Unknown Soldier

Quick question, what happens to these closed down shopping malls in the USA? Are they turned into something else, pulled down or just left to become dilapidated?

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

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I think a very good answer would be told in full at this site...

DeadMalls.com

Many of them were seriously left for dead, with quite a few of them housing a store or three. Sometimes the owners would turn them into "Industrial Parks" - possibly just something to call them as they wait to tear the building down, just like what happened to the North Towne Mall very recently after a time of being a serious post-apocalyptic dump filled with graffiti and dealers.

DeadMalls.com: North Towne Square Mall: Toledo, Ohio

My memories of that mall remain with the West Wing featuring Camelot Music, home to a lot of my favorite bargain bin finds and actually a few Indie albums. Next to it was the very infamous Chick-Fil-A. In the middle, there was the Dollar Cinema with the arcade right across from it, and around that area having a Chess King. On the East Wing, there would be the Musicland, which lost a customer in me (Until that very last day I went there...I forgot about it until later) after telling me that they don't sell Punk Albums after asking about getting a Fleshtones album on special order...I guess they forgot about selling IRS' Greatest Hits Parts 2 and 3 with The Fleshtones there some time before (or maybe that the Regan Era was really in full force, I don't know).

The AMC was sold to National Amusements in The Late 90's, and it's obvious that they were really the only company in The US to own the majority of theaters...and I wonder why our cinema going experience was getting bland as hell with a lot of the same flicks playing everywhere. It was not as fun, that's all I will say.

I wished that I was there when they had NRM, though. I missed that quick era before it closed.

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An introduction to CRAZY LOUIE'S HIT MAN ARCHIVE CUTOUTS - Plus a Review of HERMAN'S HERMITS - BLAZE (1967)

Damn, it's Order day here at Ghost Mall Music, and I have to fill up that Cutout section as much as I can!

I made up that name in many tributes to the Cutout business of the past, a lot of it being the most popular in the 70's and 80's, before 1987 when Morris Levy (head honcho of Roulette and owner or co-owner of many low-priced labels and services including the infamous Promo Records) was busted after "skimming" a shipment delivered to John LaMonte - a notorious bootlegger who owned the cutout warehouse Out of the Past and is not a favorite of Beatles or Todd Rundgren fans who know of his booting of Introducing The Beatles and Runt, among other titles. Of course the Cutouts remained a major part of record shopping, but that was an end of an era.

Crazy - There were a lot of "Crazy" and "Wild" discounters back in the day. In fact, in my research, there was a Crazy Eddies.

Louie's - As it's about music from The 60's and 70's still sold at a discount, I might as well throw in a "Louie Louie" tribute here.

Hit Man - A service that carries the stars or at least well known names, usually the under-performing albums, but also a hell of a lot of not so well known music. Some of these companies were like warehouses like Out of the Past. This is in tribute to the book Hit Men.

The inspiration was going through the cutouts back in The 80's at stores like National Record Mart, which was in the Franklin Park Mall in the area where I usually went to shop (Memories of looking at the cover of The Plasmatics' Beyond the Valley of 1984 being advertised in the front of the store still ring clear). Sometimes I would spot imports, usually brought to the store through Jem, or even very old albums that were not strong sellers back in the day. Two MGM titles, Herman's Hermits Blaze and Every Mothers Son's Back (Their second album, get it? Ha! Ha!...Yeah, it's pretty cheesy) were of interest but I did not buy them at all for the longest time.

I managed to find copies over the last year in a couple of Toledo stores, possibly originally bought at NRM if my calculations were correct.



One of the things I have to mention about the Hermits Blaze was that it was the first album in The US not to have reached the Top 40. In fact, with a lot of hip competition going on at the time of it's release, mainly that of The Beatles' never ending reign with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Vanilla Fudge, The Four Tops (Greatest Hits was a major seller), Aretha (Franklin) Arrives, Jimi Hendrix (Are You Experienced), The Rolling Stones (Flowers, the US-released collection), The Doors (Strange Days), and even The Monkees' Pieces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones Ltd., Blaze was not a strong seller, peaking at a lowly #75. It was out of the chart before the war between The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour and The Stones' Satanic Majesties.

