for the hallibut

This is the other mixtape I said I'd be posting. I'd been meaning to make a mix from the 45s that I got as a child, and I finally got around to it. A little explanation is in order regarding this mix though...

When I was five, after repeatedly telling my parents that I wanted to play the piano like my hero, Billy Joel, my father, then a meat cutter, purchased me a brand new upright Baldwin piano! I started taking lessons shortly thereafter and my mother, as an incentive to my good performance and regular practice, agreed to buy me a 45, now regularly known as a 7" single, after every good lesson. Over several years I acquired quite the collection of singles, almost all of which are still in my possession. With that said, there is a lot of stuff in there which isn't terribly rare or hard to find, but if you didn't know it existed would be difficult to procure, so I figured this would be a great excuse for me to put together this mix.

All of the tracks here were transferred from original US pressings. Apart from normalizing the tracks and clipping silence from the deadwax, I did almost no declicking or additional work on the tracks. That means there are a lot of clicks, pops and noises throughout these songs. I didn't want to remove any of those because they really captured the mood of my memories, although that does mean some of these recordings sound wretched.

So, please prepare yourself for my little trip down memory lane, one I hope others will also find intriguing. I've included stories about some of the tracks and information about the pressings, just in case anyone would find that interesting. Hope you enjoy!


for the hallibut

01 Taco - Puttin' On The Ritz
RCA PB-13574 1982
This is an awful pressing! It seems like a lot of RCA singles were awful pressings that were really noisy. This is one my brother wanted, although I'm not sure he'd admit it all these years later. I still like it, I just wish the record, and by that I mean the actual record, didn't sound like shit.

02 Irene Cara - Breakdance (Single Edit)
Geffen 7-29328 BCA 2645S 1983
Short version of a long story... I was sick and my father wanted to cheer me up by getting me a single. When he asked me what I wanted I tried to tell him to get Madonna's Borderline, but I either could remember her name or pronounce it correctly. He ended up getting me Breakdance. I told him it was the wrong song, but I liked it enough that I asked him not to return it. He ended up getting me Borderline later that day, but Breakdance has stuck with me all these years. Giorgio Moroder produced it and it still sounds cool all these years later. It also helps that most of my Geffen singles seem to have been really good pressings.

03 Bruce Springsteen - Pink Cadillac
Columbia 38-04463 ZSS 171722 1984
This is one my parents wanted. My parents have always been big fans of Bruce. The a-side is Dancing In The Dark, which is okay, but Pink Cadillac is the track. This got a lot of play on WMMS back in the day. Too bad the pressing is pretty mediocre. I apologise for the noise, but Bruce's Peter Gunn bassline overrides it nicely.

04 Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane
Elektra 7-69714 1984
I bought this because I loved the early eighties Elektra Records logo and artwork on their singles. Years later, I discovered it's a weird but catchy track. This one, despite not getting played very often, had something stuck in it's grooves. I cleaned it up but it still skipped a little, so I corrected it digitally. No one should notice, but I thought I'd mention it.

05 R.E.M. - Maps and Legends (Live)
I.R.S. IS-53171 MC23884 1987
Loved The One I Love when I heard it, but having not listened to it closely as a child I thought it was a love song. I got this single when I helped the widow of a local DJ clean up his collection. In return, she gave me a healthy collection of whatever records of his I wanted and one of his turntables. This is the b-side and it's credits make it read like it's from a bootleg, although the sound is pretty good. It's weird to remember that there was a time when R.E.M. were really and truly IT. Not just when they signed to Warner Bros. or put out Out Of Time, but when they were on I.R.S. and really focused on their craft. I really love the original version of Radio Free Europe but I don't have that single, so...

