VA - Lost in the Haze Vol. 19 (A Not Lame Records joint)

My share this spring of a previous installment in the Lost in the Haze comp series was met with no small amount of enthusiasm, so I couldn't resist sharing another one (and perhaps more in the offing).  For the unacquainted, Not Lame Records was a venerable power pop label and distro, circa the 1990s-'00s.  The CEO would frequently incentivize purchases by tossing in a handmade and self-curated cd-r compilation of impossibly rare songs that never made their way into the digital era proper.  God knows how many volumes existed in the Lost in the Haze series alone (at least 19, obviously).  Accompanied only by a tray card track list with no other pertinent details about the music presented, these compilations were stuffed into paper cd envelopes, and would tend to accumulate in various piles in my house.  With a veritable absence of artwork they went out of sight and out of mind for years until I was able to wrastle 'em all together in a tidying up effort a few months ago.

The cool thing about these custom curios was the exposure it gave me to artists I had heard of, just not actually heard.  The emphasis of Lost in the Haze was centered on overlooked and arcane also-rans (with the occasional rarity from a superstar) from the '70s to the early '80s.  Vol 19 was where I got my first taste of The Elevators, Sherbs, and Elektrics.  This playlist was also a handy reminder of how terrific two major label casualties, Interview and The Headboys were, both of whom should have been reissued and anthologized a long time ago.  And there's a strikingly curious anomaly for a compilation of this ilk, a collaboration between Shaun Cassidy and Todd Rundgren's Utopia.  It was apparently a hit.  As for Sparks, they were never really my bag.  You can check out the tracklist to your above right.

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