Album Notes

"The Allies is a shockingly good record" is what The Rocket – Seattle's premier rock magazine of the '80's– had to say about this album upon its release in March of 1982. Seattle Times critic Pat McDonald lauded the album as being "among the most impressive albums released locally. The production quality is first-rate... The songwriting of Steve Adamek, Dave Kincaid –an excellent lead guitarist, and Carl Funk–a local songwriter, generally is excellent." Released at a time when the local radio playlists were notoriously tight and dominated by "corporate rock," and hearing a local band on the air nonexistent, The Allies managed to shatter these barriers with the albums' opener "Emma Peel". The song went on to become a classic regional hit which continues to be heard on the airwaves to this day– more than twenty years later. Made into one of Seattle's first rock videos, "Emma Peel" won the honors in the semi-finals of MTV's "Basement Tapes" competition in 1984.

THE ALLIES, whose core members would go on to form The Brandos, was one of Seattle's premier and hardest working Rock 'n' Roll bands of the early-mid 1980's. Reflecting the times, the band presented a healthy mix of Power Pop, Punk, New Wave,'60's British Invasion and good ol' Rock 'n Roll, and played non-stop from the fall of 1979 through January of 1985, being featured by virtually every newspaper and rock radio station in the region, as well as appearing on local television music programs and newscasts. This version of the band featured Steve Adamek (vocals, rhythm guitar, piano), Dave Kincaid (vocals, lead guitar, bass), and Larry Mason (drums, vocals).

Originally released only on vinyl, the album is released here for the first time on CD. The master tapes were very nearly destroyed, but thanks to mastering engineer John Golden, and Seattle recording engineer Jack Endino, the tapes were salvaged and digitally remastered at Mix-O-Lydian Studio, Lafayette, NJ. The new CD package contains the 14 classic songs of the early 80's, including the Seattle hit "Emma Peel," new liner notes and concise history of The Allies by Dave Kincaid, along with the album's original reviews in the Seattle Times and “The Rocket,” Seattle’s music paper of the 80s & 90s.