New Wave Outpost Forum

Way back in 1980, Shaun Cassidy put out an Lp called WASP. It was his last Lp after all the teeny-bop chart hits he released in the late 70's. Apparently, Shaun was trying to make amends for some of his previous "sins" and released a New Wave Lp while trying to do a total image change.

WASP featured Todd Rundgren and Utopia as the backing band, and Rundgren produced it (Rundgren's influence definitely shows). He did a cover of Bowie's "Rebel, Rebel" (a very quirky version), and actually covered the Talking Heads "The Book I Read", The Animals "It's My Life", and The Who's "So Sad About Us".

Anyway, as you might guess, the Lp didn't sell and was a total flop. It got zero airplay. All the teenyboppers who bought his earlier records were scared to death of it, and all the people into New Wave laughed it off.

I can remember seeing it in the record stores when it was first released, and was curious about it. At the time, I wasn't going to plunk down $7.98 for a Shaun Cassidy Lp no matter who played on it. A few years later, I found a cassette copy in the 99 Cent bin at Woolworths, and bought it. Actually, it wasn't bad.

Since it has never been released on CD (and most likely never will), I'll eventually try to locate a clean copy of the Lp (my cassette disappeared years ago), rip it, and post some of the better tracks here.

While I really wouldn't call this a straight forward New Wave album, it definitely has alot of New Wave influences, and it is eons better than the previous crap he churned out.

Has anyone else heard this? Questions? Comments?

I've heard it and even have it on cassette. I got it as one of my free ones for joining Colunbia House or something so it was well worth the money [:D][:D][:D]. Seriously, it's not a bad album at all and the Rebel, Rebel cover got some airplay. People just weren't ready to set aside their preconceived notions about the guy. I used to play it for my friends without telling them what it was and they all liked it. [}:)]

Hey Motors,

I used to do the same thing in playing it for people and not telling them who it was. Man, would their mouths drop open when I showed them the cassette cover.

- Fortyfives

It would be interesting if all of us here could hear this "lost treasure" [;)][;)]

pretty edgy:
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Well I'll be...I remember seeing this album! Never heard it, but I'd sure be interested.

Does anyone have the Parker Stevenson new wave album?

That's a joke, but on a more serious (?) note, does anyone remember the Village People new wave album? This is NO joke. I can't remember the name of it, but I definitely remember seeing a Village People album that came out after their glory days were over. It had a pink cover and the band were made up to look like Bowie from the Blue Jean video and their outfits looked like Bowie's from the Ashes to Ashes video. I should have bought it when I saw it, but I never thought that years later I would be wondering what the grooves inside contained...

The Village People new wave lp was god-awful.

I have Wasp on cassette still but I don't have a way to rip it to mp3. I would be willing to mail it to somebody if they could do a decent job cleaning it up and posting it for everyone to hear.

Village People? Ask WolverineSyr. I'm almost sure he said he either had that album or had heard it at some point.

On a previous thread about disco/new wave, we discussed that Village People lp. They had a new-romantic look. Wolverine confirmed that it was indeed god-awful.

I've never heard the Shawn Casssidy lp but 45's is not the first person on this board to say it had some merit. Should I ever see it in the dollar-lp bins (which is surely where it resides) I would definitely pick it up. Great pop-rock comes from all over the place; he's no less-respectable than Rick Nelson (who had some great rockabilly-influenced material) back in the 50's.

Renaissance is the Village People album. They were trying to cash in on the New Romantic craze that never was in America.

It is truly awful, sort of sounds like Wham but even more bland and over produced within an inch of it's life. It includes the craptacular songs "I Love a Big Mac," "You Gotta Diet," "Food Fight," and other horrific things.

You can hear samples at Allmusic. It also includes a few pictures of their misguided attempt to look new wave.

All in all I feel bad for the guys, there was no where to go after disco & since a few New Wave acts were replicating disco sounds (ABC, Fashion, etc.) it probably seemed like a good idea.

And no, I don't or have ever owned the album![}:)]

And I'd be interested in hearing Shawn Cassidy's stuff.

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The Human League meet The Muppets:
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I remember seeing the Village People debut their new look on the Merv Griffin Show. At the time even they looked embarassed. And Merv was his usual wonderfully "go-along-with-it" self- "So, tell me about this New Romance look that's all the rage in England." They disappeared very quickly thereafter.

Man, looking at those pictures, all I can say is...Yikes!!!

Actually, if we can all be patient, I'll rip the Shaun Cassidy lp. It'll be at least a week though, many things adoin' this week.

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"Food Fight" from The Village People LP is great!!! My punk band covered it for a few years.

That's awesome Ollie!