“The Lost Boys: Hard-To-Find ’80s Albums” gives you exactly what the title implies: a rare or out-of-print album or EP from the ’80s in its entirety. Some will be from CD, but most will have been lovingly transferred from pristine vinyl culled directly from the Analog Kid’s vast collection. Whatever album I choose, it will be one that you can’t easily find a physical copy for sale on Amazon or in your local record store (if you even have one anymore). Death…by stereo!
I spent a lot of time with Timbuk 3’s Eden Alley in the spring of 1988. It’s a quirky little album with some superb songwriting, and it’s worth owning just for the genius of “Sample The Dog” alone. Eden Alley was Pat and Barbara MacDonald’s follow-up to 1986’s Greetings From Timbuk 3, which of course included the ubiquitous “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades.” If Pat and Barbara felt any pressure to top the surprise smash from their debut LP, it certainly didn’t show on Eden Alley.
In the spring of 1988– right around the time Eden Alley was released, in fact– I sat right behind the MacDonalds at a show on Bruce Springsteen’s Tunnel Of Love Express tour in Austin. They held hands for the entire concert, and nobody bothered them even though everyone in Austin knew who they were (the MacDonalds had relocated to Austin from Madison in the mid-’80s, and were big local celebrities). Timbuk 3 broke up when Pat and Barbara’s marriage ended in 1995, and that news really made me sad. They had seemed so happy together that night, but at least they left us some great music.
Timbuk 3: Eden Alley
I.R.S. Records, 1988
1. “Tarzan Was A Bluesman” (MacDonald)
2. “Easy” (MacDonald/MacDonald)
3. “Reckless Driver” (MacDonald)
4. “Dance Fever” (MacDonald)
5. “Sample The Dog” (MacDonald)
6. “Too Much Sex, Not Enough Affection” (MacDonald)
7. “Welcome To The Human Race” (MacDonald)
8. “Eden Alley” (MacDonald/MacDonald)
9. “Rev. Jack & His Roamin’ Cadillac Church” (MacDonald)
10. “A Sinful Life” (MacDonald)
11. “Little People Make Big Mistakes” (MacDonald)
12. “Reprise (Don’t Stop Me Now)” (MacDonald)
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Bonus Tracks!
The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.
Timbuk 3: “All I Want For Christmas” (MacDonald)
I.R.S. Records, 1987
Bruce Springsteen: “Tougher Than The Rest” [Live] (Springsteen)
From the EP Chimes Of Freedom
Columbia Records, 1988
u·biq·ui·tous /yo͞oˈbikwətəs/
The Analog Kid 
Got all the Timbuk 3 albums. Saw them a number of times, too, like anyone in Austin at the time. My (now) wife was nuts for them, and she was never an Austin hipster. Still listens to them.