Sunday, December 11, 2022

The Swinging Madisons - s/t ep (1981, Select)

I'm not sure when, where, or even why I picked this one up. Certainly not because I like rockabilly, which was undoubtedly part and parcel of the Swinging Madisons DNA. But luckily this well coifed combo were also equal parts garage, pub and power pop.  Per the band's bio (click the hyperlink above) there's a lot of name-dropping going on, mentioning Bobby Rydell and the Cramps within the first three paragraphs alone. While the Madisons don't necessarily sound like a hybrid of those two, you're bound to hear intermittent glints of them and their like-minded aesthetics throughout this all-too-fleeting platter.

As it turns out, frontman Kristian Hoffman was also a member of The Mumps, whose recent anthology we dedicated some space to last year. At any rate, as far as the Madisons themselves were concerned, they only left us with this record, but they made it count.  The aforementioned bio goes into more detail than I ever could, so read it at your leisure if these tunes leave any kind of impression on you.

01. Hurdy Gurdy Man
02. Guilty White Liberal
03. Put Your Bra Back On
04. Volare
05. My Mediocre Dream

Hear

2 comments:

Phil O. said...

Thank you for making this available. Shame it's never gotten a proper digital release. I purchased a NM copy a few years ago with plans to digitize it, but got hung-up declicking... you just saved me a ton of work!

My understanding is that additional material by the Swinging Madisons circulates - may even get an official release at some point - fingers crossed!

spavid said...

Glad I could help Phil!