The Squire Presents

I have raised this point in the past, but I feel it is worth saying again. The biggest complaint I have about reissue programmes of most bands is the way the record labels and in some cases, the artists themselves have treated their fans so badly down the years. A case in point is the deluxe edition of ‘Then Play On’ by Fleetwood Mac that I produced back in June of 2023 (INSERT LINK). Another artist where I feel the fans have been badly treated is David Bowie, Bowie, when he was alive, was one of the first artists to re-released his albums on CD with bonus tracks. Granted, they were a bit thin on the ground compared to the Deluxe Editions we have come to expect since then, but at least it was a start. 

Take for instance the 1990 re-release of 1969’s ‘David Bowie/Space Oddity’ album. That version came with three bonus tracks including a B-Side and a re-recording of an album track that was released as two sides of a single. Not bad, but when the album came out again in 1999, there were no bonus tracks what so ever. The same thing happened when the album was given another dusting down through the first seven years of the 21st Century. No bonus tracks at all. Then in 2009, the 40th Anniversary Edition finally came with a second disc of bonus tracks but this was followed by another re-release in the mid 2010’s in certain territories where once again, there were no bonus tracks to be seen. For the 50th Anniversary in 2019, there was at least a remix of the album which on certain tracks sounded very different from the original as well as a box set called ‘Conversation Piece’ which collected lots of demos and otherwise stray tracks. However, a lot of these demos had been released in vinyl box set mimicking acetate singles that were one of the few ways an artist could listen their tunes once they had recorded them in a studio. That is quite a lot of re-issues and rereleases. 

What I have attempted here for the 55th Anniversary of this album being released is to create an all encompassing box set of the ‘David Bowie/Space Oddity’ album that includes the various mixes of the album, single mixes, demos, BBC Sessions and curios that have come out down the years to create the most comprehensive version of the album I could create. 

Therefore, we have four different mixes of the album, even though to my untrained ears, the version from 1969, 1990 and 2009 sound pretty similar to each other. There are also a couple of stray tracks from the time Bowie was signed to Decca. These were included because they were not included in the rather good Deluxe Edition of his debut album from 1967, also confusingly called ‘David Bowie’. It is no wonder John Peel took the piss out him a year later in BBC broadcast for the Sunday Show for naming his first two albums the same (Peter Gabriel should have taken note). 

Disc 1 – 1969 Album Mix & Singles

1. Space Oddity – 1
2. Unwashed & Somewhat Slightly Dazed (including Don’t Sit Down) – 1
3. Letter To Hermione – 1
4. Cygnet Committee – 1
5. Janine – 1
6. An Occasional Dream – 1
7. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – 1
8. God Knows I’m Good – 1
9. Memory Of A Free Festival – 1
10. Space Oddity (UK Mono Single Edit) – 1
11. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (Mono Single B-Side) – 1
12. Conversation Piece (Mono B-Side) – 1
13. Regazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (Italian Single A-Side) – 2

Disc 2 – 1990 Remaster & BBC Sessions

1. Space Oddity – 3
2. Unwashed & Somewhat Slightly Dazed – 3
3. Don’t Sit Down – 3
4. Letter To Hermione – 3
5. Cygnet Committee – 3
6. Janine – 3
7. An Occasional Dream – 3
8. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – 3
9. God Knows I’m Good – 3
10. Memory Of A Free Festival – 3
11. in The Heat Of The Morning (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1 
12. London Bye, Ta-Ta (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1
13. Karma Man (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1
14. When I’m Five (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1
15. Silly Boy Boy (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1
16. Let Me Sleep Beside You (BBC Session Recorded 20/10/1969) – 4
17. Unwashed & Slightly Dazed (BBC Session Recorded 20/10/1969) -1
18. Janine (BBC Session Recorded 20/10/1969) -1

Disc 3 – 2009 Digital Remaster & Sessions

1. Space Oddity – 4
2. Unwashed & Somewhat Slightly Dazed (including Don’t Sit Down) – 4
3. Letter To Hermione – 4
4. Cygnet Committee – 4
5. Janine – 4
6. An Occasional Dream – 4
7. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – 4
8. God Knows I’m Good – 4
9. Memory Of A Free Festival – 4
10. Space Oddity (Love You ‘Till Tuesday Version) – 5
11. In The Heat Of The Morning (Decca Mono Version) – 1
12. Ching-A-Ling (Mono) – 1
13. Conversation Piece (Stereo Version) – 4
14. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (Alt. Album Mix) – 4
15. Janine (Mono Version) – 1
16. Regazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (Full Length Stereo Version) – 4

Disc 4 – 2019 Mix & Sessions

1. Space Oddity – 1
2. Unwashed & Somewhat Slightly Dazed (including Don’t Sit Down) – 1
3. Letter To Hermione – 1
4. Cygnet Committee – 1
5. Janine – 1
6. An Occasional Dream – 1
7. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – 1
8. God Knows I’m Good – 1
9. Memory Of A Free Festival – 1
10. Conversation Piece (2019 Mix) – 1
11. Regazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (2019 Mix) – 1
12. Space Oddity (Morgan Studios Alt. Take) – 1
13. London Bye, Ta-Ta (Decca Alt. Version) – 1
14. Memory Of A Free Festival (Alt. Album Mix) – 4

Disc 5 – Demos

1. April’s Tooth Of Gold – 1
2. The Reverend Raymond Brown (Attends The Garden Fete On Thatchwick Green) – 1
3. When I’m Five – 1
4. Mother Grey – 1
5. In The Heat Of The Morning – 1
6. Goodbye 3d (Threepenny) Joe – 1
7. Love All Around – 1
8. London Bye, Ta-Ta – 1
9. Angel, Angel, Grubby Face (Version 1) – 1
10. Angel, Angel, Grubby Face (Version 2) – 1
11. Animal Farm – 1
12. Space Oddity (Solo Fragment) – 1
13. Space Oddity (Version 1) – 1
14. Space Oddity (Version 2) – 1
15. Space Oddity (Version 3) – 1
16. Lover To The Dawn – 1
17. Ching-A-Ling – 1
18. An Occasional Dream – 1
19. Let Me Sleep Beside You – 1
20. Life Is A Circus – 1
21. Conversation Piece – 1
22. Jerusalem – 1
23. Hole In The Ground – 1

Disc 6 – Demos & Sessions

1. Memory Of A Free Festival (Harmonium Mix) – 5
2. Space Oddity – 1
3. Janine – 1
4. An Occasional Dream – 1
5. Conversation Piece – 1
6. Ching-A-Ling – 1
7. I’m Not Quite (AKA Letter To Hermione) – 1
8. Lover To The Dawn – 1
9. Love Song – 1
10. When I’m Five – 1
11. Life Is A Circus – 1
12. Space Oddity (Home Demo Version 3 – Unfaded Start) – 4
13. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (Single B-Side – Spoken Intro) – 4
14. Memory Of A Free Festival (Moonage DayDream Mix Edit) – 5
15. Cygnet Committee/Lazarus (Moonage Daydream mix) – 5
16. Space Oddity (Moonage Daydream Mix) – 5

The image I have used for this cover was on the Steve Hoffman forum, but I am afraid I do not know who created it. 

1 – Conversation Piece Box Set

2 – Five Years (1969-1973) Box Set

3 – 1990 Rykodisc Version

4 – Space Oddity 40th Anniversary Edition 

5 – Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film OST

I did not include all of the variations of this album, especially not the RCA CD release form the early 1980s which I have not heard, but it is meant to be terrible. I am sure that there is the odd stray track out there that I did not include as it was most probably hidden on an obscure compilation somewhere. I did decide that the mixes produced for the ‘Moonage Daydream’ film, including s mix between ‘Cygnet Committee’ and ‘Lazarus’ with the later appearing on Bowies final album. It seemed correct to include it here though. Please let me know in the comments if there is any missing tracks. However, this just goes to show what could have been produced if Bowie or his record labels had taken the time and care to produce one of these for the 50th Anniversary back in 2019. A missed opportunity I feel.

The second post this month is another volume of songs tracking the last days of Britpop. Like Volume 1, which was posted last month, this is a selection of B-Sides, single edits and the odd different recording, be it demo or rough mix. All the main players are here along with some recordings but some of the eras also rans. There is also a song from one band called Polarbear who would sell a lot more records when they changed their name to Snow Patrol. 

Side 1

1. Cosmonaut No.7 – Scarfo
2. Step Right Up (Full Version) – Mainstream
3. M.O.R. (Road Version) – Blur
4. Jump or Be Sane – Catatonia
5. Heads High – Don
6. Stay Young – Oasis

Side 2

1. Cardboy King – Salad
2. Filmstar (Orignal Version) – Suede
3. Mary Wana – Nicotines
4. Roadie – The Boo Radleys
5. I’m A Man – Sleeper
6. Stay – 18 Wheeler
7. We Still Ned More (Than  Anyone Can Give) (Dust Brothers Recording) – Supergrass

Side 3

1. Holy Cow – Polarbear
2. Scumbag – Pink Kross
3. Michaela – Pippi & The Butcherbirds
4. The Face Smiles Back Easily – Ocean Colour Scene
5. Fill Me – Elcka
6. Superstar – Superstar
7. Raspberries – Comet Gain

Side 4 

1. Oh Yeah, Baby – Dweeb
2. Let It Lie – Dustball
3. Air Hockey – Bennet
4. Bar Bar Bar (Demo) – Elastica
5. Golden Skin – Silver Sun
6. Times Up – Sussed
7. Tomorrow Never Dies (Rough Mix) – Pulp

As this was produced to be a double LP, this is what the artwork for the gatefold sleeve.

I cannot remember where I found this image, but if it was produced by Double J (who has included their name in Damon Alban’s head), I think you. It is wonderful.

Volume 1 can be found here – https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/various-artists-1997-the-last-days-of-britpop-vol-1/

Something a little different to finish off the month. By 1997, Britpop was burning itself out. The fun and games of the previous three or so years had started to become stale. The main artists of the period were starting to release music that had lost some of its sparkle which could be argued to have been caused by exhaustion/drug problems etc. 

That didn’t stop some quality music from being released. I put this compilation together from songs that I had not used on previous posts this year. Most of the major Britpop acts are included, with some obscure ones added for good measure. There are stand alone singles, single mixes, B-sides and album tracks. As the are the midst of a vinyl revival, I have made this a double LP. 

Side A

1. Hush – Kula Shaker
2. Young Girls & Happy Endings – Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
3. Echo Bass – The Verve
4. Everything Is Sorrow (Granby Remix) – The Boo Radleys
5. Down A Different River – Super Furry Animals

Side B

1. Taxloss (Single Version) – Mansun
2. Nothing Is Changing – Sleeper
3. Hello Monday – Ocean Colour Scene
4. Death Of A Party (7” Remix) – Blur
5. Don’t Need A Gun – The Charlatans
6. Sometimes I Make You Sad – Supergrass

Side C

1. Brimful Of Asha (Album Version) – Cornershop
2. Thickshake – Silver Sun
3. I Am The Mob (Luca Brasi Mix) – Catatonia
4. Stand By Me (French Radio Edit) – Oasis
5. True Love Waits (Full Band) – Radiohead

Side D

1. Free Me (Acoustic) – Cast
2. Where Are They Now – Gene
3. Best Regrets – Geneva
4. Duschess – Suede
5. Laughing Boy – Pulp
6. Come Together – Spiritulized

The artwork comes from BBC Radio 2 show about Britpop. Used Virgin as the record label as they were the ones who produced The Best Album in the World Series of CDs that I bought in the 90s.

Out of all of the bands that could be classed as Britpop, Pulp formed first. Starting out in 1978 (when Tim Wheeler from Ash was about 1 year old), front man Jarvis Cocker has been the only ever present. It took them two years to play a gig and then in 1981, they had recorded a demo tape which the band gave to legendary DJ, John Peel, who duly gave them some exposure with a Peel Session. The original line up disbanded not long after this as most of the members went off to University and, the Peel Session not leading to any success. A new line up was formed and it was then that ‘It’, their first album was recorded and released in 1983. A second album, ‘Freaks’ was released in 1987 but Cocker took a break to study at Central Saint Martin College, putting the band on hiatus. 

