Swingtones - It's too Late to Stop Them (1996)

 This was a straight-forward ska band from Minnesota. This is their only album but they did record a demo tape which is included in this download. After a line-up change (I don't know if "some members quit" is exactly a line-up change) they changed their name to Hollywood Rivals and they released one album. That album is also included in this download. You might notice a few songs were re-recorded under this name.

I often say that I can't believe a band wasn't more popular than it was and that is absolutely true in this case. The vocals are decent. The lyrics are clever. The musicianship is very professional. The songwriting is on a whole 'nother level. I have been listening to these three recordings over and over again this past week and I hear something new on each listen that I didn't catch before. 

 These guys were young when these songs were composed. I have been playing music and composing songs for 35 years and I'm not quite yet at the level that they were at back then.  

Swingtones - It's too Late to Stop Them (1996)

1 Intro*

2 Plenty a Time

3 Smile Away

4 Bribing the Pilot

5 Primaries

6 Lucky Lucy

7 I'll be Fine

8 Dr. Watson

9 Willy Coolguy

10 Something Wrong*

 

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Swingtones - Limited Edition (demo tape 1996)

1 Sandbags

2 Hold My Own

3 2212

4 All a Race

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 Hollywood Rivals -  Get into the Act (1998)

1 Hangin' Around

2 Sandbags

3 Shouts

4 Nebula

5 All a Race

6 2212

7 Wheel of Time

8 Bluejay

9 Solitaire

10 Hold My Own

 

DOWNLOAD all 3 recordings from MEGA

DOWNLOAD all 3 recordings from Zippyshare

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*The tracklist on Discogs is wrong. There are only 9 songs on this CD and there is no bonus track. The first track is a short sound clip, not a song. The last song on the CD is Something Wrong -but- when the CD is ripped on a computer it mislabels all of the tracks as shown on Discogs. 

 

In 1998 Hollywood Rivals toured the West Coast and they made a video of highlights from that tour: