Green Monkey Records

Compilations

Green Monkey's very first release, GM001 -- a 1983 cassette-only compilation of Seattle-area bands, recorded and mixed at TDS. Never issued on Bandcamp, so there's no player here; full details and images are on Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/6244936-Various-Local-Product

From the inside cover: I would like to thank all the artists involved for the opportunity and pleasure I've had working with them. I truly expect that these are people you are going to hear lots more from. So look out!!! Tom Dyer

From the outside cover: The Green Monkey label is your assurance of quality - Buy no other brand.

Hangin Around
See & Say
Ride Em Cowboy
Kwanyun Blues
Who Do You Meet
Falling
Work Ethic Rock
Robot Love
Theme From Mudshark
Wheelchair Ride
Thin Line
Sirius Is
Directions
I Could Tell You
Draw The Line

A1 Hangin Around
Bass, Guitar, Vocals - Al Bloch
Guitar - Tom Dyer

A2 See & Say
Bass, Vocals - Kim Warnick
Drums - Danny Zakos
Guitar - Kurt Bloch
Guitar, Vocals - Lulu Gargiulo

A3 Ride Em Cowboy
Instruments - Tom Dyer
Vocals - Kelly Boyd
Vocals - Niki Moran

A4 Kwanyun Blues
Bass - Tom Dyer
Drums - Tim Nelson
Vocals, Guitar - Evan Schoenfeld

A5 Who Do You Meet
Bass, Vocals - Rick Yust
Drums, Vocals - Rick Yust
Guitar - Tom Dyer
Guitar, Vocals - Walter C. Go

A6 Falling
Bass - Todd Why
Drums - Talya Christian
Guitar - Mark Arm
Vocals - Jo Smitty

A7 Work Ethic Rock
Keyboards - Dan Bonow
Vocals - Dick Manley
Vocals, Guitar, Bass - Tom Dyer

A8 Robot Love
Synthesizer - Samual "Monk" Setpoint
Synthesizer, Vocals - Anthony Wildbrook

B1 Theme From Mudshark
Instruments, Vocals - Stevie Nations
Other [Additional Inspiration] - Gloria Kelp

B2 Wheelchair Ride
Bass - Tom Dyer
Drums - Peter Barnes
Guitar, Vocals - David Richard
Vocals - Morrie Bloom

B3 Thin Line
Bass - Tom Dyer
Guitar, Vocals - Steve Trettevik
Synthesizer, Vocals - Sherrie Nordling

B4 Sirius Is
Drums - James Gascoigne
Vocals - Dian Wells
Vocals - Tom Dyer
Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Theremin - Bob Blackburn

B5 Directions
Bass - Al Bloch
Drums - Richard Stuverud
Guitar - Rick Dean
Vocals, Saxophone - Leif Cole

B6 I Could Tell You
Bass - Toby Kiel
Drums - James Gascoigne
Guitar - Kip Phillips
Vocals - Tom O'Connell

B7 Draw The Line
Bass - John Howard
Drums - Tim Nelson
Guitar - Bruce Scott
Guitar - Chip Marshall
Saxophone - Michael Abeles
Vocals - Kelly Boyd
Vocals - Missy Carson
Vocals - Sheila Powers
Vocals, Keyboards - Jack Oram

1983 to 1991 in Seattle, Washington. All things were possible in the post-punk world - the Nirvana grunge explosion had not yet subsumed the city. In this world, Green Monkey Records came and lived and went. It was rock. It was art. It was beautiful. This 47 track masterpiece covers the label’s 44 releases, with tracks by 32 artists. This set is a vital link in the post-punk pre-grunge Seattle music world, it is history that rocks, fer chrissakes. Album features the Green Pajamas’ Kim the Waitress as well as two previously unreleased Pajamas tracks. Green Monkey’s first release since 1995 is a retrospective that marks the beginning of a new era. This CD is the first of many new releases for the label, with re-releases of back catalog, various historical oddities and all-new materialby GMR superstars on the way!

