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
Street Fighting Man (Rolling Stones) – All Around The World (1998)
Within You, Without You (The Beatles) – BBC Sgt Pepper 40th Anniversary Tribute (2007)
Hey Hey, My My Into The Black (Neil Young) – Familiar To Millions (2000)
My Generation (The Who) – Little By Little (2002)
Cum On Feel The Noize (Slade) – Don;t Look Back In Anger (1996)
Side B
Helter Skelter (The Beatles) – Who Feels Love? (2000)
You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (The Beatles) – Some Might Say Japanese CD (1995)
Heroes (David Bowie) – D’You Know What I Mean? (1997)
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
What Deaner Was Talking About (A Life Less Ordinary – 1997)
Sneaker (Goldfinger – 1996)
Halloween (A Life Less Ordinary – 1997)
Don’t Know (Jack Names The Planets – 1994)
Story Weather (Wild Surf – 1998)
Dancing On The Moon (Jesus Says – 1998)
Side B
I Need Somebody (Goldfinger – 1996)
When I’m Tired (Wild Surf – 1998)
Gonna Do It Soon(Wild Surf – 1998)
Take Out (Jesus Says – 1998)
Radiation (Jesus Says – 1998)
Everywhere Is All Around (Oh Yeah – 1995)
Heroin, Vodka, White Noise (Jesus Says – 1998)
Side A
Blew – Nirvana (Numbskull – 1999)
Does Your Mother Know – ABBA (Oh Yeah – 1995)
Who You Drivin’ Now? (Numbskull – 1999)
Cantina Band – John Williams (Girl From Mars – 1995)
Side B
Get Ready – The Miracles (Goldfinger – 1996)
Give Me Some Truth – John Lennon (Angel Interceptor – 1995)
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’.
I am a couple of days early with this one but on 11th May 1979, The Cure released their debut album, ’Three Imaginary Boys’. The members of this first line up had all attended Notre Dame Middle School in Crawley and first appeared on stage together in a one-off school band called Obelisk. Eventually settling down into a four piece called Easy Cure consisting of Robert Smith (guitar, vocals), Porl Thompson (guitar), Michael Dempsey (bass) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). Entering and winning a competition that resulted in the band being signed to German label Hansa, a number of demos were recorded which have yet to see the light of day. The label soon dropped the band because they did not see eye to eye on what they wanted. The band wanted to record original material where as the label wanted them to be a covers band. Released from their contract, Thompson would leave due to conflict with Smith. Smith felt that Thompson’s guitar playing was too busy (or too good) for a punk band. Smith was also writing songs that were considerably more minimalistic than their earlier work. Thompson would rejoin the band in 1983 but for the time being, he was out of the picture.
Dropping the Easy part of the name, the three piece recorded a demo at Chestnut Studios in Essex for distribution to record labels. Eventually, Chris Parry at Polydor decided that he would sign them as one of the first acts on his newly formed Fiction label. The resulting album, ‘Three Imaginary Boys’ did not meet Robert Smith’s standard as he was not given control over the track listing and cover art. This is clearly shown by the inclusion of a cover of the Jimi Hendrix song, ‘Foxy Lady’, which the band used as a soundcheck. As far as I can tell, it is the only cover the band has ever released on one of its records. It also has the distinction of being the only song by The Cure that was not sung by Robert Smith. On this occasion, bass player Michael Dempsey took on vocal duties. Three singles were also recorded during these early days and none of the A-Sides appeared on this album. Dempsey would leave before the recording of the next album as the band would leave this post punk sound behind and go on a much darker path.
The album has been re-released many times over the years but in 2004, a deluxe edition came out which contained a number of unreleased songs from those early days as well as the aforementioned single cuts*. Having been a bit of a Cure fan, and even more so of their earlier work, I knew that there was a number of songs that could have been included to round this collection out and make it more substantial. With this being (nearly) the 45th Anniversary of its release, I though this would be a perfect opportunity to do so.
