The Payola$: Live at The Cleveland Agora, 1982 (FM Broadcast)

Back in the pre-MFMF days, Britolboy and I did a great series on the Canadian punk-cum-new wave band, The Payola$ (see HERE). Sadly, those link are gone but here's a new find; a stellar live set from 1982-10-13 recorded for WMMS in Cleveland, OH. The band is into their more new wave, Police-ish phase by 1982 but the songs stayed excellent even while the production wavered. As is so often the case with bands who slicked-up their sound for eighties radio, the live sound is kickier.





01. Intro/Soldier
02. Dancing With Another
03. Jukebox/Paul Hyde Q/A
04. Lights To Change
05. Pennies Into Gold
06. Romance
07. Some Old Song
08. Hastings Street
09. Eyes Of a Stranger
10. Rose
11. I'm Sorry
12. Tears Are Not Enough
13. Kill A White Man (unreleased)*


While a 2007 re-formation EP and a slim Best-Of CD are currently available, the Payola$ albums have NEVER been re-issued in any format!

Visit PVAc to 44.1 kHz  for some more out-of-printy Payola$ goodness.


The name of track 13 comes from this article, submitted by Britolboy.

COMMENTS are the great encourager, so if you have some thoughts on the Payola$ now is the time to let them be known in the COMMENTS section (where you will find Live at The Cleveland Agora ).

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The Payola$: Jukebox 7" (1981)

The final Payola$ (more HERE) single from the vastly underrated debut album, In a Place Like This.





A         Juke Box        
B         TNT

While a recent re-formation EP and a slim Best-Of CD are available, the Payola$ albums have NEVER been re-issued on CD or digitally.

• All Payola$ rips and scans generously provided by ace archivist BristolBoy from My Life's A Jigsaw, who deserves a word of thanks!

• Visit PVAc to 44.1 kHz  for some out-of-printy-y Payola$ goodness.
  

COMMENTS encourage blogs to thrive. Please leave a COMMENT The Payola$in the very section where you will find the Jukebox 7" link.

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The Payola$ - I'm Sorry (I Only Did It For The Money) 7" (1981)

Here's an excellent Payola$ (more HERE) single from 1981. The A-side, " I'm Sorry" is a ska-rocker that excoriates an unnamed musical sell-out ("White rocker, sometimes reggae") that could be Joe Strummer, while the B-side, "You Can't Walk Away", has hard-hitting verses and the kind of huge chorus that could've put this band over the top.

While a recent re-formation EP and a slim Best-Of CD are available, the Payola$ albums have NEVER been re-issued on CD or digitally.

• All Payola$ rips and scans generously provided by ace archivist BristolBoy from My Life's A Jigsaw, who deserves a word of thanks!

• Visit PVAc to 44.1 kHz  for some out-of-printy-y Payola$ goodness.
  

Let us know what you think of the single (and who who might be the target of "I'm Sorry") in the COMMENTS section (where you will find the I'm Sorry (I Only Did It For The Money 7" link).

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The Payola$: Introducing... (1980)

Much as I love "China Boys" (it is making fun of West Coast racism, isn't it?) the heart of The Payola$ (more HERE) doesn't fully show until they make the jump to the major labels (just I.R.S. in this case). Y'see, guitarist/producer Bob Rock gave the band its full sound but Paul Hyde, as the band's primary lyricist, provided the invigorating humanity they gives them a different sort of depth. In contrast to the cynical misanthropy of the early punk scene or the bacchanalian solipsism of the arena-metal scene Rock would go onto, Hyde loved humanity in all it's doomed glory. Listen to how, in "Jukebox"  he spins the tragic, Springsteen-ian tale of a music fan whose life is destroyed by the industry who's products he loved with great pathos and an absence of judgement. Even Hyde's sordid tale of prostitution, "Rose", shows a more complicated, less romanticized view of life on the street than something like The Police's "Roxanne".

