The Targets - Unity Beat

In 1983 the Southern California band The Targets released this EP. The record and sleeve says very little about this band and, therefore, I know very little about them. This release was on a label called American Standard Records based in Torrance California - I can't find any info on them either.
The Targets sound is a little bit reminiscent of The English Beat with a bit of The Donkey Show and even a slight bit of Blondie. Not strictly ska but they fit perfectly in the 2 Tone era.

1 Don't Stop Now
2 The Perfect Guy
3 Searching for a Scene
4 Sax Man
5 Two Tone Mover
6 Unity Beat

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The Tigers - Savage Music (link updated April 21, 2009)

These are the same Tigers who did the song Ska Trekkin'. This is their only full length. It was released in 1980. They are not strictly a ska band - this is mostly a post punk album but there are five songs with a ska influence.

1 Promises Promises
2 Worlds to Conquer
3 Kidding Stops
4 Fall for You
5 True Confessions
6 Make-Up Girl
7 Savage Music
8 Gone Like You
9 Big Expense, Small Income
10 Sexual Blanks
11 Ice Cold in Fulham
12 Take it Like a Man
13 Jack it Up
14 Watch This Space

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The Puzzles 7"

This was released in 1980 before the full length. The song "Do the Puzzle" is the same version as on the album. The B-side "I'm Ill" is not on the full length.

side A - Do the Puzzle
side B - I'm Ill

(This single has been reposted with the full-length)

Ultra Rare Ska vol.1 - The Lost European Ska of the 2Tone Era (link updated on November 17, 2008)

This is a great comp that features 20 ska rarities but is quite a rarity itself. I can find very little info about it anywhere. Word around the campfire is that there were only 500 copies of this cd made. Is that true? I don't know. You tell me.

I have posted a few of these songs on Tone and Wave previously but they sound much better on here than my vinyl rips do. The version of Skavengers' "Party Girls" sounds great compared to the one I posted though the whole 7" is still available in it's authentic vinyl-crackling glory HERE. This comp also has Graduate's "Elvis Should Play Ska", The Employees' "Pick It Up", and The Mangy Dogs' "Itsy Bitsy"...all of their full 7"s are still available for download - if you don't have them yet get them before they're gone.

1 Boss - Rude Boys are Back in Town
2 Skarab - Babe Don't You Know the Ska?
3 Lou and the Hollywood Bananas - Hong Kong Ska
4 Skavengers - Party Girls
5 Graduate - Elvis Should Play Ska
6 Cairo - Movie Stars
7 Tigers - Ska Trekkin'
8 Vodska - L'espion Qui Venait Du Ska
9 Inner City Unit - Amyl Nitrate
10 Akrylykz - Ska'd for Life
11 The Skaooters - Summer Ska
12 The Plugs - Indoor Shopping Centre
13 The Mexicano - Trial by Television
14 The Employees - Pick It Up
15 The Army - Trendy
16 Rimshots - I Was Wrong
17 Gangsters - Wooly Bully
18 The Mangy Dogs - Itsy Bitsy
19 Alberto Camerini - Ska Tentati
20 Jamaican Survivors - Mafia Theme

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The T-Shirts - Walk on Water 7"

The T-Shirts were formed in Sweden in 1980. Their first release was a 6 song EP titled "Walk On Water" which also spawned this single. The song "Is It Gone" was not on the EP. They broke up in 1982 after releasing 4 more singles and a full-length called "Mr. Swing". Recordings after Walk On Water featured a female lead singer named Ylva-Li.

side A - Walk On Water
side B - Is It Gone?


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The Puzzles - Let's Have a Puzzle Party

Very rare album from this Dutch band from 1980. This is their only full length but they did release a 7" prior to this album which I will be posting in the next few weeks.

1 Do the Puzzle
2 (I Don't Like) Spiders
3 Talking Lady
4 Alibi
5 Alladinn
6 Heejoo
7 It's Puzzle Time Again
8 Silly Willy
9 Is that What You Want
10 Zombie v.s. Godzilla
11 Hahahaha
12 Dance Woman Dance

This album has been reposted with the single.

The Piranhas - The Piranhas

The Piranhas started in 1977 as a punk band in Brighton UK who are best known for the song Tom Hark which has been adopted as a popular chant by many football ('soccer' to us yanks) fans. (If you don't have the Play Kwela single that Tom Hark originally appeared on you can get it HERE.)In 1980 they recorded 3 singles and this album - their only full-length. They broke up in 1981 without any subsequent recordings.
Boring Bob Grover does have a current band called Dates that are certainly worth a listen.

1 Getting Beaten Up
2 Pleasure
3 Do You?
4 Saxophone
5 Love Game
6 Tom Hark
7 Tension
8 Fiddling While Babylon Burns
9 Green Don't Suit Me
10 Something
11 Coffee
12 I Don't Want My Body
13 Final Straw

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*A bit of trivia: The Piranhas had nothing to do with the re-recording of Tom Hark that is the most familiar version in Brighton today. That version was recorded in 2005 by a band calling themselves 'Seagulls Ska' - who were really members of
Too Many Crooks and Attila the Stockbroker. Money raised by the song went into building a new stadium for Brighton and Hove Albion F.C. whose nickname is 'The Seagulls'.

Klang - Beat It 7" (link updated April 21, 2009)

Here's another rare gem from 1980.

side A - Beat It
side B - The Things We Do For Love

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Reel Big Fish - Buy This! demo

Any blog about 3rd wave ska is bound to post this at some point...
No further comment.

