Los Angeles, CA - Omnivore Recordings has announced they will officially release The Motels' legendary, lost 1981 album Apocalypso on August 9 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of its recording. Apocalypso will be released in its intended original form as a 10-track LP (on limited-edition orange vinyl). In addition, Omnivore Recordings will release Apocalypso as an expanded 17-track CD version that includes previously unissued original demos and outtakes.
In 1981, Los Angeles band The Motels convened to record the follow-up to their 1980 release Careful. The band's lineup consisted of Martha Davis (vocals/guitar), Marty Jourard (sax/keys), Michael Goodroe (bass), Brian Glascock (drums), and Davis' then boyfriend, Tim McGovern (guitar), who had recently replaced founding member Jeff Jourard.
"So it was" says Davis, "a band, on their third attempt to gain some commercial success in the U.S. A relationship quantified by music and qualified by its abusive nature-and of course there was the Art, that most magical place of expression-'tear down the walls,' 'piss in the face of tradition,' 'make something no one has ever heard before'-and in the '80s there were a lot of drugs, which might explain all of the above. We did as all bands do-locked ourselves away in a room with a tape machine and started making demos, a heady, wonderful experience, where we made up the rules. Tim's influence and command over the process is not to be overlooked."
"On the last day of March we met with producer Val Garay at his Record One studio in Sherman Oaks," recalls Marty Jourard. "After listening to a couple of the songs on the cassette, he immediately agreed to produce the album. He was coming off a huge success with 'Bette Davis Eyes' and was the hot producer of the month. In my recollection it was Tim making most of the production decisions and Val engineering, but opinions may vary. We recorded from April to August. On July 23rd the album cover was shot. It was fun watching Martha being photographed surrounded by fire. The final album session was August 9th from 1 p.m. to 7 a.m.-we drank a lot of coffee!-recording overdubs for 'Art Fails.' We were done."
"When we were convinced we had amassed the perfect collection of what were obvious hits or at least great album tracks, we went to the label," says Davis.
As Capitol A&R man Bruce Ravid recalls, "having cosigned the band, I was one of the A&R guys who thought that this album was 'too strange, too dark, and where's the single?' It was very much a Tim McGovern record that seemed like too great a departure for The Motels. This was a crucial release for the band, as we knew we needed to get them on radio in a big way. There was an unusual amount of love for The Motels at Capitol from the day we signed them, and we really needed consensus from the promotion, sales, and marketing people downstairs. It's true, our promotion execs didn't feel they had a shot with Apocalypso. We dreaded the thought of telling the band they needed to return to the well."
"When Capitol heard the album the reaction was something like, 'We'll release it if you really want us to, but the promotion department will not work it,' says Davis.
Davis sums up what happened next: "After the bruising of egos, and some time to reflect, it was apparent that this was actually a good thing. It was long past time for Tim and I to part ways and this was the opportunity to get out of a bad relationship. So Tim was gone and with him the album Capitol didn't want to release."
The resulting album All Four One was released in 1982 as The Motels' official third studio record and was the band's first commercial success, featuring the timeless "Only The Lonely," which would go Top 10 on the Billboard charts; the subsequent video would become a staple of rotation on the burgeoning music television network MTV.
"With the hindsight that only 30 years can bring, I hear Apocalypso as a sort of wild sonic ride," says Jourard. "All Four One was our first real commercial success, but it was born of these sessions."
"All Four One came out, and we had our first real chart success in the U.S.-we were mainstream, baby...But something was lost with Apocalypso, the album that got away," says Davis. "I look at it as the last time The Motels were uninhibited, wild, and not worried about our place on the charts. In my heart, I think I've always liked Apocalypso more."
Apocalypso track list:
1) Art Fails *
2) Tragic Surf
3) Only The Lonely
4) Schneekin'
5) So L.A.
6) Apocalypso *
7) Mission Of Mercy
8) Lost But Not Forgotten
9) Who Could Resist That Face *
10) Sweet Destiny *
Bonus Tracks
11) Art Fails (alternate version) *
12) Don't You Remember (4-track demo) *
13) Tragic Surf (4-track demo) *
14) Fiasco (4-track demo) *
15) Obvioso (4-track demo) *
16) Only The Lonely (4-track demo) *
17) Only The Lonely (TV Mix - hidden track) *
(*) previously unissued track
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