New Cherry Red Imprint Sets Its Sights; JoBoxers, ‘Til Tuesday Expansions Planned

Cherry Red’s stable of reissue labels has become a little bigger: this month, the group established a new imprint, Hot Shot Records, that looks to expand the horizons of reissues for pop and dance hits of yesteryear.

Established under the group’s thriving Big Break Records label, Hot Shot’s mission, according to its Facebook page, is “to breathe life back into a variety of smart pop, dance gems and hidden treasures.” From its outset, it looks like the label is looking to make a mark with forgotten gems of the 1980s – the first title, available to order now, is an expansion of Like Gangbusters, the 1983 debut by JoBoxers which yielded U.K. Top 10 hit “Just Got Lucky.” The disc includes the remastered 10-track album with another 10 B-sides and remixes – the usual par for the course from Cherry Red’s discography.

And future titles, announced through Facebook, indicate a continuation of the British New Wave/soul of the decade, with planned expansions of ‘Til Tuesday’s thrilling debut Voices Carry (1985) and New York at Dawn (1983), the sole album by Elbow Bones and The Racketeers, a big band/disco-inspired outfit overseen by August Darnell, best known by his Latin-flavored alter ego Kid Creole.

Best of luck to Cherry Red with their new venture, which you can partake in by getting your copy of the expanded Like Gangbusters after the jump.