Abecedarians (band)

Abecedarians
Origin	Long Beach, California,  United States
Genres	New wave, experimental, post-punk
Years active	1983-95
Labels	Factory, Caroline, Independent Project Records
Past members	Chris Manecke John Blake Kevin Dolan

Abecedarians were a Los Angeles based post-punk trio active in the mid to late 1980s, on Factory Records. The lineup consisted of Chris Manecke (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Kevin Dolan (drums) and John Blake (bass). They specialized in reverb heavy, synth driven post-punk songs.^[1]

Discography

^[2]

Singles

• Smiling Monarchs (6:34) / Benway's Carnival (5:08) (12", Factory UK FAC-117, April 1985)^[3]

Albums

• Eureka (mini-LP, Southwest Audio Reproductions 7-PV-50772, 1986)
  • Ghosts / Soil / Beneath The City Of The Hedonistic Bohemians // I Glide/ Mice & Coconut Tree / The Misery Of Cities
  • Reissued by Caroline (CAROL-1342, 1987) with different sleeve and "The Other Side Of The Fence" replacing "Beneath The City Of The Hedonistic Bohemians"
  • Reissued by Pylon (2012), CD and 2×LP: Ghosts / Soil / Beneath The City Of The Hedonistic Bohemians // I Glide / Mice & Coconut Tree / Misery Of Cities /// Smiling Monarchs / Benway's Carnival / Switch / Other Side Of The Fence // They Said Tomorrow / Wildflower / John's Pop / Spaghetti Western^[4]
• Resin (LP, Caroline CAROL-1343, 1988)
  • Dinner / Spaghetti Western / Where Whitie Ain't Allowed / Wild Flowers Grow From The Trash // Press Escape / Laugh At Yourself / Sufferin' Tarnation / Panic In Needle Park
• AB-CD (CD, Caroline CAROL-CD-1343, 1988)^[5]
  • Ghosts (6:42) / Soil (7:00) / The Other Side Of The Fence (4:09) / I Glide (7:32) / Mice & Coconut Tree (4:59) / Smiling Monarchs (6:48) / Dinner (4:49) / Spaghetti Western (6:25) / Where Whitie Ain't Allowed (3:54) / Press Escape (5:01) / Laugh At Yourself (3:37) / Surf Western (3:17) / Panic In Needle Park (6:55)
  • CD version of Resin with previously released tracks
• The Other Side Of The Fence (2×10", Independent Project Records IP-031/032, 1990)
  • Beneath The City Of The Hedonistic Bohemians / Ghosts / John's Pop // Come Out / Classic / Spaghetti Western /// Switch / Where's Karen / Soil // The Other Side Of The Fence / Wildflower / They Said Tomorrow
  • early recordings, from 1983 to 1985

Compilations

• "They Said Tomorrow" - L.A. Mantra II (cassette, Trance Port Tapes, 1984)
  • reissued Calypso Now 1985
• "They Said Tomorrow" - Scream: The Compilation LP, Geffen Records, 1987)
• "Smiling Monarchs" - Hardest Hits Volume Two (CD, SPG Music Productions Ltd., 1992)
• "Smiling Monarchs" - Voices In The Air (CD, Wavestation, 1993)
• "Smiling Monarchs" - Too Young To Know, Too Wild To Care...1978–1992 The Factory Story Part One (CD, London, 1997)
• "Smiling Monarchs" - Auteur Labels: Factory Records 1984 (CD, Les Temps Modernes, 2009)
• "Benway's Carnival" - Auteur Labels: Independent Project Records (CD, Les Temps Modernes, 2010)

Appearances

• "Soil" (instrumental edit) - Appears as a track accompanying the 'Waimea Bay' bigwave contest (Billabong Pro) section of the surf film 'Billabong: Surf Into Summer' (1986/87) at approx 19:48 mins in. (Other artists included in the film include TSOL and Agent Orange)

References

1. 80’s Music Rules ~ Criminally Underrated Artists/ Bands ~ Abecedarians
2. Abecedarians (discogs.com)
3. Abecedarians: Smiling Monarchs (discogs.com)
4. http://news.cerysmaticfactory.info/2013/01/eureka.html
5. Abecedarians: AB-CD (discogs.com)

External links

• Abecedarians at MySpace