The Ramblers - Strange life (1980)Tracklist:
1. Strange World
2. Out Of Time
3. Do Anything You Want to Do
4. I Want You Tonight
5. Modern Times
6. Keep On Laughing
7. All Those Days
8. You Won't Hear Me Cry
9. Running
10. One Mile To Go
Let's start off wit THE RAMBLERS, a german wave/power pop group that was founded in 1976 near the german city Hagen. The band released three minor successful albums during their lifespan, with "Strange life" being their last album. You won't find much information about this band on the net, so enjoy this rare piece of music.
Download here
The Lookalikes - Daydreamin' At Night (1981)Tracklist:
1. Just What You Got
2. Losing Control
3. Always Searching
4. Radio
5. I'll Never Forget You
6. Daydreaming At Night
7. Die Laughing
8. Pretty Boys
9. Bullet In His Back
10. Find Out
11. Shout
Singer, guitarist and songwriter Sean O'Connor was one of the founding members of The Lookalikes, undoubtedly the most popular Irish band playing around Dublin and the rest of Ireland during the early eighties. Along with drummer Mike Mesbur, bass player Eamonn Doyle and keyboard player Peter Keenan, The Lookalikes had a massive loyal following and broke attendance records in every major music venue in Dublin. On the strength of some early demo recordings written by Sean, it wasn't long before a steady stream of A&R personnel were making their way from London to Dublin to get the Lookalikes' signature for their respective labels. In all, the band were offered a staggering total of thirteen recording contracts!
Eventually they signed to Riva Records, who also had Rod Stewart and John Cougar on their books, and the band were offered the opportunity to tour the UK with Thin Lizzy, which they did with great success. The band released three singles on the Riva label but - due to "differences of musical opinion" - eventually parted ways, and released the album "Daydreamin at Night" for Warner Brothers in Ireland - the final recording by the band. After another tour with Thin Lizzy throughout Europe, the band eventually broke up shortly after their return to Ireland.
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Various Artists - Pop Revolution From The Underground (1969)Tracklist:
1. Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper - The 59th Street Bridge Song
2. Blood, Sweat & Tears - More And More
3. Spirit - I Got A Line On You
4. John Kay - Twisted
5. Don Ellis - Scratt And Fluggs
6. The Electric Flag - Soul Searchin'
7. The Chambers Brothers - You Got The Power To Turn Me On
8. Al Kooper - I Stand Alone
9. Moby Grape - Hoochie
10. John Simon - Painting For Freakout
A quite rare collection of 60's underground music with some famous names like Bloomfield and Kooper, John Kay (of STEPPENWOLF) and some long forgotten names like John Simon. Artwork included.
Download here
Snail - Snail (1978)Tracklist:
1. The Joker
2. Catch Me
3. Music Is My Mistress
4. Childhood Dreams
5. Try And Wonder
6. Keep On Livin'
7. You Gotta Run
8. Carry me
9. Freedom In The Country
One of my favorite albums of the last months is SNAIL's self titled album from 1978. Bought this one some years ago, but never listened to it until I ripped it fron vinyl. I was impressed! What you'll find here is some fine soft rockin' music. Although mainstream, with a slight country edge at times, this album offers very fascinating songs that you won't get out of your mind! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Download here
Prism - Beat Street (1983)Tracklist:
1. Nightmare
2. Beat Street
3. Dirty Mind
4. Modern Times
5. Is He Better Than Me?
6. Blue Collar
7. Wired
8. State Of The Heart
9. I Don't Want You No More
Upon 1981's Small Change album, Prism fell apart. After the band brought in singer Henry Small to replace Ron Tabak, there were constant disagreements as to which route the group should take: a harder rock & roll one or one that was geared more toward radio pop. This led to a wholesale change within the lineup, and only Small was left when Beat Street was recorded in 1983. Even with Timothy B. Schmit helping out on vocals, Beat Street contains none of Prism's past arena rock charm or instrumental stamina. The tracks are watered-down attempts at playing pop/rock with lyrics that sound as if they've been written overnight. Without John Hall behind the keyboards or Tabak's singing, Prism just wasn't Prism anymore. Lackluster efforts like "Nightmare," "Wired," or "Dirty Mind" are muddled and stale; "Is He Better Than Me" tried to imitate the band's only Top 40 Billboard appearance of "Don't Let Him Know," but contains none of the hooks or the passion; and "Blue Collar" is a wannabe Bachman Turner Overdrive track. Beat Street was blatant evidence that Prism was on their last legs, and their breakup finally occurred after this album was released. Capitol released an Over 60 Minutes With Prism collection in 1988, but none of Beat Street's tracks made the cut. (Mike DeGagne, AMG)
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Steel Pulse - Your House 12" (1982)Tracklist:
1. Your House (Long Version)
2. Blues Dance Raid
3. A Who Responsible Dub
Nice song from this british Roots'n'Reggae band, taken off their '82 "True Democracy" album.
