Shire - Hobbit Rockin' Produced by Don Dokken - 1984

Okay, so there really is no "Hobbit Rock" here so to speak, but what the fuck did they expect me to put for a title? They're the band from LA that called their band Shire, which makes no sense. And they're the ones who had Don Dokken produce it. Seriously though, I had this record back in 1984 and remember liking it, but I don't think I full appreciated it at the time. Not that its some kind of lost hair metal masterpiece or anything like that. Far from it. But it is a nice little EP with some catchy tracks including "Do You Know What Its Like?", which probably would've been a hit had Dokken himself recorded it. Plus they look like Girl meets The Babys, which I'll never have a problem with.

Track Listing:
Do You Know What Its Like?
All Alone
By My Side No More
Thinking of You
Hold On

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/itwDn16rDs1X1HVilPY7rf7fsgS2fM3rzD1arv9zBOl

Rozzi Lane - The Original Big Bang Babiez

What can be said about Rozzi Lane that hasn't been said a hundred times over? Oh, that's right, nothing's been said about them since 1988 when they released the "Big Bang Babiez" single on their own cleverly-named Big Bang Records. I kid them, but only because I've always loved this record, which at the time was more "pop" than "metal", unlike many of their Sunset Strip contemporaries. And I can only imagine the shit they must've gotten looking like they did in their actual hometown of Upland, California. What else? Let's see. Guitarist Mikey Marquee later went on to play in a great LA band called Extra Fancy, featuring one Brian Grillo on vocals. Before Extra Fancy Grillo fronted Lock Up, who also featured a pre-RATM Tom Morello on guitar. Okay, now I'm just boring myself. Here's the single, "Betty Angel"/"Beauty's Only Skin Deep":

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/cnDcDTF0AtH7It6a63g0FvyhfARFO7JPslfVaNPjz1T

Candy Live at Wong's West - April 5th, 1987

The last days of Candy, with Gilby on lead vocals and Ryan Roxie on lead guitar, captured live at Madame Wong's West in Los Angeles on April 5th, 1987. You know the rest of the story, that's why you're here in the first place. Enjoy my teenage years as much as I did.

Set List
Intro ("I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow, played over the PA, and only kept in to preserve the experience of seeing Candy live)
You Can't Always Get What You Want/Dance America
Everyday is Saturday Night
Red, White & Blue
Turn It Up Loud
Goodbye Goodtimes
You Only Go Around Once
M.O.N.E.Y.
Sound of a Broken Heart (cuts out at very end, my tape ran out and I had to turn it over, which is why...)
Thunder (beginning is cut, see above)
American Kix
Cat Scratch Fever/Whatever Happened to Fun
Fox on the Run

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/aaCMbRUKsFHBlo9dE8E89kDxYs7X8RblX1rLo4f1eXR

Whatever happened to the second Candy record..? Part 2

Three more demos from the never-realized second Candy record, transferred from an original demo tape.

Track Listing:
Dance America
M.O.N.E.Y. (Spells Love)
The Sound of a Broken Heart

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/SZa1xQJEWJ05ThqXzznAc3U0EQuItnZwPWGaR4Y98lE

Candy Meets Run DMC - September 29th, 1985

If you were fortunate enough to grow up in or around Los Angeles in the 80's, you probably remember the LA Street Scene. Once a year, downtown LA would transform into a giant street fair, with about 30 stages set up and bands playing all day long and into the night. I was lucky enough to go to the last few years of it, until the final year when my friend and I got caught in the "Great White" Riot (but that's another story) that essentially put an end to what was a great tradition. I remember watching Jane's addiction and Gene Loves Jezebel play under the afternoon sun, making Jane's seem much less dangerous and Gene much less mysterious. I remember being sixteen and sitting on the grass watching Mary Poppinz try to be Motley Crue, with Kery Doll and his band sitting next to me doing hilarious commentary throughout the set. But mostly I remember the first time I went to Street Scene and saw Candy for the first time "Whatever Happened to Fun" had recently come out, the late afternoon crowd was relatively hostile, and it had just been announced that special guests Run DMC would perform after Candy. Now this was 1985 mind you, and the mainstream Street Scene crowd were far more familiar with the Kings of Rock then they were with Kids in the City. Cue the hostility. Luckily for you, I was a little bootlegging asshole back then and took my tiny tape recorder to many of the shows I went to. But it really wasn't about bootlegging at all, it was because most of the local bands didn't have records out and wouldn't sell their demos to you, so the only way I could listen to the songs whenever I wanted was to tape the shows. So here's the scene...a sixteen year old kid who loves glam rock and power-pop is standing in the middle of a street in downtown LA, afternoon is fading to dusk as Candy step on stage about 30 feet from me. I hit "record" and over two decades later you get to experience something you never thought you'd get to hear....Candy live in LA, literally right in the middle of the 80's. This is for the ten of us out there who loved the band. As for the quality, its far from perfect, and if you have a problem with it....well, fuck you. You're just damn lucky this document exists in the first place and that I took my own valuable time to give it to you.

Candy Live @ Los Angeles Street Scene - 09/29/1985
Set List:
Soundcheck
Weekend Boy
Kids in the City
Turn It Up Loud
Electric Nights
American Kix
First Time
Whatever Happened to Fun

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/IuTv7woZ4RzqoWTKAijVGbuX6Xx0GrSoM5ggOd3aKhg

Whatever Happened to Candy...?

Somewhere between Candy and Electric Angels & Kill for Thrills lie the great lost Candy months. After Kyle Vincent, but before the split, Candy gave it one more go with Gilby Clarke moving to lead vocals and Ryan Roxie coming in on guitar. But the next record deal never came and all we were left with were some rough home demos of what would've been the second Candy record.
As with the Candy record, the Gilby demos featured classic Jonathan Daniel lyrics wrapped around some of the catchiest melodies put to tape. And there are even a few Gilby originals in there as well, which show how good a songwriter he is in his own right. The real jewel here for Candy fans is the early version of "True Love & Other Fairy Tales", which ended up on the Electric Angels record as a wonderful, string-laden ballad, but here it gets the power-pop treatment. Also, hidden in the lyrics of one of the songs is the future band name for some of the guys...can you find it? Leave me a comment if you did! Now, for possibly the first time on the internet, taken from an original first generation demo tape, here are one set of Candy demos for the second record....

Track Listing:
True Love & Other Fairy Tales
Johnny Was an Angel
Thunder
Red, White & Blue
My Favorite Star
You Only Go Around Once
Goodbye Goodtimes
Everyday is Saturday Night

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/Z9e9iAUJ3tuHRbKbre0CCX99L4H9xGVZch7Np2CDrxB

Pet Hate "The Bride Wore Red" - 1984

Good, not great, debut LP from Pet Hate. To their credit, these dudes really did know their way around a melody and always found the chorus, so its confusing to me why they never made a dent in the states. The timing was right, their tunes where catchy, and their hair was tall enough, so if anyone has a theory as to why they remain so overshadowed when talking about this brand of 80's rock, please leave a comment and let me know.

Track Listing:
The Bride Wore Red
Moya's Comin' Out
How Can (I Carry On)
Love Me Madly
Wanting You
Caught (Red Handed)
The Party's Over
Roll Away the Stone
First Kiss
Real Good Time

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/zdePYorULNUaewi3CmFCCdncKmiXOd58z1f8Uknuoyx

Pet Hate's "Bad Publicity" - 1984

Here's a record I never seem to find online, although I'm not sure anyone cares other than me, the band, and maybe three other people. Still to this day one of my favorite glam/power-pop records to come out of the UK in the 80's, I'm talking about Pet Hate's "Bad Publicity". Formed from the ashes of Silverwing, Pet Hate's first record "The Bride Wore Red" was followed up by this rarely talked about gem. Not only did they borrow the title of the record from white-clad US rockers Angel, they went one step further and hired the same guy who produced Angel's "Bad Publicity" record. And if you're an Angel fan, you know their record company made them change the original cover of the band strewn about with liquor and chicks....so Pet Hate took that too and made it their cover. I could go on and on about nothing here, but all you need to know is this record is a classic (cover of the Stones' "Street Fighting Man" can be forgiven). But the one track that still gets me to this day is "Girls Grow Up Too Fast", which sounds like it would fit perfectly on Candy's "Whatever Happened to Fun...?" LP. But you really don't care what I think, do you? If you're reading this at all its because you've been searching forever and you just want this damn record. So here it is...

Track Listing:
I'm Not the One
Girls Grow Up Too Fast
Cry of the Wild
Street Fighting Man
She's Got the Action
Stale Lipstick
One Step Ahead
For Sex Sake
Wreck the Radio
Dancing On My Heart
Teenage Party

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/n43g6aMDEo4h3tECFZXLq7BEIeWmp7dnNyi1nnGaSLf

The Rise of Kery Doll

Before Kery Doll, there was Rise. And Kery played drums for 'em before moving to vocals. At least I think that's what happened. They were before my time and I never got to see 'em live, but thankfully at least one person held on to their indie single and gave it to me many years ago. And now I'm sharing it with you. But if you're actually reading this and plan on downloading the single, you're even more damaged than I am, and in your quest to find the most obscure glam rock records, may you not fly too close to the sun like Icarus. But I digress. Mainly because I have no real info on Rise and I'm just stalling. Fine, here's their Mystic Records 7"....yes, the same Mystic Records that released the early Mentors records.

Track List:
"Future Love" b/w "Rock and Roll Heart"

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/HMXSC1iZka9WX6zvSHXzdKZkZTcF1v51xPe55oBGk3R

And a Doll Shall Lead Them....

Let me tell you about the first time I saw Guns & Roses...it was 1985 and the only reason I was lucky enough to catch them so early on was because they were opening for one of my favorite bands on the scene, the one and only Kery Doll. Coming on like Alice Cooper from Cudahy Street in Maywood, CA., Kery Doll were the first local band who showed me that you didn't have to be playing a 20,000 seat arena to act like you were. Shows routinely opened with Kery rising from a coffin and shooting a sawed-off shotgun over the crowd, while dangerous homemade pyro clipped the roofs of clubs like Raging Waters, already death traps in their own right without the pyro. After numerous line-up changes, Kery shortened the band's name to DOLL and the image went from black lace goth/glam to florescent pink latex and leather glam, and DOLL were the prototype for Pretty Boy Floyd who came years later. And when I say "prototype", I really mean PROTOTYPE. Not only was PBF's image nicked from DOLL, but early DOLL shows even included the songs "Leather Boyz with Electric Toyz" and "Wild Angels", both which would end up on PBF's debut on MCA. To be fair, guitarist Ariel Stiles of DOLL would go on to be in an early incarnation of Pretty Boy Floyd, but it was Kery Doll himself who created the blueprint as far as I'm concerned. Kery Doll only released one 5-song picture disc, "Til Death Do Us Part", and DOLL officially released nothing but some demos, but their stamp on the early 80's LA glam scene is unmistakeable. After DOLL Kery did time in the LA "supergroup" Demolition Gore Galore and his one-man pre-NIN industrial project Trust Jesus. And before Kery Doll there was the even more obscure glam/prog of Rise (which you'll be seeing and hearing on this page soon). But for now, its time to treat yourself to what those of us lucky enough to be in Hollywood in 1985 got to experience. It isn't a great record by any means, but when you're sixteen and looking up to the local glam stars, believe me, its a great record.

Track List:
Too Good for Heaven
After the Fire
Til Death Do Us Part
A Child Shall Lead
Baby Boy

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/jX7y8rtneT3mlnsfSEoSy7q1ZSZYyIAcM2G1iHyKbHP