Absurd Records - An Absurd Collection 1979 - 1980 (1980)

While rummaging through my collection of punk/new wave 7" singles I found a few by bands on the Absurd Record label. This was a label run from Manchester, who put out eleven 7" singles in 1979 and 1980, from a roster of bands that seemed to have absolutely nothing in common. I have a surf-guitar version of 'Ghost Riders In The Sky', a ska track that I doubt very much is by a ska band, and two slices of experimental indie instrumentals, and they are probably the most normal records that came out on the label. The bands themselves seem to be the most avant garde, experimental art-rock groups that existed in Manchester in 1979, with Blah Blah Blah and 48 Chairs producing some weird and wonderful music. Eddie Fiction was in fact Edmund Garrity (otherwise known as Ed Banger of punk band Ed Banger And The Nosebleeds), and he gives us his opinions about U.F.Os. Gerry And The Holograms second single was in fact a conceptual and unplayable record. Each record was pasted with glue to the inside of the picture sleeve, and Absurd Records label boss Lawrence Beedle has been quoted as saying that it took the best part of a week to paint and glue them into the bags, and the numbers made are unknown, but probably around 500. The music itself does not actually exist, as the records were unsold singles from Rabid Records' catalog, with a paste-on Gerry & The Holograms label on one side to fool the buyer into thinking it was a real record. I actually quite like the Cairo single, although it's a very basic ska tune, and Naafi Sandwich had already recorded a few cassette albums before they were given the chance to release two slices of their music. 'Riders In The Sky' is the sound of a bunch of friends covering a classic track with the most basic of instruments, but it was good enough for the label to give them a second go, and so they attacked Ennio Morricone's 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly', renaming it 'Some Like It Hot' in the process. The Mothmen are actually the most musically competent band on the label, and went on to some success, but can Absurd claim to have been their starting point? Don't ask where ABSURD 9, 12, 13 & 14 are, as it's all part of the Absurd mythology.  

Track listing

01 Blah Blah Blah - 'In The Army' ABSURD 1 
02 Eddie Fiction - 'U.F.O. Pt 2' ABSURD 2 
03 48 Chairs - 'Snap It Around' ABSURD 3 
04 Gerry And The Holograms - 'Gerry And The Holograms' from 'Meet The Dissidents' ABSURD 4 
05 Gerry And The Holograms - 'Untitled 1' from 'The Emperor's New Music' ABSURD 5  
06 The Mothmen - 'Does It Matter Irene?' ABSURD 6 
07 Cairo - 'I Like Bluebeat' ABSURD 7 
08 Naafi Sandwich - 'Slice 1' ABSURD 8 
09 Bet Lynch's Legs - 'Riders In The Sky' from 'The Good, The Bad And The Indifferent' ABSURD 10
10 Bet Lynch's Legs - 'Some Like It Hot' ABSURD 11
11 Cairo - 'Movie Stars' ABSURD 15