Rare California ska/reggae with a horrible fake Jamaican accent.
The band is called Fool Moon but the band's spearhead and vocalist put his name and face all over the record. If you don't know who Brad Dupont is then you're just ignorant.
I'm ignorant too. I don't know who the fuck he is. But his self-promotion game in 1981 was as good as it gets.
There are at least three ska bands called Alaska. There is the French-Canadian band and the more popular Swiss band. Then there is this band from Helsinki Finland.
They released this demo tape in 1994. Four tracks of early 90s 2Tone inspired instrumental ska.
This should be a great rare ska album - every song is third-wave ska with the exception of that one reggae song and that one jazzy tune with the fake Louis Armstrong vocals; overall the vocals are not the snotty/bratty vocals that contaminated the scene in those days - they're actually good vocals; the horn section is awesome; the band doesn't sound like amateurs at all. Great performance on every song. Great song writing...
...but...
This is one of those "Christian" ska releases that have very little to do with Christianity aside from Jesus idolatry. This release has more Jesus per second than most other Christian ska albums. Jesus, Jesus, I-Love-Jesus. Not Biblical Jesus, but 90s pop culture Jesus. But it is quite rare. And it's a great 3rd wave ska album if you play it in the background and don't focus too much on the lyrics.
Midnight Sun is a reggae/ska/calypso band that formed in the late 80s near San Francisco California. They are still playing live to this day (check their Facebook page for their latest shows) but they are now using the name Midnight Sun Massive.
They released an EP in 1994 called "Touch" that you can hear on their ReverbNation page along with lots of other songs including my favorite "Life as We Know It".
"Life as we Know It" made it on their 2008 album "Sunrise" that's available on Amazon. All of their previous releases were under the name Midnight Sun but they used the name Midnight Sun Massive for their 2015 album "Who's Feeling Irie?" that you can listen to on Youtube.
Rare British ska. This is my own rip and scans from my own tape. The quality isn't great but it's the best I can do. Lots of hiss and just bad sound quality altogether. The tape wasn't made very well.
These are the guys who did that great song "Gonna Get It, Nazi Punks" that was on Skarmageddon 3 and a few other compilations in the mid 90s. That version was from their demo tape which I do not have and I have never heard. The song is on this album but it's a re-recording. I prefer the original.
The Sages was a band from Connecticut. I assume they are from Hartford but I don't know for sure. As far as I know they only released one album but they had a demo tape before they recorded the album and even though the album is full of ska/reggae influences the tape is almost strictly ska/reggae.
There's a noticeable Police vibe but when I first heard the beginning of the song "Follow the Money" it reminded me of the Stewart Copeland/Stan Ridgway song "Don't Box Me In". Stewart Copeland was (is?) the drummer for the Police and Stan Ridgway was the singer for Wall of Voodoo (Mexican Radio - not to be confused with Gruppo Sportivo's impeccable cover). They collaborated on a song for the soundtrack to Rumblefish.
Speaking of Wall of Voodoo, if you don't have that first EP and the first two albums you're really missing out. But Stan Ridgway was more than Wall of Voodoo. He has done a million solo albums. After a time he drifted into what most would call 'country' but he has some amazing tunes from his early years as a solo artist. After working with Stewart Copeland he didn't do anything ska/reggae but there is one song with that influence.
As you know when Stan Ridgway left Wall of Voodoo they continued on without him and his weird voice but it just didn't work and they broke up not long after they fulfilled their record contract but they did release a couple albums in that time with their new singer Andy Prieboy and, although I really prefer their stuff with Stan, they did release one of my all-time favorite songs "Far Side of Crazy". The lyrics of this song are based on a poem written by John Hinckley Jr. - the guy who shot Ronald Reagan. Hinckley has since been released from prison and he fancies himself as a sort of rock star.
Here are my top five Stan Ridgway moments I think everybody must know:
...and then there's "Lost Weekend". Aside from the fact that my wife has never smoked a cigarette in her life every second of this song tells our story. We got married at the Drive Through Chapel of Love in Las Vegas when we were evacuated from our home during a historically bad fire. On the drive from Vegas in my 1987 primer grey Dodge Diplomat we didn't really know where we were going so we did nothing but listen to music and talk about our plans about how we could make money. It was sad times. It was great times. This song hits so close to home. She sat in the back seat reading a book. When I heard that in this song I was blown away. This song is about us but it was recorded 20 years before we met.
This is a German ska compilation that has many tracks that you can't find anywhere else. Many of these bands have not released anything outside of this CD.
