Vitamin - Recordings 1981

“We’re called VITAMIN, in case you didn’t know,” snarls vocalist / violinist / keyboardist Margie Politzer before the band rips into a set at The Rat, the recording of which is captured in this collection. 

It was 1979 when Boston teenagers Jason Shapiro and Mike McGlinchey saw the wide-open door of punk as it turned to art-punk and no wave, and scurried straight in. Shapiro was 14. McGlinchey was only a few years older. Neither had played an instrument for long when Vitamin formed. 

Wide-eyed, the two took-in bands at Boston loft spaces and factory basements, hugely influenced by Pere Ubu label-mates The Girls, the absurdist band of art-school drop-outs. In time, they convinced The Girls ex-violinist, Margie Politzer, to join the band. Margie’s John Cale-inspired violin, her NYC origins and first-hand CBGBs experiences imbued the band with a new spirit. They finally added experienced drummer Chris Gill to complete the line-up. 

Inspired by the no wave impulse to tear rock apart and build something new from the blistering pieces, Vitamin’s sound was raucous and careening but playful, with heaps of bratitude, and a dash of conceptualism for good measure. Truly joyful noise. Their brief life stands as a difficult-to-top example of art-making for its own sake, and a life-affirming document of youthful innovation and collective creation. 

Including the band's studio recordings, as well as archival live recordings from several different performances, Recordings 1981 marks the first time the puzzle piece of Vitamin has properly been placed in the larger scope of the evolution of punk and art-rock. Extensive liner notes by Jenn Pelly are included in the packaging, which give the brief but impactful history of the band the context it deserves. 

"Vitamin was imbued with the type of self-belief that allows one to ignore all walls. I was a total fan the first time I saw them" - Roger Miller, Mission of Burma (producer of the Vitamin studio session) 

“Vitamin refused to ‘act like a band.' (Their performance was) a spontaneous demonstration. They fooled around, had fun on stage, stopped in the middle of songs, made things up [...] They’ve blown off firecrackers and shot hot dogs from canons. We decided to come to the interview prepared for insanity” - Boston Rock Magazine, 1980  

TRACKLIST:  

1. Sarah’s Braid 

2. Black Sheep 

3. Sinner 

4. French Fries 

5. Psycho Analyzer 

6. Bug Spray (Live at The Underground) 

7. Mouse Trap (Live at The Underground) 

8. Intro (Live At The Rat) 

9. Mommy (Live At The Rat) 

10. Bag Man (Live At The Rat) 

11. Sidewalk Slip (Live At The Rat) 

12. Jumping Jack (Live At The Rat) 

13. Black Sheep (Live at The Underground) 

14. French Fries (Live at The Underground) 

• Remastered and available officially for the first time 
• Includes liner notes by Jenn Pelly 
• Pressed on white vinyl 
• Contains download coupon 

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