January 11, 2016

The Lost Boys: Hard-To-Find ’80s Albums (David Bowie’s “Changestwobowie”)

“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!

 

Bowie DJ

 

I had a very bad day yesterday. I had a delicious bacon-and-eggs breakfast with my in-laws in Austin, but I paid the price for the next few hours thanks to the worst case of heartburn you could possibly imagine. On our way back to Dallas later in the afternoon, the transmission on my car locked up and we barely made it home (let’s not even discuss what the repair is going to cost!). I then spent the evening watching a bunch of Hollywood assholes jerk each other off– what a joy! After my wife went to bed, I poured myself a nice glass of bourbon and settled in to watch a few episodes of my newest Netflix addiction (how had I never seen The West Wing before last week?). I was finally going to relax and try to forget about my bad day.

And then David Bowie died. And that’s about all I have to say about that.

Changestwobowie was a compilation album released in 1981 by RCA Records. It contained Bowie’s hit singles released after 1976’s Changesbowie best-of, and also featured some songs from his earlier years that didn’t make the cut for volume one. Changestwobowie was released briefly on CD in the mid-’80s, but it went out of print after Bowie’s catalog moved from RCA to Rykodisc and has never been reissued. I spent this afternoon mourning his loss by listening to many of my vintage Bowie LPs, and in the process I created a new 320 kbps vinyl rip of my original copy of Changestwobowie. There are a few tracks on the album that I had forgotten about over the years (check out the almost-disco remake version of “John I’m Only Dancing!”), and listening to it made me smile and feel a little bit better. Thank you, David, for all of the incredible music you created over the past fifty years. I didn’t always love everything that you released, but I loved that you never stopped changing…

 

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky

We know Major Tom’s a junkie.

 

Changestwobowie 1

David Bowie: Changestwobowie

RCA Records, 1981

320 kbps vinyl rip courtesy of The Analog Kid

 

1. “Aladdin Sane (1913-1973-197?)” (David Bowie/Mann/Weil/Leiber/Stoller)

Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)

2. “Oh! You Pretty Things” (David Bowie)

Oh! You Pretty Things

3. “Starman” (David Bowie)

Starman

4. “1984” (David Bowie)

1984

5. “Ashes To Ashes” [7″ Version] (David Bowie)

Ashes To Ashes [7″ Version]

6. “Sound And Vision” (David Bowie)

Sound And Vision

7. “Fashion” [7″ Version] (David Bowie)

Fashion [7″ Version]

8. “Wild Is The Wind” (Dimitri Tiomkin/Ned Washington)

Wild Is The Wind

9. “John I’m Only Dancing (Again) 1975” (David Bowie)

John I’m Only Dancing (Again) 1975

10. “D.J.” [7″ Version] (David Bowie/Brian Eno/Carlos Alomar)

D.J. [7″ Version]

______________________________________________________________

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.

 

Hunky Dory

David Bowie: “Changes” (David Bowie)

From the album Hunky Dory

RCA Records, 1971

Changes

Posted by on January 11, 2016 in Alternative, Pop, Rock and tagged , , , , , , .

3 Comments

January 7, 2016

45 RPM: Tears For Fears’ “Sowing The Seeds Of Love” [German 7″]

Here’s your ticket to some of the best (or, perhaps, most infamous) 7″ singles ever released! No adapter is required, although in my opinion the device pictured below is right up there with Hostess Ding Dongs (but only when they were wrapped in tin foil!) as one of the best inventions of the 20th century.

45_adapter

 

Tears For Fears

I can still remember the very first time I heard “Sowing The Seeds Of Love.” It was during the summer of 1989, and (of course) it was on 94.5 The Edge. The song came on without introduction, but it didn’t need one– I knew instantly that I was finally hearing new music from Tears For Fears. It had been more than four years since the release of Songs From The Big Chair, which of course was an eternity back then. I was a senior in high school when Big Chair came out, and now I was about to be (sort of, for the most part, practically but maybe still needing a few more credit hours) a senior in college. A lot had changed in that time, but I still knew Tears For Fears when I heard them.

