Recently I found myself in the city of Mentor for work. There used to be a decent indie shop named Ultrasound there and I figured, in my spare time, I'd drive by and see if it was still there. Well, I didn't find Ultrasound but I did find a Record Den!
I don't know if Record Den was ever a national chain but it was at least state wide in Ohio and I remember shopping there as a kid. There were plenty of Record Den's in the malls and most had a good selection of records, but this store was incredible! Not since Westlake's dearly departed My Generation have I seen a store as loaded with well-priced CDs that actually represent a diverse collection of music, and the people there knew the answers to my questions! It was awesome! I ended up getting a sealed copy of the Miles Davis On The Corner box as well as the first two Crazy Horse albums!
The coolest find was their ridiculous selection of Warner cut-outs that they purchased en masse from their distributor. Greatest hits collections, deluxe Rhino Records box-sets, all kinds of goodness! I ended up purchasing the Just Say Sire compilation, covering the Sire label's punk and new wave years all the way to it's early nineties releases. It's a very nice package with three CDs and a DVD but, as nice as it is, I didn't feel it did a proper job of telling the story. For one thing, the set ignores the label's existence prior to the late seventies and the DVD has a rather limited selection of videos. None of the songs on the DVD appear on the CDs, and there are several glaring exceptions like M's Pop Muzik, the Pretenders' Brass In Pocket and Aphex Twin's Come To Daddy. On top of that, there are TONS of quotes from artists and people involved with the label, which sounds nice on paper, but there are so many quotes that it seems like they're patting themselves on the back.
Now don't get me wrong, it's a very nice compilation, just maybe a bit self-indulgent. That said, the powers that be at Sire may have done a better job over fifteen years ago, although that attempt was flawed too. In 1992, as volume six of Sire's Just Say Yes sampler series, Just Say Yesterday collected sixteen not-quite classics spanning the years 1977 to 1984. Several of these tracks have become legitimate classics in their own rights since the early nineties, but at the time of this compilation groups like the Normal, Plastic Bertrand and the Rezillos hadn't received their pop culture badges of honor quite yet. Overall, this makes Just Say Yesterday a great overview of early Sire releases that may not have become giant hits but should have been, and it's even better for leaving out the obvious hits that appeared along-side these great not-quites.
As great as this compilation is, it's missing practically any information about the artists and their songs beyond publishing and production info. There isn't even info as to what albums these songs may have been available on, which is odd since, at least until that point, the Just Say Yes comps were overflowing with information about the featured artists and their previous and forthcoming releases. The advent of the internet has made this task so much easier than it ever could have been in 1992, but there really should be no excuse for a label as notoriously diligent to researching their artists and sharing such details as Sire leaving this blank.
Anyway, regardless of the lack of information about the contained artists and releases, this is an awesome compilation and you should download it tout suite! I've also tried to give a little info about everything contained here but please forgive me as that's a lot of research to compile and I can't guarantee it's as complete as I'd like it to be. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy this post and I want to give a big shout-out to all the artists and people involved in the release of this compilation. It's releases like these that really inspired me to dig deeper in music in my teen years.
Just Say Yesterday: Vol. VI Of Just Say Yes
01 B-Movie - Nowhere Girl
B-Movie only had one album, 1985's Forever Running, but Nowhere Girl could be easily labeled a New Wave staple. With Graham Boffey on drums, Rick Holliday on keyboards, guitarist Paul Statham and singer Steve Hovington, the band formed in 1979, yet that album is the only document of their sound.
02 Tin Tin - Kiss Me
Stephen Duffy was a founding member of Duran Duran but left to go solo as Tin Tin. Odd career move, eh? Great song though, which was followed up with the 1984 album The Ups and Downs.
03 Tim Scott - Swear
I had a lot of difficulty researching Mr. Scott. Apparently his full name is Tim Scott McConnell and Swear later became a hit for Sheena Easton. You can get more info at his official site.
