Contains exclusive, unreleased outakes & demos from Glasgow’s Park Lane Studio!
Features rare tracks from TEXAS, PRIMAL SCREAM, DEL AMITRI, BLUEBELLS, ALTERED IMAGES, GUN, DEACON BLUE, HIPSWAY, LOVE & MONEY and many others!
PARK LANE STUDIO in Glasgow was host to many young bands from 1980 onwards, many making their first recordings and still seeking a record deal. Some did become successful, and a vibrant scene soon developed centred around the studio. Now the studio archives have been prised open, and a treasure trove of fascinating and unreleased tapes discovered! This 80-min. album with 22 tracks offers a unique and broad insight into the whole history of that important Glasgow scene, the studio and the many interwoven bands that recorded there.
16-page booklet with photos, stories, biogs and notes by those who were there.
TRACKLIST:
Bourgie Bourgie – Breaking Point (demo)
Bluebells – Young At Heart (demo version)
Texas – I Don’t Want A Lover (demo version)
Del Amitri – Hammer And Peach (unreleased song)
Primal Scream – Velocity Girl (alt. mix)
Altered Images – Now That You’ve Gone (demo version)
The Jazzateers – Sixteen Reasons
Hipsway – Broken Years (demo)
Love & Money - Candybar Express (7” mix)
Deacon Blue – Ribbons & Bows (demo)
Kevin McDermott Orchestra – Wheels Of Wonder (demo)
Gun – Better Days (demo)
Slide – Life Of Our Own (unreleased)
Kissing Bandits – The Only Thing That Keeps Me Alive
Petted Lips – Somebody (unreleased)
Rutkowski Sisters – Riverman (unreleased)
Painted Word – Independence Day (alt. mix)
ac acoustics – Bluff Drive By (unreleased song)
Whiteout - Jackie’s Racing (alt. mix)
The Smiles – God Only Knows (demo)
Primevals – Diamonds A Fur Coat Champagne
Nectarine No. 9 – Curdled Fragments
"For nearly 30 years, I have been an avid 4 Out Of 5 Doctors fan, consistently singing their praises although their original LPs have been deleted for decades. I’ve scoured the used bins and bought copies of the albums to give to friends who were in need of some cool tunes and inspiration. Apart from my friends, I felt that I was the only true hardcore fan of the band.
That is, until the internet allowed me to connect to fans all around the world. Eventually, the ‘net led me straight to the doorstep of the band members themselves and I would occasionally communicate with guitarist Jeff Severson and vocalist/bassist Cal Everett. But, after loosing contact over the years, nothing prepared me for the self-released two CD set, Reconstruction. After years of sending off e-mails to various labels, begging for the band’s back catalog to be reissued, my prayers were answered by the band themselves!
Reconstruction contains digitally remastered versions of the band’s two albums (1980’s 4 Out Of Five Doctors and 1982’s 2nd Opinion) plus two unreleased bonus tracks. To say that this is an extraordinary release is an understatement! First off, the sound is amazing and I do actually hear little riffs I missed while listening to the vinyl thousands of times, over and over again. And “Waiting For Roxanne” (from 2nd Opinion) even has a count-in that wasn’t available on the original vinyl release! OK, so it may be nerdy to get excited about things like that, but what the hell! I’m a nerd!
4 OUT OF 5 DOCTORS: Throwing this talented, yet unknown, American band in the studio with established producer Alan Winstanley (who, with his "other half," Clive Langer, produced some of the finest albums of the '80s including all of Madness' albums) was a brilliant idea. The Doctors' had three fine songwriters in their ranks (bassist/vocalist Cal Everett and guitarists Jeff Severson and George Pittaway), and, as a whole, the Doctors (and Winstanley) crafted an album of songs that were stylistically varied but were absolutely POP to the core. Although the album itself was geared toward a younger crowd, the Doctors' inventive arrangements were more mature than "clever," creating an album that was more "timeless" than "of it's time." Of course, there were attempts to turn the Doctors into a new wave band (just listen to the quirky spy-themed "Danger Man" for proof) but their keen sense of melody saved the day. In fact, the Doctors were classic songwriters, putting as much into the verses, bridges, and middle eights as they did with their choruses. Lyrically, they were clever, not relying too much on the normal new wave themes of the time (though both "Modern Man" and the aforementioned "Danger Man" do allude to their times). The centerpiece of the album is two rockin' songs linked together that close the first side of the album, "Opus 10" and "I Want Her," both rather basic in formula but powerful in their delivery and placement on the album. A touchingly endearing album with more heart than you'd expect.