By the 1989, Cocker had resurrected the band and they had a deal with Fire Records. It was whilst on that label that the released the ‘My Legendary Girlfriend’ single. This was made weekly music newspaper, the NME’s single of the week. The trajectory of the band started to rise and ‘O.U’ was made single of the week by Melody Maker, an other UK weekly music paper. Signing to Island Records, ‘Lipgloss’ became their first single to break the UK top 40. Parent album, ‘His ’n’ Hers’ broke into the top ten of the LP charts and the band was on its way, finally. 

‘Different Class’ followed soon afterwards but there were some incidents of controversy. There was the single ‘Sorted For E’s & Whizz’ which was said to be pro drugs and the original artwork showed people how to make a paper wrap which was interpreted as a way of hiding drugs. Then there was the 1996 BRIT Awards when Cocker rushed the stage during Michels Jackson’s over the top performance of ‘Earth Song’ for which he ended up spending a night in jail for. None of this seemed to hurt record sales though.

There would  three year gap before their next album was released. ‘This Is Hardcore’ which was darker than the previous two efforts, mostly down to the pressures of fame, Cocker having a cocaine addiction and a lack of new material. The band would record one more album, 2001s ‘We Love Life’ before splitting. There have been a few reunions but none that herded any new music. They did leave quite of a lot of quality music though for us to listen to and this is shown by the amount of top notch B-Sides they produced during the period they were signed to Island Records. For this, the sixth and final B-Sides collection from the major players of Britpop, Pulp are afforded a double album. 

Side A

1. The Babysitter (Do You Remember The First Time)
2. Deep Fried In Kelvin (Lipgloss)
3. You’re A Nightmare (Lipgloss)

Side B

1. Seconds (The Sisters EP)
2. Street Lites (Do You Remember The First Time)
3. Your Sister’s Clothes (The Sisters EP)
4. The Professional (This Is Hardcore)

Side C

1. Ansaphone (Disco 2000)
2. His ’n’ Hers (The Sisters EP)
3. Ladies’ Man (This Is Hardcore)
4. Tomorrow Never Lies (Help The Aged)

Side D

1. We Are The Boys (Party Hard)
2. P.T.A. (Parent Teacher Association) (Mis-Shapes & Sorted For E’s & Wizz)
3. Cocaine Socialism (A Little Soul)
4. Mile End (Something Changed)
5. 59 Lyndhurst Grove – Live (Common People – French Single)

I normally would not include live tracks on B-Sides collections, but this version of ’59 Lyndhurst Grove’ was. It finishes with a nice thank you by Jarvis Cocker and I felt it was a really nice way to finish off. 

I must admit that Moby passed me by for most of the 1990s. I seem to remember the single ‘Go’, but that is about it. I therefore did not know anything about the artist when I picked up the ‘Honey’ single after listening to it on the radio. Even though I did not think much of the remixes, I still liked ‘Honey’. The mix of an old song with a techno beat intrigued me so a few months later when I saw there was an album for sale with ‘Honey’ on it , I picked it up. What I din’t realise at the time was this was this was Moby’s last throw of the dice as far as his music career was concerned. His previous effort, ‘Animal Rights’, had been a commercial disaster and he was contemplating quitting music all together. Some positive feedback from fellow musicians gave him the confidence to at least give music another go.

‘Play’ was released in mid 1999 to little fanfare. It initially sold enough to break into the UK Top 40, but after his fanbase had bought their copies, it slipped down the chart. However, in an attempt to get the music heard, Moby and his management team decided to license the tracks for adverts. In the end, every song from the album was licensed and exposure for the record increased dramatically. In the end, the record would sell over 12 million copies worldwide and eight singles were ultimately released from it. The album was so popular that in 2000, a compilation album was released called ‘Play: The B-Sides’. This also sold in good numbers but was not a comprehensive set as it did not contain any remixes. Moby recorded so much material in preparation for ‘Play’ that a bootleg came out not long after this called ‘Play: The Outtakes’. 

