The Official Albums Of The Townedgers (and related) 1983-present

In light of things, I have been very lax in posting the albums of myself and what would be The Townedgers.  I admit the discography is a mess and probably will be till the end of time.  I started out recording in 1973 (and all of them got erased over time or the cassette fell apart). My dad then purchased a Reel To Reel Sony and from 1976 to 1982  I did a variety of forgotten albums, the best moments coming on a 1982 The Best Of Rodney Smith.  For some reason I decided to keep three albums on CD preserved. 1980's Rod Smith Tonight, 1981's The Power Of Positive Thinking and 1982 Bizarre Behavior which were released last year as the Big Crash Collection series.  While the tapes of the other recordings are still on reel to reel, the best moments were preserved on CD.


Back then, I worked with how much tape I had, and most of the time these hour long tapes had plenty of filler songs to them.  That continued when I started going back to cassette recording.  Most cassettes were hour long or 90 minute long, and had plenty of filler songs as well.  The first true album So Much For That, I found a 45 minute cassette and was happy with the end result, but when I couldn't find a 45 minute tape, I ended up getting an hour long cassette and added songs from the Big Crash Years.  Town's Edge Rock, the second album, was the true beginning of a long career which I never became more than a closet cult artist at best.

The Official Releases:

So Much For That (April 1983)
Town's Edge Rock (June 1983)
Living In The Twilight Zone (September 1983) (No longer available)
Love Sucks (originally titled Hey You) (November 1983)
Rodney Smith's Infinite Loop (June 1984)
Contractual Obligations EP (later 1984)
Rock And Roll Made Me What I Am Today (May 1985)
Rodney Smith And Route 66 (July 1985)
Wapisipinicon Dreaming (September 1986)
Every Hour On The Hour (November 1986) (No longer available)
Tales Of The Red Caboose (July 1987)
Postcards From The Edge (December 1987)
Travelogue (October 1988)
State Fair (April 1989)
Moonlight Chronicles (June 1989)
Floodlands (November 1989)
Purseyors Of The Truth (September 1990)
Nice Weather We're Having (November 1990)
Diamonds In The Skies (November 1991)
Drive In Blues (June 1992)
The First And Last Reunion (April 1993)
Modern Problems In Reflected Living (July 1993)
Weather On The Nines (November 1994)
These Things Must Past (June 1995)
Light At The End Of The Tunnel (March 1996)
The Townedgers Live-The Art Of Deception (November 1998)
Land Of Abandonment (December 1999)
More Rodney Smith And The Townedgers (2000)
There's Nothing Left (April 2001)
The Road Less Traveled (March 2002)
Observations From The Forefront ( July 2002)
20 (November 2003)
A Long Time Forgotten (November 2005)
Christmas With The Townedgers (October 2006)
The Highway Home (May 2007)
Pawnshops For Olivia (June 2008)
Townedgers' Country ( March 2009)
30/No Exit (April 2013)
Forthcoming Trains (April 2014)

In the CD age, So Much For That and Living In The Twilight Zone got issued as 2 on 1, with a few tracks deleted due to time considerations.  Likewise the 1985 albums got condensed.  I was thinking of giving both of their stand alone CD but the master tapes of a couple songs have been lost in the archives and haven't been found.

I did include three compilation albums (More, Observations and Country) since I considered them to be part of the recorded history of myself and the TEs but have not included any Best Ofs.  There has been talk and thinking about putting the best songs on one cd but again I want the songs to fit a format and quality as well.   Stories Of The Road (2000) is the only official best of but with the surprise success of We All Sleep Alone, a new upgrade best of might have forthcoming.  I also did not include two cds of two 2007 live in the studio stuff, nor the 1991 We're Getting Nowhere, for KRUI which didn't get aired.  Take away the comps and the TEs only have 8 official albums in the 2000s.

Although 26 albums and an EP was issued in the 80s, those years remain a garbled mess.  With prices for CD recorders fell in price, in 1995 I tried to set the record straight and issued the 80s albums in the intended way, less filler.  Basically Town's Edge Rock was left with all songs from the cassette, warts and all.  That was the CD that gave me the confidence to continue to record original stuff.   By the 1990s I was beginning to shelve albums, Perseyors Of The Truth got put on the backburner in favor of Nice Weather We're Having.  First And Last Reunion was delayed in favor of Modern Problems.  And Mixed Blessings, the unofficial album of 2005 was canned, only Nevada Streets was good enough for inclusion on Long Time Forgotten.

The 80s and 90s were a much bloated time, with the lesser known and filler kinda ruining the tempo and feel of the albums.  In the 2000s I started redoing the lesser known songs on later albums.  If you haven't hear them before it's new to you and they were pretty good written songs.  But it's well known that I was spending more time buying records and CDs and not focusing on The Townedgers.  I got tired of writing songs about women that used to be high school sweethearts or casual flings, especially songs toward the one who turned out to be a 38 year old mind fuck.  Which is why I don't play Running In The Rain anymore.  She never gave two fucks anyway, even back then.

30 and No Exit are one and the same, 30 I took out a few songs and added one and perhaps should have kept The End as the final track but I wanted Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever the last song.  Still there's a possibility of returning No Exit back to print, or start a new comp.

Albums don't mean much anymore in life.  People want singles or snippets and not support the local starving artist. The five year lapse between Pawnshops and 30 wasn't intentional but at that point I kinda stepped away from the drumset and guitar for a spell.  I'm still old guard and the old ways of playing albums (even my own).  And with a CD recorder, I can now record 10 to 12 songs and keep it around 40 to 45 minutes, rather than the ones that last more than an hour.  I still love the full hour albums such as Light at The End Of The Tunnel or Modern Problems. And if I can still play these albums 20 years after the fact, then I think I did my job of making a good album.  And that's all that matters.

And as I get older, I'm finally at peace with myself and the songs that have been a part of this 30 plus year journey of original garage rock.  I have started coming out to jam sessions and play and sing too. Never thought that would happen playing a jam session and shouting out to Rocky Mountain Way or Can't Get Enough.  I'm more at home with my own originals but as they say Better Late Than Never in getting together with new musicians and friends along the way.  The Cedar Rapids Jammers have been nice to me and who knows, maybe some other new band might pop up from all this jamming.

But for me, this discography is the one that I'll be best known for.  And I can live with this too.