Last Friday we had to double post due to the fact that the barely released Oingo Boingo colored vinyl LPs of “Only A Lad” were flying out of the Rubellan Remasters webstore at such a furious clip, that the planned posting for the topic today would have been moot. As we see now, there are just 37 of 1000 copies of the LPs [green/yellow splatter] still available in the Rubellan webstore. So anyone who clicked the llnk here since Friday at least still had a chance. The LPs were inexpensive pressings that will make a lot of people happy. The label owner has already submitted paperwork for a repressing in new colors. But owing to the vinyl bubble, this won’t happen until December, but here are the new mockup colors.
Pretty, but we like to stick with CDs here at PPM. What are our options? Well, thankfully, Scott, who runs Rubellan [it’s a one man operation…for now] is primarily a “CD guy” but he’s trying vinyl because that’s the way the market is going now. Based on this first release, the demand is more dramatic than for the silver discs, but he’s trying to balance things out to give everyone what they want. The vinyl is out there, and it’s wacky fun, but the CDs are a more ambitious program, and they are due in September. Here’s the rundown of the bonus material we can expect on each release.
Oingo Boingo: Only A Lad DLX RM – US – CD [2021]
- Little Girls
- Perfect System
- On The Outside
- Capitalism
- You Really Got Me
- Only A Lad
- What You See
- Controller
- Imposter
- Nasty Habits
- Only A Lad [Early Version]
- Violent Love
- Ain’t This The Life [10″ Version]
- I’m So Bad
- Ain’t This The Life [12″ Version]
This time the bonus material was the 10″/12″ EP that I.R.S. released in front of the album in 1980. I only got this album a few years back, strangely enough. And the early version of “Only A Lad” as produced by Jo Julian was here. But what I hadn’t known at the time was the track “Ain’t This The Life” was in two different versions. The 10″ had one mix and the 12″ on the later reissue of the EP had another. I don’t have any versions of the debut EP but respect the attention to detail for including both.
Oingo Boingo: Nothing To Fear DLX RM – US – CD [2021]
- Grey Matter
- Insects
- Private Life
- Wild Sex [In The Working Class]
- Running On A Treadmill
- Whole Day Off
- Nothing To Fear [But Fear Itself]
- Why’d We Come
- Islands
- Reptiles + Samurai
- Better Luck Next Time
- Private Life [Single Version]
This is my very favorite Oingo Boingo album. There is the least amount of bonus material on this disc, but the remastering of this music will probably be worth the money spent. The sharp, pungent music might seriously benefit. There’s not too many extras available for this period, but the 7″ version of “Private Life” is one rarity and the song “Better Luck Next Time” that I didn’t recognize was from the OST to the movie “The Last American Virgin!” There’s probably a lot of material on Teenaged Sex Comedy® OSTs flying under my radar. Mental note to self.
Oingo Boingo: Good For Your Soul DLX RM – US – CD [2021]
- Who Do You Want To Be
- Good For Your Soul
- No Spill Blood
- Cry Of The Vatos
- Fill the Void
- Sweat
- Nothing Bad Ever Happens
- Wake Up [It’s 1984]
- Dead or Alive
- Pictures Of You
- Little Guns
- Bachelor Party
- Something Isn’t Right
- Wake Up [Its 1984] [7″ edit]
I bought “Good For Your Soul” at the same time as I did “Nothing To Fear” when the Oingo Boingo catalog first appeared on the silver disc in 1987. It’s a good album, but it didn’t work its way into my consciousness the way that album number two did. The bonus material here was down to two songs from the “Bachelor Party” OST. So scratch what I just said about songs proliferating only on Teenaged Sex Comedy® soundtracks.
Oingo Boingo: Dead Man’s Party DLX RM – US – CD [2021]
- Just Another Day
- Dead Man’s Party
- Heard Somebody Cry
- No One Lives Forever
- Stay
- Fool’s Paradise
- Help Me
- Same Man I Was Before
- Weird Science
- Take Your Medicine
- Just Another Day [Single Version]
- Dead Man’s Party [Short Version]
- Weird Science [Single Version]
- Stay [Stay Late Mix]
- Dead Man’s Party [Party ‘Til You’re Dead Mix]
- Weird Science [Extended Dance Version]
This is an Oingo Boingo album that I don’t have in the Record Cell so this should be on my shortlist. There is a fistful of bonus material and versions by the time we get to 1986’s “Dead Man’s Party.” “Take Your Medicine” was from an I.R.S. Records cancer benefit album I had no idea of. Then we also get 7″ edits and 12″ remixes of the three singles from this album. No sex comedies figure here but that’s deceptive. The 12″ version of “Dead Man’s Party” hailed from the OST to the “slob comedy” “Back To School.” The 80s were a harsh time. These titles are all promised for September, but are not yet live in the Rubellan webstore, so we’ll make a note when it’s fully live to purchase. Until then, keep an eye peeled at the button below.
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Post-Punk Monk 
Dead man’s party…the best!!!! Loved that especially around Halloween. I remember seeing Oingo on Halloween at Greek Theater in LA in the 80s…was a blast. Of course KROQ heavily promoted Oingo…..fun band. 🙂
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Bridget – Wow, so you got to see them in their natural habitat? Those Halloween shows were legendary. I don’t think they ever made it to Florida in their heyday… [checks] Gott Im Himmell!! There were six dates in Florida for the group on Setlist.fm. Two in 1988 and four in 1990. Including one in Orlando at my usual club. Where was I?!
