Sunday 18 November 2012

Merv Megastar - Rock 'n' Roll Diskrace 7" EMI Custom 13546, 1984

When we pulled a copy of this single from a box at a recent record fair and read the hype written in sharpie on the plastic outer sleeve ("Merv Superstar [sic] - Oz KBD punk - $1000") we almost spat mouthfuls of banana in the dealer's face (bananas are the perfect record collector food, doncha know). We shouldn't have been so surprised. Perhaps you've seen the dealer in question spruiking a single by the Sharks on a certain online auction site with an $800 opening bid. Yikes. You won't find that turd of a record featured here - ever - but, outrageous misrepresentations aside, Mr Megastar is more than worthy of your time.

So, back to the three assertions in the dealer hype. Let's consider them one-by-one:
  1. Merv Superstar? Duh.
  2. Oz KBD punk? Well, yes, Merv is Australian so bravo, that's one out of three. Rock 'n' Roll Diskrace is twelve-bar Oz Rock pastiche; She's in Love With A Vacuum Cleaner is a cool pub rocker; and Deviates Have More Fun is 1984's Booker Prize-winning Bachelor Boys: The Young Ones Book as adapted by John Otway. Cliff Richard isn't namechecked but Rat Scabies is, hence the "punk novelty" tag for this post.
  3. $1000? Excuse us, we need to wipe half-chewed banana off our computer screens.

Rock 'n' Roll Diskrace [Download]


She's In Love With A Vacuum Cleaner [Download]


Deviates Have More Fun [Download]


Test pressing? Merv proves that he can do it horizontal, or maybe perpendicular.

2 comments:

Rohan said...

Hey there,

While cataloging some EMI masters here at the National Film and Sound Archive, I came across the master tape of this EP. Thanks to your your blog I was able to find the artists name!
It is now preserved.

Cheers
Rohan

Anonymous said...

funny i just came across this 45 in a box of 7".
what's it actually worth ya reckon?
chris