10. B-52's Party Mix
AFter two flawless albums that, quite frankly, could and should have been HUGE, seeing the band release an EP of six tracks from those first two albums made perfect sense: let's reach some of those cheap folks who like "Rock Lobster" but can't quite bring themselves to buy the album just yet without actually annoying the fans who have been with us from the start.
Hence, the club-centric remixes and re-sequencing of songs into one side-long track each remains one of the most genius EP's ever made.
Wish we could say the same for Mesopotamia.
9. The Pixies - Come On Pilgrim
At the time, I had already been familiar with the 4AD label, but everything about the label's dark imagery and evocative covers (by artist Vaughan Oliver) challenged my youthful preconceptions. I was in, I just didn't know which end of the pool to jump into, the shallow end with the Cocteau Twins and Modern English or the deep, dark, ominous end with This Mortal Coil and Dead Can Dance.
Thankfully, the Pixies EP arrived just as my grad-school DJ girlfriend and I were set to go full Lonely Is An Eyesore and, as luck would have it, they were American. Plus, we'd heard about rhe legendary "Purple tape" demo and were eager to hear what all the fuss was about.
So many times we had done so only to be sorely and immediately disappointed, left wondering if the advance buzz had killed our ability to be objective or if what we were hearing truly sucked.
In the case of hearing the Pixies for the first time and knowing this was the result of the band's first demo session ever, recorded in just three days...four fucking nobodies who don't even look like they should be in a room together making this beautiful, impossible noise that is both cathartic in its rockness and soulful in its nuance. A tightrope I never thought could be walked so effortlessly.
8. The Clash - Black Market Clash
American Clash fans enamored by the many non-LP tracks the band was releasing machine-gun style in the UK were made to feel like rank outsiders watching history take place because it appeared we would be destined to merely read about such tracks, never to get our eager hands on such wax.
Or would we?
In a stunning display of a major U.S. record label being IN-TOUCH for once, Epic Records wrangled The Clash into the same Nu-Disk 10" EP series that included Cheap Trick's entry on this very same list. It also gave U.S. fans nine of the choicest UK-only Clash tracks, helping we Michigan dirt farmers keep up with the London punx, for a change.
In fact, we were actually one up on them for a time, as this EP was the only place you could get your hands on their instrumental version of Booker T. & The MG's "Time Is Tight".
On its own, this selection of tracks stands as one of the band's best works, giving listeners an album's worth of hooks and chutzpah in the span of an EP.
7. TIE: David Lee Roth- Crazy From The Heat/The Honeydrippers - Volume One
What was it about the '80s that brought out the schmaltz in '70s hard rock frontmen?
Granted, from the moment Van Halen released "Jump", they'd freed themselves from the heavy metal contract that would do in many of their contemporaries, thereby allowing David Lee Roth to fully complete his transformation from heavy metal romance novel frontman into the reigning clown prince of pop.
Thus, there was nothing about Roth's covers of "California Girls" and "Just A Gigolo" that was all that shocking, except for how meticulous Roth was at capturing the vibe of each song, both musically and visually.
See, MTV was now top dog on the music industry totem pole, making videos an absolutely necessary part of the process and not since Michael Nesmith's "Elephant Parts" had an artist gone to such lengths to create a mood.
This wasn't some toss-off album for the soon-to-be-ex-Van Halen singer (he and the band would split less than two months after the EP's release), this was a MAJOR HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION.
And it is that cinematic quality that jumps out of the speakers when you play this EP. While Diamond Dave's other big plans (A "Crazy From The Heat" movie among them) never panned out, this lone perfect snapshot of what could have been remains.
Meanwhile, Robert Plant's Honeydrippers arrived at the tail-end of the rockabilly craze to take pop fans even further back in time, releasing an EP of pop standards that included the band's Top 40 hits "Sea Of Love" and "Rockin' At Midnight".
Featuring Nile Rodgers, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and, yes, even Late Night's Paul Schaffer, Volume One is too well-done to ignore as some sort of misguided commercial cash-in on the part of Atlantic Records and holds up incredibly well with time, although Plant remains horrified that "Sea Of Love" is his biggest chart hit to date.
So much so that the band would never record again.
5. Fugazi - self-titled (a.k.a. 7 Songs)
Admittedly, 1988 was a dark time for Chicago punk. Naked Raygun's Jettison had disappointed, Big Black were breaking up, and the Effigies were in tatters. What was a lonely boy to do for his punk fix?
Keep in mind that the thought of venturing beyond Chicago city limits, much less Washington D.C. seemed alien, but hearing 7 Songs in a record store and thinking that whatever band I was hearing had a nice Raygun-like swagger with a dallop of danger a la Husker Du.
And while the band has gone on to create a plethora of essential punk recordings, thereby defining their own genre, this EP remains one of the most potent first stabs by any now-legendary punk band.
4. R.E.M. - Chronic Town
It wasn't a matter of IF Chronic Town would be on this list, but where.
What gives weight to a lot of this list's top selections is the number of times I still find myself pulling it out (that's what she said) and listening to said EP.
For Chronic Town, rarely is a band captured on tape so free of obvious influence that what you're hearing is almost alien unless you are already familiar with the obscure and disparate bands from which they drew their inspiration. Once we did, we gained entry into another world, from which uncountable other worlds would later grow, but R.E.M. would never sound this brilliantly unconventional again.
When I want to remind myself that this level of boundless innocence and naivete ever existed, I just pull it out (that's what she said).
3. Berlin - Pleasure Victim
Much like Missing Persons, Berlin were a female-fronted L.A. synth band playing up their respective singer's sexuality for maximum commercial payoff. Also like Missing Persons, they had the songs to back up the seedy dystropian sexuality hinted at on the cover.
While not nearly as immediate or as memorable as Missing Persons' debut EP, Pleasure Victim's charms are in its celebration of the seedy, temptation-driven future that, by and large, has come to pass and terri Nunn's empathic sales pitch.
While "Sex (I'm A) remains one of the more embarrassing cuts in our collection, we have long defended "The Metro" and "Masquerade" to tone-deaf radio programmers long before the band signed to Geffen and the tunes became eventual chart hits.
2. U2 - Under A Blood Red Sky
In a lot of ways, much the same can be said for this EP, which captures a band from war-torn Ireland whose innocence was broken by the atrocities taking place around them still managing to find some shred of youthful abandon to cling to and share with the world. That this message resonated so solidly with U.S. fans is no surprise. This is truly an EP (and band) that sold itself.
1. Missing Persons - self-titled
Since we tipped our hand by celebrating this EP as the best ever released last week, it should come as zero surprise that it appears at the #1 spot here. Not bad for a self-financed "vanity project" by an unknown L.A. band that would eventually lead to a deal with Capitol Records. Of course, the EP was recorded at Frank Zappa's studio with legendary producer Ken Scott.
The juxtaposition of Zappa ex-pats with prog-worthy chops teamed with an ex-Playboy bunny kicking out SoCal new wave whilst shooting for a mainstream of their own making and ultimately succeeding is why this EP is #1.
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