Look Out Cleveland

The impeccable Punk 45 series on the Soul Jazz label brought us two new volumes this year, covering Akron and Cleveland. The former (Burn, Rubber City, Burn! Akron, Ohio Punk And The Decline Of The Mid-West 1975-80) is a decent collection featuring the Bizarros, Tin Huey and Devo amongst others, but doesn't surpass Stiff's ancient Akron Compilation. The Cleveland one (Extermination Nights In The Sixth City - Cleveland, Ohio: Punk And The Decline Of The Mid-West 1975-1982) is a dream come true though. Incredible how such a truckload of great bands thrived there in relative isolation. Pere Ubu, the Pagans, Electric Eels, and Mirrors all make an entrance, and nearly all those adventurous stabs at artrock still sound remarkably fresh today.

The Bizarros - I Bizarro
Jazz Destroyers - Love Meant To Die

Scratch & Sniff

All this talk about the mid to late seventies Cleveland scene - and the great Pere Ubu in particular - on the inspiring Siblingshot on the Bleachers blog made me think of another Ohio scene: the Akron one. Known as the rubber capital of the world, Akron was famous for its local sphere of musical activity for a short while when the mighty Stiff label released a showcase called The Akron Compilation in 1978. The album cover featured a scratch & sniff rubber tyre in the right-hand corner, and believe it or not, three decades later my copy still smells faintly of rubber when I rub a fingernail over it.

None of the featured artists really managed to hit the big time later on, and as far as I know Akron never produced any band of note since. But The Akron Compilation still stands as a worthy testimony of what once was, and definitely deserves a cd release. Just check out the following gems by Rachel Sweet (a great singer), Tin Huey (Ubu-inspired weirdness), Jane Aire & The Belvederes (nice pop, complete with a searching-the-radio-waves intro) and the Waitresses (funky!) for proof.

Rachel Sweet - Truck Stop Queen MP3

Tin Huey - Chinese Circus MP3

Jane Aire & The Belvederes - When I Was Young MP3

The Waitresses - Slide MP3