Sparker [Santa Barbara/Goleta, California]

These guys put out two albums and released a few tracks on compilations. If you ever heard their name it's probably because you have the Ska Parade's first compilation CD which featured Sparker's covers of  The Vapors' "Turning Japanese" and 7 Seconds' "New Wind".
I really think they did good with those two covers but their original songs are even better.

I was at a record convention in Orange County, California many years ago and one of the vendors pushed one of theses records on me and said that it was his nephew's band. The record sounded terrible, like it was cut badly. Very raw and hard to listen to. But that's how these guys did it.They released two 12"s in a plain sleeve with a long-form 14" 'legal' paper copies glued folded around the record sleeve. Very DIY. Very 'punk'. And, yet, the music is not really punk at all. Just guitar, bass, and drums, and some light keyboard playing ska. Every song is ska. No distorted guitars. No punk songs. No funny novelty songs. Just ska.

They recorded three songs for a compilation called "Reality Control" which were as good, if not better, than the songs on the records.

Sparker - Sparker (1993)
1 Scrap
2 Ed
3 Traffic
4 Grovel
5 Turning Japanese (Vapors cover) / New Wind (7 Seconds cover)
6 Holiday
7 Grandma
8 Mommy
9 Nightstick
10 Wipe

Hear the song "Ed"

Sparker - The Ultimate Race to Control Time and Space (1995)
1 Belt
2 Stomp
3 Toys
4 Sniper
5 (There's a Prowler in My) House
6 Eye-Balls
7 Garbage
8 Sweep
9 Splinter

Hear the song "Belt"

Songs from the Reality Control (1996) compilation.
1 January
2 Tattoo
3 Igor's Theme

Hear "Igor's Theme"

DOWNLOAD BOTH RECORDS AND THE THREE COMPILATION SONGS FROM MEGA

DOWNLOAD BOTH RECORDS AND THE THREE COMPILATION SONGS FROM ZIPPYSHARE



   

Pinhead - You Don't Like Me, Do Ya? (1982)

This band was from Burlington, Vermont. The band was an outlet for artist Dug Nap.

The band's sound should appeal to fans of Talking Heads and they have just a tiny splash of Boingo.

There are two or three ska-influenced tracks on this record. One of which "Where are You?" was re-recorded for an EP of the same name that was released a year later. That record also included a re-recording of the song "Citizen" but was titled "Be a good Citizen" on the second release.

Pinhead - You Don't Like Me, Do Ya? (1982)
1 Almost Human
2 Back to the Womb
3 Where are You?
4 Little Rocker
5 Citizen
6 You Don't Like Me, Do Ya?
7 Stealing Your Wife.


Listen to "Stealing Your Wife"

Pinhead - Where You? (1983)
1 Where are You?
2 Don't Dance
3 Nature
4 Here Come the Mutants
5 Subway
6 Be a Good Citizen



DOWNLOAD BOTH RECORDS FROM MEGA

DOWNLOAD BOTH RECORDS FROM ZIPPYSHARE

Duck Duck - Sticky's Children (1992)

I'm not certain but I think these guys were from Massachusetts. They recorded lots of songs that they used to dub to blank tapes so it's hard to say how many songs they actually recorded. They played different styles of music and put on a great live show.

This might be their only "official" release but it's really more of a compilation of songs recorded between 1989 and 1992. There's even a track from 1988 from a previous incarnation of the band when they were called The Toast'Em Boys.

Ska purists will probably not like most of the CD but it is extremely rare and fans who saw them live back in the days will love this post.



 1 Lost
2 Crazy
3 She's Got the Knife Again
4 Spiderico
5 Armies of the Duck
6 Dog
7 Penguin
8 Suckafish
9 Is a Duck a Duck?
10 There's a Big Giant Thing in My Yard
11 Toast 'Em Bride

DOWNLOAD from MEGA

DOWNLOAD from Zippyshare

Loose Ties - Loose Ties 12" (1985)

This was a band from Massachusetts that played in Boston quite a bit.

