BEGINNERS ONLY was a Boston-based band that flourished from 1983-1986. They were one group of first-time original rockers from the suburbs in a big, sprawling scene. Post-punk was the dominant, popular musical form in town, and Beginners Only were duly influenced by The Neighborhoods, R.E.M., Husker Du, and The Replacements, among other heroes of the day.

The group had a classically typical Boston experience and left a legacy similar to that of other local bands of the time. Their 72 local club gigs saw them improve and rise through the ranks of weeknight openers to, ah, weekend openers. The usual milestones were achieved along the way: basement tapes, live-radio broadcasts, increasingly accomplished studio recordings, better bookings, and notices in the local music press.

Only one song was ever properly published, that being a track that made its way onto a compilation LP of local acts on a young start-up label's debut release.

As is the story with so many young, inexperienced bands, along came the eventual line-up changes, frustration, and disbandment. But, listening back to the tapes, twenty years later, the music sounds good, like it deserved a better chance.

One of those early supporters in the land of local college radio, WUML (then WJUL), is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its live-music broadcast show Live from the Fallout Shelter (originated by Chris Porter and Bob Weston who, respectively, managed the band and later played in it) with a two-CD retrospective of recordings taken from those many sessions. The lead-off track features none other than Beginners Only, as they were the first band to perform on the show. That inaugural transmission was on April 1, 1985. On June 10 of that year, Beginners Only became the first band to play for a second time on the show.