Robin Lane & the Chartbusters - S/T - Used LP

Vinyl: VG+

Jacket: VG

Debut 1980.  Picture inner sleeve.  

The dates on the song credits go back to 1978, and while the outfits on the jacket scream of the 1980s, the songs sound like the 1970s to me, the late 1970s but still.  (At the same time, one could certainly argue that they foreshadowed some of the music from a decade later.)  The Pretenders would probably be the obvious comparison, or maybe halfway between Blondie and Patti Smith.  Like so many Boston-area bands from this era, the record companies didn't seem to know how to make records for artists like this.  But I still enjoy these songs and listening to these records. -- winch

Robin Lane & the Chartbusters Review by Joe Viglione:  With alum from Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers and all the band members singing, they had the elements for mega success. These songs are all great, but the Wissert production stripped the band of what made them so popular in the Boston area. That's the problem when a record label doesn't understand the nuances of great musicians and the art they are creating. Hearing a song like "Why Do You Tell Lies" on the studio recording, without the lush guitar sound it cries out for, is discouraging. This is a band that deserved to craft pop hits for radio and were never given the proper chance. The songwriting and musicianship break through the thin production, and you can hear the potential. "Many Years Ago" and "Waiting in Line" actually sound very '90s; the high end and the hollow sound would actually come into vogue years later. But that's not what this band was about. There are some great songs here, especially "When Things Go Wrong." One can only hope someone comes along to record this material in a way that it can be appreciated by the masses. "Be Mine Tonite" is heavier, but still feels restrained. The inner sleeve contains the lyrics and some very cool snapshots of the band."

Artist Biography by John Bush: "Robin Lane worked with Crazy Horse and sang backup vocals for Neil Young, but re-emerged in the early '80s as a new wave bandleader. Another comeback in the '90s featured a more stripped-back, folky sound reminiscent of Young himself.  Lane, born and raised in Los Angeles, began performing in clubs around L.A. while still in her teens, and a hook-up with Crazy Horse led to her appearance on Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere album in 1969. During the '70s, she worked on her songwriting while living in Pennsylvania and later Massachusetts. By the end of the decade, she formed the Chartbusters with Leroy Radcliffe and Asa Brebner (formerly of the Modern Lovers) and signed with Warner Brothers. Her self-titled debut album featured the single "When Things Go Wrong," which scraped the national charts in July 1980. It was her only charting single, and Warner dropped her after the following year's Imitation Life. She released one additional album, Heart Connection for Recon in 1984, and then semi-retired. She returned in 1994 with Catbird Seat, recorded for the Ocean label by her husband, Ducky Carlisle."