Oddly enough, the US release of this album was shortly after another under-performing Mickie Most production of The Yardbirds' Little Games, which only went to #86 in a very quick rise and fall.

Still, before one trashes this as yet another Hermits album with a hit single to sell it with, in this case "Museum", a good amount of the rest of the album is a surprisingly acoustic style that suggests that this was possibly the first time that one of their albums has sounds by the actual band itself instead of the usual professional backing. This is not to say that it's a lost classic or something like that, but it is a better listen than most non-collection albums by this band. Still, MGM could have at least had the decency to place the band's name on the front cover - Teenyboppers always have to see the name brand, you know - They were more of Woolworths and K Mart kind of band, not one of those hip Underground store happenings, although I'm sure that a few stores decided to show the back cover instead.

Let's take a look at some highlights...

Herman's Hermits - Blaze
MGM
Year: 1967
C/O: Bullet on the bottom left hand side (MGM's standard, also have it on Eric Burdon and The New Animals' Winds of Change!)
Reason: Overpresing
Genre: Popped Out, 1960's/Crazy Louie's Hit Man Archive Find

After grooving on "Museum", a Donovan song with the writer's vocals replaced by Peter Noone's while using the same backing track, it's time to dig into the album. Released shortly after There's a Kind of Hush back in May, which charted at US #13, there was a reason to believe that there were a huge number of kids that still wanted their music, but in The Summer of '67, Sgt. Pepper changed a lot of what was going on making a lot of what happened before yesterday's news.

"Ace, King, Queen, Jack" certainly pleased a lot of the Retro Listeners who were grooving to the Nuggets series Rhino was unleashing to great acclaim and wanting more. As it ended the album with a surprising bit of talking, you could say that it was their contribution to the growing progression of the day.



"Moonshine Man" tried to get away with a beat kind of like a low powered variation of The Beatles' "Taxman", but it was a little too clunky to win me over although I'm sure 60's Pop fans might like to hear it. The cover featured on this video was that of Best Of Vol. 3, MGM's next-to-final long playing milking of the once-selling hitmakers before letting out a few singles to little or no response. The #103 compilation was in an era featuring other desperate change-making collections like The Best of The Loving Spoonful Vol. 2 and the second Golden Era compilation of The Mamas and Papas!



"Last Bus Home" is actually a good acoustical track featuring a great vocal and "I Call Out Her Name" is actually that rare animal - a Hermits original written by Derek Leckenby and Keith Hopwood!




As it should for the Hermits, this is not anything stepping out of line and in fact a lot of what has happened before. Still, for the few that did not want to take a step in Day Glo Land or even thought the Monkees were going too far with the Moog sounds and dark Psychedelic sounds of "Daily Nightly" and "Star Collector", this was an easy pleasant ride which at least had some good tuneful moments that are not really annoying.

As for the Hermits' albums, after the third Greatest Hits, there would be a soundtrack to the non-successful Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter, which was a film that was Produced by Allen Klein, a name that would figure in the history of The Beatles and featuring a soundtrack that went to US #182 and nowhere in The UK.



I better not let the easy feeling of this album soften me with checking out this delivery. I have to keep on my toes and you know these warehouses that might skim you - Have to see if those Elton John Blue Moves cutouts are in this (Hey, "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" is an EJ standard that sells the album)...Still, if it has this album, you know I will have something to suggest to a 60's Pop Cultist in vinyl form!

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CRAZY LOUIE'S SINGLES BONANZA - CUT OUT SINGLE MEMORIES PART 1

Sunday, Sunday, here again!!!

Yesterday, the GMM received a letter from Crazy Louie's stating that they have a All Star Singles Bonanza! All the "hits" for ultra cheap!

Well, as you can see, back in The 70's and in many specialty stores in The 80's, there was a number of stores that received a while lot of cutout SINGLES! Obviously part of the crazy network that delivered all of those albums they could not give away back then, this was where a lot of singles from companies that went down to the Record Label Graveyard and others that just did not do the business in that cut-throat Sopranos-style industry. There would be many styles of packaging of these items, one that was received to me one Christmas was a box of 50 from Montgomery Wards, which did include a number of hit stars like The Who (The ever-loved "Magic Bus") as well as some pretty cool Soul singles (Some from Invictus, the HDH Post-Motown label) and a few notorious pieces of vinyl that escaped from the 7'th level of Music Hell like Danny Bonnaduce! Let's hear some of these old-timer wanna bes hear some soul in his stuff!

