Author: The Squire

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’. 

Its April so that means that it is Record Store Day once again. Therefore, it is time for me to pul together a release I would like to see put out today but most probably never will. It is at this point that I should point out that there should always be a little caveat when stating that these are the complete recordings, as there is no doubt something else that a band/artist has recorded that they don’t want to release or that it is multiple takes of the same song which might be interesting in an historical sense, but will not justify multiple plays. 

Who were The Jennifers? For anyway who is a fan of Supergrass, you may well of heard of this group. This four piece were made up of Nic Goffey (Guitar), Andy Davies (Bass), Danny Goffey (Drums) and Gareth Coombes (vocals and guitar). There is a reference to a fifth member called Dan Fox but I have not been able to find out what his contribution was.

Formed in 1990, the band played their first gig at the Jericho Tavern. This legendary Oxford gig venue would play host to numerous bands who went on and made it (as it were). These include Ride, Pulp, Bombay Bicycle Club and Radiohead, even though the latter was when they were called On A Friday. The pub is still there but it does not seem to be the home of new bands. I am happy to be corrected on this last point. 

The band built up a reputation in their local music scene and produced two demo tapes of three songs each. These were sold at gigs and this in turn would lead to them securing a deal with Nude Records. Their first, and what would turn out to be their only release was a four track E.P. called ‘Just Got Back Today’. The E.P. reached number 18 in Melody Maker’s Indie Chart and number 23 in the N.M.E.. David Simpson, writing in the Melody Maker in 1992 said that “The Jennifers are a good pop group who could easily become a great one…and at this stage in their career they’re already better than David Jones/Bowie, Kraftwerk etc. were at this point in theirs”. High praise indeed. 

The band would play some dates in Belgium and the Netherlands as well as headlining at the Powerhaus venue in Islington. The Song ‘Just Back Back Today’ was included on the compilation ‘Independent 20 Volume 16’ along with such names as Suede, Belly and The Smashing Pumpkins. The band were said to be demoing new material but their relationship with Nude Records soured due to a difference in ideas and attitude. 

‘Tightrope’, a new song was demoed and was included on the compilation ‘Days Spent Dreaming’, which was produced to highlight bands from Oxford. The song was said to be the one they hoped would be their next single but no new record deal was forthcoming, so the band split up. Andy Davies went off to University and Nic Goffey became a film maker, directing a number of music videos along with his partner Dom Hawley. These included a number by Supergrass, which was the next band formed by Danny Goffey and Gareth Coombes, even though by  that stage he was calling himself Gaz. 

So what do we have on this release? We have all four songs from the ‘Just Got Back Today’ E.P. along with six tracks from the cassettes the band would sell at gigs. The seventh song is ‘Tightrope’ from the aforementioned ‘Days Spent Dreaming’ compilation. Is there anything else in the archive? Well, this is a complete record of what the band put out in the public domain. If there is anything else, the group members have not deemed us worthy of hearing them. 

Side A

1. Just Got Back Today
2. Rocks & Boulders
3. Danny’s Song
4. Tomorrow’s Rain
5. Nobody’s Fool (Demo)
6. (Slow Song) (Demo)

Side B

1. Flying (Demo)
2. Inside Of Me (Demo)
3. Cosmic Trees (Demo)
4. Tomorrow’s Rain (Demo)
5. Tightrope (Demo)

The cover is based on the minimalist design of The Jennifers original release. Instead of someone licking an iced lolly, there is a picture of the band. 

Blur were formed in 1988 when school friends, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon were joined by Alex Hames and Dave Rowntree. Initially called Seymour, Albarn, James and Coxon were all studying at Goldsmith’s College and Rowntree had played in previous bands with Coxon. By 1989, they played their first gig and after recording some demos, attracted the interest of Food Records. Duly signed, their second single, ‘There’s No Other Way’ broke the top ten in the UK. The singles either side of this did not chart as highly. ‘Leisure’ the parent album also broke the Top Ten but it did garner mix reviews. 

A tour of the USA in 1992, ostensibly to pay off their debts lead to fighting between members. Homesick and close to being drooped by their label, the band returned with the ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’ LP. The album and all of the singles that were taken from it all charted and the band were able to keep their record deal. Considering what was to come next, it does show that sometimes you really need to let an artist grow. Success does not always come straighter away. 

In 1994, the band released the single ‘Girls & Boys’. This and parent album ‘Parklife’ came out at exactly the right time for the band to ride on the wave of the new Britpop scene. The ‘Parklife’ single, featuring actor Phil Daniels, seemed to be everywhere in the late summer of 1994, but I was surprised to find that this was not as big a hit as ‘Girls and Boys’. It was around this time that the feud with Oasis, that other behemoth of Britpop started. This would culminate with the infamous Battle of Britpop when the bands released their latest singles on the same day. Blur with ‘Country House’ and Oasis with ‘Roll With It’. For such a monumental time (as this race to see who would make it to number 1 made the national news), both songs were not very good. 

Blur ultimately won that battle but their next album, ‘The Great Escape’ was eclipsed in sales by Oasis and their ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory? album. Feeling that the writing observational pop songs had run its course, the band released ‘Blur’ which showed Coxon’s interest in American noise alternative rock. However, this collection does not go this far into the story, nor does it include anything of the B-Sides released before ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’. As this is a year of celebrating all things Britpop, this just focuses on that era of the band’s releases. 

Blur released eleven singles in the UK so there was a lot of material to choose from, but unlike Suede or Oasis, their hit rate for top notch B-Sides was not as great. However what does become clear, especially when listening to the singles for ‘The Great Escape’ was how they were already to experiment with the sound that would come to dominate their 1997 self titled album. 

Side A

1. Ultranol (The Univsesal – 1995)
2. Threedneedle Street (To The End – 1994)
3. Bone Bag (For Tomorrow – 1993)
4. My Ark (Chemical World – 1993)
5. St Louis (Chemical World – 1993)
6. Beechcoma (For Tomorrow – 1993)
7. Anniversary Waltz (Girls & Boys – 1994)

Side B

1. A Song (Stereotypes – 1996)
2. No Monsters In Me (The Univsesal – 1995)
3. Into Another (For Tomorrow – 1993)
4. The Man Who Left Himself (The Story Of The Charmless Man – 1996)
5. Theme from An Imaginary Film (Parklife – 1994)
6. Tame (Stereotypes – 1996)
7. Supa Shoppa (Parklife – 1994)

I adapted the cover from an image I found the blog http://blur-expresso.blogspot.com/2009/10/blur-b-sides-rarities