Desperate Bicycles Discography Online

It's that type of stuff that made me not take as much part in this international trading community. Instead I keep my interests relatively secret while I try to release it properly and legitimately.

But I have no problem giving you a CD of the complete Desperate Bicycles(more then what's up there), so long as I was assured you wouldn't copy it for anybody, or worse, bootleg it. Those are my ethics.

as for a cd, i'd love to get one from one but i've always been afraid to ask because im not sure i have anything you would want.

What kind of dickwad is this guy? These tracks are readily available on soulseek or whatever, right, so why post 'em?

The mp3s I have are of sketchy quality, but it's better than nothing. It certainly would be nice to have a remastered CD of this stuff, a proper release.

What took place with the Screamers? Did they care? Did people offer to release it and they turned it down. It's also a different issue as the Screamers stuff is all pretty questionable quality, while this is released material. Also, were the Screamers on record as not wanting it released? Did the Xeroid CD only come out after Tomata passed away?

The Desperate BIcycles, or at least one or two of them, have specifically stated they do not want it re-released at this point. Therefore bootlegging it is no good. There are other bands with other issues that are more nebulous, where the band want's it released but the major corporation that owns the music from 20 years ago won't allow it simply because they don't care (Island Records to thread)

Now sharing the stuff is such a gray area. When I started trading/mailing CDs of the Desp Bikes, the Homosexuals, Scritti Politti etc, file sharing was still the domain of napster or whatever. There is the huge community of people sharing music, each and every one of them just wanting to hear the stuff and who would buy it if they had the chance. I wasn't aware of the few people who'd then sell the music. That's just really lame. And please don't tell me it's so hard to get the rights and put out a record. a) it's not that hard, b) it's totally worth it, c) if it IS that hard, and the band doesn't want it...don't do it.

For the record stuff like Hyped2Death started NOT to be a complete collection, but to get a taster for the records with the assumption that you are a record collector and will buy the actual records. Now Chuck's totally legit anyway, everything is with permission.

I have no problem still putting good stuff on CDs for any of you, except the difficulties I have actually doing it and getting to the post office(sorry) and don't need anything in exchange. A blank CD is fine, or just a cool mix. There's tons and tons of really obvious stuff I don't have and have never heard.

As far as soulseek. Sure those songs are on soulseek but not everybody has access to soulseek. Now they're even more accessible. The only hope is usually that when something is released legitimately, it's still valuable because a)money has been invested for proper remastering, b)liner notes/info etc, c)and you know money is going to the right place.

Anyhow, I still think it's lame to post the mp3s.

All this said, and I've asked myself this question, if the Desp Bicycles were readily available in a nice sounding, liner-note intensive CD reissue a la the Homos would they still be the holy grail, the end-all-be-all, the piece de resistance of DIY? And the answer is YES.

I also think, and some disagree with me, but obviously you don't, that the whole DIY attitude and rarity of the releases, while interesting, is not the only appeal, and that they wrote some truly great music. I've probably gone through periods of over-estimating the quality of something due to it's obscure nature, but in the end, I try to be objective. I really, really, really love their songs and can sing you many of them off the top of my head!

Chris, I wouldn't even know where to start. Like, there's some stuff I really love and I know a lot about those things, but other things I've completely skipped out on. Likewise, while I know more about say, post-punk and italo-disco then most, there are certainly post-punk collectors who know more about it then me, and italo collectors who know more about it then me. Just not that many people who seem to know a lot about both!

Off the top of my head, I avoided the entirety of hardcore because my sister was a skinhead. I've only recently begun exploring west coast punk and have nothing more then X, Flesh Eaters, Urinals/100 Flowers and a Weirdos comp. A few songs downloaded here and there but nothing definitive. There's whole words of DIY/post-punk stuff I missed, that I feel like were unearthed after I sorta moved away from being an obsessive collector to focus more on Acute, but also a lot of it is junk! And that's just "punk" related.

I have no brazilian pop or psyche. I've only scratched the surface of folk/psyche-folk etc. I never followed up an interest in Soft Pop or whatever, despite being a huge fan of baroque sixties stuff.

And more then anything finding more minimalist/70s nyc art music type stuff. That's my secret love. Terry Riley's in NY for a few shows right now.

