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Against a backdrop of political corruption as the American public were still coming to terms with the Watergate scandal and the resultant resignation of President Nixon, one of the country’s first satirical rock bands exploded from the San Francisco music scene with their 1975 self-titled debut album. The Tubes with their heavily dramatised stage show presented a toe-curling affront to all middle-class Americans, shining a light on society’s peccadillo by mirroring anything from S&M sex acts; criminal violence; explicit drug references and at times done with full nudity and with a throbbing Punk Rock N’ Roll soundtrack, they cut through the mainstream media’s cultivated image of clean-cut white American youth presenting a truth that was captured superbly with their anthem, ‘White Punks On Dope’ (written also as a back-handed compliment to their rich, San Franciscan teenage fanbase).
Over the course of the following ten years, The Tubes enhanced their reputation by delivering critically acclaimed albums such as ‘Young And Rich’ and the Todd Rundgren produced ‘Remote Control’. Singles such as ‘Prime Time’ made the UK Top 40 and ‘She’s A Beauty’ from the FM friendly ‘Outside Inside’ album hit the top slot of the US Mainstream Rock charts. Their stage show, although by now extremely expensive to produce, continued to assault the senses and challenge society’s mores.
For the 1985 ‘Love Bomb’ album Rundgren returned once more to oversee production duties. And whilst tracks such as, ‘Piece By Piece’ and ‘Come As You Are’ mirrored the slick commercial potential of previous fare, side two of the album flew in the face of what fans had by now come to expect, and its uninterrupted dance-a-thon-mash-up, though a decade ahead of its time, was just a dub-step too far and ‘Love Bomb’ fell short in commercial terms.
For this Re-mastered Collector’s Edition, two new tracks to the CD format have been added with the 7” Single edit of the superb ‘Piece By Piece’ and a Single B-side alternative mix of ‘Night People’ edited together with ‘Night People (Reprise)’.
• Fully re-mastered Collector’s Edition of the final studio album from THE TUBE’s classic line-up.
• Expanded to include two bonus tracks.
• 16 page booklet with story of the album sleeve-note and rare photos and images of memorabilia.