Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Chain Link Fence - Fireworks ep & Positive ep (1985/86, Throbbing Lobster)

Here are two highly promising eps from a Massachusetts quartet that failed to survive past the '80s.  Fireworks is filled with ebullient, spunky riff-pop along the lines of the first couple of Joe Jackson albums.  Well written and well executed, this is a model example of what power pop acts of Chain Link Fence's era should have been striving for (and luckily, many succeeded at doing just that).  1986's Positive ep carries with it quite a bit of development - more assured playing, sassier attitude, and increasingly sophisticated songwriting chops.  More rhythmically aware than the first record as well.  I swear there are some horns and sax on here, but the credits don't make mention of them (maybe it's the keyboards)?

For purely trivial reasons, I'll inform you that frontman Billy Barrett is the older brother of Mighty Mighty Bosstones Dickie Barrett.  Also, copies of Fireworks might still be available here.

Fireworks ep (1985)
01. Generate
02. Us
03. Next Stop, Please
04. Fireworks
05. This Mourning
06. Need No Experience

Positive ep (1986)
01. Positive
02. Jennifer
03. Hollywood
04. Goodbye Game
05. Lisa
06. Upstairs, Downstairs

Get both records here.

18 comments:

joseph kyle said...

I like this! In a weird way, this kind of reminds me of the Bosstones, without the overbearing horn section, Thanks for posting this!

Monkey Flinging Poo said...

Thanks for posting these...

Scott Wy said...

You had me at "first couPle of Joe Jackson records".

Pitboss68 said...

I was SO looking for this. Used to cover "Next Stop Please", and it thrills to hear this again. Great stuff! Thanks!

Meloman said...

could you repost these gems again, please? Thanks so much

Meloman said...

Thanks so much, Spavid, for getting it available again ;-)

Anonymous said...

This is really cool! I really love chain link fence! Vancouver could really use a live band! Do you know if they would come play if I contacted them? Thanks so much for sharing!

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

When is chain link fence going to be in Vancouver? I would love to see you live!

SlappyCat said...

I was a college radio DJ in the 80s. I absolutely LOVED the Throbbing Lobster stuff. Any way I could get these files? Long gone from Rapid Share. I'll trade you some mail art.

Thanks,
Pablo
www.anti-robot.org

spavid said...

The links have been fixed. Thanks for alerting me Pablo.

spavid said...

Links have been updated (again).

Unknown said...
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Rebecca A. Maynard said...
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Unknown said...

Hi I am having trouble opening the file-any suggestions?

spavid said...

I was able to access the link. What's the error you're receiving? Are you doing this on a computer?

Nathan said...

Could you refresh this download again?

DISH said...

I was in this band .. I love to see folks were into it .. I’ve been releasing new music on bandcamp