The Boomtown Rats: The Dudgeon Sessions (1979)

Holy Hell have I got a treat for you on this day, the day that Bob Geldof has announced that he will re-join his fellow Boomtown Rats on the road. These three songs are from  a session done with legendary producer Gus Dudgeon (a name worthy of Charles Dickens!) in 1979. Here you get an early, completely different  version of "I Don't Like Monday" done in a nervous-punky-reggae style and lacking Johnnie Fingers' famous piano part. While this version would likely have never been the massive hit the later version was, this stripped down studio take is an amazing thing in and of itself. As well, you get another rocking version of early B-side "Late Last Night" as well as a shorter, edgier, less Springsteen-y version of "Joey's on the Street Again". Awesome!





1. I Don't Like Mondays
2. Joey's On The Street Again
3. Late Last Night

So what do you make of this unheard Boomtown Rats material? Let us know in the COMMENTS section!


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The Boomtown Rats: Live at the Hammersmith 1982

I'm not afraid to say that I think Band Aid was diabolical. Or to say that I think Bob Geldof is a nauseating character.
Morrissey, 1985

Despite strong, sinewy songs, like their masterstroke, "Elephant's Graveyard", the Rats commercial fortunes nosedived in the early 80's. It took an unforeseeable turn of events to brand Bob Geldof onto the world's consciousness.

That era-defining change was of course the combination of the 1984 Band-Aid single "Do They Know it's Christmas" and the follow-up Live Aid concerts to raise money for Ethiopan famine. Critics, from Moz (see above) to Chumbawamba to that guy you knew who said that the famine was just population re-adjustment, often zeroed in on "Saint Bob" and his"punk diplomacy". But say what you will about the the man, if punk rock really was supposed to change the world, he's the person with the best claim to have done so. And plus the tunes always rocked.

Live at the Hammersmith 1982 link is in the comments

Speaking of comments please give us your thought on Bob Geldof's activist works.


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The Boomtown Rats: Live in Boston, 1980

"Rat Trap" is our only song to get played on the radio here because American DJ's think it sounds like Bruce Springsteen. But I want you to know (laughs, adopts American DJ accent) that Bruce Springsteen couldn't write a song half as good as this if he tried.
Bob Geldof, to an audience in New York who booed in response.

By 1980, The Rats (or "The Boomers" as their record label tried to brand them) had had their "break-through hit" in North America, "I Don't Like Mondays"(# 4 in Canada but due to an unofficial radio ban, only #73 in the the U.S.). While perhaps the song is a bit cavalier in its portrayal of senseless murder ("sweet sixteen, ain't so peachy keen) there's a sharpness in the lyrics ("the silicon chip inside her head, it switched to overload"), almost unimaginable on today's radio. While this would be the band's last U.S. radio hit, Bob Geldof had just begun to find the spotlight. But let's talk about that tomorrow, shall we?

So here's another scorching live set that proves that Mutt Lange's production was only a minor factor in the band's lethal sound.

Live in Boston, 1980 link is in the comments

Speaking of comments, leave us a comment with your take on "I Don't Like Mondays".


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The Boomtown Rats: Agora Hall, Cleveland, Ohio May 1st, 1979

Slotting in somewhere between the Sex Pistols and Springsteen, the early Boomtown Rats rocked and rocked smartly. Though Bob Gedof surely got his knighthood for his activism not his song-writing, you can see how those two attention-catching skills fed each other, even if you take pile-drivingly selfish "Lookin' After Number One" literally.

Thanks to Marky Dread for Ratting me out. (Also visit the dormant-yet-dangerous PVAc to 4.1 khz for more Rat-ness.)

Agora Hall, Cleveland, Ohio May 1 1979 link is in the comments

Speaking of comments, leave us a comment with your take on The Boomtown Rats and/or Sir Bob.


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