Al Bloch - Hangin' Around
Tom Dyer - (Half the World is Made of) Women
Mr. Epp and the Calculations - Out of Control
Tom Dyer - Van Vliet Street
Me Three - Alien Breakfast
The Green Pajamas - My Mad Kitty
The Icons - Work Ethic Rock
Evan Schoenfeld - Europe After the Rain
Prudence Dredge - Problem Child
Liquid Generation - I Love U
Green Pajamas - Peppermint Stick
The Icons - Write Back To Me
Pip McCaslin - Americans Like That
Al Bloch - Falling Star
The Walkabouts - 1+1
Melting Fish - Fiasco
Arms Akimbo - This Is The Place
The Fastbacks - Time Passes
Danger Bunny - For This
The Queen Annes - If You Could Only See Me Now
Prudence Dredge - Botherin' You
The Elements - I Know That You Know
Bombardiers - What Do You Know About Love
Tom Dyer - I Call Your Name
Green Pajamas - Kim The Waitress
The Life - If It Works(don't fix it)
Glass Penguins - Shadow of a Fish
The Queen Annes - You've Got Me Running
The Fall-outs - A Fine Young Man
Keith Livingston - Little Jane
The Life - If I Had You(for Natalie)
The Elements - It's Not You
Glass Penguins - She Moves Me
Steven Lawrence - Julia
Green Pajamas - Suzanne
The Green Pajamas - Instrument of Love
Rich Hinklin - Crows Come and Go
Jon Strongbow - Electric Man
Capping Day - Mona Lisa
The Purdins - Psychedelic Day
The Hitmen - I Love Your Poems of Love
Mad Mad Nomad - Keeper of the Cage
The Hitmen - Thrasher's Corner
Slam Suzzane - Perforated Condom
Swelter Cacklebush - We Could
Slam Suzzane - Double Latte
Tom Dyer - Beautimus - Life is Perfect

It Crawled From The Basement: The Green Monkey Records Anthology is a 2 CD set with 28 page booklet, written and remastered for you with love by GMR Prez Tom Dyer.

01_Rabow
02_Rabow
03_Rabow
04_Rabow
05 The Adults- Call On Me Rabow
06_Rabow
07_Rabow
08_Rabow
09_Rabow
10_Rabow
11_Rabow
12_Rabow
13_Rabow
14_Rabow
15 Wenis - Ear Pop_ Rabow
16_Rabow
17_Rabow
18_Rabow
19_Rabow
20_Rabow
21_Rabow
22_Rabow
23_Rabow KZAM

KZAM LOCAL TAPE EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

From 2009: This month’s Green Monkey Album of the Month is “Steve Rabow’s 1982 Best of the KZAM Local Tape Extravaganza.” In case you forgot or never knew, KZAM was the first “Rock of the ’80’s” radio station in Seattle.The station would actually play actual local music on occasion (gasp!) and this is some of it.

What follows are the original liner notes written by Steve Rabow in 1982 for the 23-song album that was never released and a few of my comments on the project.

The Story is something like this…
It wasn’t a time of innocence or confidences. If anything it was a struggle, a seemingly never ending fight against an unsympathetic management who had a fondness for the word “no.” For every project actually pulled-off there must have been five that were never allowed even semi-serious discussion. But we really did a lot, considering that this was commercial AM radio. In fact we probably got away with more than anyone was aware of at the time; such was the nature of “new wave” station in the dawn of the ‘80s.

In 1978 I volunteered at KZAM Radio in Bellevue, Washington (more hot tubs and condos per capita than anywhere else in the Western World) in hopes of creating a record library of small label recordings for potential airplay. Eventually that year I became responsible for selecting the material and information for a weekly import show featured both on the AM (5000 watts, mono) and FM 100,000 watts, stereo) stations and it was on this program I first presented artists like Gang of Four, Lene Lovich, Tapper Zukie, The Residents, XTC, Brian Eno, The Slits and many others who deserved (and still deserve) commercial radio exposure.