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I have the CD versions of all the albums, but will GLADLY repurchase them again for these bonus tracks and the remastering. Good taste – that sophomore album is my favorite as well. I just checked, and I don’t have as much of their collection as I thought on vinyl, which doesn’t bother me as much. I do happen to have the 10″ E.P. from IRS Records, not the 12″ version, so I’m interested in not only finally having that on a shiny disc, but also the other version of “Ain’t This The Life”. Even with this wealth of bonus material there is still so much more out there (“Goodbye, Goodbye” for example). I also find it interesting the So-Lo record isn’t here. I wonder if that gets a different contract because the label pushed Elfman without the band for promotional reasons despite it actually being an Oingo Boingo album. I am eagerly anticipating these.
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postpostmoderndad – If you have any Rubellan Remasters CDs, you know this this will be the best these albums ever get. I only have the “Dead Man’s Party” 12′ so I have a whole new CDs worth of material to look forward to. You may have a point with the “So-Lo” album. I like that one a lot and it’s of a piece with the other four. Things started to unravel for me at “Boi-Ngo.”
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Yes, I have to agree with Postmoderndad. Rubellan is usually thorough about tracking down bonus material, but there is SO-MUCH missing here. He mentioned “Goodbye Goodbye” from *Fast Times* (seems like O-Boingo could indeed have done a whole album of teen comedy movie contributions), but a short list of other stuff starts with their 1978 7″ (Ballad of the Caveman / You’ve Got Your Baby Back) and proceeds through:
All Pieces, California Girls, Can’t Pretend, Cell 63, Cinderella Undercover, Cruisin’, Don’t Go In The Basement, Freak Show, Head in the Clouds, Helpless, I’m Afraid, I’ve Got To Be Entertained, Kiss My Ass, Louise, Make It Right, Marching In Time, Nuclear Babies, Open Eyes, Teenage Monster, Waiting For You (all from various sources too numerous to list here).
A few of these might be relevant to later albums, and some of this material is only demo quality, but since when has that stopped reissue programs from using it…
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JT – Like KeithC said, as well as Rubellan has a licence exclusively with UMG. If it falls outside of that umbrella, as is common with soundtrack material and bands being loaned out to other labels to beef up a soundtrack, then it’s no dice.
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My collection is quite skint re Oingo items other than the “Dead Man’s Party” CD and never had the luxury of seeing them live (esp. a Halloween show). I did recently find a mint copy of the the “Farewell: Live From The Universal Amphitheatre” double DVD of a 1995 Halloween concert so that will have to suffice. Hopefully that captures what was so great about the 80’s shows.
As for “Goodbye, Goodbye”, Scott from Rubellan specifically mentioned on a Steve Hoffman Forum posting that this song is in rights hell (purgatory?) and that Elfman was not responsive to numerous requests and bonus permission(s) re involvement due to his new solo release. [there was a very long Rubellan thread on the SHF that unfortunately was removed per Scotts’ request as it was getting off on tangents etc.).
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KeithC – We are lucky that no one concerned didn’t nix the bonus materials that made it through the gauntlet.
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I delayed the release of the CD’s in hopes that the efforts of myself and Universal to contact Elfman would be acknowledged by Elfman and/or his management (I myself sent several messages either via email, twitter, facebook, none of which received any sort of response), and we would be able to add the available album outtakes from the Universal tape library. To be honest, Universal own the material and could have just given permission (like they’ve done in the past), but since Elfman is a well known figure it seemed they wanted to offer the professional courtesy of having him say yay or nay, but the non-response also translated to a nay. So I worked with all that was available, which is pretty much anything that had previously been released, minus ‘Goodbye, Goodbye’ for reasons explained by a previous poster. If after everything comes out and Elfman realizes that his Boingo material is actually something to be very proud of, perhaps he will open up to the idea of simply saying “yes”, and then at the least a rarities collection could be compiled. Seriously, that’s really all Universal would require, not some long drawn out discussion that maybe Danny would be bored by.
But if people assume all of those demos on YouTube are part of the Universal archive, they are wrong. Demos generally are done by the band, and if the song didn’t make it to a studio recording then it’s not there. From what I can see, there is only one from Only A Lad, that being the amazing ‘Teenage Monster’, nothing at all from Nothing To Fear, quite a few from Good For Your Soul, such as ‘Into The Fire’ (which is assumed to be ‘All The Pieces’), ‘Waiting For You’ and an early version of ‘Lightning’ that would be redone a year later for Elfman’s So-Lo album. Dead Man’s Party shows an outtake called ‘Missed My Connection’ and another called ‘Dead Man’s Reprise’. Plus, a couple of songs that would end up on Boi-Ngo had also been recorded during the DMP sessions. I’m not as versed on the later catalog but I know there’s more unreleased stuff. Since it’s been said that Danny assumed their whole catalog went up in flames in 2008 (some tapes did, which is why I had to source Good For Your Soul from the UK), you would think the revelation that most of the material survived would at least increase some sort of interest to save this stuff because you never know when the next unforeseen catastrophe could hit.
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Scott – Thanks for the weigh in. We know how you think and you are a thorough curator of Rubellan Remasters. Anyone who is aware of you should realize that if a track is not available on one of the CDs you release, that’s down to issues beyond your desire to issue the most complete and desirable product available. With Elfman emerging from his solo activity chrysalis right now, he probably had nil interest in looking back at the Boingo years, apart from the cover of “Insects” on “Big Mess.” From Elfman’s perspective, the notion of old Boingo material emerging simultaneously in the market with his new album might be irritating, so maybe no response was the best you could hope for. Obviously, you submitted requests a long time ago, and who knew that Elfman was ready to make something other than soundtrack music for a change? [Jeez – that’s a massive amount of soundtracks that guy has!]
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