This Kind Of Punishment

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Just heard about this band - worth hunting down their apparently very rare oop releases?

― Stupid (Stupid), Monday, 29 March 2004 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I bought one of their albums because I loved Ajax records generally, but I never could get into it. Just seemed a little boring. Maybe I should listen again.

― Mitchell (Mitchell), Monday, 29 March 2004 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I have the In the Same Room/5 by Four reissue and it's one of my favourite records. If you're at all into the whole early Flying Nun sound, you NEED this! Another great thing to track down is Peter Jefferies solo record Last Great Challenge In A Dull World. I'm just deeply bummed that I never gotBeard of Bees while I had the chance.

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 29 March 2004 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

The Ajax cd w/ 'In the Same Room' and '5 by Four' is a pretty good listen. The song arrangements are pretty sparse and minimal, which gives it a unique edge.

― earlnash, Monday, 29 March 2004 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Wot NickB and earlnash said -- I can't speak about it with total authority (Mr. Baked Bean Teeth will have much more to say instead!), but for the reasons described above they are extremely fine listens if you have an ear for that sort of thing, murky, mysterious and very captivating. Peter and Graeme's various solo endeavours (counting the Cakekitchen) are also well worth it.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 29 March 2004 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Favourite track is 'Hold On' off In The Same Room, one of their poppiest moments (in a very lo-fi way). What I said about "the Flying Nun sound" is probably a little misleading - most of the time they're closer to the Xpressway bands than they are to the Chills etc.

One thing to destroy: the Two-Foot Flame s/t CD did nothing for me. Which is surprising, cuz on paper it should have been a knock-out - P. Jeffries, Michael Morley and Jean Smith from Mecca Normal.

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 29 March 2004 15:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I think all the TKOP stuff is worth a listen, but I'm biased on the matter, since I was involved in two of their U.S. reissues.

Copies of the Ajax titles are still available, btw, at 3bos.com or even via amazon.com. If anyone wants the first self-titled album that Roof Bolt reissued, I can provide you the e-mail address of the proprietor, who I'm sure is still sitting on copies of this.

Carry on!

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Monday, 29 March 2004 20:29 (twenty-two years ago)

If indeed you could provide me with that address, BBT...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 29 March 2004 20:52 (twenty-two years ago)

My inability to remember anything I've heard by TKOP (esp w/how much I like PJ's 7" & The Last Great Challenge... & the Cakekitchen & haha the HEADLESS CHICKENS) is a source of constant bafflement. What is it they lack?

― etc, Tuesday, 30 March 2004 00:40 (twenty-two years ago)

they're beautiful, i liked the coldness of a lot of it and the blankness of the lyrics but then the viola comes in and the temperature rises and it's even more lovely. all three reissues are worth getting. graeme jefferies solo record is the best jefferies' album though but maybe 'swerve' is the best jefferies release. Graeme should have been allowed more mic time in tkop. i like 'a beard of bees' best out of the three. two foot flame is awful, jean smith has been a bad influence on p.j.

― keith m (keithmcl), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 01:16 (twenty-two years ago)

they're gggrrreeeeaaaaaattttt

― duke jaxx, Tuesday, 30 March 2004 06:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Definitely search for Beard of Bees. That's my favourite by a long stretch. I think Ned reviewed that one for Allmusic? It's in some sense Gothic (to my ears anyway).

― jesus nathalie (nathalie), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 06:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow, I hadn't really thought about TKP for years, much less listened to them. But at the time of the Ajax reissues, I really used to like the Jeffries brothers' stuff. Beard of Bees was probably the greatest of their albums - it's incredibly depressing, but quite unlike anything else from the time. I would agree that Graeme's solo record is the best of the post TKP projects (yes, better than Last Great Challenge). But Peter's singles for Xpressway - Swerve, Fate of the Human Carbine (bizarrely covered by Chan Marshall) and also the devastating 'Randolph's Going Home' - are all amazing.

Has there been a full discussion of Xpressway (as opposed to Flying Nun and the more obvious NZ pop) round these parts? Why, for a few brief years, was it possible to walk into several record shops in the UK and buy Xpressway tapes etc.? How many Dead C. tribute bands evolved in suburban garages during this time? I never understood this, but it certainly shaped my ears in a fairly definitive way.

― radio morocco (radio morocco), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 11:39 (twenty-two years ago)

radio morocco, I think the reason for X/way's ubiquitousness in the UK for a period there in the early '90s was due to the Scottish shop/label Avalanche's championing of the label. They released the excellent Xpressway Pile=up compilation on vinyl/CD and also distributed the tapes.

(Also, "Randolph's Going Home" was out in 1985 on F. Nun, not X/way. Shayne Carter performed on it as well.)

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Tuesday, 30 March 2004 15:12 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

"Doesn't it always...doesn't IT?"

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 6 March 2006 03:06 (twenty years ago)

"Definitely search for Beard of Bees. That's my favourite by a long stretch. I think Ned reviewed that one for Allmusic? It's in some sense Gothic (to my ears anyway). "

interesting,sometimes beautiful record.
and yeah, like a gothic band doing a late Talk Talk record. though talk talk are classicyer.

― der i, Thursday, 9 March 2006 14:10 (twenty years ago)

I gotta stick up for Two Foot Flame here. First record, at least.

― sleeve (sleeve), Thursday, 9 March 2006 16:26 (twenty years ago)

if everybody knew about TKOP no one would like them, put it that way.

― [apal vice, Thursday, 9 March 2006 17:12 (twenty years ago)

that's insightful. even chris matthews was pretty great in tkop. dunno what happened when he started headless chickens.

― keyth (keyth), Friday, 10 March 2006 01:48 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Listening to "The Sleepwalker", so haunting.

The Live '85 tape-only release has been floating around slsk and blogs. Recommended for some unhinged performances from Chris Matthews.

― Mr. Odd, Tuesday, 3 July 2007 22:34 (eighteen years ago)

eleven years pass...

Graeme has a memoir out! Just ordered it.

― mick signals, Saturday, 2 February 2019 04:53 (seven years ago)

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