Then KZAM Radio was purchased by Sandusky Newspapers out of Phoenix. The weekly import show was terminated along with much of the staff, this being typical of radio in those days. Sandusky sent in a “whiz-kid-former-manager-of-Robin-Trower” as the new Program Director for both stations. His name was Paul Sullivan. They also sent a very pro-Reagan minded Michael Henderson as General Manager. As you might guess it was Paul who came up with the initial idea for “The Rock of the 80’s” (based on a similar idea being created on KROQ in Los Angeles by Rick Carroll) while it was Henderson who came up with the ongoing non-support.

“The Rock of the 80’s” was cleared for the AM station in time for a January 1, 1980 kick off with a playlist loaded with 10cc, Queen, Wings, four songs by Blonde and three by the Ramones, a group announced on the air by one of the DJs then as “four brothers from England.” (Yes, really.)

The programming hours on the AM side ran from 6 AM to Midnight, then the AM side merged with the FM in the name of cost effectiveness (so after the Ramones said goodnight just before midnight, Christopher Cross would be waiting on the other side to greet the new day…blurg…)

I approached Paul with some ideas including – oh, what a surprise – one that would put me on the air. He wasn’t impressed much with the notion of this post-premed college kid going on the air, but he did offer me a part time job typing playlists for the airstaff based on his hand-written notes of the songs and groups he wanted played. I figured that at least I’d be in the door, although at three dollars and fifty cents an hour I wondered exactly what I was trying to prove.

What Paul didn’t know (he’ll find out now): I added about 100 new titles and plenty of new artists to the playlist, not to mention the dinosaurs that ended up MIA in the tar pit or something – shhh! No one could figure out why I seemed to enjoy such an obviously stupid job. Anyway, after months of begging, tape demonstrations, pleading, Paul told me that if I went out and sold enough advertising for my own show then he’s put me on the air. I came back the next day with the amount he wanted. But when Henderson saw that he came up to me and let me know the station needed twice that much to put me on the air. I came back the next day with that amount as well. So, without another way to say “no” I was finally allowed on the air, on their 5000 watt AM station during their MEGA-HUGE listening time slot: Monday nights from 10pm – Midnight.

I called the show “Music for Moderns: an overview of imports and independent American recordings.” The very first song I played was “Bob is a Robot” by Red Dress. I thought it was important to start with a Seattle group. The second song was by a new band out of Ireland who just released their first import single, “I Will Follow” – the group was called U2. This was May, 1980.

From this point there was no turning back.

Soon I was allowed to host other weekly time slots on KZAM weekends and I gave each show its own name and focus (“The Saturday Night House Party”, “The Post-Modern Hour”, “The Prostitute Hours…”) were all natural extensions of my attempt to focus on the wealth of recorded material being produced both around the world and around the block at the time, virtually all of which was being ignored by the commercial radio and press at large.

My friend Bruce Pavitt who at the time had a small but popular zine called Sub Pop wrote “Stephen Rabow has the most radical radio shows in American on KZAM.” (I heard that Bruce went on to start some sort of Sub Pop record label…I wonder if he ever “made it.”)

The “Local Tape Extravaganza” came about as a direct challenge to the listenership to actively participate in “two-way radio.” The only restrictions presented were 1) a time limit of no more than 5 minutes per piece 2) an understanding that no more that no more than one song per tape would be played and no more than one tape per artist could be submitted and 3) there should be a concerted effort to keep my butt out of jail (i.e. language). Other than that it was entirely up to the audience as to what would be programmed.

The idea was that ANYONE could receive airplay for their composition be it good, bad or ugly was unheard of on commercial radio; no gimmicks, no prizes, just a good-natured invasion of the airwaves by anyone who had the energy to contribute their individual brand of lunacy.

The first “Local Tape Extravaganza” took place three months after I initiated “Music for Moderns” and the program lasted four hours netting around 80 tapes.

In the next few months this vividly different sounding KZAM-AM radio station started amassing a phenomenal amount of attention by the press even though the weak signal prevented large portions of Seattle to be able to receive us. The phones began to go crazy ringing non-stop from the sign-on-time to when we had to merge with the FM station. (By the way, going 24 hrs. on the weekend took a lot of doing. Essentially it happened because of complaints from the FM staff about the amount of rude phone calls coming in requesting the Sex Pistols, or else. Most of the FM Staff requested time on the AM side anyway, it was the trendy thing to do, eh?).

