Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Heey, my old SORT SOL betamax tape from 1987 is now on YouTube! xD




SORT SOL (aka SODS)
Three tracks live (DR TV, Denmark, 1987)

1) Blood on the Saddle
2) Searching Down the Block
3) Pinocchio Loose (aka Pinocchio on the Loose)

This is SORT SOL at their best! In 1987 Danish state tv ran a series of music shows entitled "Musicbox" and to me this was definitely the highlight of the series.

SORT SOL started out in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1978 as a full-on punk band under the name of SODS. Their debut LP "Minutes to go" is a mile stone in Danish punk music but soon after the release they got bored with the three cord limitations that punk music offered and on their second LP "Under en sort sol" they had moved in a more avantgarde'ish direction.

Their third LP "Dagger & Guitar" is the first one where they use the name SORT SOL but what many new fans don't realise is the band actually used both names for years to come. And if you were a "real" fan you kept calling them SODS. "Sort Sol" was for wanna-be fans, haha. I don't think I started using the Sort Sol moniker till 1990 or something. LOL.

On "Dagger & Guitar" SORT SOL recorded two tracks with LYDIA LUNCH. If you do a YouTube search you'll find their "Boy/Girl" track that features miss Lunch. It's uploaded by someone else in Canada (G'day mate, whoever you are) but (via other traders) the clip comes from a recording I did in 1984 when television in Denmark broadcast a documentary about the band called "OMKRING EN SORT SOL - et portraet af SODS".

There was a pretty big gap between the third and fourth LP and when "Everything that rises must converge" finally came out in 1987 their sound had become the violent music you'll hear on this live recording. Like I said this is the band at their best in my opinion. Later records never quite reached the intensity and violent rawness as on "Everything".

The original title of the LP was actually going to be "The Violent Bear it Away" but they change it before it was released. The CD version of the album, which wasn't released till many years later, contains a bonus disc for which they used the title.

THE LOUSY PICTURE QUALITY

My gawd, it is pretty crappy isn't it. LOL.
When I taped this concert in '87 I used a Betamax VCR and obviously I loved the recording and almost played it to death! And it shows!!! You'll notice my tape is in less than perfect condition... TO SAY THE LEAST... but actually I think it kinda fits the band. SORT SOL was a raw band, their music was raw and violent, and this recording is raw and rugged almost to the point of not working anymore. It almost makes it better.

And even if you don't agree there's not much to do about it as there's a good chance I'm the only person who actually has this on tape; I have never come across anybody else who has it nor have I seen it mentioned on fan pages.

I also taped the 30 minute documentary film I mentioned and I'll probably upload it later.

6 comments:

  1. Whoah! Sort Sol... I haven't listened to those guys for ages! What a blast from the past this morning turned out to be. Awesome Jack. Thanx for sharing...

    Magnus ;)

    Btw. Have you seen the DAD documentary that came out a year or two ago? I've been thinking abou picking that up because I loved the trailer for that one quote where Jesper says "Vi vill så gaerne vare store!" There's a melancollic honesty in there that appeals to me. Have you seen it? What's it like?

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  2. Hey Magnus,
    Thanks! I've been wanting to post that for a while. I also have a documentary film I taped off tv in '84. If you click on of the labels at the bottom of the post it'll take you to another post where I posted a clip from that film and it features Lydia Lunch with SS.

    Ahh, Disneyland After Dark! You know I bought their first EP "Standin' on the Never Never" when it came out (I had to place a special order and the lady at the record store said: "You want a record called Disneyland After Dark. Okay then, what's the name of the band?", haha).

    No, I haven't seen that film but I want to!!

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  3. The Killer Hand movie you're looking for on AVManiacs is called OUR MAN IN CASABLANCA. Here's the IMDB entry: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060767/

    The IMDb description is basically exactly what you described in your post.

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  4. - and can someone please tell me why it's slightly out of sync??? Neither my tape nor my dvdr is out of sync!

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  5. ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

    That is just absolutely fantastic!!!

    It does indeed sound like the right one!!! Oh man, that's nothing less than awesome!!!

    Thank you, thank you, thank you, whoever you are dear Anonymous person!!!!!

    I have been looking for that film for so many years. Well, actually it's stai... syey... mouth won't work...

    Now I just need to find a copy but I've just this minute made a Google search and although it doesn't seem to be out on DVD someone on a site did mention there's a letterboxed VHS in Holland so I'll see if any of my Dutch collector friends would have it.

    Once again thanks a billion times!

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  6. Here's a website that sells it: http://www.atlasvisuals.com/euro_spy_m_z.htm

    The bittorrent tracker that I'm on also has a copy, but it's in Italian and has no subtitles. Let me know if you want an invite.

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