1 Intro
2 I want Your Girlfriend to be My Girlfriend Too
3 Why do All Girls Think They're Fat?
4 Beer
5 I'll Never Be...

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The Sheds - demo

1 Fueled by your Sunshine
2 You Not Me
3 Surgery
4 Critical Moment
5 Only Way Out

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Monkey Business 7"

Monkey Business was a band from Seattle Washington in the early nineties. This 7" is from 1991 with a ska song on the a side with great sax playing, and a mod-rock b side that was noticeably influenced by the grunge sound from that time and place.

A - Mistakes
B - Keep on Walking

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Los Rudiments - Terror in the Heartland 7"

Do not download this 7-inch. You will not like it. Unless you know Los Rudiments and like them already it is unlikely that you will appreciate this rare Dill Records release from 1995.

1 Terror in the Heartland
2 Blow Out
3 Land Shark (originally by Fang in 1983)

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Skavengers The [LINK RENEWED Aug.13, 2010]

Skavengers The was a 3 piece ska/rock band that started in 1979 in southern England. This 7" is from 1980 and is their only recording. Though there were only a limited number of these records made they received a good amount of radio exposure both locally and on National Radio 1 through the interest of such people as John Peel and Mike Reed.

PETE CHRISTIE (guitar and vocals) and CHRIS HAINES (bass and backing vocals) continued playing after the departure of drummer Dave Parsons as Red Square with Martin Evans on drums. They moved to London in 1984 but despite good reviews and some great live performances they were unable to get a record deal and the band ended in 1985.


Pete Christie is still recording music but has opted for an acoustic guitar and a more laid back sound and he still enlists the talents of Martin Evans on occasion.
Chris Haines is also still playing with various bands and has recorded with Fringe Benefit, Lick the Tins, Yeah, and Foodbug.

"Party Girls" is one of my all time favorite songs but since the disc is so rare I have been able to find only one copy over the years which is not in the best shape. I have improved the sound the best I could but it is still a bad quality transfer. Chris Haines has a much better version on his Myspace.

A - Party Girls
B1 - Go to Pieces
B2 - Happy

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Ocean 11 - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I am going to assume that anyone who comes to this site already knows who Ocean 11 is so I shant write a description.
I have taken it upon myself to include 4 extra tracks that were not originally on this album.

1 Housewive's Choice
2 Confucius
3 Solid as a Rock
4 Freedom Sounds
5 Rules of Life
6 From Russia with Love
7 Rock Steady
8 Let's Start Again
9 Song for My Father
10 Can't Forget About You
11 Rockfort Rock

.................................

12 Ska-Go-Mambo
13 Take it Cheazy
14 Night of the Dragon
15 Be Thankful
16 Hong Kong Low Rider
17 Stone Boat
18 Cairo East part II
19 Miss Understanding
20 Skagasm
21 Stop That Train
22 The Best of Love

DOWNLOAD PART 1

DOWNLOAD PART 2

Ak Band - Pink Slippers 7"

This is the Ak Bands first recording from 1980. They were a British power pop trio who played a lot of 2Tone inspired ska with no horn section or keys. The first song here Pink Slippers is an up-tempo song about receiving a bad Christmas gift and the other song Skegaway has more of a Police sound to it.

side A - Pink Slippers
side B - Skegaway

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Skiptooth - double feature

Skiptooth was from Moreno Valley (Riverside) California in the mid 90s and, if I'm not mistaken, was started by former members of The Specs. They had a unique mid-tempo rocksteady / traditional sound, but not quite 60s, more like mid 70s 'traditional' with a noticeable 3rd wave tinge.
This one download has both their 9 song cd "Cool Ska Cool", and their 4 song demo tape "Skiptown vol.1"

Cool Ska Cool
1 Pachuco
2 Cuban Cigar
3 My Turn
4 Otra Vez
5 Preacher Joseyah
6 Rum and Coke
7 El Detectivo

Skiptown vol.1
1 My Turn
2 Reggae Man
3 Taxi Driver
4 El Detectivo

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The Employees - Pick it Up / Toothpaste 7"

More rare ska from 1981.

side A - Pick it Up
side B - Toothpaste

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The Ska-Dows - Skas on 45

This very rare 7" features the Ska-Dows performing a medley of early 2Tone hits on one song including the Specials version of "Monkey Man", The Beat's "Rankin Fullstop", Madness' "One Step Beyond" and "Baggy Trousers", and more. This is one song that is not available on Ska-Dows anthology "Ska'd for Life".

side A - Skas on 45
side B - Rhapsody in Buh

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Code Blue - Burning Bridges 7"

Here's another example of non-ska bands that were inspired by the 2Tone sound. This one is by Code Blue - a new wave / power pop band from Britain. It was released in 1980 and although the B-side is not a ska song it is a different version than the one on their album thus making that a rare collectible itself. The A side reveals how this obscure band had a more promising future if they had been a ska band.

A - Burning Bridges
B - Where I Am

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The Braces - Blue Flame

Thanks to Mikeska for the updated link!!

The Braces were a German band from the mid-to-late 80s. They originally released only 2 albums - 1989's "Prime Cut" and this one from 1990. They stopped playing in 1991 after their manager took off with their contracts and all of their money.

In 2000 guitarist/vocalist Joachim Uerschels started writing songs again with saxophonist/vocalist Martin Storkmann and with them as the only 2 original members The Braces recorded a 3rd album "Ska Got Soul" in 1994.

The Braces - Blue Flame
1 Give Love a Chance
2 Suzy Says
3 Fifty Days
4 In the Dark
5 Don't be so Cruel to Me
6 Come and Go
7 Ska of Monstra
8 Jungle Party
9 Too True to be Good
10 Storming Out
11 Boys don't Cry
12 Happiness
13 Youthquake
14 Riding West
15 The Letter
16 No Reason
17 Julie Julie

(I know I need to re-up the link. Send me an e-mail if I haven't yet.)