In Loving Memory • 10.21.07
Paul Fox, guitarist with influential English punk band The Ruts (“In A Rut”, “Babylon’s Burning”), died this morning of inoperable lung cancer. Condolences can be left on Fox’s MySpace page.
Fox (the gentleman in the fatigues taking a bow, being helped by one of his bandmates) did, if not his last ever show, then one of his last ever, with the surviving members of the Ruts (lead singer Malcolm Owen died of a drug overdose in 1980). Longtime Ruts fan Henry Rollins (pictured above far right; Henry has often played Ruts music on his radio show Harmony In My Head) took Owen’s place at a benefit for Fox earlier this year. Details on the show at Captain Sensible’s MySpace blog here, and Rollins’ journal entries on rehearsing with the band and getting ready for the show here, here, here, here, here, and on playing the show with them here.
Select Ruts downloads for your perusal:
In A Rut
Babylon’s Burning
Staring At The Rude Boys
These three tracks are in AAC format (128kpbs, full CD quality) and will only be up for two weeks. If you like what you hear, you can buy this CD with all of their recorded output for Virgin from Amazon.
The Ruts Peel Sessions LP (out of print)
This album will be up indefinitely due to its rarity. This is a cassette rip done right to my PowerBook from a few months ago and is also in AAC format. If you’re the copyright owner and you have a problem with this, consider reissuing the damn thing (I’m sure Rollins would wholeheartedly agree with me) and I’ll gladly take it down.
R.I.P. Paul. Hope you’re having a nice reunion with Malcolm.
