Ray Brandes' Masterpiece (CD Only)

RAY BRANDES - CONTINENTAL DRIFTER (1998)

 

The Tell Tale Hearts disbanded in 1987. Ray's folk-rock group "The Town Criers" developed a solid reputation as a San Diego club band. Following a short European tour with the San Diego power pop group "The Shambles", of which he was a member, Ray began recording songs with Spun Records which became the nucleus of his first solo album, "The Lonely Sock".

In 1999, Ray Brandes signed a contract with Madrid's Snap!! label, for which he has recorded his second and widely anticipated second solo CD, "Continental Drifter". The album garnered critical acclaim in both the United States and in Europe, where it got a lot of radio play, particularly on Spain's largest national radio stations, Radio 3 and Radio Onda. "Continental Drifter" was nominated for a San Diego Music Award in the category of Best Pop Album of 1999, and was named by the San Diego Union as one of the top three pop albums of the 1990s. 

 

After some years as  advisory teacher at the San Diego MET high School on MESA college, Ray Brandes is now fronting the Mothmen with Ron Silva (Crawdaddys, Nashville Ramblers), Pete Miesner (Crawdaddys, Tell-Tale Hearts), Chris Davies (The Penetrators), Mark Boyce (The Three 4 Tens) and Craig Packham (The Unknowns, Tell-Tale Hearrs)

WU DRIFTER (310 mb)

Garage Rock from San Diego (A French Collection)

THE TELL-TALE HEARTS - THE TELL-TALE HEARTS (1986)

 

Around 1982, Ray Brandes founded the Tell-Tale Hearts, a 1960s-influenced punk/rhythm and blues band, with Calhoun and Klowden, alongside Mike Stax (later of the Loons/the Hoods) and Eric Bacher.
Considered among the leaders of the garage-rock movement, the group even appeared in People magazine, but surprisingly, save for a short jaunt to Springfield, Missouri, they never toured. They did, however, sign with Voxx Records, though the later '80s saw the original line-up of the group splitting. The french LP almost collects ("Everything I've Got To Give" is missing) the first two Voxx mini albums ("The Tell Tale Hearts" (85) and "The Now Sound Of The Tell Tale Hearts" (86), some of those tracks are available on the remastered "High Tide (Big Noses & Pizza Faces) Anthology 83-86" of the band released in 1994. A definitive anthology "Nevermore" was finally available in 2025.

WU TELL (257 mb)

Tim 1st Solo LP (Never Reissued)

TIM LEE - WHAT TIME WILL TELL (1988)

 

After "Different Sort" (1987) and with a little help from members of Let's Active, the Bongos and the Wygals, Tim Lee comes up with another winner. His first actual solo album, produced by Gene Holder (The dB's and Wygals), offers sparkling, occasionally beautiful guitar pop and richly resonant lyrics about romance and life (mentioning religion a bunch of times) in the South. Trimming his tendency to experiment, Lee plays his songs (and one by Faye Hunter) with straightforward arrangements and evident craft. Lee's second Holder-produced album, "The New Thrill Parade", went unheard until New Rose issued it a few years later. The original "What Time Will Tell" has never been reissued on CD, but the 1995 "All That Stuff" double-CD compilation remixed five songs from "What Time Will Tell".

WU TIME (273 mb)

Matt Piucci & Tim Lee Collaboration (Never Reissued)

GONE FISHIN' - MATT PIUCCI & TIM LEE

CAN'T GET LOST WHEN YOU'RE GOIN' NOWHERE (1986)

 

A Bucketfull of Brains review by Chris Horn (1986):
"The Piucci / Lee collaboration is everything expected of them and more. All embellishments have been restricted to a bare minimum and the emphasis is on the song, the guitar and the voice, all three remarkable in their power and sublety. The individual styles of Matt and Tim are evenly and distinctly divided but the overall standard is such that no criticism, that they have not blended their sound more noticeably, can be afforded."

For the ones who'd like to know, the album was produced by ELP aka Everett, Lee & Piucci.

WU FISHIN (268 mb)

Chattanooga Pop (Don Dixon Producer) (Never Reissued)

37 TARGETZ - WATER FROM THE MOON (1986)

 

Fronted by Geoff Darden who wrote most of the songs, 37 Targetz were from Chattanooga and released "...And It Burns" in 1985, it was then licensed to Music Action in France and issued as "Water From The Moon" (1986). The band was mainly a covers band who played a lot of frat gigs and saved up enough money to hire Don Dixon to produce the record of their originals, plus a cover of "Ring Of Fire". They also won an MTV Basement Tapes contest during this period and went on an extended European tour only to come back a few months later to discover several record label deals languishing on their answering machines. Fame narrowly averted!. The drummer ended up moving back to Germany and became part of a group called TASS (The Apple and Snake Sensation), The keyboard player ended up losing his mind. The bass player and Geoff Darden had a band in the 90's called Mouth Full of Bees.