One of the features of the album of the numerous styles that were incorporated into it. There are the aforementioned techno and blues. However, there was electronica, downtempo, ambient, breakbeat and roots. As successful as this album was, it was also quite schizophrenic. What I looked to do here is repackage these records with more of a theme.

The first disc is called ‘Natural Blues’ and contains songs that sampled blues and roots music. The second is ‘Bodyrock’ which contains more big beat and techno tracks. The third is a reimagining of the album which took out the more uptempo numbers to be replaced by something more ambient.  

Natural Blues

Side A

1. Honey – Play
2. Find My Baby – Play
3. Flower – B-Side (Find My Baby)
4. Run On – Play

Side B

1. Natural Blues – Play
2. Flying Foxes – B-Side (Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad)
3. Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad – Play

The cover was used for the ‘Natural Blues’ single. 

Bodyrock

Side A

1. Bodyrock – Play
2. Machette – Play
3. 7 – Play

Side B

1. Flying Over The Dateline – B-Side (Porcelain) 
2. Running – B-Side (Run On)

The cover was used for the ’Bodyrock’ single.

Play

Took out the more upbeat numbers to make something a bit more mellow.

Side A

1. Dispatched – Play: The Outtakes
2. If Things Were Perfect – Play
3. Porcelain – Play
4. South Side – Play
5. The Sun Never Stops Setting – B-Side (Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad)

Side B

1. Everlong – Play
2. Inside – Play
3. Graciosa – Play: The Outtakes
4. Rushing – Play

Side C

1. The Whispering Wind – B-Side (Natural Blues)
2. The Sky Is Broken – Play
3. Summer – B-Side
4. Sown Slow – Play

Side D

1. Guitar, Flute & String – Play
2. Deep Seated – Play: The Outtakes
3. Memorial Gospel – B-Side (Run On)
4. My Weakness – Play

The cover is the same as the one used for ‘Play’

This reimagining of ‘Play’ could not be recreated on Spotify as a number of these treks come from the Outtakes bootleg. 

Just because I have been looking at lots of music from the Britpop era this year doesn’t mean there isn’t room for one of the bands that were an inspiration for good number of the musicians during that era. That band is The Beatles and today is also the 55th anniversary of ‘Abbey Road’.

This post could easily have been title ‘The Beatles in 1969’. As it is, this this one was a case of having some album artwork but not having an album to go with it. That is because back in December of 2023, I posted a fake album of ‘Almost Beatles Songs’ (https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/elvis-orbison-almost-beatle-songs/) which was made up of recordings of the songs The Beatles worked on during the Get Back/Let Ot Be sessions that weren’t taken forward by the band. In most cases, they weren’t even taken forward by them when their solo careers started. I talk about the ‘Get Back’ sessions back in November 2021 (and you can read that post here – https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/the-beatles-the-get-back-box-set/) so I will not cover old ground here. However, the people behind Almost Beatle Songs produced a number of other tracks that I did not include on my previous post and I was wondering if there was enough material to make up a second release. Well, at the

is time, not quite. 

Anyway, one of the tunes I did not use was an instrumental called l ‘The Palace Of The King Of The Birds’. Brought to the sessions by Paul McCartney, it was attempted three times but was all but forgotten until McCartney used parts of it as one of the songs for his unreleased ‘Rupert The Bear’ album. To me, it sounded like it could have been used as the title for the second ‘Almost Beatles Songs’ LP so I made up a sleeve. How could I use this sleeve for something Beatle related? Well, I came up with a playlist but the title just didn’t fit with the artwork, nor the concept of the album, It also sounded like something that would have been released during the height of the psychedelia and that were over by 1969 which is when all of the songs I was working with came out. So, I changed the name of the album to ’Everest’, which was a working title for the ‘Abbey Road’ record. 

