''Vampires Stole My Lunch Money'' is a 1978 album by the UK underground artist

Mick Farren Michael Anthony Farren (3 September 1943 – 27 July 2013) was an English rock musician, singer, journalist, and author associated with counterculture and the UK underground. Early life Farren was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and aft ...

. Farren had left music performance after his 1970 album ''

Mona – The Carnivorous Circus ''Mona—The Carnivorous Circus'' is a 1970 album by the UK underground artist Mick Farren. The album was recorded to fulfill contractual obligations. Farren had recently returned from a tour of the west coast of North America without his band ...

'' to concentrate on journalism and writing. However, in 1976 he had the opportunity whilst in New York to record the single " Play With Fire"/"Lost Johnny" reigniting his interest in performing again. The ''Screwed Up'' EP followed in 1977, recorded for

Stiff Records Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London, England, by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007. Established at the outset of the punk rock boom, Stiff ...

and featuring

Larry Wallis Larry Wallis (19 May 1949 – 19 September 2019) was an English guitarist, songwriter and producer. He was best known as a member of the Pink Fairies and an early member of Motörhead. Biography and career Early bands In 1968, he formed a ban ...

, Paul Rudolph, Alan Powell and Andy Colquhoun. Newly formed

Logo Records Logo Records was a British record company formed in the mid-1970s by British record executives Geoff Hannington and Olav Wyper. It was originally funded and part-owned by UK publishing company Marshall Cavendish. In 1977, the company purchased ...

approached Farren with the possibility of re-releasing some of his material but were delighted when he expressed a preference for recording new material. Retaining his band, minus Rudolph who had returned to his native Canada, the group recorded this album which featured guest appearances from fellow ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' journalist

Chrissie Hynde Christine Ellen Hynde (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician. She is a founding member and the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band the Pretenders, and one of the band's two remaining original members alon ...

Curved Air Curved Air are an English progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classical, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band is a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fus ...

singer

Sonja Kristina Sonja Kristina (born Sonia Christina Shaw; 14 April 1949) is an English singer, best known for starring in the seminal 1960s musical ''Hair'', and for being the lead vocalist of the 1970s progressive rock band Curved Air.''Rocking the Classics ...

, former Dr. Feelgood guitarist

Wilko Johnson John Andrew Wilkinson (12 July 1947 – 21 November 2022), better known by the stage name Wilko Johnson, was an English guitarist, singer, songwriter and occasional actor. He was a member of the pub rock/rhythm and blues band Dr. Feelgood in t ...

and harmonica player Will Stallibrass. "Half Price Drinks"/"I Don't Want to Go This Way" was released as a single from the album, followed by the non-album single "Broken Statue"/"It's All in the Picture".

Critical reception

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'', in a retrospective article, called the album "a sonic car crash of self-degradation." ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' called it a "solo masterwork," writing that Farren "dishes out a harrowingly honest collection of songs about drinking, dissolution, depression, self-destruction and desperation. About as powerful as rock gets, this nakedly painful LP is most definitely not recommended to sissies, moralists and born-again Christians."

Track listing

All tracks composed by Mick Farren and Larry Wallis; except where indicated #" Trouble Coming Everyday" (

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

) #"Half Price Drinks" #"I Don’t Want to Go This Way" #"I Want a Drink" #"Son of a Millionaire" #"Zombie Line" #"

Bela Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...

" (Farren, Andy Colquhoun) #"People Call You Crazy" (Farren, Andy Colquhoun) #"Fast Eddie" (Farren, Andy Colquhoun) #"Let Me In, Damn You" #"(I Know From) Self Destruction" (Farren) #"Drunk in the Morning"

Personnel

*Mick Farren – vocals *

– guitar, bass *Andy Colquhoun – guitar, bass * Alan Powell – drums ;with *

– vocals *

– guitar *Will Stallibrass – harmonica ;Technical * Dave Goodman - executive producer *Chas Herington - engineer *Pearce Marchbank - photography

References

{{Authority control 1978 albums Mick Farren albums