Named after a car, the Ford Cortina, the band moved from R&B towards covering songs by punk forerunners like the New York Dolls and The Stooges. "In retrospect, I suppose we were very hip," Sheppard says. "We were listening to the right records, as we were right there at the right time." The Cortinas' singles, "Fascist Dictator / Television Families" (1977) and "Defiant Pose / Independence" (1978) both appeared on Step Forward, the label run by Police manager Miles Copeland.
The Cortinas' pounding, belligerent independent singles ("Fascist Dictator," "Defiant Pose") offered no clue that these first-generation English punks would cut such a mild- mannered major-label album, on which the few confrontational gestures sound forced. True Romances reveals the Cortinas as simple rock'n'rollers with a taste for primitive, good-time R&B/pop-rock and endearingly yobbish vocals (e.g., "Heartache" and the jolly "Ask Mr. Waverly" — remember The Man From U.N.C.L.E.?). Nonetheless, halfway through, the record decays into bland forgettability. - from trouserpress
The Cortinas:
Jeremy Valentine (vocals), Dexter Dalwood (bass), Nick Sheppard (guitar), Mike Fewins (guitar), Daniel Swan (drums)
traxfromwax "True Romances":
1. Heartache 2. I Don't Really Want To Get Involved 3. Ask Mr. Waverly 4. Youth Club Dance 5. First I Look At The Purse 6. Radio Rape 7. Tribe Of The City 8. Have It With You 9. I Trust Valerie Singleton 10. Broken Not Twisted 11. Take That Light Away 12. Further Education 13. I'll Keep My Distance
"Fascist Dictator" 1977 - 7"/45rpm
The Cortinas were a Bristol-based punk rock band, originally active between 1976 and 1978. Guitarist Nick Sheppard went on to play with the Clash. In 2001, the band's debut single, "Fascist Dictator" (originally released in June 1977), was included in a leading British music magazine's list of the best punk-rock singles of all-time. - discogs
traxfromwax:
1. Fascist Dictator 2. Television Families
"Defiant Pose" 1977 - 7"/45rpm
The Cortinas' finest three minutes - storming punk rock. Bizarrely in a picture sleeve by a bunch of hippies called Hipgnosis. - Rotatey Diskers
traxfromwax:
1. Defiant Pose 2. Independence
...Their music captures the sinister and seductive contours of urban struggle, conveyed in alluring melodies that never stray far from the classic surf idiom. Demonstrating the enduring appeal of a genre born more than sixty years ago, The Retroliners issue forceful testimony to the dynamic world of instrumental surf, rock and soul music. - http://www.retroliners.com/
trax:
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