Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Eight-X (44)

Hello, Eight-X is still coughing up the goods here, but if you really need it all check the P5 blog (on my linkslist). Anyway first up is Johnny Thunders, who's suspicious death was shrugged off by the New Orleans police as sowhat just another junkie. He did have his problems with that, but he could have been a 56 year old content grandad now aswell..Anyway his best solo effort is up for grabs here....The Tubes have been around here aswell, with Todd Rungren at the helm they and the critics liked their concept album Telecide..the already well indoctrinated US public didnt like it...always the same dare no to tell the truth, people hate you for it...the cover still stands, however these days some VR goggles might be used....... Last up Blobdie..oops typo though shes known to have had big weightproblems...i mean Blondie of cause what i had left on vinyl was unusable but i bought a nice compilation with all the vids..seen that one just once..but the Sounds compilation does the job......btw im still re-upping the massmirror disaster Rhotation 1-9 are all live again...

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Johnny Thunders - So Alone ( 78 ^ 80mb)

Johnny Thunders, (John Anthony Genzale, Jr) was born July 15, 1952, and raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, NY, in a second generation Italian family. Under the name "Johnny Volume", Genzale began performing music at Quintano High School with "Johnny and the Jaywalkers". In 1968 he started going to the Fillmore East on weekends. He got a job as a salesclerk at Da Nazz leather shop on Bleecker. It was there that he met future Dolls Arthur Kane and Billy Murcia. He joined their band, "Actress", which eventually became the New York Dolls when David Johannsen and Sylvain Sylvain joined in 1971. At this time John Genzale renamed himself Johnny Thunders, after a comic book of the same name.

They recorded two critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful albums, The New York Dolls and Too Much Too Soon. The band was managed, for a short time, by Malcolm McLaren and was an inspiration for the Sex Pistols. In 1975 the original line-up for the Dolls broke up. Their early recordings are still in print today and continue to influence young bands with their trash/glam/punk attitude.

Thereupon Thunders formed The Heartbreakers with Dolls drummer Jerry Nolan, and Television bassist Richard Hell. Ex-Demons guitarist Walter Lure was soon added. After Hell unsuccessfully tried to usurp Johnny's place as lead singer, he left to form Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Hell was replaced by Billy Rath. With Thunders leading the band, the Heartbreakers toured America and Britain, releasing one official album, L.A.M.F., in 1977. The group relocated to the UK, where their popularity was significantly greater than it was in the U.S., particularly among punk bands. After several months, the group returned to America, where they played a series of farewell gigs in New York.

Following the drug-fueled implosion of the Heartbreakers, Johnny Thunders bounced back with his first solo outing, So Alone. Featuring a veritable who's who of '70s punk and hard rock -- Chrissie Hynde, Phil Lynott, Peter Perrett, Steve Marriott, Paul Cook, and Steve Jones, among others -- the record was a testament to what the former New York Dolls guitarist could accomplish with a little focus. Much like Thunders' best work with the Dolls and Heartbreakers, So Alone is a gloriously sloppy amalgam of R&B, doo wop, and three-chord rock & roll. Despite the inevitable excesses that plagued every Thunders recording session, Steve Lillywhite's solid engineering job and a superb set of songs hold everything together. Johnny Thunders never followed up on the promise of his solo debut. His subsequent records were a frustrating mix of drug-addled mediocrity and downright laziness. But for one brief moment, he seemed to put it all together. That moment is So Alone.

During the early '80s, Thunders re-formed the Heartbreakers for various tours; the group recorded their final album in 1984. For most of the '80s, the only Johnny Thunders product available was haphazard compilations of live tracks and demos. In 1985, he released Que Sera Sera, a collection of new songs that showed he could still perform convincingly. Three years later, the guitarist recorded an album of rock and R&B covers with vocalist Patti Palladin, Copy Cats. Thunders kept performing and recording until his death in 1991, but problems with heroin addiction kept his output and song writing sporadic during the 1980s. These bands would be formed ad hoc, using Jerry Nolan as a mainstay.

Many rumors surround Thunders' death at the St. Peter House in New Orleans, 23 rd of April 1991. What is known for certain is that Johnny's room (no. 37) was ransacked and most of his possessions were missing (passport, makeup, clothes). Rigor mortis had set in with his body positioned in an unnatural state. His big suply of methadon was gone too and the coroner didnt find a deadly dose of drugs. Nevertheless the New Orleans police wasnt interested in the death of a junkie, and didnt bother to investigate. He was survived by his ex-wife Julie and four children, John, Vito, Dino, and daughter Jamie.



