RON RUDE - "THE BORDERS OF DISGRACE" LP

LULUS: The Borders Of Disgrace occupies the twilight space where rough glam, proto punk and thinking-aloud Reedisms overlap. Recorded between '78-'79 in Belgrave, Victoria (we're talking paddocks in every direction in that era) it's a killer snapshot of the rife talent throughout the Australian music landscape at the time. You didn't have to be a big name or the darling of a hip scene to be making killer tunes, you just needed to do the damn thing and have an ounce of talent you were willing to milk - still true today. By the sounds of it Ron Rude and The Unforgettables were a part of the 'St Kilda Scene' of the time but Ron's name never quite reached the household fame of some of his counterparts and listening to this album it's a bit of a shame, because this one holds more than a mere candle to most of that output. Real slashin' tunes rounded out by enough spit and emotion to still sound crucial today (how Diggin' My Grave and Take My Life didn't end up on more mixtapes and compilations is beyond me?). It's perfectly outsider enough for the punks and weirdos and it's classic rock enough to get the oldies and vanillas groovin'. Cheers to Sorceror Records for making this available for a new generation to relate and swoon. SORCEROR: Sorcerer is pleased as punch to finally reissue - for the first time ever! - this classic slice of outsider Australian post-punk, originally issued by Ron himself on LP back in 1979.
Born and raised in Belgrave, an outer suburb of Melbourne which, 40+ years ago was basically a rural town outside of Melbourne, Ron and his band, The Unforgettables, were a rag-tag of hippie-punks who, under Ron's tutelage, recorded this album throughout 1978/'79 in a vague sort of isolation from the world surrounding it. Ron was inspired by everything from Stockhausen to the Stooges and made a kind of basement Iggy/Lou sound in step with the city's post-punk scene, but always one step removed.
Ron was a regular fixture in the scene which coalesced around the Crystal Ballroom in St. Kilda and featured other luminaries like the Boys Next Door, The Models et al, sharing stages with all and sundry. He reached a certain hometown infamy when he staged a hunger strike in the window of Missing Link Records after the album's release in protest of local commercial FM radio station 3XY not playing tracks from it. He also released the equally fantastic Vorpal Blade LP under the band name Piano Piano in 1980, among other highly-coveted rarities.
But for now, we present this fascinating, unique and thoroughly rockin' slice of Melbourne post-punk DIY history. Newly remastered by Mikey Young with the bottom end Ron always felt the original LP lacked, the album also containing extensive liner notes by Mr. Rude himself, as well as some previously unpublished photos from the era.