2ND OPINION: Though their self-titled debut album met with little or no national success, the Doctors entered the studio to record their second album, this time with hitmaking producer Jeff Glixman, who had handled many commercial rock artists in recent years, including Kansas. Strange as it may seem, the Doctors' '80s outlook and Glixman's hard rock history created an album as exciting as the Doctors' debut, though less varied. Using the first album's "I Want Her" as a jumping-off point, the Doctors rock hard on 2nd Opinion without losing any of their charm or melodicism. Bassist/vocalist Cal Everett sounds more confident vocally and his songs have even more hooks than before. "Breaking Rocks" rocks hard with a vocal that will melt even the most hardened criminal. "The Lonely Ones" is equally wonderful. "Dawn Patrol" is the pop/rocker that Night Ranger wanted to write but was too pompous to do so. Guitarist Jeff Severson's "Waiting for Roxanne" is an absolute classic right out of the box and should have been the big radio hit that the Doctors were waiting for.
An essential purchase for any fan of Power Pop, New Wave, ‘80s Rock and ‘60s-inspired tunesmithery."
Here's some clips from the band's 2008 reunion show performing some of the wonderful tracks from this release:
Recommended by 4 out of 5 Spazzes,
Stephen SPAZ Schnee
PURPLE HEARTS were one of the most popular of the Mod bands that hit the British music scene in 1979 and 1980. The excellent Captain Mod label (an offshoot of Captain Oi) has just issued a collection of all the band's singles (A and B-sides) entitled The Mod Singles Collection. This is what I had to say about it on All Music Guide.
"The Mod scene briefly took hold of the British (and, to a lesser extent, U.S.) music scene in 1979 in the wake of The Jam’s enormous success. When Weller and Co. released their third album, All Mod Cons, in 1978, it not only sent them straight up the charts, it also freed them from the Punk shackles that had weighed them down since the release of their debut album.
Because of the success of the album and the resurgence of Mod culture, labels began snapping up ‘60s-influenced acts like The Lambrettas, The Chords, The Jolt, Secret Affair, Squire and Purple Hearts. Of these main players, Purple Hearts were the least likely to succeed but it certainly wasn’t from lack of talent or ambition. With a Punk attitude and ‘60s Garage Rock influences, the band’s songs were less chart-friendly than their contemporaries and didn’t quite connect with the fickle public.
Signing to Fiction Records, the band released a handful of singles and one album in 1980 (Beat That!) before fading into the ether. They resurfaced briefly in ’82 and again in 1986 but fame and fortune proved to be elusive.
While not a great ‘album’ band, the Hearts sounded far more exciting on their singles, all of which are collected on this compilation (A and B-sides). The singles are joined here by three excellent 1981 demo recordings lifted from The Beat Generation & The Angry Young Men compilation.
Though Who and Kinks influences abound, the real meat of their sound is snotty Garage Rock, which really comes to the fore on tracks like “Frustration”, “Just To Please You”, “Plane Crash” and “Head On Collision Time”. On the other hand, the band’s pop smarts shine brightly on “Jimmy”, “My Life’s A Jigsaw” and “Friends Again” and all three of the bonus compilation tracks (‘I’ll Make You Mine”, “Concrete Mixer” and “Hazy Darkness”).
This 17 track collection showcases all of the band’s strengths, although I must admit that their version of “Scooby Doo” is the only obvious mis-step here. Released on Captain Oi’s excellent offshoot label, Captain Mod, the booklet contains informative liner notes, release information and reproductions of the picture sleeves.
Needless to say, The Mod Singles Collection is the best place to start your Purple Hearts collection."
Well, Cherry Red has done it again! One of the absolute finest and most overlooked albums of the '80s has finally seen a fitting and well deserved release on CD:
"Sometimes, I can bang my head against the wall, wondering why certain bands ‘make it’, while other more talented combos get overlooked and, ultimately, forgotten. And often times, the band that faded into obscurity created music that stands the test of time decades down the line. Such is the case with British pop quartet The Farmer’s Boys.
The band (Baz, Stan, Mark and Frog) were certainly a bright spot on the music scene back in 1983 when they signed with EMI after a handful of indie singles. Their sound was certainly original: imagine Edwyn Collins and his Orange Juice mates jamming with The Human League’s keyboardist (complete with programmed drums) and you’ve got more than a basic idea. Add a little bit of The Smiths, a dab of Country & Western and you’ve got The Farmer’s Boys. And yes, they really do sound that cool! Get Out And Walk was the band’s 1983 debut album and what a debut it was! It had jangly guitars, jolly melodies, catchy synth riffs, acoustic strums, danceable beats and, to top it all off, Baz’s Morrissey-like croon floating above it all. The album was fun and extremely infectious with more cool tunes per minute than 75% of the albums that came out that year.
