Yow! The things one finds when rooting around on teh interwebs looking for something else entirely! I was deep diving into Bandcamp since I saw a reference to Scotland’s PunkFunk maestros, APB [more on them later…hopefully] and I saw that their material was back in print recently on the silver disc. The label in question was apparently a new reissue label I wasn’t familiar with, Liberation Hall. Like any curious person, I went to the label’s website and saw that they also release movies and TV shows on [get ready, grandad…] DVD! Their music section had helpful subtabs and one was marked PUNK/NEW WAVE so I clicked it and was shown a page with APB on it, yes…but more importantly, one of my long time, pined-for albums never on CD before. Until now. The first Pearl Harbour solo album is finally on the silver disc!
I’d written eight years ago about how I’d probably have to make my own copy of Pearl Harbour’s “Don’t Folow Me, I’m Lost Too” on CD if I wanted one. In that hoary post I also dug into the rarities that should honestly be on the disc if I made it. And of course, the UK and German 7″ singles I specified were for the most part, pretty costly! Only the non-LP “Voodoo Voodoo” was what I’d call easily affordable. That stayed my hand, of course, but now it matters not a whit! It might even be that the best brains at Liberation Hall could have read my posting because this CD, as released in March of 2024, rounded up all four bonus tracks that I specified, [in red] with another pair of unreleased demos [red italic] thrown in to make a great thing even better.
Pearl Harbour: Don’t Follow Me, I’m Lost Too DLX RM – US – CD [2024]
- Alone In The dark
- Fujiyama Mama
- Everybody’s Boring But My Baby
- You’re In Trouble
- Do Your Homework
- Cowboys + Indians
- Losing To You
- Filipino baby
- Let’s Go Upstairs
- Rough Kids
- Out With The Girls
- Heaven Is Gonna Be Empty
- At The Dentist
- Nerves
- You Got Me All Wrong
- Voodoo Voodoo
- You Don’t Fool Me
- What I Should Have Said [demo]
- I Can’t Tell You On The Phone [demo]
Now that’s the way we like it! Of course, this being 2024, there’s also an LP for your purchasing pleasure. And of course it’s in groovy purple wax to match the retooled cover art [the original art was the teal and white beauty at left]. One nice thing about the reissue LP was that with a 3o minute original album, they could fit the previously released bonus tracks on it without groove cramming. So even the LP is an expanded edition. Just the demos are CD only.
Both editions feature Pearl’s liner notes where she actually revealed the musicians on this album that the Warner Brothers US LP neglected to mention. Wow, what a lineup we had here:
- Paul Simenon – bass
- Wilko Johnson – lead and rhythm guitar
- Topper Headon – drums
- Steve Goulding – drums
- Steve New – lead guitar
- Nigel Dixon – rhythm guitar, BVs
with
- Mick Jones – lead guitar
- Gary Barnacle – sax
- Geraint Watkins – keys
- BJ Cole – pedal steel
With sterling production by Mickey Gallagher of The Blockheads. The only credit that the original album managed to cough up. A closer look at the reissue credits reveals that…holy toledo…this album was mastered by my old acquaintance from high school, Mr. Randy Perry! The last time we were in L.A. chasinvictoria and I attempted to link up with Mr. Perry but he had a pre-dawn acting call as an extra on some project the next day and he had to demur. Only in L.A., right? I’m also aware that Randy had worked for Rhino for many years in an engineering aspect, so I’m sure that the guy wouldn’t brickwall anything! If after reading all this way you aren’t familiar with the work, why not have a go right now? It’s one of my favorite rock and roll albums of the 80s. One of the few I’d call that, actually.
The LP and CD are there for the taking at the Pearl Harbour Bandcamp page, with a $17.95 CD and a nicely priced $26.99 LP should you not have an original pressing like I do. That CD has been calling me for almost 40 years, so I need to play the DJ hit that button game as much as anyone else!
