It’s been part of the lore of the Radiators for decades. The band’s leader and principle songwriter Ed Volker wrote thousands of songs over the band’s thirty-year career that never became Rads songs. Yesterday he released, via livedownloads.com, the first in what certainly will become a long-running series of archival recordings.
Dubbed, in typical enigmatic Zeke style, Preservatives Volume 1: Her Anesthetic Majesty’s Rejects, the release presents seventeen songs that Volker wrote while the Radiators were taking a two-month break between July 22 and September 20, 1999. According to Volker, “…and this but the highlights of all the tuna conjured in those 2 months when I’d be off road from RadzVille Traveling Circus.”
Two of the songs will be familiar to hardcore fishheads. The first, “Nightbird,” is a gentle ballad that appeared on set lists a couple of dozen times beginning back in 1997. It is listed in the database as, “My Sweet Nightbird.”
The second, “A Girl Named Anesthesia,” listed as “Anesthesia” in the database, was played by the Radiators a grand total of once on August 7, 1999 at the House of Blues in New Orleans. I was there that night and remember it to be a raver. Truth be told, I have the show on CD.
For details on downloading the new release and to hear clips, click here.
