Today marks part two of my new series - “5 Songs That You’ve Never Heard By” - from a large variety of bands & solo performers I currently house in my decades-spanning (though not that wide-ranging; it’s all rock & roll, punk-rock & singer/songwriters) record collection. Not all of the series entries will be about Boston, as the first one was, but today’s featured band is The Atlantics, a great Boston power-pop band circa 1976-1983. - Ricki C.
5 SONGS THAT YOU’VE NEVER HEARD BY THE ATLANTICS
“WHEN YOU’RE YOUNG” / 1977
(in their early, long-haired “We wanna be Queen” phase…..)
“TEENAGE FLU” / 1978
A little break for some exposition…….
In the late-1970’s I started writing to bands I had a particular fondness for. It was a great time for rock fandom; punk had brought rock & roll back to Earth. Sure, corporate-rock stooges Styx, Journey, and Foreigner still ruled the radio airwaves, but REAL rock & roll bands were climbing into vans, touring the country, small club by small club, signing with indie labels; setting the table for REM and The Replacements. My letter to The Atlantics concerned how bad I felt that their 1979 major-label Big City Rock album had kinda bombed, WHY they had cut their hair short (I was always a long hair fan, see below), WHERE I might be able to get some live tapes of them, and WHO that adorable girl on the back cover of their record was. Lead guitarist Fred Pineau’s reply follows.
“CAN’T WAIT FOREVER” / 1980
(the June single that Pineau referred to in the postcard…..)
”POP SHIVERS” / 1981
(in their later, short-haired “We wanna be new-wave” phase…..)
“Weekend” / 1981
Ricki C. is 73 years old, and - in case you haven’t figured it out yet - he LOVES HIM some Boston rock & roll circa 1976-1986.
Ricki C.’s Ross Laboratories I.D. badge in 1980, when A LOT of this stuff was taking place.
BONUS MATERIAL - AN ENTIRE LIVE ATLANTICS SET FROM 1981
Okay, I guess if you’ve made it this far, and dug The Atlantics, you might wanna see a whole live set from the guys. Enjoy…….