For those not in the know, Smash Palace’s new album 87 is what happens when the music industry’s best-laid plans meet reality’s wrecking ball: the Butler brothers had their Epic Records follow-up locked and loaded in 1987, then A&R departures and management mayhem turned their sure thing into a what if that’s been haunting collectors for nearly four decades.

Now, 38 years later, these lost songs finally get their due — five tracks lovingly rerecorded by the original lineup with four decades of wisdom applied to already - bursting potential, plus five raw 1987 demos that sound like they were recorded in a parallel universe where jangle-pop met power-rock and had beautiful keyboard-driven babies.

From the anthemic thrust that made Living on the Borderline essential listening to confessional gems that had critics reaching for superlatives, this isn’t just archaeological curiosity — it’s proof that great songs don’t expire, they just ferment into something stronger.

1. Bitter Blue [3:11]
2. I’ll Be There [4:33]
3. Poor Man’s Paradise [4:07]
4. Top Of The World [4:21]
5. Everything Under The Sun [4:02]
6. Along For The Ride [3:56]
7. Centipede [4:20]
8. Stranger Than Strange [3:59]
9. First Time For Everything [4:17]
10. Imaginary Lines [6:07]

This brilliant meld of 60’s jangle rock, 70’s rock swagger, 80’s power pop, and 90’s Brit rock, opens on the shiny AOR of Bitter Blue and the guitar rocker I’ll Be There and then we get the mid-tempo strutter Poor Man’s Paradise, the guitar balladry of Top Of The World and the impassioned Everything Under The Sun.

Along next is the melodic rock, Psychedelic furs-esque Along For The Ride and the harmonically driven Centipede and they are followed seamlessly by the motivated Stranger Than Strange, the set rounding out on the drum and key-led easy listening of First Time For Everything, closing on the low key psych-rock of Imaginary Lines.

Official Purchase Link

Smash Palace @ Bandcamp