Thursday, May 8, 2014

Ya Ya - Scarred (Scotti Bros., 1984)


So Revenge Of The Nerds is one of my favorite movies. The last time I was in SF, I was lucky enough to catch of showing of the movie at the Castro Theater during Sketch Fest. Oh, and also in attendance for the movie; almost the entire main cast of the movie (!) who also did a Q&A before the screening.

If you're a fan of the movie, then you're surely familiar with songs like "Are You Ready For The Sex Girls," "One Foot In Front Of The Other" and of course the Lambda Lambda Lambda Rap. But the movie also featured a short sample of 2 awesome songs during the beginning party scene at the Alpha Beta house. Those songs were "Are You Ready?" and "Don't Talk" by the band Ya Ya.

"Don't Talk" remains one of my favorite 80's songs. Like the album, it's a great mix of new wave and 80's rock. This album features plenty of guitar solos, keyboard flourishes, great vocal melodies and slightly electronic sounding drums. It's a slightly cheesy sound that "real" rockers might dismiss, but I happen to love. The intro to "Talk To Me" sounds like it's from an 80's workout tape. I wish I knew of other bands to compare them to, but they definitely occupy a similar space with my faves like Night Ranger, Def Leppard, Loverboy, Aldo Nova and Rick Springfield.

Besides 80's soundtrack buffs, Ya Ya seem to be infamous amongst hard rock/AOR aficionados for the singer's tenure in another venerate hard rock band, Fastway, which featured ex Motorhead guitarist, Fast Eddie Clarke. Lea Hart left as vocalist of Ya Ya after Scarred, later replacing original Fastway singer, Dave King, on their 1988 album On Target. That same year, Ya Ya released their 2nd and final album, and while not as good as this one, it has a few really good songs. Fastway fans seem to have a similar opinion of the "new" material with Hart, but the only album of theirs that I really like is 1988's On Target. I prefer the cheesey 80's sound to their more blues rock beginnings.

Finding a good copy of this album proved to be a long pain in the ass. I acquired about 3 different vinyl mp3 rips from various blogs over the years. I picked up a near mint copy of the record hoping to convert it myself at some point. Then I found a bootleg copy of the 2 Ya Ya albums on CD on ebay. But it turned out to be a vinyl rip as well, with a glitch in "Don't Talk"!! I finally found a FLAC copy of the official CD (well, official Russian press I think). I gave it a light remastering and that is what I present to you. Probably the best sounding version of the album that you'll find. You're welcome!

4 comments:

  1. Hey Dude!

    Get a great greeting from distant lands!

    Last year I discovered this excellent band thanks to an exchange with a friend.

    Now I have in my possession the album II (1988) and I would have the Scarred (1984) to complete his discography; but to download the file and unzip the folder is empty ... How to fix it? ...

    In exchange for this album I can offer you any (or all) of the following albums:

    Night Ranger - Big Life (1987)

    Def Leppard - First Strike (1979) / Pyromania (1983)

    Aldo Nova - Blood on the Bricks (1991)

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    1. are you on a pc or mac? you need a zip program that allows you to enter the password (couchslouch). i use 7-zip on my pc. on mac there are free programs like stuffit and zipeg. try those and see if you're still having problems.

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  2. Hi Neil!

    Sorry for the delay in answering, I was immersed in the work!

    Indeed, the problem was the Winrar, but with 7-zip everything is solved. Many Thanks!

    Friend, relative to the albums that I mentioned ... you be interested in having some? ... As you all I get? ...

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