year!

Chuck Warner

Hyped to Death CDs

P.O. Box 351

Westminster, MA 01473

http://hyped2death.com

In 99 or so I digitised much of my Desp Bikes stuff and made CD-rs. Since I had an assignment in a letterpress printing class, I made fancy covers and called it "Another Commercial Venture" and sent it out to many record collectors and traders, never accepting a dime for it. Some of those people made copies and some of those people made copies and some of those people sold them on eBay and GEMM. Then there was the trader who had some music I was really excited about, who clearly got the Desp Bikes music from someone who got it from me, yet wouldn't let me hear the music he had because nothiing I had to offer him was "interesting" enough, inexplicably including the 2CD homosexuals collection I had similarly compiled. Things like this have very much soured me on being quite as forthcoming, and I'm happier to sell people CDs that make the artist a profit, and at this stage, the Desperate Bicycles have explicitely turned down any offers for reissue, whether from me, or much larger labels, anyway, just my 4 cents.

So that's YOUR CD set that's floating around SlSk, I take it? I actually made a tinny, substandard digitization of The Homosexuals' Record back in 2000 or so that got some circulation on Napster.

Hyped to Death now is slating Astral Glamour for a May release.

http://www.furious.com/perfect/scritti.html

Speaking of pitchfork, are they ever gonna review the Metal Urbain CD we sent them?

scott, thanks, wait till you see what we're working on!

Not sure - if it was on the last list of claims, someone will as soon as HQ sends out the CDs. If not, it may be in the next batch.

Looking at a Glaxo Babies discography, I realize I've only heard like 1/3rd of their stuff, the 9 Months to the Disco LP, Shake the Foundations and Christine Keeler singles and Who Killed Bruce Lee? and This is Your Life on a mix.

i too have loved the 2 cd-r comp that dan originally made but i thought there were too many half formed / half arsed songs on it which dragged down the whole thing. please note that these half arsed bits are often better than most bands full songs. i suppose this means i'll have problems with the 3 cd box when it comes out - hopefully not.

but the ReR collection is just marvellous from start to finish. the extra tracks are terrific and fit in very well with the rest and the sound quality is superb - it makes them sound tighter and harder.

and it's great to finally hear something that i can love all the way through for a change (even if it's 20 years old).

Errrr.

Sorry.

Ahem.

Is it available to order anywhere yet, please?

http://hyped2death.com/frameset1.html

The Homos were Anton, Bruno and L.Voag exclusively with a sucession of drummers - more than Spinal Tap - . They were an incredibly talented group. There was a fourth Homosexual - producer Chris Grey, again an incredible talent in his own right. He recorded the Homos at his studio and that is where all the Black Noise recordings come from. The CD was compiled from these and other songs recorded by Chris at the studio. None of these were ever finished and mixed properly, though they were on 1/4 inch masters. Incidently Bruno was unconscious through most of these sessions. This collection was given to Chris Cutler to 'have a listen'many years later. Much later Bruno collected all these masters, copied them onto cassette and gave the cassette to CC to master the Homosexuals LP. Bruno then used the original tapes to record a load of old bollocks on his 8track recorder. No one except Bruno wanted the LP released. Personally I have never heard it, or the cd or the 3 disc wank from that stateside shit, nor will I. No one has ever had the rights to any Homosexuals material, and Bruno's recent decent into righteousness is completly void of anything except selfishness. He has pocketed everyones elses royalties and good luck to him. It's sad to see a genuine talent like this group collapse into nothing but it is completely OK. The real tragedy is that the sad old fuck is still dining out on this 25 year old music and that anyone associated with the group can't get a reveiw without some sort of reference to the Homos. If you have ears then move on please, there is nothing to see here anymore. Oh, by the way, that rustling sound is the tapes from the live recording of the Homos at the Whisky a Go Go, recorded by Tom Newman (Tubular Bells), despooling themselves in the bottom of my bin. The fire in the hearth is glowing nicely and tonight no one in London will be cold.

Now 'die trip computer die'....thats a band! New CD out now.

Has anyone seen these guys recently? They played Cake Shop last night and I was thinking of going to the Trash Bar show tonight in Brooklyn. Any good still?

I saw Bruno at a show in Greenpoint behind a spraypaint/graffiti shop a few weeks ago, he did a solo guitar thing with a few songs for about 7 of us, then hung around for some indie/weirdo rock which followed. Seemed like a pretty cool dude and pretty friendly, even spoke to me later when the place was more filled up.

Oh, and the songs he did seemed pretty legit.

He's playing I think with some guys fro the band Apache Beat, who are pretty hip and totally solid. Previously he was backed by the Imaginary Icons, and before that, at his first shows in ny (opening for Suicide and the one I did at Tommy's Tavern w/ ToddP), the Fuses.