The Varicoasters [Eugene, Oregon]

 

This was a ska-punk band who only ever released this one album which is very rare.

They had a couple songs on compilations that weren't on the album which were included with a couple of other songs on a MP3 -only release called 4 songs that came out shortly after the album was released.

This download includes the album and the "4-Songs" EP so I think this is everything this band ever released.

The Varicoasters - She Loves Me Not (1998)

1 Sked St.

2 Lucky Penny

3 All Alone

4 Eugene Or

5 It's All Right

6 Fugitive

7 Beautiful Girl

8 Rhubarb Hubbub

9 Wicked Touch

10 Whisper

11 Me & Mr. Hammerface

12 Sundays

13 Tornado

14 (untitled)

 

 

Varicoasters - 4 Songs EP (1998)

1 Anyway She Can

2 Marco Polo

3 Oh Christine

4 Mary's Face

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No Sports - The Tour de France Concerts (1987)

 

This is probably No Sports' very first release. I would assume that it's a demo tape but the production quality is incredible. I think they may have had a demo tape before this and this is their first studio release. I can't say for sure. It's called the Tour de France Concerts but it is not a live recording. It was recorded in a studio in Germany. 

I have a copy of the tape. The front cover is a sticker and the inlay card is hand-made written by an old type writer.

 I mentioned before that my scanner is dying (at this time it's completely dead*) so these images are respectfully stolen from Discogs. The images from Discogs for this release are really well done so I tip my hat to the uploader and on my copy the sticker is trimmed off on the left side so I appreciate that the images on Discogs are not trimmed and they show the full sticker.

No Sports - The Tour de France Concerts (1987)

1 Lack of Time

2 Television

3 Tour de France

4 Rattlesnake

5 Delta Men

6 Rudy (Rude)

 

This download also includes the rare bootleg EP from 1995. It's an unofficial release but the sound quality is  really good. 

No Sports - Live EP (1995)

1 Mandigo (Untouchables cover)

2 Summer

3 The Way of the Dragon

4 Stay Rude, Stay Rebel

5 Turn It On

6 Girlie Girlie (Sophia George cover)

 

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*Our friend Rikard mailed me some physical copies of some old skazines and I intend to scan each and every page from each and every 'zine but my scanner just wasn't in the mood.

 Scanners were made with one purpose in life and that purpose is to scan things. But if you ask your scanner to scan things they get an attitude. I'm like "Hey scanner, can you scan this CD cover??" and my scanner is all "Umm..I dunno...I suppose I can try...maybe...like, can we just do this later?"

 Anyhoo I just bought a new expensive scanner that I'm hooking up this weekend. I bought it for the sole purpose of scanning Rikard's 'zines. Let's see how it goes. 

Soda Pop Fuck You

 This is a short-lived California band that only existed for just over 2 years. They were incredible but they get no attention in the worldwide ska arena. 

I'll put it like this: Imagine if Operation Ivy kept playing into the late 90s but they got a female singer.

 This band was from the same general geographic playground as OPIV and I'm pretty sure that the singer Christina Armijo was in a punk band prior to being in this band. I don't remember the name of this band and neither Google nor Discogs are of any help. I'm pretty sure they had a couple of releases with her on vocals. Anybody know what the hell I'm talking about?

From what I've heard she left her punk persona behind a long time ago and she earned an MD and is now a practicing pediatrician.

Soda Pop Fuck You had a total of three releases. They had 5 songs on compilations but all 5 are on these three releases:   

Soda Pop Fuck You - Soda Popium Fuckum Youium 7" (1997)

1 Ma Ma Age

2 Communication Breakdown

3 Terrance Stomp

4 Sweaty Palms

 

Soda Pop Fuck You - Soda Pop Fuck You (1997)

 

1 Bullshit

2 Nightmares

3 Song #1

4 Fuck You

5 Spanish Song

6 Theme Song

7 Nothing

8 American Dream Whore

Soda Pop Fuck You - Timing is Everything (1998)

 

1 Oi Song

2 Communication Breakdown

3 The Tail of Billy B.

4 Timing is Everything

5 I.D. Please

6 Purple Cow Haze

7 Not Quite

8 Thank God

9 Sweaty Palms

10 Rockabilly Breakdown

11 Suicide

12 Mama-Age

13 Blues and Badge

14 Psycho Duck Clown

 

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Blister - Agent Spencer in the Land of Brass and Beat (1999)

 

This is a German ska band that released three albums. This is their first. I posted their second HERE. I don't have their third one yet. 

1 Nightblind

2 Spencer's Demented

3 Andy's

4 Phlebology Girl

5 Trip to the City

6 Arabian Nights

7 Hey Jack

8 E & A Went Away

9 I Know It

10 Can't Explain

11 Impressed Without a Mess

12 Biko Psycho 

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The Neighbors - Nuclear Family 7'' (1979)

 

This is a rare example of the ska influence in California in the late 70s. The A-side is a great female-fronted new wave/punk tune. The B-side is a ska-punk song that was way ahead of its time. Third wave ska punk from 1979? Awesome.