Of course, “Sowing The Seeds Of Love” did not disappoint (the song or the album)– despite its retro-Beatles vibe (especially during the middle section), the song still sounded fresh and new. MTV played the gorgeous video to death, the single hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100…and then the band basically broke up. Curt Smith left Tears For Fears, and it would be another three years before Roland Orzabal returned with new music under the Tears For Fears name. And when he did, it was with a remade version of a song that was originally released as the b-side of the “Sowing The Seeds Of Love” 45. The original 1989 release was entitled “Tears Roll Down,” and the updated 1992 version (now called “Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down”) reached #17 in the U.K. Come to think of it, the first time I heard “Laid So Low” was also on 94.5 The Edge– and once again, I had absolutely no doubt who I was listening to…

 

Note: Roland and Curt have been back together as Tears For Fears for a long time now, and are currently working on a new record. The Edge isn’t around to play their music any longer, but I’m sure the fact that there will soon be a new Tears For Fears album makes George Gimarc very happy– wherever he may be…

 

Sowing The Seeds Of Love [German 7_]

Tears For Fears: Sowing The Seeds Of Love [German 7″]

Fontana Records, 1989

 

A-side:  “Sowing The Seeds Of Love” [7″ Version] (Roland Orzabal/Curt Smith)

Sowing The Seeds Of Love [7″ Version]

B-side: “Tears Roll Down” (Roland Orzabal/David Bascombe)

Tears Roll Down

____________________________________________________

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.

 

Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92)

Tears For Fears: “Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down)

From the album Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92)

Mercury Records, 1992

Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down)

 

Shout [U.S. Promo 12_]

Tears For Fears: “Shout [Acapella]” (Roland Orzabal/Ian Stanley)

Taken from the U.S. promo-only 12″ Shout

Original version from the album Songs From The Big Chair

Mercury Records, 1985

Shout [Acapella]

Posted by on January 7, 2016 in Alternative, New Wave, Pop, Rock and tagged , , , , , , , .

Leave a comment

January 6, 2016

The Lost Boys: Hard-To-Find ’80s Albums (“Heyday” By The Church)

“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!

 

church

I was introduced to The Church by my dear friend Curtis during my sophomore year at UT in the spring of 1987. The Cult had just released the Electric album, and Curtis bought the vinyl the day it was released. After a few weeks of non-stop “Wildflower”-ing, I was anxious to hear more from this “new” (to me, anyways) band. Curtis then let me borrow his home-taped cassette copy of Love, which of course absolutely blew me away– in fact, I still cite Love as one of all-time Top 10 albums. I played that tape constantly for a few weeks, and every now and then I’d flip the cassette over and play side two. The album on side two of Curtis’ tape was The Church’s Heyday.

Heyday didn’t blow me away on first listen the way Love did, but I was definitely intrigued by the psychedelic sound of the record. I finally had to give the cassette back to Curtis, and I kinda/sorta forgot about The Church for a little while. Actually, it was a very little while: Starfish came out less than two years later, and that classic record made me a fan of The Church for life. I still buy each and every one of their albums, and my signed LP copy of Starfish (acquired in person after one of the band’s rare Dallas gigs) is one of my most-prized possessions.

I finally bought my own copy of Heyday on CD in the late ’80s, and it has since become my favorite album from The Church (The Blurred Crusade is a close second). I still have that same CD copy, and it’s a good thing that I do– it’s out of print now, and the cheapest used copies sell on Amazon in excess of $50. You can’t even download Heyday on Amazon or in the iTunes store, and that fact saddens me. How can one of my all-time favorite records be completely out of print in North America? I didn’t realize that Heyday was so hard to find until this morning, so there was only one thing to do: rip a new 320 kbps copy of my CD and start blogging. I even ripped new high-quality copies of the b-sides from the singles off the album, and you can find those vinyl rips in the bonus tracks.

