Speaking of The Thanes, here is singer Lenny Helsing, pre-Thanes in The Green Telescope. It may seem slightly mad (and probably is) to go all the way around the world to buy a record by an Edinburgh band, but you just don't see these in Scotland anymore, plus I was much too young to buy it first time around. To my surprise I've seen lots of Lenny's old records (Thanes, Green Telescope and even The Stayrcase) in various Melbourne record shops and having spoken to a few folks it seems that he was a bit of hero here back in the garage revival days, and of course Melbourne label Corduroy (now defunct?) put out a couple of The Thanes' records.Anyway, I've posted the three band originals (the other track is an Outsiders cover, naturally). The production is great especially considering the 1985 date, and although obviously indebted to '60s garage and nederbeat, some punk/indie elements (in a good way), nice songwriting, and Lenny's awesome vocals combine to make this much more than an exercise in nostalgia; in fact to my ears it's one of the best artefacts of the 80s garage revival.
I think some of these tracks are on a CD entitled 'Gardyloo! Edinburgh's Detritus 1983-2003' a collection of overlooked garage and rock'n'roll. Unsure if you can get this in the shops, but if you message Beatsville they might sell you one, as I know Angus has plenty in his cupboard! Lenny also drums on the cracking new Wildebeests LP which I advise tracking down.
The GREEN TELESCOPE- Two By Two
The GREEN TELESCOPE- A Glimpse
The GREEN TELESCOPE- Make Me Stay
3 comments:
This is such a great record. I bought a copy when it came out at Venus Records in New York City.
I checked with Lenny and it turns out the Telescope tracks on the GardyLoo compilation are Thoughts Of A Madman and I'm A Living Sickness and therefore not any of the ones posted here, so definitely worth tracking down the CD.
Yeah!!! The Green Telescope were a fantastic band and I've met Lenny before and he's a gent who loves talking about Dutch 45s and American folk punk records by The Dovers etc.
There's also three Green Telescope songs on the LP comp 'The Waking Dream' released on Psych Records in the mid 80s....songs are 'Turnin' Out', 'Can't Step Off The Path' and 'I'm A Living Sickness'...
Check out my blog for some info on The Green Telescope with input from Lenny himself.
http://expo67-cavestones.blogspot.com/search/label/Green%20Telescope
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