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The Bus Stop Label
Landmark US indiepop label. Brian Kirk, who also has served as America's primary source of scarce indiepop gems first at Parasol and now at his own Mousetrap Records mail-order shop, started the first label in America to capture the pop excitement that was stirring in 1987.

Often called "the American Sarah", Bus Stop had close early ties to that UK giant. The Springfields and St. Christopher singles were in fact joint releases, with different labels and sleeves, of the same tracks as two early Sarah singles. Bus Stop was also the home of many early efforts by the Velvet Crush pop juggernaut -- Paulie Chastain, The Springfields, Bag-O-Shells, Honeybunch, Matt Allison, and of course Velvet Crush featured members of this great Providence band before Jeffrey Bourchardt persuaded Paulie and Ric Menck to move there from Illinois.

I don't know how or why the Farm Belt in the Midwest should produce the spark that lit the seven-inch revival on fire, but it did. In those early days, Pop Kids in the US were a scattered and lonely bunch, largely unknown to each other. Bus Stop (and Picturebook as well) are what brought us together,and made us realize that there were others like us, and that not all the great music was coming from England or Scotland. Every pop label in the US today, from Slumberland to Simple Machines, owes Brian a huge debt. And the records are mostly so wonderful! Someone should release a compilation cd so that latecomers could see what they missed. For me, "Hey Blue Sky!" is perhaps THE pop statement of the late eighties in America...

