THE MILKSHAKES - 'MILK BOX VOLUME 2'

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• DAMGOOG654BX - 4xCDs

  5020422065420

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WHO in their right minds would release four albums on the same day…? Who in their right minds – being a mainly vocal group – would release an album of lyricless music…? And who in their right minds would buy this stuff…? Well, here’s a collection of four more delectable morsels for your educated palate which will hopefully provide answers to those questions. FOURTEEN RHYTHM & BEAT GREATS The second Milkshakes album to be released was Fourteen Rhythm & Beat Greats and highlights the group’s penchant for rock ’n’ roll from the ’50s and ’60s right through to punk rock. As stated in volume one of this series, ‘Black Sails in The Moonlight’ is a direct reference to ‘Red Sails In The Sunset, a favourite tune of the lads off the Beatles At The Star Club L.P., which must be considered a key influence on the group. That number is featured here and acts as a reminder that The Milkshakes were the last group to play at the original Star Club in Hamburg, before it was razed to the ground by a fi re in the early 1980s. It was, at the time, known as the Salambo, the biggest theatre on the Reeperbahn, and managed by a character monikered the ‘Sex Pope’. In negotiations with said gentleman, it was agreed that the Salambo would revert back to the legendary Star Club for one night only, to allow The Milkshakes to play a historic gig there (see Hamburg press). During the event artefacts such as pieces of the original stage were auctioned off. Until recently, Bruce still had a strip of the original stage curtain, which he somewhat optimistically hoped to transform into a “Lucky Star Club Tie”, but unfortunately it disintegrated before that happened. Stories of The Milkshakes’ complimentary visit to the club the following night are mostly fabricated (especially the one about bass player Bertie’s banana trick). THE MILKSHAKES IV — THE MEN WITH THE GOLDEN GUITARS Instrumentals had always played a key role in The Milkshakes’ set, so for their fourth long player, inspired by the likes of Link Wray, the boys set out to compose their own collection of guitar-led wordless tunes. Long thought lost, the tapes of The Men With The Golden Guitars had to be specially baked to make them edible, sorry – audible – to the consumer. The L.P., recently reissued, is now selling like hot cakes, which are also edible, sorry – audible – no, sorry – edible. I think. Either way, this version contains one tasty track which was omitted from the original release – ‘The Wrong Man’. THE MILKSHAKES IN GERMANY Along with Nothing Can Stop These Men, 20 Rock ’n’ Roll Hits and Showcase (their US debut release), In Germany was released on the same day in 1984 on Berlin’s Wall City Records. Ironically, the photograph for the cover of The Milkshakes In Germany was actually taken in Rochester, England. One afternoon, while sipping tea on the deck of Mickey’s boat, he and Billy were distracted by an angry dot which appeared on the horizon. Two hours later it seemed – as it was moving so slowly – a Junkers JU52 (Mick’s favourite WW2 aircraft) flew noisily a few hundred feet above their heads on its way to Rochester’s airfield. Rounding up drummer Bruce, new bass player Russ and friend and photographer Eugene Doyen, our gallant gang made their way to the airfield and after consulting with the owner arranged a photo shoot featuring the aircraft. They also clambered all over the Junkers like four excited kids. The JU52 famously appears in many classic wartime feature films, including Where Eagles Dare To Land, One Of Our Cuckoos Is Missing, and who can forget, The Guns Of Lena Zavoroni? Other favourite Milkshakes wartime films include I Shaved Monty, Going Down On Dawn and that well known family favourite, Come Here, Lassie, I Got A Treat For Thee. NOTHING CAN STOP THESE MEN On the now famous and much copied L.P. cover of Nothing Can Stop These Men we see the maturing Milkshakes on Rochester Bridge spanning the river Medway. They often liked to span rivers. Studying the cover, it becomes obvious to the viewer why our four handsomely debonair and chiselled heroes caused sensation and sparked pandemonium every time they visited the outskirts of Strood. Furthermore, listening to the songs, it becomes evident why knicker sales went through the roof in the Medway towns at the time this record was first released. “Nothing can stop these men!”, they said at the time; but that was before whiskey, bladder problems and too many numerous lawsuits to mention took their toll. So, there we have it, four rehashed platters of rock ’n’ roll nosh for you creatures of all ages to get your baby teeth, gnashers and dentures stuck into. Guten appetit! MICK HAMPSHIRE, The Poop Deck, M.V. Fort Rosie Rochester, Kent May 2026

Tracks

Fourteen Rhythm & Beat Greats:
1 ? Seven Days
2 ? Black Sails (In the Moonlight)
3 ? Exactly Like You
4 ? A Girl Called Mine
5 ? Sad Girl Mambo
6 ? I Want You
7 ? Cadalina
8 ? No-One Else
9 ? I Need No-One
10 ? You Did Her Wrong
11 ? Can You Tell Me
12 ? Red Monkey
13 ? Take You Home Tonight
14 ? Wo' Now

