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Since its founding last year, Blixa Sounds has championed the rare and hard-to-find, with reissues of material by the likes of Robbie Dupree, Stephen Bishop, Linda Clifford, and Chris Darrow & Max Buda (see our coverage of the latter here!) Now, the label has compiled a one-stop-shop collection of tracks by Robin Lane & The Chartbusters with Many Years Ago: The Complete Robin Lane & The Chartbusters Collection. The 3-CD set brings together a whopping 52 tracks, spanning all of the group’s official albums, as well as demos, rare singles and EP tracks, and unreleased session takes. The result is the most comprehensive compilation of classic Robin Lane tracks thus far!

Robin Lane got her start as a folk-rock artist in the Laurel Canyon scene and can even be heard on Neil Young’s second album, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. But after moving to the East Coast of the U.S. in the late ’70s, she embraced the punk and new wave music around her and formed a band with Leroy Radcliffe and Asa Brebner, formerly of the Modern Lovers. In 1980, Robin Lane & The Chartbusters released their first album, a self-titled effort for Warner Bros. Records. It featured Lane’s first Billboard Hot 100-charting single, “When Things Go Wrong” (No. 87, July 1980.) The track garnered significant airplay and its music video was a fixture on early MTV. The band followed up their debut with 5 Live, an EP that featured live versions of three Chartbusters originals (“When Things Go Wrong,” the new tracks “8.3,” “Lost My Mind,” and “When You Compromise”) as well as a cover of the rock standard “Shaking All Over.” The following year, Robin Lane & The Chartbusters released Imitation Life, which was to be their final album on Warner. Lane then released Heart Connection independently in 1984, before entering a hiatus to being a family.

Blixa Sounds’ release collects all those classic ’80s tracks. Disc One includes the band’s debut and Imitation Life, while Disc Two features the Heart Connection EP. But that’s not all. Disc Two also includes seven unreleased session recordings recorded during the making of Heart Connection. Two of Lane’s pre-Chartbusters demos also feature: “Rose for Sharon” and “Never Enough,” the latter eventually rewritten as “When Things Go Wrong,” alongside a 1979 demo of “I Found Out.” There’s also Robin Lane & The Chartbusters’ lone pre-WB single for Deli Platters Records, which features early versions of “When Things Go Wrong,” “Why Do You Tell Lies,” and the original composition, “The Letter.” The disc closes with a 1990 demo of “The Longest Thinnest Thread” and “Little Bird,” from the group’s 2002 reunion album. Disc Three, meanwhile, spotlights Robin Lane & The Chartbusters onstage. It kicks off with the 5 Live EP and also presents 17 previously unreleased live recordings recorded from 1979 to 1981, including covers of Del Shannon’s “Keep Searchin’ (We’ll Follow the Sun)” and Willie Dixon’s “Violent Love.”

All of the audio has been remastered by Bill Inglot and Dave Schultz, and is presented with a fully annotated 20-page booklet featuring liner notes by Brett Milano and rare photographs from Robin Lane’s archive. It promises to be a fitting presentation of thrilling music of the punk/new wave era. Many Years Ago: The Complete Robin Lane & The Chartbusters Collection is available now wherever fine music is sold. Check out a full track listing and purchase your copy below!

Robin Lane & The Chartbusters, Many Years Ago: The Complete Robin Lane & The Chartbusters Collection (Blixa Sounds, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

* denotes previously unreleased track

Disc 1:

1. When Things Go Wrong
2. It’ll Only Hurt A Little While
3. Don’t Cry
4. Without You
5. Why Do You Tell Me Lies
6. I Don’t Want To Know
7. Many Years Ago
8. Waitin’ In Line
9. Be Mine Tonight
10. Kathy Lee
11. Don’t Wait Till Tomorrow
12. Send Me An Angel
13. What The People Are Doing
14. Imitation Life
15. Say Goodbye
16. No Control
17. Rather Be Blind
18. Solid Rock
19. Pretty Mala
20. Idiot
21. For You

Disc 1, tracks 1-11 originally released on Robin Lane & The Chartbusters, Warner Bros. Records LP BSK 3424, 1980.
Disc 1, tracks 12-21 originally released on Imitation Life, Warner Bros. Records LP BSK 3537, 1981.

Disc 2:

1. Hard Cover
2. Believe In You
3. Shot In The Dark
4. True Confessions
5. Lookin’ So Hard *
6. The Irish Song *
7. Holy Man *
8. Look The Other Way *
9. Save Your Tears *
10. Take Back The Night *
11. Words of Love *
12. When Things Go Wrong (Deli Platters Single)
13. Why Do You Tell Lies (Deli Platters Single)
14. The Letter (Deli Platters Single)
15. I Found Out (1979 Demo)
16. Rose For Sharon (Pre-Chartbusters Demo)
17. Never Enough (Pre-Chartbusters Demo)
18. The Longest Thinnest Thread (1990 Demo)
19. Little Bird

Disc 2, tracks 1-4 originally released on Heart Connection, Recon Records RE 77, 1984.
Disc 2, tracks 5-11, 15-18 previously unreleased.
Disc 2, tracks 12-14 originally released on “When Things Go Wrong,” Deli Platters 7″ RLC, 1979.
Disc 2, track 19 originally released on Piece of Mind, Windjam Records CD WJ 2022, 2002.

Disc 3:

1. When Things Go Wrong
2. Lost My Mind
3. When You Compromise
4. 8.3
5. Shakin’ All Over
6. Caught In The Act *
7. Somebody Else *
8. Many Years Ago *
9. Talk To You *
10. Are You A Hero Now *
11. Last One To Know *
12. In My World *
13. Rather Be Blind *
14. I Don’t Want To Know *
15. Keep Searchin’ (We’ll Follow The Sun) *
16. Psychotic Disorders *
17. Little Eyes *
18. Waitin’ In Line *
19. What The People Are Doing *
20. Send Me An Angel *
21. Way Over There *
22. Violent Love *

Disc 3, tracks 1-5 originally released on 5 Live, Warner Bros. Records EP MINI 3495, 1980.
Disc 3, tracks 6-22 previously unreleased; recorded live at Paradise Rock Club, Jonathan Swift’s, RCA Studios, and Normandy Sound Studios, 1979-1981.