With the help of Rhino's 'Poptopia! Power Pop Classics' series, I discovered Wondermints in 1997. Their first single, "Proto-Pretty", absolutely blew me away, and I have snagged everything they have put out before and since then. The problem is the band rarely releases anything. Since 1996, they have only had four official full-length releases. For more than a decade, they have been busy backing Brian Wilson on stage and in the studio, but I wish we could have more Wondermints records. On Dec. 1, I'm kind of getting my wish. The songs on 'Kaleidoscopin': Exploring Prisms Of The Past' are not new. In fact, if you own the bootleg 'Mintsmania!', you already have most of these songs. This odds-'n-sods package collects a slew of demos, B-sides and other unreleased nuggets. No, this isn't new Wondermints, but I'll take what I can get.'Kaleidoscopin' - Exploring Prisms Of The Past' Tracklist
1. And Penny Knows
2. Wondermints
3. No One's Girl
4. Gone
5. I Should Fall
6. Silly Place
7. Truth or Consequences
8. Galactic Patrol
9. Runnin' Thru The Nite
10. Reality Check
11. Invisible Paint
12. Mis’ry Train
13. She Knows
14. Playtex Aviary (revisited)
15. The Party
16. Austin Powers
17. You Need Love
18. Full Moon
19. Ski Party
20. Rejected X-mas messages
My Wondermints Fave Five
Wondermints - Proto-Pretty (mp3)
Wondermints - Tracy Hide (mp3)
Wondermints - Carnival of Souls (mp3)
Wondermints - Chris-Craft No. 10 (mp3)
Wondermints - Another Way (mp3)
2 comments:
Love the video.
So how do you rank this group of "odds and sods"? That is, of course, hit-and-miss, with most bands. IS it up the quality of their three regular releases of originals?
Thanks for writing. I would say if you love the three original releases you will want this too. It's nice to have, for example, "Silly Place". It was the flip side to "Proto-Pretty". These are not all must haves, but many of these are hard to find. It's nice to have them all collected for you... unless you like the hunt... which I completely get!
Post a Comment