A1   China Boys   3:19
Written-By – B. Rock, P. Hyde   
A2   T.N.T.    2:27
Written-By – P. Hyde  
B1   Rose    4:25
Written-By – P. Hyde     
B2 Juke Box    2:46
Written-By – B. Rock, P. Hyde

While a recent re-formation EP and a slim Best-Of CD are available, the Payola$ albums have NEVER been re-issued in way.

• All Payola$ rips and scans generously provided by ace archivist BristolBoy from My Life's A Jigsaw, who deserves a word of thanks!

• Visit PVAc to 44.1 kHz  for some out-of-printy-y Payola$ goodness.
  

So let us know what you think of Hyde's lyrics in specific or the Payola$ music in general in the COMMENTS section (which where you will find the  Introducing... link.)

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The Payola$: China Boys 7" (2nd version, 1980)

Here's vinyl rip of The Payola$ (start HERE) first single on A & M. It's a re-recorded version of the A-side and a non-album B-side.





A  China Boys   3:19
    Written-By – B. Rock, P. Hyde     
B  Rose   4:25
    Written-By – P. Hyde

While a recent re-formation EP and a slim Best-Of CD are available, the Payola$ albums have NEVER been re-issued on CD or digitally.

• All Payola$ rips and scans generously provided by ace archivist BristolBoy from My Life's A Jigsaw, who deserves a word of thanks!

• Visit PVAc to 44.1 kHz  for some out-of-printy-y Payola$ goodness.
  

If you're digging the Payola$ rarities we're bringing you here, we would love to hear a COMMENT! (You can leave a COMMENT in the very section where you will find the China Boys link.

Support the Payola$




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The Payola$: China Boys 7" (1st version, 1979)

Certainly the most successful commercial group to arise from the seventies Vancouver punk scene, would have to be The Payola$. While Paul Hyde and Bob Rock never became rock stars, their band was a strong radio presence in Canada (and to some degree in the US) for much of the eighties. While Rock says The Payola$ were always outsiders in that tight scene (they had jobs!) he downplays how crucial his production work was to giving Vancouver punk bands like The Young Canadians (more to come), The Subhumans (more HERE) and The Pointed Sticks (more HERE) a sound that would endure.

And Rock himself ended up becoming every rock star's producer, providing sound advice for a who's-who of bands about whom I do not give a flying fuck, like Aerosmith, The Cult, Motley Crue, and Metallica. Whatever he's done for the big boys, Rock has remembered his roots, recently producing an album for D.O.A. (more HERE)  and helping to restore some early Art Bergmann (more HERE) material, not to mention giving a great interview for Susan Tabata's film "Bloodied but Unbowed" (more HERE).





It's interesting how Rock proved to have such killer instinct for stadium-metal, when his band, whether in their initial punky-power-pop phase or their time of commercial ascendancy never sounded like the sort of cheesball pap he grew so famous for helming. Of course, judging by the screechy histrionics of Rockhead, it might have been former Englishman Hyde that kept Rock's ROCK in check.

Now, where was I?

Oh yeah, that initial punky-power-pop phase of the band was absolutely amazing, although a lot of their keyboard-heavier radio fare is actually very good as well. This first single, released on the band's own Slophouse Records in 1979, contains an early version of poppy-but-punky "China Boys" and the slightly more KBD-y "Make Some Noise". It's a great taste and there's more to come, should you care to COMMENT!





While a 2007 re-formation EP and a slim Best-Of CD are currently available, the Payola$ albums have NEVER been re-issued in any format!

• All Payola$ rips and scans generously provided by ace archivist BristolBoy from My Life's A Jigsaw, who deserves a word of thanks!
  

• Visit PVAc to 44.1 kHz  for some more out-of-printy Payola$ goodness.

We were talking earlier about COMMENTS and how they encourage the rarities tap to open wide. Feel free to let us know what you think of the work of Dr. Rock and Mr. Hyde in the COMMENTS section (where you will find the China Boys 7" link).

Support the Payola$




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