Other sell through styles included the three-for-one package, reportedly including some singles from the Apple Records roster after it folded. Beatles fans were possibly overjoyed to at least see an Apple label being sold for dirt cheap, because you'll never know if one of them is a great lost Badfinger single (Actually, I have seen their ill fated but still worthwhile Ass album in the cutouts the same day I bought Mary Hopkin's Postcard at a Hills...I don't think my parents would have been too happy with the Badfinger album for the title. They may have freaked out if I showed them the Privilege soundtrack as well...it was on Uni, connected to MCA). In The 70's they were everywhere!

Anyways, here's a very good example of what you could have been getting on those C/O singles...KILLER Bs! The White Whale label closed up shop sometime in The Mid 70's with very few hits and a lot of interesting obscurities, and this meant that there would be many Turtles singles to be found while there was a lot of lawsuits involving Flo and Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan) trying to get the rights to their name back (which they did in The Early 80's, 1983 I think) - IT should be noted that they at least won their masters to the Turtles recording s in '73/4 which led to the great two album Sire Records compilation. "You Showed Me" was the hit side, and the last of their Top 10 hits, but the other side was a killer example of their crazed humor unleashed in music form - from the album The Battle of the Bands, a kind of concept album where the band sowed their musical skills in a number of styles with band names attached to them.

On the album, this was performed by a band called The Fabulous Dawgs, aka The Turtles doing some fuzz drenched Booker T groove. Killer stuff!

Note the holes in the label area...you guessed it, C/O due to business closing.



Glam kids in The US were a very small bunch, but at least devoted. Although most of the listeners got these songs way past the fact if they did not live near a great Import-stocking store, they usually got some of the best. Back in the day, the US fans of this scene beyond getting a Bowie's Ziggy Stardust or T Rex's Slider were those who were looking in the stores for a long time for these discs and possibly were regular readers of Bomp! magazine. The Stateside home for the music was Rodney's English Disco, hosted by the legendary KROQ disc jockey Rodney Bringenheimer, and of course those who have at least seen the film The Runaways know what that was about.

Sweet's "Blockbuster" was a big hit in the UK, but it did not do a damn thing in the US when it was released on Bell which was soon to be absorbed into the Arista empire by the last part of The 70's. It's B Side, the excellent "Need a Lot of Loving" was a good and heavy sound with that natural tuneful flavor that kept it moving. I'm sure Hair bands of the future were taking notes, but at that time, the outsiders who did not want to be mellow with ONJ were all digging it, especially those who were lucky enough to get it as a C/O single. I got mine in that Ward's 50 Singles box!



I hope to see more Youtubes with C/O singles visuals being featured, but for now I hope you have a good idea of what you sometimes got in these deals.

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CRAZY LOUIE'S SUPER BARGAIN DEAL!!!

Now that I have returned form the Ghost Mall Record Service meeting, and seen that the Co-Manager made sure that everything was running great, it's back to business!

I just got another flyer in the mail for Crazy Louie's. Seems I have been one of his best customers and decided to pass on more vinyl for me to sell. Never heard of these names, though, but the Music Gambler that I am, I will take this chance...it is the Ghost Mall Music world of lost sounds and under-performing music in the crazy world of the industry.


OK, Fantasy Time over, it's time to take a look at that is known as Tax Shelter recordings. A sell through item plan mastered by Morris Levy, this actually uses demos and rejected items from the back rooms of record companies and makes a few hundred of thousand copies of each, keeps them in the warehouse, claims lack of sales for those "Tax Loss" Reasons, then MAYBE sends a few copies out here and there to sell without even letting the artists know and without the retailer knowing what's really going on. Levy, Mr. Roulette/Adam VIII (John Lennon fans will remember that label)/Oldies collections and all that, devised a number of labels including Tiger Lily. Actually, in record collecting circles, a number of these recordings are very valuable for actually being better than expected - The covers usually had no credits listed and look like some el cheapo local act that nobody heard, but the the grooves contain some decent music that should have been treated better.

