The Plimsouls

Greatly Appreciated

THE PLIMSOULS
 
 
The Plimsouls  are an American rock band formed in Paramount, California in 1978.  The band achieved national popularity in 1983 when the single release “A Million Miles Away” was included on Valley Girl’s motion picture soundtrack and became a minor hit.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
By the end of 1978the Breakaways had also gone their separate ways, with Peter Case forming the Plimsouls and Paul Collins starting the Beat (later Paul Collins’ Beat).  In early 1982the Plimsouls released the quintessential power-pop song “A Million Miles Away”, and it was a bonafide FM hit before Geffen Records wrested the band away from Bomp! Records and pulled the song from the market until their album was finished.  They recorded a couple of good albums for their label, and the Beat did the same, but it wasn’t what could have been.
 
Together with the Nerves CD – One Way Ticket – the Breakaways album Walking out on Love: The Lost Sessions is being offered in a specially priced package with a brand new Alive Records CD of the Plimsouls at the top of their game playing live at the Whisky a Go Go in October 1981, called Live! Beg, Borrow & Steal.  Highly recommended.  Check it out at the Bomp mailorder site:  www.bompstore.com/breakaways-nerves-related-powerpop-walking-out-on-love-the-lost-sessions-cd/.
 
(April 2010)
 
*       *       *
 
As I remember, I already had an article partially written on somebody else when an order from Bomp! Records came in that included a specially priced package of new CD’s by three related power-pop bands:  the Nervesthe Plimsouls and the Breakaways I already knew the Plimsouls’ hit A Million Miles Away”, but just about everything else was a revelation, including the Nerves’ original version of Hanging on the Telephone that became Blondie’s follow-up hit after their monster Heart of Glass”.  I quickly checked Wikipedia and determined that the Breakaways did not have an article, so I dashed off a UARB post on them, hoping to interest others in this amazing music. 
 
(April 2012)
  
*       *       *
 
Basically dropping everything and pushing a band to the top of the heap on the UARA/UARB stack has happened only one other time among these posts, and it was quite awhile ago:  the UARB for April 2010, the Breakaways.  I had ordered a power-pop package from Bomp!:  a retrospective album of, a brand-new CD of a killer live show by the Plimsouls, and then a CD by the Breakaways After Jack Lee left , the other two members of the band, Paul Collins and Peter Case started playing with a variety of other musicians.  They used the name the Breakaways, but it arguably never was really a band:  These guys just wanted to keep making music together.  Pretty soon, those two parted ways also, with Peter Case forming the Plimsouls and Paul Collins starting the Beat
 
(December 2012)
 
*       *       *
 

Many of the seminal bands in these rock movements released albums on the Bomp!VoxxAlive, or Total Energy labels; most of them are not household names by any means, but they are recognized by those in the know as being important bands that shaped the history of rock and roll.  Some of these better-known bands and artists are the Romanticsthe Modern Lovers, the Dead Boys (and Stiv Bators individually), the Plimsouls (and Peter Case individually), the Beat (and Paul Collins individually), the Stooges (and Iggy Pop individually), DevoNikki Suddenthe Black Keysand Soledad Brothers. 

 
(May 2013)
 
*       *       *
 

Marilyn Records was a European label that was founded by French musician Patrick Boissel in the mid-1980’s.  After a number of French and Spanish releases, Marilyn began handling the sort of musicians and bands that gravitate to Bomp! Records.  Suzy Shaw of Bomp! Records met Boissel at a record convention, and Marilyn Records became their distributor in Europe.  One result was a great compilation album that I have of previous Bomp! Records releases called From L.A. with Love (1992) that features the Plimsoulsthe Flamin’ GrooviesStiv BatorsJeff Dahl, the Stooges, and the Zeros

 

(March 2015)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021