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CATSWALTONSDUSTBINSSMEGGY/BITSFOUR MARYSTHE LAWNIESNAB FUNKOB QUIET
LUKE BUDZDJANGO RATIXTRASH BLANDOTHER
 
                                           
LIVE AT THE PRINCE CONSORT (21ST APRIL 1983)
That's the week after their first gig.

Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Black
Leather
F 4.75 5:11 *NEW* - 20th April 07
Courtesy of "Shed Martino" This gig is just one week after The Waltons had formed. The songs are probably really only of interest to people who were there and are almost drowned out by drunken louts leering at the band members and jealously making notes of bass lines and arrangements. Occasionally the recorder is turned off by accident or has beer poured over it. I almost had to make up a new sound quality category to cover this tape it's so bad.
Control F 6.14 6:42
Pain F 3.11 3:23
Brown
Rice
F 3.43 3:44 Tony's albatross. Before the lyrics were cleaned up for a ridiculously paranoid record company.
Horror
Movie
F 4.45 4:51 A strange mish-mash left over from Looney Tunes. We later rearranged this into something quite good with Bella Lugosi backing vocals and immediately dropped it.
The
Painting
and
the
Photograph
F 5.15 5:37 Owens song before we tried to change it into a Fall dirge for the "Feet Up Your Arse" compilation album. I wonder what it's about? I'm a bit scared to ask.
RECORDING AT OAKWOOD STUDIO (CANTERBURY 1984)
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Ambition C 2.55 3:42 Recorded at Oakwood Studios in Canterbury July 1984. Nice live sound. Brown Rice suffered from having the solo section truncated but Cherry Pie was just right. Great sax solo, was that really Owen?
The line-up was:
Dread - Drums/Percussion
Tony - Guitar/Vox
Pete - Guitar
Cheesybits - Bass/Vox
Sean - Keyboards
Owen - Alto Sax
Cherry
Pie
C * 2.46 3:34
Brown
Rice
C 1.93 2:48
THE PAVILION TAPES
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Fast
Metal
Machine
Madness
C 1.86 2:42 Recorded at the Pavilion (now the bowling alley) in Ryde 1984. With Phil Jones on drums. These six songs were recorded in response to The Waltons' recording company's request to hear more material. They were recorded live with only additional vocals added and give a good idea of what the band sounded like at the time. Owen had already departed to become a professional kitchen porter. Pain was abandoned at this stage and never completed the rest of these tracks later appeared on Dead Above the Neck.
Black
Leather
C 2.86 4:10
The
Scrounging
Song
C 2.59 3:46
Fallout
Waltz
C 2.6 3:46
War
Fever
C 4.15 6:02
Pain C 2.37 3:26
RARE WALTONS JAMS
I mean aside from the ones we did on stage.
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Jam
1
C 5.73 6:15 *NEW* - 19th October 2008
This is an intimate recording of Tony Walton, Hank Torso and Dave Cheesybits jamming along to a nasty drum machine in February '84
DODGY FOUR-TRACK RECORDINGS (MOSTLY)
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Rainy
Rizla
Morning
(MV Mix)
D 5.42 5:55 *NEW* - 7th March 2009
Ripped screaming from the analogue fuzz of my 4-track here is Hank Torso's reflection on life, the kitchen and everything. I don't know what happened to Tony's voice, he doesn't usually sound like that.
Painkilling
Time
D 5.51 6:01 *NEW* - 9th March 2008
A 4-Track version of the song that became the B Side of the Waltons' single. Recorded in glorious stereo in a makeshift bedroom in Park Road, Ryde, in February 1984
End
of the
Line
D 5.95 6:29 *NEW* - 23rd Dec 07
Previously un-released over-long Waltons song. I think we did perform this once but were met with total indifference and so never did it again. Ok so maybe I should have edited out a verse or intro or two to bring it down to a more digestible length but I don't have the time (I've got to go out and buy Christmas). This was recorded on my 4-track cassette in January 19 with a crappy drum machine and various Waltons banging drums and milk bottles in a vain attempt to make up for the lack of a drummer.
All
I Want
D * 3.68 5:21 A good song, never performed. This the only version we recorded at a practice. The tape ran out!
Crazy
in the
Head
D 2.75 4:00 One of Pete's songs from Looney Tunes days mutated beyond recognition by the Waltons Sound Forge.
Fool D 2.52 3:40 Tony at his Flat Capped Spitting best (lyrically speaking) also features Sean on Vox Continental on one of the rare days when it worked.
Hail
Mary
D 3.44 5:00 This was originally a kind of Calypso song but evolved into this rock dirge.
Who's
That
D * 2.11 3:04 This is an instrumental version of Stephen Was a Mod from Smeggy and the Cheesybits days. We mainly did it because it was a useful sound check, but this recording is a good example of the Waltons Silly period.
NEW LIVE SHIT (AT THE CONSORT 1983)
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Frieda F 6.85 4:59 *NEW* - June/August 07
Some more live recordings courtesy of Martino's ghetto blaster.
Afraid
of the
Dark
F 7.85 5:42
Crazy
in the
Head
E 5.37 3:54
I
Don't
Know
What's
Going
On
E 3.81 2:46 The aforementioned "kind of a calypso song" that later became Hail Mary
War
Fever
F 12.24 8:54 It really is unnecessarily long. It probably comes from the days when we had to do two sets and we were padding things out.
DEAD ABOVE THE NECK