Curtis isn’t with us anymore, but I still think of him during many unguarded moments. I think of him when I see paisley shirts. I think of him when I smell dope. I think of him when I do crossword puzzles. I think of him on the rare occasion that I stumble upon an L.A. Law reference. And I definitely think about him every time I listen to The Church.

 

Heyday 1

The Church: Heyday

Warner Bros. Records, 1986

 

1. “Myrrh” (Marty Willson-Piper/Peter Koppes/Richard Ploog/Steve Kilbey)

Myrrh

2. “Tristesse” (Marty Willson-Piper/Peter Koppes/Richard Ploog/Steve Kilbey)

Tristesse

3. “Already Yesterday” (Marty Willson-Piper/Peter Koppes/Richard Ploog/Steve Kilbey)

Already Yesterday

4. “Columbus” (Marty Willson-Piper/Peter Koppes/Richard Ploog/Steve Kilbey)

Columbus

5. “Happy Hunting Ground” (Marty Willson-Piper/Peter Koppes/Richard Ploog/Steve Kilbey)

Happy Hunting Ground

6. “Tantalized” (Marty Willson-Piper/Peter Koppes/Richard Ploog/Steve Kilbey)

Tantalized

7. “Disenchanted” (Steve Kilbey)

Disenchanted

8. “Night Of Light” (Marty Willson-Piper/Peter Koppes/Richard Ploog/Steve Kilbey)

Night Of Light

9. “Youth Worshipper” (Steve Kilbey/Karin Jansson)

Youth Worshipper

10. “Roman” (Marty Willson-Piper/Peter Koppes/Richard Ploog/Steve Kilbey)

Roman

____________________________________________________

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.

 

Electric

The Cult: “Wildflower” (Ian Astbury/Billy Duffy)

From the album Electric

Sire Records, 1987

Wild Flower

 

Love 1

The Cult: “Hollow Man” (Ian Astbury/Billy Duffy)

From the album Love

Sire Records, 1985

Hollow Man

 

The Blurred Crusade

The Church: “When You Were Mine” (Steve Kilbey)

From the album The Blurred Crusade

Arista Records, 1982

When You Were Mine

 

The Church_ Singles & B-Sides 1

The Church: “The View” (Marty Willson-Piper)

B-side of the U.K. 7″ Tantalized

EMI Records, 1986

Vinyl rip courtesy of The Analog Kid

The View

 

The Church_ Singles & B-Sides 2

The Church: “Trance Ending” (The Church)

B-side of the Australian 7″ Columbus

Parlophone Records, 1986

Vinyl rip courtesy of The Analog Kid

Trance Ending

 

The Church_ Singles & B-Sides

The Church: “As You Will” (Peter Koppes)

B-side of the Australian 7″ Already Yesterday

Parlophone Records, 1985

Vinyl rip courtesy of The Analog Kid

As You Will

 

Starfish

The Church: “Destination” (The Church)

From the album Starfish

Arista Records, 1988

Destination

 

Of Skins And Heart

The Church: “The Unguarded Moment” (Steve Kilbey)

From the album Of Skins And Heart

Parlophone Records, 1981

The Unguarded Moment

 

 

Posted by on January 6, 2016 in Alternative, New Wave, Rock and tagged , , , , , , .

Leave a comment

January 5, 2016

Groovy Tuesday: Andrea True Connection’s “White Witch”

It’s Tuesday, and that means it’s time for The Analog Kid Blog to go back in time and feature some of the funkin’ grooviest R&B/soul songs of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. Sometimes I’ll feature songs from individual artists or from a specific year, and other times you’ll get an entire full-length classic LP ripped directly from the Analog Kid’s vast vinyl vault. Warning: by R&B/soul, I also mean disco. I might go all  KC & The Sunshine Band on your ass at any given moment, so just be ready!

