I Have Never Heard These Bands That Start With The Letter P

I have heared the Pork Dukes. I wish I hadn't.

Plan 9 -- a weird band from Providence led by a thirtyish guy and his students (?). They had about six guitar players and covered MC5's "Looking at You." A novelty act for the 1983/84 indie set.

Lead singer Wendy Wu. Later 'advised' to go solo, at which point she disappears...

The band used to be Satan's Rats, who will no doubt appear on the "S" thread...

Penetration sounded a hell of a lot like a Patti Smith rip-off to me, so much so that I couldn't really get into them when I got their album. Vaguely recall that the guitar player was pretty tasty though, so maybe I should dig it out again.

pragvec i have always wondered about, there is a half man half biscuit song, called prag vec at the melkweg, i think they were postpunk, 81ish. wait, all your bands on these things are 1981, so that makes sense

actually, wait again, because you said pragvec not prag vec. are there 2 bands with the same name. same initials as the dual popul vuhs as well,

The Photos I think were exposed by a World in Action TV special about chart rigging/payola.

Prince Charles and City Beat Band, sub Rick James funk rock, most notable for sharing the name with HRH Chuck Windsor.

Penetration were Pauline Murray's band as mentioned above, I think some members went on to form NWOBHM rockers The Tygers of Pan Tang, who are definitely worth checking out.

Punishment of Luxury (Punilux) were Geordies as well afaik.

an online friend of mine's really into Polyphonic Size. He posted an mp3 up here if you're interested. That's the only song of theirs I've heard so far, but I'd like to remedy that.

the Pointed Sticks were Canadian power-pop. I'm pretty sure they were signed to Stiff at some point.

The Photos put out an album. Singer was someone named Wendy Wu and the single was, natch, "Let Me Take Your Photo," which was also the prime cut on the album. It went downhill from there. Pretty much a straight pop band.

Pork Dukes were a jokey band noted for their awful sex humor. Not as heavy as the Mentors and not as capable of writing a song or as funny as The Macc Lads. They were greatly loved in the Lehigh Valley because college DJs played one of their records endlessly. Skip and go to the Macc Lads.

I had a bunch of Plan 9 records and The Highway Kings played with them in Maine once. Garage jam band with l-o-t-s of psychedelic guitar. Guitars, guitars, guitars. A lot more than necessary where one or two would have done nicely. Whoah.

The Pop were an LA power pop band, if this is the same group. Their first record was good, excellent song called "Mr. Ad Man." They put it out themselves. Eventually were signed and had one record on a major with I didn't care for at all. They got a bit arty and the production was florid and weird. All the rock had been eliminated from it.

Mark Perry (solo) released a cover of "The Whole World Is Down On Me" as a single in 1980, which was a nice contrast of catchy and primitive.

I saw The Photos supporting The Undertones in Autumn 1979. Very average. Their album going straight in at #3 was a major surprise, and immediately raised my suspicions. (There was quite a bit of suspicious weirdness going on in the UK singles and albums charts at that time, such as "Danger Games" by The Pinkees going Top 10.) Having said that, I had a big soft spot for the single "I'm So Attractive".

The Piranhas: I have a copy of their single "Space Invaders", owing to an obsession with the game at the time; couldn't resist the pic sleeve, basically. Jolly novelty cash-in song, which didn't quite hit the spot.

The Pork Dukes were gratuitously filthy in a schoolboy-ish way, and had a single called "Bend And Flush" which received fulsome praise from Elton John in the NME, no less.

I used to get Pragvec mixed up with early Scritti Politti, and dismissed both for being too po-faced and austere. This may well have been a mistake.

Prince Charles & The City Beat Band were The Future Of Soul Music for about two weeks in the NME. They appeared on The Tube and had a funk-chant song which went something like "Dimes! Pennies! Nickels! Quarters! Dollar bills! Hundred dollar bills!". The missing link between Defunkt and go-go.

Punishment Of Luxury (also known as Punilux) had loads of advertising in the weekly music press, but never seemed to quite find their constituency. They seemed very art-school, but in a rather clueless way.

Purple Hearts were a much-touted mod revival band who never really made it past the press hype stage.

