Various - Where The Hell Is...Leicester
Original Release Date
1981Release Information
UK LP 1981 (The S+T Label - STAB 1)
1 The Danceable Solution - You Don´t Know My Name
2 Tribal Games - Plastic Jah
3 The Amber Squad - Six Of Me
4 Deep Freeze Mice - Minstrel Radio Yoghurt
5 Ronnie Slicker & The Banditz - Disco Music
6 Mental Notes - Is He Such A Fool?
7 The Silent - Ambition
8 Modern Living - Drink Is A Drug
9 Last Resort - Stepping On The Cracks
10 Observers - Crisis
11 New Age - Can´t Get In
12 Future Toys - R C U
Chart Placings
NoneCredits
Tapes spliced
at Street Music, Leicester
Porkys usual prime Portland cut
Reviews & Opinions
DIE OR D.I.Y. BLOGSPOT: At the time of this compilation lp,Terry 'the housewives favourite Radio 2 DJ' Wogan's current running joke was........ ,and it is hilarious, that nobody knew where Leicester was! As with most 'jokes' there is a certain element of truth involved in this, as most people don't really know where it is,and they all think we (yes i am from Leicester,and i know where it is), speak with a Birmingham accent(the brummy accent stops after Coventry at the end of the M69 ,and before Hinckley). Hence the title of this record. Leicester always had a thriving music scene, producing such greats(*I'm being ironic here) as Family, Kasabian*, Yeah Yeah Noh, Prolapse, Gaye Bikers On Acid, Crazyhead, Volcano The Bear, Bomb Party, Basement Jaxx, Englebert Humperdinck, Scouts of Uzbekistan, and the greatest of the lot, Showaddywaddy. Also represented on this comp are the groops on the edge of it all, including DIY legends, The Deep Freeze Mice; who even feature on the annoyingly trainspottery Nurse With Wound list. But i am mystified at the absence of anything from cassette legends The Midnight Circus ( see previous post of Angst In My Pants)and,or, The Barron Balls!. Not quite in the league of the two Manchester compilations posted earlier,but it has its moments, like the 'Modern Living' track, and Ronnie Slicker and The Banditz,etc. "Where the Hell is Leicester?"......in the facking Premier League Mate!Additional Notes
Chris Freer ran the label that released this record. He has kindly provided this information about the comp:
This was on the burner for nearly a year. It was eventually released in January 1981. It should have had a colour sleeve but a mate who was going to print it for me as a favour got cold feet and it came out in Black & White. The cover was pretty self-indulgent and crap really but hey-ho.
All the bands supplied their own tapes. Some bands were in and then out, others out and then in, promised tapes would fail to appear, and we had cutting booked at Porky's in London. I had a contact at one of the record labels down there and he organised it. His name was Tony Wadsworth and he later became head of EMI. On the night before the cutting we were having the tapes checked at Street Music in Leicester when we realised that the New Age track was damaged. So we had to re-record it there and then, until 4 in the morning. Even then the sound engineer cut part of the intro off. That's why the song sort of jumps into action.
We had 250 pressed and I drove down to London and called first at Rough Trade. Geoff Travis was a very approachable guy and he would see you without an appointment. He listened to a few tracks and then bought 175 there and then. We were ecstatic. John Peel played several tracks on his radio show and although not exactly hitting the heights it was a good job well done.
Packaging - it was issued with a 16-page booklet with a page produced by each band. It should have been 5 size but the idiot printers did it 6 - that's why it was so small. There was also a tin lapel badge with 'Where The Hell Is Leicester - S+T' in black on white and a copy of the Observers single.
The Bands-
The Danceable Solution - we had no idea who these were. The track just turned up and sounded good. I suspect they were northern students. Right place Right Time. The song was in.
Tribal Games - were a Leicester post-punk-trash kind of band who I never got to know. They were one of the early declarations for the album and came up with the goods.
The Amber Squad - see above
Deep Freeze Mice - I loved the Mice. They lived in Leicester (Belgrave Road, curry country) but weren't from the city. They churned out loads of albums and I helped em with sleeves, pressing etc. They're still out there somewhere...
Ronnie Slicker & The Banditz - This was Reverb's old band and they looked better than they played, and that's saying something as they were billed as the 'Ugliest Band in Leicester'
Mental Notes - another one of those 'Right Place Right Time' bands who turned up with a recording. I knew nothing about them other than they were a local 'White Reggae' outfit.
The Silent - I think this was the guy who ran Street Music in Leicester. It was good but not the sort of act we were looking to promote. It was just somebody's self-indulgence.
Modern Living - Basically a couple of hippies living in Leicester. John Peel liked this track a lot.
Last Resort - From Melton Mowbray. Good musicians.
Observers - The Observers were a talented Leicester 5-piece whose music defies description. I thought they'd go far but they imploded shortly after the single came out later in 1980. We gave a lot of thought to the sleeve artwork and settled on a gatefold affair. Paul's girlfriend stripped to her undies to illustrate the B-side track 'Suicide'. The A-side was This Age.
Sadly nobody liked it but me and we ended up giving loads away with the compilation album.
New Age - A fourth single was due out from a Groby band called New Age but they got an offer from another company and jumped ship. It was their call but we were a little pissed-off about it.
Future Toys - These guys were good and very 'Spandau Duran-ish'. Perfect Strangers was released on July 17th 1981 and sold reasonably well without any noticeable airplay. Of all the good songs they had they chose this crap track!