Finally I've managed to cobble together a reasonable copy of The Waltons definative and groundbreaking (nobody noticed that we nicked everything) album. Dead Above the Neck was a compilation of three recording sessions. Two tracks came from The Pavilion Tapes 20.09.1984 (War Fever and The Scrounging Song available elsewhere on this page), one track came from The Oakwood Studio Session 09.07.1984 (Dirty Things and Cherry Pie also available elsewhere on this page) and the rest were recorded in a house opposite the cop shop in Newport St, Ryde. The working title for the album was The Cop Shop Tapes. It was all recorded on my Studio Master 4-Track Cassette Deck with very little equipment other than that used by the band on a day to day basis. This, of course, was a good thing. If we'd had access to a decent studio we would have made a complete mess of it all. As it is we made a pretty good job of it. There is only one track out of all those below that I can't stand listening to, can you guess which it is? Oh.. you don't give a crap! Well f**k you too. We suffered a great deal so you could listen to this s**t, you could at least be grateful. What do you mean,"You stopped reading this text ages ago?" Ah well..These mp3s were taken from two cassettes which had suffered from the usual "accidental recording overs," degredation due to the passing of time, wear and tear etc. They turned out to be quite different which reminded me that we did release two slightly different versions, so if these songs sound different to how you remeber them that's probably the reason - actually being old and decrepid is probally the reason. So here for you delictation and in the order that they originally appeared on the tape is The Waltons magnum opus Dead Above the Neck.
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Wage
Slaves
C 2.13 2:19
  • Tony Walton - Guitar/Vocals
  • Pete Baker - Lead Guitar
  • Dave Cheesybits - Bass
  • Sean "the" Ridler - Keyboards
  • Damon Lewis - Drums
  • Dread Jones - Percussion
Faster
Than
Light
C 2.87 3:08
  • Tony Walton - Vocals/Gob Iron
  • Pete Baker - Guitar
  • Dave Cheesybits - Bass/Vocals
  • Sean "the" Ridler - Keyboards/Vocals
  • Damon Lewis - Drums
  • Dread Jones - Percussion
Love
and
Marriage
C 2.91 3:10
  • Tony Walton - Guitar/Vocals
  • Pete Baker - Tenor Sax
  • Dave Cheesybits - Bass
  • Sean "the" Ridler - Keyboards
  • Damon Lewis - Drums
  • Jane Rostron - Vocals
  • Sarah Barker Barker - Vocals
Marijuana C 3.3 3:36
  • Tony Walton - Guitar/Vocals
  • Pete Baker - Tenor Sax
  • Dave Cheesybits - Bass/Vocals
  • Sean "the" Ridler - Keyboards/Vocals
  • Damon Lewis - Drums
We
Eat Shit
C 3.25 3:33
  • Tony Walton - Guitar/Vocals
  • Pete Baker - Guitar/Tenor Sax
  • Dave Cheesybits - Bass/Vocals
  • Sean "the" Ridler - Keyboards/Vocals
  • Damon Lewis - Drums
Amsterdam C 2.41 2:37
  • Tony Walton - Guitar/Vocals
  • Pete Baker - Lead Guitar
  • Dave Cheesybits - Bass
  • Sean "the" Ridler - Keyboards
  • Damon Lewis - Drums
  • Dread Jones - Percussion
Baby's
Gone
C 2.75 2:59
  • Tony Walton - Guitar/Vocals
  • Pete Baker - Tenor Sax
  • Dave Cheesybits - Bass/Vocals
  • Sean "the" Ridler - Keyboards/Vocals
  • Damon Lewis - Drums
War
Fever
C 5.59 6:06 Featuring an impromptu version of Ambition
  • Tony Walton - Guitar/Vocals
  • Pete Baker - Lead Guitar
  • Dave Cheesybits - Bass/Vocals
  • Sean "the" Ridler - Keyboards/Vocals
  • Damon Lewis - Drums
  • Dread Jones - Percussion
The
Scrounging
Song
C 3.07 3:21
  • Tony Walton - Guitar/Vocals/Gob Slap/Whistle
  • Pete Baker - Guitar
  • Dave Cheesybits - Bass/Hysterical Vocals/Heckling
  • Sean "the" Ridler - Keyboards
  • Dread Jones - Drums/Bouncer Vocals
Dead
Above the
Neck
C 3.49 3:48
  • Tony Walton - Guitar/Vocals
  • Pete Baker - Lead Guitar
  • Dave Cheesybits - Bass/Vocals
  • Sean "the" Ridler - Keyboards/Vocals
  • Damon Lewis - Drums/Expletive
  • Dread Jones - Percussion
Wop Bop
Riddly-Piddly
Bop