Passions - I think they had a hit called "I'm in Love with a German Film Star" or something that scored in the Pazz and Jop monthly product poll once, but I never heard it.

Penetration -- Girl-led Brit punks, didn't they do "Don't Dictate" or something like that? Whatever their hit was, it was pretty good. I've been listening to this compilation of some 1976-84 Syracuse r&b punks called the Penetrators this weekend, and I like it. When it first came in the mail last week, though, I thought it WAS Penetration.

Phantom Limbs - are still around; I like their new EP, *Random Hymns.* Slavic-rhythmed Scratch-Acidy pigfuckers. They had a single (split with the Vanishing) I liked last year too, I think, unless I'm confusing them with somebody. I thought they were recent; had no idea they date back to the '80s. Unless this is an entirely different band.

Phil 'N' The Blanks - Missouri band...oh wait, no, I think a Chicago band who just played Missouri a lot while I went to school there. Very forgettable. Sort of a wimpy attempt at powerpop, I imagine.

Charlie Pickett & The Eggs - Florida r&b-ish new wavers; somehow connected with Tom Petty, maybe? May have scored on the Pazz and Jop EP list once, or maybe Christgau liked an EP by them, I forget which.

Der Plan Art-fucked neu deutsche welle weirdos, a la Palais Schaumberg. Their albums were fairly ubiquitous in Frankfurt and Mainz in the early '80s. I still have a track or two on some compilation. (Actually, I BOUGHT a Der Plan LP once. Shoulda kept it.)

Plan 9 -- Longhaired pysch-punk revivalists from New England, I think, with one big fat guy who looked like Leslie West. Much more proto-metal than Fleshtones-dorky. I liked them; another band whose records I should have kept, and now suddenly wish that I did. Byron Coley, I believe, interviewed them for New York Rocker once.

Pointed Sticks - GREAT GREAT GREAT nasal voiced Vancouver pop-punks. As good as, say, the Adverts. From the same scene that birthed the Young Canadians and the Modernettes. Metal Mike is an expert on this stuff; he would swear that Vancouver probably had the best turn of the '80s punk scene in North America, and he may have been right, though I would like to put in a word for Southern Indiana as well.

Pork Dukes -- Offensive cloddy jokey something or others. Old guys. I saw an interview with them in some fanzine a couple years ago.

Prince Charles & The City Beat Band - Boston proto-go-go (sort of) funksters, around the same time as Trouble Funk were starting out in DC, but probably less innovative. ROIR put out a cassette by them I think. Finally a black band new wavers can enjoy! (Just kidding, but that was sort of the idea. I bought their ROIR thing; it was okay.)

Psycotic Pineapple - I never heard them, but I distinctly remember getting them confused with the Psychedelic Furs when I first saw albums by both bands in a record store. Pineapple had a funnier name.

A few years ago a label in Canada put out best-of albums by not only the Pointed Sticks, but also the Modernettes and the Young Canadians, all of which are worth owning. Also just a couple months some label reissued *The Vancouver Complication,* a nice overview of that scene.

Mark Perry's solo album Snappy Turns is a DIY classic. A truly heroically goofy dude. The CD reissue from a few years ago had some bonus tracks including the single mentioned above.

Ha ha, this is an Army term for when you cannibalize parts off one vehicle or power generator or field switchboard (or whatever) to fabricate a chimera that actually works in the field. (Though I would have spelled it jerry-rig. Actually, it's probably used outside of the Army, but the Army in Germany is the only place I ever heard it.)

just remembered other lines of direct descent: Mike Ink earned some of his earliest credits working with Kurt "Pyrolator" Dahlke, "A Certain" Frank Fenstermacher, Moritz "RRR" R. on the second Der Plan album, Normalette Surprise. Robert Görl and the late Chrislo Haas also had their hands in the mix. so, yeah, the official Ata Tak Geri Reig/Normalette Surprise (+) CD reissue from a few years ago is urgent and key and essential and wonderful and all such things, obviously.

pink section were like a more abrasive b-52s i think. tiny outpout, maybe not even a dozen songs. at least two record collectors have put "shopping" on mixtape for me.

i wasn't too into geri reig by der plan, but the first track - "adrenalin lasst der somethingsomething" - has really awesome synths on it. i should re-listen sometime.

prag vec were london post-punks, had a few 7"s and a full-length album. i like "bits."

i like parts of the passions album sanctuary and "i'm in love with a german film star" is terrific moody jangle-pop.

