Author: The Squire

The history of music is full of stories of musicians being badly treated by the industry, but arguably the most infamous case is that of Badfinger. Originally hailing from Swansea in South Wales, the band went by a few names before settling on The Iveys, named after Ivey Place, a street in their home town. In mid 1966, the band moved to London and started to make a name for themselves on the live circuit. They also converted a room in their shared house in Golders Green into a makeshift studio. This allowed the band to produce a number of demo recordings. Record labels started to show some interest and Ray Davies of The Kinks produced some demos. 

In early 1968, Mal Evans and Peter Asher from Apple Records saw the band at The Marquee Club and this would lead to the band not only securing a recording contract but a publishing deal. The band had a massive backlog of songs that they had demoed as all four members were writers. Over the next twelve months, the band would spend time in the recording studio preparing songs for a debut album. Before 1968 had finished, the band had released their first single. ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ was one of the first UK productions by Tony Visconti and even though Paul McCartney felt sure that the song would be a hit, it failed to make any impression on the UK charts and only managed to reach 67 in the USA. It was more successful in other countries, being number 1 in the Netherlands as well as being a major hit in a few countries in continental Europe and Japan. 

‘Dear Angie’ was selected as the second single and was scheduled to come out on the same day as the parent album, also called ‘Maybe Tomorrow’. Another song by the band was included on an EP from the Apple Records promoting Walls Ice Cream. Things were looking up, but then Allen Klein took over the running of Apple Corps. Apple Corps were haemorrhaging money and Klein was brought in to offer financial as well managerial stability. What this meant though was that the album The Iveys were working on was only released where ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ had been a hit. 

Bass player Ron Griffiths complained in an interview with a music magazine about the band feeling that they were being neglected by Apple. Paul McCartney saw this and offered the band the song ‘Come & Get It’. McCartney had been commissioned to write some songs for the soundtrack of a film called ‘The Magic Christian’. McCartney decided to fulfil this commission by producing two songs The Iveys had written. These songs were ‘Carry On To Tomorrow’ and ‘Rock Of Ages’. 

It was also at this point that the band decided that they needed a change of name. The Iveys sounded a little old fashioned for the time and was quite close to another band, The Ivy League. Numerous names were suggested but they decided to use Badfinger, based on ‘Badfinger Boogie’ which was the working title of The Beatles ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’. 

With a change in the name also came with a change in the lineup. Ron Griffiths was dismissed from the band. Being the only married member of the group and had also recently become a father created some friction with the other members. Guitar player Tom Evans convinced the rest of the group that Griffiths was not one of the boys anymore and a replacement was sought. Guitarist Joey Molland was hired and Evans moved to bass. ‘Come & Get It’ was a major in the US and UK and the band continued to produce quality power pop records for the next five years. This would include writing the song ‘Without You’ which was a massive hit for Harry Nilsson, as well as Mariah Carey. 

The tragic story of what happened to Badfinger is one for another day. This is a box set dedicated to their earlier incarnation as The Iveys. This includes the original album as well as numerous demos, alternative versions and even recording they made under other names. These are The Pleasure Garden and the song Permissive Paradise. This was released on the flip of an obscure flexi single where the A-Side looks a ‘Young London’ as seen though the eyes of DJ Emperor Rosko & Jonathan King. The other is where they were the backing band for the David Garrick LP, ‘Blow Up Live’. On that album, they are known as The Dandy. Well, the internet says they were The Dandy but there isn’t a lot of evidence for this but I included it here anyway. 

