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RIP OFF RECORDS - Compilation LP |
| Release Information :: RIP OFF RECORDS was formed in 1978 by George Doherty to capitalize on the vibrant punk scene in Northern Ireland. The original releases have eluded collectors worldwide for years and when they occasionally surface only trade hands at large sums. This RIP OFF RECORDS Compilation LP should put an end to some of that hunting because for the first time in years punk and powerpop fans can easily locate and afford their favorite tracks by CRAMP, CLIVE CULBERTSON, LENNY & THE LAWBREAKERS, NO SWEAT, PRETTY BOY FLOYD & THE GEMS and THE ZIPPS. But that's not all! We tracked down George Doherty and got a few unreleased tracks from THE FADERS, MINOR CLASSICS and TINOPENERS! The RIP OFF story isn't as well known as many of it's Ulster counterparts (UNDERTONES, RUDI, PROTEX, STIFF LITTLE FINGERS, GOOD VIBRATIONS) but these 12 tracks represent an incredible time and place in Northern Ireland punk. Much of this is due to the fact that many of the musicians that made up the Rip Off bands were older, more experienced musicians and Doherty's Hyde Park Studios, in comparison to Good Vibration's Wizard Studios, was a top notch setup. Each of the resulting recordings are well-crafted tunes perfectly captured to tape by either Doherty himself or his go-to producer Clive Culbertson. Aside from the scarcity of these high caliber releases, their collector's desire can also be credited to the unique 'paper-bag' style sleeves they came housed in. The sleeves were just another small attention to detail that gave RIP OFF a voice of their own. We at SING SING hear that voice loud and clear and are loving it. Take a listen, you will too! Bio / History :: CRAMP :: Led by Tim O'Hara (gtr/v) and Richard Todd (gtr/v), this Northern Ireland New Wave combo from Portrush released a lone (and now very sought-after) single on the Rip Off label in May 1979. Recorded at Belfast's Hyde Park Studios, produced by George Doherty and engineered by Clive Culbertson (who issued singles with No Sweat and as a soloist), the 7" couples SUZY LIE DOWN, a good Punk/Powerpop song with well-crafted vocal harmonies, and the more poppy SHE DOESN'T LOVE ME. Worth a spin. (45 Revolutions) See interview HERE. CLIVE CULBERTSON :: Clive Culbertson began his music career playing bass in a London-based Progressive Rock band called Maybe, who broke up in September 1974 (they taped a long-player for Rocket Records which was never released). He later returned to his native Northern Ireland joining Fantasy, an unrecorded combo active in 1977, and No Sweat, who issued a lone 1978 single on Rip Off Records before legal action taken by a group of the same name, signed to Pete Townshend's Eel Pie Records, forced a name change to The Sweat. A talented singer, songwriter (he also composed I LOVE YOU ANYWAY, the B-side of Jay Presley's Country-Rock 7" GRACE, issued on the Homespun label in 1978, cat. No. HRSS-001 nops), musician, producer and sound engineer, Clive seemed bound for greater things when this first solo 7" surfaced on Rip Off Records in June '79. Both tracks, recorded at Hyde Park Studios with George Doherty producing, were strong compositions: TIME TO KILL was a potential hit with its Costello/Lowe overtones, whereas BUSY SIGNAL was a violent Punky cut performed with the energy of the best Eddie & The Hot Rods numbers. A couple of rave reviews helped the first pressing on Rip Off to sell out in a fortnight. The single was picked up by Logo Records and resurfaced in August but failed to project Clive into the charts, definitely lack of a picture sleeve. Between 1979 and 1980, Culbertson taped thirty songs for Rip Off (most of which are unreleased to this day); in the '80s he continued to work and record with The Sweat and issued a few solo records which failed to sell. He remained fairly active in the music scene ever since, working with Van Morrison, amongst others. (45 Revolutions) THE FADERS :: A Northern Ireland Punk(y) band led by Chris Tweed and Hugh McIlfatrick, The Faders released their only vinyl output in June 1979 on the Rip Off imprint. Recorded at Hyde Park Studios with George Doherty as producer and Clive Culbertson as sound engineer, the 7" includes a commercial-but-ordinary pop/rocker on the A-side and a much more interesting adrenalin-filled Punker on the flip. A rare single that has become quite sought-after among collectors. (45 Revolutions) LENNY & THE LAWBREAKERS :: A Powerpop band from