Blyth Power - A Little Touch Of Harry In The Night - Remastered - 96 Tapes - 1984

A memory: Ending up at Brougham Road in Hackney I searched for number 96 while driving along slowly squinting in between the parked coaches, caravans and various cars in various states of repair trying to see any of the numbers on any of the doors. Dogs without leads were playfully running around, wood smoke was coming from one of the parked coaches, curtains on that coach closed. Battered old army surplus boots and other clothing lay around the front ‘gardens’, I assumed thrown out and long forgotten. All the small terraced houses along that side of the street seemed run down. The overall grimness of each house was interrupted slightly by each house having a pastel colour painted around the doors and on the windowsills. One house had one pastel colour; the next house had a different pastel colour and so forth. Almost stepping on the cat, I shuffled up a thin staircase and immediately saw a woman dressed all in black with long crimped black hair sitting on the top of the staircase looking incredibly nervous. She cowered as I walked passed. This person I was shortly going to know was Louise a veteran of various dismal squats from years past. An ex-member of the ‘Puppy Collective’, an ex-member of The Witches and Youth In Asia, and who was shortly to front a band called Hysteria Ward. There was a smell of dampness, roll your own tobacco and cats evident around this small terraced house. I walked into a small room which overlooked the street that was filled up with the coaches, caravans and various cars in various states of repair. There was a small table against the single window. Some record racks on the right and various other cassettes and fanzines stored around the room along with stacks of untidy paperwork and a large double cassette recorder. In this small office was a large man who asked who I was and what I wanted in a very pleasant tone. I told him that I wanted to buy the Blyth Power 12”single ‘Chevy Chase’ E.P which had been released recently and would also like to look in the racks. This person I was shortly going to know was Sean ‘Gummidge’ who at that time was an avid follower of Blyth Power (I had recognised him as soon as I had walked into this small office from a few Blyth Power gigs and also from some other gigs that I had attended). Sean also fronted a band called Wat Tyler, a band I had also seen live. I was allowed to look in the record racks. After about ten minutes I had chosen a couple more records and while paying for them all, I plucked up the courage to state how inspirational The Mob had been. How Flowers In The Dustbin and The Astronauts were in my opinion severely underrated. How I thought that the Blyth Power cassette was a wonderfully fresh release and how great the gigs were. The large man agreed to most points that I made as I had continued to talk on and on. The large man had a wonderful attitude that put me right at ease and he was as engaging in this short conversation as I had been. I had to go, and as I did I gave the large man my details and a told him to call me up if he ever wanted any help. I explained that I was not doing anything just signing on. The large man replied that he would give my details to the man in charge who was out at that time. I walked along the hallway and back down the stairs where the lady in black was still camped out. She cowered again as I walked past, and after exiting the building, I once more breathed in wood smoke from that coach with the curtains drawn. I both got back into the car and I drove off with my newly bought records. After a week I received a telephone call. The voice introduced himself as Rob Challice and he was in charge of All The Madmen records and proprietor of 96 Tapes. 96 Tapes was a cassette only label that I knew well due to owning a fair chunk of the 96 Tapes back catalogue including two cassettes, ‘Life After Death’ by Blood And Roses and ‘A Little Touch Of Harry In The Night’ by Blyth Power, both of which were played constantly on my cheap knockabout cassette recorder. Rob wondered if I was serious about the offer I had made to the large man I had met previously in the office at Brougham Road. I told Rob that; “Yes I was.” Rob told me he would be happy to get some help as the mail order was picking up pace and Blyth Power were getting popular. I already knew that Blyth Power were getting popular, and I decided to accept Robs trust in me to help out in the All The Madmen records office. Rob explained that I would not be paid although my travel money would be. I was still signing on at the Labour Exchange every two weeks and I had nothing better to do. A clutch of low grade C.S.E’s was not going to catapult me any time soon into any long term job prospects! Remastered audio by Jon Hamilton of Part Chimp from the Demo Tapes vinyl version of 'Harry' - PO BOX 357 LONDON SE19 1AD. Visuals include the booklet written by Joseph Porter, giving context to all of the songs recorded for this cassette.