These recordings are copyright © School Meals aka The Defendants, All rights are reserved. All songs are published by Meals Music™.
If you simply click the MP3 links your browser will probably play the track for you. A better approach is to right click the link and save the file to your hard disk for future enjoyment, transfer to your iPod and so on. If you are stuck for a suitable media player we recommend the totally free and excellent WinAmp.
The original 7 inch single eat001 from School Meals on Edible Records in 1978. Recorded in Woodbine Studios, Leamington Spa under the care of Johnny Rivers, credited with Production and Engineering.
Alternative downloads are also available from School Meals at Last.fm
Copies of this original vinyl are available to purchase. Or you can buy Messthetics #103: Midlands DIY which includes Headmaster but not Such A Spiv.
The following tracks are digitally recovered from dust encrusted cassette tapes by my good self. They leave much to be desired and at some point I may re-process them using 24bit sampling. I also have some old Ampex 2 inch studio masters but they may well crumble to dust if they are ever spooled.
Back when he was still in Woodbine Street recorded with his new 8 track equipment.
Sous La Plage and Pleasure Turns To Pain are also available from The Defendants at Last.fm
Thought to be 16 track with Rob Townsend on drums
Some 4 track setup provided by Ron Francois probably summer '80 as Something's Burning is about the St Paul's riots which were in April 1980. Garry on bass and vocals, Rich on guitar and vocals, Wendy Bristow on Sax. Wonder who was on drums?
8 track recordings produced by Paul Riley with Garry on bass and vocals, Rich on guitar and vocals, Vic on drums
We think these 16 track studios were owned by Island Records. P J Wright plays the "coral reef" slide guitar. Remixes were somewhere in Coventry.
The following was recovered from a Dindy C90 which has stood the test of time remarkably well. What a pity more of the Peel show wasn't recorded. While Peel was a living legend we clearly took him for granted. I suppose we thought he would always be there for us.
Strictly speaking I do not have permission to make the rest of the tracks from the show available to you. I just hope that if I don't list who is on the recording then the copyright owners will be none the wiser. If they do me then I keep my fingers crossed that they realise that this recording is released in the interest of popular music history.
rumbleWhat a remarkable discovery!! A TDK AD-C90 recording of The Defendants third gig at the Boogie House. An intimate little club with an small disco bar and a stage one size up from The Hope and Anchor. This recording documents The Defendants playing an away game without the benefit of any rent-a-crowd fans (it's a long way from Leamington to Norwich). Starting in an almost empty little dive by the end of the 40 minute set the crowd, all 30 or so of them, were shouting for more. Pity we don't have a recording of the encore.
This high fidelity 60 MBytes recording is encoded at 192kbps providing 42 minutes of magic - what a bargain! Please be patient when downloading, it could take about an hour to fully arrive.
It would be nice to be paid for this audio gold. Contact me by email if you want to buy anything, donate to the cause or use any of the songs. "It's not the love it's the money" (anyone out there got a recording of It's Not The Love?).
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