Well, I was playing through ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘Let It Be’ again and wondered what it would sound like if I made up an album combining songs from both projects to make a solid LP with accompanying singles. Well, The Beatles could have done this themselves if they had chosen to. It was not set in stone that they needed to release the material recorded for what would become ‘Let It Be’ as its own entity. What they did have from ‘Let Let Be’ were some really good songs, mostly by Paul McCartney  (even though to this day, I cannot stand ‘The Long & Winding Road’). Lennon was working his way through a heroin addiction and had not been focused on writing new material. He did have some good material in the works, which was shown in the ‘Get Back’ documentary from 2021 but these were put to one side for the songs we eventually got. Harrison had plenty of good songs at this time but was reluctant to bring them to the band as he felt (justifiably) that Lennon and especially McCartney were not giving his efforts the respect they deserved. Starr had a couple of ideas but judging from the footage in the ‘Get Back’ documentary, he did not push those for inclusion. 

‘Abbey Road’ is more cohesive LP with some absolutely great songs and is the only Beatles album I can listen to without wanting to skip any of the songs. Yes, I can listen to ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ all the way through (even though I did not include it here as there were far superior songs to be added). I played through both albums and the difference in productions styles of ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘Let It Be’ did not gel in the way I wanted them to. Even with Phil Spector’s production covering over some of the bum notes, the interspersing of banter between songs did not go with the aesthetic I was looking for. However, ‘Let it Be…Naked’ did. That was because of the use of some digital corrections, different takes and production make this sound more like a finished album than the original ‘Let It Be’.

Out of the songs from the ‘Let It Be’ sessions, I picked for the album ‘Two of Us’, I’ve Got A Feeling’ and ‘Let It Be’ for the LP. ‘Get Back’ and ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ would stay as the stand alone single it was back in April 1969. Originally I did have the ‘Let It Be…Naked’ version of ‘Get Back’ on here but it meat that there would be only one song by Harrison so it was jettisoned, especially as it was represented by the single version. 

I was close to keeping the double A-Side configuration of ‘Come Together’ and ‘Something’ as a single, but keep them off of the parent album. One of the greatest combinations of songs for a single, I feel that sales were hurt (in the UK) as this single was released after the ‘Abbey Road’ LP and I believe this prevented it from becoming a number 1 hit there. It didn’t stop it from becoming a number 1 in the USA though. ‘Come Together’ would still be a single A-Side in this alternative universe release, but backed with ‘For You Blue’ from the ‘Let It Be ‘ sessions. ‘Something’ would be kept back as the second song for the LP. This reconstruction also does away with the majority of the songs that would become the long medley. I like the medley but there just wasn’t enough room for it all here so I cut it at ‘Sun King’. 

I did have to make one slight adjustment to ‘Sun King’. As this was part of the Side B melody on the original ‘Abbey Road’ album, the song does stop quite abruptly as it went into the drum beat that started ‘Mean Mr Mustard’. I just added a quick fade to soften the abruptness of the original cut.  As it is, the transition between songs is not as smooth as it was for the rest of the LP. As a little bonus, and to make up for the fact that side two was a little shorter than side 1, I added the ‘Get Back (Reprise)’ from the aborted ‘Get Back’ Album. ‘The Ballad Of John & Yoko’ single has been added to the playlist as it came out between the two singles I have talked about here and fits with The Beatles in 1969 vibe. 

Side A

1. Two Of Us
2. Something
3. I’ve Got A Feeling
4. Octopus Garden
5. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)

Side B

1. Here Comes The Sun
2. Because
3. Oh! Darling
4. You Never Give Me Your Money
5. Sun King
6. Let It Be
7. Get Back (Reprise)

Singles

1. Get Back (Single Version)
2. Don’t Let Me Down

1. The Ballad of John & Yoko
2. Old Brown Shoe

1. Let It Be
2. For You Blue

In then end, I did not use the cover I originally was going to use as it was bit too psych for 1969, so I went with one that I believe was used on a bootleg for the ‘Abbey Road’ sessions. The band did put forward the idea of having their picture taken at Mount Everest, but logic stepped in and they just went outside the studio and walked across the road. 

