Shoes
Black Vinyl Shoes Anthology 1973-1978

Listening notes

Released by Cherry Red in 2018 under catalog number CRCDBOX60, Black Vinyl Shoes Anthology 1973-1978 is a three-disc box set collecting material from the Illinois power pop band Shoes spanning the years indicated in its title. The set draws its content from three distinct sources: the album Black Vinyl Shoes on disc one, Bazooka on disc two, and One In Versailles on disc three.

Disc one presents the fifteen tracks that comprised Black Vinyl Shoes alongside thirteen additional bonus tracks, several of which are identified as alternate or demo versions, including a demo of "She'll Disappear," a demo of "Karen," an alternate version of "I'll Take You Away," and two tracks labeled as Bomp! versions — "Tomorrow Night" and "Okay." The bonus material on disc one also includes two very short pieces, "Capital Offense" at forty seconds and "Lucky Tail" at twenty-four seconds.

Disc two contains the fourteen tracks associated with Bazooka, the final entry being "I Can Make It (Demo Version)." Disc three presents the twelve tracks of One In Versailles, followed by four bonus tracks: "My Husband's Home!," "Nothing Means More," "I'd Like To Take You Out Again," and "Rock'N'Roll Freak."

Across all three discs, the tracklist reflects a deliberate effort to document the band's output from this period beyond straightforward album reissues, incorporating demo recordings and variant versions alongside the original album sequences. The set is cataloged under the genres of power pop and rock.