The Krayolas - Best Riffs Only (2007)

So I'm sitting at Sam's Burger Joint waiting for the Marshall Crenshaw show to start and the pre-show music playlist included the song Cry, Cry, Laugh, Laugh sending me (and every other Crenshaw fan nearby) scrambling to pull out their phones to identify the song. The day following the show (which was a most excellent concert, btw), I discovered The Krayolas are a local band from right here in San Antonio and I was immediately down that rabbit hole. Yada, yada, yada, and I eventually found a copy of this 2007 compilation CD. I'm happy to have found a copy because it's tough find, even in San Antonio.

"It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up." - Ferris Bueller

Here's the skinny from the CD liner notes:

Even though I had kinda fashioned myself into a New Wave wannabe Johnny Slash guy in 1982, if someone had handed me the group's debut album, Kolored Music, back then, I would have loved it and pestered all my friends to give it a listen.

Update: the band restored, reassembled, remastered, repackaged and reissued that 1982 debut album in 2022. Check it out here: The CD Project: The Krayolas - Happy Go Lucky.

The band doesn't yet have their own Wikipedia page, but here's a little info on the band from Texas Monthly magazine: https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/hector-saldana/. They've also got their own website: https://thekrayolas.com/ and a Bandcamp page: https://thekrayolas.bandcamp.com/

In 2014, the Krayolas were inducted into the Texas Music Office’s South Texas Music Walk of Fame. That walk of fame can be found in an off-the-beaten-path location on Market Street in downtown Corpus Christi. This past summer, on my way to the Executive Surf Club (I recommend the Executive Surf Burger), I spotted The Krayolas' star:

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: 16 tracks, 51 minutes. My top picks are All I Do Is Try, Aw Tonight, Sometime, Happy Go Lucky, Rhymes Of Tomorrow, Sunny Day, Dorothy, You're Not My Girl, and, of course, the aforementioned Cry Cry Laugh Laugh. There's also a holiday waltz, Christmas Time, which would be a fun tune to include on your next Xmas playlist or mixtape.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: see above