WIWS Banner

The Second Disc

Expanded and Remastered Music News

  • Home
  • News
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Features
    • Release Round-Up
    • Giveaways!
    • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Release Calendar
    • Coming Soon
    • Now Available
  • About
  • Second Disc Records
    • Full Catalog
  • Contact

/ News

Are You Ready for the Sex Girls? Omnivore Reissues Gleaming Spires Discography

September 16, 2021 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Gleaming Spires Song of the Spires

BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM

"Of the hundreds of new records unleashed on the public each year, few stand out as truly inspired, literate works of art," began Sparks' Russell Mael in his liner notes to Gleaming Spires' 1981 debut Song of the Spires.  "Fewer still go beyond that.  Though I have not personally had the time to listen to this, the Gleaming Spires' first recorded effort, two of my bridge partners tell me that this record goes way, way beyond."  Sparks' tongue-in-cheek endorsement (to which Russell's brother Ron helpfully added, "This is the best Gleaming Spires album...ever.") inaugurated the discography of the art-rock/new wave pop band consisting of Les Bohem (vocals/bass/guitar/keyboards) and David Kendrick (drums/percussion), later joined by guitarists Jim Goodwin and Bob Haag.  Gleaming Spires only released three albums between 1981 and 1985, mostly recorded while Messrs. Bohem, Kendrick, Goodwin, and Haag were serving with the Maels in Sparks, but the albums have grown in stature over the years.  Yet none had ever been reissued on CD...until now.  It's been worth the wait: Omnivore has given all three LPs the deluxe treatment, with a total of 27 bonus tracks (15 of which are previously unreleased) spread across the individual albums, on CD and digital formats.  They're due in stores tomorrow, September 17.

Gleaming Spires emerged from the ashes of Bates Motel which David Kendrick joined in 1979.  He had previously served in Continental Miniatures and briefly recorded with producer and Mike Curb associate Michael Lloyd.  Bohem and Haag were among the members of Bates Motel, and Bohem's childhood pal Andrew Gold took them into the studio to produce some demos, four of which appear on the bonus material for the Spires' first album Song of the Spires.  Bohem and Kendrick were still in Bates Motel when the Maels enlisted them as their band.

The duo's intellectual leanings were evident on the cover, inspired by Kenneth Rexroth and Lawrence Ferlinghetti's 1957 LP Poetry Readings in the Cellar.  Bohem and Kendrick were also film aficionados, and a variety of cinematic influences - notably, noir - informed both the music and lyrics.  It's natural, then, that their most famous song would be immortalized in the movies.  "Are You Ready for the Sex Girls" was featured on the soundtracks of The Last American Virgin and Revenge of the Nerds, giving the band a bit of '80s notoriety.  It was joined by eight other songs marrying the frequently offbeat, dark, and wry lyrics (sung in Bohem's supple, flexible croon) with catchy melodies and a crisp, electronic sheen overseen by producer Stephen Hague.  Omnivore's reissue adds ten bonus tracks including the four Andrew Gold demos for Bates Motel (among them the lost power-pop nugget "The Way Marlena Moves" and the punk-influenced "Only the Young Die Young") and the Life on the Lawn EP featuring a lo-fi cover of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's West Side Story anthem "Somewhere."

Gleaming Spires Walk on Well Lighted Streets

BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM

Following the release of Life on the Lawn, the duo reunited with Stephen Hague for 1983's full-length Walk on Well Lighted Streets.  Gleaming Spires, now counting Jim Goodwin and Bob Haag, moved from Posh Boy to the associated PVC label for their sophomore set.  Anticipation was high as "Are You Ready for the Sex Girls" was receiving regular rotation on Los Angeles' popular KROQ-FM, championed by DJ Rodney Bingenheimer.  But despite the hit-in-the-making, Hague didn't try to change the Spires to fit a more commercial mold.  Walk on Well Lighted Streets still featured quirky, sometimes-melancholy, sometimes-mordant lyrics married to accessible melodies and up-to-the-minute production.  Once again, the inspirations came from disparate sources from Sammy Davis, Jr. and adult film actress Linda Lovelace's unflattering portrait of him ("Yes I Can") to a 1940s self-help manual for teenage girls ("A Christian Girl's Problems").  The title track was an altogether danceable warning ("There are killers everywhere/And they are waiting, always waiting...")  The new reissue adds nine bonuses: the six-track Party EP released after Walk on Well Lighted Streets and produced by Greg Penny (featuring an energetic cover of ABBA's "Does Your Mother Know") as well as the previously unreleased Sparks-helmed "It's Kinda Like the Movies" from the film Bad Manners and Gleaming Spires' two contributions to the Revenge of the Nerds soundtrack (including the full band version of "Are You Ready for the Sex Girls").

