V04-T16a Don't Give It Up

.....The link between this track and the last appears to be label samplers.

Volume 4: "THE LITTLE BROWN ONES ARE THORAZINE, GEORGE", track 16

• 03:46 "DON'T GIVE IT UP" (Jeff Connolly)
• performed by :Willie Alexander [and the Space Negroes?]
• original source: VA 2LP PLAY NEW ROSE FOR ME New Rose ROSE 100 (France) 1986
• and my source: the same

.....According to the notes I took when I made this compilation tape, this was recorded at Sounds Interesting, Cambridge, Mass. by Erik Lindgren in June 1986. I frankly, though I did remember the song even before reviewing these tapes for this blog project, I couldn't remember anything about the song. I'll just copy the rest of the notes here:

....."The other musicians on this track are Roger Miller (Mission of Burma), Erik Lindgren (Birdsongs of the Mesozoic), Aram Heller and Boby Bear. I can verify all but Heller as being in the Space Negroes and Heller probably was as well. The band was a Lindgren project of no particular fixed line-up. These gypsies (and others) surface on recordings by Moving Parts, No Man and who-knows-how-many pseudonymous pick-up bands and one-off outings to be found on the numerous compilations to come out of the area each year since the Ford administration.

....."This particular compilation is from the French New Rose label, similar but not as elaborate as its predecessor, VA 2LP LA VIE EN ROSE, which was used on the first volume of this cassette series. While LA VIE... was on rose colored vinyl in a rose colored box, PLAY NEW ROSE... was on black vinyl in a single sleeve. The one remarkable feature it has is that all the songs on it are covers, including two written by Willie Alexander and four by Bo Diddley. "DON'T GIVE IT UP" is a cover of the Lyres' first single (from 1979) which was finally reissued on CD this year on SOME LYRES (Taang! T82). The Lyres were one of those bands that called to mind that line from the movie 'Spinal Tap': You saw exactly how many people have been in this band over the years. Thirty-seven people have been in this band over the years. Purely on the basis of the lyrics, this is an odd choice for a first single, but not a bad irony for ending this collection."

.....I wrote that in 1994. All these years later there is a Lyres website and I've learned a few things from it. First of all the song was the B-side of that first single. That doesn't contradict factually anything I wrote above but it does mean that I was off the mark on the last sentence. While it would have been an odd choice for an A-side no one expects a B-side to be some kind of mission statement. It was more likely an epilogue to Connolly's previous band, DMZ. Also, the movie quote? Turns out the number of band members is closer to twenty-seven, but I think the basic idea behind using the quote is still valid. Oh, and one of those band members? Aram Heller. Small world.

.....When I posted last year about the tracks that I found on LA VIE EN ROSE, I looked around on line to find out what the status on the label was. I didn't get a definitive answer but it looked as though it existed as a legal entity but had not done new releases for awhile. The most recent project could find was something I already had, the boxed set VA 4CD NEW ROSE STORY 1980-2000 New Rose/Last Call 3062312 (France) 2005. On it you'll find Willie Alexander playing "BE-BOP A LULA" and the Lyres performing "DON'T GIVE IT UP" from their 1984 album ON FYRE. Last Call has also reissued PLAY NEW ROSE FOR ME on CD by dropping three songs to fit it on one disc and thankfully this cover by Willie Alexander was one of the songs they kept.

.....One closing interstitial and we will have concluded this volume.