Celibate Rifles C or D, S/D, RFI

Then 1989 came and the "Blind Ear" LP started to meh. Too obviously pop ? Then I lost interest. So whither Les Fusils Célibataires during the 90's ?

And merci to this thread and the first poster for reminding us of Radio Birdman ! Will those "OMG-someone-on-ILM-just-mentioned-the-most-awesomest-band-I-must-hear-anew -after-so-many-years" moments ever cease ?

Blind Ear is a bit crappy, tis true.

And if you want Detroit rock, you'd do better getting CDs by Detroit bands (Brownsville Station, Nugent, the Rockets, etc.) than wasting money on the Celibate Rifles, who couldn't hold a candle to most of the genuine articles.

Two LPs, a live one recorded at CBGBs and another entitled "Quintessentially Yours" seemed to be about their high point. Never saw CD copies, only vinyl.

Radio Birdman that's a different story, they probably could've held their own second-billed at the Grande Ballroom or Second Chance.

Just picked up "Spaceman In A Satin Suit" used for $5:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41DNXAFNTBL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I like it okay! Much more rootsy than I expected but not unpleasantly so.

"Let's Do It Again" could be Georgia Satellites but there's tons more pumped-up blues licks here. Some good riffs though, like "Cuttin' It Fine" which could be a pissed Neil Young. Not a lot of punk venom that I would have expected though "Kathy Says" reminds me of Husker Du in a good way and the lead cut "Spinarts" is a simple Stooges assault.

How does this compare to other Celibate Rifles fare? I see that it came late in the game for them which could mean anything... Wiki says it was their best album in some years, but that, too, could mean anything (or nothing)...

Earlier albums were their best (though never half as "Detroit" as frequently claimed -- sometimes by me -- at the time.) I wrote about them a lot back then; interviewed them for Creem once too. And here's something I wrote on the Rolling Hard Rock thread last year:

I found another copy (first one since I got rid of my old one, early '90s or so) of Aussies the Celibate Rifles' 1985 *Quintessentially Yours* (#309 in Stairway) for a buck a few weeks back, and I still like it, especially the two long guitar jams at the end of each side, suburbia screed "This Week" and wah-wah-pedaled (and supposedly Moral Majority baiting) "God Squad"; otherwise, definitely think the faster, sillier more Vibrators-like songs on Side One don't hold up as well as the slower, more serious, Wipers-like stuff on Side Two (for instance, "Killing Time," which mentions the New Order {could be a reference to the Ron Asheton/Dennis Thompson post-Stooge/MC5 band that later merged with a couple Radio Birdman guys into New Race} and "inferior races," but the vocals are mixed down and I don't know much about Aussie nationalism or, uh, subjugation of aborigonal races there, or whatever.) Don't really hear the Mott or early Seger influences I claim in the book, much less the Detroit influence often otherwise claimed for Aussie bands in general at the time, which they just don't have enough hard r&b groove in the rhythm section for; also, calling "God Squad" "Sabbathoid" overstated the case, but it's still definitely the heaviest thing on the album -- which fwiw was supposedly a comp of earlier Oz stuff, thus the '82/'83 copywrites on the label. Never got into the band otherwise, though, except for their "Sometimes (I Wouldn't Live Here If You Payed Me)" 7-inch 45 from 1984, which I amazingly never got rid of.

"Let's Do It Again" could be Georgia Satellites

ouch. it's a barely recognizable cover of sonic's rendezvous band, probably transcribed from a third generation bootleg.

Man, I used to play them on my radio show but never owned any, so I hadn't listened to 'em in 20 years! Listening to Sofa and I know the first 9 tracks from albums from 83-89, which is the range of years the comp covers. So where are the rest starting with "Ocean Shore" from? B-sides? I know "Pretty Pictures" was a single, and that's it.