A - Nuclear Family

B - Punk in Paradise

toneandwave · Punks In Paradise

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Four Flush - 2000 Flushes (1998)

This is a punk-with-horns band from southern California who recorded this one and only album in the 3rd wave era. There are a few actual ska songs but mostly it's an amateur pop-punk album.

I'm posting it for the rarity factor in conjunction with the couple/few ska tunes. 

1 Destiny

2 Worst Day

3 Poser Boy

4 4-Line Ska

5 She's an Angel

6 Breaking Things

7 Johnny Bravo

8 Every Time U Come Ova'

9 Walk Away

10 Grocery Store

11 Just Another Day

12 A Kiss is All I'm Worth

13 Spanish Whipping Boy

14 Laurel Song

15 Ska-Core Show

16 Jaime's Song 

toneandwave · 4-Line Ska

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Beanstalk - What You Gonna do When the Reggae Breaks Your Heart 7'' (1982)

Beanstalk was a new wave/reggae/ska band from South Africa who probably never released anything besides this one record. 

The B-side is a self-written pop song with a reggae influence but the A-side is a 2 Tone style rendering of the Johnny Average Band's song from 1980. 

 Very rare and awesome record. I have to thank Rude Rich for telling me about this record. I might have never known about it if it wasn't for him. 

A - What You Gonna do When the Reggae Breaks Your Heart

B - Metal Streets 

toneandwave · Beanstalk - What You Gonna Do When the Reggae Breaks Your Heart? (1982)

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Space Ate Mafia - In the Good Name...of Bad Taste (1998)

Space Ate Mafia was a ska punk band from New York / New Jersey area. I'm not entirely sure. I think they had more than this one release but, again, I'm not entirely sure.
At one point they changed their name to Space 8. They could have released some more music under that name but I'm not entirely sure.

This is a CDR with a computer printed sticker label and an early computer printer style inlay card. The CD and packaging are beautiful. It's nice to find one this age that hasn't degraded or rotted yet.

There are four up-tempo ska tunes with a reminder that they were recorded in the ska-punk era but I wouldn't call anything on here 'punk' despite that punk/metal intro on the first song.
The last track is a mellow one with beautiful horn and jazz-guitar harmonies. 

1 Wait for the Sun

2 In the Park

3 Espionage

4 Moonglow

5 Kleinfeltersville

 

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2 Tonic

2 Tonic was a British ska band that was active for the better part of a decade. You probably never heard of them because they were not out for world domination. They played locally and they released three studio albums and two live albums that were released on CDRs with photocopy covers that were basically only sold at their shows. 

Being from California I would have, most likely, never heard of them in my lifetime if it were not for the awesome power of Myspace. 

Over the years I have been looking for their releases and I was fortunate enough to find three out of the five. As it turns out, I found the three studio releases and neither of the two live CDs. C'est la vie. 

2 Tonic - Welcome to My World (2001)

1 Welcome to My World

2 My Girl Lollipop

3 Here Come da Hurricane

4 Big Shot

5 Porkies

6 Dave & Mary

7 Boys

8 Death & Glory

9 Same Old Song

10 Who's Sorry?

11 Asta la Vista

 

2 Tonic - Factory Yarns (2003)

1 Who's Sorry Now

2 Sleepless

3 Gotta Get Away

4 Hurricane

5 No Way

6 48 Hours

7 Replay

8 Just Messin'

9 Hasta la Vista

10 Secret Lover

11 Big Shot

12 Porkies

 

 2 Tonic - Beneath the Desert Sun (2006)

1 Desert Sun

2 Blus Suited Revenge

3 English Boy

4 Dead End Job

5 The Boys are Back in Town

6 Secret Lover

7 Who's Sorry Now (JC Mix)

8 Bankrobba

9 Shine a Light (live)

10 Xmas Medley

11 Dead End Job (Baritone Mix)

 

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Unity - Tell-a-Star 7" (1980)

Believe it or not there was a large community of Jamaican citizens in Toronto, Canada in the 70s and 80s. They brought their music aptitude with them. 

One guy that you probably never heard of named Jay Douglas put a band together called The Cougars and recorded a single in 1969 that became legendary. They recorded an experimental reggae (ska) version of the Temptations "I Wish It Would Rain". I'm not certain but I think there were less than 100 copies of this record pressed (one website I found said it was less than 10 but I have my doubts).

Luckily for us (me) a record label called Light in the Attic put out a compilation that included the A and B side of The Cougar's record. I don't know how they tracked down the recordings but they have a Bandcamp page that has a lot of their releases and there is at least one other artist on that page that was included in their Jamaica/Toronto series. 

HERE's THEIR BANDCAMP PAGE

Jay Douglas played around Toronto in other bands over the years but there are very few recordings. I have this one little record by him and, as it seems, the few people in the world who have this record don't have the sleeve. I have a copy of the record in a tatty sleeve but, with my amazing talents in Windows Paint, I was able to restore the cover to it's proper standards. There is no other rendition to be found online.
 

Both sides are the same song - a cover of Edwin Starr's 1977 tune "Tell-A-Star". The A-side with vocals. The B-side has the instrumental version.   

A Tell-A-Star

B Tell-A-Star (Instrumental)

This download includes the 1980 Unity single and the 1969 Cougars single.

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