The Abs - A Wop Bop A Loo Bop... A Cough, Wheeze, Fart!
Original Release Date
2008
Release Information
UK 2xCD 2008 (Boss Tuneage - BTRCRS030)
CD1
1 Grease Your Ralph 2:58
2 Hand Me Down (My Silver Boulder Knives) 2:49
3 Fear Is The Key 3:19
4 Same Mistake Twice 2:24
5 Popular In Bradford 2:01
6 Grease Your Ralph 2:48
7 Sweetest Kiss 3:42
8 Toes Stamped Flat 3:39
9 Diamonds 3:23
10 Concrete Hits Bone 2:03
11 Wreckoning Hour 2:19
12 Everything's Exactly What You Think It Is 3:33
13 Same Mistake Twice 2:18
14 Hand Me Down (My Silver Boulder Knives) 2:52
15 Legal Aid 3:08
16 Jackhammer 2:10
17 Shift 4:15
18 Wankin' In The Bog 2:11
19 The Gospel According To John Motson 3:57
20 Allbran Addict (Live) 2:50
CD2
1 Great Heart Still 3:28
2 Lethal 3:42
3 False Teeth For the Blind 3:13
4 Engelbert Humperdink's Racing Pigeon 2:39
5 Twelve Bar Tender 3:41
6 Luck 3:33
7 Trippin' 4:34
8 Point Me At The Fridge 3:16
9 Fear Is The Key 3:07
10 High On Purpose 4:33
11 Shaddup You Face 5:44
12 Underwood Shuffle 2:08
13 Clinkers In My Cleft (Live)1:52
14 Kentucky Red Hair (Live) 3:41
15 Stegasaurus (Live) 3:37
16 Louisana Saturday Night (Live) 3:55
17 Ringland Tuxedo (Live) 3:44
18 Jack Russell Blues (Live) 4:38
19 Fractured Jaw (Live) 4:28
20 Derek Dougan (Live) 4:34
Chart Placings
NoneCredits
Baz Oldfield: Vocals, Guitar
B. Fununyun: Vocals, Guitar
Fatty Ashtray: Bass (tracks on CD1)
Dingo: Bass (tracks on CD2)
The Reverend: Drums
CD1:
Tracks 1-4: Recorded for the BBC John Peel Show, 28th June 1987. First broadcast 8th July 1987. Produced by Dale Griffin. Engineered by Mark Engels and Martin Colley
Tracks 1-5-12: Originally released as the Mentalenema LP. Produced by Mark (Les) Dawson at Goldust Studios 27-30 July 1989
Tracks 13-16: Originally released as the Turbosphinct 12". Recorded at Loco Studios, Usk. Produced by Andrew Fryer, Engineered by Tim Lewis
Track 17: B-Side of the self released Grease Your Ralph 7". Recorded at Loco Studios, Usk 13th/14th May 1987. Produced by Nick Smith
Track 18: From Free 7" with Sniffin' Rock Fanzine, Issue 8.
Tracks 19-20: Previously unreleased
CD2:
Tracks 1-11: Originally released as the Nail It Down LP, 1990. Produced by Mark (Les) Dawson and The Abs at Goldust Studios, Kent
Tracks 13-20: Previously unreleased. Live Editing by Ju Ju's Voodoo Shack
Reviews & Opinions
PUNKY GIBBON: Hmmm.....it's all very well to whack out a double CD like this and boast about a raft of unissued (live) tracks you'll never play again, but to be incomplete is just irritating. Where is the original 7-Inch version of 'Grease Your Ralph'? And why do we only have one of the two songs from its B-Side? Other problem: this band's songs are way too samey, and after half a dozen songs they blur into one long not very entertaining one.
SCANNERZINE: This came as a real surprise - I used to really like The Abs back In the late 80s. Snag is, the band’s brand of Pop-Punk has really not aged too well. A lot of this double CD retrospective sounds incredibly tame and light - kinda like a less aggressive Senseless Things. You get the band’s Peel Session featuring their iconic song, ‘Grease Your Ralph’, the Mentalenema and Nail It Down albums and the highlight being the still-pretty-rockin Turbosphinct 12" EP - which for me contains the band’s finest moment In the form of ‘Same Mistake Twice’. As an additional bonus, there is also an unreleased live set - a total of 40 songs In all. It’s still entertaining - especially as I still remember the band with fondness - but it does sound way more dated than many other bands of the same era and style.
Additional Notes
None yet