Dan Selzer: Yeah...utterly great. It's ok for you to churn out copies of the CD (and you didn't send me one, I sent you money for postage at least a year and a half ago and NEVER got it) but it's "not cool" for putting them up for free on my website? Yes, some logic.

Why should somebody have to pay well over $200 to get recordings of these tracks, or risk sending some guy money to hear them? They're not going to be in print any time soon.

MCD: And your response...you make a whole bunch of sense! Let me get this straight: you can get these tracks on Soulseek (most of which are hardly there) but I'm a 'dickwad' for posting them because we should all wait for a remastered CD version?

I heard the Desperate Bicycles track "The Medium Was Tedium" two years ago off a streamed internet radio show. I liked it so much I bought the single off of eBay and looked high and low for any other tracks or even INFORMATION about this band. They're pretty close to the definition of obscure.

So, my only advice is don't download the tracks if you're waiting for the remaster. If you have a problem with it because the band may be losing money (which they're not) then I hope you'll also delete all of the file sharing related software from your computer.

I was told it was the complete discography from the person who sent me the CD last week. I got a message this morning from somebody who says they knew the band who has some sort of live material. I'll be posting that when it arrives in the mail. It should have the other tracks as well. If you're not into me posting it, please don't download them.

And as for the $10,000 track listing contest...wow, you dudes are weird.

You weren't actually surprised that one or more of these "collectors" would try to make money off of the cdr you sent them, were you, dan. If you actually know 100 "collectors" you certainly shouldn't have been.

Ethically it just really pissed me off that someone was making money off of this, when they didn't have the bands permission, and they hadn't even bought the records or digitised them! All they did was download them, burn CDs and sell them. Pure profit.

Scott. I was suprised. I hadn't spent a lot of time dealing with "traders" and "collectors". I was 24 or so years old, had digitised the material and was emailing with lots of really cool music fans who were sending me mix tapes. 99% of whom I'm still 100% sure would never bootleg stuff like that. I assume one of them burned it for someone, who burned it for someone etc, one can't keep track. But I learned my lesson and don't do it anymore. There are a few bands I love and have compiled that I have only shared with people I trust and know 100%, and in the meantime I hope to do it for real via Acute.

I didn't say half of that. I used 'dickwad' in response to that note on yr website (These things are neither easy or cheap. etc), like you should be deified for posting a couple tracks. Sorry that wasn't clear.

But I also don't agree that you should make the tracks so readily available; they're not yours. Straight-up posting is too blatant for my tastes--you're assuming some kind of ownership. That's just my opinion though and I wasn't vilifying you for that, just disagreeing.

"Yeah, if someone's selling downloads and collecting money for our songs I would be unhappy about that but if they're trading it I don't mind, obviously if I make a thousand records or CDs or whatever, I like to sell a thousand. I don't need all the plastic. Obviously I would like people to support us, that'd be great. But at the end of the day, I'd rather people hear the music. You know I don't own any Bob Dylan music, well actually I think I do, but you know when I was growing up I didn't, but I certainly knew his music because of the radio, I didn't pay for that. I only mention him because I just mentioned him, I'm not saying like "Oh he's a huge Bob Dylan fan", I'm just saying that I do have respect for a lot of his work, and I'm glad to have been able to hear it and I think radio is so crucial to be able to have that. And frankly, though I actually recently got DSL, which has certainly helped in the terms of downloading songs, and I found the process a little bit frustrating because everyone seems to be putting up 'in the joint' or 'get the pay' or whatever, but when I first heard about napster, and those kinds of things, the orignal napster, the idea of having a resource where you could hear music-- it was a giant resource library-- was so intoxicating to me. I thought it was the most amazing thing in the world. Most music will never be made available commercially because it just doesn't make any sense for it to be made available commercially, you'll never sell enough copies to merit it, but I want to hear Hendrix practicing something, I want to hear a weird Al Jolson recording, I want to hear these things. The idea of going to a computer and listening to them once or twice like you heard them on the radio I think is incredible. But if I downloaded something and it just blew my mind, you'd better believe I'd go and try and find the fucking record if I could, if one existed. So from my point of view, any way that Fugazi or any band on Dischord or any kind of underground music, any way we have for people to be able to check it out and have access to the world at large, I'm all for. Obviously the major labels have, at this time at least, have fairly sewn up the avenues of the media, they own it all so obviously they have it all sewn up-- obviously it's not a coincidence that on new years eve ABC TV had their New Year's Rockin' Eve with Dick Clark reporting from Times Square, which is sort of the traditional new years thing, but they also reported in from Disneyworld, but they're owned by Disney! So of course, that's why suddenly disneyland is the same thing as Times Ssquare. It's all so disgusting. So the idea that somebody in wherever, whether they're in a small town somewhere in the middle of america or in Pakistan or whatever, if they're interested, and they want to check out Fugazi, I want it out there. I don't want them to have to pay some service to get to it and listen to it and hopefully that would compel them to do further research. I mean, how cool would it be to know that there's some kid in Pakistan who downloaded all our records and listens to them all the time-- I'm happy, I don't give a damn. I mean the argument against it is always just monetary, and again, that's the least interesting aspect of music for me."

I was kidding.

Sorry I made the tracks easy to find. Perhaps if I hid a tape under a rock in a field...I'm going to eat some eggs.

haha i was wondering if that was some sort of diy joke.

a) it has tracks that have NEVER surfaced anywhere,

b) it's been remastered

c) extensive and lovely liner notes

d) knowing Chuck Warner and Bruno Wizard will hopefully profit.

One way Acute has been dealing is trying to have cool liner notes/packages(getting bigger all the time) adding video clips etc. The Prefects CD is 30 minutes long but has a 20 page book!

But following up on the joke...they meant for you to go and do it themselves, not take theirs!

and of course, i laud all fans who reissue stuff and get money or long-overdue cred/raves, to people who made coolmusic in the past. be it acute, hyped2death, sundazed, whoever. godd bless you each and every one.

it's awesome that these tracks are available. i'd never heard them before and now i think they're great. i'm more keen on the singles than the lp though. but they didn't totally lose it as 'grief is very private' is the best track.

Roger from the Desperate Bicyles once wrote me "One thing that would sway us would be the thought that we could still have a positive influence; maybe encourage someone to take control of some part of their life - by musical means perhaps, but not necessarily."

which I take to mean they don't solely see the easy and cheap thing as regarding just writing music, but doing something, anything. Derek certainly has, and in my own way, I'm working on it. But I was kidding when I said "do it yourself, not take theirs!" that part was the joke.

The LP appeals to me in a different way then the early singles, and the Greif is Very Private single is something totally different. The songs of the LP that I love, they don't have the unique sound/arrangement of the singles, but the melodies and songwriting stick with me.

This thread = mostly retarded.

Fwiw, I entirely agree with him.

Dave...the Prefects CD is going to be HUGE, relatively speaking! We've got some serious PR behind it and the early feedback has been fantastic, i.e. many many music magazine in the UK and US will be running reviews/articles etc. That's no easy task, getting this stuff in the press. As mentioned before, I have the 2 new Nightingales singles and while the first one I thought was pretty good, the second, Workshy Wunderkind, just totally kills and has made me all the more excited. I've worked before with the fellow who is booking the Nightingales tour here so I'm involved with helping find opening bands and such and will help promote the shows in NYC. I'm very much looking forward to their tour.

btw, if anyone was really geeky and curious, yes, I use the convention ACT007 because it sounds like FACT007.

There's a one page article about Acute in the latest issue of XLR8R magazine, the "New York" issue. Good info all around.

They should do - it's in the current set.

Personally I'm glad he posted them, 'cause now I get to hear the songs until cheapy vg- copies of the singles come up. I don't do soulseek, or see the real advantage of taking part in file sharing. CDrs suck and I never listen to them no matter how good the music is. That and the sound quality of a lot of that stuff is unlistenable if you're a monkey like me and can't "upgrade" your technology to a reasonable leve. I just take people who I can trust's musical advice, and I guess that's where I learn about a lot of groups I get into. I guess it's good for younger kids trying to get into music who don't have a very big disposable income, but people wearing band shirts and names dropped in thanks lists always did it for me back when I had a $20 a month allowance.

Basically, all I'm seeing here is a bunch of nerds with sand in their vaginas (and someone who doesn't know who Ian Mackaye is, with some Ray Cappo references to boot) 'cause their stock in cool points goes down when more people get into obscure bands with oop records. Unless you were in the band I can't see the reasoning behind assuming how they'd feel about some guy making their songs public domain. I suggest everyone listen to "Street Justice" by the Cro Mags and realize what's really important in life.