This shady chapter of the music industry had it's heyday of infamy around 1976-7 until things were being looked into. After that, it was back to the world of counterfeiting.

This post's Tiger Lily example is from a group called Sound of the City Experience, sounding like that actually had what it took to do something in the Music Industry, even if it was getting a gig making music for movies of TV shows. This may not have been originally called "Getting Down", but it does have a nice Soulful style all it's own. In the Soul collecting world, this is a hard to find vinyl that has been rated well, but very little is known about this...the sad fate of many Tax Scam recordings.

Soon, I will mention more about this messed up world, but right now, it's time to check out some music...





EDIT: Just found a Stonewall YouTube. If you have not heard this band, check this out. Stoner would be a very appropriate word, as fans of that genre of Metal may get into this - if this would have been released properly, this might have been given a chance to be a huge FM hit. On the other hand, anyone who's into some good solid 70's Rock should hear it. Recorded in '74, escaped in '76, never given a chance to actually show the world it;s true worth.





Stonewall, with the original album cover shown in the first Tube and the re-issue shown in the second and third, is one of those albums that seriously lives up to what some lost music critics have been saying. Just imagine a far more talented version of a local rock band who never got the connections they deserved, and then finding out too late in the game that their album was released somewhere. Around the time Vice's Noisey article appeared on the web, it has been said that only FIVE copies were ever found...and we're talking about the "case of the $5000 album"! Forget The Beatles' Butcher Cover, this in it's vinyl edition is a more prized possession.

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/major-ja...of-the-5000-lp

As you can tell, very few copies even made it into the stores. Maybe some small dot on the map with some business with the world of Roulette (Remember the Tommy James Cut Outs that one sees from time to time, especially those of the ill fated 1970 album Travlin'?). Places where nobody could have caught it.

All that I know is that they were a house band for a recording studio in Long Island, and that is all. The only name connected to this besides Mr. Levy is that of Jimmy Goldstein. It's easy to understand why nobody wants to talk about this as a lot of hard work was rewarded with nothing in return.

For more Tiger Lily info...

http://forbiddeneye.com/labels/tigerlily.html

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DOUBLE PLATTER SOUNDTRACKS THAT JUST DID NOT MOVE IN THE US - PART ONE: QUADROPHENIA, 1979


Double Vinyl Soundtracks were no unusual thing, but blame it on Saturday Night Fever to create a mini industry out of them in the Late 70's Early 80's. You know the lemming-like nature of the industry - see something big, follow it! Everyone knows SNF - Double platter soundtrack, mega-hit songs, Bee Gees Disco Mania, hooks galore (Like them or not), plus that damn Walter Murphy Band ruining Beethoven's Fifth creating a market for a lot more Disco Versions of the classics. This led to a lot of Soundtracks that were also Double Platters, but for every one Saturday Night Fever or Heavy Metal, there would possibly be five others that were headed for the C/O bins months after the fact or at least under preformed in the marketplace to be overlooked.

This went for all kinds of flicks, not just films tailor made for Disco, and even a few of them were damn good.

This is a case for the double platter of the soundtrack to Quadrophenia, released in October, 1979. As a compare and contrast, the double soundtrack to the essential The Kids Are Alright earlier in 1979 was a strong hit in The US, reflecting on the dedication of FM Rock fans of the band who bought this mainly on the strength of it being a good set of Who songs. Still, trying to get most of the US fans into the original Mod era and culture where they first showed up that the 1973 concept album was about and this film tried to recreate (and did well) was not going to be an easy ride.

I don't remember if the 1979 Quadrophenia soundtrack make the C/O bins in The US or not, but the fact was that it did not do well - which possibly is reflection of how far the Mod Revival movement went in The US as opposed to the Power Pop scene which was already dying out by that time. I'm thinking that the question "Why have the Quadrophenina Soundtrack when you can have the original Who album instead?" was asked by a lot of Americans looking at the front cover featuring Phil Daniels as Jimmy. Side Four was a great selection of classics that were featured in the film, which sadly meant not too much in The States. As it all connected with the British audience, which gave it a nice Top 30 placement in the Mod Revival era, the US audience for the film was seriously smaller - in fact, it was Distributed through World Northal that would later be known for their Martial Arts selection that usually played 42'nd Street Exploitation theaters by 1981 after choosing a few well-respected imports. I'm sure the film was played in only a fair amount of theaters in The States, usually those that were used to playing Rock themed films in the cities or catered to an audience that loved imports, after that first week in the days when that's all it took to see of a film would gather steam or just f-f-f-f-f-f-fade away, so sadly the soundtrack did not sell as much. In The US, it only went to #46 on BB.



As the main audience for the Quadrophenia Soundtrack in The US mainly narrowed down to the few dedicated fans of 60's Who who knew the whole history of the band, which still was a good number when one looks at it, you can say that it was the Mod Revival Generation's soundtrack for it's time as a souvenir of an exciting film with fine music which was made at the right time and place...although Sting's presence was certainly an annoyance if you knew about the setting of the film. On a good trivial side, Stateside fans finally got The High Numbers B-Side "Zoot Suit" (OK, there were fans that caught imports and bootlegs, but, let's focus on the mainstream marketplace in this journal) and the world got a taste of the band with their new Drummer, Kenny Jones, who was great but more professional than inspired. The Cross Section were around to provide a cover of "High Heel Sneakers" as featured in a great scene and Side Four's great classic selection still plays well if you're in the mood.






As a US kid that loved the 60's British scene, I knew a little about what it was all about and if I would have been going out my myself by the time of the film's release I would have caught it right away. Although I lived in one of the areas where The Who first broke big in The US before the rest of the nation caught on via their classic Smothers Brothers appearance (in fact, it was a Flint, MI radio station and Detroit's own WKNR that were strong supporters), that time was long gone past by '79. Far away from the centers where this kind of thing was better known in The US - The Power Pop LA, Cleveland, NYC, SF, Detroit (WWWW when it was Rock had a killer 60's show on Sunday) and maybe a few other places - the fans of this kind of thing in The US were mainly scattered all around, interested but sadly not where the action was to fully get into it, but still being those outsiders that were getting the albums at the stores that filled up some of that curiosity (the ones that would push Jam albums to somewhere like #176 or something like that before their appearance on Fridays upped the positions to about #85 on BB or whereabouts...get ready for a Bubbling Under 1983 bit about Snap soon! #201 in The US...and most of the buyers possibly regular renters of Quadrophenia in the VHS days)

Still, in the end this would live on well. Thankfully, the soundtrack would be reissued a number of times, a 2000 release actually getting it right by releasing the Who songs and the classics and the film would be a favorite on the VHS circuit and it's DVD release on Rhino Home Video featuring a number of good extras.

However, back then in The US, one might have found this on a discount, and bought it as something that was connected to one's love of a film that had a strong following outside the mainstream. It may not have been a full solid album, but it was a fine reminder of the film and the fact that The Who made some of the better music that got played a lot on FM Radio in The States. That it was on Polydor, home to a number of bands like The Jam, The Inmates (who I also have a C/O of...the First Offense album), and others, made it pretty cool as well.

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DOUBLE ALBUM SOUNDTRACKS THAT DID NOT MOVE IN THE US PART 2 - ROADIE (1980)

This is possibly the most Mainstream this journal has been so far. I hope I entertain you with this.

...and you thought I was going to write about The Bee Gee's infamous Sgt. Pepper debacle! Or The Village People's Can't Stop the Music which in fact did, for them. Ummm...not yet. Still trying to get into that hyper critical frame of mind.

Various Artists - Roadie (Soundtrack)
1980
Warner Brothers
Genre: Playing at the Dollar Show
C/O saw cut on the top right side

No, right now, I will talk about Roadie, Alan Rudolph's film that tried to break into the music movie market and stopped short of getting anywhere back in 1980. Filled with AOR stars, including Meatloaf in a starring role, as well as Soul Train's Don Cornelius, this was a Comedy about the other side of the Rock and Roll touring life as Ex-Trucker Travis W Redfish (Mr. Loaf himself) tried to save shows and use his technical expertise in his new life. About nine years after Rudolph's Premonition, one of those Hippie style flicks about a group of musicians seeing their deaths after smoking the leaves of some red flowers at an abandoned place (those were the days!), this took an opposite direction in a decade of the Director's work from being WTF and possibly best seen under Psychedelics (and from I what I heard, disowned) to easy to understand and served with a cold cheap beer...although I actually go for that Early 70's mind rot at times to see how some people started (Premonition was not that bad, really, but screamed first film all the way). Not a criticism, but an observation, trust me.