06 Buckner & Garcia - Pac-Man Fever
Columbia 18-02673 ZSS 169907 1981
Boy do I hate this song, but I love what it reminds me of. In my youth I was certainly a mini-otaku, as I was obsessed with Pac-Man. My mother got me Pac-Man story records at holidays and I watched the cartoons faithfully on Saturday mornings. Of course I also begged my folks for quarters every time I saw a Pac-Man machine. I have the full album too which is cool because when Buckner & Garcia reissued it years later they had to remove most of the original samples and replace them with soundalike recordings which simply aren't close enough to the originals. This has the original Pac-Man samples but I'll have to post the album eventually too, just for nostalgia's sake.

07 New Edition - Mr. Telephone Man
MCA MCA-52484 MC 16064 1980
My mom convinced me to get this one because Ray Parker, Jr., the creator of the infamous Ghostbusters theme song, produced it and it had a glowing phone, a la Ghostbusters, on the back cover. I didn't listen to it much at the time but I remember my mother liking it a lot. Eventually I realized how great this song is, although that doesn't explain how messed up my copy of this single is. MCA made good pressings of their singles so that doesn't have anything to do with it, and I tried to clean it up but I guess I couldn't get it clean enough. Sorry, great song though!

08 Kip Addotta - Wet Dream
Laff 023 1984
My father convinced me to get this one. I thought it was cute but didn't understand the humor. Now it's kinda lame, but I still have fond memories of it. This song is the source of this mixtape's name if you didn't get it. I don't know much about Kip Addotta but he does have an official website which you can reach here.

09 Men At Work - Till The Money Runs Out
Columbia 28-03795 ZSS 169250 1983
I think I got this at Best or Gold Circle back in the day as I think it was pre-shrinkwrapped if I remember correctly. Overkill was the a-side and it's not one of their better known songs. The b-side, the strange instrumental Till The Money Runs Out, deserves it's b-side status, although it always makes me think of a montage of early eighties footage on VH1 whenever I hear it, making it far more memorable than it's a-side, and that's why it's here.

10 The Cars - Hello Again (Dub Version)
Elektra 7-69681 1984
If you need another reason to download this mixtape, this is it! This dub remix is credited to Arthur Baker with edits by The Latin Rascals and Andy Wallace! The remix was engineered by Chris and Tom Lord-Alge! What an incredible production line-up! On top of that, while this definitely doesn't sound like a reggae dub, it's certainly an early eighties disco or electro dub equivelant. Lots of weird, unconnected samples drift in and out with the mix torn apart and instruments coming in whenever Baker feels like it. Simply awesome!

11 The Monkees - Heart and Soul
Rhino RNOR 74408 1987
I'm pretty sure that's Mickey Dolenz on vocals. That said, damn, this is a lot better than I remember it being! It's pure eighties pop and sounds right out of 1987. This is from their reunion album, Pool It!, which did not feature Michael Nesmith. This is also a Rhino Records release from before the label was purchased by Warner Bros. Records. Pretty great stuff! The video is worth checking out too, and you can see it here.

12 Wang Chung - Dance Hall Days
Geffen 7-29310 BAA 2138S 1984
I became familiar with Wang Chung when my mom called in to WMMS to try and win a Bruce Springsteen album or tickets to a show but they gave her Wang Chung's debut album, Points On The Curve, instead. I had no idea who the hell they were but Dance Hall Days was a great song. When it became a hit on radio I felt like I'd known before anyone else. I bought the single for it's b-side, Ornamental Elephant, but I can't even remember listening to that song. Dance Hall Days though, what a great song! So much better than that everybody wang chung tonight song from a few years later.

13 Men Without Hats - Living In China
Backstreet BSR-52232 MC 14270 1983
Men Without Hats' debut album, Rhythm Of Youth, is really great. It's totally slept on and all they're remembered for, at least in the US, is The Safety Dance. That's really a shame. That said, I played the hell out of The Safety Dance when I heard it but I loved the b-side, Living In China, too. I was thoroughly fascinated with Asian culture, even at five years old, and wanted to go to China IMMEDIATELY! Now that I'm older, I'd love to visit China but I'd rather be Living In Japan if I had a choice. Clean water, you know? No offense China, just saying. Anyway, this song is amazingly great and totally eighties, not to mention it's quite the tribute to China.

