Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Various Artists - Attack Of The Killer B's, Vol. 1


Okey dokey, gang - here's a real rarity for you . . .

I got this one at the old Strawberries record store in Downtown Crossing, Boston during the summer of 1984. I was in the midst of my Naval Academy summer cruise, travelling up and down the East Coast in a small flotilla of YP (yard patrol) craft with several other classmates. The first place we stopped on our journey that summer was Bath, Maine - not high on my list of places to visit, needless to say. The locals there were jazzed to have actual Annapolis midshipmen within their midst, and pretty hospitable, throwing us a pretty lavish Independence Day picnic party. But it was one of the coldest Fourth of Julys I've ever experienced - we had to wear pretty heavy jackets during the outdoor festivities that afternoon. And the drinkers in our group (which were many, but did not, at the time, include myself) were grumbling under their breaths, because the only suds made available at the party was watery, cheap-ass Red White & Blue beer (it pains me to point out this egregious example of Boat School snobbery and entitlement - hell, it WAS free beer). Other than that, there wasn't much for us to do up there. With that grim combination of boredom and chilliness, we were all ready to move on to the next destination as soon as possible.

Boston was to be the first big-city stop on our journey; we arrived there a couple of days later, and docked in Charlestown, close to the berth of the historic USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides"). I had spent some time in Boston in earlier years, when I was a high school student in a small town on the South Shore. But this visit was the first time I really had the opportunity and freedom to do pretty much what I wished. I rode the T all over the city, went out to Cambridge to visit some friends attending Harvard, hung out on the Common and at Fanueil Hall Marketplace. It was all pretty fun.

One night during our stay, a couple of shipmates and I decided to head out to catch the recently released Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom at a theater in Park Square (now long gone, replaced by a huge parking garage and a couple of upscale restaurants like Fleming's Steakhouse and Legal Sea Foods). We took the T to the Downtown Crossing station, and started walking.

Back in the mid-80s, even though Downtown Crossing was a major shopping area in Boston (the late, lamented Filene's and Jordan Marsh department stores were going strong then), it was still a sketchy area. It was sort of dirty and disreputable, especially as the evening hours came on - after all, the Combat Zone, the city's old red light district, was only a couple of blocks away down Washington Street. It wasn't the sort of place you thought about hanging around once the sun started going down. But that's where we were, on foot, with the Combat Zone between us and our destination. I wasn't worried - just a little leery. But that leeriness dissipated when we came upon Strawberries, a big music store that used to stand in the area right across from the big department stores. We had to sidle by a couple of gangs of toughs hanging out in front of the place, but no matter - back then, I'd walk over hot coals to get inside a decent record store!

The movie didn't start for a while, so we spent some time going through the stacks at Strawberries. The store was built on a deep but rather narrow plot, so it was sort of hard to get around its multiple levels, most of which were accessible only by elevator. There weren't a lot of CDs available in 1984, so the majority of wares available were records and cassette tapes.

I stumbled across Attack Of The Killer B's in the vinyl racks almost by chance; at first glance, it looked like nothing more than a chance for Warner Brothers to make a few dollars off of old rags and bones from their vaults that they didn't deem worthy enough to release on proper albums. But then I looked at the song list, and the first one that hit my eyes was "Love Goes To A Building On Fire" by Talking Heads. I had long been a big Talking Heads fan, so of course I had heard of this legendary unreleased song, but at that point had never actually heard the tune. So seeing it finally available here was pretty exciting to me. I started looking over some of the other songs on the compilation, and noted that almost all the them were hard-to-find rarities by some pretty big-time bands. Here's the lineup:

1. Marshall Crenshaw – You're My Favorite Waste Of Time
2. The Pretenders – In The Sticks
3. The Blasters – What Will Lucy Do?
4. The Ramones – Babysitter
5. John Hiatt – Take Time To Know Her
6. Roxy Music – Always Unknowing
7. Peter Gabriel – Shock Den Affen
8. The Time – Grace
9. Talking Heads – Love Goes To A Building On Fire
10. Gang Of Four – Producer
11. T-Bone Burnett – Amnesia And Jealousy (Oh Lana)
12. Laurie Anderson – Walk The Dog

To my chagrin, the album didn't appear to be available on cassette. But I was damned if I was going to leave it behind. So I purchased the vinyl copy, which I carried around with me for the rest of the night in a red plastic Strawberries bag. It sat on my lap during the entire movie as well. Since there wasn't a record player on board the YP, I had to wait several weeks until we got back to Annapolis to listen to the record, and I was not disappointed. Every song on the album was superb, and as such, Attack Of The Killer B's was a great addition to my collection.