“The Rock of the 80’s” had been on the air for one year by the time of the second “Local Tape Extravaganza” inspired over 350 homemade recordings to converge on the Bellevue, WA studio.

14 hours of local tapes!! (Nine and a half hours straight before we had to merge with the FM so the rest of the tapes were played on the next week’s show.)

In my mind, as feeble as it might be, radio will never be better than what went on air those nights. Sure, some of the material was crap and yes other pieces were brilliant. Who cared? It was just too much fun.

And maybe that is why the “Rock of the 80s” format was given the ax – it was just too much fun too soon without any real means of support. (Michael Henderson continually refused to allow the AM station a single salesperson leaving it instead to twist and shout in the wind).

I tried to salvage as many of the local tapes as I could before they would inevitably be turned over to production technoids who always had a disturbing knack for frothing at the mouth when in close proximity to quantities of recordable tape, especially if it was free tape. Luckily I escaped with almost 200.

After a year of combined procrastination and recovery I have selected 23 for your continued enjoyment and as a document of what once was and most likely never again will be.

This could have been a two hour tape. This could have been an eight hour tape. Who has a mother that could afford so much just to show off to her friends, “Look my baby the punk rock star!! People magazine is just around the corner!! No thanks. It is my sincere hope that this tape reflects the diversity of the program and my apologies to three hundred artists who are not included here.

There are too many individuals to thank so let me limit the list to: Paul Sullivan, the staff of “The Rock of the 80’s,” and each of the 10,000 people who signed the “Save The Wave” petitions, John Saltzgiver, Shelia Anne Feeney, and my folks; without any of the above you wouldn’t be hearing this music. Now on to other things.

Don’t be stupid unless, of course, you really want to be.
Steve Rabow Spring 1982

Post Script 2009
I ended up continuing to produce “Local Tape Extravaganzas” while working for two other commercial stations in Seattle (KYYX and KHIT) before “retiring” to rock-n-roll DJ heaven in Florida.

Now, thanks to Tom Dyer, some of the surviving tapes have been lovingly removed from storage, digitized and are available for your “enjoyment” (or not – be warned) here on the wonderful world wide web.

Thank you for your time here – Steve Rabow

Dyer notes:
Steve gave me the reel-to-reel master tapes for this project before he drove his flames-painted-on-the-rear Ford Pinto (they were famous for catching on fire, kids) off into the Florida sunrise many years ago. The plan was that it was going to be released back then, apparently on Engram Records, home of Seattle Syndrome 1&2, the Blackouts and other fine stuff. Instead I got the tapes and they lived in a box, first at my house and for 6 years in Green Pajama Joe Ross’s basement while I was out in Boston.
I recently pulled them out of the box to transfer them to digital. The tapes were in pretty bad shape, but I managed to get them transferred even as they were falling apart. Then came the notion of mastering, which in this case was an esthetic dilemma. Should I just do a straight transfer that would give us, in theory their exact original lo-fi sound? Did I really know what they sounded like in the first place to be able to compare? In the case of the Adults, I did because it was my band. On the master tape, the Adults were 3 times as loud as anything else. That didn’t seem good. In the end, I simply remembered what I was doing back in that time – trying to make the best recording I could with whatever equipment I had and assumed everyone else was doing the same. With that in mind I did some EQ and limiting and in some cases a little noise reduction to reduce the tape hiss, but I really tried to keep the esthetic of what was on the tape.
So who was on the tape anyway? Quite simply I have no idea. I know the Adults because they were my band and I recognize Al Bloch’s band Wenis, but that’s it. Hopefully all you folks out in internet land will identify all the artists. Regardless of who these people are, I think this is a pretty hip old-school collection of what people were doing in Seattle basements, back bedrooms and garages in the days when home recording was an adventure.
Originally Steve was going to make this an ACLU benefit project. I’m keeping it simpler. It’s just free to listen to on God’s own internet. You can’t buy it because it’s not mine to sell. If you are one of the artists on this and don’t wish to be, let me know and I will pull your song. Otherwise, enjoy. It’s pretty entertaining.

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