In 1985 The Committee For Sonic Research was created in order to self release the work of the band ‘The Working Party’, who quickly became ‘Mr Schmertz’s Wordless War’ after a headline in the London Evening Standard. On 29 Feb 1988 in mid-concert Mr Schmertz’s Wordless War morphed in to ‘Except Buses’ (there’s a VHS of the concert somewhere). The most popular 20th century cassette releases were those of Except Buses, so in this digital age we have used the name Except Buses for all archive tracks from the 1980s and 1990s.

The cassettes were distributed at concerts in London and also by mail order. The Committee For Sonic Research had a mailbox address P.O. Box 1439. The building on the cover is the Royal Mail West Kensington Delivery Office.

In late summer 1985 'The Pimp' was the first thing ever committed to tape, at the time we were The Working Party. It's very 8-bit lo-fi and was recorded on to compact cassette on an early karaoke machine! Over the following years we made a few attempts to recreate a more polished version of the track, but nothing ever sounded as good as the original. The Pimp was included on ‘The Prototype (I)’ the debut release by Mr Schmertz’s Wordless War.
The band developed and expanded and in 1987 decided that since we couldn't recreate a worthy version of The Pimp we would instead compose a follow up. 'Vice Squad' is the result.
Although in 2015 we released these tracks as a digital single we have included them in PO Box 1439 as it felt weird to have an Except Buses retrospective without The Pimp.
tcfsr.bandcamp.com/album/the-pimp-vice-squad

On the other hand we have not included tracks from the 1988 album ‘BANKSIDE’ (now the Tate Modern art gallery) except for ‘1-42’ which was not included on the digital reissue of a version of the album in 2014.
tcfsr.bandcamp.com/album/bankside

Also in 2014 we reissued album ‘Solstice’. However the only track from the 1989 original release was the title track Solstice. Two other tracks from the original release, ‘Ulleand’ and ‘Alban Elved’ are included on PO Box 1439.
tcfsr.bandcamp.com/album/solstice-25

It has been a decade since we last issued anything from the early years so for the 40th anniversary of TCFSR we have pulled together this Except Buses retrospective compilation.

We don’t apologise for the sometimes difficult sound quality, cleaning it sanitised the atmosphere, listen to the music underneath. If you want to discover the seed that grew in to tourmaline hum, British Experimental Rocket Group, Dental Drill Slips, Lone Cosmonaut and WarpCensor start listening now.

 

A complementary badge set is also available.

THE TRACKS
Visitation 2 (Mar 1988) [7]
Canopy (Mar 1993) [X]
Mud (Jun 1989) [X]
The Pimp (c.Sept 1985) [1, 4, 5, 7, 9]
Uilleand (Jun 1989) [11]
Built To Last (c.1987) [X]
Birdwatching - Variation 1 (Jan 1993) [X]
1-42 (Mar 1987?) [2, 7, 8]
Clockwork Terrapin Jackboot (Apr 1988) [6, 7]
Satellites And Space Junk (Sans Precussion) (c.1990) [X]
Vice Squad (1987) [3, 4, 10]
Don's Red Tie (Apr 1989) [X]
Route 9 Beet (Sep 1992) [X]
Alban Elved (Jun 1989) [11]
Verulanium (Jun 1989) [X]
Soaring (Oct 1992) [X]
Pyre (Apr 1989) [10]
Ferrule (c.1989/90) [X]
Short Stop At The Outfield (Dec 1988) [X]
Genius Dub (Aug 1989) [X]
Birdwatching Again (Apr 1989) [10]
Visitation 1 (Mar 1988) [6, 7]

WE CAN’T MAKE THIS ONE GENERALLY AVAILABLE SO IT’S FREE WITH THE BADGE SET
53 Stunning New Facts About Brickdust (Apr 1988) [7]

THE RELEASES
[1] The Working Party & Mr Schmertz’s Wordless War – The Prototype (I) (1986)
[2] Mr Schmertz’s Wordless War – Bankside (1987)
[3] Mr Schmertz’s Wordless War – Our First Weekend (1987)
[4] Mr Schmertz’s Wordless War – The Essential Mr Schmertz’s Wordless War (1987)
[5] The Working Party - Serbo-Croat Made Easy (1987)
[6] Except Buses – Ritual (1988 Bootleg)
[7] Except Buses – HIT THE DECK (1988)
[8] Except Buses – Bankside (1988)
[9] The Working Party & Mr Schmertz’s Wordless War – The Prototype (1989)
[10] Except Buses – The Utility Room Is Not A Dump Truck (1989)
[11] Except Buses – Solstice (1989)
[X] Previously Unreleased 

​

The Working Party / My Schmertz’s Wordless War / Except Buses were

Aidan Walsh

Richard Zarywacz

Simon Lewry

Steve Tree

with contributions from CCN3 (including the vocal on Built To Last)

and special thanks to Sir Arthur Trumpington