04 Blancmange - Don't Tell Me
Blancmange consisted of singer/guitarist Neil Arthur and keyboardist Stephen Luscombe. Don't Tell Me is from their second album, 1984's Mange Tout.
05 Madness - One Step Beyond...
The nutty boys themselves, Madness were a big name of the early eighties ska revival. One Step Beyond is from the 1979 album of the same name. You've gotta see the video!
06 Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi (This Life's For Me)
Plastic Bertrand is better known as Roger Jouret. A native of Belgium, he was the drummer for Hubble Bubble. Ca Plane Pour Moi is kind of a cross between the Beach Boys and the Ramones with apparently nonsensical French lyrics. Thoroughly unforgettable, this track eventually appeared on an album of the same name. What's not as widely known is that the backing track is identical to that of Jet Boy, Jet Girl, a song by the band Elton Motello. Jouret was involved with that song's creation, although it's still a bit odd how the backing track went on to be used for a completely new song. It's also worth noting that Jet Boy, Jet Girl had pretty raunchy lyrics about sexual relations between two boys when one leaves the other for a girl.
07 M - Pop Muzik
Robin Scott is M. M is catchy. Not much else to say. See their wikipedia reference if that disappoints you.
08 Specimen - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Who? What? Here.
09 Dead Boys - Caught With The Meat In Your Mouth
Glam punk snots from Cleveland whose debut album, Young, Loud & Snotty, is appropriately named. Expect sex, bad attitudes and VD and you have a good idea what you're getting into with the Dead Boys. Drugs and death lead to their end, but their debut and it's follow up, We Have Come For Your Children, are worthy of your attention.
10 Patti Smith - Piss Factory
I respect Patti Smith's works and give her credit for what she has done, especially in regards to Horses, but she's not a favorite of mine. Suffice it to say I'm probably a little prejudiced here as I get the impression most people know everything they need to know about Ms. Smith already, especially if they've heard Gloria, but if you're unfamiliar, be prepared for some slightly pretentious poetry reading and angry tone. Nice piano though which I'm assuming gets credited to Lenny Kaye's production. Okay, let's move away from Ms. Smith. Slowly, slowly...
11 The Rezillos - Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight
The Rezillos might be better known for their hit Top Of The Pops, but Kicked is just as memorable and also appeared on their album Can't Stand The Rezillos. Their style varied from song to song so don't expect them to sound as mean the next time you hear one of their jams. They broke up in 1978 but the album is still available and still a lot of fun.
12 Aztec Camera - Jump
Roddy Frame is essentially Aztec Camera. His songwriting has been compared to Elvis Costello but I don't know about the sound. Jump is a cover of the Van Halen classic. Yes, that Van Halen. It's VERY mellow compared to the original, so it might seem like a bit of a novelty, but it's actually a rather pretty take on the original.
13 The Bluebelles - Cath
Consisting of guitarist Robert "Bobby Bluebell" Hodgens, singer Kenneth McClusky, drummer Dave McClusky, guitarist Russell Irvin and bassist Lawrence Donegan, the Bluebelles were from Scotland and formed in 1980. They only had one full-length release, 1984's Sisters.
14 The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Noted by John Peel as his all time favorite song, the Undertones' Teenage Kicks is a certifiable classic! The band originated from Northern Ireland and released their eponymous debut in 1979. Definitely worth looking into a little further, that album and a career spanning compilation are still available.
15 Silicon Teens - Memphis Tennessee
Daniel Miller is the founder of Mute Records. Apart from that, he is probably best known for producing early Mute releases for bands like Depeche Mode, but he had his own musical intentions in the late seventies. The Silicon Teens were marketed as a group who covered a number of early rock n' roll records, but in reality is was purely Mr. Miller. They released one album, Music For Parties, which is a lot of fun.
16 The Normal - Warm Leatherette
Once again, Daniel Miller provides us with a minimal electronic classic, although this one is notably darker than his work as Silicon Teens. This was the A-Side of the Normal's only release, the Warm Leatherette single, which contained T.V.O.D. on the B-Side.
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