I heard about the reissue of the Vancouver Compilation which is where a few of the bands got their first release, including The Ktels (their original 'I Hate Music'), The Pointed Sticks might have given 'Marching Song'. I think that might be the only comp to come out of Vancouver that didn't have Nardwaur on it. But don't confuse this with the Mint Records Vancouver Special compilation, which while amazing (first appearance of New Pornographers) isn't the same thing.

Payola$ - Changed their name to Rock & Hyde after label pressure. Weren't THAT bad, but probably haven't aged well. Also from Vancouver.

I think we had a review of Charlie Pickett & the Eggs in Thrillseeker fanzine around '82. Like M. Coleman I recall them as into both roots rock(kinda rockabilly) and the Velvet Underground. I think Pickett knew members of the Gun Club and they may have done some gigs together.

I'm sure we had Phil N the Blanks at the radio station too, but I'm drawing a blank right now on what they sounded like.

http://www.myspace.com/passions

prince charles might even be considered proto g-funk - big fat synth bass and lyrics about "doing a little street crime"

pink industry are an odd band. bass, guitar, 808, vocals. it's like a jaded young marble giants after they've all suffered peresonal tragedies. in saying that, the ian brodie produced don't let go is almost the perfect pop song

More difficult: A Flock of Seagulls. (Also A Perfect Circle, if they actually had any albums worth owning and filing, which they do not.)

Pork Dukes are of at least tangential interest due to the involvement of a couple of guys from Steeleye Span, of all bands. "Makin' Bacon" is occasionally on my mind.

Pressure Boys had a major party following in Raleigh-Durham 20 years ago. Ska smart-alecks. Their album (Krandlebanum Monumentus, or some such) has its moments, but you might have to work your way past the attitudenoidal singing.

Penetration are getting a bit of a raw deal above. I think they were terrific. They took a bit of flak from the London press back in the day because of the whiff of heavy metal about Fred Purser's lead guitar. (He later joined the Tygers of Pan Tang!). Moving Targets is a great debut, maybe a bit muddy sounding, but v.good songs and pretty diverse sounding. I think Coming Up For Air is better than it's reputation too.

The Race Against Time official bootleg LP is good for a glimpse of a rawer side of the band. The demos side is cracking. IIRC Fred isn't on it, it was just Neale Floyd on guitar on these demos. I could be wrong tho'. Fred is definitely on the live side of the recd.

I have never heard these "P" bands from Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums 1955-1996 book:

(At least I don't think I have. At least not much. Unless I'm wrong about a couple, but so what):

Pacific Gas & Electric
The Palm Beach Band Boys
Paperboy
The Pasadenas
Passport
Patra
Henry Paul Band
The Paupers
Penthouse Players Clique
People
People's Choice
The Peppermint Rainbow
Perfect Gentlemen
Perfect Strangler
P.F.M. (Premiata Forneria Marconi)
PFR
Phantom, Rocker & Slick
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Shawn Phillips
Pirates of the Mississippi
Planet P
Planet Soul
The Plastic Cow
Playaz
Pleasure
The Plimsouls
PMD
Pockets
Poe
Point of Grace
Poison Clan
Pope John XXII
Pope John Paul II
Portrait
Potliquor
Pousette-Dart Band
Pozo-Seco Singers
Andy Pratt
Prelude
Pretty Maids
Pride & Glory
Prime Minister Pete Nice & Daddy Rich
The Producers
Professor Griff and the Last Asiatic Disciples
Prophet
Dorothy Provine
Pseudo Echo
Pure Love & Pleasure
Pure Soul
The Pursuit Of Happiness
The Pyramids

Those two Pope albums, bizarrely enough (from 1963 and 1979 respectively) both peaked at #126!

I have definitely heard one Python Lee Jackson song (on Rhino's Have a Nice Day compilation), so they didn't make the cut.

