Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Keys - Grand Opening ep (1988, Keywhole)

Before going any further, I should inform you that this is not the same "set of keys" as The UK-based Keys who recorded a flooring guitar-pop album under the direction of Joe Jackson in 1981. The Keys in question, fronted by Bob Koenig, were an entirely different entity, an export of Mineola, NY in fact. Funny thing is, they, like the unrelated band of the indentical namesake across the pond also specialized in instantly gratifying power-pop, or at any rate a close variation thereof. The Mineola Keys followed in the footsteps of Off Broadway USA and Shoes, albeit a little grittier. Grand Opening, and later a cassette album released in 1990, were the only two releases to their credit, but Koenig went onto a solo career, and has performed as recently as last year. My copy of Grand Opening came bundled with a flexidisk featuring what appears to be an alternate take of the EP's "Something Special." The flexi was originally included in a comic book called Femforce.

01. Deanna
02. Poison Pen
03. Doesn't Bother Me at All
04. Something Special
05. Angry Man
06. When It Rains It Pours
plus: Femforce Theme (Something Special) from flexidisk

Newly reissued with a slew of bonus tracks here.

5 comments:

Michael Migliaccio said...

I had the good fortune to meet Bob Koenig recently. It's a shame that so much great music is left without any outlet today. Speaking of lost power pop, I was also a big fan of The Producers. Their material is not available today either and they had heavy MTV exposure in the early 80s.

Thanks for bringing my attention to the U.K. Keys as well. I'm always exploring for undeservedly forgotten music. Keep up the great work.

knownote said...

Any chance of a re-up on this?

George Leroy Tirebiter said...

One more vote for a re-up.

lolo said...

Hi
could you please re-up this one?

Thank you very much

lolo said...

hi there

Asking you again for a re-up of this, though I just realised you put a link of a re-issue.. maybe that's why you don't re-up it?

In any case thanks for your patience

regards