I'll be totally honest here. I don't like this record very much. I really try to avoid saying anything negative about a band on this blog but look...

The first two or three songs are great. "Last Time" is a cover of the Rolling Stones song and it wasn't done in a ska style, but was done exactly as the Beat (English Beat) would have done it. The second song is a ska song and I love it. The third song is pretty decent.

If these three songs were released as a 45 or as a 12" I would say this is an impressive release.
These are the 3 songs on the A-side.

But, then, we have the B-side.

I don't care for any of the songs on the B-side. In fact some of the songs skip and I don't care enough to re-rip them.

A-side - great record.

B-side - pointless crap.



DOWNLOAD from MEGA

DOWNLOAD from Zippyshare

 

 

Monkey - demo tape (1996)

1 Julie's Fire
2 Bomb
3 Rude Forever
4 Cha Cha Ska


DOWNLOAD from MEGA

DOWNLOAD from Zippyshare

Leisure Research - Discontent 7" (1984)

Extremely rare British ska.

A - Discontent
B - Reasons

DOWNLOAD from MEGA

DOWNLOAD from Zippyshare

Skatterbrains - Buckwheat Road (1992)

I posted this Canadian band's first album which was a cassette only release HERE and I really thought it was a notable ska release. I wondered if this band ever released anything else and some astute folks pointed me in the direction of this CD which was released a year after their great ska cassette. I have to say I like the cassette much more than I like this. There is some ska here, but not much.

1 Uptight
2 Soundcheck-1
3 Unity
4 R&B
5 Watch Out
6 Soundcheck-2
7 Humility
8 Night on the Town
9 Best of Intentions
10 Doctor in the House
11 Soundcheck-3
12 Yeh, Yeh, Yeh
13 Don't Save My Soul
14 Soundcheck-4
15 Bible Thumpers
16 Serve and Protect
17 Soundcheck-5

This download includes the cassette for those of you who don't have it yet so you can compare and see how badly a 'ska' band go ruin themselves.


DOWNLOAD from MEGA

DOWNLOAD from Zippyshare

Sweeties - Midnight Affair 7" (1980) [REPOST]

A - Midnight Affair
B - Moskow Train





DOWNLOAD from MEGA

DOWNLOAD from Zippyshare

The Cousins - Sneakers 7" (1984)

This band was from Philadelphia and I don't know anything else. My scanner isn't working so I stole these scans off Discogs. I thank whoever uploaded them to Discogs.

A - Sneakers
B - Puppeteer 

DOWNLOAD from Zippyshare

DOWNLOAD from MEGA

va Only for Ska Addicts (1998)

1 Skarface - Normalite
2 The Offbeats - Rude Night
3 Skinnerbox - Crybaby
4 Kim & the Echoes - I Told You Many Times*
5 Dunia and Bustabee - All That I Need*
6 Last Orders - It's Allright
7 Gangsters - Girl on the Run
8 Skavenjah - Jump Up and Down
9 Smoke Like a Fish - Mesmerize
10 The Smarts - Once
11 Skarface - La Tourista
12 The Offbeats - Offbeat
13 Last Orders - Last Orders
14 Gangsters - Mistaken Identity
15 Skavenjah - Skafari
16 Smoke Like a Fish - Siren
17 The Smarts - When the Saints Go Marching In
18 Skarface - Hate & Rage
19 Gangsters - The Family
20 Smoke Like a Fish - The Way
21 Smoke Like a Fish - Radickulie


DOWNLOAD from MEGA

DOWNLOAD from Zippyshare

I want to note that the song "I Told You Many Times" by Kim and the Echoes is the same song as Kim Stevenson and the Echoes - "Going with Him" from the first Roots, Branch, and Stem compilation and the song "All That I Need" by Dunia and Bestabee is the some song as "Come to My Rescue" by Dunia and Django with the Stable Boys from the same comp. Same recordings with some slight post production differences.