Mondo Birthmark

The Tubes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 10, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fuel 2000
• ASIN: B002QXIMRW
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,256 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Before their top 40 successes in the '80s, even before their '70s emergence with cult hits like "Mondo Bondage" and "White Punks On Dope", THE TUBES were a fully-formed band in San Francisco, complete with an outrageous stage show. These ultra-rare studio recordings from the TUBES archives represent their earliest demo tapes, featuring a dozen songs never available anywhere else in any form.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This one ought to take you back to their wacky and creative days!, November 11, 2009

By 

John S. Harris "The Voice of Reason" (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mondo Birthmark (Audio CD)

For those of you lucky enough to have seen The Tubes in the 70's, this is the disc to remind you of their creative zaniness, unique style, and incredible musicianship!

This collection of rarities could not be further from their commercial success of the early 1980's. This band was truly ahead of its time. Even some of the older tracks on their "Demo Daze" CD from 2001 have their work-in-progress roots on this CD.

This album features several cuts from the Tubes vaults that never made it onto a record, and some that probably kept them from even getting a record deal (if I may paraphrase from the liner notes).

The photo on the back of the CD package shows 9 members (instead of the more well-known 7) and the liner notes and credits list a total of 10 members, past and present. The track listing on the back is also missing one track, but the full and correct listing is on this Amazon page and in the liner notes.

Hard to believe The Tubes were ever this young!

Some bands were meant to be seen and not heard, and some bands were meant to be heard but not seen. This band was meant to be both seen AND heard! Hard to tell which was more important. The Tubes really knew how to put on a show, and this CD is more proof that excellent musicianship, theatricality, and creativity won't guarantee commercial success but just might generate the well-deserved cult status that puts most other bands and music to shame.

The photos in the CD booklet are not to be missed!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Tubes Most People Don't Know..., November 18, 2009

By 

R. J. Antler "I Said Yeah Yeah" (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mondo Birthmark (Audio CD)

My first exposure to "The Beans" came on Audition Nite at Uncle Sam's in Sebastopol, CA for $.50. A friend of mine said "You got to come over and see this. There's a guy up there dressed as a chick." It was Fee as Carmen Miranda doing the Latin Set. The music that they were delivering was rough, but it was so different then anything I had ever heard. They mixed being a great club dance band and really pissing off the male elements as they refused to continually play in "éven" time, thus making it difficult to dance to...

On this collection, you will find great examples of odd time and unconventional tonality...On Hoy Boy, Wonderbread Bodies,Artaud Poem, The Tubes are doing what they do... Roger Steen and Vince Welnick were great soloists in that format. Along with More/Telstar, TV, and especially Dinosaur Blues (one of my absolute favorites), you have the essence of the early Tubes. Michael Cotton was not in the group at that time, thus no synthesizer. It's the type of music that as you listen to it, you just want to keep playing it until you wear the damn disk out.

The first time I saw the twin guitars and twin drummers, for an aspiring musician, it was magical. This is the first collection that I know of that has the late Bob MacIntosh along with Prairie Prince delivering the syncopated beat that made The Tubes special. They are featured in Artaud Poem and in Let's Do It...Just terrific stuff, and long overdue...The Tubes grew into a Freight Train, simply too big and powerful for most clubs to handle...and my band actually did open for them a year or 2 later...

In October 09, I saw them again in Annapolis for the first time in about 15 or 20 years...They still got it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mutant Memories for Tubes Fans!, August 5, 2010

By 

Peter Cox (Helden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mondo Birthmark (Audio CD)

Despite the fact that The Tubes aren't as big as they should have been (personal opinion), they really can do no wrong with me. Okay, I do like their more commercial and rocking material best, but those very first albums also succeeded to claim their space among my fond memories. I mean, a lot of material is hilarious. And other just simply rock your socks off.

So now they hit us with this new album. Well, wait a minute, the album may be new, but the material on it certainly is not. The backside subtitle is "Mutant Memories from the early seventies". And that says it all really. What is on offer here are recordings from before the release of their official first self titled album from 1975. Or as they put it themselves, the songs that didn't get us signed. Brilliant humour as always.

Some tracks are in fact familiar. We find early versions of the classic White Punks On Dope or Mondo Bondage here. And some lyrics are so off the map, it is obvious why label reps were not eager to sign them based on that. But do we really care?
I guess it is safe to say that this is not going to win them many new fans. No, if you want to discover this band, try The Completion Backward Principle, Remote Control or Outside Inside first.
But for the aficionados like me, this is a wonderful insight in the early development of this vastly underrated band. Who, besides their keen eye for stunning live shows with all it's theatrics, are great songwriters too, who are very adequate on their instrument of choice.
Love it!