The ABS
“A Wop Bop A Loo Bop ... A Cough Wheeze Fart”
By Rich Cocksedge
(SugarBuzz UK)
SugarBuzz Magazine
This release deserves a review, despite it being a while since it was originally released. I have to be open and honest here – I knew The Abs as they lived in the same town as me, my brother knew them well, and friends and I would cross the UK just to see them support a variety of bands as they ploughed their way up and down the motorways to play in any joint that would have them. Add to this, all of my tattoos have been done by Bryn Jones, one of the band, who know has a thriving business in South Wales.
This collection of songs brings together their first 7”, the mini-album and their one full length release along with some of the
tracks recorded for John Peel sessions plus a healthy dose of live songs, some of which became more well known with Doctor Bison, the band formed after The Abs called it a day. In Baz Oldfield, The Abs were blessed with a unique vocalist within the punk scene and I love to hear his Newport accent coming through so thick at times. With Bryn Jones, they had a second vocalist who had a style more suited to punk rock but designed for singing rather than yelling. Both Baz and Bryn provided guitars along with vocals. The rhythm section varied with John “The Rev” Oldfield drumming solidly throughout but with three bassists, my favourite being Jon Simpson and not just because I went to school with him, but to me he was part of the heyday of the band.
Highlights from the two CD’s are both versions of “Grease Your Ralphs”, extolling the virtue of the famous ‘comb over’ hairstyle that was sported by Ralph Coates, a famous, balding football player of the 1970’s. Another is the excellent “Hand Me Down” which when John Peel played it on his radio show, he was unable to provide a clear description of the bands’ sound. “Same Mistake Twice” is a personal favourite with the phrase “parachutists and virgins .... don’t make the same mistake twice” which I always found amusing. Also, who could not fail to laugh at a band
that had a song called “Englebert Humperdink’s Racing Pigeon”?
Lyrically, The Abs steered firmly clear of any political content and this was probably the one thing that kept them from achieving the popularity they deserved in their native UK. At the time the punk scene was becoming even more politicized and it was on the European mainland that the band found their spiritual home, where their love of punk rock with humour and copious amounts of alcohol found many kindred spirits. The band toured numerous times, crossing paths with a bunch of fresh faced kids on their first visit to Europe called Green Day. What they would do though is sing about how they didn’t want to get caught up in the traditional lifestyle of getting married, buying a house and living a life devoid of excitement – this was no more evident than in “Luck”, where they sing “you’ve got to rise up before you’re rooted” about the future containing nothing more than a “cold brick horizon three bedroom” as the only option considered by many.
What was important throughout the bands career was that they wanted to produce punk rock which had tunes and hooks you could hang a hat on. It was no surprise that when I interviewed them for MRR they cited their influences as including Squeeze, one of the foremost new wave bands, famous for incredible song writing.
There are forty tracks across the two CD’s and I would suggest trying to find some of them on the internet to listen to if you are not brave enough to immediately order the package from the excellent Boss Tuneage who were responsible for this release. Unfortunately, despite much nagging from me, along with offers to help set it up, the band has no official (or unofficial) internet presence. A shame indeed as there are so many bands who practice once and are setting up a profile, selling t-shirts and all without doing much of anything worth commenting on. Yes, I am biased but aren’t all music lovers who have favourite bands?!
Even with bias I do have some criticisms - some of the more obvious songs for fans of the band were left off to allow two versions of other songs to be included, along with some live songs that were not of the highest quality Also, given the chance to provide new and old fans with an insight into the band the liner notes are particularly poor. However, The Abs can bring me out of the gloom of a particularly bad day as their songs will always take me back to the crazy days of my youth watching them entertain, often bemused punk rockers with blistering punk rock, country standards mangled and jokes a plenty, many linked to the town of my birth.