Big Hits of Mid-America Volume III

Big Hits Of Mid-America
Volume Three
Various Artists (2LP - compilation)
Twin/Tone Records
TTR 7907 (1979)

Featuring ex-Skogie member Mark Goldstein on six tracks!

TRACKS	MP3 Sample
She Got Sex (The Pistons)	(sample)
Foundry Joe (The Swingers)	(sample)
Land of The Free (Buzz Barker and the Atomic Bums )	(sample)
6654321 (The Hypstrz)	(sample)
Weekend Warrior (The Commandos )	(sample)
Paper Girl (The Jets)	(sample)
Urban Guerilla (The Suburbs)	(sample)
Listen (NNB)	(sample)
Chains (The Wad )	(sample)
Down (Fingerpriints)	(sample)
Swan Lake, MN (The Swan Lake Six)	(sample)
Ailerons O.K. (The Suburbs)	(sample)
Uruguay 1983 (NNB)	(sample)
Misery (The Pistons)	(sample)
Sugar My Road (Bob Ivers & Ice Stars)	(sample)
Losin' My Grip (The Swingers)	(sample)
Lover Boy (The Jets)	(sample)
Where the Beat Goes On (Fingerprints)	(sample)
Bad News From Phoenix (Curtiss A and the Orginals )	(sample)
You're Not the First One (The Commandos )	(sample)
The Ballad of Roy Orbison (Yipes)	(sample)
Complicated Fun (The Commandos )	(sample)
MP3 samples are half of the full track (128 bit rate)... if you have broadband access the sample should stream (depending on the player you are using) Liner Notes 4/79: We call this collection "Big Hits of Mid-America Volume III" in reference to Big Hit Volumes I and II which appeared in the mid-60's on the Soma label. It's our hope to continue the musical quality and artist oriented stance of those earlier recordings. Listening to these bands and ultimately recording their songs has been a pleasure. All songs recorded between October and December 1978 at Blackberry Way Recording Studios, Dinkytown, MN except "Foundry Joe" and Losin' My Grip" recorded at Shade Tree Studios, Lake Geneva, WI Up-date for the second pressing 1/80: "Spcialization" was recorded at Blackberry Way in December and replaces a song by Yipes that appeared on the first pressing of Big Hits. "The Ballad of Roy Orbison" was removed to prevent Big Hits from rocketing to the top of the charts at Millennium's expense Buzz Barker & The Atomic Bums An all-star ensemble put together this magnificent rendition of Mark Goldstein's anthem, "Land of the Free." Goldstein, ex-Skogie keyboardist is in the process of compossing some additional ear-wonder. By the way, Buzz Barker really is ... Buzz Barker (Curt Almsted) - lead vocals Chris Osgood - quitar Dave Ahl - drums Steve Almaas - bass Mark Goldstein - keyboards Bob Dunlap & Jan King - backing vocals The Dimmer Twins (John and Kev) - special effects The Commandos They were the pioneers of the new Minneapolis scene and without them much of what is on this compilation may have never happened. Although the band committed suicide in November, 1978, The Commandos recorded three of their first latter day tunes with each member composing and singing one. The Commandos released two singles on PS Records (both out of print.) They recorded one LP for Blank Records (Mercury) in 1977 entitled "Make a Record" and a live LP for Twin/Tone - "The Commandos Commit Suicide Dance Concert," (TTR 7906) Chris Osgood - quitar Dave Ahl - drums Steve Almaas - bass (Mark Goldstein appears on keyboards) NNB NNB seldom palys live but is constantly rehearsing. Mark Freeman is the direction. Richard Champ is the strong arm. "Slack" released in 1978, was phenomenal. When they came to Blackberry Way to record, NNB was an armada of sound. They knew what they wanted, and achieved it quickly. Jim Tollefsrud - drums Wayne Hasti - bass Mark Freeman - guitar, vocals Richard Champ - guitar The Wad The original Wad included Frank Berry but when Frank left to form his own group, Jan and Karen carried on, enlisting Steve Almaas of the Commandos and ex-Spook Dave Phelps. Both Jan and Karren are former members of Spitfire, which also boasted ex-Litter rhythm guitarist Ran Rinaldi. Jan King - vocals Karren Haglof - guitar Steve Almaas - bass Dave Phelps - drums Mark Goldstein - keyboards The Swan Lake Six This group was formed by Chris Osgood to play the music for his rock ballet, "Swan Lake, MN." Which was performed with the Pilot's Club Dance Company late 1978. Enclosed is an excerpt. Dave Ahl - drums Richard Champ - guitar Steve Fjelstad - bass Chris Osgood - guitar Jim Tollefsrud - drums, piano Curtis A & The Originals Curt and Bob Dunlap were the origiinators of Spooks and have been closely aligned for years. The Originals were short lived and have since taken on new form, The Personals. Curt was the recipient of the 1979 Connie Award for best male vocalist in the Midlands and is an irreplaceable master - an unbelievable raw instrument of sound. The Originals, like Spooks were a vehicle of rumbling power for Curt and Bob. Spooks has one Twin/Tone release, an EP which was a semi-crazed mixture of diabolical and the sublime. Curt, Bob, Reynaldo, Mark Goldstein , and Dave Ahl (The Personals) are in the studio completing an album for Twin/Tone. Curt Almsted - lead vocals, guitar Bob Dunlap - guitar, vocals Stevie Almaas - bass Mark Goldstein - organ Tilly - drums Released by Twin/Tone Records April 17, 1979. This 2 record set sold 5,150 copies. There were two versions of this project the first pressing of 2,500 units contained the song listed above by Yipes, in later pressings this song was replaced by "Specialization" from the Minneapolis group, The New Psychenauts. The project has been "out of print" since 1985. The original Masters were transferred to digital in December of 1998, the tracks were re-mastered at that time and transferred to AAC files to be used with the Liquid Audio system. We are now making the full non-compressed version available. You can purchase a copy of the re-mastered transfer burned to a custom CD for $15.00 from Twin/Tone Digital.

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