Marshall Crenshaw rarities compilation coming in October

Following its limited release as a Record Store Day Exclusive earlier this year, Marshall Crenshaw’s The Bootleg Sounds of Marshall Crenshaw: 1984-87 will receive a wide release on October 23 via Yep Roc Records. The album is now available for pre-order.

Personally curated by Crenshaw from his archives, the collection brings together previously unreleased home demos, live performances, and studio recordings from the acclaimed singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for the top 40 hit single "Someday, Someway" in 1982. 

The Bootleg Sounds of Marshall Crenshaw: 1984-87 looks behind the scenes, through the songwriting process, and the home recordings of songs that shaped his third and fourth albums, Downtown (1985) and Mary Jean & 9 Others (1987). The early demos sit alongside live tracks from 1986 and 1987, as well as other long-lost material from the archives.

A previously unreleased rendition of Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be the Day” features Gary Tallent and Max Weinberg of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. Crenshaw's conection to Holly’s music famously includes portraying the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer in the 1987 La Bamba.

“(We’re Gonna) Shake Up Their Minds” stems from a songwriting block when Crenshaw sent the backing track to acclaimed British singer/songwriter Kirsty MacColl to see where she might take it. “Kirsty wrote a song to the track called “All I Ever Wanted”, but by the time I got it back from her in the mail, I’d figured out the storyline to "Shake Up Their Minds," and finished that song.”

Five years later, Kirsty recorded “All I Ever Wanted” for her album, Electric Landlady, and released the track in the UK as a single. "I’m presenting the sequence the way I found it on the tape reel- my demo, followed by the last bit of her demo, which I’d accidentally recorded over.”

Listen/Share: “They Will Never Know”

Crenshaw and his band will hit the road this fall for a run of dates. A complete list is below, and tickets are available here.

Track listing:

1.“They Will Never Know”
2. (We’re Gonna) Shake Up Their Minds
3. All I Ever Wanted (Excerpt)
4. That’ll Be the Day
5. Little Wild One (No. 1) (TV track)
6. The Distance Between
7. Blues Is King (TV track)
8. Right Now
9. Vocal Test
10. Town Without Pity
11. Terrifying Karaoke
12. Synsonics Go Berzerko!!
12. Reet Petite (Live)
13. Try (Live)
14. This Is Easy (Live)

Tour Dates:

October 27 – Hugh’s Room Live – Toronto, Ontario
October 28 – Sportsmen’s Tavern – Buffalo, NY
October 29 – Magic Bag Theater – Ferndale, MI
October 31 – Old Town School of Folk Music – Chicago, IL
November 1 – The Acorn Theater – Three Oaks, MI
November 2 – Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH
November 11 – City Winery Boston – Boston, MA
November 12- Fairfield Theater Stage One - Fairfield, CT
November 13 – Daryl’s House Restaurant & Live Music Club – Pawling, NY
November 14 – My Father’s Place – Roslyn, NY
November 17 – Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center – Old Saybrook, CT
November 18 – Sellersville Theater – Sellersville, PA
November 19 – Elkton Music Hall – Elkton, MD
November 21 – Rams Head on Stage – Annapolis, MD
November 22 – The Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
November 23 – City Winery NYC – New York, NY