um... don't know anythign about this... not profound, just funny...

Cool! Yeah I discovered Double Happys on Pile=Up too, and Nocturnal Projections - its'a great, great compilation. Love the Stephen Kilroy track on it. And 'Unknown Beach' is the best thing Peter Jeffries has done solo I reckon - for me almost an alternative national anthem, I don't know how it got missed off those "Nature's Best" CDs - administrative oversight surely ; )

And - lets not forget - how great The Stones (apart from anything else, one of the bestest, cheekiest band names ever) were, and how deserving of a reissue - FMR please please.

Trevor Reekie was doing some incredible stuff throughout the decade..his Obscure Desire single sounds, if you remaster and trim the vocal, as if it could've been released in Europe in 2006.

Heh heh!

Which reminds me - why has noone produced a new school production or re-edit of Sierra Leone?? That would be HUGE.

So far off topic. Sorry.

The other scene that needs documenting is the eighties post punk electronic one. Andrew White, Tevor Reekie and myself all talked about it at some stage, going as far as doing a track listing.

I'd definitely like to see the tracklisting if poss?

As Bob Dakatari so correctly points out on his blog, there were countless other indie lables and scenes going on at the same time as FN throughout the eighties, they just didn't have the same profile. And its easier for the media to get all misty eyed about FN than look a little deeper.

Amen

Yeah Car Crash Set are great. At least Danse Macabre got reissued by a major recently. I thought that might trigger a little spate of CDs in light of current renaissance of postpunk and electro. But maybe its just 'too obscure', as Graeme Downes might say.

that was Propeller, I was really proud of that one but it only sold about 150 copies (great reviews though)....its just gone on to Amplifier as an MP3.

I guess online MP3 sales is the sensible format to re-release old tracks that are to all intents and purposes owned by the artists. But a nicely packaged CD with booklet etc is so much cooler...

The Bongos are great - love that song "Falling"...

Perhaps a NZ post punk comp is in order? Combining best of Propellor and Ripper. Naked Spots Dance, Shoes This High etc

From memory my Doobie Doo Disc has got Brithday Party on it - does that make it the Aussie edition??

A Ripper one would be interesting. Bryan had some gems in his catalogue (and like all of us, some tosh..Marilyn Waring doing John Lennon covers..what were they thinking). One of the great lost Ripper tracks was the Don McGlashan production of Otis Mace.

Yeah I really rate the Goats Milk Soup comp. And the Bongos 7".

Waring does Lennon. I'm sure it made sense at the time. To someone. One day I hope to hear that.

Its always amazed me that the Dunedin Double has never been on CD....if any record defined the early years of FN in the public mind. it was that one.

And I have to wonder if there wasn't a wee bit of subtle persuasion behind the scenes to convince Roger to include Garageland and a few other more recent acts in the box...

Yeah there's so much cool stuff outside the FN canon that could be included in a box set, stuff that's still pretty much vinyl-only (correct me if i'm wrong here) like Birds Nest Roys, Exploding Budgies, Goblin Mix (anything with David Mitchell on it), LBGP, also the wierder stuff that FN put out in its early days: Wreck Small Speakers On Expensive Stereos etc. It took Siltbreeze to reissue Pin Group - maybe an indie label could do it here? (Not to be seen to undermine purpose of the the current thread, of course...) For that matter a retrospective CD pack each for Propellor (and Ripper) would be nice. Please? Sorry, well off topic now.

One more FN moment: first time seeing Will Oldham at the old Bodega, with The Renderers backing him up. Went back to see the whole thing over again the next night. Bloody inspirational.

Flying Nun Top 10

1. The Stones, Another Disc Another Dollar, plus their Dunedin Double side – WHY AREN'T THESE SONGS AVAILABLE ON C.D.? Way, way, way too good to be forgotten.

2. As a teenager, finally listening to The Clean after being mistakenly scared off for years after seeing a video by The Clear (from Palmy, no relation) as a youngster. And having nothing to fear anymore.

3. Disaffected impressionably hormonal adolescent moment: last few years of high school. For me the, high water mark of FN as the home of a freakishly, profoundly good roster of bands. In a couple of years, Hellzapoppin and Venus Trail, Melt and Blow, Robot World, Submarine Bells, Size of Food and Bleeding Star, are released. And others I can't remember. Colour copying the covers of all of these at the Lower Hutt Public Library to accompany dubs I was sending to a friend overseas. Well before Napter, obviously.

4. Also at this time: the US 'No Alternative' compilation being released during height of post-Nirvana Smashing Pumpkins era ‘alt’ lameness, and not only including tracks by The Verlaines and The Fits, and a cover of another Verlaines song, but those being the best on the comp, in anyone's book. Meanwhile the UK is consumed by Blur and Oasis. Sorry, Blur or Oasis. Pleeeease…

5. Bailter Space at the Valve in the early? mid? 1990s. So loud, so beautiful. Such a small venue. Back when I was young enough to stand at the front and watch properly. And at the time thinking I was lucky to see them in a venue that size at all. Ditto for Verlaines at the old Bodge, around the same time.

6. Then, fighting the shame and disappointment of era of Garageland etc by going back to This Kind of Punishment, Double Happys, The Gordons, etc etc. And (maybe this doesn’t count?) discovering Xpressway via PILE=UP comp. Gold.

7. Any gig by the 3Ds ever. Ditto The Fits. Especially in the rain at the bogan Mountain Rock outdoor rock fest. Ma ha ha

8. Reassessment in light of mainstream acceptance moment: post release of Topless Women and Scarfies soundtracks. The music is sold for use in television advertising, but still stands up.

9. Respect to King Loser: never has a band so bad been so good.

10. Trying to explain how great all these bands are to the ‘mainstream’, or to non-rock peeps, or to overseas folks, who just don’t get it. Realising that it doesn’t matter, this is our music.