As July/August have been particularly slow in terms of interesting new 7” singles, this month’s edition of Single File will instead talk about dollar-bin singles I bought in record stores across Canada when I went on tour with The Moby Dicks and Needles//Pins. October’s column will (likely) go back to the old format. Enjoy! – Paul K Lawton

New Order – Ceremony b/w In a Lonely Place
Factory Records (1981)
 
a lot of work went into deciphering Curtis’ lyrics from a rehearsal tape when it came time for New Order to record “Ceremony”, the last Joy Division composition before Ian Curtis’ untimely suicide. As Curtis did not leave lyrics behind, Bernard Sumner and Peter hook ended up re-writing the lyrics for the first verse and the chorus. The New Order version on this single (different from the 12” version which is usually the version found on singles compilations) is new to me, production-wise sounding more like Joy Division than they ever did afterwards, which makes it impossible not to ponder the greatness that could have been. “In a Lonely Place” is similarly great, though sounds very “early New Order” and thus less interesting. Well worth seeking out. Holds Up.

 
The Northern Pikes – Teenland b/w Heartaches Heartbreaks (Open Up)
Virgin Records (1987)
 
Crazy that a band like The Northern Pikes, from lil’ ol Saskatoon could get a song like “Teenland” on the airwaves. and daresay it was a better time. Textbook definition of indelible hook when, after showing this score to my clueless band-mates, I started singing “Teeeenland hoooo / teeenland hoooo” from 20+ years of patchy memory. A real Can-con power-pop nugget here: great song, tasteful 80’s production, floods of nostalgia. B-Side suffers in comparison; the less said about it the better.  Holds up. (a side note – did anyone actually read the article associated with The Sheepdogs Rolling Stone Cover last month? One of the most offensive pieces of music “journalism” I’ve read in a long time and a huge slam on Saskatoon and the people who live there. Why are locals excited about this “win”?).

Nothing to Lose / Goat Boy – Split 7”
Slow to Burn Records (1995)
 
This was gripped based on a dim memory of liking these bands when I was 17, and also because Slow To Burn was one of the best Canadian punk labels ever; the M-Blanket Records and the Render Useless 7” alone make this label hall of fame worthy. Weird to remember that, in 1995, the two best Canadian music scenes were in Winnipeg and Victoria, though to be fair, both cities are again showing signs of life. My memory is shit; this record is actually pretty bad. Goat Boy play really fast “technical” political punk rock that was going for Propaghandi but, in 2011, sounds more “generic crust band.” The Nothing to Loose side sounds a little better, melodic hardcore, but definitely of the time. Maybe this was mind-blowing in 1995, but does not hold up.
 
 
Order of Importance – Snide 7” EP
Valicro-Porridge Records (1997)
 
Another 7” record that I sold off in the “great hardcore record ebay sell-a-thon” of 2002 when I was sick of carting around crates of embarrassing hardcore/grind/screamo records that I couldn’t care less about. I remember buying my first copy from Aram Arslanian (Champion, Betrayed, etc) from his distro the night one of his bands stayed at my house and he spent like five hours playing/selling us records. Though I’m not really into screamo (duh), I kind of dig this, emphasis on the kind of. Reminds me of Reversal of Man or Frail, both bands I would consider the best in this genre. I laughed when I pulled out the insert with a full essay written in 4-pt font, white letters on photocopied black background (high in my own personal order of importance: readable font size). Doesn’t hold up.

The Paperbacks / Projektor – Split 7”
Self Released (?) (2000)
 
“Skinny Sidewalks” is the high point of The Paperbacks catalogue, sounding (to me) most like Doug McLean’s older band The Bonaduces (one of my top 10 all-time favourite bands). The further McLean got from The Bonaduces territory, the less I cared, Bonaduces were just that good. As a rabid Bonaduces collector (anyone have the demo tape they wanna sell me?), so I was really excited to find this because I didn’t even know it existed. On the flip, I remember thinking Projektor were pretty good at the time, but I have to say this is way better than I remember them being. Really good single, holds up!

The Parkades – Attack Me b/w The Man Insane
Roto-Flex (1994)
 
In the mid 90’s, Al Charton (Von Zippers, etc) released seven amazing 7”s of the best garage rock Calgary had to offer, and this Parkades 7” is my favourite of the batch, to the point that I buy a copy every time I see it (I have three now). I remember seeing The Parkades around 1995 in Lethbridge wearing Hazmat suits or something and loving the hell out of them. If this single came out in 2011, people would eat this up, but I think they may have been slightly too forward thinking for the time. The 7” contains two lo-fi, one-take-wonder garage-rock nuggets that burn up my turntable every time I throw this on, with “Attack Me” getting stuck in my head all the time. Amazing stuff, totally holds up.

Love and Rockets – So Alive b/w Dreamtime
Polygram (1989)
 
“So Alive” was a huge hit when it came out in 1989, and in light of Daniel Ash and David J’s previous work in Bauhaus, fairly confusing. Slick 80’s production, “So Alive” sounds like it could be a Robert Palmer single, very un-gothlike and poppy. That said, in 1989 I was 11 and hadn’t heard of Bauhaus yet and I loved the hell of this song. B-Side “Dreamtime” comes in at almost nine-minutes, a studio-experiment penned by David J complete with droning guitar and swirling disconnected voices probably confused the hell out of people, and for that I can give it a pass and even suggest checking this out if you are into Bauhaus or being a total creep. Holds up.

Teenage Head – Picture My Face b/w Tearing Me Apart
Bootleg (1978/????)

Whoa! I didn’t spend $1 on this 7” ($8), but the spirit remains. Needles//Pins had been playing “Picture My Face” on this tour, and after hearing it every night for a week, Evan and I (who run Mammoth Cave Records) spent the long drive from Thunder Bay to London, ON discussing plans on ponying up the money to do a proper reissue of Teenage Head’s debut single. Flash forward a day later, and we find that some entrepreneur has already been hard at work bootlegging this single for some time now. Either way (and ethics aside), I’m just happy to finally own this gem, and everything – from the quality of the sounds to the picture sleeve – are top notch. Holds up!