The Tubes

The best band to emerge in 1975 was a seven-piece rock band formerly known as The Radar Men From Uranus. The Tubes sounded like a heavenly mix of Frank Zappa, Todd Rundgren, ELO and Chicago.

After knocking out an impressive debut with their self-titled 1975 release, The Tubes fell prey to the dreaded sophomore slump on their second album, Young and Rich. Although this album contains a fistful of inspired and witty tracks, it simply lacks the coherence and consistent material that made The Tubes such a cheeky delight.

Now is the third album released by The Tubes. It was produced by John Anthony. Fed up with constant meddling from Bud Scoppa and Don Wood under the direction of Bill Spooner including surreptitiously remixing a track when Anthony was not at the studio, Anthony was advised to leave the project by Jerry Moss.

By 1983 MoFi had grown into a company with over 25 employees and grossing over $8 million annually. Then they nearly lost it all. The new darling on the scene was the compact disc. Because MoFi had been putting something on the order of 20% of their earnings back into research, they were prepared for the next wave. In the mid ‘80s, they launched their assault on the CD market with their half-speed wares.

Their first efforts were released on aluminum discs, very much like all other discs at the time. And, in fact, some of these have become quite rare. Recently copies of them regularily go for >$75 on e-Bay. Partly, in an effort to justify the higher price they needed to charge, MoFi began to release their works on gold-plated compact discs called UltraDiscs. Although gold in and of itself isn’t significantly better than aluminum for the reproduction of ones and zeros, it oxidizes roughly ten times more slowly than aluminum. It is also supposed to coat more evenly than aluminum. This last attribute is said to cut down on the pin-holing so common to aluminum CDs, which allows for less error-correction during playback. This means more of the actual recording and less processor interpolation gets to your ears. So there was some inherent advantage to the gold treatment.

Remote Control is the fourth studio album released by the Tubes.

After signing to Capitol, the band recorded 1981's Completion Backwards Principle, an album based on an actual sales training instruction manual; both "Talk to You Later" and "Don't Want to Wait Anymore" earned significant radio play, and the LP became the Tubes' first Top 40 hit. Thanks to its provocative video, the single "She's a Beauty" reached the Top Ten, and pushed the 1983 LP Outside/Inside into the Top 20 Albums chart. After 1985's Love Bomb stiffed, however, the Tubes disbanded, and Welnick later joined the Grateful Dead (long suffering from depression, he committed suicide in June 2006). In 1993, the Tubes reunited; consisting of Waybill, Steen, Anderson, Prince, and new keyboardist Gary Cambra, they toured the U.S. and Europe before releasing a new LP, Genius of America, in 1996. Spooner also issued his own solo record, Mall to Mars. In 2000, the Tubes embarked on another extensive tour, issuing the live greatest-hits album Tubes World Tour to commemorate the event. The band appeared at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire in December 2004, and the show was documented on the CD Wild in London, released the following year. Bassist Rick Anderson died on December 16, 2022, at the age of 75.

Power Chord proudly presents this electrifying WBCN-FM live radio broadcast of The Tubes at the Orpheum Theater, Boston, MA, on October 31, 1981. Known for their elaborate stage productions, sharp wit, and high-energy performances, The Tubes delivered a show that perfectly blended rock spectacle with theatrical brilliance. This unforgettable concert showcases the band's signature theatricality, featuring a dynamic setlist that includes standout tracks from their acclaimed album The Completion Backward Principle, alongside beloved fan favourites. From satirical rock anthems to powerhouse performances, this broadcast captures The Tubes at their peak–bringing their bold, boundary-pushing artistry straight to your speakers.