Conductors unveil new Website...

http://www.weareconductors.co.uk/weareconductors/Conductors.html

Winstanley (1976)

Regular readers will be aware of my admiration for the Diggers and Gerrard Winstanley.
Kevin Brownlow's  1976  film Winstanley is well worth a look- painstaking authenticity in depicting 17th century life.  Winstanley's writings are used throughout.

The Clash - Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg (1981) Fixed Link.

All I can add to the billions of words written about the greatest band ever are my  personal recollections of the way in which their music brought a bit of light into a gloomy adolescence in the late 70's and early 80's.
I've always held Combat Rock by The Clash in the very highest esteem. The release of London Calling was the high point in my life as a consumer of music- everything being perfectly right at the time - the eager anticipation, the discussion of the songs on the schoolyard, the sense of belonging to some huge gang whose members were spread across space and time.
I know that a lot of 'purists' felt that The Clash lost their way (and Sandinista was a bit of an effort) but I was absolutely bowled over by the lyricism and funky groove of Combat Rock.
Here's the album as produced by Mick Jones in 1981, a famous bootleg.

http://d01.megashares.com/dl/h94Pl7s/The Clash Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg.rar

Brian Haw (7.1.1949 – 18 .6.2011)

Chumbawamba- English Rebel Songs 1381-1984 (2003)

An album of folk songs by an anarcho punk group. Minimal accompaniment or acapella singing. Very pleasing it is too. The songs range from the time of the Peasants Revolt up to the Miners Strike of 1984 (I'm sure you've worked that out from the title...).
I'm not going to write about the songs- there's a wiki page about the album and the details are on there.

Anyone who cares to indulge in a bit of pedantry can delight in the inclusion of a Welsh and an Irish song...

On Insanity...

Clara Bow ( 1905- 1965)
If life has frightened you by its cruelty and made you distrust its most glittering promises. You must make living a sort of gay curtain to throw across the abyss into which you have looked and where lie dread memories.

Adam and The Ants - In Bondage (1978-79)

 Tracks 1-4 Demos & Live Recording Studio, August 1979
Tracks 5-9 Demos,  August 1978
Tracks 10-25 -Live @ The Marquee Club, London, January 12, 1978

Line up: (unless you know different?)
Adam Ant - vocals and guitar
Matthew Ashman - guitar
Andy Warren - bass
Dave Barbarossa - drums

Adam and The Ants- Dirk Wears White Sox (1979)

 

Before adopting a pantomime brand of new romanticism Adam and The Ants were an S&M obsessed punk outfit , very much in the Chelsea milieu of the early punk scene, managed by Jordan, supporting Siouxsie and The Banshees, featuring in Derek Jarman's Jubilee.

Line up:

Adam Ant – all voices, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, harmonica

David Barbe – percussion 

Matthew Ashman – guitar, piano

Andrew Warren – bass

Serge Gainsbourg- Histoire De Melody Nelson (1971)

The late, lamented Joao Kartoshka  had this up on his excellent blog, but the link is dead now (does anyone know what happened to Joao himself?). 
Anyway, here's what JK wrote:
Serge Gainsbourg (1928 –1991)- Histoire de Melody Nelson(1971) . When driving his Rolls Royce , a middle aged man knocks a 15 year old girl off her bicycle. Naturally, in the world of Gainsbourg, this leads to seduction and romance.

Gainsbourg's 25 year old wife Jane Birkin provided the vocals for Melody, and is also the cover star.

Musical director was Jean - Claude Vannier.

Now acknowledged as Gainsbourg's most influential work, the LP was not a commercial success.