The first time I heard of the French band Saxawhaman was on the first "Skankin' 'Round the World" compilation with the song Le Robot. I'm willing to bet that's when you first heard the name too. In those days it was easy to find out information about every band on that compilation except for this band. When I first started exploring the internet this is one of the bands I was looking for but I never found anything about them.
Thankfully Discogs came along and I could, at least, know what else they recorded which eventually revealed that they released very little.
The band later changed their name to Les Saxas and they released even less. Officially Les Saxas only ever put out two songs for the good people of the world. The song Chez Fefer from the "Vive le Ska" compilation from 1989 and the song Gueule De Bois which was not released as an audio track but on a video called Bar'ouffs from 1990 that was only released on VHS - probably Region 2 which means that American VCRs wouldn't have been able to play the tape. (NTSC as opposed to PAL) but, despite that, I have included the song in this download.
The music offered in this download is a lot of incredible rare pieces of ska history but the sound quality of these tracks are not very good. If you are a casual ska fan you might want to skip this one but if you are a true skarcheologist (I forget who coined this term many years ago, but I thank them!) you will really appreciate this post.
Saxawhaman - Maquette* (demo tape recorded on the 11th of April, 1986)
1 Fuera de la Lei
2 Midnight Madness
3 Sweet Honey Moon on My Blue Bird
Saxawhaman - Saxawhaman* (demo tape from 1987 with re-recorded versions of two songs from the first demo tape)
1 Zombie's Night
2 Fuera de la Lei
3 Sweet Honey Moon on My Blue Bird
This, and the song Le Robot, is all I have by this band aside from a few live songs I found on YouTube:
*Fuera de la Lei (live)
*White Man (live) - Clash cover
*La Bamba (yes, this is a cover too - Richie Valens - but you knew that)
And then I threw in the first song that Les Saxas played the first time they played live. It's an instrumental and I don't know what the title of the song is. I stole it from YouTube.
Then there are these three Les Saxas songs
*Chez Fefer
*Guele de Bois (from the VHS tape)
*Saint Kemar
They actually do have other songs floating around out there but I don't have them. If anybody does, please let me know.
*For the record I do own these original cassettes and I am willing to part with them. If you need to own these artifacts - these museum pieces of ska history - let me know. We'll talk.
This was a German ska band that had some noticeable influence from The Police but their overall sound - especially the vocals - is very much comparable to Fischer Z.
Since we're on the subject of Fischer Z I must say that I am really a big fan. I have just about all of their music. It should be noted that one of their earliest releases was a ska-inspired song - The Worker - and they maintained a bit of a ska influence throughout their long history as a band.
At one point there was a dispute between the band and the record label so the band renamed itself The Cry and their first release under the new name was a ska song called Take It Round Again.
For my American friends I have to explain that the name "Fischer Z" is pronounced "fischer zed" or, more appropriately "Fishes Head".
John Watts is a clever man and great song writer with as great unique voice. Watch this video where he explains the story behind The Worker.
This is another tape that I do not own because nobody owns this one. It was never released. Thankfully a YouTube channel posted it and I respectfully stole it to share it with you. They also have the other Ventilators demo tape called"Ska" that I previously posted HERE and it has the correct titles. There were no titles listed on the tape or card so I had to guess and I got a couple wrong. I've been meaning to update the tracks on Discogs. That channel is called Radio Skamachine and they also have some other rare Ventilators live recordings.
This band was from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and this is probably the only thing they ever released. This is (I'm guessing) a demo tape but it was professionally made with a printed shell and the quality of the music is a superior product for a demo tape.
I like a lot of these old ska and ska/punk tapes for the novelty factor of me having actually been there and knowing what these bands sound like live but I know it doesn't translate very well to people these days who weren't there and have nothing but a hissy tape to prove these bands existed, but this one stands out above most of the others to me.
With that in mind I want you to compare any of those other old ska demo tapes with this one. Can you agree that this band was a little more advanced than most of the others? The songwriting? The lyrics? The musicianship?
They have their flaws, I'm not going to lie, but I really wish they had done more.
*The title on the tape is Minute Woe Milk but Cullen James, who was in the band, posted this song on his YouTube channel*** with the title Minute Lube Milk. I can't imagine what the real title is.
This was a ska/rock band from Albuquerque who released this cassette-only mini album in 1992. The first side, in fact, the first five songs are ska or ska-inspired. The last two songs are a little too "Hootie and the Blowfish" for my taste.
I'm not really a big fan of hippie music - especially pop-hippie music (but I do have my favorites - I can listen to Jimi but I can't hear Jimi - I get it) so I don't really waste too many seconds of my life listening to Steve Miller's song "The Joker". I know a lot of people like it and they are entitled to their own weird opinion. The only popular song from this era that I dislike more than The Joker is American Pie. "I drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry"?? Who wrote this? A drunk toddler?
Anyway, I'm saying this because this tape has a cover of The Joker that I actually like. I'm a hard sell for this kind of thing but I give it my approval. I'll allow it.
At least it's not Woolly Bully.
Again.
Ska bands need to leave Woolly Bully alone and, at least once, I'd like to hear a ska band cover another Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs song like "VooDoo Doll"
This is one of those punk bands that played a lot of ska in their reportoire. They released two CDs that I know of but they probably have a demo tape out there somewhere.
The Eleventh Hour Band - Flying Taco (1997)
1 Derevaun Seraun
2 Deep Pockets
3 Myself
4 Erin
5 Crazy People
6 We're all Freaks
7 Fall by the Wayside
8 Leave
9 Goat Milk
10 Yipee Dal Doo, Hootie Dah Dae
11 Nine Times Out of Ten
Eleventh Hour Band - The Eleventh Hour Band (1999)
Vis-a-Vis - Heart and Soul ep (1985)
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Pardon the water damaged sleeve you see to your left. Thankfully the music
housed within is considerably less blemished. *Vis-a-Vis* were a Canadian
qu...
Playing with Death
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David Peel was a legend in his own mind & in the minds of a generation, He
died April 6, 2017 at age 74. What a life. His raw, acoustic "street rock"
...
"A Taste Of A&M Records" 1967
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Wonderful A&M Jazz, Latin Sampler of the 60s!
Latin music refers to music originating from Latin America namely Spanish-
and Portuguese-speaking countries o...
The Rainyard - Let It Speed EP
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*THE RAINYARD*
Let It Speed EP
1992 House Of Wax Records
Notes :
Indie rock band from Perth, Australia, active from 1989 to 1993
01. Die
02. Downward...
LADY FLASH - Beauties In The Night LP 76
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Like last year, I am creating a new weekly series with 10 or 11 albums to
expand on this band's name: Lady Flash Series. Most are big dance numbers
l...
The Sconeheads – Go Buckskin EP (1981)
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Linden Sounds [EJSP 9599]
A1 Morton's Always Trying To Be Hip
A2 D'ya Want Duffed
B1 Leaving On A Jet Plane
B2 Bathtime Funtime
Shor...
Modcast #611: Still Walkin' The Dogs
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Walkin' the dogs, just walkin' the dogs. If you don't know how to do it,
tune in, listen up and I'll tell you how to walk the dogs.
*Listen Now Download...
Skooch - Skooch EP (1999)
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*Posted by Request *
American 90s pop punk with a horn section. I don't know what state they're
from or if they have ever released anything else.
...
New single "Tell A Stranger"
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My new single "Tell A Stranger" is out now on Bandcamp and all the regular
streaming platforms. There is a B-Side that is exclusive to Bandcamp. It's
the...
Espiando en los 80's Venezuela Vol 2
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1-Jah Jah Children - Vamos a Bailar
2-Henry Stephen - I Don't Know
3-Fabrica de Sueños - Tu Estilo de Amar
4-Callejon 88 - Negrito Fiel
5-Colina...
# 569 Ricky & the Spitfires - Rock'n'roll singer
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Side a: Rock'n'roll singer
Side b: It's against the rules
DK 1978
Very fine powerpop record by this South African R'n'R group. It was
released on a danish...
Yo SĂ Le Brinco - Desgracias, Gracias (2022)
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“Somos una banda de punk rock originarios de leon gto. Decidimos hacer la
banda en tiempos pandemicos con el pretexto de poder salir del encierro y
distra...
New Heavensbee Album "We Mean Business" Released
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After nearly 2 years of writing and recording, I'm excited to finally share
a pre-order link for the new Heavensbee album "We Mean Business" which will ...
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LMNOP - ELEMEN OPEE ELPEE (1986)
Originally posted in 2010 (January 20th)
Full details *here*
*Re-up as requested*
*FIRST TIME IN FLAC*
*LMNOP* (291 mb)
No Comply
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*Biography : *
No Comply are from Belgrade, Serbia. The band started in 2001, and made a
come back couple of years ago. A very good band from a country ...
AGGRESSIVE
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ALEMANIA
Aggressive son una banda Street Punk Oi! de Ruhrpott, Alemania.
2015- Spit Blood
01- Aggressive
02- Chain Reaction
03- Alone With The Wolve...