New Wave oddballs Wall of Voodoo this fall will receive a new, nearly career-spanning anthology — the 17-track Lost Weekend: The Best of the I.R.S. Years — that combines the highlights of the band’s 1980s output recorded with original lead singer Stan Ridgway and the vocalist who later replaced him, Andy Prieboy.
As our friends at The Second Disc report, the compilation is being released by Varèse Vintage Records on Nov. 15, and is comprised entirely of previously released material from the band’s four studio albums and its contract-fulfilling live record The Ugly Americans in Australia. More than half the tracks come from the Ridgway-fronted Dark Continent and Call of the West albums.
Of note for fans: The version of the band’s best-known song, “Mexican Radio,” is the single mix, and not the version that appeared on Call of the West. And because nothing from the group’s 1980 self-titled debut EP on Index Records appears on this set, what’s probably the group’s second-best-known song — its weird, electronic cover of the Johnny Cash classic “Ring of Fire” — appears only in live form from the 1989 concert album.
Tracklist: Wall of Voodoo, Lost Weekend: The Best of the I.R.S. Years
1. “Red Light”
2. “Tsetse Fly”
3. “Crack the Bell”
4. “Back in Flesh”
5. “Lost Weekend”
6. “Factory”
7. “Mexican Radio” (Single Version)
8. “On Interstate 15”
9. “Call of the West”
10. “Far Side of Crazy”
11. “Big City”
12. “Dark As a Dungeon”
13. “Do It Again”
14. “Country of Man”
15. “Elvis Bought Dora a Cadillac”
16. “The Heart Can Never Tell” (Live)
17. “Ring of Fire” (Live)
That is such a great album cover.. one of the best I’ve ever seen. I think I’d buy it just for that alone. And “Back in Flesh” is such a great song.
Any Serious Wall of Voodoo fan already owns the entire catalog. I don’t understand who they think they are marketing this disc to.
With none of the 5 or so GREAT songs from their first ep, this set is absurd. Stay away!
Well, to be honest, when a best of comp is released, who are they marketing to? Us, that’s who.. We have to have it. Because it is a release. Finally.. A Best of release. I agree.. LONG ARM, THE GOOD THE BAD & THE UGLY/HANG ‘EM HIGH & RING OF FIRE needs to be there.. However, we all know.. We are going to buy this…