[I still kick myself about one thing from the evening I purchased this record. As we were coming out of the shop and headed to the movies, I noticed a flyer attached to a light pole, advertising the only Boston appearance - that very same evening - of Gang Of Four on their 1984 "farewell" tour. I wasn't as big a fan of Go4 then was I would be later, so I didn't really consider blowing off Indiana Jones and checking them out that night. Looking back, I wish that I had - I've seen the band a couple of times since their reformation, but it would have been awesome to have seen them live in their heyday. Oh well.]

This album was released only on vinyl, and to date has never been released on either cassette or CD. I honestly forget that I had this disc until just recently, when I was going through some boxes in the basement and stumbled over it. As happy as I was with my find, I wasn't very happy about the condition I found this record in - I like to take care of my stuff better than this. As such, the burn from vinyl to MP3 was not without its challenges - you'll find that the quality on the Roxy Music song is pretty scratchy. And I finally just gave up with the Peter Gabriel song, and replaced the vinyl version with an identical one I had on CD. Otherwise, the burns are pretty good and cleaned up, and every song is here.

I hope that you all enjoy this album as much as I have over the years. Check it out, and let me know what you think:

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

Send Email



[22 Oct 2013 - Well, it appears that I was incorrect about this album never appearing on cassette - I received the following picture today from a new visitor to this site:


Thanks for the update, John!  And welcome to the blog!]

25 comments:

  1. sounds interesting! Can't wait to listen. Thanks so much!

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  2. Hello. I was wondering if you would please re-up Attack of the Killer B's. Thanks.

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  3. I just checked the link - it seems to work fine for me. Give it another shot, and if you're unsuccessful, let me know, and we'll come up with an alternate way to get you this file. Thanks.

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  4. Hey, HFM. The mediafire screen comes up but when I click on Download a screen comes up that says "the web address can't be found". I have the vol. 2 LP and dug it out today & played it for the first time in years and that made me want to hear the first one. I don't know why I've never tried before. Anyway, thanks.

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  5. OK. I'll take a look at it later today, and let you know when it's fixed. Thanks for the heads-up. And thanks for visiting!

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  6. Hello Tommy -

    Just checked the link again - it's working just fine for me. I don't know what to tell you . . . If you're still having problems, let me know, and we'll find another way to get this file to you!

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  7. What do you mean, Allan? These links work just fine - I just checked them. Try again, please.

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  8. Just got it, and LOVE IT! Thanks so much! :D

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  9. It's Christmas all over again!! Have been looking for this bad boy since the mid-80s(older brother had it on vinyl, i had it on cassette [lost it]) and had literally given up. Great tunes and great site! Thank you, bless you.

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  10. Fun stuff and high school flashbacks!

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  11. Thanks again for this! Now my Killer B's collection is complete! :D

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  12. Could you send the link(s) for this to MCaputo3@gmail.com? I sent an email requesting the Revenge album as well.

    Thanks SO much!!!

    Marc P. Caputo

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  13. Once again, thank you so much for the links to this the "sequel"! This was one of the albums that I bought - at the age of 16! - sound unheard. I didn't even read a review; Warner Brothers used to advertise a slew of releases in a half page ad in Rolling Stone (I'll find it and send it to you) and I bought this on CONCEPT. I'd never heard any of the songs and at that point, not most of the artists. It taught me a lot and opened my ears and mind to new sounds and artists. I've had both on vinyl AND cassette, but this is a boon. Over the years, as remasters and compilation/box sets have become more the rage, you see a track or two popping up and I was hoping to collect them all that way, but only a handful have surfaced in true digital. Love this and am planning to go through your whole site this weekend.

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  14. Ha! Never thought that I ever have THE RAMONES and PETER GABRIEL on one Record...but it's a nice one.
    Thank you for that!
    Cheers from Berlin...

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  15. Thank you so much for this rare collection of B-sides :D Made my weekend! Cheers!

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  16. Many thanks for the link. A true treasure.

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  17. Thanks so much for sharing. Great hearing this record again. Best to you.

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  18. Thanks so much for these links! I haven't gotten to hear these songs in a very long time. Fun!

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  19. Thank you very much for the quick email delivery for the link. Keep up the good work with your blog.

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  20. Thanks for these, PP! I too have the cassette of this, was playing today in the car and that's what inspired me to seek these out!

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  21. Thanks for the memory. I once had the cassette of both Attack and Revenge but they are long gone from my collection probably jammed in an old Walkman or unravelled with a pencil stuck in one of the tape reels.

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  22. I actually used to have this one on cassette. Great stuff. Thank you so much for sharing it with me. My quest to have this in my collection is finally over. Great quality too. :p

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  23. I'm so excited to hear this again - I had it on cassette so long ago!

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