For some reason, insanely catchy cuts like “For You”, “More Than A Dream”, “Matter Of Fact”, “Wailing Wall” and “Woke Up This Morning” didn’t receive massive airplay in the UK when they so rightly deserved it. Even the funk-heavy “Soft Drink” (with Baz in falsetto mode) didn’t make its way to the dancefloors around Europe like it should have. Yes, the band did see some chart success, but usually just out of the Top 40, which meant they barely received much-needed television exposure. Get Out And Walk was one of the coolest records released during the ‘80s but, for whatever reason, it just didn’t click with their intended audience. Perhaps it was the band’s lack of image? Maybe because the band never really took themselves too seriously? Or it could just be a matter of bad luck?
In any case, the album still sounds fabulous today, mainly due to the songs, which will please fans of great ‘80s guitar pop. Even synth fans can find a lot to love about The Farmer’s Boys! And with this Cherry Red reissue, there are 10 bonus tracks that make it an absolutely essential purchase. The bonus tracks include non-album singles, b-sides and three extended remixes lifted from the bonus EP that came from initial pressings of the LP. Looking back, 26 years after I bought the original import vinyl LP on a whim, it was, to quote one of the band’s song titles, “probably one of the best investments I ever made”!"
I sure do hope that they plan on releasing the band's second (and final) album, With These Hands, too!
In the late '70s and early '80s, the line between Pure Pop bands and New Wave outfits became intertwined. Most bands that played slick, melodic Beatles-influenced pop were considered Power Pop in the mid '70s but by the time bands like Squeeze, The Sinceros, 20/20, Nick Lowe, The Plimsouls and other like minded acts hit the music scene, they were quickly branded New Wave and marketed as such.
This was not necessarily a bad thing in terms of commercial sales, but we all know that when a music scene dies, it takes most of the bands with it. Some bands (Squeeze, Nick Lowe) were able to rise above but when New Wave became old news, then the bands lost label support and any momentum they had built up.
The Sinceros were an excellent Pop band consisting of four great musicians: Mark Kjeldsen (vocals/guitar), Ron Francois (bass/vocals), Don Snow (keyboards/vocals) and Bobby Irwin (drums). While Kjeldsen was the main frontman and wrote the majority of the songs, both Snow and Francois offered some tasty treats to The Sinceros' repertoire.
On The Sound Of Sunbathing, the band's 1979 debut, was a hook-filled Power Pop party dressed up in dayglo colors... with a little New Wave spice thrown in for good measure. Like Squeeze, The Sinceros' songs were instantly catchy and those lucky enough to hear them would have their melodies stuck in their heads for days, weeks, months and, for us lucky ones, decades!
The album is chock full of great tunes including Kjeldsen's "Little White Lie", "Quick Quick Slow" and "So They Know", Snow's "Hanging On Too Long" and Francois' "Good Luck (To You)", but two songs received the most attention: "World's Apart" and "Take Me To Your Leader". Unfortunately, these two tracks were, at best, average Pop tunes dressed up in quirky New Wave arrangements, which possibly made them more appealing to the masses. Thankfully, the rest of the album is loads better, so anyone suckered in by those two tracks were more than pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the rest of the material. Now, don't get me wrong, those are fine tracks, but compared to the rest of the album, they sound like b-sides!
For music fans not familiar with this great debut, the best way to describe it would be a cross between Squeeze's Cool For Cats and Argy Bargy: not quite as Pub-like as ...Cats, but not quite as accomplished as Argy.
While there's not really a bad song on the album, The Sinceros were still in the process of becoming a GREAT band, something they achieved on Pet Rock, their sophomore album (which I'm hoping is reissued soon!). After that, the band split and the members went their separate ways: Snow ended up in Squeeze (ironically enough) for their Sweets From A Stranger album; Francois joined The Teardrop Explodes and Irwin played drums for Nick Lowe for years and years. Kjeldsen unfortunately passed away in the '90s.
Cherry Red's excellent reissue of The Sound Of Sunbathing retains the UK album cover and track listing and adds three non-album bonus tracks, making this an absolutely essential purchase for any Power Pop, New Wave and '80s music fan.
I can only think of ONE reason why The Sinceros may not have clicked with the youth of the '80s: Kjeldsen's moustache! When New Wave was considered the music of the young generation, anyone with a mustache was considered uncool (including The Stranglers' Dave Greenfield!). Fortunately, Kjeldsen had a full, slightly more fashionable beard by the time of their sophomore album, but it may have been too late! The moustache did them in! Well, I'm not entirely serious... but kinda.
Yes, folks, the first two albums by THE LAUGHING DOGShave been officially released on one CD, courtesy of the American Beat label.
I've been a fan of this relatively unknown band for three decades and can still remember the first time I heard each of these fab albums. In fact, I even reviewed the individual albums (then only on out of print vinyl) for All Music Guide.
Now that they've been made available on CD, I get another go round to heap my praises on these two albums... and I'll share my All Music Guide reviews with you right here on this blog!
