AL GREEN

“People Get Ready”

THE HAPPY GOODMAN FAMILY

“The Lighthouse”

1970s

Rusty Goodman was the Brian Wilson of country gospel. This is a rare public appearance after he’d retreated to the studio. This sounds like just another rewrite of “Funny How Time Slips Away” until the harmony kicks in around 2:40. Hang on for the payoff.

SOUL STIRRERS

“Lord, Remember Me”

1970s

THE DISTRACTIONS

“Time Goes By So Slow”

(Manchester, UK 1979)

THE DISTRACTIONS

“Nothing”

You’re Not Going Out Dressed Like That

(Manchester 1978)

The popular history of Factory Records makes Tony Wilson sound like an austere visionary whose minimalist aesthetic gave us Joy Division.

That image doesn’t exactly match up with the actual Manchester 70s guy who fronted the Granada Television show “So It Goes.”

The Distractions look like real live 70s people and not the art-schoolers who invented punk rock. Check the cover of the You’re Not Going Out Dressed Like That EP: the drummer is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and one of the guitarists sports a “Distractions Fail Sex Test” t-shirt, the kind with the iron-on fuzzy letters you could use to spell out whatever message you wanted.

Tony signed them after that EP came out and “Time Goes By So Slow” was released in September 1979, three months after Factory put out Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures.

Even though the 45 sleeve doesn’t stand out in a pile of Factory releases, the Distractions’ actual music is everything the art-schoolers hated: earnest and accessible, enthusiastic and well-rehearsed.

It’s the standard ‘77 rock fix: crank up the guitars on your trad rock songs and maybe you’d pass for punk. Even with the stylish Factory logo, no one was buying the Distractions as avatars of the new style.

That’s too bad. “Time Goes By So Slow” holds up as one of the absolute best Factory titles. If Island’s distribution had managed to deliver this record so that the Distractions outsold Joy Divison in 1979, the Factory story might have been far less austere.

Failed Sellout Alert: The Distractions recut “Nothing’ for their 1980 Island Records album Nobody’s Perfect. Unfortunately, polishing the rough edges sucked all the life out of the song. The rest of the album isn’t much better. Nice Peter Saville cover design, though.

• Download “Time Goes By So Slow”
• Download “Nothing”

(”Time Goes By So Slow” - Factory Records FAC 12)

(You’re Not Going Out Dressed Like That - TJM Records TJM2)

AL GREEN

“Jesus is Waiting”

1970s

THE OAK RIDGE BOYS

“Less of Me”

(Porter Wagoner Show - early 70s)

The white suits and the stylin’ pink mock turtlenecks pretty much makes this one a lock for the 70s.

POPS STAPLES

“Nobody’s Fault But Mine”

1970s

THE BRAINS

“Money Changes Everything”

(Atlanta 1978)

Nothing touches this record’s epic hopelessness.

You probably know the cover version from the Cyndi Lauper album that sold 5 million copies. That’s good, because it means Tom Gray’s songwriting royalties were enormous.

But The Brains’ original version mixes Roxy Music synthesizer yearning with an incredibly blunt garage punk anger. That directness makes for a bitter alienation far more disturbing than anything in the Factory Records catalog.

“Money Changes Everything” came out on Gray Matter Records with two different silkscreen sleeves, each designed by Sean Bourne

The single got the band signed by Mercury Records in the UK and the first album featured a de-fanged re-recording of “Money Changes Everything.” A second album followed right away but neither record was a hit. The band didn’t dress like punks or new romantics, so they were doomed over there from the start.

The original lineup of the Brains featured Rick Price on guitar. Mauro Magellan became the band’s drummer for their last tour. Rick later switched to bass and joined the Georgia Satellites with Mauro.

As far as I can tell, this version of the song has never been reissued or compiled on CD. Even though I’m sure Tom Gray welcomes the money that came from the Cyndi Lauper version, the magnificence of this record has been almost completely obscured.

• Download “Money Changes Everything”

(Gray Matter Records GM 1)

DOLLY PARTON

“The Golden Streets of Glory”

(Porter Wagoner Show - 1971)

SATAN’S RATS

“You Make Me Sick”

(Evesham, England 1978)

In England, punk rock ended up being more about media than music. Once the media bubble burst, even the Clash had to come to the USA to create a lasting legacy.

Suburban kids who just wanted to make records that rocked like the Damned were dismissed as pathetic copycats. Satan’s Rats never had a chance, apparently. The band tell their story here.

“You Make Me Sick” was produced by the incomparable Vic Maile, who also brought us The Godfathers’ “Birth, School, Work, Death,” Motorhead’s Ace of Spades, and Royal Court of China’s Geared and Primed.

DJM Records was the label division of Dick James Music, an old-line UK music publisher that controlled a lot of Beatles and Elton John song copyrights. They signed a slew of punk bands in a vain attempt to cash in on the Sex Pistols.

There wer no hits, but this is one of the best ‘77 era punk records.

• Download “You Make Me Sick”

(DJM Records DJS 10840)