Rare Finds And A Dixon Song Unearthed

Very little time for Comboland Radio updates in the past few weeks. Sorry about that. I'm gonna try to get some playlist changes done this weekend. Although I DO have some new old material.

Matt Barrett has written a couple of my favorite songs. One is "Six-Pack" which was recently covered by Don Dixon and the Jump-Rabbits. Matt's original version from his "Ruse" EP is great. I play both versions on Comboland Radio. Another one from the same EP "My Baby's M-M-Making Me Dance is killer! Early on in the development of Comboland Radio Matt sent me some additional material transfered from cassette. Some of the tunes were decent transfers, a few were not... phase and tape head alignment issues. I can correct a lot of noise issues with computer aided restoration, of which I use several different products. However some issues can't be overcome. I have an "Allisons" cassette with similar issues. Doing an eBay search recently I searched Matt's name and a couple of copies of the "Ruse" EP showed up... not that unusual... but a copy of his self released single "Nothing At All To Write Home About/Is This It?" also showed up. Now THAT is a bit unusual. It is in mint condition and didn't cost too much either. I'll get it in the playlist very soon.



I also FINALLY got a copy of the SCOTS "Liquored Up and Lacquered Down" CD. It is not available for download so if you want it you have to track down a used CD. This one is not terribly difficult to track down but has been out of print for some time, suffering the same fate as all of the Connells material as it too is on the TV Tunes label. Sometimes folks selling the OOP stuff want huge bucks for it. Some of it is truly rare and in demand. Sometimes patience is necessary. In fact there is currently a copy of this CD on eBay for a starting bid of $5.

Speaking of Southern Culture On The Skids I've had the "First Album" sitting around waiting to be transfered into the digital domain for some time. That time is now. I have a couple of early SCOTS tracks from the Comboland tapes in the playlist but they don't come up all that often. Newer fans be warned.... this stuff is a bit different than what you are used to hearing!! I really like the direction Rick has taken the band through the years. But I also like this early LP. This is the band I remember seeing in the mid-80's. Now this is a tough LP to find these days, but not totally impossible. Listen for some tracks to filter in this weekend.

I was digging through a box of CD's... boxed sets I have stored up in a closet because I don't have anyplace to display them. In this box of boxed sets I found a cassette, "Don Dixon, The Album", dated 1994 or 5. Harry Simmons was Don's manager at the time and an old bud. He sent me things to listen to from time to time knowing I was a fan and always had an opinion. This was a pre-release cassette, recorded straight off the board, great quality, one used in the "tinkering with the songs/sequence" phase of putting an album together. So here I am in 2009 looking at the sequence trying to remember what CD this was... oh yeah. "Romantic Depressive". Came out on Sugar Hill in 1995. So I'm checking the sequence on the CD against the one on on the cassette. A couple of tunes swapped positions in the order... wait a minute.... "Silent Night"? That one is not on the CD anywhere. It ain't no Christmas tune either! Looks like it got replaced by "What You Saw" on the CD featuring Anton Fier from "The Lounge Lizards", "The Golden Palominos" et al playing drums. WOW I have unearthed a "lost" Dixon cut!! I cleaned it up a bit from the cassette dub and it sounds pretty good. The song itself is quite good! I prefer it to a couple of tunes that made it onto the CD. But this is an area where everyone has a different opinion. I am positive Dixon had a "sound" in mind for the CD at the time and this one just didn't fit. So Dixon.... can I play it? What do you think Harry?

Listen for "Silent Night" to possibly air on Comboland Radio soon!... or not!