The Galactic Symposium Play The Rock Classics.

The Galactic Symposium were a group from Nottingham, UK formed "by mistake" in 1979.  All five members were competent musicians, except they decided to disallow themselves from playing the instruments they could play competently for the 'symposium'.  So, the semi-skilled punk rock guitarist became the slightly-better-than Shaggs drummer, etc.  And they also chose to only slog through the most obvious hit songs of the era.  During their short existence, the Galactic Symposium only released one single on Vague Records: covers of the Village People's 'YMCA' and Pink Floyd's 'Money'.  However, they also recorded about 10 more tracks, all them obvious top-40 covers, but these did not see the light until more than two decades later; someone found a 'David Price & the Galactic Symposium' cassette at a 'car boot' sale and sent it over the Low Down Kids record label, who pressed 100 copies onto vinyl in 2005.

So, the Galactic Symposium sounds like a sort of annoying and unlistenable in-joke, right?  All covers, drunk-sounding musicians, deliberately playing instruments they never played before.  Well, maybe, except I keep listening to them since I managed to track down a copy of that cassette-sourced LP.  And that YMCA single became a favorite of John Peel, who said that there "has seldom been a more joyous record" and that the sax player's solo on YMCA "remains one of the finest in recorded music'.

Here's their version of 'YMCA'

01 YMCA

And The Galactic Symposium's take on Gerry Rafferty's 1978 hit 'Baker Street'

09 Baker Street

Comments

[Jim]

Formed "by mistake"? The idea sounds like a rip-off of the Portsmouth Sinfonia to me.

[Another Jim]

To 9:18 Jim: you don't like the "idea", but how about the music? Personally, I agree with Peel- there's true joy here...

[Yet another Jim]

I think I'm just a sucker for the accent. Joy!

[Yet another Jim]

But then I listened to Baker Street. Sacrilege, no joy :-)

[9:18 Jim]

I didn't say whether I liked the idea or not. I just don't understand what the so-called "mistake" was. They knew exactly what they were doing.

[BFP]

Steve Mitchell of LDKs has been known for rock and roll in-jokes for years -- his '80s/'90s band the Pooh Sticks was basically an extended goof, complete with members who never existed -- so are we entirely sure this isn't just Steve and his buddies having a laugh?

[Jason Elbogen]

If Steve and his buddies are having a laugh, they must have traveled back in time--and enlisted a whole slew of confederates--to do it; The Galactic Symposium 7" that John Peel kept in a "private wooden box [of] 143 singles representing some of his own favourites" was released in 1978.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Peel%27s_Record_Box

As far as the idea being a 'rip-off' of Portsmouth Sinfonia, well, these buffoons were a lot drunker. And better.

[illlich]

All I have to do to piss off my drummer is toss out that sax lick from "Baker Street" in the middle of a guitar solo, apparently it brings back bad childhood memories.

[Johnny]

brilliance

[NakedReporta]

Only 100 copies of this album? Sigh. Doesn't look like anyone of those 100 has made it onto the interwebs either.

[Sno-Time at the Apollo]

The British version of King Uszniewicz & His Uszniewicztones?

[Johnny Ostrich]

I remember Peel saying that he'd invited them to do a session for his radio show. They declined, saying they couldn't be bothered really!