First off, here's the review I did for the first album (The Laughing Dogs):
"Born out of the New York underground music scene of the late '70s, the Laughing Dogs were a band looking for a good time. With a cache of snappy pop songs chiefly written by main men Ronnie Carle (vocals/bass) and James Leonard (vocals/guitar), the band's sound was elegantly arranged with the help of keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Carter Catchcart, and fueled by the powerhouse drumming of Moe Potts. None of the members were new to the music scene, so each brought plenty of creative ideas and strong musicianship. By borrowing from the past, the Dogs created a timeless sound that was as exciting as the explosive punk scene, but was also completely different. This was power pop with a raw edge, yet very commercial. If Billy Joel's Glass Houses album was recorded by a band with 'street cred', then that band would have been the Laughing Dogs. "Get 'Im Outta Town" and "Reason For Love" should have been huge radio hits worldwide, both filled with catchy hooks, bubbly harmonies, and real joyous energy. "No Lies" and "It's Alright, It's OK" could have been unpretentious Steely Dan if they had been formed during the new wave era. "Round And Round" mixes classic rock clichés with a White Album flair. That's not Badfinger's Tom Evans and Joey Molland singing the chorus to "It's Just The Truth," but if you close your eyes and pretend....Even the rock and roll basics of "Johnny Contender" and "I Need A Million" are fun. A gem of an album just waiting for you to discover it." (Stephen SPAZSchnee-All Music Guide)
First off, the Laughing Dogs are funny guys. The album cover has all four band members being scolded and punished by their real-life mothers (get it?). Based on that cover alone, you've got to love these guys. But you can't read an album by its cover, can you? Fortunately, the music contained within is just as fun, even when it's more commercial than their debut. Dynamic musical arrangements, fabulous harmonies, and great songs seem to be the Dogs' forte, and they use all three very wisely. Though the rawness of the debut is missing here, the sympathetic and warm production allows the songs to breathe, and the songs can be stunning. Pop meets a funky groove with the album opener, "Zombies," with great musical interplay. With originals like "Formal Letter," "Take My Chances," and "Reach Out For Me," who needs covers like "Don't Bring Me Down" (the record company, obviously)? Carter Cathcart's "Not What I Used To Be" sounds like a power pop band doing Motown with Walter Becker producing. When the band slows everything down for a ballad ("Stand Up" and "Two Who Are Willing To Share"), you can't help but reach for the hankies! Like other 'Two Album Deal' bands of this era (ie: Four Out Of Five Doctors, Scooters, Hawks, Sorrows, Electrics, etc), fans are torn between the raw feel of the first album, and the 'label pressure' vibe of the second. Whichever way you choose, you can't lose." (Stephen SPAZSchnee-All Music Guide)
And finally, here's the CD review (which does contain a few elements from the above... but not much):
"When I first reviewed the first two Laughing Dogs albums years ago, they were only available on black wax… and long out of print. Heck, I was certain that no label would ever be brave or smart enough to actually put these albums out on CD! But, lo and behold, American Beat has risen to the occasion and now you can own these two great Power Pop albums on one CD. Though they never made much of a dent in the charts, the Dogs’ reputation as skilled musicians is legendary. The fact that they would masquerade as The Kojaks (complete with bald caps) and be their own opening act is STILL talked about! But none of this holds a candle to their knack for serving up melodic hooks galore on these two albums.
The quartet’s 1979 self-titled debut was energetic and laced with musical nods to their ‘60s influences, right down to the production. Still, the band were able to maintain their own identity and forge a ‘Laughing Dogs’ sound, especially with album opener “Get ‘im Outta Town” (a sound which they fully explored on their second album). Apart from that lead-off track, album highlights include the Pop-errific “Reason For Love”, “No Lies” and the Beatles-esque “Low Life”.
Their sophomore album, …Meet Their Makers, was released in 1980 and showed a maturity in the band’s songwriting and arrangements. Though the rawness of the debut is missing here, the sympathetic and warm production allows the songs to breathe, and they are often stunning. With originals like "Formal Letter," "Take My Chances," “Zombies” and "Reach Out For Me," who needs covers like "Don't Bring Me Down" (the only lukewarm tune here). When the band slows everything down for a ballad ("Stand Up" and "Two Who Are Willing To Share"), you can't help but reach for the Bic lighter!
This Laughing Dogs two-fer is an essential purchase for any Power Pop and Rock music fan. Although they may have been lumped in with the other New York-based Punk and New Wave bands from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, the Laughing Dogs were a Rock ‘n’ Roll band at heart and this excellent release proves it." (Stephen SPAZSchnee-All Music Guide)
And, finally, here's a clip of the band performing the fabulous "Get 'im Outta Town":
So, do you own this CD already? What are you waiting for?