WU 37 (223 mb)

The Big Bang Theory Saved The World (Never Reissued)

 THE FLESHTONES PRESENT

TIME BOMB: THE BIG BANG THEORY (1988)

 

The "Time Bomb" compilation was only released in three countries:  France (New Rose), USA (Skyclad) and Greece (Hitch-Hike). It has never been available  in CD format. It features variously permutated side projects by Fleshtones and their pals, along with non-LP tracks from the band proper. Love Delegation, Full Time Men, Action Combo, Cryin’ Out Loud, Mad Violets and Wild Hyenas all toss in OK cuts, but the disc really catches fire on the Action Dogs’ sizzling “I Can’t Get Through to You,” starring Peter Case + The Plimsouls, and the mothergroup’s “I Was a Teenage Zombie,” from the film of the same name.

WU THEORY (285 mb)

Comboland Tradition, NC (Never Reissued)

THREE HITS - FIRE IN THE HOUSE (1989)

 

Hailing from Raleigh, NC, the Three Hits (then Sheila Valentine, Michael Kurtz,, Jim Biddell and Danny Kurtz) were part of the "Comboland" report (1985) featuring 17 of North Carolina's hottest acts. They released two singles (Sharp Focus and Pressure Dome). In 1989, Sheila Valentine, Michael Kurtz and three new members Jeff Anderson, Lori Toth, Freddy Jones released Fire In The House and proved they still kept the "Comboland" tradition of quality indie pop-rock alive. Production duties were split, but a couple of songs were produced by ex-Records / The Monks / Magic Muscle Huw Gower. The sound was suitably clean and bright. They were featured on "Strum & Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987" released in 2020.

WU HITS (206 mb)

Original Ork 7" (Second Pressing DRC Runouts)

TELEVISION - LITTLE JOHNNY JEWEL (1975)

 

Recorded August 19th, 1975 on a 4-track tape machine,
Richard Lloyd apparently disagreed with the selection of this song, preferring the never-released "O Mi Amore" for their debut, to the extent that he seriously considered leaving the band. The 7" came in a plain white die-cut paper sleeve.

WU ORK (52 mb)

Self-released 1st single (Test Pressing)

GENERATION X - YOUR GENERATION (1977)

 

Test Pressing released by the band. White label 1000 copies.

The versions are different from the regular single.

WU GEN X (42 mb)

Original LP Mix (Never Reissued) vs Edited CD Remix

RICHARD X. HEYMAN - LIVING ROOM !!

LP EDITION (1988) vs CD EDITION (Edited Remix) (1990)

 

Richard entitled his classic self-produced 14-song LP "Living Room!!" in honor of the studio where it was recorded -- in engineer Nick DiFabbio's living room.

Richard opened the album with dialogue from the movie "The Trip" starring Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern. (Bruce Dern asks Peter Fonda: "You want to go over the bridge, back into the living room?" to which Fonda responds, "Yeah, the living room...the living ROOM!") Dialogue from "Born Yesterday" leads into "Union County Line" wherein Broderick Crawford's character talks about his hometown of Plainfield, New Jersey -- also Richard's hometown. (All segues were deleted for the re-release.)

On the home-made Living Room!! Heyman realizes an undated collection of tuneful styles in shapely songs that favor subtlety rather than eccentricity. (After its initial release, the album was remixed and minorly resequenced for reissue inside a new cover.)

In 1989, Rolling Stone gave "Living Room!!" a glowing review, describing Richard as "an undiscovered treasure", leading to Richard's signing with Cypress/A&M Records, who re-released the album in 1990.

WU LP EDITION (333 mb)

WU CD EDITION (336 mb)

The Original Fan Club Cassette (Never Fully Reissued)

THE LONG RYDERS - METALLIC B.O. (Fan Club Cassette) (1989)

 

Originally "Metallic B.O." was an official fan club limited edition cassette release, superbly packaged with a fold out sleeve with full notes and comments on all the tracks. 90 minute chrome cassette with 18 songs plus loads of extra treats (interview snips and bits 'n' pieces fully detailed).

Fan club guru, Rick Gershon compiled this compendium of live tracks, out takes and snippets of radio interviews. The original 86 minute release was edited for CD reissue (with a different artwork) by omission of "Is Anybody Going to San Antone," "I Want You Bad," "What Goes On" and "Greenville Trestle." Now officially out of print. Shame!