Releases:
Flexi Split-Release - The Bus Stop flexi (FLX) 1987
- Paulie Chastain - Raining All Day
- The Stupid Cupids - Big Blue Bus
BUS 1 The Springfields - Sunflower (7") 1988
- Sunflower
- Clown
- Are We Going To Be Alright?
BUS 2 Bag-O-Shells - Markers (7") 1988
- Markers
- Almost Home
BUS 3 St.Christopher - All Of A Tremble (7") 1990
- All Of A Tremble
- Our Secret
- Even The Sky Seems Blue
BUS 4 Honeybunch - Hey Blue Sky! (7") 1989
- Hey Blue Sky!
- Warts And All
BUS 5 The Mayfields - Deeper Than The Ocean (7") 1989
- Deeper Than The Ocean
- Feels Like Yesterday
BUS 6 Matt Alison - Hard Look At Perfect (7") 1989
- Hard Look At Perfect
- Heyday
BUS 7 The Velvet Crush - Velvet Crush (7") 1990
- If Not True
- One Thing Two Believe
BUS 8 Engine No.9 - Sleep (7") 1991
- Sleep
- Waterfall
BUS 9 Bag-O-Shells - Pocketbook (7") 1990
- Pocketbook
- Back In Your Town
- What Ever Happened To My Life?
BUS 10 The Sneetches - She Does Everything For Me (7") 1991
- She Does Everything For Me
- Flying On The Ground Is Wrong
BUS 11 The Velvet Crush - Ash And Earth (7") Jun 1991
- Ash And Earth
- Circling The Sun
- Everything Flow
- She Cracked
BUS 12 Caroline Know - Nail (7") 1991
- Nail
- Orphaned Too
BUS 13 Fudge - Astronaut / Drive (7") 1992
BUS 14 Matt Alison - Dear Ann (7")
BUS 15 The Leatherwoods - Happy Ain't Comin Home (7")
BUS 16 The What Gives - Hailstorm EP (7")
BUS 17 Caroline Know - Popsicle C (7")
BUS 18 Veronica Lake - The Man Who Was Not With It (7") 1992
BUS 19 Allen Clapp - Mystery Lane (7") 1992
BUS 20 Loneliest Christmas Tree - The Meaning Of Life (7") 1992
BUS 21 Charlie Dold - Any Poet's Dream (7")
BUS 22 Erik Voeks - Throw Me Out A Line (7")
BUS 23 Charlie Dold - Sins On My Shoulder (7")
BUS 24 The Streams - Virginia Hellhole (7") 1992
BUS 25 The Sneetches - Think (7")
BUS 26 The Dentists - (Speak No Evil) Outside Your Inside (7") 1992
- Outside Your Inside
- Speak No Evil
- All Coming Down
BUS 27 The Claim - Four Song EP (7") 1992
- Mrs. Shepherd
- On My Way
- Down By The Chimney
- All About Hope
BUS 28 Charlie Dold - Waiting On Mercury (7")
BUS 29 Godstar - The Brightest Star (7")
BUS 30 Erik Voeks - Desire Me And Die (7")
BUS 31 The What Gives - She Says (7")
BUS 34 Rocketship - Hey, Hey, Girl (7") May 1994
- Hey, Hey, Girl
- Naomi and Me
- People I Know
BUS 35 Hushpad - From Here To There (7") summer 1994
BUS 36 Eggplant - Your History, Is Not Mine (7") 1994
BUS 38 Bomb Pops - Won't Find It (7") Apr 1997
BUS 39 Tree Fort Angst - Tilting At Windmills E.P. (7") summer 1994
BUS 40 Smudge - Desmond (7") summer 1994
BUS 43 The Summer Suns - She Understands (7") Spring 1995
BUS 45 Malcolm Ross - Another Year, Another Town (7") Sep 1994
BUS 47 Orange Cake Mix - Rivers And Trees EP (7") 1997
BUS 48 Eggplant - Girl Wants A Dinosaur (7")
BUS 51 The Orange Peels - A Girl For All Seasons (7") 1999
- A Girl for All Seasons
- The Pattern on the Wall
BUS 55 Allen Clapp - Whenever We're Together (CD5) April 2002
- Night Falls
- Sad September
- Whenever We're Together
BUS 57 Rocketship - Honey, I Need You (7") 1997
BUS 58 Wall Of Orchids - Great Blue (CD5) 2002
BUS 59 Bronze - Let It Rain (CD5) Sep 2002
BUS 61 The Girl With The Replaceable Head - Ride My Star (CD5) Sep 2001
BUS 63 John Moremen - Never Told You This (CD5) Sep 2002
BUS 64 Greg Murray - Edge EP (CD5) Sep 2002
BUS 67 Greg Murray - No Pretending (CD5) 2004
BUS 69 Honeybunch - Throwaway (CD5) 2004
BUS 70 Voxtrot - The Start of Something (7") Feb 2004
co-released with Cult Hero - CULT001
limited to 400 copies / hand stamped sleeves
- The Start of Something
- Dirty Version
BUS 1002 Allen Clapp - One Hundred Percent Change Of Rain (LP+CD) 1994
CD reissued 1999
BUS 1007 Tree Fort Angst - Knee-Deep In The Rococo Excess of Tree Fort Angst (CD) Dec 1996
BUS 1010 Pencil Tin - A Gentle Hand To Guide You Along (CD) 1996
BUS 1012 The What Gives - Up All Night With The What Gives (CD) 1995
- Emily
- I Can Stay Up All Night
- I Hate You For That
- Jesus Follows Lisa Home
- Marianne Claims
- Out In The Whole Wide World
- Perfectly Wrong
- Resolution
- She Says (Adolescence Ends)
- Summer Too
- What The Hell Are You Doing-
BUS 1015 The Cat's Miaow - A Kiss And A Cuddle (CD) 1996
- A 50's Ballad
- A Day in the Life
- A Few Words
- Aurora
- Autumn
- Brighter Star
- Climb my stairs
- Disappointed
- Faded
- Ferry No. 6
- From my window
- Get over it!
- Hollow Inside
- I wanted none of this
- It Might Never Happen
- Little and Small
- Nothing New
- Nothing's Quite that Simple
- Short Sighted
- Sleepyhead
- Tangle My Shoes
- The Phoebe I Know
- Third Floor Fire
- You left a note on the table
BUS 1017 Television Personalities - Fashion Conscious (The Little Teddy Years) (CD) Feb 2002
co-released with Little Teddy Recordings - BITE 26
BUS 1020 The Beatifics - The Way We Never Were (CD) Sep 2002
BUS 1021 Allen Clapp - Something Strange Happens (CD) 2006
BUS 1027 Andrew - Happy To Be Here (CD) 2003
- Allyn White
- Friend of Mine
- Happy to Be Here
- He Can Fly
- High Tower
- I Wish You Would
- If I See You Smile
- It May Never Happen
- Now
- Strange Dreams
- Tears Anyway
Last updated: 1-Aug-2007 © 1994-2024 TweeNet Creative Commons License