Wobbly
Walk
C 1.67 1:49
  • Tony Walton - Guitar/Vocals
  • Pete Baker - Tenor Sax
  • Dave Cheesybits - Bass/Vocals
  • Sean "the" Ridler - Keyboards/Vocals
  • Damon Lewis - Drums
Dirty Things
(Cherry Pie)
C 3.2 3:29
  • Tony Walton - Vocals
  • Pete Baker - Guitar
  • Dave Cheesybits - Bass/Vocals
  • Sean "the" Ridler - Keyboards/Vocals
  • Dread Jones - Drums
  • OB Quiet - Alto Sax
Owen
Going
Home
C 1.15 1:15
  • Tony Walton - Cheap Tape Recorder
  • OB Quiet - The Ability to Talk Rubbish
LIVE AT THE GREYHOUND II
*NEW* - March 2014
More Post-Cheesybits Waltons from their second gig at The Greyhound in Fulham in 1987 or 1988.
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Hail
Mary
D 8.84 6:26 You know how I'm always going on about what tempermental keyboards Sean "the" Ridler [aka Sean El Keyboardo] owns? Well here is the case in point. Apparently the stage crew were warned not to turn his keyboards off because they needed time to warm up to their operating temperature. They were either curious or had an axe to grind and so ingnored these instructions. The result is Sean playing at A394.524 (loudly) for the first few bars of this song. I welll remember how important it was to make a good impression at the right moments [I leave a marker here for a link to Revenge of the Lawns astonishingly out of tune version of Giddy during a radio session].
Invisible
Hands
D 5.2 3:47 See above for studio version.
Control D 7.51 5:28
Fall-out
Waltz
D 7.15 5:12
Baby's
Gone
D 4.34 3:09
Crazy
in the
Head
D * 8.09 5:53 The tape goes bad towards the end of this song. But this has always been one of my favourites
Freeze
Frame
D 5.77 4:12 See above for studio version.
Under
the Thumb
D 6.87 5:00 Blisteringly fast. Featuring Sean's keyboard spot lifted from Brown Rice
Dead
Above the
Neck
D 6.15 4:28
THE ORIGINAL ANNIKA RECORDINGS (AUGUST 1983)
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Ambition C 4.66 5:05
*NEW* - 16th June 07
Yet another lost artefact found in the depths of Rob Martino's Shed. These songs were recorded (in mono) on the sound man's Nargra during the filming of Annika. The recording took place upstairs at the Prince Consort during August 1983. The Consort can be seen in its full glory in the clip posted on Youtube (as can the legendary O B Quiet). These recordings hold some real (if small) surprises. Small differences in melody and arrangement that most of the band have probably forgotten about. They (the recordings not the band) have been "digitally remastered" so they naturally don't sound as good as the originals.
Afraid
of the
Dark
C 4.39 4:47
Johnny/Control C 5.99 6:32
Cherry
Pie
C 3.69 4:01
Brown
Rice
C 2.75 2:59
Under
the Thumb
C 3.6 3:55
RADIO INTERVIEWS
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Radio
Interview
D 2.42 10:34 Broadcast 19.10.85. Hear Cheesybits make a cock of himself.
News
Item
D 0.4 1:44 Tony on the Radio Solent news after the song festival.
THE POST-CHEESYBITS WALTONS
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Invisible
Hands
C 3.25 3:32 *NEW* - 2nd May 2008
Here are a couple of 4-Track demos that come courtesy of OB Quiet. I remember them performing Invisible Hands but I don't know what happened to "White Freeze"
White
Freeze
C 3.76 4:06
FIVE MINUTE WALTONS
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Five
Minute
Waltons
I
D 4.55 4:58 *NEW* - 23rd Dec 07
Ever wanted to listen to a full Waltons gig, but just didn't have the time? Perhaps your high-powered life doesn't allow you to sit and wade through a full Waltons concert. Well, now you no longer have to fret. We, at Compress Constructs Ltd., have condensed the Complete Works of the Waltons into under 5 minutes.
Five
Minute
Waltons
II
D 3.79 4:08 After complaints from the licensing authorities the original purloined mix is re-instated.
AT THE PRINCE CONSORT SOMETIME IN 1983
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Old
Barbituates
F 2.65 3:51 *NEW* - 20th April 07