There was another film in 2011 with the same name, but that's way out of the focus of this journal as it did not have a soundtrack that went into the Cut Out bins faster than the speed of light...or at least in about a year ofter release. Nah, THIS Roadie is from the vinyl era, so grab a cold one and chill out with the best of this cut out!



As to be expected in the era of Urban Cowboy, this had to have a double whopper of a soundtrack filled with proven hit makers, but sadly wound up being left unsold and later to be cut out possibly for the reason that several of it's songs were already owned by fans of the respective musicians. Even Billboard singled out the soundtrack as one of those that outright failed in the time when almost every major film had to have a soundtrack that was hyped for sale, reaching I think #147 possibly on the strength of it's few well known songs, although it was a very mixed bag without too much of a focus. The film did not do all that well, and I still wonder why it flopped sometimes, maybe it's a not so successful mix of sensibilities that has moments but not an overall win. That's show biz as they all say, although there a few success stories within it's grooves when all is said.

Actually, this album is seriously programmed well enough. Each of the four sides have a music style that dominates and fans actually had a nice amount of songs that were for the film which wound up to be "cult hits" for some of the artists here while other songs were radio standards by that time. It's not really a great lost Soundtrack by any means, but it is a listenable ride that does not go for too long filled with a lot of fine professional performances.

SIDE ONE
Cheap Trick - Everything Works if You Let It
The #44 single that was on the 10 Inch Mini Album, Found All the Parts (#39) which, along with The Clash's Black Market Clash, was one of two successes for CBS' ill fated format which at least was better than the fail concept of the one sided single they tried in '82. Trick fans already had their song by the time this was out, so really there was no use to get this unless one was a full on completest. The song is one of the final greats of their heyday before a hit and miss 1980's, and while it sounds a bit throw away, the music is still very good. "Voices", from the classic Dream Police album, is also heard in the film.

To be cool with you, I'll throw in the full version that was not released until the box set Sex, America, Cheap Trick, featuring other songs from their Early 80's career in notable songs for Soundtracks.



Pat Benatar - You Better Run
Already on the Crimes of Passion album, and unlike Cheap Trick's single a Top 40 hit, there was no need for her fans to get this unless one had to have everything by her. Produced by Keith Olsen (Ex-Music Machine turned super producer).

Joe Ely - Brainlock
A nice easy going Rocker from the singer/songwriter. Perfect for background music to a kind of cheesy film about Rock and Roll.

Alice Cooper - Road Rats
Exclusive to this film and soundtrack (I think later on the box set...), this is a decent toss away from Alice's Early 80's era.




SIDE TWO
This side has a mix, but at least it had the one song that broke out of this film a hit.

Teddy Pendergrass - Can't We Try
A ballad from one of the best known singers of the era, ex- Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes. His hit album of 1980 that this was on was a critically-applauded Platinum seller, TP. A #52 on BB's Pop Singles, this was #3 on the R&B chart AND #52 on the Dance chart (For those Slow Dance times!). That success was not mentioned as much as the next one on this soundtrack. Trust me, this sounds much better on vinyl, especially with the Bass on full.


Eddie Rabbit - Drivin' My Life Away
You possibly know this one. In a Billboard article about the single's surprise success, he singer said that he did not want to be background music for a fight in a bar, and he got his wish by seeing this go into the Top 10. Nice easy going tune, if certainly cheesy, and I'm sure a favorite of Truckers everywhere even today. A win for 80's MOR Country, it must be admitted.


Stephen Bishop and Yvonne Ellman - Your Precious Love
Jay Ferguson - A Man Needs a Woman
One Ashford and Simpson cover done so much better by others and a song by Steve Cropper and John Lewis Parker that's not really top level, these are skip tracks...time to change the album!

SIDE THREE
Styx - Crystal Ball
One of the very early Styx songs, and actually not as annoying as their best known hits. Some strong playing on this track that's pretty moody for them.

