Saturday, May 2, 2020

Notes from the Paisley Underground

Early in 2019, four of the most prominent bands from the Paisley Underground movement in the 1980s released 3X4, wherein each of the bands covered one song by the other three bands.  Listening to that album, belatedly discovering this oral history of the scene (the article was written in 2013)  around the same time, and finding the long out of print Rainy Day album on the internet all, of course, led to an irresistible urge to put together the compilation below.  I should note that the Burn and Shine blog put together an excellent compilation called Paisley Underground: 1981-1990 back in 2011.  As the blog seems to have been defunct for several years, I did use several of the tracks from that compilation on mine as well.  Anyway, hope people enjoy it.

P.s. I highly recommend watching the video for Rainy Day's I'll Keep it With Mine (it's just the song with footage from the 1961 Guy DeBord film, CRITIQUE OF SEPARATION.)

P.P.S. Rest in peace, Tony Allen. I've re-upped my one disc career retrospective of his work.

P.P.S. I've re-upped several other LA-centric posts, including the a) Byrds/Three O'Clock/Army Navy compilation, b) the Los Angeles music scene comps, c) the Tom Waits/Eleni Mandell/Aimee Mann/Stan Ridgway comps, d) the 90s roots revivalist scene

P.P.P.S. Rest in peace, David Roback.  There's a good article on the LA Times website about the Paisley Underground scene, especially his friendship with Hoffs.

Download both discs

Side A
You Are My Friend The Rain Parade
It's About Time The Pandoras
Let It Rain Dream Syndicate
Fading Away Green On Red
Hold On True West
John Riley Rainy Day
I'll Keep it With Mine Rainy Day
Northern Line Opal
Only Business The Rain Parade
Old World Viva Saturn
Seeing Is Believing Three O'Clock
All About You The Bangles
And She Rides The Long Ryders
John Hardy The Gun Club
No Free Lunch Green on Red
Side B
My Only Friend Opal
Astronomy Thin White Rope
Ghost on the Highway Gun Club
Her Head's Revolving The Three O'Clock
The Days Of Wine And Roses The Dream Syndicate
Here On Earth As Well The Dream Syndicate
What's She Done To Your Mind The Rain Parade
Happy Nightmare Baby Opal
Getting Out of Hand The Bangs
The Word Is Out Danny & Dusty
Hot Generation The Pandoras
And Leave and Leave Me To Damascus
Hollywood Holiday True West
You Wanted Me To Hang Around Wednesday Week
Sloop John B. Rainy Day

2 comments:

heartsofstone said...

Thanks so much for this awesome, thoughtful comp.

Ishkabibliophile said...

@heartsofstone,

It was definitely fun indulging in some 80's nostalgia. Glad you liked it!

Ish