Disc 1 – Orignal Album & Mono Mixes

1. See-Saw, Granpa
2. Beautiful & Blue
3. Dear Angie
4. Think About The Good Times
5. Yesterday Ain’t Coming Back
6. Fisherman
7. Maybe Tomorrow
8. Sali Bloo
9. Angelique
10. I’m In Love
11. They’re Knocking Down Our Home
12. I’ve Been Waiting
13. Maybe Tomorrow (Mono)
14. And Her Daddy’s A Millionaire (Mono)
15. Dear Angie (Mono)
16. No Escaping Your Love (Mono)
17. Storm In A Teacup (Mono)
18. See-Saw, Grandpa (Mono)
19. Think About The Good Times (Mono)
20. Yesterday Ain’t Coming Back (Mono)
21. Sali Bloo (Mono Mix with Was Way Intro)
22. Maybe Tomorrow (US Mono Mix)

Disc 2 – Sessions & Alternative Versions

1. And Her Daddy’s A Millionaire (Drum Count In)
2. Storm In A Teacup (Stero)
3. Maybe Tomorrow*
4. Sali Bloo**
5. No Escaping Your Love (Drum Count In)
6. Arthur (Drum Count In)
7. Looking For My Baby
8. Fisherman (Intro Edited)
9. And Her Daddy’s A Millionaire (Stereo Remix)
10. No Escape (No Drum Intro)
11. Mrs Jones
12. I’ve Been Waiting (Unedited Stereo Remix)
13. Clown Of The Party
14. Carry On ‘Till Tomorrow***
15. Crimson Ship***
16. Give It A Try***
17. Midnight Sun***
18. And Her Daddy’s A Millionaire (Alternative Version)

**When the ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ album was re-released on CD, the stereo channels had been reversed on this song (for reasons unknown)

*** When the ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ album was re-released on CD, ‘Salt Bloo’ had the wah-wah into edited (for reasons unknown)

***All of these songs were included on the first Badfinger album ‘Magic Christian Music’. However, each of these songs were cut to acetate with The Iveys name on them. These are included here for completeness. 

Disc 3 – Demos

All are band demos unless noted

1. Take Good Care Of My Baby
2. And I Love Her
3. Walk Out In The Rain
4. Taxi
5. Black & White Rainbows
6. Tomorrow’s Today
7. Mr. Strangeways
8. Maybe Tomorrow
9. I’ve Been There Once Before
10. Man Without A Heart
11. I Believe In You Girl (Version 1)
12. She Came Out Of The Cold (Version 1)
13. The Girl Next Door In A Mini-Skirt (Faded Ending)
14. They’re Knocking Down Our Home (Pete Demo)
15. I’m In Love (Pete Demo)
16. Black & White Rainbows (Pete Demo)
17. Mrs. Jones (Pete Demo)
18. I’ve Been There Once Before (Pete Demo)
19. The Leaves (Version 1) 
20. The Leaves (Version 2)
21. The Leaves (Version 3)
22. The Leaves (Version 4)
23. The Leaves (Version 5)
24. The Leaves (Version 6)
25. Untitled Guitar Demo
26. Words Without You
27. Bingo Comment (Hidden track)

Disc 4 – Radio Sessions & Demos

1. Surrender (Radio Session)
2. Proud Mary (Radio Session)
3. Maybe Tomorrow (Radio Session)
4. Harmonising
5. Man Without A Heart
6. The Girl Next Door In A Mien-Skirt (Unfaded Ending)
7. Turn On Your Lovin’ Mood
8. It Takes So Long
9. Handsome Malcolm (Practise)
10. Handsome Malcolm
11. Hey Baby
12. Mr. Strangeways
13. I’ll Kiss You Goodnight
14. Sausage & Eggs
15. Another Day
16. I Believe in You Girl (Version 2)
17. Love Hurts
18. For My Sympathy
19. How Does It Feel
20. Bittersweet Adieu
21. I’m Too Shy
22. Tube Train
23. She Cam Out Of The Cold (Version 2)
24. Untitled Instrumental
25. Stay By Me
26. Christmas Flexi

Disc 5 – Pseudonyms 

1. See See Rider
2. Mr. Pleasant
3. Words
4. Simon Said
5. If I Were A Carpenter
6. Medley
   • Rainbow
   • Please Mr. Moving Man
   • Lady Jane
   • Dear Mr’s Applebee’s
7. River Deep Mountain High
8. Dandy
9. Gimme Little Sign
10. Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
11. World
12. Bend Me Shape Me
13. Permissive Paradise

Disc 6 – Live At The Empire, Neath (7th June 1966)

