Monday, March 30, 2009

Off the Shelf - Made in Australia

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This is Off the Shelf's only full-length. It was released on the UK label Skank Records in 1989. Prior to this they had one other release, an EP from 1985 called the Thief 7" with 3 tracks: Thief / Dr. Raju / Off the Shelf.

Some members later went on to form the band Dr. Raju

Here's their video for the instrumental "Buscrash"


1 Off the Shelf Tonite
2 Thief
3 Dr. Raju
4 Ms. Jamaica
5 Rough and Tough
6 Jimmy Jazz
7 Buscrash
8 Johnny Too Bad
9 Never Again
10 Rough and Tough (dance Mix)

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rare 80s ska mix tape

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There are lots of good things that I have on tapes and whatnot that I don't have cover art for (or even pictures of the band or anything else in some cases) so I wanted to come up with something for these posts. I drew this guy a while back. He was based on a photo in an old magazine of one of the members of Madness. Which magazine and which member I don't remember. You'll be seeing more of this guy in the future. Whenever you see him you'll know you're in for a special treat of something quite rare.

That being said I have for you a great selection of rarities that was contributed by a regular anonymous Tone and Wave contributor just yesterday. With just a couple of exceptions I myself have never heard of any of these songs until now.

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The track titles are not listed in this download so you'll have to copy and save this tracklist here.
DIY ideals in the internet age.


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Baby Snakes - Broken Toy 7"

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This was sent to us by our new friend Rikard. I know quite a few of you have been after this for a while - as I have. We are in debt to him for this great contribution. When I asked him if their was anything he was looking for he asked about "Potato 5 - Live at Gaz's". I have personally never known about this cassette until now, but if any of you have it could you please spread the wealth...

A - Broken Toy
B - Two of a Kind

...also included in this download is the song "Ormen" which was on their original 4-song demo. The other 3 songs were sung in English but this is the only one sung in Swedish ('Ormen' is Swedish for 'snakes'...the Baby Snakes were a Swedish band you know). It was considered by many to be the best song off of that demo as evident in this article:
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...again, much thanks to Rikard!!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Marco On The Bass - Tone and Wave podcast

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I've been considering doing a podcast for a while now but never got around to it. Marco On The Bass has been presenting some great rarities in podcast form for a few sessions now. His next one was going to be on American ska bands from 1979 to 1989. He invited me to select some bands to add to his already perfect list. Here's what I came up with, or, rather, what we came up with:

MARCO'S SELECTIONS
1 Heavy Manners - Taking the Queen to Tea (Chicago, 1982)
2 The X-Streams - Rhythm of Life (Arizona, 1980)
3 The Boilers - Coeur A Voil (New York,1988)
4 Bim Skala Bim - Jah Laundromat (Boston,1985)
5 The Nails - Transcontinental Ska (New York/1980)
6 The Terrorists - Love Is Better Now 12" (New York,1981)
7 The Untouchables - Tropical Bird (Los Angeles,1983)
8 The Hoovers - I Got You Babe (San Francisco,1980)
9 The Uptones - Outback Master (San Francisco,1983)
10 Blue Riddim Band - Nancy Reagan (Kansas City,1982)

TONE AND WAVE'S SELECTIONS
11 The Plugz - Touch for Cash (Los Angeles, 1981)
12 The Donkey Show - Insomnia (San Diego, 1989)
13 Camper Van Beethoven - Skinhead Stomp (Redlands, California, 1985)
14 Talk Back - Rudy (Southern California, 1984)
15 Kill Me - Mr. Potato Head (New York 1985)
16 The Young Executives - Original Sin (Washington, 1982)
17 Cryin' Out Loud - Live It Up (Hoboken, NJ, 1985)
18 Crazy 8s - Find Myself a Sunny Spot (live) (Oregon, 1988)
19 Eddie Vedder - Reggae Woman (California, 1988)

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Check out Marco On The Bass for more information on his selections.

* 11 originally from the album "Better Luck", but this is a remastered version that has never been released (a Tone and Wave exclusive)
*12 from the Unicorn Records release "Bali Island" 6-song EP
*13 from the album "Telephone Free Landslide Victory"
*14 from the album "When Drums Talk" (Talk Back performed this song live in the movie 'Pretty in Pink' but were not featured on the soundtrack)
*15 Kill Me was not a ska band, but a comedic funk band made up by members of the Toasters. They released only 1 6-song EP which I do have but I cannot post because it was released on Moon and Megalith will raise a stink if I do (even though they're probably never going to sell it).
*16 as far as I know the Young Executives only released one 12" EP. This was the only ska song on that recording, but they included more of a ska influence in their live set. The other 3 songs were pretty damn good though. I have the full EP and I will post it if anybody's interested. It's worth having if you are into the 80s post-punk sound.
*17 I will be posting Cryin' Out Loud's only recording in the next few weeks. It's a 4 song 12" recorded before Don Brody formed The Marys.
*18 This is a live version of a song that was originally on Crazy 8s 2nd album - 1985's "Nervous in Suburbia"
*19 Eddie Vedder recorded lots of music before he was asked to sing for Mookie Blaylock who, of course, later became a little-known band called Pearl Jam. This song isn't bad, but it's not very good either. I included it mostly for the novelty of it.

