VARIOUS ARTISTS The Now Wave Sampler (Columbia Records AE7-1187 white-label promo, 1979)
First, allow me to point out that this is a special “33 & 1/3” edition of 45 RPM, as the 7-inch platter I’m dissecting this week plays at the slower speed, for the purpose of accomodating four full-length tracks. That said, this is an exciting little slab of plastic from a bygone (but very fun) era, when the loose, decadent Jimmy Carter-late-’70’s hadn’t yet slipped into the buttoned-up, tight-assed Ronald Reagan-early-’80’s. I was old enough to enjoy it, and young enough not to have any serious responsibilities weighing me down, so I spent just about every weekday afternoon, and every Saturday, rain or shine, down at my neighborhood record shop. (A what what, now?) Well, sonny boy, I guess you just had to be there.