Sunday, December 28, 2008

The Up Another Octave Transmission

A quite diverse yet interesting sample of Orange County music circa 1980-81. Side A is entitled "Tekno Rok" while Side B is "Nu Rok". The record starts with a 6 min. futuristic melancholy anthem by Farenheit. Probably the best track on Side A. Tuxedomoon & The Units definitely come to mind. Null And Void's ain't too bad either. Berlin's track is off their first album, pre Terri Nunn. I'm not too partial to the synth side of music, but lately it's been kinda growing on me.

The "Nu Rok" side is of course the better of the two & holds the best track on the entire record. Hang Ten In East Berlin is the only track ever to be released by The Detours. Before there was D.I., there was The Adolescents. Before there was The Adolescents, there was The Detours. In 1980 they recorded 3 songs in a San Diego studio: Amoeba (later released by The Adolescents), Hang Ten In East Berlin, & The Saint (both later released by D.I.). Hang Ten was the only one ever to be released. If anyone out there has either of these two other tracks, for punks sakes please make them available! Even Rikk Agnew himself told me at their first Detours reunion show in 2006 to never let this record go being as it's rare as hell! (unless of course I wanted to sell it to him!) It was advice well taken.

Another band worthy of note are Anaheim's The Vectors. They released the Death To Disco 7'' and a 12'' in 1981. Hey Kirby was also released on the 12''. A little poppy,but not too bad. Beat-E-O's track is ok. No info on them though. Enjoy!





The Up Another Octave Transmission

Farenheit - Farenheit #1
Craig Sibley - You See Art, I See Clay
Berlin - Talk Talk Video
Null And Void - I Can See What's Happening
Nu Beams - Chico
Videos - Skitzo Attack
The Barbies - Boys Will Be Boys
The Vectors - Hey Kirby
The Detours - Hang Ten In East Berlin
Beat-E-O's - China Sleeping?
Removed - Missing Person
Finesse - Nervous Time
Tactics - Things I Am
The End - Time Before I'm Done
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Get It
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10 comments:

louissyfer said...

you have been linked, if you feel the itch link back

nice stuff by the way, i plan on getting some Big Black, Effigies and more NR up sooner or later and even more rare Chicago shit like Blatant Dissent, Ring 13 and Dial A Trance comp.. sooner or later

http://symphonyofghosts.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

detours sound great!!!

Grebo said...

Up another Octive was a record store in Buena Park California. Jon the owner was a personal friend and gave me the second copy of this record (his brother still has the first one). Tragic the way Jon was killed in his own store.

Jon was very much a visionary and ahead of the curve when it came to new music. The record you possess is that legacy as the store itself is long gone.

Marlinda SP said...

Jon Lee was my uncle. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I have this album that my mom gave to me. It may be the first copy.

Amazed and confused said...

I might still have a copy of this as well. I too was a friend of Jon's. I often helped him out at the store .

In fact we were supposed to double date to an electronic music concert at Fullerton JC that night. I went to the store after school to pick him up, only to find the cops there and well you know the rest.

Was the murder ever solved? I've tried raising interest a few years ago with one of those cold case programs on TV, but never heard back.

Unknown said...

This is very interesting to see the talk about "Up another Octave" in Buena Park. John turned me on to The Plimsouls, The Kingbee's, and so many other great bands. I was only 12 or 13 at the time and would take a bus to Jon's store or back the other direction to Beggar's Banquet records on Beach and Ball road in Anaheim. I have such good memories of KNAC 105.5 before it went heavy metal. The KNAC phrase was "Rock and Ryythm 105.5" and the stickers were black with pink lettering. Darn, where did the time go?

Shawn Broes said...

I too have this record. Jon was always so cool to me. I was so shocked about his murder. I was just listening to Jean Michelle Jarre and thought of him. Of Jarre, he'd say, "now that's electronic music!"

Keiro said...

Up Another Octave brings back so much memories. I had just moved to Buena Park during my fifth grade. Friends had turned me on to Queen, Van Halen and the likes and we used to frequent Jon's store to browse around and, with our meagre allowances, buy precious records. I remember lining up an hour before the store opened to purchase "In Through The Out Door"! Jon was so kind to us. He was like an older brother, wise about the music whose magic we were slowly becoming captive of. He would gently "tolerate" our adolescent fervor for Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd. He would play Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene full blast. I never got into electronic music but always listened admiringly to Jon's musical tastes. Three or four years later, during my high school years, I received a phone call from my friend and was told that Jon had been shot right inside of his own store. I was of course shocked and felt somewhat strangely guilty that I hadn't visited the store in a few years. We will greatly miss him!

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing. I remember when this record store opened as I was excited not to have to travel to Towers Records on Beach Blvd. to get the latest album release. Jon was a nice guy always open to answering questions. I remember that I was off at college when I had heard that he had been shot. When I returned home the store was gone. I will never forget that little store front that sat on Beach Blvd and Malvern behind the 76 Gas Station.

Marlinda SP said...

Thank you all for sharing your memories. I am Jon's niece. My mom always talks about his love for music and how happy that record store made him. I was very young when he was killed. It's nice to read your stories and to learn about him.