1. Keep On Running
2. My Babe
3. Youngblood
4. Love Hurts
5. Buzz With The Fuzz
6. Hey, Girl
7. Crocodile Walk
8. Crawling Up A Hill
9. Daddy Rolling Stone
10. The Fool
11. Tell Me What You’re Gonna Do
12. Stupidity
13. It’s All Right
14. I Go Crazy
15. Sitting On My Sofa
16. See Saw
17. I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself
18. Keep A Driving
19. Everything Is Gonna Be Alright
20. What Kind Of Boy
21. Keep On Running

Disc 7 – Live At The Thingamajig Club, Reading (6th September 1968)

1. Walk Away Renee
2. So You Want To Be A Rock ’N’ Roll Star
3. River Deep, Mountain High
4. Crawling Up A Hill
5. Respect
6. N.S.U.
7. Summertime Blues
8. 634-5789
9. Long Tall Sally
10. Purple Haze
11. Stone Free
12. Storm In A Teacup
13. Release Me
14. Hide Away
15. No Escaping Your Love
16. Lady Madonna
17. When Will I Be Loved
18. The Letter
19. And Her Daddy’s A Millionaire
20. It Ain’t Necessarily So/Summertime
21. Needle In A Haystack
22. I Thank You

The cover is the same as the 1968 album

Peter Ham recorded a lot of demos during his life time, and many have been released down the years. However, this might not be a complete collection of the ones recorded during the time when the band were called The Iveys as the collection of these demo recordings do not give dates of when they were recorded.  

I took a couple months off between SP releases but I now present an alternative version of their most successful and some might say, overblown album. Well, in their first phase anyway.

Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness was a true double album for the CD age with around a hours worth of music on each disc. There was so much music that the limited edition vinyl release of this album back in 1995 were a triple set. I was quite surprised see this get a vinyl release back int he day as I was relying informed by my friends that vinyl was dead. Needless to say, the LP was a sound investment if I was ever tempted to sell it.

Anyway, Corgan brought so many songs to the sessions that a box set of the singles was released which contained around 30 fully recorded songs, very few of which was filler.  He was most defiantly on a hot streak here.

New co-producers in the form of Alan Moulder and Flood came on board and new working practises were adopted. The included working more together as a band by rehearsing together before they went into the studio. Time was set aside for jamming as well as James Iha and D’arcy Wretazky given more of an opportunity to contribute musically to the album. This was also the first album where Iha was given some space to include a couple of his songs he written by himself instead of in collaboration with Corgan. More would be included on the singles as B-Sides. The album was a massive seller, shipping over 5 million unites in the USA alone. It did beg the question though, where could the band go next?

This reconstruction of ‘Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness’ does not quite follow the original vinyl because some of the sides would be too long for the record to sound any good due to the grooves being too close together. Looking at vinyl double albums in my collection, most run between 70 and 90 odd minutes, but this one went on for a mind blowing 121 (CD & cassette) and 128 minutes (for the original 1995 vinyl release). It fully utilised the time afforded with a CD. With traditional vinyl, that would a be triple and so it proved with the 1995 vinyl release doing just that. The band included two bonus tracks not included on the CD version to make up the time as well.

I do have one question about this LP and it is, was this the only triple album of new music released in the 1990s? I would love someone to confirm that. The only other triples vinyls I can think of from the decade were The Beatles ‘Anthology’ LPs’.

Side A

1. Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness – Home Piano Demo (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
2. Tonight, Tonight – Band Version, No Strings (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
3. Thirty-Three – Badlands Demo (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
4. In The Arms Of Sleep – Early Love Demo (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
5. Take Me Down – Instrumental Mix (The Aeroplane Flies High Deluxe)

Side B

1. Jellybelly – Instrumental Pit Mix 3 (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
2. Bodies – Live In Philadelphia 1996 – The Aeroplane Flies High Deluxe
3. To Forgive – Sadlands Demo (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
4. Here Is No Why – Pumpkinland Demo (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
5. Porcelina Of The Vast Ocean – Live Studio Rough (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)

