In conjunction with our mini-series 50CCM50 (check out the first installment here), Popdose is giving away a unique prize to a lucky reader, but be warned – it is not a brand new product.
Here’s the backstory: like any vinyl LP fan, I know the value of hunting around the flea markets. One man’s record in a white sleeve with handwritten info is another’s Rolling Stones bootleg from 1972. The difference is in whether you know what you’re pulling out of the empty milk crate is trash or treasure. A few weeks ago, I found something I believe to be a bona fide treasure, in great condition with only a slight ‘cut-out’ notch in the sleeve spine – the “Island Album” from the band The Seventy Sevens.
The band migrated from their affiliation with Word Inc. in 1986/1987 on the interest of Island Records and, thus, the first of two eponymous-titled albums came to be (For more info on the second 77s album, stay with our 50CCM50 series). There was a problem with their timing in this though. Island Records was also prepared to release the latest from some Irish band that was building up heat from college and modern radio, and their appearance at Live Aid presented them as superstars poised to take over the world. U2’s The Joshua Tree did just that, but it also took over the publicity department of the record company so thoroughly, The 77s were left to languish in the fumes.
This is a shame because the album is packed with great rock and roll, from the opening “Do It For Love,” the sinister backdoor-blues of “Pearls Before Swine,” the Byrdsian “The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes and the Pride of Life” to the jangle-pop majesty of “Frames Without Photographs.” The album marked, in the minds of many, the distinction between the CCM market and great rock with a different worldview than the usual guitar-basher. Yes, the irony is not lost on me that, at that time period, the same could be said of their ‘rivals’ U2.
Get to the point, you cry!
I already have the vinyl album, purchased when the thing came out in fact, and I have the CD that finally surfaced about a decade later. So, the first reader that loves vinyl records, has a thing for the 77s and can answer this question – Who wrote the song “A Different Kind Of Light,” which kicked off the first 77s album, Ping Pong Over The Abyss – will receive The Island Album. E-mail me at dw.dunphy@gmail.com with your answer. If your correct answer arrives first, you win. All responses will be judged via e-mail timestamp, so don’t delay!
And for those who don’t win, Lo-Fidelity Records has recently made the first three 77s albums available again digitally, and to celebrate lead singer and guitarist Michael Roe is making the 1-2-3 Tour, presenting the songs in a new way.
For information on the 77s digital releases, go to Lo-Fidelity Records.
For information on the Michael Roe 1-2-3 Tour, go here.
UPDATE: We have a winner! Michial Farmer has won the LP! Thanks to all for playing along and be aware – there will be more Popdose/50CCM50 giveaways in the future, so come back often!
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