Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1988, the Dream Syndicate released the album Ghost Stories. Although the band was one of the defining acts of the Paisley Underground movement that spun out of Los Angeles in the nineteen-eighties — … Continue reading One for Friday — The Dream Syndicate, “My Old Haunts”
Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1988, Hunters & Collectors released the U.S. edition of their fifth studio album. The Australian band was a reasonable commercial force in their homeland, routinely delivering albums that charted in the Top 20 and singles that made — or at least approached — the Top 40. Stateside, they had recently signed with I.R.S. Records, the independent label that made dominance on college radio their model through much of the nineteen-eighties. The album What’s a Few Men?, released in Australia in 1987, was determined by the executives to have too strong of a Down … Continue reading One for Friday — Hunters & Collectors, “You Can Have It All”
Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1988, Reckless Sleepers released their first and only album, Big Boss Sounds. The band’s label, college radio mainstay I.R.S. Records, concentrated the promotional push on the band’s lead singer and chief songwriter, Jules … Continue reading One for Friday — Reckless Sleepers, “Tried to Please Her”
Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1988, Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers released their major label debut, Rumble. Local heroes on the Philadelphia rock scene, Conwell and his cohorts were so popular that a 1987 contest pitched at … Continue reading One for Friday — Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers, “I’m Not Your Man”
Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1988, Hothouse Flowers released their debut album, People. As with many Irish bands of the time, their pathway to broader music business exposure went through the garlanded terraces constructed by U2. Legend has … Continue reading One for Friday — Hothouse Flowers, “Don’t Go”
Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1988, Toni Childs released her debut album, Union. A native of California, Childs spent much of the nineteen-eighties on the fringes of the music scene in London. She cultivated several creative relationships there, … Continue reading One for Friday — Toni Childs, “Don’t Walk Away”
Thirty years ago, in the late spring of 1988, Melissa Etheridge released her self-titled debut album. By now, Etheridge has become such a mainstay on the rock scene (albeit one who has arguably shifted to legacy status rather than necessary … Continue reading One for Friday — Melissa Etheridge, “Bring Me Some Water”
Thirty years ago, in the fall of 1988, the Toll released The Price of Progression. It was the debut album for the Columbus, Ohio band, released on major label Geffen Records. Stirred partially by the advocacy of Psychedelic Furs bassist … Continue reading One for Friday — The Toll, “Jonathan Toledo”
Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1988, Voice of the Beehive released the album Let It Bee. The band is best known as a showcase for sisters Tracey Bryn and Melissa Brooke Belland, transplants from California who settled in … Continue reading One for Friday — Voice of the Beehive, “Don’t Call Me Baby”
Thirty years ago, in the spring of 1988, Soul Asylum released the album Hang Time. In the Minneapolis regional of the nineteen-eighties tourney for the hearts and minds of college radio kids, Soul Asylum was doomed to never finish better than … Continue reading One for Friday — Soul Asylum, “Sometime to Return”
Coffee for Two 