Side C

1. Bullet With Butterfly Wings – Sadlands Demo (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
2. Thru The Eyes Of Ruby – Acoustic Version (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
3. Muzzle – Live At Rockpalast 1996 (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
4. Galapogos – Double Door Rehearsal (The Aeroplane Flies High Deluxe)
5. Tales Of A Scorched Earth – Instrumental Pit Mix 3 (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)

Side D

1. 1979 – Acoustic Mix (The Aeroplane Flies High Deluxe)
2. Beautiful – Loop Version (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
3. Cupid De Locke – BT 2012 Mix (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
4. By Starlight – Double Door Rehearsal (The Aeroplane Flies High Deluxe)
5. We Only Come Out At Night – Live Roskide Festival 1997 – (Exit Mellon Collie – Bootleg)

Side E

1. Where Boys Fear To Tread – Live Cleveland 1996 (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
2. Zero – Synth Mix (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
3. Fuck you (An Ode To No One) – Production Master Rough (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
4. Love – Flood Rough Mix (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
5. X.Y.U. – Take 11 (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)

Side F

1. Stumbleine – Live Chicago 1995 (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
2. Lily (My One & Only) – Double Door Rehearsal (The Aeroplane Flies High Deluxe)
3. Tonight, Tonight – String Mix (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
4. Goodnight – Basic Vocal Rough (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)
5. Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness – Nighttime Version 1 (Mellon Collie & Infinite Sadness Deluxe)

After completing a second volume of the compilation ‘Caught Beneath The Landslide’, I found that I have music left over to make a third volume. 

So here we have another four disc set of tracks from Britpop big hitters, second division acts and a section of songs from bands who were part of the scene but their records weren’t successful at the time, or any time for that matter. 

Disc 1

1. The Living Dead (Piano Version) – Suede
2. Information Man – The Farm
3. Her Jazz – Huge Bear
4. Feel The Pain – Dinosaur Jr.
5. Punk Boy – Ash
6. Wembley – The Candyskins
7. French Disko – Stereolab
8. Cat’s Chorus – Lush
9. Planet In The Ocean – Salad
10. Modern History (Acoustic) – The Auterus
11. Blue (US Mix) – The Verve
12. Lewis (Mistreated) – Radiohead
13. Time Baby III – Medicine
14. Teenage Emergency – Flamingoes
15. Happy Day – Blink
16. You’re Always Right – These Animal Men
17. Zoo’d Out – Strangelove
18. Snakedriver – The Jesus & Mary Chain
19. It’s A Fire – Portishead
20. Big Nurse – Sleeper
21. Take Me Away – Oasis
22. Sunshine Smile – Adorable
23. Even When Your Eyes Are Open – Leviathon

Disc 2

1. Addicted To A.T.V. – The High Fidelity
2. Shut Up – The Sweeney
3. The Joy Of Living – Blueboy
4. Mr. Appointment – Shack
5. Under Canvas Wraps – The Delgados
6. Checking In, Checking Out – The High Llamas
7. Whirlpool (1995 Version) – BMX Bandits
8. Hypersonic – Fluffy
9. Cleopatra – Elastica
10. Brains – Nut
11. Sleep – Marion
12. Steve Austin – Sexlovebusterbaby
13. Delicious – Shampoo
14. Firebox – Lick
15. The Young Own The Town – Soda
16. I Suppose – Puresence
17. Look At You Now – Elcka
18. Don’t Say You’re Sorry – Blameless
19. Being Brave – Menswear
20. 6am Jullander Shere – Cornershop
21. An Open Letter To The Lyrical Transporter – Mansun

Disc 3

1. Egotripper – The Kind
2. Wake Up America – Poppyheads
3. Mum’s Gone To Iceland – Bennett
4. No Bell At Bognor – Twister
5. Mermaid – Posh
6. Ginger – David Devant & His Spirit Wife
7. We Love You – Subcircus
8. Get Out Of Cities – Blur
9. I Can’t Make it – Dodgy
10. Vote You – The Boo Radleys
11. Summer Smash – Denim
12. Chill Out – Pa Skinny
13. One In A Million – Sussed
14. Polly’s Domain – Coast 
15. Ever – Descent
16. 1962 – Grass Show
17. Punka – Kenickie
18. Dance Of The Bad Angel (Archive Mix) – Booth & The Bad Angel
19. Keep The Light On – Geneva
20. Since – Mercedes
21. Huckleberry Grove – Ocean Colour Scene
22. Adrenalina – Octopus
23. 24 – The Hybrids

