v/a WELCOME TO COMBOLAND

Part two of the neverending series, Great Compilations. Ahem. No, really, I have a limitless supply of this stuff, so clear your hard drive, here we go.

Welcome To Comboland is a 1986 collection of bands from North Carolina. For reasons unknown, it was only released in Europe, on a small indie called Making Waves. Perhaps it was an attempt to woo the British press into thinking there was a burgeoning scene down there in Chapel Hill or Charlotte or Greensboro. Maybe it perked the ears of UK record executives enough to sign some these bands. Probably worked on both counts.

Comboland isn't a great compilation, I take it back. It's ok, but what it lacks in bonafide hits, it makes up for in spirit. From reading the liner notes, it seems the bands themselves were self-deprecating enough to know that people outside of NC thought of the state as either a monotonous midway between New York and Florida or a college basketball powerhouse. But there was a scene.

Don Dixon is all over this thing. Some of the bands' members are interchangeable with one another. Mitch Easter recorded a good portion of the cuts at his Drive-In Studios in Winston-Salem. However, looking at the tracklisting now, the only bands that succeeded beyond the 919 area code were Southern Culture On The Skids and The Connells. If you're a power pop freak, you'll know the name The Spongetones. They all clearly knew each other or respected each other and set out to put NC on the map. There's a nice summary here from Godfrey Cheshire who pieced together the original idea.

This week, oh my, I'll start something called "Local Heroes" (featuring songs from bands I grew up with in high school that were just as good as the popular ones) and you'll definitely get some nice surprises, maybe I'll dig into my 10 inch collection. In my pants.

The Connells BRIGHTER WORLDS
Fetchin' Bones PLUS 7

UPDATE: Crap! I forgot to mention that I paid 49 cents for this album at Reckless in Chicago probably in the early 90s. Reckless used to have a crazy system of pricing LPs. They stickered it and every week would lower the price if it hadn't sold. It started at $6.99, then $5.99.... I like that. Record stores should do that more often. Also, the state bird of North Carolina is the Cardinal. You're welcome.