Thee Mighty Caesars: Surely They Were The Sons Of God (1989) 2000

 

Thee Mighty Caesars were a Medway scene garage/punk group, formed by Billy Childish

(vocals/guitar) in 1985 after the demise of The Milkshakes, alongside John Agnew (bass) and Graham Day (drums), who initially was still also in fellow Medway band The Prisoners. Bruce Brand (ex-Pop Rivets/Milkshakes) later replaced Day, who formed his own band The Prime Movers with fellow Prisoner Allan Crockford and Wolf Howard (ex-Daggermen). Childish/Brand then formed new band Thee Headcoats.
                                                          

Thee Mighty Caesars were fronted by Billy Childish (b. William Charlie Hamper, 13 December 1958,

Chatham, Kent, England), previously of the Pop Rivets and (Thee) Milkshakes. His new venture subscribed to the ethos that music should be immediate and unpolished. Each of their releases boasted a rough and ready sound akin to U.S. garage bands and noted guitarist Link Wray, dubbed "the Medway Sound" after a river in Kent.
                                                                

Thee Mighty Caesars was recorded with the aid of the Prisoners (minus Mickey Hampshire) and,

unsurprisingly, it sounded similar to Childish's previous venture. Beware the Ides of March was marginally more refined, a trend continued on Thee Caesars of Trash and Acropolis Now, which featured members of girl-group the Delmonas in support.
                                   

The deceptively titled Live in Rome mixed previously issued tracks with cover versions of songs by the

Damned, Sex Pistols and Chuck Berry, with fake crowd noises dubbed on top. Wiseblood reprised the rough and ready sound of Thee Mighty Caesars, suggesting that Childish felt unhappy with his band's increasingly focused (in his terms) sound.
                                      

The album was originally issued on Ambassador Records, a label owned by Wreckless Eric, but it was

later reissued on Childish's own outlet, Hangman Records. (Hangman also issued his various spin-off projects, including numerous solo albums, one-off recordings and collaborations with Medway poet Sexton Ming.)
                                 

Thee Mighty Caesars' career was suspended following the rumbustious John Lennon's Corpse Revisited, although Childish insisted the break was temporary until the members found time to work together again.
                                         

However, Thee Mighty Caesars members Bruce Brand and John Agnew were present in his next

project, Thee Headcoats. By 1995, Childish had retired from the music business and started a new career as a painter, but not before he played a farewell gig in London backed by all his old bands. Within three years he was back recording with Thee Headcoats.
                                              

Thee Mighty Caesars, (punk raconteur Billy Childish's interim band between the retro-revivalism of the

Milkshakes and his ultimate rock & roll expression in Thee Headcoats), were the ideal bridge between the Shakes' stylish, loyal Merseybeat revivalism and the fully-functioning threadbare punk-rock cathartic songwriting Childish began wielding like a rusty knife once Thee Headcoats had formed.

Thee Mighty Caesars – Surely They Were The Sons Of God
Label: Crypt Records – CR-023
Format:    CD, Reissue, Compilation 2000
Country: Europe
Released: 1989
Genre: Rock
Style: Garage Rock, Punk

                                                        

TRAXS

                                                                                                                               

01. Wiley Coyote    3:23
02. (Miss America) Got To Get You Outside My Head    1:33
03. I Don't Need No Baby    1:27
04. Stay The Same    1:59
05. The Double Axe    1:47
06. I Was Lead To Believe    2:11
07. You Make Me Die    1:33
08. Now I Know    1:26
09. I've Been Waiting    2:10
10. Loathsome & Wild    1:46
11. You'll Be Sorry Now    2:10
12. I Can't Find Pleasure    2:20
13. Kinds Of Women    2:23
14. Lie Detector    2:26
15. Confusion    2:18
16. Baby Who Mutilated Everybody's Heart    2:08
17. Suck The Dog    2:14
18. Beat On The Brat    2:20
19. Career Opportunities    1:52
20. Because Just Because    1:55
21. Headcoats On    2:54
22. Somebody Like You    2:38
23. Searching High & Low    1:55
24. Don't Wanna Be Ruled By Women & Money No More    1:45
25. Don't Break My Laws    1:49
26. Strange Words    3:07
27. Signals Of Love    1:54
28. I've Got Everything Indeed    2:08
29. Devious Means    2:10
30. Why Don't You Try My Love    2:19
31. Wise Blood    2:19
32. It's You I Hate To Lose    2:27
33. Miss Loudella Black      1:58
                                             

Credits

Bass – John Agnew
Cover – Billy Childish, Dörte Fitschen-Rath, Tim Warren
Drums – Bruce Brand, Graham Day
Guitar, Vocals – Billy Childish
Keyboards – Fay Hallam

MP3 @ 320 Size: 161 MB
Flac  Size: 501 MB