“The Lost Boys: Hard-To-Find ’80s Albums” gives you exactly what the title implies: a rare or out-of-print album 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!
If you listened to album rock radio at any point in 1981, you remember the Dutch band Diesel. I’d say that “Sausalito Summernight” is an unforgettable power pop masterpiece, but unfortunately most people actually seem to have forgotten about it. I love playing the song for friends and watching their eyes immediately light up in recognition of this classic song from their teenage years.
I have a challenge for you: play “Sausalito Summernight” (loudly!) and try to be in a bad mood afterwards. You simply can’t do it. The song peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981, but it was on FM album rock radio where “Sausalito Summernight” really made its impact. The group’s vocal harmonies often drew comparisons to the Steve Miller Band, but overall Diesel’s sound was much more akin to Cheap Trick (“Alibi”) and Big Star (“Bite Back”) to my ears. No matter the influences, Watts In A Tank is a power pop classic that has been out of print on CD for way too long. All aboard!
Diesel: Watts In A Tank
Regency Records, 1981
1. “Sausalito Summernight” (Boon/Vunderink)
2. “Goin’ Back To China” (Koopman)
3. “Alibi” (Boon/Vunderink)
4. “My Kind Of Woman” (Koopman)
5. “All Because Of You” (Boon/Vunderink)
6. “Down In The Silvermine” (Boon/Vunderink)
7. “Good Mornin’, Day” (Boon/Vunderink/Koopman)
8. “Ready For Love” (Koopman)
9. “The Harness” (Boon/Vunderink)
10. “Remember The Romans” (Boon/Vunderink)
11. “Bite Back” (Koopman)
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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.
Steve Miller Band: “Rock ‘N Me” (Miller)
From the album Fly Like An Eagle
Capitol Records, 1976
Steve Miller Band: “Swingtown” (Miller/McCarty)
From the album Book Of Dreams
Capitol Records, 1977
Cheap Trick: “On The Radio” (Nielsen)
From the album Heaven Tonight
Epic Records, 1978
Big Star: “In The Street” (Bell/Chilton)
From the album #1 Record
Ardent Records, 1972
The Analog Kid 
It’s one of those songs that people instantly feel like they’ve known all their life but can’t recall the title (think Mike Nesmith’s “Crusing”). One of my favorite album titles, too.
Where has this blog been all my life? Excellent. It’s the only place I could find “Good Mornin’ Day” by Diesel on the entire interwebs. I can tell I’ll be hanging out here a bit. That late 70’s/early 80’s stuff is the best there ever was.
Thanks for the kind words, and welcome! I am really happy you found the site. Enjoy!!
Thanks
Why are some of the posts in this format and some have the little links? The links are better ; ) Thanks for pointing me toward this great band….I remember the song, but never knew the band.
When the blog started, I used the embedded player to avoid any *ahem* copyright issues. After a while, a bug popped up on WordPress and the embedded mp3s no longer appeared for my email subscribers, so I had no choice but to switch to the links (the ones with the *ahem* extra benefit). I’ve gone back and edited a number of those earlier entries so that they feature the link, but haven’t had time to do ALL of them. Let me know if there are any specific ones you’d like to see updated, and thanks for reading/listening!
And yes, obviously I have updated this particular post. Enjoy the Diesel!
I did figure out how to “use” both formats, but thanks for making it easier. : )
I just heard Sausalito Summer night last week on XM, 80’s channel. I hadn’t heard since it was on the radio. Even though it was cold I was singing along with the tune. It was Great! I downloaded it from Amazon as soon as I got to work. I do remember that I made sure when I went there to check out Sausalito. It was neat and had a wonderful dinner with my wife as the sun set in the bay. The song didn’t effect her like me, but she was amused how it effected me. I told her last week that I heard the song and we need to go out there again, which we haven’t been for awhile. You and who ever may have helped on the video did a bang up job!