Welcome to The Tuna Melt Music Sharity Blog!

It is here that I post old records that I've ripped
to Mp3 format (and grouped in .ZIP files) via File Sharing Sites,
album cover scans and, sometimes,
somewhat coherent ramblings related to said shares.

Most of the items shared are rips of Out-of-Print
(or, at least, very difficult to acquire)
Vinyl Records from my own collection,
or Compilations ("Seasonal" or "Genre-Specific") made up of Mp3 files
either digitally collected or ripped from Compact Disk.

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I hope you find something you like.

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Monday, February 04, 2008

Boxer: Below the Belt


Repost by Request: Under the Radar and Below the Belt

Mike Patto (singer) and Ollie Halsall (guitar) were both members of Timebox, from which the 'progressive jazz-rock' band Patto evolved. After Patto split up, Halsall played with Tempest and The Soporifics while Patto signed on with Spooky Tooth.

The two reunited in 1975 to form Boxer and this was the first record by the group. A second album, "Bloodletting", was released in 1976 and almost immediately withdrawn from the market. Halsall had left before the third and final album, "Absolutely", was recorded.

This record gained immediate notoriety for it's original cover art (the obvious inspiration for Spinal Tap's "Smell the Glove"). The photo featured on it was both sexist and juvenile. I figure it must have seemed pretty clever and creative to some folks back in 1975, but not to the people who mattered. The album was almost immediately yanked from the shelves and repackaged. The album that I have is in the package with the cover that replaced it, and with which the album is most identified with to this day.

In another Comedy Related connection, Halsall played many of the instruments - and supplied the singing voice for Dirk McQuickly - on The Rutle's album (also appearing, briefly, in the accompanying television program as 'Leppo, The Fifth Rutle'). Halsall has also been cited as the primary inspiration for the guitar stylings of XTC's Andy Partridge. Oh, and Mike Patto was a good singer, too.

Quite a bit more on Halsall here: http://www.olliehalsall.co.uk/

  1. Shooting Star
  2. All the Time in the World
  3. California Calling
  4. Hip Kiss
  5. More Than Meets the Eye
  6. Waiting for a Miracle
  7. Loony Ali
  8. Save Me
  9. Gonna Work Out Fine
  10. Town Drunk
Posted by Traitor Vic at 11:49 PM
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is a brilliant album, not a single bad song on it, it's been one of my favourites since it was released.
Ollie was a very original guitar player and is greatly missed.
His previous band, Patto, with Mike Patto included John Halsey on drums who was also in the Rutles movie playing Barry Wom.

Cheers
Steve

3:20 AM

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