Knackology: The Zen Recordings (Remastered) The Knack

• 1 Let Me Out (Live in Los Angeles, 1978) 02:41
• 2 Pop Is Dead 03:49
• 3 (She's So) Selfish [Live at Mountain View, California, June 10, 1994] 04:27
• 4 Ambition 04:30
• 5 That's What The Little Girls Do (Fieger/Averre Demo) 02:49
• 6 Les Girls 03:22
• 7 Rock & Roll Is Good For You (Fieger/Averre Demo) 03:33
• 8 Can I Borrow A Kiss 04:05
• 9 Oh Tara (Live from The Rock 'n' Roll Fun House) 03:09
• 10 Normal As The Next Guy 03:21
• 11 Shine (Live at Leeds, 1991) 03:48
• 12 Good Girls Don't (Live from The Rock 'n' Roll Fun House) 03:19
• 13 No Matter What 02:51
• 14 Love Is All There Is 04:15
• 15 One Day At A Time (Live from The Rock 'n' Roll Fun House) 04:31
• 16 Seven Days Of Heaven 04:46
• 17 Harder On You (Demo) 03:13
• 18 Baby Talks Dirty (Live from The Rock 'n' Roll Fun House) 04:11
• 19 My Sharona (Live at Mountain View, California, June 10, 1994) 05:04
• Total Runtime 01:11:44

Info for Knackology: The Zen Recordings (Remastered)

Nineteen studio, live, and demo tracks from across The Knack’s storied career.

The Knack was far from a one-hit wonder. But, sometimes, we need to be reminded of that.

Principal songwriter and vocalist Doug Fieger of The Knack created Zen Records as an outlet for new Knack material, as well as early recordings, demos, and more in order to get them into the public ear. Omnivore Recordings has been honored to have a decade-plus relationship with Zen Records.

Knackology: The Zen Recordings collects 19 classic Knack performances. From pre-Get The Knack demos (“That’s What The Little Girls Do”), to a live “Let Me Out,” Knackology shows the band’s genesis. Follow that with more across the globe performances of hits including “Good Girls Don’t,” “Baby Talks Dirty,” “One Day At A Time,” and—naturally—“My Sharona,” and feel the live power that caused a bidding war for their debut, and how it never relented onstage throughout their tenure.

Also included are studio tracks from their releases Zoom (which Fieger called their best album) and Normal As The Next Guy, showcasing that they were never truly that “one hit wonder” label they had been slapped with. Add in rarities like their cover of Badfinger’s “No Matter What” (originally released on a Badfinger tribute) and you have a total Knack education and experience.

This collection is mastered by multiple Grammy-winning engineer Michael Graves, and features liner notes from Grammy-winner Lee Lodyga (who has helmed Knack reissues for Capitol Records, Virgin Records, and Omnivore Recordings.)

Knackology: The Zen Recordings is more than just a compilation. It is both an introduction and refresher course to one of the world’s most important, impressive, and irreplaceable bands.

You know we all shine on / The light delights the day / Return to turn it on or fade away.

The Knack

Digitally remastered

The Knack
Forming in Los Angeles in the late '70s, the Knack (Doug Fieger, vocals/guitar; Berton Averre, lead guitar; Prescott Niles, bass; and Bruce Gary, drums) were neither punk nor rock, but pure simple pop, standing out among the musical dross that littered the Sunset Strip. Signing with Capitol after a feeding frenzy of label offers, the Knack released their debut, Get the Knack, in 1979. With its leadoff single, "My Sharona," the Knack climbed both the album and singles charts (eventually selling millions of copies around the globe), gained wide commercial acceptance, and regenerated the power pop scene that had laid dormant for half a decade.

The Knack's image, or lack thereof, was often unfavorably compared to the Beatles, but their music relied on the rough punchiness of the Kinks and the Who rather than the Fab Four. Their refusal to do interviews turned critics against them, and by the time they released their second album, ...But the Little Girls Understand, less than a year after the debut, the backlash had already begun ("Knuke the Knack").

The Knack then began a quick spiral downward that they were never to recover from. Their third album, Round Trip, was adventurous and daring and received favorable reviews, but the band decided to split up soon after the album was released. Due to their continuing underground popularity, the Knack resurfaced almost a decade later (minus Bruce Gary) and recorded the abysmal Serious Fun before hiding out once again to lick their wounds. The appearance of "My Sharona" on soundtracks and compilations caused the Knack to be thrown in the midst of a revival of sorts, reuniting and playing the occasional show in L.A. Bruce Gary temporarily returned to the fold, but by the time the Knack released their second "reunion" album, Zoom, during the summer of 1998, the drum stool had been filled by Terry Bozzio (formerly of Missing Persons and Frank Zappa's band). Still, the bandmembers hoped that a whole new generation of music fans would get the Knack with the release of 2001's Normal as the Next Guy, an album that found the group at its best when discarding old formulas. Fieger, however, died in 2010 after battling lung and heart cancer. (Steve "Spaz" Schnee, Rovi)

Booklet for Knackology: The Zen Recordings (Remastered)