DESPERATE BICYCLES “Occupied Territory” and “The Medium Was Tedium” singles (Refill Records, ’78, ’79). I heard about DESPERATE BICYCLES through a friend of mine, and I trust this guy’s opinion on music so much that even though I had never heard DB before, I didn’t think even twice about dropping the $50 it took to get both of these from a UK seller. Honestly, it was one of the best recent record purchasing risks I’ve ever taken, ‘cause these singles hit me really hard. I guess the best way I could describe DESPERATE BICYCLES music would be to have you imagine THE FALL if they were worshipping old ESP Disk “folk” groups (THE FUGS, GODZ, HMR, etc.) instead of CAN. Think really top notch authentic UK post-punk, but lacking any of the obnoxious pitfalls that genre is often guilty of (artistic pretension, watered down lyrics snatched from LOU REED’S wastebasket, aggrandized sense of importance, and general whiney, explicitly anti-rock and roll mentalities). DESPERATE BICYCLES stand head and shoulders above the competition by actually writing good songs which were rich in melody, but also very minimal in arrangement and experimental in their production approach. Take the farfisa and tambourine driven “Medium Was Tedium” single contrasted to the lofi borderline-garage punk of “Skill,” contrasted still with the languid and schizophrenic flipside “Occupied Territory.” These guys cram more original ideas in one song than most bands do in their entire existence, but somehow the songs really are pleasant to listen to without remotely being obtrusively avant-garde like many of their peers.

It should also be noted that DESPERATE BICYCLES wrote lyrics which will give anyone involved in pressing independent records, or seriously pursuing any form of artistic expression, for that matter, a serious hard on. Two of three songs on these two singles DIRECTLY relate to the do-it-yourself ethic of making music. This line from “Skill” pretty much sums up the DESPERATE BICYCLES ETHOS: “You don’t need skill, just the desire/the interest and desire to do what you believe in,” and of course the “It was easy it was cheap GO AND DO IT!!!” chorus/battle cry of “The Medium Was Tedium” speaks volumes as well.

As it stands there is no DESPERATE BICYCLES anthology, or singles collection. The records have never been repressed (to my knowledge this is as per the band’s request) and to my knowledge never even bootlegged. If you find any of their stuff (they had about three or four other singles and an LP) expect to pay a fair price for it, but trust me, it’s a rewarding investment.

cause their stock in cool points goes down when more people get into obscure bands with oop records

You're really directing that sentiment to the wrong group of people. Please tell me you're not aiming that at me in repsonse to my posts above.

And can I make the obvious analogy. If you specifically told the public you didn't want anyone to repress the best of M. Colin Tappe Greatest Hits CD, but somebody went ahead and did it without your permission, AND is making money off of it, that'd be perfectly cool?

That someone was me. Does that mean I don't have SIMV? Anyway, my point being Ian Mackaye is not and has never been in the Desp.Bikes, so his opinion, which I share, is not necessarily the DB's standpoint.

I actually don't know who IMcKaye is anyway, and Ray Cappo is also lost on me. But that's not important. Is it?

I've only heard 'The Medium Was Tedium', and now I can hear the rest of their songs.

If a remastered CD comes out I'll buy that.

Who's losing money (apart from Derek E) out of this, you fucking naysayers.

It's a shame that there's certain music that people can't here because the records are prohibitively expensive and there is no cheap reissue, but that doesn't make it ok to go against the bands wishes. The fans don't have some kind of right to the music that supercedes the artists desire to not have their music out there for whatever reason.

I dunno. I hypocrit cuz I downloaded the tracks? Maybe they don't want to be looked on as 'historical' or what they do nowadays would be 'spoiled' by 'immature daubings' or whatever?

I dunno, I havent played it yet.

eww, this music is fucking shite. there's no reason to hear this bollocks except the fact that someone doesn't want you to hear it. brilliant marketing move, laddies.

i love this pretentious existential explanation for the band:
"The Desperate Bicycles were formed for the specific purpose of recording and releasing a single on their own label."

Not to make good music, not to express anything relevant, but simply to release an album. Yes, this has encouraged me to go buy an excessively large Hummer and drive it around just because.

i'd say "advice on arrest" definitely expresses something relevant, and far from existential or pretentious. try actually listening to them next time.