Pacific Gas & Electric -- starred first guitarist of the James Gang, Joe Walsh's old pal, Ifergethisname.

Henry Paul Band -- Outlaws spin-off. Fifth tier southern rock. Record commonly seen in cutout and bargain bins.

P.F.M. (Premiata Forneria Marconi) -- Italian prog band, made a number of albums on ELP's imprint, Manticore. Never listened to a blessed one. Lots of other people didn't, too.

Phantom, Rocker & Slick -- pretty obvious. Had some MTV and radio mileage with single, "Men Without Shame."

The Plimsouls -- Peter Case's band. He's been a recorded busker for years. Their first major label album -- <i>Now</i> -- was really good and one of their sig songs, "A Million Miles Away," was made a bit semi-famous by being in one of the Eighties teenage kids in soCal movies that a bajillion people saw.

Pretty Maids -- journeyman metal band.

The Pursuit Of Happiness -- royally suckworthy novelty-style nerd pop act produced by Todd Rundgren. Were big on MTV briefly sometime in the very late Eighties.

Pasadenas - Late 80's UK retro soul harmony act, the singles Tribute (Right On) is a surprisingly good Philly retread.

Prelude - Dull folk act, had a minor hot with After The Goldrush.

Pope John Paul II - more successful and longer running sequel to Pope John Paul.

Patra - Reggae gal. Had a decent-sized hit with "Romantic Call."

Planet Soul - Ginormous dancefloor smash with "Set You Free."

Pleasure - All I know of theirs is "Glide," easily the most characterless track on disc four of The Funk Box. Maybe even the entire box.

The Pursuit Of Happiness -- royally suckworthy novelty-style

Don't hear how they're novelty-style. In fact, some novelty nuggets might have helped because they were indeed royally suckworthy. And weren't they Canadian? I hate it when Canadians suck.

I thought they were from upstate New York. But that's almost Canada, anyway. Or maybe is was just Rundgren who was the upstate New York connection.

i'm pretty sure Point of Grace are a christian wilson-phillips kind of thing. never heard them but i see them in used bins a lot.

Pousette-Dart Band - Always loved this name. Does anyone know what they sounded like?

Prince Charles & The City Beat Band were The Future Of Soul Music for about two weeks in the NME. They appeared on The Tube and had a funk-chant song which went something like "Dimes! Pennies! Nickels! Quarters! Dollar bills! Hundred dollar bills!". The missing link between Defunkt and go-go.

This song ("Cash Money") is fantastic. It's available on a 45 rpm record with "Pt. 1" on side 1 and "Pt. 2" on side 2. Here is a live version that isn't quite as good as the record.

On the cover of the 45, he's wearing a New York t-shirt that, based on the font, must have been a perk for subscribing to New York magazine.

WOAH - what instrument is he playing at 2:07?

And that Wellesley girl on a bender!

Producers: Atlanta's 80s New Wave popsters. Had a mini-hit with their self-titled first CD ("She Sheila"). Sold more than 300K of their first record, 200K-plus of the second and Van says they still owe the label :)

Anyone who might have the original CDs or even the twofer reissue Collector's Choice (I think) put out a few years back can get nicely paid for them on auction sites.

Pseudo Echo's "A Beat For You" is a wonderful commercial new wave tune. The rest of their catalog is not as exciting. They chased the trends for 3 albums morphing from sub-Duran new wave to heavily synthesized dance (had a top 10 hit with a wretched cover of "Funky Town") and long-haired pretty boy rock.

Andy Pratt was a regional Boston area one-hit wonder with "Avenging Annie", an early 70's piano & falsetto tale of woman who ... uh ... seeks revenge. I believe he's still around, actually. GIS the album cover, it's worth it for those who pine for their 70's musical heroes to be long haired & shirtless.

He's also gotta stand as one of the most obscure (at least in retrospect) Pazz & Jop poll finishers ever:

The 1976 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll

Albums
28. Andy Pratt: Resolution (Nemporer) 57 (6)

the henry paul band albums i have are great. very rocking. i love the paupers to death. especially the first album. but the 2nd album has two awesome psych jamz. i dig people. and the peppermint rainbow. i am not a big pfm fan. they are only for the most insane prog fans. i like the one poe album i have. psych band. inspired by edgar cayce and not edgar allen actually. i liked the pete nice and daddy rich tape i had. didn't play it much though. i am a pete nice fan. and a 3rd bass fan.

i like the one poe album i have. psych band. inspired by edgar cayce and not edgar allen

But actually, the album-charting Poe was a singer-songstress form NYC, whose album came out in 1996.

the pseudo echo thread on ilx is one of the longest threads on the board

Pseudo Echo

TPOH had a couple of good singles

People were a band that released a single 45 (very good too) on deram in the early 70s, but that's probably a different band to the one mentioned above

"But actually, the album-charting Poe was a singer-songstress form NYC, whose album came out in 1996."

oh right her. her brother wrote the house of leaves. i've probably heard her music on some sensitive teen drama on the wb before.

the other day i was watching scooby doo with rufus and they played plastic bertrand during a chase sequence. speaking of the letter P.

"People were a band that released a single 45 (very good too) on deram in the early 70s, but that's probably a different band to the one mentioned above"

People was Xian indie rocker Larry Norman's old band. They were on Capitol. they had a hit in 1968 with their cover of the zombies song I LOVE YOU.

I still have not heard these bands that begin with "P" from Jasper & Oliver's International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock & Heavy Metal

Painter
Pallas
Panktri
Panzer
Paul Warren & the Explorers
Persian Risk
Jim Peterik
Phillips Macleod
Picture
Pipedream
Piramis
Player
Pretty Rough
Private Lightning
Private Lines
Puhdys
Pumps

I have two Puhdys LPs here that Metal Mike Saunders sent me after apparently buying them cheap in Germany (they're an East German band), but I have never listened to them. Judging from what appear to be several oldies covers, I took them to be a Sha Na Na type act; never noticed that Jasper and Oliver (who call them "commericial rock with hard rock bias") had included them. They seem more promising now; maybe I'll get around to playing them sometime! (Of course, maybe they had two careers, and were a hard rock act who turned into an oldies act, or something. Plus, some oldies acts are great, of course.)

i have a player album. but they were pop/rock not really hard rock. they had a superbig smash with baby come back. the kind of song you just assume is by ambrosia. unless the player in that book is a different one.

jim peterik is famous for being in three COUNT THEM THREE horrible bands: ides of march, survivor, and pride of lions. like, 40 years of suckitude!

xpost

Naw, it's them. I thought "Baby Come Back" was by Ambrosia, too. Or Kokomo.

"Phillips Macleod"

okay, again, these guys could have toured with ambrosia. total sunshine pop aor. or even mor. i kinda dig stuff like that, but i don't know what they are doing in the metal/hard rock book. or maybe they had more bite then i remember. they definitely had 70's rock guitar along with their pop, but i dunno...

This is a Brit book, by writers famous for their love of sappy US Lee Abrams-style AOR. So there are lots of sunshiney and twee things in it.

Speaking of which, Tribune -- which means the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and a few other worthless small newspapers including the Allentown Morning Call -- have hired Lee Abrams to be their chief of Internet "innovation." They're desperate. The first thing Abrams comes up with is that the newspaper websites need a slogan like, "Everything ... All the Time," lifted directly from The Eagles' "Life in the Fast Lane."

Yeah, hire the guy who crushed FM radio into its current ossified form three decades ago and then tried to do the same thing to satellite radio.

Eesh.

PICTURE were dutch. and belong in a heavy metal/hard rock book. and they had some connection with The Rods - WHO I LOVE - but i can't remember what the connection is. same member/members at some point?

PICTURE were so metal that they even had heavy metal ears!!!

http://bp0.blogger.com/_aQbOxsQCuw0/R0W0DlOL7KI/AAAAAAAAAKw/75peBDHPKZ4/s1600/Picture%2B-%2BHeavy%2BMetal%2BEars%2B%2BPicture%2B1%2B-%2BFront.jpg

you would like PICTURE, gorge. their stuff definitely had a cool BOC/biker vibe at times.