Monday, March 23, 2009

The Erector Set 7"

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The Erector Set was a band from Brighton, Massachusetts who recorded this 7" in 1980/81.
The song 'Inside out' was on the 1998 Jump Up Records compilation 'Death of an American Skathic'. They also did the live song 'G.I. Jump' on the first American Skathic. Aside from that I know of nothing else they've recorded.



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The Trojans - Live Double Feature

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Live at Gaz's Rockin' Blues August 31st, 1989.
1 Lava
2 Anti-Racist
3 Summertime
4 You Were Meant for Me
5 It Don't Happen no More
6 My Last Meal
7 Rude Rude Rudy
8 The Last Rhino
9 Rainbow Warrior
10 Gaelic Ska
11 Meskal
12 Zulu
13 The Train is Coming
14 Berlin Wall

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Live at The Notting Hill Carnival, London August 31st, 1987
1 Zulu
2 Bluesy Ska
3 Ringo
4 Good Friends
5 Music's Got Soul
6 Gaelic Ska
7 Jericho Battle

DOWNLOAD "LIVE AT NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL"

Here's their video for "Gaelic Ska"




If you do not have their album "Celtic Ska" you can get it here:
Idle Minds Inc. Blogspot

The Details - The London Marathon (Keep on Running)

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Another rare 7" from the UK 1981.

A - Keep on Running
B - Run'ins Version

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Monday, March 16, 2009

Reluctant Stereotypes - The Label

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I have been looking for this album for quite some time and it was just posted on a blog called Mel the Bells Rare Shit. New wave/ska/dub/punk-reggae from 1980.
Do yourself a favor - get it HERE and remember to leave a comment on that site.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Skapa - Ska Party

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You may remember Skapa's song 'Ska Polka' from 'Skankin' Round the World vol.5'. They were a band fom New Zealand that formed in 1988. They have only one full length called Easy Street from 1992 that was only released on cassette (no I don't have it...I've been desperately looking for it for years) that features 8 studio and 7 live tracks.

This is their first recording. It's a 4 track EP from 1992 called 'Ska Party' that was only ever released on cassette.

For more info go HERE

1 Easy Street
2 It's Your Round
3 Ska Polka
4 Easy Street (extended version)

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All the thanks in the world to those who've helped me with these recent posts!

Mark Pessin - La Lecon de Ska

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French ska fans of the late 70s / early 80s might remember Mark Pessin and the Skaliburs, but, unfortunately, the rest of the world may never know them due to the fact that they have nothing in recorded form to prove that they ever existed except for this one record. Luckily this day and age the 7-inch version of this single is almost constantly offered on ebay which will make Mark Pessin's name a little more familiar to ska fans - if nothing else. If you have ever searched rare ska on ebay then you have most likely seen this before, but I present this great recording to you now in it's rarer 12" extended form.

A - La Lecon de Ska
B - Pate d'Porc

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Friday, March 6, 2009

Baby Snakes - Impudent Reptiles

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This mod bands Unicorn Records release recorded in 1987. This EP includes their ska song "Whiskey Bar" from "Skankin' 'Round the World vol.2"

1 Snake's Theme
2 It Wouldn't Have Lasted
3 Eight Days in Khairo
4 Whiskey Bar
5 Jazzica
6 Land of Dreams

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Thursday, March 5, 2009

The Braces - Prime Cut

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1 In Ska Mood
2 Julie Julie
3 The Girls of Today
4 No Reason
5 Something Special
6 Guilty
7 Her Smile Means Nothing
8 Riding West
9 The Letter
10 It's OK

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Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Skankin' 'Round the World vol.3

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1 The Busters - Summer Time
2 Les Frelons - Les Politiciens
3 The Frits - Teardrops
4 The Deltones - Running Around
5 Mr. Review - Every Day Another Day
6 No Sports - Fukkin' Week
7 Laurel Aitken - Ska Locomotion
8 Casino Royale - Someone Says
9 M.S.Q. - Modern World
10 The Elevators - Rocksteady
11 Shot Black & White - Day In Day Out
12 Potato 5 - Never Take the Place of Your Man

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