NO PARKING ANYTIME
(released on Geffen Records in March 1983)
Eager to pay off debts, Plaastik jumped at the opportunity when David Geffen offered them a record deal. It became clear that what fans and even record executives wanted was FUN GOLDFISH TOYS again, except hi-fi and longer. Kevin Keys: "If they could have, they'd have just released the same thing again. It was a hipster phenomenon." Indeed, the buzz around TOYS kept rising to such a degree that by the end of the supporting tour, the last date of which was played a month after the Geffen signing, the band had deliberately crept away from avant-garde material, revisiting relics like "Hot Glass" and revising several others; the straightforward Police-like number "Oil and Water" and the electronics-heavy ballad "The Chessboard" were universally despised by GOLDFISH fans and the band quickly lost their sheen of cool.
When the band entered L.A.'s Western Studios in December of 1982 with Stephen Hague producing, they were still fascinated with the potential of recording, but now were more interested in creating "pure, ecstatic pop" than robust abstract soundscapes. Only once did they slip back into their former attitude, when attempting a studio recording of the chant-like "My Laundry is Yours," and although "The Chessboard" ended up being a good deal more left-field than on stage, for the most part the songs chosen for the album were embellished as much as possible for the pleasure of the average rock consumer. "I love these songs," Nick Parker said at the time. "I feel like I had nothing to do with them, which is great."
Although they seem to have changed their minds in the years since, Plaastik as a whole was extremely happy with the album, which was named NO PARKING ANYTIME by Hague for unknown reasons. The only controversy seems to have been a dispute with Hague over sequencing and content. They wanted "A Song" to be the first track on the album, he wanted an entirely different sequence. Nick wanted "Ocean Sky," recorded at the GOLDFISH sessions, off the tracklist, Hague felt it should be the first single. The band lost the first argument and won the second (although everyone in the band but Nick is fond of "Ocean Sky").
The record company was unsure of how to deal with the twelve-track LP turned in, especially since they considered one song, "Wet," too obscene to release, and the rest far more conventional and "poppy" than what they'd expected. Nonetheless, they put all their manpower into promoting the album despite its dismal critical reception. There was more than a little concern from both Hague and Geffen about the lyrical content of "Daddy's Little Girl," but Plaastik backed them into a corner and it became the single that made them a household name. Within two months it was #1 on the pop charts and "oddly enough" it was never particularly controversial. Although the album peaked at #8, two major hit singles followed, "Hot Glass" (#6) and "Oil and Water" (#11). Unheard-of success for a band that just a few months before had been recording material like "Hateful Boat."
The enormous response alienated the band and the supporting "Playtime" world tour became a labored mess, with constrictvie setlists, audiences too restless for the group's eclectic style, and record company pressure firing from all directions. Needless to say, it did not take long for the "pop music for all" mindset to subside. Plaastik's sets became more and more idiosyncratic and by the end of the tour, they were being booed en masse and people were throwing beercans and leaving shows. After they returned home, the band first said they were retiring from music, then simply that they would never tour again. They'd release four more albums before that decision would change.
Indeed, Kevin Keys and Jeff Jooce grew so fatigued that they both took leaves of absence two months before the end of the tour; they were replaced with a competent drummer from Texas named Jimmy Fales and, more notably, a keyboard player named Christina Singleton, who shortly after the tour called Plaastik "a miserable band. Their songs are amateurish, their sets are disorganized and pointless, and their success just mystifies me." She joined the band in 1987.
tracklist:
1. Oil and Water
2. Breakfast
3. Daddy's Little Girl
4. Hard Rock Hard
5. The Chessboard
6. A Song
7. Hot Glass
8. Teacher Teacher
9. Peterson's Ranch
10. Redneck Trucker (Roadkill Toolbox Coach)
11. Canadian Candy
Daddy's Little Girl b-sides
Ocean Sky
My Laundry is Yours
Hot Glass b-sides
Wet [da funk mix]
Hateful Boat [swing lounge version]
Oil and Water b-sides
Rap It Up
Drive My Car