 

This was originally posted around 2011 on PPC in mp3 format only, so this is the first time it is shared in lossless.

WU CASSETTE (575 mb) 

 

The TONT Volume That Never Was (PPA Exclusive)

 BACK TO THE TRIBUTES (2026)

TRIBUTES OR NOT TRIBUTES VOL 19 (1974-1982)

 

At last, here's the TONT volume that i'd never completed some years ago, and again it was a special "Back To The Tributes" focusing on the 70s and early 80s.

All previous volumes 1 to 22 are still available here.

and just like Johnny Ramone used to say:

"Go back and learn the history.

Go back to the beginning of rock 'n'roll

and listen to everything that went down".

 

WU NINETEEN (530 mb)

 or

WU VOLUME 19 (192 mb)

 

click below to explore the updated archives

TRIBUTES SHEET 2006-2026

1082 covers (only two duplicates)

Over 3 Hours of Powerpop (1964-2024) (PPA Exclusive)

VARIOUS - SIXTY YEARS OF POWERPOP (1964-2024)

 

In 2024, Jon "Mojo" Mills compiled a playlist for Shindig! to celebrate the jangling pop of The Beatles and The Searchers that opened a doorway for a stylistic that would continue to endure and develop until today. Jon Mills culled 60 tracks from 1964 up to 2024 with the most famous names of the genre but also some lesser known acts. This small feature about powerpop could be read in Shindig #148 (September 2024). 

 

I made a complete set of artwork for this excellent collection that i really enjoyed, even though i already knew all the songs included here. There was only one mistake as Jon Mills tagged "Walking out On Love" by The Nerves instead of The Breakaways (which featured only Peter Case and Paul Collins).

 

WU SIXTY YEARS (1.26 gb)

WU POWERPOP (451 mb)

The Final Part of the PPC/PPA Compilations (over 205 between 2006 and 2026)

SOME SOUNDALIKES, SOMETIMES THEY SOUND LIKE (2010)

Back in 2010, the purpose of this large collection was to try to show how some bands had something in common, the love and respect for their famous forerunners. So instead of covering some classic tunes, they wrote original songs, mixed and produced them in the spirit of the bands they admired.

In the following years, i expanded the concept with the ELO-ISH, Byrdsian, Beatlesque, Brian Wilsonesque or even Glam & Glitter compilations, so you won't be surprized to find some songs here that were also used for those collections. Enjoy.

 

WU SOUNDALIKES (1.15 gb)

The Rockford Tribute (PPA Exclusive)

AN UNAUTHORIZED TRIBUTE TO CHEAP TRICK (2009)

 

Back in 2009, i compiled these songs as a tribute to Cheap Trick for PPC, because there was no real power pop tribute (of course there were a few ones i wouldn't tag as Power Pop). Since then, an excellent 2CD tribute has been released  on the australian label Zero Hour: "Never Surender" (2015).

 

WU LOOK OUT (593 mb)

Two Volumes To Remember (PPA Exclusive Courtesy of PPC)

SONGS TO REMEMBER Vol 1 & 2 (2013 & 2020)

 

I compiled the first volume in 2013, then i added a second volume 90 months later. The idea was to show how some of our favorite artists could pay tribute to some of their (our) heroes. A third volume was added 2 years later in 2022, still available here.

 

WU VOL 1 (569 mb)

WU VOL 2 (568 mb)

Expanded Edition of the 2011 PPC Collection (PPA Exclusive)

VARIOUS - THE BEST OF DO YA (2026)

 

"Do Ya" was voted as an all-time Power Pop song by Greg Shaw in his seminal Power Pop issue of March 1978.

"Do Ya" is unique in that Jeff Lynne first recorded it as a member of The Move for the B-side of their "California Man" single, then a little less than five years later he recorded it again for ELO on their "A New World Record" album. Although this was the last song by The Move, Jeff Lynne kept the song alive by placing it into the live set of ELO before recording it again in 1976

 

First posted on PPC in 2011, this is a slightly  expanded version with 2 brand new covers. Artwork has been updated.

 

WU LOOK OUT BABY (594 mb)

The PPA Tribute to Stiff (PPA Exclusive)

IF IT AIN'T STIFF, IT AIN'T WORTH A PPA TRIBUTE (2026)

 

After the american and spanish tributes to Stiff Records, here's my own tribute to a label i really loved (specially the first years and as Nick Lowe did sing back then). Only two artists (with different songs) from the aforementioned tributes are featured on this exclusive collection.

 

WU PPA STIFF (529 mb)