The Milkshakes In Germany:
1 ? I'll Find Another
2 ? If I Get You
3 ? Last Night (Was the Last Time)
4 - She's The Kind Of Girl
5 ? Love Can Lose
6 ? Comes Along Midnight
7 ? One Day You Die
8 ? Late at Night
9 ? I'm Asking You
10 ? I Need Lovin'
11 ? Found My Girl
12 ? Sometimes I Wantcha (For Your Money)

The Men With The Golden Guitars:
1 ? Chatham Drive
2 ? General Belgrano
3 ? Scapa Flow
4 ? The Wrong Man
5 ? The Klansmen Kometh
6 ? Thunderbird
7 ? Mumble The Peg
8 ? The Yorkshire Ripper
9 ? Flatfoot
10 ? Dogwatch on Monkey?s Paw
11 ? Every Corner
12 ? Can You Tell?
13 ? Dreadnaught
14 ? Shed Country '83

Nothing Can Stop These Men:
1 ? You Got Me Girl
2 ? Little Bettina
3 ? Ida Honey (Tell Me You?ll Be Mine)
4 ? She's No Good to Me
5 ? Chatham Train
6 ? Dull Knife
7 ? She's just Fifteen Years Old
8 ? The Grim Reaper
9 ? Everywhere I Look
10 ? I'm the One For You
11 ? That?s My Revenge
12 ? You?ve Been Lyin'

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THE MILKSHAKES - 'MILK BOX'

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• DAMGOOG580BX - 4xCDs

  5020422058026

Details

Four albums by The Milkshakes in a clamshell box set complete with booklet The four albums in the set are - Talking 'Bout Milkshakes After School Session Thee Knights Of Trashe The Milkshakes Revenge! THE MILKSHAKES were mainly Mickey Hampshire (Git/Vox); Billy Childish (Git/Vox); Bruce Brand (Drums); Russ Wilkins (Bass) When punk rock group the Pop Rivets broke up in 1980, Billy Childish joined forces with Mickey Hampshire, a Pop Rivets roadie who had been performing in a group called Mickey and the Milkshakes with his cohort Banana Bertie. The two began writing songs together and the group released their first LP, Talking ’bout Milkshakes! in 1981. With Childish and Hampshire sharing guitar and vocal duties, Bruce Brand on drums, and Bertie on bass (later replaced by Russ Wilkins then John Agnew), the Milkshakes’ sound was a primitive blend of British beat groups, like the early Kinks at their toughest, and hard-rocking American guitar instrumentalists like Link Wray. This sound came to be known as the “Medway sound” and the core members have been playing a variation on it throughout their whole careers. The Milkshakes were a very prolific group, recording nine records in their four years together, and the band was very much a blend of Childish’s primitive songwriting and Hampshire’s more melodic leanings. The group also masterminded and backed a Medway girl group, the Delmonas. When Mickey left The Milkshakes in 1984 Childish, Brand and Agnew went on to form Thee Mighty Caesars. Mickey and Bruce now play in The Masonics along with Ludella Black from The Del Monas, and Russ lives in Scotland and fronts the Wildebeests as well as being Lord Rochester.

Tracks

Disc One ? Talking 'Bout ? Milkshakes:
1 She'll Be Mine
2 Pretty Baby
3 For She
4 I Want'cha (For My Little Girl)
5 Ruhrge Beat
6 After Midnight
7 Bull's Nose
8 Shed Country
9 Don't Love Another
10 Tell Me Where's That Girl
11 Can'tcha See
12 Love You the Whole Night Through
13 There's Nothing You Can Say or Do
14 I Say You Lie

Disc Two ? After School Session:
1 Shimmy Shake
2 I Can Tell
3 Tell Me Child
4 Goodbye Girl
5 More Honey
6 Soldiers of Love
7 El Salvador
8 Let's Stomp
9 Hide and Scatter
10 Jaguar
11 That Girl of Mine
12 You Can Only Lose
13 Little Minnie
14 Cadillac

Disc Three ? Thee Knights Of Trashe:
1 I'll Use Evil
2 What You've Got
3 Girl, It No Good
4 I'm Out of Control
5 I Dreamt Last Night (That I Lay Dead)
6 Bill's Beat (Instrumental)
7 Old Time Shimmy
8 Can't Seem to Love That Girl
9 Club M.I.C. (Instrumental)
10 Despite the Danger
11 You're Asking Too Much
12 Cassandra
13 Green Hornet (Instrumental)

Disc Four ? The Milkshakes Revenge!:
1 Let Me Love You
2 I Want You
3 If I Saw You
4 Graveyard Words
5 Boys
6 Little Girl Be Good
7 Pipeline
8 She Tells Me She Loves Me
9 Little Girl (Mumble The Peg)
10 Every Girl I Meet
11 The One I Get
12 Baby What's Wrong?

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