For those not in the know, before Butch Walker was the producer de jour that he is these days (producing and co-writing with artists from Midtown to Sevendust to Avril Lavigne), he was singer/guitarist for the Atlanta-based power trio, Marvelous 3. The band is most remembered for scoring a moderately successful Modern Rock radio hit in the mid-90’s with a tune called “Freak Of The Week”.

Prior to that, they had issued their second album, entitled HEY ALBUM!, on an indie label and garnered some hard-earned regional radio support that led to a major label bidding war. They then re-recorded the entire record, added two tracks, and then released this new version of HEY ALBUM! as their debut effort for Elektra.

Copies of the indie label version of the album have since become quite the collector’s item. I know this from personal experience, having sold two copies of this CD on eBay for a combined amount of nearly $300.

Perhaps the oddest thing about the promotional push for HEY ALBUM! is that Elektra released promo copies containing the indie version of the album to the press despite absolutely no intention of releasing this version. The brief bio contained in the liner notes for the CD stated:

“The ten songs on this sampler are NOT the actual versions on Marvelous 3’s HiFi/Elektra debut. Each song featured on the disc will appear on a newly recorded and mixed full-length album. In addition, there will be two new tracks not included here.”

Huh?

Needless to say, copies of the Elektra sampler containing the indie versions of the HEY ALBUM! tracks have also sold on eBay for quite the pretty penny.

Now, of course, all tracks from this hard-to-find release are available to DONATE TO CHARITY SLICE readers.

Track listing:

You’re So Yesterday
Freak Of The Week
Until You See
Let Me Go
Every Monday
Indie Queen
Lemonade
#27
I Just Wanna Go Home
Over Your Head
Fastboat
Cold As Hell
Mrs. Jackson

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