Disc 4

1. Theme From Dweeb – Dweeb
2. First Foot – Po!
3. Somebody’s Follow Me – Speedomatic
4. Four Skinny Indie Kids – Half Man Half Biscuit
5. (Never Be A) Milksop – Ricky Spontane
6. Fat Neck – Black Grape
7. Torra Fy Ngwallt Yn Hir – Super Furry Animals
8. That’s Why We Lose Control – The Young Offenders
9. Lava – Silver Sun
10. Long Live The UK Music Scene – Helen Love
11. Drive In – Catch
12. Govinda, Hari & St. George – Kula Shaker
13. Something To Tell Her – Topper
14. Ciao – Lodger
15. Fantastic Legs – The Yummy Fur
16. Tiny Meat (Original Version) – Ruby
17. Beatnik Girl – Snug
18. Grease – 18 Wheeler
19. You Make Me Want To Scream – The Dandy
20. Liar – Pullover
21. Come & Go – Astral
22. Bad Old Man – Babybird
23. Rolled On Southern Blues – Mainstream
24. Hanging Around – Me Me Me

The front cover is similar to Volume 1 with different bands added. The cover stars are as follows. 

Top row (l to r) – Ocean Colour Scene, Dodgy, Stereolab

Middle row (l to r) – Kula Shaker, Silver Sun, Booth & the Bad Angel

Bottom row (l to r) – BMX Bandits, Mansun, Radiohead

Volume 2 can be found at this link. – https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/various-artists-caught-beneath-the-landslide-volume-2/

Now this was a compilation I really enjoyed putting together. All bands/artists start somewhere before making it, so I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the earliest releases by a number of the more well known bands that have graced some of the compilations I have posted this month. What was most interesting for me was how long some of the bands were plying their trade before finding success. Pulp being the most extreme by taken the best part of a decade. 

Side 1

1. It’s Not True – The Wonder Stuff
2. Who Wants to Know – The Charlatans
3. I Know (Single Version) – Blur
4. You Can – Catatonia
5. Sway (12” Mix) – Ocean Colour Scene
6. The Last Days Of Winter – The Levellers

Disc 2

1. It Happens – Primal Scream
2. What’s The World – James
3. Oasis – Happy Mondays
4. Art – Suede
5. Strange Ones (Backbeat Version) – Supergrass
6. Same Old Story – The Farm
7. Here It Comes – The Stone Roses

Side 3

1. Give Me Less Time – Inspired Carpets
2. Everybody’s Problem – Blur
3. Heaven Can Wait – Salad
4. Quite Content – The Soup Dragons
5. Seance Sight – Lush
6. Seems Like A Bad Day – Dodgy
7. Endless – The La’s

Side 4

1. Walking 5th Carnival – The Boo Radleys
2. Columbia (White Label Demo) – Oasis
3. One Way To Go – The Verve
4. The Waning Moon – The Mock Turtles

It’s Not True – The Wonder Stuff – First song on their first EP (called ‘A Wonderful Day’), from 1986. 

Who Wants to Know – The Charlatans – Second of the two B-Sides issued with their debut single from 1990. The A-Side was called ‘Indian Rope’. 

I Know (Single Version) – Blur – B-Side of their debut single from 1990. This is the shorter version of the song which was initially only available on the 7’ single. The A-Side was ‘She’s So High’. 

You Can – Catatonia – B-Side of the their debut single from 1994. The A-Side was called ‘Whale’.

Sway (12” Mix) – Ocean Colour Scene – ‘Sway’ was the A-Side of the bands debut single. This was the longer version that was released on the 12” version of that single. Released in 1990. 

The Last Days Of Winter – The Levellers – The opening song on the bands debut release, a cassette EP called ‘All The Free Commons of England’ from 1988. 

It Happens – Primal Scream – The B-Side of their debuts single from 1985. The A-Side was called ‘All Fall Down’. 

What’s The World – James – The B-Side of the bands debut EP called ‘Jimone’ from 1983. This was the first of two B-Sides included on that release. 

Oasis – Happy Mondays – The second of two B-Sides from the bands first EP from 1985. The EP was called ‘Forty-Five EP’. This song was not the inspiration for the band of the same name. 

Art – Suede – The only song on this compilation to not be officially released, now or then. It got as far as a white label stage in 1989 but was rejected by the band as they were dissatisfied with it. The line up was included both Justine Freshman and Justin Welch who would later form the band Elastica. ‘Art’ was the B-Side of this release with ‘Be My God’ on the other. If this fantasy compilation release were to ever happen, to have a genuine rarity like this included would be a necessity. 

Strange Ones (Backbeat Version) – Supergrass – The B-Side of their debut single from 1994. Re-rerecorded once the band had signed for Parlophone. The A-Side was ‘Caught By The Fizz’. I could have included a song by The Jennifers, as two members of Supergrass were in that band. However, I did not as I covered them for my fantasy Record Store Release back in April https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/rsd-special-the-jennifers-the-complete-recordings/.

Same Old Story – The Farm – The fourth song on their debut EP, called ‘Hearts & Minds’  from 1989

Here It Comes – The Stone Roses – This was the B-Side of the ‘Sally Cinnamon’ single, released in 1987.

Give Me Less Time – Inspiral Carpets – Inspiral carpets released two albums worth of songs on a couple of cassettes in 1987. Some of the songs were re-recorded for later records but this song was not (as far as I can tell), even though it did appear on a couple of cassette collections of demos in the same year.  

Everybody’s Problem – Pulp – This was the bands second single, but unlike the first, this was a non album release. This was the A-Side and was released in 1983. 

Heaven Can Wait – Salad – The third song on their debut EP called ‘Kent’ from 1993. 

Quite Content – The Soup Dragons – The first song on their debut EP, ‘The Sun Is In The Sky’ from 1986.

Second Sight – Lush – Taken from their Mini LP, ‘Scar’, released in 1989. What was surprising is that the mini album came out before their released any singles. 

Seems Like A Bad Day – Dodgy – The B-Side to the second single, released in 1991. The A-Side was called ‘Easy Way’.

Endless – The La’s – The B-Side to the debut single, released in 1987. The A-Side was called ‘Way Out’. 

Walking 5th Carnival – The Boo Radleys – This was the sixth song on their debut LP, released in 1990. Like Lush, they released an album before they had released a single. 

Columbia (White Label Demo) – Oasis – Released in 1993 as a single-sided white label as a way of introducing the band to the world. 

One Way To Go – The Verve – The B-Side of their debut single from 1992. The A-Side was ‘All In The Mind’. 

The Waning Moon – The Mock Turtles – The fourth song on their debut EP. Called ‘Pomona’ and it was released in 1987. 

The cover is from the Twitter (or X, or whatever Elon Musk wants to call it this week) account of Images That Could Be Album Covers (@imagesalbum)

Oasis, like Suede, were well known for the quality of their early B-Sides. Therefore, it would have been a no briner to complete one, but someone got there first. Namely, the band themselves when they put out ‘The Masterplan’ in 1998

Unlike Suede, a key member did not leave early on to act as a convenient cut off point for a new collection so I couldn’t replicate the method I used to compile the ‘Sci-Fi Lullabies’ idea from back in February. I therefore took a slightly different angle for this entry as Oasis did sneak a few cover versions on to their B- Sides So here they are compiled, with one live track from the ‘Familiar To Millions’ LP. 

Side A

1. Street Fighting Man (Rolling Stones) – All Around The World (1998)
2. Within You, Without You (The Beatles) – BBC Sgt Pepper 40th Anniversary Tribute (2007)
3. Hey Hey, My My Into The Black (Neil Young) – Familiar To Millions (2000)
4. My Generation (The Who) – Little By Little (2002)
5. Cum On Feel The Noize (Slade) – Don;t Look Back In Anger (1996)

Side B

1. Helter Skelter (The Beatles) – Who Feels Love? (2000)
2. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (The Beatles) – Some Might Say Japanese CD (1995)
3. Heroes (David Bowie) – D’You Know What I Mean? (1997)
4. I Am The Walrus (The Beatles) – Cigarettes & Alcohol (1994)

Bonus 12”

This includes their cover of the classic Slade Christmas song. The second side is a BBC interview with Noel Gallagher talking about the recording process for Within’ You, Without You. 

A. Merry Christmas Everyone

B. Within You, Without You (Recording Process) 

‘Heroes’ is not only one of the covers on here, it serves as a pretty apt title because these songs come from artists that inspired Noel Gallagher. The cover comes from imgur user LisaBerglund. 

Ash were official formed in 1992 but two of the members had been playing in an Iron Maiden covers band for the precious three years. After recording some demos and releasing these on cassettes (remember them folks), one of these, ‘Garage Girl’, caught the attention of Stephen Taverner. Taverner put up the money press up 1000 7” records of ‘Jack Names The Planet’s on his own LaLaLand records label whilst becoming the bands manager. What needs to be remembered here is that the members of Ash were so young during these early years that they were still in school. 

The band gained some momentum and airplay when in 1994, they released the mini album ‘Trailer’. Steve Lamacq played some of these songs on his BBC Radio 1 show. American audiences become aware of the band after their song ‘Kung Fu’ was used in the closing credits of the Jackie Chan film, ‘Rumble In The Bronx’. After touring the USA in support of Weezer, the band felt that they needed another guitar player to help flesh out the sound whilst they played live. Charlotte Hatherley (previously of Nightnurse) joined and her first recorded contribution to the band was on their single from the film ‘A Life Less Ordinary’. 

The early singles and album of the band were more upbeat than what came on their second LP and subsequent singles which had a good deal more garage rock influences. The ‘Numbskull’ single included a number of cover versions of grunge acts as well, no doubt showing the influences of the band but it could be argued that these were needed because main songwriter Tim Wheeler was suffering from writers block. The second album gained mix reviews from critics and Wheeler went into an 18 month depression which he eventually come out form after moving back to his parent house in Northern Ireland to focus on writing. 

The band continue to record and play live to this day, even though Charlotte Hatherley left in 2006. This continuation of my series of B-Sides compilations comes in two parts. I liked the covers the band did because instead of doing straight covers, they tried to do something a little different, especially on ‘Give Me Some Truth’. Both of these compilations cover the classic Britpop period of 1994-8 with a couple of songs that were released in 1999 for good measure. 

Side A

1. What Deaner Was Talking About (A Life Less Ordinary – 1997)
2. Sneaker (Goldfinger – 1996)
3. Halloween (A Life Less Ordinary – 1997)
4. Don’t Know (Jack Names The Planets – 1994)
5. Story Weather (Wild Surf – 1998)
6. Dancing On The Moon (Jesus Says – 1998)

Side B

1. I Need Somebody (Goldfinger – 1996)
2. When I’m Tired (Wild Surf – 1998)
3. Gonna Do It Soon(Wild Surf – 1998)
4. Take Out (Jesus Says – 1998)
5. Radiation (Jesus Says – 1998)
6. Everywhere Is All Around (Oh Yeah – 1995)
7. Heroin, Vodka, White Noise (Jesus Says – 1998)

Side A

1. Blew – Nirvana (Numbskull – 1999)
2. Does Your Mother Know – ABBA (Oh Yeah – 1995)
3. Who You Drivin’ Now? (Numbskull – 1999)
4. Cantina Band – John Williams (Girl From Mars – 1995)

Side B

1. Get Ready – The Miracles (Goldfinger – 1996)
2. Give Me Some Truth – John Lennon (Angel Interceptor – 1995)
3. I Only Want To Be With You – Dusty Springfield (Single A-Side – 1997) 

The covers I have used for these compilations show the band in similar poses but separated by a few years. The image used for B-Sides was used for the compilation ‘Teenage Wildlife – 25 Years of Ash’.