Bonnie Hayes With The Wild Combo - Good Clean Fun (1982)

As I've written before, I absolutely adore this album. So very, very good. In a ★★★★½ review, Allmusic calls this album a "neglected '80s pop masterpiece" and boldly claims it to be "the finest album of the entire early-'80s California girl pop scene. Yes, even better than Beauty and the Beat or All Over the Place." I already had a copy of the album on both vinyl and CD, but this 2020 re-release includes 11 additional tracks, including the entire 1984 EP, Brave New Girl. I bought a used copy of Brave New Girl on vinyl a few years back (and wrote about it here), but I just couldn't pass this one up.

I don't remember how I heard about this release (most likely social media), but I pre-ordered the thing months before the release date. Once it was released and I received this CD in the mail, I immediately put in the tray and hit the play button. Boy, was I ever disappointed. Just look at this - compressed and clipped:

Almost unlistenable. Damn shame - the music of this album deserves much better. I can stick with my other copies for most of the cuts, but that leaves me unsatisfied for the other five bonus tracks. Includes brief, but informative liner notes from Hayes herself. If you want a copy of this album (and you should), see if you can locate a copy of the 2007 Wounded Bird reissue or a vinyl copy.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Good Clean Fun did not chart, but "bubbled under" at #206.

Tracks: Sound quality aside, click here for my thoughts on each track from the exceptional 1982 album, Good Clean Fun.

Bonus tracks: Click here for my thoughts on each track from the exceptional 1984 EP, Brave New Girl. Tracks 17-21 here include a 1981 single from Punts (the name of the band before they signed a record deal) as well as 3 demo tracks.

This single recording of Shelly's Boyfriend is slightly slower but otherwise not much different than the version with which I'm already familiar. The b-side, Rochambeau, is an odd little tango but I dig the chorus and half-time bridge. And today I learned that Rochambeau is another name for the game of rock-paper-scissors. Of the three early demos, I hear the potential of Killing Time and would like to have heard a fleshed-out recording. But none of the demos would have fit it on Good Clean Fun so wiser heads prevailed there.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.