By the end of 1977 years of music-industry neglect (and the abrupt departure for London of the few feckless punks who’d landed record-deals) had left South Wales fertile ground for D.I.Y. The most basic instrumentation, one-take recordings and black-and-white graphics ruled the day, so it's no surprise that not one of the records here sold more than 1200 copies...
Mindful of these feeble sales, a dozen alumni of Cardiff's Z-Block label (and various mates) gave up releasing records altogether, and busied them-selves in a frenzy of increasingly-sophisticated home recording. (We've included just the tip of that iceberg...)

23 songs on the CD plus six bonus MP3 tracks. 24-page booklet, lovingly documented with histories & photos galore, PLUS a 'reunion' appearance of the legendary Great Pop Things rock-history comic.

Messthetics #104 features (extreme) rarities by Reptile Ranch, Tax Exiles, Immortal Invisibles, Flying Brix, Decadent Few, Ralph & the Ponytails, Czechs, Current Obsessions, What to Wear, Spitfire Boys, Discount Chiefs, Puritan Guitars, Janet & Johns, Crash Action Winners, Addiction, Boywonders, and Hugh Volk. Unreleased recordings by Reptile Ranch [live], the Sane [ex-Decadent Few & Reptile Ranch], Table Table [ex-everyone, including YMG], John Marlon [pre-4AD, ex-Tax Exiles], The Filmstars, and the 12- and 13-year-old splendor of the Autonomes. Plus previously-unpublished Moors Murderers tales and Great Pop Things featuring 'Chuck Death' (Jon Langford). $11.00

Listen:
Lewis & Debbie/Current Obsessions-'Fish'
Flying Brix-'Uniform'
Decadent Few-'There's a Place' (demo)
The Sane-'Arnold Palmer'
Table Table-'Magic Moments'
Crash Action Winners-'Hurricane Fighter Plane'
Ralph & the Ponytails-'James Bond'
Boywonders-'He Man'