Download here
Sherbs - The Skill (1980)Tracklist:
1. I Have The Skill
2. Back To Zero
3. Cindy Is Waiting
4. Crazy In The Night
5. I'll Be Faster
6. Never Surrender
7. No Turning Back
8. Love You To Death
9. Into The Heat
10. I'm OK
11. Juliet And Me
12. Parallel Bars
Except for first-class radio ringer "I Have the Skill," this record requires a modicum of work. But those who lock themselves inside the crystalline production recapture the lost prog of near-icons Gamma and Saga. This Aussie aggregate was once Sherbet, a '70s sensation down under, here striving for a more mature market, though a quirky pop sense still prevails, paving the way for Men at Work. On "Back to Zero," everyone's favorite null set gets delineated three years before saving the Fixx. "Crazy in the Night" could pass for Marillion (but can't touch the Kim Carnes dandy of the same name). The quintet works up a furor-driving "Into the Heat," and the pure positivity and confidence radiating throughout this professional offering are welcome relief in a genre too often dominated by negativity. Surprisingly preserved on CD with tasty bonus bits, this smashing sorbet deserved to be rescued. (Doug Stone, AMG)
Download here
pw: "evilsarchive"
12 comments:
Some more good stuff, great!!
Great post indeed...Nice to get the Snail Lp at last...thanks
Hi evil! Thanks a lot, for the detailed info on the 'Pop Revolution From The Underground' album!
I own this rare LP, had listened it for 20 years, but it was without cover left over from my brother.
I never knew who the artists were. Some songs I had already identified in many years of searching.
I already have ripped my LP and cleaned the tracks, but I missed some of the track infos. Now I even have have the original cover art. Great!!!
many thanks.
Yeah!
The Snail Album had some really catchy tunes!
I had moved after 1978 Newbury Park High School Graduation and got a job at Circles Records in Flagstaff Arizona on Route 66.
That album came out and one of my jobs was to staple lots of album covers all over the back-room walls. That Snail Album looked pretty spectrum colored and covered a small section of the wall-space really nice and clean -a little too clean and very main-stream (looking) hardly anybody paid any attention to the record.
I remember the second Boston Album came out ¨Keep Lookin Back" (or somethin) -bored me to tears.
I actually heard a snail song blasting from someones stereo down the street from Billy Talbots house (Bass played for Neil Young) in Thousand Oaks one summer day around 1996 when I was cleaning his pool.
Thanks for posting it I hope it sounds good!!!
Hi thousand oaks,
thanks for sharing your personal story for the "Snail" album in here. That's the kind of stuff I wanna read in here :)
Thanks for the Snail. I always called them Southern Rock with a dance beat (it was the '70s, if you wanted to get on the radio you had to have that dance beat). I had their 8 track and LP and wore them out. Years back they had a reunion in Santa Monica (I think) Ca. I miss the sound.
The Snail download worked perfectly, and the sound quality is great! (whoever did the digital conversion knows how to properly compress analog to digital without anomalies -Thanks!)
At almost 49 now, believe it or not.. I've never really danced before.. (I was into "heavy metal" ~ A Judas Priest fan when that Saturday Night Fever craze happened in 1978 and Disco was playin' at the NCO Club, Fort Jackson South Carolina (Ring My Bell -Urgh!!)
None-the-less, I've succumbed to (the gay crowd inside ="quote from The Big Book" )and actually have welcomed the idea of dancing with my Girlfriend here in Albany New York where we recently started taking Dance Lessons!!!
We have practiced dancing while listening to the Snail music I downloaded and a few of these tunes are perfect for the West Coast Swing -Thing -Yikes!
Thanks Again!!
Hi thousand oaks,
thanks for your comment. The conversion was done by myself, using a Dual CS 606 for playing and Audacity for ripping to disk. I think the results i get with this combination are really acceptable, so the streams have no further effects than a simple normalisation to 0 dB.
I must admit I never really danced before but if I ever decide to take some lessons I'll try to dance to some Snail tunes.
I was really surprised about the many positive reactions on the Snail post, so I decided to post their second album on my next post.
HI evil!
very nice music you put here
I have downloaded Snail album - it requires password What password? pls help
hey evil,
great collection. I downloaded the lookalikes album. But was prompted for a password. could you please give it to me. thanks man.
its ok, found the password on one of ur older posts. thanks anyway.
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