 

True

The Analog Kid owns almost 6,000 LPs, but there has always been a big hole in my collection that I have been longing to fill for years: somehow, I’ve never acquired any albums from the Andrea True Connection. And believe me, I’ve been looking! I had a 7″ copy of “More, More, More” when I was nine, and I’ve always been fascinated by the band (and this was before I knew anything about Andrea’s alternate profession!). Every time I go into a used record shop, I look under “A,” and then I look under “T,” and then I even look under “C” for anything by the band. Nada. Diddly. Bupkis.

All of that changed yesterday when I made my weekly pilgrimage to my local Half Price Books store. As always, I looked under “A”– somebody recently sold back a metric shit-ton of Atlanta Rhythm Section LPs, but there was no Andrea True. I looked under “T”– damn, who bought all of this James Taylor crap in the first place? I even looked under “C” again, even though I know that seems to make no sense (more on that in a moment). I gave up on finding any Andrea True vinyl, and instead made my way over to the $1 CD section. Hey, a $1 copy of Big Black’s Songs About Fucking! One hundred pennies for Bon Jovi’s first album! Two fifty-cent pieces for Funhouse by The Stooges!

My day had already been a successful one thanks to my CD score (there may also have been a $1 copy of Barbra Streisand’s People in my haul, but I’ll never tell), but now I had to get in the dreaded Half Price Books checkout line. This particular HPB location is always packed, and the line was even longer than normal.

“No problem,” I thought. “I’ll just browse through some more vinyl until the line clears out.”

And then a miracle happened while I was randomly flipping through the “W” section– behold!!

 

White Witch [320 kbps]

It was a copy of 1977’s White Witch, the second album from Andrea True Connection. Would I have preferred a mint copy of More, More, More in place of its semi-obscure follow-up? Of course I would. But I certainly wasn’t going to complain about stumbling upon a super-rare piece of vintage vinyl, especially since it was filed in the “W” section. Perhaps now you see why I always look in the “C” section when searching for Andrea True Connection vinyl– the guy who files the records at my local Half Price Books seems to struggle just a bit with proper categorization. I can only assume that he filed the record under “W” because he thought the band was called White Witch, which would be OK except for the fact that he also apparently thought the name of the album was The Andrea True Connection. No wonder this yo-yo puts $14.99 price tags on cut-out copies of Stop And Smell The Roses— he’s clearly not the brightest star in the Half Price Books universe. I present further evidence: after finding the copy of White Witch, I noticed that there was a beautiful copy of Paul McCartney & Wings’ Venus And Mars filed right at the front of the miscellaneous “V” section. <SIGH>

Anal-retentive filing issues aside (and yes, I relocated Venus And Mars to its proper location before checkout), I was thrilled to finally fill a portion of my Andrea True Connection hole. I ripped the LP last night, and today I am happy to share it with you on this grooviest of Tuesdays. Most people think of the Andrea True Connection as a one-hit wonder led by a porn star, but that’s not really the case: “N.Y. You Got Me Dancing” reached #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977, and “What’s Your Name, What’s Your Number” was a minor hit as well.

But yeah, Andrea was a porn star. I swear that I did not own any of her work in that particular field when I was nine. Honest. I promise!

Next week, I’ll likely continue my quest for that long-sought vinyl copy of More, More, More. I think I’ll start by looking under “M”…

 

White Witch [320 kbps]

Andrea True Connection: White Witch

Buddah Records, 1977

Vinyl rip courtesy of The Analog Kid

 

1. “What’s Your Name, What’s Your Number” (Roger Cook/Bobby Woods)

What’s Your Name, What’s Your Number

2. “You Make Love Worthwhile” (Robert Brown/Doug Cosman)

You Make Love Worthwhile

3. “Life Is What You Make It” (Alvin Fields/Michael Zager)

Life Is What You Make It

4. “It’s All Up To You” (Alvin Fields/Michael Zager)

It’s All Up To You

5. “N.Y. You Got Me Dancing” (Gregg Diamond)

N.Y. You Got Me Dancing

6. “White Witch” (Andrea True/Val Burke)

White Witch

7. “Sally Can’t Dance” (Lou Reed)

Sally Can’t Dance

________________________________________________________

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.

