Xray Spex singles

 After complaints last time round at a lack of X post, I trawled through my record collection to amend this. The only 7"s I own beginning with X are these two Xray Spex singles. Unfortunately, I don't own the excellent "Oh Bondage Up Yours" single. I shall have to go to a few record fairs to see if I can did one out.

Instead, I have for you their second single "Germ-Free Adolescents" b/w "Age" and their fifth and final single "Highly Inflammable" b/w "Warriors In Woolworths".

Cleanliness is her obsession

You're a pseudo quasi intellectual

Ozzy Osbourne - early live EPs

My first foray into hard rock on this blog. I got heavily into Black Sabbath and Ozzy in my teens. So much so that I got my hair permed like him on the cover of "No Rest For The Wicked" in 1989. Oh dear. Saw him live that same year at the NEC. Most of the early Ozzy singles were bought at record shops in Birmingham, being careful to avoid any of the signed singles at Reddington Rare Records. My friends and I used to joke that they would just get their silver pen out every time they got an Ozzy single in.

Even with the recent reissue of "Blizzard of Ozz" they have excluded the "Mr Crowley" live EP. Strange given that it contains a track "You Said It All" that doesn't appear anywhere else. In fact, this track isn't really live at all but just has crowd noise added on at the start and end.

Won't you ride my white horse? It's symbolic of course

So Tired was a strange choice of single to be taken from 1983's "Bark At The Moon" album, sounding like an ELO outtake. But the five track 12" contained three live tracks including the best available version of "Bark At The Moon". The end solo by Jake E Lee is extended compared to the original version and, for me, much improved. I am still trying to learn to play this over 20 years later.

Spewing from the mouth of hell

Enablers - Now You Can Answer My Prayers

This beautiful 10" from Enablers came out in 2009 and was limited to 400 copies. If they have any left I sincerely suggest you get along to Lancashire and Somerset Records and buy it immediately as well as all the other Enablers releases (I did). Just as intense, raw and compelling as any of their album releases, these two tracks are well worth listening to (and owning). The first track Hy features Pete Simonelli reading from a letter he found in San Francisco, which is reproduced facsimile as part of the release.

Get to it.