Our friend and Burning Wood supporter Randy, enjoyed The Whiffs post from a few weeks ago so much, he sent me a message saying so, and suggested that I should check out a record from 1982 by the Crash Street Kids called "Little Girls." It was new to me, so I gave it a spin.
I love it!
The "Kids" are from Minneapolis, and there is a definite Replacements vibe happening, except that, "Little Girls" was released in 1982, and The 'Mats hadn't yet tightened up their sound, having only released the very fast and thrashy "Sorry Ma" and "Stink" by then. Was the influence the other way around? Did Paul Westerberg hear "Little Girls" before writing 'Let It Be?"
Hmmm...I say.
"Little Girls" is really smart and really strong. Not quite clean enough to be labelled power pop and too clean to be labelled punk. I'm hearing The Only Ones, The Vibrators and even a bit of Mott The Hoople glam. It's possible that the "Kids" were fans of Ian Hunter. The band name is also the name of the closing tune on Mott's "The Hoople" record, and...see next paragraph.
There are so many good songs on "Little Girls" it's hard to choose just one, but I am going to lead with "Tears" for two reasons. The first, its verse cops the melody from Mott's "I Wish I Was Your Mother." The second, I absolutely love the counter-melody of the riff that begins at the 3:20 mark.
The full album is up on YouTube, if you dig what I posted here.
Thanks Randy! I needed a new obsession.
18 comments:
that's uncanny how much the vocalist sounds like Westerburg. Add it to Dave Pirner and maybe that's what all rockers aspired to sound like in Minneapolis.
Sal,
Angelo @ Power Pop Criminals posted this album (in FLAC)
https://powerpopcriminals.blogspot.com/2020/03/day-11-top-ten-power-pop.html
Give it some Luv
Tears sounds like the melody from "I Wish I Was Your Mother" by Mott the Hoople. Nice tunes!
Yes Cleveland Jeff,
that's what I wrote in the post!
I seem to vaguely remember them from way back. It's possible I may have bought a promo of this at Charlie's Vinylmania. But we were record shopping together back then so this might have went by the wayside at the time. This is a nice shot in the arm though, to rediscover a band that sounds pretty good now and pleasing to our rock ears. Good post Salvatore.
All their albums are really good! I forget who turned me on to them, but it was a while ago. None of their records disappoint!
Shriner, from what I see they only made one album.
looks like several albums on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEniH7LhcliM4N4te3Q2-Xg
Different band according to Discogs.
Oh, maybe I'm wrong then? I have 5 albums by "Crash Street Kids" in my library -- including "Little Girls" -- but it never occurred to me that they are different bands! Go figure!
Sal: Thanks for this. Not a bad track on the album; really hit me in all the 198Os big hair/tight black jeans/power-pop feels. Unbelievable that the album never went national given all the other bands that did at that time.
Michael D.
I'm the photographer that photographed their album cover. I going through my archives and thought I'd see what the band had accomplished. If anyone is interested in the outtakes let me know. It was all shot in B&W in Downtown Minneapolis, MN
Paul Sinkler
Minneapolis
Listen to the song "Little Girls" and then listen to U2's song "Twilight." Coincidence or did they borrow a little inspiration from U2 on the guitar solo? Looks like Twilight was released two years earlier, in 1980, but it's not easy to see when the Crash Street Kids wrote Little Girls and might have played it publicly first. Anyhow, Little Girls is a great song that has much more to offer than just the guitar solo.
Hey Paul, thanks for mentioning your involvement as photographer. Which downtown Mpls apartment building is/was this? There are quite a few near Loring Park which are similar, but I haven’t been quite able to match up those turrets with anywhere specific.
Kindly,
JD
Thanks for sharing your involvement as photographer, Paul. Whereabouts is/was the row house located? There are quite a few similar apartment buildings still throughout Minneapolis, but I haven’t been able to match those turrets anywhere for certain.
I'm pretty sure the address is 623 South 9th Street Minneapolis, over by HCMC. It was pretty much abandoned at that time but now they're fixed up condos. We brought the street sign with us and now there's a tree in the same spot.
Only 1 album...
They used to do a U2 cover in the live set...back in the day. Back when nobody but the cool kids knew who U2 were.
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