In the late 1970s as Athens acts the B-52’s and Pylon were defining Southern New Wave up the Atlanta Highway, The Fans, co-founded by guitarist and singer Kevin Dunn, were poised to become the Atlanta equivalent.
The band’s initial DB Recs 7-inch singles made as far as the CBGBs jukebox in New York City before the legendary band imploded in 1979 as Dunn describes it now: “amid no little acrimony.”
Between gigs and fights with The Fans, Dunn ended up co-producing the original definitive DB Recs singles “Rock Lobster/52 Girls” for the B-52’s and “Cool/Dub” for Pylon.
In 1981, Dunn released the instant cult classic solo project, “The Judgment of Paris” on DB Recs. The critically acclaimed album and Dunn’s follow up work on vinyl have long languished in the digital age.
On Tuesday, thanks to Casa Nueva record label, Dunn’s work is now available on CD and MP3 downloads via the new collection “No Great Lost: Songs, 1979-1985.”
Tonight at 6, Dunn will reunite with DB Recs founder and Wax N Facts owner Danny Beard and old fans at an album release party at the iconic Little Five Points music shop.
On Sunday, Dunn will play an in-store at Decatur CD in Decatur at 4 p.m.
For a new generation of music fans (including Dunn’s son Malcolm who now plays bass with his dad), the new CD collection provides a missing link to what Rolling Stone’s Anthony DeCurtis calls: “a smart, engaging, innovative artist whose groundbreaking work has been unjustly overlooked — until now.”
