Last night’s Morgen und Nite sort out their minidisc recordings session resulted in our at least naming a couple of new tracks (look out for ‘Arc De Triomphe’, coming your way in the key of E-fuck sometime soon) but soon became the customary Friday night Morgen-Nite-Stannard listening party, with pizza and ale and puns galore. Fun!

On the menu were recordings by Espers, Strapping Young Lad, Facedowninshit, Circulus, Aerosmith, Tractor, Lotus Eaters and - my pick of the bunch - Fresh Maggots’ s/t 1971 one-off album. What was most great about it was its oddly urgent pace, and some beautifully recorded strings. Richard Youngs was evoked as a comparison, which gives you an idea, kind of.

There’s a pretty good review of it from last year here on Dusted, which takes a while to turn into an actual review but I think it’s all the better for that, exploring as it does some of the issues surrounding the current trend for folk-archaeology.

It doesn’t, however, mention the sleevenotes, which include a hilarious cutting from the local paper about a trip the band (from Nuneaton) took to somewhere in Kent to have their photos taken looking all sylvan or something. The guys picked up some Swedish hitch-hikers on the way, and on reaching their destination were pleasantly surprised and pleased when the ‘Scandinavian misses’ invited them for an impromptu swim in a pond - ‘STARKERS!’ reports the paper, gleefully, in full capitals, implying that nudity in Kent in 1971 was big news.

Also worthy of mention are the sleevenotes to the Tractor album we listened to, which included a superb list of bands playing at some interminable sounding British free festival sometime in the 70s - Gin Seng, Frogbox and Bashful Alley, where are they now?