01 - Pipeline (2:20)
02 - You Can't Put Your Arms Round A Memory (3:45)
03 - Great Big Kiss (Voc.Patti Palladin) (3:19)
04 - Ask Me No Questions (3:30)
05 - Leave Me Alone (2:45)

06 - Daddy Rollin' Stone (3:16)
07 - London Boys (2:46)
08 - (She's So) Untouchable (2:52)
09 - Subway Train (Voc.Patti Palladin, Chrissie Hynde)(4:07)
10 - Downtown (3:03)

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The Tubes - Remote Control (79 ^ 99mb)


The beginnings of the group originate in Phoenix, Arizona in the late '60s, where guitarist Bill Spooner, keyboardist Vince Welnick and bassist Rick Anderson formed as the Beans. After moving to San Francisco in 1972, the Beans recruited guitarist Roger Steen and drummer Prairie Prince, and later became the Tubes with the addition of Michael Cotten on keyboards and former roadie Fee Waybill on lead vocals. Over the course of the next few years, the Tubes earned a devoted cult following on the strength of Spooner's parodic songs and the group's surreal live shows, which featured Waybill adopting a variety of personas including the "crippled Nazi" Dr. Strangekiss, country singer Hugh Heifer and Quay Lewd, a drug-addled British pop star.

After signing to A&M in 1975, they released their self-titled debut, produced by Al Kooper, this album by the notorious San Francisco group is best known for the blazing anthem "White Punks on Dope." Although the Tubes' raison d'ĂȘtre was their shock-rock stage dynamic, Bill Spooner, Fee Waybill, and company could, on occasion, deliver some offbeat pop splendor. A good example is the song "Haloes," co-written with Kooper, a tough power pop jewel that sounds like Todd Rundgren colliding with Roxy Music. Also of note is "Boy Crazy," which shows off Spooner's guitar skills. Kooper's production is faultless, as are the horn and string arrangements by Dominic Frontiere. In the end transferring the manic energy and theatrical complexity of their live set onto record didn't come off, however, the single "White Punks on Dope" became a minor hit and a radio staple. The 76 follow up album , Young And Rich, suffered much the same fate. The Tubes were ahead of their time..the videoformat would undoubtely have done their presence much good.

After 1977's failed concept record The Tubes Now, the group toured England, where a series of banned performances made them a media sensation. However, during the recording of the concert LP What Do You Want From Live? Waybill broke his leg onstage while acting out his punk character Johnny Bugger; the remainder of the tour was cancelled, and with it died the band's chart momentum. After returning to the U.S., they recruited producer Todd Rundgren and recorded 1979's Remote Control, a concept album exploring the influence of television, good reviews but it met a similar commercial fate as its predecessors. The Tubes choreographed stage productions were expensive to produce, however, and while they earned the band a reputation for being one of the most entertaining live acts of all time, by the early 1980s they found themselves short of money. Their proposed fifth album, the self-produced Suffer for Sound, was rejected by A&M Records, who dumped the band instead, finishing out its contract with the oddities collection T.R.A.S.H. (Tubes Rarities and Smash Hits).

After signing to Capitol, they recorded 1981's Completion Backwards Principle, an album based on an actual sales training instruction manual; both "Talk to You Later" and "Don't Want to Wait Anymore" earned significant radio play, and the LP became the Tubes' first Top 40 hit. Thanks to its provocative video, the single "She's a Beauty" reached the Top Ten, and pushed the 1983 LP Outside/Inside into the Top 20 Albums chart. The band teamed up with Rundgren once again for 1985's Love Bomb, a flop that led Capitol to drop the band just as it was going on tour in support of the album, a tour that would leave the band a half million dollars in debt, forcing them to play low-budget gigs for a year to pay off their debts. After which the Tubes disbanded, and Welnick later joined the Grateful Dead. In 1993, the Tubes reunited; consisting of Waybill, Steen, Anderson, Prince and new keyboardist Gary Cambra, they toured the U.S. and Europe before releasing a new LP, Genius of America, in 1996. In 2000, the Tubes embarked on another extensive tour, issuing the greatest-hits-live album Tubes World Tour to commemorate the event. Rhotation 20 The Tubes - The Tubes



01 - Turn Me On (4:06)
02 - TV Is King (3:08)
03 - Prime Time (3:15)
04 - I Want It All Now (4:20)
05 - No Way Out (3:21)

06 - Getoverture (3:26)
07 - No Mercy (3:22)
08 - Only The Strong Survive (3:52)
09 - Be Mine Tonight (3:29)
10 - Love's A Mystery (I Don't Understand) (3:27)
11 - Telecide (5:40)


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Blondie - Greatest Hits, Sound ( ^ 166mb)DMCA takedown

In the early 1970s, Chris Stein moved to New York City and, inspired by the New York Dolls, aimed to join a similar band. He joined The Stilettos in 1973 as their guitarist and formed a romantic relationship with the band's vocalist, Deborah Harry. A former waitress and Playboy Bunny. Stein and Harry formed a new band with drummer Billy O'Connor and bassist Fred Smith. By 1975, Smith and O'Connor had left, and the line-up was Stein and Harry plus drummer Clem Burke, keyboard player Jimmy Destri and bass player Gary Valentine. Originally billed as Angel and the Snake the band renamed themselves Blondie in late 1975. They became regulars at New York's Club 51, Max's Kansas City and CBGB. Blondie got their first record deal with Private Stock Records in the mid-'70s and released their debut album Blondie in 1976

In August 77, Chrysalis Records bought their contract from Private Stock and in October reissued Blondie and released the second album, Plastic Letters. Blondie expanded to a sextet in November with the addition of bassist Nigel Harrison (born in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, England), as Infante switched to guitar. Plastic Letters was promoted extensively throughout Europe and Asia by Chrysalis Records. The album's first single, "Denis", was a cover version of Randy and the Rainbows' 1963 hit. It reached number two on the British singles charts, while both the album and its second single, "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear", reached the British top ten. That chart success, along with a successful 1978 UK tour, made Blondie one of the first American new wave bands to achieve mainstream success in the United Kingdom.

