Japan Reissue with 3 Bonus (CD Only)

RICH KIDS - GHOSTS OF PRINCES IN TOWERS (1978) (Japan 1996)

 

On the wake of the very interesting feature about the Rich Kids in the latest Shindig! (November, Issue 181), here's the sadly overlooked first and only album produced by Mick Rosnon. This japanese CD reissue adds 3 bonus tracks.

 

WU GHOSTS (362 mb)

The Rhino Anthology (CD Only)

THE dB's - RIDE THE WILD TOMTOM (1993)

 

The only dB's album not widely available on all the platforms, this Rhino edition is a collection of rehearsal tapes, demos, early single sides, and inside jokes. "Ride the Wild TomTom" is hardly a definitive portrait of The dB's. It includes early versions of "Soul Kiss," "Modern Boys & Girls," and "A Spy in the House of Love," Ride the Wild TomTom features a highly individual cover of The Grassroots' "Let's Live for Today," a commercial jingle for the East Coast music magazine New York Rocker and more. It might seem uneven but you can't ignore all the gems featured here.

 

WU TOMTOM (482 mb)

Another Excellent Tribute (Limited Edition CD Only)

STAND-INS FOR DECIBELS: A TRIBUTE TO THE dB's (2005)

 

The Paisley Pop Label has assembled a wide array of artists to pay tribute to the band and, more importantly, their pop gems. You'll hear some big names as Bill Lloyd, Lisa Mychols, Don Dixon, Steve Almaas, Evie Sands, Bobby Sutliff, Tim Lee and others.

The tribute was a limited edition of 1.000 and was enhanced with a video (low quality) of one of the songs but also two bonus mp3s (again low quality) but that Saving Graces bonus is an absolute lost gem.

 

WU STAND-INS (583 mb)

Flawless Power Pop (Never Reissued)

FOOLS FACES - TELL AMERICA (1981)

 

From 1981, here’s one of the finest new wave power pop albums you’ve never heard of, and you’re not alone.  "Tell America" was the second long-player from Springfield Missouri’s finest, Fools Face.  You might’ve heard of ‘em if you read Trouser Press or Creem back in the day – they shouted Fools Face from the rooftops but no one listened.  And no one bought.  So finding these original albums today is a whole lot harder than, say, the first two Knack albums and this is much better. If you dig those first two Knack albums, or the Shoes, or 20/20, Marshall Crenshaw, XTC and Elvis Costello for that matter, chances are you’ll really dig Fools Face. The album has so many lost power pop hits of the 80s but it's always better late than never.

WU AMERICA (302 mb)

Rare French Release (CD Only)

TIM LEE - THE NEW THRILL PARADE (1992)

 

"What Time Is Tell" (1988) is a terrific album and every tune is great. But perhaps even better is Tim's followup French only album "The New Thrill Parade".  In early 1989, Tim Lee went into the studio with Gene Holder (The dB's) to record "The New Thrill Parade" and it remained unreleased until french label New Rose issued this gem in 1992 and is today the most tricky item to find. Tim Lee remastered some parts of the album to include them on his anthology "All That Stuff (1983-1993)".

 

WU THRILL (285 mb)

The WB's without Bobby Sutliff (Never Reissued)

THE WINDBREAKERS - A DIFFERENT SORT...(1987)

 

After the excellent "Run" album (1986), Lee and Sutliff parted ways. While Bobby Sutliff released the wonderful "Only Ghosts Remain", Lee kept the Windbreakers name for the equally worthy "A Different Sort...", which he co-produced with Everett. The album offers another striking set of unsettling lyrics, powerful, inventive playing and production, and emotional singing. From the bells on "Knowing Me" through the affecting piano on "We Never Understand" to the pained roughness of "Forget Again," Lee demonstrates his multifarious talents and abundant creativity. Lee and Sutliff got back together in 1989 for the confident-sounding, smoothly crafted "At Home With Bobby and Tim". (Trouser Press)

WU SORT (224 mb)

The Last WB's Studio Album (CD Only)

THE WINDBREAKERS - ELECTRIC LANDLADY (1990)

 

Produced by Russ Tolman (ex-True West), Electric Landlady has some of the duo’s most immediate and resonant creations, played and sung with rare pop insight. Closing a circle of sorts, the Windbreakers do a new version of Sutliff’s “The Devil and the Sea,” a song which Tolman recorded on his '90 album "Goodbye Joe". As a bonus, the CD edition adds the Mitch Easter produced "Any Monkey With a Typewriter" 12" EP with Richard Barone of the Bongos as a guest star on the record.