I did say at the beginning of this year that it would be focused on Britpop releases with the occasional anniversary fantasy box set thrown in for good measure, but Beck was an artist I was listening to during this time so it felt right to include him here. 

I first heard of Beck whilst watching his debut UK television performance on legendary British music show, ‘Top Of The Pops’. I didn’t know what to make of the performance as I have never been a fan of rapping, and the band seems to be made up of very old men miming quite badly. I then saw a review for his ‘Mellow Gold’ in another British music institution that has now gone to the nostalgia bin in the form of Q Magazine. The review gave it five out of five, something you did not see very often. I was feeling flush that week so ‘Mellow Gold’ was purchased. It was like nothing I had heard before and even though ‘Loser’ had the potential to be a one hit wonder, there was enough in the grooves for me to become very interested in what this guy was going to do next. 

What I didn’t realise is that he was going to to quite a lot, and had already done quite a bit already. Beck had been recording in one form or another since the late 80s with some now impossible to find low-fi cassette albums. These were never going to be on my radar, as they were only ever available in the USA and 1994 was essentially the age before the internet, so I did not find out about these releases until much later. What I did have was The Record Shop in Kingston Upon Thames. The haven for vinyl releases in the vinyl desert that was the mid 90s’. If you wanted something rare, and more importantly in this case, imported from abroad, that was the place to get it. I may well have bought ‘Mellow Gold’ there in the first place. Anyway, I digress. 

Going back a few weeks after first playing ‘Mellow Gold’, I found that the Beck section had a 10” Beck record in it called ‘A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight’. It even came with a limited edition finger painting, which was nothing to shout about but this was only available with the initial run. Whereas ‘Mellow Gold’ was recorded with what sounded like a budget (all be it a small one), ‘A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight’ sounded as if the money for its production had been spent having a good time before hand. It was full of curious sound experiments, a tune that sounded as though he was plonking around on a guitar and playing around with the drum machine settings on a cheap Casio keyboard. There was the odd song in there, but this was one for the completist. 

I then found out that he had released another album just before ‘Mellow Gold’ called ‘Stereopathetic Soulmaure’. I thought I would give that a go and found that this was in a similar vein to ‘A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight’ more noise experiments, home and live recordings. There even recordings made out on the street with guest performers. ‘Stereopathetic Soulmanure’ did have more in the way of songs on it, some of which showed a strong country influence. The song ‘Rowboat’ has some lovely pedal steel playing in it and is possibly the best of Beck’s early songs. There was another album released before ‘Mellow Gold’ called ‘Golden Feelings’ but I have never seen a copy for sale for anything other than a staggeringly high price on line. 

Beck was able to release these low-fi experimental albums because his label, which had released ‘Mellow Gold’ allowed him to do so. Great for the collector, but so much if you wanted a record that could be considered song based. Coming back to these records many years later, I wondered what would have happened if the more songs based tunes were released on their own without the more experimental efforts and so we have my version of ‘A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight’. 

‘Aphid Manure Heist’ has been edited so that is just the violin intro, as I didn’t like the second section and this also meant that the run times would match up more evenly as this would be another of my what-if albums that would have been released on a 12” LP. It is still quite short for an LP and still has flashes of experimentation and is not exactly commercial, but it holds together. 

Side A

1. Totally Confused – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
2. Thunder Peel – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
3. Modesto – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
4. Today Has Been A Fucked Up Day – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
5. The Spirit Moves Me – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
6. No Money No Honey – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
7. One Foot In The Grave – Stereopathetic Soulmanure

Side B

1. Aphid Manure Heist (Edit) – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
2. Crystal Clear (Beer) – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
3. Rowboat – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
4. Puttin’ It Down – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
5. Getting’ Home – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
6. Pinefresh – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
7. Satan Gave Me A Taco – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
8. Feel Like A Piece Of Shit (Cheetos Time!) – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
9. Ken (Hidden Track) – Stereopathetic Soulmanure

I could have used the more experimental efforts from these two albums and they could have been released as a companion piece called ‘Stereopathetic Soulmanure’ That is a project for another day, or even for somebody else.