• Track Listing

Boys Say Go morphed out of a garage punk band called Slow Children. In the early '80s, they had put out a 7 that featured a string synth they'd found in the studio. While sitting in Boston's Logan Airport in 1981, waiting for a plane to Germany, Anthony Rauseo and Joseph Fagan heard Depeche Mode for the first time, on Rauseo's Walkman. They immediately knew that the record they were bringing to a label in Berlin was already over, done, obsolete. So that year they started cranking out simple synthpop tunes with primitive analog equipment and no keyboard ability whatsoever. The result of the following five years' work was a fantastic array of new wave songs, of which only six were released. Berliner Kindl Wesse was inspired by driving around Germany in an orange VW Bug; Fagan thought the track was what they should have been listening to. This instrumental, along with Nu Song, Rain in the Dark, and Sorry, were recorded but never released. Their first vinyl release, the Joey and Maria/Love Is Dangerous 7, appeared in 1983. Cheap drum machine, plastic Casio keyboard... Dave Stempko played everything on it but the bass. Self-produced, recorded at Pyramid Studio by Larry Lessard, and released on Boys Say Go's own Gender Records in an edition of 300, this minimal synth masterpiece has since become impossible to find. Later that year they recorded Bang Bang de Boogie (Then We Dance) at Newbury Sound, but the song remained unreleased. They recorded Easy to Move at Joe Harvard's So-So-Sound Studios in 1984, with Rauseo on the lead vocal and toy synth drums. The track was included on Harvard's 1985 Buy American! Compilation cassette, but only a handful of copies were given to friends - the track was barely released at all. Later in 1984, Do You Wanna Funk and Serious Cat were featured on Gender Records' Hit the Floor compilation, which was followed by the Humanity/Holy War 12 single in 1985. These last two songs feature backing vocals by Hank Fay, who was on loan to Boys Say Go from another synth band called Minks. And that was it. Fortunately, these recordings have been well-preserved by Mr. Fagan, and they're presented here for all lovers of new wave and minimal synth to enjoy. Housed in heavy matte-finish sleeve with printed inner sleeve. Hand-numbered edition of 200.