"Heavy Metal Ears":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CiKUmo6VUo

oh fuck this version is so killer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwtk9Xhl98c

homemade 1981 dutch hardrock at its coolest.

shit, now i'm gonna be watching diamond head and tygers of pan tang videos all night. i love what diamond head could do in two minutes and thirty two seconds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuejL6m_mlM

P.F.M. (Premiata Forneria Marconi) - by far the most internationally succesful Italo-prog act, but not necessarily the best. Check out Banco, Osanna or Area instead is my recommendation. They released a few records for the English-speaking market with English lyrics by the dreaded Pete Sinfield - best avoided, them.

Planet P was Tony Carey (ex Rainbow keyboard dude), I had a couple of albums years ago, I recall them being a bit sub-Utopia. Some kind of concept about...something-or-other? Who knows.

Prophet - late 80's prog metal a la Rush, Dream Theater or whatever. They released an album called Cycle Of The Moon, the cover was a picture of a bicycle half buried on the moon. Hilarious, it was.

The Pursuit Of Happiness I still quite like, even though I know I shouldn't. Only the first album was any good. Yes they were Canadians - I guess Jasper & Oliver would have referred to it as "maple leaf mayhem".

From Gorge's list:

Pallas - Scottish prog revivalists from the 80's. Didn't really transcend their influences (Genesis, Rush, Yes, Pink Floyd for the most part). Signed to EMI in the wake of Marillion's success, released an Eddie Offord-produced concept album about Atlantis to general disregard, replaced their singer and tried to "go commercial", failed dismally, split up. See also IQ or Twelfth Night for a similar story.

Persian Risk - post-NWOBHM lags. So forgettable I've forgotten everything about them.

But actually, the album-charting Poe was a singer-songstress form NYC, whose album came out in 1996.

She had an album in '00 or '01 called Haunted that you really really really ought to check out. I'm still mystified as to why it flopped. Dramatic, forceful, vengeful, melodic, rocking, literary pop.

Potliquor - had a minor hit in the early '70s with "Cheer," a pleasant dippy rock thing not far from BTO or Orleans.

The Plastic Cow : bracket with The Moog Machine from the 'M' thread. This time it's Mike Melvoin doing the moogtastic pop covers.

Pleasure : excellent funk act, well worth bchecking out. I have their first two mid-70s LPs on a 2-fer CD, and the title track from the slightly later Joyous LP is outstanding.

P.F.M. (Premiata Forneria Marconi) - "Chocolate Kings" seemed to be in every bargain bin in the world throughout the entirety of the 70s and 80s... still never heard it or them... still don't want to

wasn't there also a drum and bass PFM?

Pousette-Dart Band - Always loved this name. Does anyone know what they sounded like?

Judging from their self-titled Capitol 1976 debut LP, which I found a copy of for 50 cents last month, they sound like fouth-rate post-Poco/Workingman's Dead soft/folk rock, maybe with some (extremely) slight and intermittent Steely Dan/yacht-rock movement in the rhythm somewhere. Listenable enough that I got through the album twice, but not with anything memorable enough that I'll be keeping the thing. Most notable distinction is that the song where they sing about ice boiling over is apparently a different track than the one called "Freezing Hot." A shame, given the glam-rock potential of the weird mime person on their album cover, not to mention that I keep imagining their name is pronounced "Pussied Art Band." Got a later LP for 50 cents, too -- the one with their only Hot 100 hit, "For Love," which peaked at #83 in 1979 and I've never heard on the radio. Haven't played it yet, and guess it's possible it'll be a huge improvement, but I bet it won't be.

I don't know how I missed this one. Personal Effects = not bad New Wavey band w/female vocals. Info page is here: http://www.therefrigerator.net/music/personaleffects.html. I liked a couple of songs from their first EP ok...it was worth the $1 I paid for it. Kind of curious about the CD compilation, but I tend to doubt that they improved over time (maybe I'm wrong).