 

More, More, More

Andrea True Connection: “More, More, More” (Gregg Diamond)

From the album More, More, More

Buddah Records, 1976

More, More, More

 

A Rock And Roll Alternative

Atlanta Rhythm Section: “So Into You” (Buie/Duaghtry/Nix)

From the album A Rock And Roll Alternative

Polydor Records, 1976

So Into You

 

JT

James Taylor: “Handy Man” (Blackwell/Jones)

From the album JT

Columbia Records, 1977

Handy Man

 

Songs About Fucking

Big Black: “The Model” (Karl Bartos/Ralf Hutter/Emil Schult)

From the album Songs About Fucking

Touch And Go Records, 1987

The Model

 

Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi: “She Don’t Know Me” (Bon Jovi)

From the album Bon Jovi

Mercury Records, 1984

She Don’t Know Me

 

Fun House

The Stooges: “Down On The Street” (The Stooges)

From the album Fun House

Elektra Records, 1970

Down On The Street

 

People

Barbra Streisand: “People” (Bob Merrill/Julie Styne)

From the album People

Columbia Records, 1964

People

 

Stop And Smell The Roses

Ringo Starr: “Wrack My Brain” (George Harrison)

From the album Stop And Smell The Roses

Boardwalk Records, 1981

Wrack My Brain

 

Venus And Mars

Wings: “Letting Go” (Paul & Linda McCartney)

From the album Venus And Mars

Capitol Records, 1976

Letting Go

 

 

Posted by on January 5, 2016 in Disco, One-Hit Wonders, Pop, Punk, Rock, Soul/R&B and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Leave a comment

January 4, 2016

The Lost Boys: Hard-To-Find ’80s Albums (“Clocks”)

“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!

 

Clocks

You don’t remember Clocks? I can’t really blame you– after all, the group only made one album before drifting into an obscure music realm that only a true vinyl dork like The Analog Kid would ever choose to inhabit. That album was their self-titled 1982 debut, and Clocks turned out to be a really good slice of early ’80s new wave/rock.

There was actually one song on Clocks that received a decent amount of airplay on my local Dallas radio stations: the very Cars-like “She Looks A Lot Like You.” I also recall seeing the video on MTV a few times, but the band quickly faded away and never released a follow-up album. Perhaps the group’s disappearance had something to do with a gig in which Clocks were asked to open for Black Sabbath, and subsequently pelted with a barrage of loose change and beer. Hey, at least they made some extra coin…

Clocks was finally released on CD in 2009 by Renaissance Records, but the supposed remaster doesn’t sound anywhere near as good as my original vinyl copy. You can check out a brand-new vinyl rip of that album below– hope you enjoy it!

 

Clocks

Clocks: Clocks

Boulevard Records, 1982

Vinyl rip courtesy of The Analog Kid

 

1. “She Looks A Lot Like You” (Steve Swaim)

She Looks A Lot Like You

2. “Here They Come” (Steve Swaim)

Here They Come

3. “19” (Steve Swaim/Jeffrey Sumner)

19

4. “Without You” (Steve Swaim)

Without You

5. “Nobody’s Fool” (Steve Swaim)

Nobody’s Fool

6. “When She Puts You Down” (Steve Swaim)

When She Puts You Down

7. “Someone (Not Me)” (Steve Swaim)

Someone (Not Me)

8. “When Will I See You Again” (Steve Swaim)

When Will I See You Again

9. “Summer” (Steve Swaim)

Summer

10. “Feeling This Way” (Jerry Sumner)

Feeling This Way

________________________________________________________

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.

 

Candy-O 1

The Cars: “Let’s Go” (Ric Ocasek)

From the album Candy-O

Elektra Records, 1979

Let’s Go

 

Heaven And Hell

Black Sabbath: “Heaven And Hell” (Black Sabbath)

From the album Heaven And Hell

Warner Bros. Records, 1980

Heaven And Hell

Posted by on January 4, 2016 in New Wave, One-Hit Wonders, Rock and tagged , , , , , , , , .

1 Comment