Gleaming Spires Welcoming a New Ice Age

BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM

Greg Penny stayed on board to produce Gleaming Spires' third and final album, Welcoming a New Ice Age.  This time, the LP was released on another L.A. label, Tabb.  The band began experimenting with new sounds (prepared pianos, bagpipes, brass, cello, background singers) for this set taking in yet more diverse inspirations (Big Country on "Mercy," Roy Orbison on "Unprotected") and film references ("Bigger Than Life," titled after director Nicholas Ray's 1956 melodrama).  Welcoming a New Ice Age sounds very much like the work of a band still progressing, but it wasn't meant to be for Gleaming Spires.  When Bob Haag unexpectedly dropped out of a tour, it was called off.  Sparks, too, was morphing back into a two-person duo.  Gleaming Spires soon dissolved; David Kendrick joined Devo in 1987 and remained with the group until its breakup in 1991.  Both Kendrick and Bohem also successfully moved into television.  Happily, Omnivore has added eight bonus tracks to the band's swansong including the subsequent Eleven Blue Men session featuring Kendrick, Bohem, and Paul Cutler as well as four previously unreleased songs from the soundtrack of School Spirit, a low-budget 1985 comedy from Roger Corman's factory featuring B-movie queen Roberta Collins and Larry Linville of M*A*S*H fame.  Among these rarities are covers of Mark James' "Suspicious Minds" and Bob Dylan's "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding."

All three Gleaming Spires titles, produced by David Kendrick, Chaim O'Brien-Blumenthal, and Cheryl Pawelski are housed in four-panel digipaks containing thick booklets with photos, essays, interviews, and lyrics.  Michael Graves has restored and remastered all audio.  While there's plenty here for fans of Sparks to savor, all three albums are hidden treasures for fans of power-pop, new wave, and the sound of L.A. in the early 1980s.  You'll find the track listings and order links below.  Look for these titles tomorrow!

Songs of the Spires (Omnivore OVCD-444, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

  1. Going Hey Hey
  2. Are You Ready for the Sex Girls?
  3. While We Can
  4. When Love Goes Under Glass
  5. The End of All Good Things
  6. Watch Your Blood Beat
  7. How to Get Girls Thru Hypnotism
  8. Talking in the Dark
  9. Big Hotels
  10. The Way Marlena Moves - Bates Motel *
  11. Real Time - Bates Motel *
  12. Only the Young Die Young - Bates Motel *
  13. Dedication - Bates Motel *
  14. Unexpected Overnighters - Bates Motel *
  15. Real Love - Bates Motel *
  16. Walk Right
  17. Life Out on the Lawn
  18. Somewhere
  19. Passion Pit

Tracks 1-9 released as Posh Boy PBS 125, 1981
Tracks 10-15 previously unreleased
Track 16 released on "How to Get Girls Thru Hypnotism" single - Posh Boy PBS 14, 1982
Tracks 17-19 released as Posh Boy 12" single PBS 1036, 1982

Walk on Well Lighted Streets (Omnivore OVCD-445, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

  1. Mining
  2. You're Right
  3. Big Surprise
  4. Walk on Well Lighted Streets
  5. Fun Type
  6. A Christian Girl's Problem
  7. Happy Boy
  8. At Together
  9. The Making Love Project
  10. Yes I Can
  11. Funk for Children
  12. Does Your Mother Know?
  13. Christine
  14. Brain Button
  15. Funk for Children (Part II)
  16. Brain Button (Part II)
  17. It's Kinda Like the Movies *
  18. Are You Ready for the Sex Girls? (Full Band Version)
  19. All Night Party

Tracks 1-10 released as Posh Boy/PVC 8916, 1983
Tracks 11-16 released as The Party EP - The Vodka Label VDK 5002, 1984
Track 17 previously unreleased - from the film Bad Manners
Tracks 18-19 released on Revenge of the Nerds: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Scotti Bros. BFZ 39599, 1984

