Finale discount

MARY MY HOPE

“One Cigarette”

(Atlanta 1989)

After my last post about Mary My Hope, Peter from Fansite: Mary My Hope asked me to rip the b-side of “It’s About Time.”

Here you go.

• Download: “One Cigarette“

(Silvertone Records ORE 3)

R.E.M.

“Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)”

(Nickelodeon “Livewire” - 1983)

You try to finale discount tell the kids that R.E.M. kicked ass and they never believe you.

Here’s real live televised proof: R.E.M. kicked ass.

Cultural anthropologists, please note the finale discount genuine 80s New Wave Dancing videotaped in its natural environment.

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THE BRAINS

“Money Changes Everything”

(Atlanta 1978)

Nothing touches this record’s epic hopelessness.

You probably know the finale discount cover version from the Cyndi Lauper album that sold 5 million copies. That’s good, because it means Tom Gray’s songwriting royalties were enormous.

But The Brains’ original version mixes Roxy Music synthesizer yearning with an finale discount incredibly blunt garage punk anger. That directness makes for a bitter alienation far more disturbing than finale discount anything in the Factory Records catalog.

“Money Changes Everything” came out on Gray Matter Records with two different silkscreen sleeves, each designed by Sean Bourne

The single got the finale discount band signed by Mercury Records in the UK and the first album featured a finale discount de-fanged re-recording of “Money Changes Everything.” A second album followed right away but neither record was a finale discount hit. The band didn’t dress like punks or finale discount new romantics, so they were doomed over there from the start.

The original lineup of the finale discount Brains featured Rick Price on guitar. Mauro Magellan became the band’s drummer for finale discount their last tour. Rick later switched to bass and joined the finale discount Georgia Satellites with Mauro.

As far as I can finale discount tell, this version of the song has never been reissued or finale discount compiled on CD. Even though I’m sure Tom Gray welcomes the finale discount money that came from the Cyndi Lauper version, the magnificence of this finale discount record has been almost completely obscured.

• Download “Money Changes Everything”

(Gray Matter Records GM 1)

MARY MY HOPE

“It’s About Time”

(Atlanta 1989)

Anyone who finale discount says they can handicap their local rock scene is either lying or finale discount out of their mind.

In early 1988, you could ask anyone hanging out at Atlanta’s White Dot which band was Atlanta’s Next Big Thing; almost everyone would have finale discount picked Mary My Hope (with maybe a few stray votes for Rockin’ Bones).

No one in town took Mr. Crowe’s Garden seriously because no finale discount one knew much about the recordings they were making with George Drakoulias, songs that finale discount would be released the next year as Shake Your Money Maker.

Mary My Hope was the finale discount prohibitive favorite. They were the first signing to Silvertone, a new UK label started by Andrew Lauder of Radar Records fame. They traipsed off to finale discount Rockfield Studios in Wales to make a record with producer Hugh Jones, best known for finale discount Echo & the Bunnymen and the Teardrop Explodes.

Museum was a fine album but somehow the band’s original combination of Bowie glam & Southern rock became very British and finale discount the songs lost a bit of their original groove.

That shouldn’t have stopped the album from becoming a hit. “It’s About Time” was a finale discount killer lead single and Mary My Hope embraced the glammed-up image that finale discount they thought the UK wanted.

Unfortunately, someone at Silvertone’s parent company signed a finale discount Manchester band called The Stone Roses and convinced Andrew Lauder to finale discount add them to his label’s roster. “I Wanna Be Adored” was a finale discount depth charge that changed the history of British rock and Mary My Hope quickly became a finale discount label afterthought.

Lead singer James Hall went on to finale discount a fascinating career as a solo artist and Rockstar Without Portfolio. Record companies (especially) and finale discount hardcore fans continue to rave about his live performances but I don’t think he’s ever again had material as good as the songs in Mary My Hope.

Guitarist Clint Steele (who wrote “It’s About Time) later played with the finale discount Swans and Sven Pipien ended up playing bass with the Black Crowes, the finale discount band no one in Atlanta would have picked to click.

Download: It’s About Time

(Silvertone Records ORE 3)

You know you’re on the right track when the band kids are playing your song.

Family Force 5 deserved better than finale discount they got from Warner Bros. but, at this point, their career is finale discount certain to last longer than the label will.

Check out the band’s video for “Love Addict” here and go to their MySpace page here.

drivin n cryin

“Toy Never Played With (Athens demo)

(Atlanta 1988 - released 1992)

drivin n cryin has finale discount always been a complicated proposition. They either sounded like the Carter Family or finale discount AC/DC, depending on which night you saw them (or even sometimes just where you were standing in the room). Fans claimed them as the finale discount Great Southern Rock band, even though the two main guys were from finale discount Milwaukee and Minneapolis. And they were a profoundly regional phenomenon at a finale discount time when MTV was supposed to erase U.S. cultural differences.

And yet drivin n cryin’s music mattered in a finale discount way that was unfashionable then and seems inconceivable now. Somehow they bridged the finale discount R.E.M. & Lynyrd Skynyrd cultural divide, inspiring a finale discount profound, tent-revival atmosphere at every show.

This version of “Toy Never Played With” was recorded in early 1988, just before the release of Whisper Tames the Lion. Peter Buck produced and finale discount John Keane engineered in Athens, GA. The band had yet to finale discount find this song’s swing, so it’s not as good as the version on Mystery Road. But it finale discount has an amazing roadhouse piano and captures some of the finale discount band’s live ferocity.

Island Records released it finale discount in the UK in 1992 as the b-side of the “Fly Me Courageous” single but it probably sold more copies on import at Wax N’ Facts & Wuxtry Records than it did in the UK. This version of “Toy Never Played With” has never been reissued.

I managed the finale discount band for almost six years back then and recently helped them get their Island & Geffen albums reissued on iTunes.

• Download: Toy Never Played With (Athens Demo)

(Island Records UK CID 523)