Left: 'Under the Fog' signed, black /1000
Right: 'Under the Fog' test pressing 1/5
The King Blues. The godamn King Blues. What on earth happened to this band? Came out of nowhere with an amazing political acoustic/ ska/ reggae album, followed by a good-but-should-have-been-better follow up, and are now back with some terrible sub-par pop shit. Now I am all for progression with bands (let's be honest, 3 albums of 'Under the Fog' would have been boring), but after reading a statement by now ex-guitarist Fruitbag, sellout alarm bells are ringing everywhere (a statement which has now been removed from Punktastic, but Google is your friend).
Well, moving on. Throughout my teens I listened to a fair amount of ska punk and the related genres, and went to a bunch of shows with my good friend Archie. The King Blues were one of the highlights of those years and I hold 'Under the Fog' with great sentimental value. Managing to get hold of a test press was fucking unreal, and is probably still my most prized record. All I did was bug the record label owner and eventually he gave in haha, piece of piss. I spoke to Jamie Jazz quite a lot at the time too so I imagine he put in a good word also.
These records are the original version of 'Under the Fog', which I must admit is not as good as the rerelease on major label Island, but I stand by the OG version of the track 'Under the Fog' being better than the redone version 'We Ain't Never Done'.
Happy memories of this band, forever encapsulated in these records. God bless The King Blues.
No comments:
Post a Comment