All these live songs come from some of the many live recordings that Rob Dustbin made of the band in the early days. These gigs were in late April 1983 so only a couple weeks after The Waltons had formed. The songs are probably really only of interest to people who were there and are almost drowned out by drunken louts leering at the band members and jealously making notes of bass lines and arrangements. Occasionally the recorder is turned off by accident or has beer poured over it. I almost had to make up a new sound quality category to cover this tape it's so bad.
Black
Leather
F 3.89 5:39
Fool F 4.59 5:01 Worth downloading for the desperate conversation between two island bass players. I thought it was only drummers that said things like that.
Johnny F 3.13 4:33 This featured on "Annika" but was dropped soon afterwards.
Under
the Thumb
F 3.5 5:06 A laid back version of this Waltons classic. Before the days when we did everything at breakneck speed. Complete with the Embryonic Dustbins shouting over the beginning.
Loony
Tunes
F 2.8 4:04 I thought this was a great song but nobody liked my new bass line for it.
LIVE AT THE PRINCE CONSORT (27th OCTOBER 1983)

More live recordings courtesy of Martino's Shed. This was after he got his massive ghetto blaster so the sound quality is quite good. The band are obviously totally comfortable playing with each other (fnrr fnrr) by this time and the line up is unusual in that both OB Quiet and Sean "the" Ridler are playing. If you have to listen rock music you might as well listen to this.
Title Key * File
Size
(Meg)
Length
(Mins)
Comments
Crazy
in the
Head
D 6.45 4:41 The line up for this gig was:
Dread - Drums/Percussion
Tony - Guitar/Vox/Percussion
Pete - Guitar/Percussion
Cheesybits - Bass/Vox/Percussion
Sean - Keyboards/Percussion
Owen - Alto Sax/Percussion
and (I think)
Miff Mole - Tenor Sax
Dave Packer - Drums/Percussion (Fast Metal Machine Madness)

Are you picking up on the percussion motif running through this?
Old
Barbituates
D 8.49 6:11
War
Fever
D 10.62 7:44
Ambition D * 9.22 6:43 Worth downloading for the mental sax playing in the middle. I don't know if Miff Mole was playing on this one, we will have to wait for Owen to enlighten us, but if he wasn't I want to know why Owen didn't always play like that. At the end of the song Tony says, "They start playing you after a while", very true.
Fast
Metal
Machine
Madness
D * 13.58 9:53 This is worth downloading purely for comedy value. We try to finish it three times, completely cocking it up twice and there is an outrageous drum/percussion break in the middle which I am going to blame on Dave Packer but it might have been someone else. Packer and Dread do what is known as a "hot seat handover" three quarters of the way through the song and Tony can be heard forlornly asking, "Can we finish this now?" after Pete screws up the ending for the first time. I'd be interested to know if anyone else finds this funny. I laughed and laughed. Unfortunately it's a big file but then it is almost 10 minutes long.
Fool D 5.44 3:57 Rob finally attracts some girls during this number so there is a bit of chat. Apparently one of them is called Sharon so you could probably track her down and complain if you want to.
Johnny/Control D 8.56 6:13 Excellent version of control. The audience obviously didn't think so and needed whipping up into a frenzy at the end. Unfortunately the tape got chewed up at the beginning of control.
Black
Leather
D 8.84 6:26 This may well be the gig where Pete over-does it a bit playing guitar and falls through the window at the side of the stage. There is a fairly long gap in the middle where he obviously isn't doing what he's supposed to be. At the time I thought he'd just got pissed off and left (that used to be quite common in the later gigs).
Hail
Mary
D 6 4:22 I suspect this was one of the first times we'd ever played this one live. You can hear someone shouting, "Half Intro", near the beginning, and as usual we get a bit lost in the middle.. but hey, if you wanted everything perfect youl'd be listening to Yes.
Pain D 5.32 3:52 A fairly lacklustre performance greeted by the appropriate levels of applause and a poor critique from the bass player.
Cherry
Pie
D 6.44 4:41 If you want to hear a group of grown men simulating an orgasm to a jazz groove you've come to the right place.
Brown
Rice
D 2.89 2:06 As often happens this song is truncated by the tape running out. Look on the bright side, at least you don't have to sit through any more dodgy percussion breaks.
The
Scrounging
Song
D 7.17 5:13 OB Quiet's comic masterpiece. There are definitely two saxes on this one so I will cite Miff Mole for a solo
Wage
Slaves
D 4.39 3:11 This has got a big break in it too. Rob was turning the tape over.
Under
the Thumb
D 7.63 5:33 Another contribution from Miff Mole on this one.
Fallout
Waltz
D 6.86 4:59 For some reason Tony goes into a long rant that seems to be about vitamins in the middle of this one.

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