Monday, May 24, 2010

Feather –Stupid Girl


Feather –Stupid Girl/You Got Troubles –Sam Sam 0352016 (1975 Bel)

Welcome to one the most sought after “Punk before Punk” singles and one the more successful attempts to fit in with the Neo Stones/ NY Dolls ethos. It certainly sits nicely next to the Streak singles and Hollywood Brats LP. Apart from the A side being a spirited run through of the Aftermath cut, the B side has obvious Stones inflexions in terms of the riff and slide. Both sides are cut loud and proud and sound as good now as they were intended to then.

Feather was an Alan Ward and Mike Butcher studio project –Here is detailed information as supplied by James D of the essential Worthless Trash website:

Alan Ward and Mike Butcher were both were working as studio technicians at Morgan Studios in Brussels when they recorded this single. Both previously worked at Morgan's UK studio in London in the early 70s. Alan Ward was also the singer with Bastard which also featured a pre-Damned Brian James.

Bastard moved to Brussels around 1974 but broke up the following year. It was then that Alan Ward and Mike Butcher (who by now had also moved to Brussels) recorded the Feather single with Alan Ward on vocals and Mike Butcher on guitar with two local musicians playing bass and drums. Rollerball’s Savage Eyes came next, recorded late '76 and released only in Holland in 1977. The other musicians on the Rollerball record were two brothers Alex (bass) and Pascal (drums). The Rollerball single has recently been reissued by Sing Sing:
http://www.singsingrecords.com/home.php

As Elton Motello, Ward then wrote Jet Boy Jet Girl and Pogo Pogo with Lou Deprijck and Yves Lacomblez (Yves was also the brains behind Silex Pistols by female duo Too Much). Mike Butcher played guitar on Jet Boy Jet Girl and Pogo Pogo which were also used as the backing tracks for Plastic Bertrand's Ca Plane Pour Moi. Butcher played guitar on both Elton Motello albums and co-wrote most of the material with Ward.

Jet Staxx was Mike Butcher's solo alter ego, two singles were released: I'm Gonna Be The Best Guy and French Girls. He sang, played guitars and bass, and produced the records (with help from Alan Ward). Pascal from Rollerball played drums. Both A sides were Butcher/Ward compositions with the B sides credited solely to Butcher...


Phew!

Hear a full version of Stupid Girl




Hear a full version of You Got Troubles


10 comments:

Sarah said...

Really nice!!! Thanks for sharing. I tried to win this one at eBay last month but someone bid higher...maybe you? lol
Cheers.

Robin Wills said...

Ha! There were two copies recently on ebay, I won the 2nd (and cheaper one). Money and sense...money and sense...

JamesTrash said...

I sent some detailed info about this and the Rollerball single to Record Collector magazine for their 'Digging For Gold' section. Obviously they'd never heard of either record but they seemed interested, asking for more scans etc. 6 months on and they still haven't published it...

Robin Wills said...

Don't tell me about Record Collector...They had commissioned a 5000 word article of the 50 best 70s Junkshop Glam singles with scans etc....they kept promising they would publish it..It has now been over 2 years!

LUCCASBREMBER said...

hey robin!! here one of crazy melomaniac request

1. THE CASUALS "GOOD TIMES/WITCH"
2. ZOLAR X "SPACE AGE LOVE" (1974)

THE ULTRA CULT SEARCHIN!!!

Robin Wills said...

Hi
The Casuals was reviewed April 10 2007...the link to the track is dead though thanks to Divshare's server failure...
Zolar X...not found on this planet

angelo said...

Zolar X's Space Age Love was reissued in 2004 on Timeless CD
http://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Zolar-X/dp/B0002J488E

link rae said...

tho it takes a bit the fun out of scrolling yr archive, occasionally i wish there was a "punk before punk"-tag ;)

anyhoo, thanks for the dedication you put in this blog ... i'm loving it

Anonymous said...

Hi Robin
Had not heard this one before but recogniced it after a while. Ellen Folley have recordet it too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3foOwrn64M
Cheers, Mike

Robin Wills said...

Well it a Stones tune...Did't Mick Jones produce Ellen, which ties in nicely with Feather's origins