Please (Re-)Release Me: BMX Bandits Also Stole Our Hearts

Welcome to another edition of “Please Release Me,” in which your Idolators request–nay beg–that an out-of-print, delayed or held-up-in-customs album be issued Stateside:

Artist: BMX Bandits Hometown: Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland Album: C86 Plus, 1992 What is it?: The Bandits, formed by Duglas Stewart c. 1985, never exactly seemed destined for long-term success. Stewart gave the band its name, taken from an early Nicole Kidman vehicle, because he was sure they’d disappear quickly. Though the Bandits counted among their ranks future members of Teenage Fanclub, The Soup Dragons, and Eugenius, they were denied entry onto the notorious NME-curated C86 mixtape, and responded by using the critic’s-clique turned genre-classification as the title of their debut full-length. We don’t know if the joke was still funny when the album actually hit shelves, but it didn’t matter; roughly 2,157 other musical trends had since swept through the UK, and the Bandits’ fey amateurism quietly disappeared, along with their record. A shame, really; Duglas Stewart’s laconic Buddy Hollyisms on “Your Class” alone deserve a much wider audience than the collector crowd it currently entertains. Where is it?: C86 was re-packaged in 1992 by Vinyl Japan, padding the original tracklist with 8 additional songs and gaining the new name C86 Plus. Included with the new material was the wonderful “Strawberry Sundae,” a ebulliently sleazy ode to repressed sexuality (that might, we’ve been told by more than one source, also be code for staying at the ol’ Red Roof Inn, if you know what we mean). More recently, Elefant seems to have taken a measure of control over distribution, but they too don’t seem to be able to keep up with demand.

BMX Bandits – Your Class [MP3, link expired] BMX Bandits – Strawberry Sundae [MP3, link expired]