Sue Sadd and the Next - Double Yellow Line
At least Styx were AOR for real! Sue Sadd were an example of faux New Wave that tried to Mainstream the sound, but was aiming for an Alternative audience that wanted nothing to do with them. A Planet Records signing (I think that was Producer Richard Perry's label), they would only last a couple of years before fading away into used album memories.

Blondie - Ring of Fire
YES!!! This is what collectors get this album for. A fine performance of the Johnny Cash classic by a legendary band. A little up-tempo, but it's Blondie, and it's damn good!


Alice Cooper - Pain
Already on Flush the Fashion, this was another song that proved that one had to be a major collector to get this album. A standout song from a good under valued album, though.
As I'm in a great mood, ready to give you the special treatment, this is the clip.


SIDE FOUR
It's time for the Country Side!

Roy Orbison and Emmylou Harris - That Lovin' You Feelin' Again
The title was clumsy, the song very sappy, but it still featured one of the greatest vocalists of all time trying to get back his popularity. It took David Lynch to bring him back to his deserved stardom, but at least he gave it a try here.


Jerry Lee Lewis - (Hot Damn) I'm a One Woman Man
Send him to the lie detector!!! Before that, though, let him sing his side of the story, then prove him wrong! A good performance that shows that not even the slick 80's production can kill the Killer's delivery.

Hank Williams Jr. - The American Way
Hank Jr.'s working man's country was at least not as slick as what was going on in the field at the time.

Asleep At the Wheel - Texas, Me, and You
Noted band closing up the shop for this vinyl. Too relaxed for me, but right for the film.




Final Vinyl Verdict...too many familiar songs, a mix that was reliant on the film's success to move copies, and a one way ticket to the Cut Out bin. Still, at least the film survives on DVD and is a decent example of brain on hold entertainment and proof that while Rudolph's aim for the Mainstream was not as solid as other films, it was not that bad either if a bit stereotypical.

The vinyl, however, at lest my copy, is very damn sturdy, and with four a side, the sound is excellent beyond expectations. A nice souvenir of a film that was damned if they did/damned if they did not that went into the C/O bins quick and was called a fiasco by some, but once again, the success stories within the music here at least outlived what happened.

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THE SINGLES CLUB #1
BIG COUNTRY - FIELDS OF FIRE





Label: Mercury (via Phonogram UK)
US Chart Position #52 (Billboard) Feb. 1984 (Original release, UK 1983)
Non Album B-Side: Yes!
Extra incentive to buy: Cover that turns out to be a fold out poster
US One Hit Wonder - the follow up and next to final Hot 100 appearance

I respect Big Country's music, especially with their first three albums and B-Sides, and I was a serious listener back in the day. Sadly, it was a tough sell in the US as I'm sure that in the narrow minded point of view of the business it was the old adage: Too Rock for the Pop stations and Too "New Wave" for the Rock (Translation from the Meathead line of belief: they had short hair and were from another country - in this case Scotland). You can throw any theory and assumption, but it was kind of sad that they did not break through in The States after the first album, usually seen as part of that First Wave of MTV successes after the clock struck Midnight for 1984, although there was a strong following knew that they were more that that.


Stuart Adamson's music had the right amount of hooks with strong feelings mainly learned from being in The Skids. For The US, there were hardly any Skids fans around with the exception of those looking through the imports or specialty stores, so there were not many who knew why he's considered among to be great. Although I also did not know at the time, there was something that stood out right away from the high tech 80's production and expensive videos.

This was at the time when the composition credit went to the band in full - with Adamson were Bruce Watson (guitar), Tony Butler (Bass), and Mark Brzezicki (Drums). A unique sound deserves it!

"Fields of Fire" still ranks among my favorites of their long line of (UK and European) hits, with it's lead riff right from "The Guns of Navarone" and thundering rhythm that placed them right in the Top 10 in The UK back in April 1983. From the album The Crossing, which at least did well in The US for a while, it's one of many great songs from the album produced by Steve Lillywhite. Sadly, the single was not a major success - it debuted in Billboard the same week as Adam Ant's "Strip" and ABC's "That Was Them, but This Is Now" (Yup, months after the UK release and right around the time ABC were sending out an "S.O.S." that was only heard by a few in the UK...bad pun I know).

