Explosive News from Pearl Harbour!

Pearl Harbour's 1980 solo album Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost Too will be reissued in March 2024 by the Liberation Hall label!  Fans may recall that the self-titled album by Pearl Harbor And The Explosions was reissued in 2019.  Here Comes Trouble (Pearl's fourth solo album, featuring East Bay Ray) was digitally reissued in 2021.

Don't Follow Me was first released with a green tinted B&W cover (below) in the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan.  Pennie Smith made the portrait of Pearl singing into a vintage microphone.  The UK and other European countries got a glamorous color portrait of Pearl in a leather jacket on a motorcycle, and that's the image (at left) featured on the reissue.  Peter Ashworth was the photographer. You may recognize some of his other album covers as well as the iconic photographs of Pennie Smith.

The back cover of the reissue finally reveals the musicians' identities. Nigel Dixon of British rockabilly band Whirlwind cowrote songs and played guitar.  Steve New, Wilko Johnson, and Mick Jones were the other guitarists.  Paul Simonon played bass; Steve Goulding and Topper Headon played drums.  Geraint "Otis" Watkins added keyboards; BJ Cole played pedal steel; and Gary Barnacle had the horn.  Mickey Gallagher produced. It was a convocation of rockabilly, punk and pub rock players from The Clash, The Blockheads, Dr. Feelgood, Rich Kids, Whirlwind, and The Rumour!  All of this talent was united behind Pearl's terrific singing voice, which sounded equally adept at rockabilly, R&B, and country. 

The expanded reissue includes the b-sides of the Fujiyama Mama and Cowboys & Indians singles, plus both sides of Pearl's Voodoo Voodoo single and two demos.  Pennie Smith also shot the sleeves for those singles.

Pearl herself contributed liner notes and photos to this reissue.  "I loved making this album," she wrote, "but unfortunately the record label wasn't happy with it," and gave it "little to no promotion". Liberation Hall aims to address this injustice! You can pre-order Pearl's album at Bandcamp on purple vinyl, CD (for the first time!) or digital download.

Liberation Hall has also created a series called Sounds From The San Francisco Underground to showcase soundboard recordings made by Terry Hammer.  Terry was a radio DJ who would broadcast concerts by local and touring artists live from Bay Area clubs like Mabuhay Gardens, the Savoy Tivoli, the Boarding House, On Broadway, and the Keystone. 

Other upcoming releases on Liberation Hall include The Contractions (live at the Fab Mab) Shakin' Street (live at the Old Waldorf), and a repress of Straight Outta East LA by The Brat.  All of them (including Don't Follow Me) will arrive in March, which is Women's History Month.  It's an appropriate tribute to Pearl Harbour, Fabienne Shine of Shakin' Street, Teresa Covarrubias of The Brat, and the members of The Contractions.  These women prevailed despite sexism and harassment in the music industry of the 1970's and 1980's, and they deserve to be heard!