14 Peter Gabriel - Don't Break This Rhythm
Geffen 7-18718-B 1986
The b-side to Sledgehammer, this song is probably too preachy to be on So, but it's still a really good track. By the way, if you've never seen the videos for Sledgehammer or Big Time, check them out here and here immediately! Stop motion animation for the win! Who woulda thought that Sledgehammer was a song about hard f#$%ing?

15 Rick Springfield - Bruce
Mercury 880 405-7 2-58067 1984
This is a pretty stupid song because, honestly, who would mistake Rick Springfield for Bruce Springsteen? But this song is also kinda controversial because Rick recorded the vocals in 1978 but Mercury recorded brand new backing tracks for this and album's worth of songs in 1984 without his participation. Clearly an attempt to latch onto the mania surrounding 1984's Hard To Hold, that awful movie meant to make Rick an even bigger star but instead successfully tanked his film career. This isn't a bad song though, but it's a s$#tty pressing. I wonder if they ever considered using this in a commercial for They Call Me Bruce?

16 Rod Stewart - Infatuation (Single Edit)
Warner Bros. 7-29256 BCA 2735V1S 1984
Rod's pseudo-rap is surprisingly catchy, if not a bit cheesy. It just sounds like someone convinced Rod that he had to modernize his style. My girl likes this song and lists it as one of only four or five tracks in the mix that she likes.

17 Olivia Newton-John - Livin' In Desperate Times
MCA MCA-52341 MC 15107RE 1984
From the soundtrack to the film that reunited Olivia and John Travolta, this David Foster produced cheese fest is begging to be a Moroder track. That said, while it may be cheesy as hell, it's kinda catchy in a stupid way and it won't leave my mind now that I've played it a few times. Anyway, it and the rest of the soundtrack are so much better than Two Of A Kind the movie. Wanna read about a disaster? Wanna see a nightmare?

18 Cyndi Lauper - Right Track Wrong Train
Portrait 37-04120 ZSS 171388 1983
The b-side to Girls Just Want To Have Fun, this bizarre techno-keyboard bouncer was left off the album for a good reason. Cyndi's vocals are especially grating throughout this one. Still though, I like it. The pressing is kinda crappy so there is some noise.

19 Pee-Wee Herman - Surfin' Bird
Columbia 38 07301 ZSS 174131 1987
Another song from another failed movie, this time the Frankie and Annette retro vehicle, Back To The Beach. Pee-Wee actually appeared in the movie solely to perform this song, which is probably the best part of the whole film. I think my father might have bought this for my brother as he thought Pee-Wee was hilarious. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is a classic for understandable reasons, and I say that without an ounce of sarcasm. That movie made me hunt down a copy of The Champs' Tequila!

20 David Lee Roth - Just A Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody (Medley)
Warner Bros. 7-29040 CNY 3416S 1985
Oh my god, what an incredible video! The song ain't bad either, although it doesn't hold a candle to the Louis Prima version. Prima actually attacked Roth on Space Ghost Coast To Coast for his not getting paid for Roth's cover of his arrangement. Still though, this is one of those Diamond Dave moments that is simply brilliant. If you've never seen the video, what are you waiting for? It parodies everything right and wrong about early eighties music videos. Go and see it now!

21 Huey Lewis and The News - Some Of My Lies Are True (Remix)
Chrysalis VS4 43065 BS 1986
This was the b-side to the wonderful Hip To Be Square from Huey's album, Fore, despite this song originally appearing on Huey's debut album. This is definitely a remix though, albeit more for the purpose of modernizing the song's sound just a little. The remix is credited to Robert Missbach with the original version produced by Bill Schnee. WHO THE HELL ARE THEY? Those are some names I have to admit I've NEVER heard of. I'm sure they've been around but let's face it, have you ever heard of them? Actually, how much you wanna bet someone is gonna write me and tell me these guys have done all kinds of incredible production work and I should be ashamed for not knowing their names?