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?

Prince Week, Day One: BLAME PRINCE

I don't think I've said much about my relationship with the purple one, but it's rather convoluted and has led me to the point where I love his older stuff but have no appetite for anything new he may release, at least not if it's "new" music. With Prince, just because he says it's "new" it doesn't mean he didn't write it twenty years ago. A lot of his songs, both for himself and other artists, are re-treads he wrote and recorded years earlier. Sometimes the re-treads are practically identical. A great example of this, which I'll post later this week, is The Time's Chocolate. It was written for Purple Rain/Ice Cream Castles but shelved. A tape exists of the 1983 recording with a guide vocal by Prince doing his Morris Day impersonation and the backing track is IDENTICAL to that of the released version! Hell, Morris went so far as to use most of Prince's improvisations on the released version and Prince even makes an appearance, from the scratch vocal, as the annoying waiter! It's pretty incredible but, after listening to enough Prince records, these things aren't that shocking.

If we want to talk about shocking, or at least confusing, we can talk about Prince's long list of proteges and the unavailability of their catalogs. Prince owns the rights to just about everything released on his Paisley Park label, despite the fact Warner Brothers were his source of income for it's signings, and everything the label released, apart from his own albums, is out of print, has never been reissued and most likely never will be. The only exceptions are pre-Paisley Park releases by Sheila E. and The Time, all of which use the same masters that they have been pressed from for years, same as all of Prince's Warners catalog. Apparently, within the last decade Warners/Rhino had green-lit a Time greatest hits release, but due to Prince's bullshit, even a remastered collection of their hits and some rarities could not be issued, and it looks like Warners owns those masters to boot! I guess that's what you get when you let one of your most prolific artists write, record and create bands for your label, but it honestly seems very unfair, both to the label and the artists.

Anyway, there are tons of great records Prince was involved in that are no longer unavailable for reasons only the purple one and his lawyers may know, but due to the power of the internet we can now enjoy these classics regardless! So, to kick off the week, I've prepared a small compilation of some rather rare Prince-related singles and productions which are otherwise completely unavailable. This will probably be the smallest of the Prince posts this week, at least in terms of content, so make sure you come back for much more over the next few days. I've got lots more where this came from!


BLAME PRINCE

01 The Time - Tricky
For many years, this was the last new track The Time had ever released, and it barely qualifies as a Time recording, let alone a full-fledged track. This was released as the B-Side to Jungle Love and, despite starting with Morris goofing on someone (I've heard reports the whole track is a goof on George Clinton), Prince takes over doing his best Morris impression while Morris and others laugh in the background. The backing track may be from the same sessions that produced Cloreen Bacon Skin which was recorded during the What Time Is It? sessions.

02 Apollonia 6 - Sex Shooter (Long Version)
This is the 12" version of the fabulous Sex Shooter. Unlike the album version, this goes on for near seven minutes and is much closer to the original draft of the song. A demo with Vanity singing over a less complete version of the backing track with Prince on backup vocals exists, and it's a bit funkier to boot, but this version is still great.

03 Andre Cymone - The Dance Electric (Long Version)
Andre was a member of Prince's earliest professional band before The Revolution became Prince's official group. He went solo and was openly miffed with Prince, but Prince, surprisingly enough, tried to squash whatever disagreement remained by giving Andre this excellent track recorded around the time of Around The World In A Day. There are versions of this with Prince singing, and apart from the vocals, they are identical to one another. There is a actually a VERY LONG version of this track where Prince solos all over the place and the bands rocks out. That will be hear soon enough, but for now you can enjoy the excellent released version.

04 Jill Jones - Mia Bocca (Extended)
This song was written around the time of Parade/Under The Cherry Moon and actually makes a brief appearance in the film as background music early on. It was given to Jill for her solo album in 1987, easily one of the best Prince-produced albums ever released. This version is a little different from the album version, having been remixed for single release.

05 The Family - The Screams Of Passion (Extended Version)
Another song from a Prince-produced project. The Family and Jill Jones' albums are some of the best things Prince ever did that didn't carry his name, and it's ridiculous that they're not available at least digitally. This song is a great slice of eighties dance/funk and this version was released on it's corresponding 12".

06 Sheila E. - Holly Rock (Extended Version)
Holly Rock was released on the Krush Groove soundtrack and as a single, but has never appeared elsewhere. Despite being listed as an Extended Version, this is probably the complete track with the album and single versions being radio friendly edits. It's pretty obvious Prince is all over this one, you can hear him counting off the band at the beginning heaven's sake! More reasons that his proteges should be given greatest hits collections at the very least. Great songs like these shouldn't be stored away to gather dust. Simply put, this track is THE SHIT!!!

07 Taja Sevelle - Wouldn't You Love To Love Me?
Trying to explain Taja is really difficult, so you should simply visit her wikipedia reference and official site where you can learn much more about this incredible woman. As for the song, Prince had been kicking this one around since before signing with Warners. He had recorded a very sweet version around the Dirty Mind era, but it simply wasn't right for that album. He re-recorded it in 1987 with his then-current personnel, and then gave the track to Taja for her debut album which was released on his own Paisley Park Records. The backing track is identical to Prince's 1987 version, although it fades out a little earlier.

08 The Time - Grace
This is the B-Side to 777-9311 and features Vanity, as Bridgette Harrington, trying to interview Morris as he keeps calling her Grace. The backing track is actually an edit of 777-9311, so it's really not a new track, more like a goofy skit, but memorable nonetheless.

09 Vanity 6 - Drive Me Wild (Extended Mix)
Susan Moonsey handles vocals on this minimal Vanity 6 classic. Oh god, how hot Susan, Brenda and Vanity were! No, I am not dissing Apollonia, lord knows she is hot as hell too! This version has a kickin' guitar solo towards the end.

10 Sheila E. - The Glamorous Life (Club Edit)
This was actually intended for the second Vanity 6 album, but with Vanity leaving the production of Purple Rain, Prince found a new use for it with Sheila. This version is from the 12" single, and is, as the title infers, a re-edit for clubs. This has appeared on some versions of the album released on CD, and may actually still be available for purchase, but how many people actually have it? I don't think I'm doing any harm by posting it here for all to enjoy, so let's enjoy it then!