A Fine Kettle of Fish

Track 1: 1973 The Mynd from Newton Aycliffe, veer away from their normal progressive rock preoccupations to deliver a stonking encore version of that unknown folk pop classic Were on a Little Planet live at Newton Aycliffe Youth Centre.

Track 2: 1979 Damian ‘Dimmer’ Blackwell was founder member of Stockton punk heroes Blitzkrieg Bop, Nicky Beat and the Beatniks and the Commercial Acrobats, and he later became the mainman at Teesbeat recording studios. Here he is in a much more reflective mood with Gethsemane.

Track 3: 1982 Those ace exponents of stomp rock The Montgolfiers provide an interplanetary tale of rock n roll from another world with The Little Green Boogie Man. taken from their magnificent self titled album on VainGloriousUK.

Track 4: 1984 Cruise were a political pop group fronted by Neil Griffin and Kevin Robson. They once did a sponsored bike ride the length of the country for Cruise against Cruise missiles and nearly got arrested in Downing Street. Here they are reminiscing about when they were young and innocent with The Kids of ’69.

Track 5: 2011 If he was a footy player then the fans would chant ‘One Robert Nichols, there’s only One Robert Nichols’ (but he isn’t and they don’t) but here is that staunch Boro lover with his co-conspirators SHRUG with Awesome Welles, a song that we believe must be a Christmas hit in some alternative Universe.

Track 6: 1993 This is the first ever recording made by those young innocents The White Negroes, just before they were expelled from Sunday school. So with a gentle nod to the Four Seasons and early Who, Big Boys Don’t Cry is a wistful exploration of growing up and what might be in store for you unsuspecting young uns.

Track 7: 1985 Into the mighty arena of more Adult Oriented Rock now with Teesside band Hammer containing the twin guitar exploits of Bob Henman and Art Fixter with some granite vocals on ‘Gone in the Night’.

Track 8: 1986 The Hartlepool Mail once ran a story about heartthrobs Fluke being chased down York road by frantic girl fans and their marvellous single ‘Take Me Dancing’ perfectly encapsulates their appeal.

Track 9: 2011 Alan Savage and Kit Haigh were the prime movers in 80’s pop rockers The Flaming Mussolinis who released two albums to critical acclaim and also the more rockier outfits Zoom and Disraeli Gears. In recent years Alan’s music has been released as Alan Savage as well as a plethora of different guises including DaDa Guitars and The Crystaleens. Here he is with Kit on guitar and mellotron with a remix of ‘Monochrome Hand’ from the album Item # 1

Track 10: 1989 Funky poppers The Absolute make their bow with ‘People of the Future’ it’s not exactly Sci Fi, but a celebration of the glorious potential of youth and oh err where does it all go wrong.

Track 11: 2013 Pat McMahon started out as guitar slinger with legendary Sunderland punky popsters The Showbiz Kids and has now gravitated to the bluesier end of the musical spectrum. The song Perfect Son’ is a special remix of a track from his self-titled solo album Pat McMahon

Track 12: 1979 The original incarnation of DisGuise had their very brief glimpse of fame in the summer of 1977 but by 1979 were about to implode, so Jimmy McKenna wrote (I Want to Watch my) Tele with You, a song about domestic bliss which was later recorded by the mk111 line-up. Taken from the ‘Historic Daze’ album available via VainGloriousUK.

Track 13: 2013 In our rather valiant efforts to maintain a multinational musical front we are delighted to include a track from the beautiful town of Huckelhoven in Germany (historically twinned with the not quite so beautiful Hartlepool). Roland Wolff-Riviera pursues a rather sophisticated brand of pop with jazzy overtones and here is a fine example with People like to Talk. From the album: ‘Feels so Easy, Yeah!’ available via One Sunny Day Records

Track 14: 1999 Time for some in yer face punky power pop from that Marc Tayler and 30 Miles Wide chaps with the delicately lyrical and catchy This Song’s for You.

Track 15: 2013 When he is not playing bass with his bluesy rock combo Deep Blue Sea, expatriate Hartlepudlian Graeme Wheatley can be found writing international songs of popness for SWAGmusic, a prime example being 2Idiots which is sung here by another expatriate Geoff Grange. Find out more at Deep Blue Sea.

Track 16: 2015 The rather enigmatic man of mystery Patrick Cannell intoned, performed, recorded and produced this subtlety in his attic, with naught for sustenance but chalk powder and dry biscuits. It amounts to an impassioned plea to ‘Leave us Alone’, cobbled together after Neil Raftery challenged him to write a song with the line “I can hear the voices in your head”. More incantations of like character can be found on Patrick’s website www.whatisthenextphase.net