Welcoming a New Ice Age (Omnivore OVCD-446, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

  1. Mercy
  2. Welcoming a New Ice Age
  3. Tearaway
  4. No One Coming Over
  5. Your Secret Room
  6. Bigger Than Life
  7. Things I Have Done to Our Love
  8. Blowing Up My Life
  9. What's Coming Next
  10. Unprotected
  11. Harm
  12. Here Comes Mr. Funhog *
  13. Dedication *
  14. I Want More *
  15. A Boy and a Girl *
  16. Suspicious Minds *
  17. It's All Right Ma, I'm Only Bleeding - Eleven Blue Men *
  18. Crumbling - Eleven Blue Men *
  19. That's It, Forget It *

Tracks 1-11 released as Tabb Records TGS-2, 1985
Tracks 12-19 previously unreleased

Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Rock Tags: Devo, Gleaming Spires, Sparks

Avatar photo

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

Connect With Joe: FacebookTwitter

You Might Also Like

  • ABBA CD Album Box SetRelease Round-Up: Week of May 27
  • Neil Young Official Release 4Release Round-Up: Week of April 29
  • Sparks Exotic Creatures of the DeepStrange Animals: BMG Reissues Five Albums from Sparks in New 21st Century Collection
  • Studio Wizardry of Todd RundgrenOpen My Eyes: Ace Celebrates Todd Rundgren and Gus Dudgeon in Label's Producers Series

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Upcoming Releases

  • Carole King Home Again
    Home Again: Live in Central Park
    Carole King
    February 10, 2023
  • Rolling Stones Grrr Live
    GRRR! Live
    The Rolling Stones
    February 10, 2023
  • Robert Palmer Island Years
    The Island Records Years
    Robert Palmer
    February 17, 2023
See Full Calendar

Connect

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,549 other subscribers

Popular

  • Honky Chateau
    Get Back to the Woods: Elton John's 'Honky Château' Gets New Deluxe Edition in March posted on February 1, 2023 | under News
  • Weird The Al Yankovic Story
    Release Round-Up: Week of February 3 posted on February 3, 2023 | under Release Round-Up
  • Stream 2023
    The Weekend Stream: February 4, 2023 posted on February 4, 2023 | under The Weekend Stream

Comments

  • small faces here come the nice2
    Return To Itchycoo Park: Small Faces' "Here Come The Nice" Deluxe Box Set Arrives In January [UPDATED 12/3] 84 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 3, 2013 | under News
  • the beatles u s albums box2
    British Invasion! The Beatles Unveil "The U.S. Albums" Box Set in January 69 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 12, 2013 | under News
  • Rolling Stones in Mono
    Out of Their Heads: Stones Plan Mono Box Set 47 comments | by Mike Duquette | posted on August 10, 2016 | under News

Music Resources

  • Addicted to Vinyl
  • Crap from the Past
  • Discogs
  • Film Score Monthly
  • IMWAN Forum – From the Vaults
  • MusicTAP
  • Musoscribe
  • Pause & Play
  • Popblerd
  • Popdose
  • Record Racks
  • Slicing Up Eyeballs
  • Steve Hoffman Music Forums
  • Ultimate Classic Rock
  • Vintage Vinyl News
  • Viva La Mainstream
  • Wolfgang's Vault

Labels of Note

  • Ace Records
  • Analog Spark
  • Bear Family
  • BGO Records
  • Big Break Records
  • Blixa Sounds
  • Cherry Red Label Group
  • Craft Recordings
  • Demon Music Group
  • Friday Music
  • Funky Town Grooves
  • Iconoclassic Records
  • Intervention Records
  • Intrada
  • Kritzerland
  • La La Land Records
  • Legacy Recordings
  • Light in the Attic
  • Masterworks Broadway
  • Now Sounds
  • Omnivore Recordings
  • Real Gone Music
  • Resonance Records
  • Rhino Entertainment
  • Rock Candy Records
  • SoulMusic Records
  • Sunset Blvd. Records
  • Supermegabot
  • Varese Sarabande
  • Vinyl Me, Please
  • Wounded Bird
Copyright © 2023 The Second Disc. All rights reserved. · Site by Metaglyphics

The Second Disc is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk.

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy