Money Fall Out of the Sky in 1982
New York, New Music: 1980-1986 is the name of an exhibition that recently opened at the Museum of the City of New York. It comes at a time that I happen to be obsessed with downtown 1980s New York. I am planning to visit the exhibition very soon. In the meantime, I am immersing myself in the post-punk music of that period and place.
Immersion and focus. I am plunging into and focusing on people and places of a particular time. This means that other people, places, and times are of less interest now. Periodically, I will walk down the street to my nearest local record shop, Jerry’s Records, with a handful of records under my arm to trade for store credit. Ten or twenty records can become twenty five or thirty dollars of store credit - or more depending upon the records. I have a lot of records that I don’t listen to these days, and my new-found focus on downtown New York City in the 1980s has narrowed my collecting interests. It is amazing what I have discovered digging into record store crates since I narrowed my focus and became immersed. I recommend it.
Two records stand out at the moment, neither of which I knew even existed until this week. The first is an EP titled Money Fall Out of the Sky by a band called Cool It Reba. What drew me to this album? Where did I find it? Why did I decide to add it to my record collection?
Jerry’s has an Alternative Music section - mostly bands and music of the 1980s. This is where I spend most of my time these days. Most of the popular bands have bin cards with their names on them, but the real action is in the sections where lesser known bands are thrown together. Like Cool It Reba. I remember the catch phrase from the old Soupy Sales show of the 1960s. On a whim, because the title sounded ironic, I pulled the sleeve out of the bin. Hmm. The 1982 EP Money Fall Out of the Sky has four tracks and was produced by legendary producer Joe Boyd. Turns out that Cool It Reba was part of the downtown Post Punk No Wave music scene. Turns out this was their only record. Shame, ‘cause its…cool. The Cool It RebaWiki page describes their music as a combination of James Brown, Television, and David Byrne with a danceable beat. Critic Robert Christgau gave it a B+ in the Village Voice.
I decided to put the record on, but my downstairs turntable only plays at 33 1/3 and the EP is a 12 inch 45. Damn. But, apparently Cool It Reba is online. Not on Spotify, but elsewhere:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wfeQVdhAJc