Here we are again, another “vinyl junkyard” edition in which I play some cheap but great vinyl I found somewhere in some bargain bin. Today’s record is Claws! Phase Three of The Throbbing Lobster Infestation… 15 mostly Boston bands. It’s a compilation put together in 1985 by the Boston label Throbbing Lobster and features some mostly unknown bands from the era. Yet, songs sound really great original and it’s really hard to believe these bands didn’t really do much. The best known band on the lot is Volcano Suns, Peter Prescott’s band after he left Mission of Burma. Another interesting name on the compilation is The Primevals, who rose from the ashes of a better known band The Real Kids. Also, some may know Willie Alexander who had an experimental record on the legendary French label New Rose. But the rest of the lot are unknown, at least to me. Throbbing Lobster was the most interesting label in the ’80s from Boston and their boss Chuck Warner later on formed the legendary Hyped 2 Death website and record label. In fact, you can still buy pretty much everything from that label over there from Chuck.
The Real Kids – All Kindsa Girls;
The Primevals – Lose That Girl;
Buzz And The Gang – Hearts Waiting;
Volcano Suns – Tree Stompte;
Mission of Burma – Red;
Classic Ruins – Geraldine, I Need Money;
Unattached – It’s Only Love;
Willie Alexander And The Jackals – Love-Sick Dog (Shoot That Dog);
Willie Alexander – Are You Leaving;
Underachievers – Friend O’ Mine;
Vandykes – Spring;
Last Stand – Let’s Go;
New Parts From Old – Yellow Brick Road;
Actual Size – Doctor Clown;
Capture The Flag – Looking Through At You;
Turbines – Rockpile;
The Prime Movers – True To Me;
The Real Kids – Now You Know.
It’s time for another installment of our Vinyl Junkyard serial, where I pick some cheap vinyl record that I found lying somewhere in a bargain bin, which also sounds awesome at the same time. In this show, I picked a compilation record Live at CBGB’s – The Home Of Underground Rock, published in 1976 on the CBGB label and distributed by Atlantic. It contains somewhat of the second tier of the CBGB associated bands, Mink DeVille being the best known in the bunch. And even their songs are three tracks which never made it to their own records. There’s a large variety of musical styles covered, which proves that CBGB was not just a punk club, it was just pure unadulterated rock’n’roll. I like listening to this record and I hope you will too.
Here is another special in the “Vinyl Jukyard” series. I will fill the entire hour of today’s show with the records that once belonged to the KLSU library. I started my show back in 2001. Around that time, one of the former DJs, Josh was leaving Baton Rouge and I was fortunate that he gave me a big pile of records that he didn’t feel like moving. And he got all those records back in 1996 when the student media faculty decided to throw away all those records into a big trash container between KLSU and the stadium. Luckily Josh saved all those records and some of them are now in my hands. So, today’s topic literally fits the series title. All records had interesting reviews handwritten on the record sleeves. Today we will be reading parts of these reviews for the fun of it and we will be playing these rare records that define the lost history of golden age of underground rock and college radio in Baton Rouge, if not the entire United States. Today’s show is dedicated to all the former and current KLSU djs! Special thanks to Rob Rioux who was always there to help back when I started the show.
Today is the time for the fifth edition of our occasional special called Vinyl Junkyard in which I represent one record that I’ve found laying lonesome in some dusty bargain bin for a ridiculously small amount of money, but that brings a lot of wonderful listening pleasure. Today’s record is put together back in 1978 by Beserkley Records, and indie label that employed at the time diverse bands such as The Modern Lovers, Earth Quake, Greg Kihn, Tyla Gang and The Rubinoos. One of the most precious releases by the Beserkley Records was a compilation record entitled Spitballs where all of the Beserkley roster joined forces and in ad hoc line ups recorded some of their favorite songs from the rock’n’roll past. The results are fun to listen and in this show, we will compare the covers with the original tunes.
In today’s edition of the vinyl Junkyard we have two great albums from 1967, which was probably one of the greatest years for rock’n’roll ever. Still, you won’t hear much today about either of them. We start with Jonathan and Leigh and their record Third and Main. The title and cover allude to New York City and Greenwich Village. While the young couple Jonathan and Leigh definitely lived and played music over there at the time, they are actually from Dayton OH. The record was made for a sizable advance and put out by Vanguard Records. Some of the musicians that played on it later on helped Van Morrison to make his legendary Astral Weeks and you may notice that. But Third and Main was a flop and Jonathan and Leigh went back to Dayton, never recording anything together again. The second record in today’s edition of the Vinyl Junkyard is The Magic Garden by the vocal group The Fifth Dimension. The record is arranged, produced and composed by none other than Jimmy Webb. The record deals with some of the concerns that young adults and a little older adults had at the time. There is a lot of light drug references and other stuff that may be unexpected. Unlike Third and Main, The Magic Garden was successful in terms of sales. I think that both albums are very interesting and we should definitely pay respect to them.
Today’s show is part of our Vinyl Junkyard series. We take one lp and we play it almost in its entirety with some associations that I get when I think about this record. Today’s record is a very special one in my little world. It’s a 1967 compilation record by Fontana records and it came out from what I know only in Netherlands, Israel and Yugoslavia. The lp contains 13 covers of the psych pop hits of the day, twelve of them by the uncredited studio musicians and two originals by Spencer Davis Group and Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Tich who were a part of Fontana records roster in Europe. The LP is interesting because even though it’s a clearly psych exploitation record, and even though the musicians are anonymous, all the songs are actually very well played, most of them quite faithful to the originals and in some cases maybe even better. You judge yourself. In any case, the record was very important for me, I grew up with it and whenever I hear songs from this record, actually these covers seem more familiar to me than the originals. They are so deeply carved in my memory.
Today’s show is dedicated to the 80s new wave scene from Georgia and the South of the USA. Everything is peculiar in the South, so is the new wave scene. The direct inspiration for today’s show is the LP called Jericho Go, a compilation record that was put together jointly by The DB Records in the US and the Stiff Records in UK. Now, it can only be found in rare used records bins in these two countries, and it’s probably not an easy task. Still, it’s an obscure, but a cherished item in my record collection. This show brings every single song from that LP and the rest of the time is filled with some other related tunes either by other Southern new wave bands or related acts from a different era. I hope you will enjoy the second installment of the Vinyl Junkyard.
Today we have a special dedicated to one LP album. In fact, I will try to make this somewhat of a series whenever I stumble on an LP that sounds great and that I found sitting somewhere completely forgotten in a bargain bin of a record store. This is precisely what we have now. Peter Isaacson Sings is a completely strange folk album that gathers songs by Dylan, Donovan, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchel and others covered by some mysterious singer. On the record that I have, the mysterious singer is Peter Isaacson. On a different release that people mention here and there on the Internet, his name is Greg Lee. In any case, we have no clue who that person is and what is his real name, but he has a very beautiful voice and guitar style, all recorded what appears to be a single microphone. His voice is somewhere between Gordon Lightfoot at its weakest places and Sid Selvidge at its best parts. I am completely fascinated by this beautiful and mysterious record, and in this show we will hear nearly all cuts from it, along with the originals not just for comparison sake, but also because it makes one really rich playlist!