Beach Blvd Explained

Beach Blvd
Type:Compilation album
Artist:various artists
Cover:VA BeachBlvdLP cover.jpeg
Released:Summer 1979
Recorded:November 1978  - July 1979
Studio:Media Art
Genre:
Language:English
Label:Posh Boy
Producer:Robbie Fields

Beach Blvd is a seminal compilation album featuring early Californian punk rock bands.

Overview

An influential sampler LP, Beach Blvd helped to usher in the hardcore punk movement in suburban Southern California, aided by DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, who gave the record its first airplay on his weekly radio show.[1] [2]

Conceived by the controversial Robbie "Posh Boy" Fields,[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] the album gathers three acts with quite different musical styles: the Crowd[6] [7] from Huntington Beach, Rik L Rik[8] [9] [10] from West Covina, and the Simpletones from Rosemead.[1] [3] [11]

The record title advertised the music's suburban origins: California State Route 39, named Beach Boulevard in the stretch that crosses Orange County, ran inland from the Crowd's hometown to Rik L Rik's.[2]

Production

Produced by Fields,[1] [2] [3] all songs on Beach Blvd were recorded and mixed between November 1978 and July 1979 at Media Art Studio in Hermosa Beach, California.

The tracks credited to Rik L Rik, are remixes of five demo songs recorded in November 1978[12] by the third lineup of San Francisco punk rock band Negative Trend,[9] [13] where he was lead singer. These versions feature bass overdubs by Jay Lansford, who also added a new guitar track on "Atomic Lawn".[12]

Beach Blvd was mastered by Lanky Linstrot at Wally Heider's Mobile Recording Truck, based in Hollywood, California.

Release

Only three songs featured on Beach Blvd were previously released: Simpletones' "California" was the lead tune on their eponymous 7-inch single record[14] [15] from early 1979; while "Meat House" and "I Got Power" were issued as a Rik L Rik 7-inch single[12] [16] in mid-1979.

Accompanied by liner notes provided by Bingenheimer,[2] Beach Blvd was originally released in the summer of 1979 on Posh Boy Records, in 12-inch LP format.[3] [17] The album was also the Crowd's recorded debut.

Reissues

In 1981, Posh Boy Records issued a rare edition of Beach Blvd on cassette tape,[18] which included, as bonus tracks, the entire Red Cross EP by Redd Kross from Hawthorne, California.[19]

The original release on 12-inch vinyl disc was repressed in 1986.

In 1990, Posh Boy issued a 29-track extended version on CD[1] [20] featuring liner notes by Fields and Tony Cadena. Bonus tracks included almost half of Like It or Not Live!,[21] [22] the only album by Rik L Rik's first band, the short-lived West Covina four-piece F-Word!,[9] [10] recorded live at San Francisco's Mabuhay Gardens in the spring of 1978 and released posthumously that same year. The 1990 CD edition also added six more Simpletones songs: "I Like Drugs", the B-side of the single "California"[14] from 1979; "TV Love" from Rodney on the ROQ,[23] [24] the first of Bingenheimer's compilations,[25] originally issued in 1980;[26] "Disco Ape" (aka "You Drive Me (Disco) Ape"), an unreleased Lansford arrangement of the Dickies' "You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)" from 1978; and tracks 13, 15 and 17, all released for the first time. The 1990 edition closed with three additional cuts by the Crowd: "Right Time", also taken from Rodney on the ROQ,[23] "Desmond and Kathy", and an instrumental rendition of the Archies' "Melody Hill" from 1969, both taken from band's first studio album, A World Apart[27] from 1981.

In 1991, the original compilation was included in Richard Elerick's numbered 3-LP box set History of Rik L Rik,[16] [28] in conjunction with F-Word!'s album Like It or Not Live![21] and Rik L Rik's The Lost Album[16] [29] from 1991.

In 2004, under license from Posh Boy, the Italian label Get Back re-released the 1979 12-inch LP.[30] [31]

The following year, Get Back released a 24-song Digipak CD edition,[30] [32] an abridged version of the 1990 edition.

Track listings

2005 Digipak CD edition

Personnel

Simpletones[15]

Simpletones (1990 CD edition)

Rik L Rik

The Crowd

Red Cross (1981 MC edition)[18]

F-Word! (1990 CD edition)

Production

Additional production (1981 MC edition)

Additional production (1990 CD edition)

External links

Reviews

Notes and References

  1. Boehm, Mike (July 19, 1991). "Punks to Revisit Beach Blvd : 3 Suburban Groups Will Play in Huntington to Mark Release of Compilation CD" (page 1/2). latimes.com. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  2. Boehm, Mike (December 31, 1998). "Alt.Rock.OC: 20 Years of Suburban Struggle: Essential Albums, '78-98" (page 2/5). latimes.com. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  3. Vodicka, Gabe (August 6, 2009). "1979: Various Artists: Posh Boy - Beach Blvd.". tinymixtapes.com. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  4. [Steven Blush|Blush, Steven]
  5. [Steven Blush|Blush, Steven]
  6. Robbins, Ira. "Crowd". Trouser Press. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  7. http://recordcollectorsoftheworldunite.com/artists/crowd/crowd.html The Crowd, cover art
  8. (July 5, 2000). "Obituaries: Rik L Rik; Pioneering Punk Rocker". latimes.com. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  9. [The Big Takeover|Rabid, Jack]
  10. MXV (February 6, 2006). "Selections from The Punk Vault (F-Word)". punkvinyl.com. Retrieved July 18, 2015.
  11. [Marc Spitz|Spitz, Marc]
  12. http://negativetrend.net/nt-three.html "Negative Trend Three"
  13. . killfromtheheart.com. Archived from on March 4, 2016.
  14. Posh Boy #PBS 3
  15. http://recordcollectorsoftheworldunite.com/artists/simpletones/simpletones.html Simpletones, cover art
  16. http://recordcollectorsoftheworldunite.com/artists/riklrik/riklrik.html Rik L Rik, cover art
  17. http://recordcollectorsoftheworldunite.com/artists/variousartists/beachblvd/beachlp.jpg Beach Blvd, 1979 LP release cover art
  18. http://recordcollectorsoftheworldunite.com/artists/variousartists/beachblvd/beachmc.jpg Beach Blvd, 1981 MC edition cover art
  19. Tonooka, Tim (Fall 1981). Red Cross, Red Cross (EP), review. Ripper (5).
  20. http://recordcollectorsoftheworldunite.com/artists/variousartists/beachblvd/beachcdoriginal.jpg Beach Blvd, 1990 CD edition cover art
  21. Posh Boy #PBS 101
  22. http://www.poshboy.com/disco_f.htm F-Word!, Like It or Not Live!
  23. Posh Boy #PBS 106
  24. http://www.allmusic.com/album/rodney-on-the-roq-vol-1-mw0000854171 Various artists, Rodney on the ROQ
  25. http://recordcollectorsoftheworldunite.com/artists/variousartists/rodneyontheroq/rodneyontheroq.html Rodney on the ROQ, compilation series cover art
  26. http://www.poshboy.com/disco_var.htm Various artists, Rodney on the ROQ
  27. http://www.poshboy.com/disco_che-cr.htm The Crowd, A World Apart
  28. http://www.poshboy.com/disco_var.htm Rik L Rik, History of Rik L Rik
  29. http://www.poshboy.com/disco_r.htm Rik L Rik, The Lost Album
  30. Get Back #GET 114
  31. http://recordcollectorsoftheworldunite.com/artists/variousartists/beachblvd/beachlpgetback.jpg Beach Blvd, 2004 LP reissue cover art
  32. http://recordcollectorsoftheworldunite.com/artists/variousartists/beachblvd/beachcdgetback.jpg Beach Blvd, 2005 CD edition cover art