The major selling point of this release was the fold out poster one got when the sleeve was opened, but a "Smooth Move Ex-Lax!" award must be given to the people who assembled the US edition of the sleeve for not having an extra single bag to hold the record in once the poster was hung up! Still, for fans of the band's music, you have a stirring non-LP B Side in "Angle Park", which still gets played on my turntable now and then.

It was great to catch a lot of this new music being sold with attempts to get more buyers, and with about half of it actually holding up well today (I will try to get to the other half sometime in this journal!) it was fun spotting the rare chance to get these singles when they contained two fine songs. Yeah, I know, people interested these days will just sit back and enjoy a whole mega presentation of The Crossing with bonus tracks, and deservedly so, but there seems to be a special magic when one just gets out the single and think back on some nice times (and the relief that you did not spend much of your allowance!).

A great 80's single - despite a missing detail that at least encourages the buyer not to put the cover/poster on the wall and remain in decent condition.



Live on The Tube


Rare Angle Park clip

Screen13

THE SINGLES CLUB #2
DAVID BOWIE - 1984...THE 1984 RELEASE



Label: RCA
Year: 1984
No Non-Album B Side
Release from one of the many collections of 83-84
I think an US-only single release

In the wake of David Bowie's move to EMI and the surprise success of "Let's Dance", RCA contributed a mini-industry of Bowie related product aimed for the 80's MTV/New Pop generation that wanted to know more of what influenced their favorite singers who looked up to him like many others looked up to The Beatles. With the odd exception (The Ziggy Stardust concert soundtrack and film release, Dream/London's release of the Love You Till Tuesday soundtrack and Castle's video of that which was attractive to fanatical fans), most of it was slapped together collections of what happened before with hardly no rhyme or reason. Golden Years was the 1983 nine-song product from RCA while Fame and Fashion was their 1984 release - the two acting kind of like a set of Changesthreeandfourbowie, but without the class or even good covers despite the good music.

Fame and Fashion, however, had something to do with the tracks being "Digitally Remastered" like it was very important, and it was a selection of greatest hits that was narrowed down to one album's worth of music despite having the serious misfortune to not throw in anything more from Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars other than "Starman". To promote it, what better way to do so than to pick "1984" as the single, backed with the classic "TVC 15"? Right?

Such a cheesy move would have escaped my eyes if the songs were not serious classics, however. In "1984", from the Diamond Dogs album that was I think planned to be fully based on George Orwell's novel but was not due to being refused permission, you have the "Shaft" style guitar of Alan Parker and classy Dramatic orchestral backing which fitted the doom-filled lyrics and Bowie's singing perfectly - although you could tell that even with such a classic performance this would not make it to Pop radio much, especially in The States. The Piano driven "TVC 15" is another classic, this time from Station to Station (1976) which was released in The UK as a single that did not do much on the charts, but a song that did not need any number to prove of it's power with the listeners.

In a way, the very few singles buyers who bought this single or the compilation album it promoted who were not around when the songs were originally released might have felt something that Let's Dance and, a little later on, Tonight (Even being the album with "Loving the Alien") would never have given them. A little reminder of what was, but thankfully Post-80's Bowie would see a return to something good once again.





SPECIAL SCREEN 13 BONUS TRACKS!
"1984" live on US TV showing off the "Shaft" style of the song that hinted at the Young Americans era in a big way...RCA could have at least done that, but no.



"TVC 15" at Live Aid.

Gavin B.

I really liked the guitar sound of Big Country on The Crossing. Guitarist Bruce Watson used an e-Bow to get that bagpipe effect. The e-bow was a major contributor to the band's sound being labelled with the bagpipe tag, much to the frustration of guitarist Bruce Watson. I've heard other guitarists like the Edge, Billy Corgan, James Iha, Noel Gallagher, and Kevin Shields use the e-bow but none were as skillful with it's use as Bruce Watson was.

The Crossing actually peaked at #18 on the U.S. album charts and at number #3 on the U.K. charts, in 1983. It's interesting that the debut album by R.E.M, Murmur also appeared the same year with considerably less success. Murmur peaked at #36 on the U.S. album charts and only reached #111 on the U.K. charts.

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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt