The Boomtown Rats hailed from the town of Dun Loaghaire (pronounced dun leery), near Dublin, Ireland. They formed in the mid-seventies, and stuck around for a little over a decade. Until lead singer Bob Geldof got all political, and went and organized that Live Aid thing.Best known for their international hit “I Don’t Like Mondays”, they had several other big songs in the UK (“Rat Trap”, “Looking After Number One”, etc.) When they split up in ‘86, they left behind six albums of great new wave / punk songs.
A while back, all six albums were given the deluxe remaster treatment. Unfortunately there were disappointments with the track listings on the new versions. Some albums had their songs in a different order, some had songs missing, and several of their better b-sides were nowhere to be found.
So, for those of you who have to have it all, here’s what they missed:
(all files expired)
The Boomtown Rats - “Born To Burn” B-side of their first single, “Looking After Number One”
The Boomtown Rats - “Do The Rat” The song itself is on the remastered A Tonic For The Troops, but they truncated it. This is the remastered song, with its original intro and outro reinstated.
The Boomtown Rats - “It’s All the Rage” B-side of “I Don’t Like Mondays” single.
The Boomtown Rats - “Man At the Top” B-side of the “Banana Republic” single.
The Boomtown Rats - “. . . House Burned Down” A short instrumental, originally on V Deep, but omitted from the remaster.
The Boomtown Rats - “Europe Looked Ugly” B-side of “House On Fire”, and one of their best b-sides.
The Boomtown Rats - “Drag Me Down” (US Version) Alternate mix from the In The Long Grass album.
The Boomtown Rats - “Rain” The US version of their single, “Dave”. The lyrics were changed because their American label thought “Dave” had too much of a homosexual overtone.
The Boomtown Rats - “Lucky” (US Version) The third song to be changed for the US pressing of In The Long Grass. This version is faster than the original UK one on the remaster.
The Boomtown Rats - “Joey’s On the Street Again” (Live at Self Aid) From the Live For Ireland compilation, recorded at what turned out to be the Rats last show together.
The Boomtown Rats discography:
The Boomtown Rats (1977) (buy)
A Tonic For the Troops (1978) (buy)
The Fine Art of Surfacing (1979) (buy)
Mondo Bongo (1981) (buy)
V Deep (1982) (buy)
In The Long Grass (1984) (buy)
For more info on The Boomtown Rats or Bob Geldof, hit up this website, or this one.
7 comments:
I don't suppose by any chance there are a couple of other rare b-sides knocking around like the alternat She's So Modern (off Drag Me Down - Special edition) or Banana Republic (Live)**/Close As You'll Ever Be (Live)** From the 12" UK version of Dave
http://theboomtownrats.blogspot.com/2005/02/boomtown-rats-uk-singles-discography.html
I've heard of the alternate "She's So Modern", but I have yet to hear it. By all means feel free to pass it along if you hunt it down.
The live stuff I've never tried too hard to hunt down, unless it's songs they didn't record in the studio, or they're drastically different versions. Guess I'm kind of a snob that way.
Hi there
Do you have links to the songs you list above? Many thanks!
They're back up.
thanks a million for these Boomtown Rats reuploads!!!!
you've made the job the record company didn't by reuniting these rare B'sides. great blog!!!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2OZSO21J
bonus tracks Live Side Lazun Gemmun the Boomtown Rats, Banana Republic and Close As You'll Ever Be MERX-179
Thanks for these. Maybe, if I can hunt down a few more, I'll do a live b-sides post one of these days.
Post a Comment