The False Friends - The False Friends (1994)

 This was a band from Poland who played harder alternative rock with the shadow of 80s heavy metal cast over them. They never really reached a true heavy metal sound and they had a horn section. The song "Love You to the Bones" is a ska song with hard rock vocals. 

The A-side is 6 studio tracks while the B-side is six live tracks.

 1 Parasite

2 Advantage of the Average

3 And B.Y.E.

4 Love You to the Bones

5 Eastern Cowboy

6 Never to Slow

7 Asses High

8 Hard Hop

9 Another Day

10 Ears of a Frog

11 Evil

12 CO 2  

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The Donors - Take Whatcha Want (1992)

 This is one of those "white funk" bands from the early 90s. They were from New York and I don't know if they ever released anything else.

They were way more "alternative rock" than they were funky but the sound is still recognizable.

The high pitch yodeling vocals are hard to get used to.

1 Tearjerker

2 Positive People

3 My Brain

4 Not Gonna Worry

5 Half a Man

6 Perfect Thing

7 Get Down

8 Genie Says

9 Assistance

10 Temptation

11 Bulletproof

12 What I Do

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The Subterraneans - Subterranean Observation (1981)

I recently did a post about The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet and it was mentioned that this band was suspected of being the band we're all looking for.

This band and album can confidently be marked off the list. This is not it.

The Subterraneans were a punk/post punk/ experimental new wave band. This is probably their only recording and even though I really like this sort of thing I think they could have practiced just a little bit more before recording it.
It was recorded "live in the studio" which may have been why they're falling a little short in my opinion. There are some creative moments and I think they would have been great live.

1 Empires Must Fall
2 The Observer
3 Overdose of Time
4 The Kind of Love I can Afford*
5 Sweet Spider Music
6 Having Fun in the City
7 Blame
8 Good Manners and Style
9 In the Wee Small Hours

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*Discogs has this as two separate songs but there are only 9 tracks on the tape, not ten.

The Pictures

The Pictures was a British band who released very little.

I first heard of them from the Unicorn Record's 7" compilation "The Phase III Mod Bands" song "My Home Town" which, for me, stood out above all of the other songs and bands in that series. I tried tracking down anything else they might have released and only found three other songs: "Down My Street" from a limited flexi they did with the band The Off Beats (I have their album as well. I'll post it if anybody gives a good-God-damn), the song "Don't Leave Me" from the compilation "Diverse...if Nothing Else" from 1986 which also included songs from The Risk and The Gents, and "Strange Thing" from the Unicorn comp "Unicorn One...Beyond Tomorrow" from 1987.

Then I struck gold when I found a copy of this tape. I have to wonder how many copies of this gem actually exists. There are only four songs and two of them were previously released. The two that I didn't already have were amazing and I must admit that I'm confused why these weren't the ones the band promoted.

Hear "Catch 22" from the demo tape.

Anyway, here is (what I believe) every song this band ever recorded:

The Pictures demo tape (1986 - or 1987)
1 Pictures
2 Down My Street
3 Catch 22
4 Don't Leave Me
 *Down My Street (from the vinyl - crackles galore, but no tape hiss - same version but this was included for comparison)
*My Home Town
* Strange Thing

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Odd Numbers - About Time (1990)

The Odd Numbers put out several albums and singles but this is their first album. Their sound has been consistent throughout their existence. They nail the mod sound when they want to but then they do those songs that sound like 50% The Jam + 50% Ramones (later era Ramones).

I don't have all of their stuff but I do have a lot of it. I'm just posting this one because I saw this on eBay:

The seller is allowing offers but there are several copies on Discogs right now for as low as $12.00.

1 Don't Bother Me
2 Little Kings and Queens
3 It Makes no Difference
4 In This World
5 She Made Me Shake
6 The Getaway
7 About Time
8 Holiday
9 Get in the Groove
10 Good as Gold
11 If I Only Had You
12 Sweet Soul Music




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