Parallel Lines, Blondie's third album, was produced by Mike Chapman. Its first two singles were "Picture This" and "Hanging on the Telephone". "Heart of Glass" was their first U.S. hit. It was a reworking of a rock song that the group had performed since its formation, but updated with strong elements of disco music. Clem Burke later said the revamped version was inspired partly by Kraftwerk and partly by the Bee Gee's "Stayin' Alive". Heart of Glass became a popular worldwide success. Selling more than one million copies and garnering major airplay, the single reached number one in many countries including the U.S., where, for the most part, Blondie had previously been considered an "underground" band. The song was accompanied by a music video that showcased Deborah Harry's hard-edged and playfully sexual persona, and she began to attain a celebrity status that set her apart from the other band members, who were largely ignored by the media, and thereby laid the groundwork for Blondie's demise......

Their fourth album, Eat to the Beat, was well received by critics as a suitable follow-up to Parallel Lines, but in the U.S. it failed to achieve the same level of success. In the UK, the single "Atomic" reached number one, "Dreaming" number two, and "Union City Blue" was another top 20 hit, while in the U.S. their singles did not chart as strongly.


Meanwhile, Harry was collaborating with German disco producer Giorgio Moroder on "Call Me," the theme from the movie American Gigolo. It became Blondie's second transatlantic chart-topper. Blondie's fifth album, Autoamerican, was released in November 1980, and its first single was the reggae-cover "The Tide Is High," which went to number one in the U.S. and U.K. The second single was the rap-oriented "Rapture," which topped the U.S. pop charts and went Top Ten in the U.K. But the band's eclectic style reflected a diminished participation by its members -- Infante sued, charging that he wasn't being used on the records, though he settled and stayed in the lineup. But in 1981, the members of Blondie worked on individual projects, notably Harry's gold-selling solo album, KooKoo. The Best of Blondie was released in the fall of the year. The Hunter, Blondie's sixth album, was released in May 1982, preceded by the single "Island of Lost Souls," a Top 40 hit in the U.S. and U.K. "War Child" also became a Top 40 hit in the U.K., but The Hunter was a commercial disappointment.

At the same time, Stein became seriously ill with the genetic disease pemphigus. As a result, Blondie broke up in October 1982, with Deborah Harry launching a part-time solo career while caring for Stein, who eventually recovered.

In the nineties EMI and Chrysalis Records cashed in some more and released several compilations and collections of remixed versions of some of their biggest hits. One of which is Beautiful, a rather ironic title when at the time 95, Debbie was rather volumunous. The remixes on the album which was e- released in a slightly different order and tracklisting are rather inconsistant , Blondie deserved better i think.

In 1998, the original lineup of Harry, Stein, Destri, and Burke reunited to tour Europe, their first series of dates in 16 years; a new LP, No Exit, followed early the next year. After more touring, this was followed by another album the dissapointing, The Curse of Blondie, in 2003, and a DVD of the Live by Request program from A&E was released in 2004. In 2006, Blondie celebrated their 30th anniversary with induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the release of Greatest Hits: Sound & Vision, a best-of collection that contained all their classic videos as well. This set here remains one of the best (and best looking) Blondie compilations, even without considering the videos. "Rapture Riders," a very silly and perverse mash-up of "Rapture" with the Doors' "Riders on the Storm," is included as a bonus track.



01 - Heart Of Glass (Single Edit) (4:12)
02 - Blondie Sunday Girl (3:15)
03 - Atomic (Single Edit) (3:49)
04 - Call Me (Single Edit) (3:32)
05 - The Tide Is High (Single Edit) (3:52)
06 - Rapture (Single Edit) (4:59)
07 - Maria (Single Edit) (4:10)
08 - In The Flesh (Remix) (3:07)
09 - Rip Her To Shreds (3:21)
10 - Denis (2:19)
11 - Picture This (2:55)
12 - Fade Away And Radiate (3:59)
13 - Hanging On The Telephone (2:22)
14 - One Way Or Another (3:28)
15 - Dreaming (3:06)
16 - Union City Blue (3:20)
17 - Island Of Lost Souls (3:50)
18 - Good Boys (Blow-Up Mix) (6:05)
19 - End To End (4:01)
20 - Rapture Riders (Single Edit) (3:52)



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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

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