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![Want List: Visage DLX RM […finally!]](https://i0.wp.com/postpunkmonk.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/visage-dlxrmuscda.jpeg?resize=200%2C200&ssl=1)
Post-Punk Monk 
Please remove the errant apostrophe in “…round’s up all four…”,
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Big Mark – Yer wish is my command! I barely have the time to hack out this thing! Proofread??!!! ¿Que es eso?
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You know, I loved and still possess the Pearl Harbour & The Explosions LP. Somewhere along the way, though, I tried this album and thought it was not nearly as good, and subsequently gave up on it.
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Big Mark – I fly in the opposite direction…strongly. I find “Pearl Harbor + The Explosions” a bit of a chore to listen to. Not this album!
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Hi! I wanted to buy the “Pearl Harbour” album – but the “Purchase Here” link doesn’t work!
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CowboyEtienne – Welcome to the comments! Fixed now. I was having a time getting that link to work. Not sure why. But it worked now. Sorry! The embedded player Bandcamp player also has a “buy” link in any case!
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Got it! Gary Barnacle on Sax is usually an indicator of good music!
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Three quarters of The Clash on this! NOW they tell me!!
Glad to see that someone out there is psychic enough to predict what you would have done and just do it already!
You, me, Randy, Clete and David were a bit of a troupe back in those days. I cannot fathom how long we’ve all known each other!
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chasinvictoria – Well, I wasn’t a theater type like you, Dave + Randy. So subsequently, he was on my social periphery…more of an acquaintance. Even though I met him at the radio station with all of you guys just the same. For whatever reason. When I think of those videos we made and sent back and forth with Randy once he moved to North Carolina, we were sort of like a sketch comedy troupe. We’d head over to Dave’s on a Friday night and spend 3-4 hours improvising sketches and come home with a final edit. Building up our own Teenage SCTV wannabe characters! If Randy hadn’t moved away and sent that first video letter, I wonder if we would have ever crossed that line without that impetus? Such fun times.
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Do you know why they did not use the original cover art? It was much better in my opinion.
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perdothegit – Welcome to the comments! A very good question, that. I also prefer the original artwork. I just looked into it and that was the original 1980 UK cover art. Who knew?
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Wow! Thanks for the quick reply!
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perdothegit – Sometimes its fast… sometimes it takes hours. Sometimes I don’t see my personal device or another computer for another day or two. It is random.
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The involvement of the various Clash members is probably the result of Pearl’s relationship with Paul Simenon (they were married at one point).
Like you I have waited 40+ years for this release, if only for the presence, finally, of “Everybody’s Boring But My Baby” on cd!!
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schwenko – Not forgetting that Kosmo Vinyl was also her manager. I don’t have a particular fave from that album since I can easily conjure up 80% of the songs in my head having not heard them it almost 40 years.
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Liberation Hall is about to reissue the Pearl Harbor & The Explosions album (on vinyl and CD) with the original UK cover photo and bonus tracks. It was briefly reissued on Blixa Sounds, so this is actually a reissue of a reissue….
https://pearlharbortheexplosions.bandcamp.com/album/pearl-harbor-the-explosions
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The REALLY confusing part of Pearl’s discography is that there are two separate albums titled Pearls Galore. The first was recorded at Abbey Road with some of the same folks from Don’t Follow Me (Nigel Dixon, Gary Barnacle, BJ Cole), and it was released in Japan in 1983 on Epic/Sony.
The other Pearls Galore was recorded with producer Richard Gottehrer and a Japanese punk band called The Mods. It was released on Island UK in 1984. That one played up the girl group aspect of Pearl’s sound (e.g., “Everybody’s Boring But My Baby”). Neither of the albums saw US release or CD reissue, and Pearl didn’t make another record until Here Comes Trouble (1995).
I too am deeply fond of Don’t Follow Me. Did y’all know that Hanoi Rocks recorded a version of “Heaven Is Gonna Be Empty”?!
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jon der – Wha…?! That’s s – u – r – r – e – a – l ! !
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