What's really cool about music is that sometimes some people like it, while other people don't. A little respect for other people's taste and opinions goes a long way. They wrote tons of great songs that mean a lot to a lot of people. It's fine if you don't like them, and I guess it's silly for me to argue on the internet about stuff like this.

It was a pretty big deal, a big conceptual leap back then, that you could just put out a record. They had that idea and decided to do it. It was an influential move, but unlike the bulk of their followers, the music was also fantastic and they continued to write songs, released a few more singles and an LP. Most of it is pretty good to completely awesome, in my opinion, if not yours.

And I like it just because.

Is this the thread that is mentioned in the page at the top of the thread that doesn't work when you click on the link on that page?

Because if it is, he's right, it is interesting.

I remember buying the second single from my local record shop and cursing the fact that you must have either lived next to Rough Trade or been a friend of the band to get the first single. Certainly had no chance getting it out in the sticks. It's good to hear it again after all these years.

Dug this up for the first time in probably 4 years? Totally enjoying "Cars"

"Holidays" is easily one of my favorite songs of all time. Can't get enough of it.

I'm at the "Grief Is Very Private" single and it's quite exceptional. I'm surprised at how fucking good this is.

There's a Lusty Ghosts song toward the end of this podcast..!

http://www.slumberlandrecords.com/extras/podcast/27

the "article" I wrote for Swingset Magazine in 2004:

http://swingsetmagazine.com/2012/06/xerox_music_is_here_to_stay/

I may update it one day with newer info, links, color photos etc, and post to the Acute site, but for now you can look at this and learn nothing new.

Dan, I don't know if it's already been addressed, but do you have the Evening Outs single and the Peel Sessions of the Desperate Bicycles on your burned CDs and if so, is it possible to receive any copies?

the desperate bicycles 7"s were all recently bootlegged with added bonus peel sessions tracks added. no sign of a 'remorse code' bootleg though.

and, great article, dan.

Thanks. Hopefully I'll do the updated version eventually.

I have the Evening Outs single and the Peel Sessions. Neither were on the original burned CDs.

Mark, when you email people via ilx, you have to include an email address so they can write back!

got the 4 "reissue" 7"s today
first single is Smokescreen/Handlebars on one side & Occupied Territory/Skill on the other, 2 great singles for the price of one.
second single is Medium Was Tedium/Don't Back The Front on one side & 2 tracks from a Peel Session on the other, a slower & more together sounding version of Smokescreen & (i'm assuming) Teacher's Prayer (the sleeve & label have no info at all!)
third & fourth singles are pretty straight repros of New Cross & Grief Is Very Private with sleeves changed/added. have to say stylophone/bass/drums is a great idea for a band lineup.

Rough Trade (and a few other places) are currently selling copies of the Remorse Code LP which are supposedly from a legit warehouse find. It's £24.99. I bought one but I'm now wondering if I'm just falling for a ruse to sell a bootleg at an inflated price.

"warehouse find" often means bootleg but it seems odd that rough trade would go to the length of saying These albums look and play as new but you have to remember they are from 33 years ago. You will not find a better copy if they weren't genuine. do you have a copy or are you waiting for it to arrive? the 7"s that were bootlegged have a sheen on the sleeves that the originals didn't have and this might be the case with this if it isn't actually original.

i just bought one so i guess i'll find out soon enough.

not sure who actually found them but Paco from La Vida Es Un Mus was selling these online the other day. would be p surprised if he was engaging in any underhand monkey business. decided not to buy one cos I can't rly justify (to myself) either spending that much on an LP or flipping it for a profit

Paco sells bootlegs all the time but I guess he doesn't normally claim they aren't bootlegs, just doesn't mention that at all.

yeah that's what I figure

Oh, to Stirmonster - no I don't have the copy yet, I just ordered it via mail order.

I was sorely tempted, but since I found that VU single I've been, um, sort of, is 'satisfied' the right word?

...aaaand order cancelled as product is no longer available

same here.

and sold out everywhere else too. bah!

Hmm, what are the chances Paco still has a couple of these in his gig distro box... I may be going to one of his gigs tonight...

more of a desperate buy cycle amirite

I didn't want it anyway.

Oh great, I just saw this. Three hours and sold out? Bahhhhhhhh.

And £24.99, while not cheap, is not an awful price for originals, seeing as reissues tend to go 'full artefact' and cost easily that much these days. Obviously if it's a boot then it's a rip-off.