Review I wrote of a Charlie Pickett (w/ Eggs and otherwise) reissue in Blurt two years ago:

CHARLIE PICKETT Bar Band Americanus: The Best Of (Bloodshot)

It says something that most of these boogiefied early ‘80s Florida cowpunk cuts are more sprightly than either the two Flamin’ Groovies covers or the track that Robert Christgau once ranked among “the bitterest post-free-love songs you’ve ever heard.” Pickett’s journeyman stomps and get-off-your-porch frugs put the lie to people (say, Hold Steady haters) who consider “bar band rock” an automatic insult. “In the Wildnerness” has the coolest guitar solo; “Penny Instead” is like George Thorogood’s Destroyers covering the Nails’ “88 Lines About 44 Women”; “A On Horseback” like Ted Nugent namedropping Jackson Pollack; “Phantom Train” like Brownsville Station namedropping Mark Twain.

Also kind of like the Pink Military LP -- Do Animals Believe In God? (Eric's 1980) -- I found for $1 last year. Sort of a weird proto-gothy six-person (maybe not all at the same time?) female-fronted synth-pop band, but with two synth players who double respectively on guitars and grand piano, plus people on actual bass, drums, and "congas & percussion." From Liverpool, apparently (though not to be confused with fellow Liverpublians Pink Industry, which Pink Military singer Jayne Casey later formed with some future Frankie Goes To Hollywood person.)

that one Pink Section single has always been good to know about. and the band had Judy & Carol from the Inflatable Boy Clams & the Longshoremen.

synth solo one minute in to 'Shopping' is first reason why it keeps popping up on mix tapes

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/02/pink-section-mp.html

Plan 9 was among the best band to emerge from the '80s psych/garage scene. They had several releases on Midnight, New Rose & Worry Bird records (among others). They continue to this day, operating mostly as a cottage industry through their website: http://www.plan9ri.com/ ...and their Criswell Predicts imprint. Many of their tunes sound a bit like an acid-fried Blue Oyster Cult. Fantastic & highly recommended.

i got the Panic Squad EP a month ago and LOVE it. awesome poppy punky stuff. too bad they never put out a full album. they had the goods.

also, i've heard penetration since this thread. i think i kept the album i had by them. kinda waver about it. sometimes it sounds like kinda cool post-punk and other times it sounds a little, i dunno, not great to me.

i've heard the philisteens since this thread too.

oh and i've heard The Pop since this thread. have one of their albums. i dig it.

I used to have three or four Plan 9 LPs back in the '80s; liked them well enough, but not enough to keep them, apparently. Bought their 1985 one Keep Your Cool And Read The Rules again for $1 last year; will keep it this time, think it's pretty good, but not great. Pretty sure they'd hit me as more BOC-like if they weren't produced so murky.

Wrote about the Pop's '79 Go! on Rolling Hard Rock last year or the year before. Like it, though consensus seems to be that their 1977 debut, which I've still never heard, is the better hard rock album.

So, turns out the Pussied Art, I mean Pousette-Dart, Band's 1979 Never Enough album is much better than the debut after all. I'm guessing that disco had a real good effect on their willingness to have fun with rhythm, and try lots of new things, in hopes of hitting, which they never did. In fact, their "hit", "For Love," is one the straighter soft-rock tracks here; reminds me a Firefall. None of the rest is disco per se', but they do funk ("Cold Outside" -- still obsessed with temperatures, apparently), funk-rock ("Gotta Get Far Away," which sounds like they've been listening to KC or the Ohio Players or at least the Rolling Stones), borderline-weird-angled art/prog funk ("Long Legs," one of my favorite tracks, about a lady's lower appendages, and "Cheated," another pretty good one), Latin ("Silver Stars"), and something that, if it came out now, would probably be classified as Deadhead jam-band reggae (a cover of the Depression classic "Hallelujah I'm A Bum," a pretty cool idea going into the early '80s recession but they just sound like dumbbell hippies when they do it). "Never Enough" is toward the harder side of the Eagles (what would be called country if it came out now), and my real favorite, "We Never Give Up," sounds like a real catchy kinda couldabeen soft/yacht-rock blue-eyed-soul falsetto classic. Some parts also make me think "Lavender Hill Mob."

Also decided Pink Military have too much going on rhythmically (wacky percussion sounds, plus plenty of dub on Side Two) and vocally (Jayne has a fairly full, and almost punky at times, voice) to be classified as "synth pop," despite having synths. Maybe more oddball "post punk." Would've made sense if they'd shared a bill with the Bunnydrums, maybe.