 

WU WB'S (365 mb)

From Akron, OH (Never Reissued)

BIZARROS / RUBBER CITY REBELS - FROM AKRON (1977)

A split self-produced LP highly praised by rock critic Robert Christgau. Hailing from Afrom, the Rubber City Rebels delivered more than two decades of  blazing guitar and funny lyrics that share a sensibility with the first Dictators album. The Rebels' side of "From Akron" contains such ghastly/funny send-ups as "Brain Job" the infanticide-discouraging "Child Eaters".

Playing serious, intense, sometimes hypnotic rock with poetically inclined verbiage and pre-Gang of Four jabbing guitars, Bizarros music is strong and affecting. Their half of From Akron is pretty raw.

WU SPLIT LP (249 mb)

11 Covers (CD only)

JEFF DAHL - I WAS A TEENAGE GLAM-FAG VOL.1 (1998)

 

Jeff Dahl released his first volume of glam/punk covers as a limited fan-club-only CD of 500 copies.

 

WU VOL 1 (257 mb)

The EP from the Lost Last Album

THE LAST - FADE TO BLACK (1982)

 

One year after the "L.A Explosion" album, The Last were back in studio. During the first half of the year, the band recorded their second album, "Look Again". According to Joe Nolte, Bomp didn't want to finance another LP due to their poor financial status at the time. "Look Again" was self-financed, thanks mainly to manager Randall Wixen, and produced by Jo Julian of Berlin. The band felt confident that they could get a major record deal with Look Again. It was never released. During the "Look Again" sessions , a new song "Fade To Black" was recorded. Vitus had written a song called "Eight After One" in March '79, and when in early 1980 The Last were approached to do a title song for the upcoming Dennis Christopher film "Fade To Black". They also were filmed for the movie "Fade To Black". A movie to be seen, reissued on DVD (you even can hear a song of the "Shoes" in the background). Unfortunately, they ditched the song, and cut "The Last" scene out, so the song languished till Bomp put it out as a 12 inch in '82. with three songs from the "Look Again" album which was finally released in 2020.

WU FADE (80 mb)

Catchy Guitar-driven Pop (Expanded 1999) (CD Only)

STARJETS - GODBLESS THE STARJETS (1979)

 

Hailing from Belfast, seventy miles away from Derry, hometown of The Undertones, the Starjets released one album "Godbless The Starjets", and had a hit with "War Stories", but the album failed to achieve any success, and as usual this was the end of the band but the beginning of a cult status. In 1999 Captain Oi reissued the album with all of the group's non-LP singles. A perfect purchase, now hard to find.  The album has never been reissued since and is not available on any major platform.

The band name reappeared duuring lockdown 2020 when Billie Joe Armstrong recorded a cover of "War Stories" for his album of favourite songs "No Fun Mondays".

 

WU STARJETS (561 mb)

Power Pop Glam (German CD Only)

THE BLONDES - SUMMER STRUT (2002)

 

When The Blondes formed back in 1998, they weren’t called the Blondes. They were called “Eagle”, and they released a 7-song CD with an L.A. label called Shipwrecords (all of which are available on their first album "The Blondes"). Don Henley of the Eagles wasn’t too happy with this and threatened to sue other people with the flick of a gold pen. Eagle - or, pardon me, The Blondes received a cease and desist letter, and they had to take all the CDs out of all the stores in L.A. The same year they released their second and final album, a top-notch hard-edged glam rock, with more hooks than a box of fishing tackle.

In 2003, as both of The Blondes albums had been released only in Germany, Teenacide Records made a best of the first two albums for the USA, "Swedish Heat" which was ranked #147 in the "The Ultimate Power Pop Guide".

 

WU SUMMER (221 mb)