.jpg "Huang Chung (Wang Chung) self-titled album CD cover")
This is another of those legacy CD titles that somehow went “out of print” – although it’s difficult to argue for a historical preservation of the band later known as Wang Chung. Released on One Way Records in 1995 (see concise label background), this early ’80s debut is represented in the file sharing community by a few 12″ singles…yet the full album remains a somewhat elusive, um, “collectible”.
You see, I bought my CD copy for a mere dollar, from the bargain bin at the “grand closing” of local corporate music retailer Media Play. This was only about 5 or 6 years ago, but the HUGELY inflated used prices currently on Amazon and Half.com have me vexed and incredulous. Is it even possible that there is anybody remotely considering the act of buying this thing now?
Sure, when I saw it in the $1 pile, the simple novelty of owning the Wang Chung debut (…”I was listening to them when they were Huang Chung“…) was entirely worth the pricetag. But for a band that was the shopping mall soundtrack of 1984 (”Dance Hall Days” and “Don’t Let Go” while you shopped for stickers off the roll, checkerboard Vans, or at ‘Thingz’), the CD struck me as completely at home in the cut-out bin.
Immortalized by spacious, synthy production and band member Jeremy “Jack Hues” Ryder’s peculiar visage (which seemed to meld Malcom McDowell, Geddy Lee, and Thomas Gabriel Warrior into a singularly creepy Duran Duran reject)…well, here’s the promised (scarce) full length record:
(…and Good Lord, if they aren’t still active…)