SUPER FUN GOLDFISH TOYS
(released on Capitol in June 1997)
It was a wonderful idea. Part of the reason Plaastik moved to Capitol was the label's promise to give their catalog more respect than they'd recieved at Geffen, Epic, or MCA. EMI, amazingly, put up the funds to issue a boxed set collecting all of the band's b-sides, and even reissued all of their EPs, none of which had sold well in their original incarnations. The most eagerly anticipated early Capitol release was almost certainly this one, which ended up being the first longform Plaastik disc on EMI. It is, at long last, a remastered CD of the band's long out of print debut EP from 1982, FUN GOLDFISH TOYS, packaged in a wonderful leather box complete with souvenir cards, toy goldfish, and even a small motorized fishing game.
The package was touted upon its announcement in late 1996 as a two-disc set which would have not only the EP and all of the concurrent material, including "Nachos" and "Funk," but also some early live rarities and a wealth of session material. Among the tracks mentioned in the initial press release: "Pump Up the Volume," "Among Us It Lingers," "And When the Seconds Feel Like Years," "Don't Snort Cocaine and Drive," "Shine Shine Shine Shine Your Love!", "Freefaller," and even the legendary original studio take on "Ocean Sky."
The band eventually had reservations about the material and pulled almost all of it from release. They did elect to keep "Ocean Sky," but not in the FUN GOLDFISH TOYS variation -- just the b-side found on the "Daddy's Little Girl" single. "My Laundry is Yours" was also kept since technically it was derived from the GOLDFISH sessions, and for consistency, all of the NO PARKING ANYTIME b-sides were thrown onto the CD even though most of them had nothing to do with the '82 sessions. The idea became simply to present a compilation of the very early Plaastik as a complement to the EP. Fans mostly considered this a copout. Even the released b-side from the EP, "Pump Up the Volume," was left out.
Although a lot of fans were thrilled to get their hands on this stuff at last, it seemed as though the package could have been great and was merely good, and that this did not bode as well as initially hoped for the band's years on Capitol. (And this wasn't the only disappointment; there had been a plan for a live EP documenting the 1983 tour, performances from which had been officially released only on the "Playtime" video, as well as a "bootleg series" exploring the band's early years. This still hasn't happened, though officials from Capitol maintain that it will.)
But all of this criticism was almost null given the presence of one heretofore-unheard (and, indeed, unheard-of) recording from the FUN GOLDFISH TOYS sessions, a jewel indeed. "Final Hour" was instantly embraced as a real find that had managed to elude just about everyone -- even bootleggers -- and makes the progression from the EP to the first album much more linear. Jeff Jooce said at the time "I forgot all about that song! I guess it is pretty good, isn't it?"
tracklist:
disc one:
1. The Sky is Drooling with Contempt
2. Hateful Boat
3. Wet
4. I Have Papers (We Have Issues)
5. Do Not Fuck
6. RainbowKingdom
7. Rock Around the Clock
8. My Laundry is Yours
9. Ocean Sky
10. Hateful Boat [swing lounge version]
11. Wet [da funk mix]
12. Wet [sweet 'n low mix]
13. Rap It Up
14. Drive My Car
15. Final Hour (single)
Final Hour single
I've Been Thinking About You [live 1994]
Girl Don't Tell Me [live 1994]