Madness: One Step Beyond / Mistakes / Nutty Theme

Format: 12"

Label: Stiff (BUY 56)

Country: UK

Year: 1979

Price paid: $3

Purchased at: The Record Archive, Rochester, NY

Another great score from the '$3 bins.'

Groove writing- Side A: "Nutty" Side B: "Can you feel the heat?"

Wiki sez: 'According to Alan Winstanley, one of the producers, the released Madness version was a rough mix, created by taking the original 1 minute 10 second instrumental and repeating it, with the second half treated with an Eventide harmonizer to make it sound slightly different. Langer and Winstanley intended to do a full remix but found that the double-length rough mix had already been sent for mastering before they got the opportunity.'

This single reached #7 on the UK charts, a much poorer #76 in the US.

The song-

Lene Lovich: New Toy (extended) / Cats Away

Format: 12"

Label: Stiff (BUYIT 97)

Country: UK

Year: 1981

Price paid: $5

Purchased at: The Record Archive, Rochester NY

'New Toy' is the first single off Lene's third LP of the same name. Thomas Dolby wrote and produced this single, which peaked at #53 on the UK charts.

The artwork on this one is simply marvelous IMO. The stripped down imagery evokes feelings of French surrealist film. Dangerous, tense, and immediate.

*note the resemblance to this Stiff Devo EP, 1977

Ellen Foley: Spirit of St. Louis

Format: LP 

Label: Epic/Cleveland Records 

Country: US 

Year: 1981

Price paid: $3

Purchased at: The Record Archive, Rochester NY

This is album was basically made over a deal consisting of several blowjobs and a handshake. Look it up.

I think it's safe to say that this album is in no danger of getting heavy rotation on my turntable. From what little I've subjected myself to I've found the sound to be rather flat. Deadpan crooner stuff. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be 'ironic'... but it sure doesn't come off that way.

That being said, I knew exactly what I was getting into when I bought this. I had eyed it online and even bookmarked it for later consideration, but I just couldn't pull the trigger when the cost was $10ish after shipping. But for $3 I'm in.

Why? Foley is backed by The Clash on all songs. The album was recorded right after The Clash's 'Sandinista!' with the same musicians and engineers. Foley was dating Clash guitarist Mick Jones at the time of its production.

The cover art is unremarkable. Looks like they were going for a mainstream early 80s classic rock look ala Fleetwood Mac.

Let's Active: Waters Part/Blue Line

Format: 12"

Label: IRS

Country: US

Year: 1985

Price paid: $3

Purchased at: The Record Archive, Rochester NY

'Let's Active' were in the news recently due to bassist Faye Hunter's suicide in July of 2013.

The band never met with commercial success. They are probably best known today for member Mitch Easter, who did production work with R.E.M. and Pylon in the 80s.

The sleeve art is rather uninspired to say the least. It certainly does little to convey their jangly-pop sound.

Kuratt and Rame: Shaky Sharks (Diesel Greatest Hips series)

Format: 12" LP

Label: Diesel

Country: Netherlands

Year: 2004

Price paid: $3

Purchased at: The Record Archive, Rochester NY

I had no idea what the fuck this was when I picked it up, but I loved the cover art. I believe it was incorrectly priced at only three bucks... you can't go wrong with a three dollar picture disc!

In researching this LP I had the hardest time finding ANY information. This compilation had nothing available on eBay at all. Same for Amazon. I finally found three copies at gemm.com with huge prices. Not sure how accurate those values are though, but looking at the price tags at others in the series (see below) $50-75 seems to be the going rate!

What info I can garner is that this is a promo-only release by Diesel Marketing Strategy for Diesel Jeans. 'Kuratt & Rame' are types/styles/cuts of different brands of jeans. Or something. There's a whole series of these LPs (at least 12 in the series.) I wouldn't be surprised if this LP is a compilation of tracks that would be played in their retail shops, ala something Old Navy might do.

Anyway, weird mix of tunes. B-52's to Wilson Pickett, Ramones to the Everly Brothers, Echo and the Bunnymen to Clarence Carter.

Adam and the Ants: Kings of the Wild Frontier / Press Darlings

Format: 7"

Label: CBS

Country: UK

Year: 1980

Price paid: $4

Purchased at: My Mind's Eye, Cleveland OH

 
The album 'King of the Wild Frontier' was a turning point for Adam and his ants. Previously the band had had little success chart-wise, but that all changed with a forced band lineup brought on by Malcolm McLaren. McLaren, in a brilliant and extremely douchy move, stole Adam's band and put them to work as the group Bow Wow Wow- with the then jailbait Annabella Lwin on lead vocals. But that's a different story.

Suffice it to say things started to go really well for Adam and the Ants shortly thereafter...

This is fourth single released by the band, the first with the new lineup and also first in support of 'Kings of the Wild Frontier' LP. It reached #48 on the UK charts (their first chart appearance.)

I love the sleeve art on this one. The black/red/white color scheme is rather potent and must have made a dramatic impression on store shelves back in the day; it certainly would have caught my eye! Very intimidating, like a horror movie poster. Potent and primal.

Mort Garson: Electric Hair Pieces

Format: LP

Label: A&M

Country: UK?

Year: 1969

Price paid: $3

Purchased at: Record Archive, Rochester NY

I'll be the first to admit that my music taste-range is fairly limited. I'm fine with that; I prefer to explore the minutia than get a great sweeping view. The ear knows what the ear likes. That being said, the only music I'll typically buy that dates before 1977 is electronic/conceptual/Moog LPs. And I don't have very many of those. And yes, technically this has no business on this blog.

I picked this album up even though it was a bit more beat up than I typically prefer. The cover's got ringwear and the vinyl some surface scuffing. Basically I needed to round out the number of records I bought to get the 3-for-$10 deal on the bargain records. This album apparently goes for big bucks in high grade condition.

Wiki says- 'Morton S. "Mort" Garson (20 July 1924 – 4 January 2008) was a Canadian-born composer, arranger, songwriter, and pioneer of electronic music. He is best known for his albums in the 1960s and 1970s that were among the first to feature Moog synthesizers'

This album is, not surprisingly, features Moog synthesizers and consists of songs from the musical 'Hair.' Is it hippie music or proto-Kraftwerk electronica? Depends on who you ask I guess!

Here's a sample track. Pretty awesome stuff if you ask me: