Echo And The Bunnymen – Rollercoaster
Gene Loves Jezebel – Love Splice
I was recently in Colorado Springs visiting some family and gettin’ high (altitudes) and whenever I’m there I make sure to visit this bitchin’ store called The Leech Pit, a store that offers ‘Trend-Free Music, Clothing and Entertainment.’ While I’m sure their second-hand retro clothing selection is impressive (being both big and tall I don’t even bother looking at the clothes) I mainly go there to browse their totally radical LP collection.
A prime example of quality over quantity, The Leech Pit only has a few rows of records, but almost all of them are winners. If you dig punk, 80s rock, techno, soundtracks or anything unusual or obscure, you should totally check them out if you’re ever anywhere near Colorado Springs. I’ve picked up some amazing stuff there in the past, most of which has already been on this site or will be in the near future.
anyways, during this trip I scored big time. In addition to picking up an ultra-rare Woody Allen stand-up album and the soundtrack to a Japanese anime (Macross) I also bought a very unusual box set featuring three 12-inch singles by Echo & The Bunnymen, New Order and Gene Loves Jezebel. From what I can gather, it was only sold during their 1987 US tour and is unusual for a few reasons. Firstly, the Gene Loves Jezebel and Echo & The Bunnymen LPs have the exact same song on both the A and B sides (suspicion’ and ‘New Direction’, respectively) while the New Order differs from the other two and has two different versions of their song ‘True Faith’ (the radio edit and the LP version). Also, since each band was on different labels on the time, each record was produced by a different record label, which is something you almost never see (usually you one label produces the product and the disclaimer ‘blah blah appears courtesy of blah blah records’).
While all that is well and good, I wouldn’t have bought it if those were the only things that made it special. I mean, I like Echo & The Bunnymen and all, but I ain’t made of money. Fortunately, it also contained a bonus record, a floppy 10 inch (…woah, did that come out wrong…) with three songs, one by each band. The New Order song included on this little bonus record is ‘Shame Of The Nation’ and since that’s easily available on Substance I’m not including it here. However, the Echo & The Bunnymen track ‘Rollercoaster’ is only available on their box set The Crystal Years 1979-1999 and the Gene Loves Jezebel song ‘Fresh Slice’ isn’t available anywhere as far as I can tell. So for both of you Gene Love Jezebel fans out there, this is your lucky day!
As I said before, this bonus record was a 10 inch floppy (hehe..sorry, I’m a sucker for unintentional dick jokes) and it doesn’t really sound all that great. I did my best to clean it up, but the audio is still a little murky, so if anyone has any ideas on how to improve these tracks please let me know.
Jane’s Addiction – Been Caught Stealing (12-inch Remix)
Jane’s Addiction – Had A Dad (Demo Version)
I’m whipping out my big 12-inch record to compensate for my floppy little 10-incher. This version of ‘Been Caught Stealing’ is a little odd, with some silly break beats and random hoots and hollers thrown in the beginning of it for no good reason. The demo version of ‘Had A Dad’ is the B-side and it sounds a hell of a lot better than the version that was on Nothing’s Shocking, with much more energy and feeling behind it.