The Underachievers - Attention Deficit: Compilation songs, demos, and live-in-studio tracks, 1983-1985

© and ℗ 2022 by Véronique Noelle (Veroluna Music)

Before the Underachievers recorded the album Underfoot in the summer of 1985, we had already been in the studio five times, recording demos at first, and later recording songs for release on compilation albums. We also made a live-in-studio recording of album candidate songs. Most of the tracks from those sessions are collected here.

There were only a couple of masters or safety copies that could be used, and even those have some deterioration. Some of these songs were rescued from cassettes copies. The compilation songs were ripped from vinyl, the best available sources. Much labour went into making sure the songs sound like they fit together.

"Under the Gun," "Too Soon," and "Surf Junk" were recorded at Active Studio in summer 1983 by studio owner Larry Lessard. We also recorded early versions of "Crosswalk" and "Get Out" during that session. The recording is all or mostly live, since its purpose was to get gigs. Numerous auditions had not yet found us a drummer, but they did find us a sit-in drummer for this session, Jonathan Williams. The source for these songs is a copy on studio-issue (generic) cassette of dubious quality. Please pardon the flutter.

"Crosswalk," "I'll Be There for You," "Get Out," and "'splain" were recorded in spring 1984 at Radiobeat Studio by co-owner Jimmy Dufour. We had a real drummer by then: steady, hard-hitting Jim Janota, who later co-founded The Bags. We did this session to record a song to submit to radio stations, so we took more time and did some overdubs. The song we sent out was "I'll Be There for You," which got airplay on college stations. Chuck Warner heard it and included it on Nobody Gets on the Guest-List!, a compilation of Boston bands on his new record label, Throbbing Lobster.

Not long after that session, Jim headed for greener pastures. Hopelessly Obscure, another band on the compilation, had broken up, and we were fortunate enough to snag free-agent drummer Bob MacKenzie. This lineup lasted only a little over a year but had the biggest impact on the sound and style of the band.

In late summer or early autumn 1984, we went back to Radiobeat and Jimmy Dufour. We had been invited to record a song for Throbbing Lobster compilation number two, Let's Breed! That song was "Wasted Youth." The only other song from that session that we finished was an early, bare-bones version of "Let's Not Dance," included as a bonus track. Basic tracks (instrumental bed with scratch vocals) of "High Noon" and "Bad News" were never completed.

In November 1984, we nabbed a session at Radiobeat on their last day of operation. We were thinking about an album by that time, so we used the session to do a live set of candidates for the record, plus a couple for fun. Co-owner Steve Barry was the engineer (I'm pretty sure). We recorded "Friend o' Mine," "Media Fool," "Dead Plants," "I Don't Care / U Don't Care," "I'm So Tall," "You're Not for Me," "Underground Again," "Bad News," "High Noon," and "You're Gone (Bye Bye)." Then we threw in a staple of our live set, Bob's song "Don't Talk to Me," originally recorded by GG Allin and the Jabbers (with Bob on drums). Finally, we played Eddie Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown," with Bob on lead vocal.

The source tape is either the two-track master or a first-generation copy, but I didn't store it well. "Friend o' Mine" was too damaged to use. The rest of the songs have some deterioration. I rendered the stereo tracks to mono because it helps mask some of the worst damage.

I left off "I'm So Tall," "You're Not for Me," and "Underground Again" since better versions appear on Mostly Still Underfoot. "Don't Talk to Me," which we did mostly for fun, was one of the best of the lot. The guitar in this session is mixed weirdly soft and sounds thin, even though that guitar amp was pretty rude and crunchy. Players and instruments were in the same room, and if I remember correctly, the engineer convinced me to turn the amp down. On the other hand, the bass and drums are majestic, and Cilla was killing it in the vocal booth.

When Chuck said Underfoot had to be longer than the eight songs we had recorded, and we had no money for more studio time, we reluctantly used "I Don't Care / U Don't Care" and "Dead Plants" from this session. In hindsight, we shouldn't have been so reluctant. If I could go back in time (knowing what I know now, of course), I would put the original eight-song Underfoot on side one and the tracks released here on side two.

Finally, in spring 1985, a few months before we started recording Underfoot, we recorded "Friend o' Mine" for the third Throbbing Lobster compilation, "Claws!" at Euphoria Sound Studio in Revere with Mark Lemaire at the controls. ESS had a 16-track recorder and a great sounding room. It was a quick session, and we recorded only one other song: "Boys," a cover of the Beatles cover of the Shirelles song. If I had rights, I'd let you hear it.