Northern Ireland, formed in 1978 by Jeff Woods, Chris Calder, Neville Hutchinson and Colin Walker. Lenny and The Lawbreakers recorded their one and only single in the summer of 1979 at Hyde Park Studios under George Doherty's production and issued it in September on the Rip Off label in an edition of 1,000 copies, all housed in a die-cut picture cover. Both sides are quite enjoyable efforts: SUZY 'D' is a self-penned Powerpop song with some well-crafted vocal harmonies, while ME AND BOBBY MCGEE, a version of Kris Kristofferson hit, is a Country-Rock number that explodes into a solid Powerpop/Punk tune, with a final chorus similar to The Boomtown Rats' infectious style on the acclaimed A TONIC FOR THE TROOPS album. Worth a spin but hard to locate. (45 Revolutions) MINOR CLASSICS :: Minor Classics were a four-piece Powerpop band from Portrush, Northern Ireland formed in 1978 by two members of Cramp: Tim O'Hara (gtr) and Nigel McComb (b). Their lone release ("Sign Language" b/w "This Side of Paradise") was produced by Clive Culbertson for Chiswick Records in 1982. They recorded a number of other tracks with a view to releasing an album but it was never released. NO SWEAT :: No Sweat were a three-piece from Northern Ireland comprising Clive Culbertson (v/b), Adrian Culbertson (gtr/v) and Paddy Scanlon (d). Culbertson was a talented songwriter who had previously played with Maybe and Fantasy (two Pub Rock combos active in the first half of the '70s) and had composed songs for various local artists (one of his tunes, I LOVE YOU ANYWAY, appeared on the flip of GRACE, a Country & Western 7" by singer Jay Presley, issued early in 1978 on the Homestead label, Cat. No. HRSS-001 no ps). Produced by George Doherty and recorded at Hyde Park Studios by a re-vamped line-up comprising Clive and Adrian Culbertson plus Martin Hughes (d, ex-Candy) and Denis Forbes (gtr) - both on loan from Pretty Boy Floyd & The Gems - No Sweat's single surfaced on July 6, 1978, on the Rip Off label and featured two strong Culbertson-penned songs: START ALL OVER AGAIN, which proved why Clive had been called by the press "Northern Ireland's Elvis Costello", and YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY, a furious Hard-Punk tune. The platter deserved to sell but flopped: as a consequence, a whole album recorded in the second half of 1978 was shelved. Another group called No Sweat from Hounslow had also released a 7" in July 1978 on Pete Townshend's Eel Pie label: they sued Clive Culbertson's No Sweat who were forced to change their name to The Sweat at the beginning of the new year (Clive would later say that their luck changed for the worse "as soon as the 'optimistic' No Sweat was replaced by the 'hard-work' The Sweat"). The two songs of the single resurfaced in January 1979 on the compilation BELFAST ROCK still credited to No Sweat, but when in July they were featured on a 7" EP (along with two cuts by Pretty Boy Floyd & The Gems) and on a two-track promo single, Rip Off credited them to The Sweat. In June 1979 Clive Culbertson issued a solo single, the impressive TIME TO KILL b/w BUSY SIGNAL, on the Rip Off label: the 7" was re-released by Logo two months later but failed to chart. At the same time he continued to work with a new three-piece line-up of The Sweat along with Michael Katin (gtr) and Ricky Bleakley (d): the combo were later joined by keyboard player David Stuart. Two singles and an album would emerge on Dave Dee's (of Dave Dee DBM&T fame) Double D label to very limited sales. Culbertson subsequently issued a few solo records, worked as a producer and played with Van Morrison and Cliff Richard, amongst others. (45 Revolutions) PRETTY BOY FLOYD & THE GEMS :: In January 1979 two tracks by Pretty Boy Floyd and The Gems - ROUGH, TOUGH, PRETTY TOO from the Canadian 12" and SPREAD THE WORD AROUND from the Rip Off 7" - appeared on the BELFAST ROCK compilation album (which also included a song by The Jumpers, a combo who featured Doherty, plus a couple of members of The Gems and of The Sweat). The band split at the same time: The Gems immediately teamed up with Gary Holton of Heavy Metal Kids for a series of dates that were not followed by any vinyl release. Denis Forbes later resurfaced in Bram Tchaikovsky's Battleaxe and McNeilly played with The Swim, an unrecorded outfit led y former Adam and The Ants guitarist Johnny Bivouac. Pretty Boy Floyd/Jim Lyttle was reported to be about to join X-Ray Spex, whose career was plagued by Poly Styrene's spiritual problems, but after a few rehearsals the 'chemistry' did not work. Lyttle would join a couple of unrecorded combos (Pictures and Visa), before forming NWOBHM band Rogue Male; Martin Hughes would later collaborate with Clive Langer and with Elvis Costello. A posthumous Pretty Boy Floyd and The Gems single, recorded a few weeks before the combo's break-up at Hyde Park Studios under Doherty's guidance, emerged in June 1979. Rather surprisingly, it would be their best musical offering: if THE INSTIGATOR is a Punk song which still retains part of the Strangers-like sound of the two previous singles, SHARON is an altogether different cup of tea, a very enjoyable three-chord fun Punk tune reminiscent of early Sham 69. With adequate promotion, it could and should have been a minor hit. An album entitled DRUGS was announced on the Needle label in 1980 but it never emerged. Note: a Hard Rock Heavy Metal band called Pretty Boy Floyd were active in the Glasgow area in 1979 and throughout the early '80's: in 1981 they released a single - LOOK AT HER DANCIN' b/w TAKE ME I'M YOURS - on Heavenly Sound Records, and contributed the track TAKE ME I'M YOURS to RCA's BATTLE OF THE BANDS compilation. (45 Revolutions) TINOPENERS :: Tinopeners were an Irish punk band formed in May of '77 to perform at their high school's battle of the bands. Soon after, they began playing out, recorded a few rough demos at a local music store and sent them to George Doherty of Rip Off Records. The demos were well received and Rip Off put them in George Temple Patrick Studios to record a single which would be produced by Clive Culbertson. Afterwards, Culbertson brought the tape to London and LOGO Records offered to distribute the single. The singles' two tracks sit more on the pop side of punk and contain some super catchy lyrics. Thus, the single was fairly successful; selling upwards to 3000 copies, but by 1981, the skinhead scene was growing in Northern Ireland, creating a social tension that would ultimately lead to the band's end. A second single was recorded but never released. (45 Revolutions) THE ZIPPS :: Hailing from Belfast, In Northern Ireland, The Zipps were a Powerpop band formed in 1978 from the ashes of an unrecorded outfit called The Empire. They were signed by George Doherty's Rip Off Records in March 1979 and issued this lone 7" six months later, in an edition of 1,000 copies. Recorded at Hyde Park Studios with producer Clive Culbertson, the two self-penned songs are positively fresh offerings, performed with naive enthusiasm by this four-piece combo (in spite of the sleeve which only shows three members) comprising Mel Power (gtr/v), Johnny Gruhn (gtr), Andrew Curliss (b) and Paul Fraser (d). Two other tracks were recorded at the same session which produced the single, but remained unreleased. The band broke up in 1980, with a couple of ex-Zipps teaming up first in The Zenn and later in The Famous Five. (45 Revolutions) |
Album Art ::
(Download Full Size Image)Track Listing :: 1. Friends (The Zipps) 2. Suzy 'D' (Lenny & The Lawbreakers) 3. You'll Never Find Love (Minor Classics)** 4. Sharon (Pretty Boy Floyd & The Gems) 5. I Want You (Tinopeners)** 6. In It For The Kicks (The Faders)** 7. I Don't Like Girls (Minor Classics)** 8. Start All Over Again (No Sweat) 9. Me And Bobby McGee (Lenny & The Lawbreakers) 10. Time To Kill (Clive Culbertson) 11. She Doesn't Love Me (Cramp) 12. I Don't Wanna Be (Tinopeners)** ** (Previously Unreleased) Original RIP OFF Discography :: RIP1: PRETTY BOY FLOYD & THE GEMS - Hold Tight b/w Spread The Word Around 7" (1978) RIP2: D.A. BAND - Pirates Lullaby b/w I Like It 7" (1978) RIP3: COBRA - Graveyard Boogie b/w Looking for a Lady 7" (1978) RIP4: NO SWEAT - Start All Over Again b/w You Should Be So Lucky 7" (1978) RIP5: BLUE STEAM - Lizard King b/w Cortina Cowboys 7" (1979) RIP6: TIME MACHINE - Never Met Suzy 7" EP (1978) RIP7: CRAMP - She Doesn't Love Me b/w Suzi Lie Down 7" (1979) RIP8: FADERS - Cheatin' b/w Library Book 7" (1979) RIP9: CLIVE CULBERTSON - Busy Signal b/w Time To Kill 7" (1979) RIP10: PRETTY BOY FLOYD & THE GEMS - The Instigator b/w Sharon 7" (1979) RIP11: LENNY & THE LAWBREAKERS - Me & Bobby McGee b/w Suzy D 7" (1979) RIP12: ZIPPS - Friends b/w Don't Tell the Detectives 7" (1979) RIP13: ROD VEY - Metal Love b/w Silicone City 7" (1980) RIP(E:)101 V/A - Belfast Rock 7" EP (1978) ROLP1: V/A - Belfast Rock LP (1978) Press Photos :: (click for full size)  (Lenny & The Lawbreakers)  (Tinopeners)  (Cramp) |
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