On disc 1, the first twelve tracks are the same as the original album. We then have all of the Single A and B-Sides, including those recorded at the time but not released until ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ was rereleased with a different vocal in the mid 80s. This disc also includes a number of sessions outtakes, a Peel Session from 1978 and ‘The Weedy Burton’, a hidden track on the original album which sounds as though it should be at the end of the CD and not half way through.
Disc 1
10:15 Saturday Night – Three Imaginary Boys Album
Accuracy – Three Imaginary Boys Album
Grinding Halt – Three Imaginary Boys Album
Another Day – Three Imaginary Boys Album
Object – Three Imaginary Boys Album
Subway Song – Three Imaginary Boys Album
Foxy Lady – Three Imaginary Boys Album
Meat Hook – Three Imaginary Boys Album
So What – Three Imaginary Boys Album
Fire in Cairo – Three Imaginary Boys Album
It’s Not You – Three Imaginary Boys Album
Three Imaginary Boys – Three Imaginary Boys Album
Killing an Arab – Single A-side
Boys Don’t Cry – Single A-side
Plastic Passion – Single B-side (Boys Don’t Cry)
Pillbox Tales – Single B-side (Boys Don’t Cry Reissue)
Do The Hansa – Single B-side (Boys Don’t Cry Reissue)
Jumping Someone Else’s Train Single – Single A-side
I’m Cold – Single B-side (Jumping Someone Else’s Train)
Winter – Three Imaginary Boys Out-Take
Faded Smiles (I Don’t Know) – Three Imaginary Boys Out-Take
Play With Me – Three Imaginary Boys Out-Take
World War – Three Imaginary Boys Out-Take
10:15 Saturday Night – Peel Session (11/12/1978)
Killing an Arab – Peel Session (11/12/1978)
Fire in Cairo – Peel Session (11/12/1978)
Boy’s Don’t Cry – Peel Session (11/12/1978)
The Weedy Burton – Three Imaginary Boys Album
Disc 2 is a deeper dive into the early years of the band, including songs that were recorded when they were still known as Easy Cure. The first four songs are, I believe, from the sessions recorded at Hansa. These show the band as a lot more of a punk band than the tunes included on ‘Three Imaginary Boys’. Opening song is ‘See The Children’ and it is easy to see why this one has never ‘officially’ seen the light of day as it tells the story of a man who prays on children. The demo that secured the band its record deal with Fiction Records is also included as well as few live tracks and another Peel Session.
Disc 2
See The Children – Easy Cure Demo
Meathook – Easy Cure Demo
I Just Need Myself – Easy Cure Demo
I Want to be Old – Easy Cure Demo
Listen (Pillbox Tales) – Easy Cure Demo
I’m Cold – Sav Studio Demo
The Cocktail Party – Group Home Demo
Grinding Halt – Group Home Demo
Heroin Face – Live At The Rocket Crawely, December 1977
It might seem a bit excessive, especially as the listener would have to listen to five different versions of ’10:15 Saturday Night’, but it is a more comprehensive package than the original Deluxe Edition from 2004.
The front cover is the same as the one used on the 2004 Deluxe Edition reissue of the album.
*Except for ‘Killing an Arab’. Even though it is an adaptation of ‘The Stranger’ by Albert Camus, the song has had a controversial history due to a view that is promotes violence against Arabs. The Cure have even changed the lyrics when performing it in the 21st Century to either ‘Kissing an Arab’ or ‘Killing Another’. This was not concluded on the 2004 re-release of this album.
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
Just Got Back Today
Rocks & Boulders
Danny’s Song
Tomorrow’s Rain
Nobody’s Fool (Demo)
(Slow Song) (Demo)
Side B
Flying (Demo)
Inside Of Me (Demo)
Cosmic Trees (Demo)
Tomorrow’s Rain (Demo)
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.
Following on from last months ‘Unbelievable’ compilation, here we go with another set of songs from just before the Britpop era. The majority of the songs comes from 1992-1993 with the odd song from before this and just after, but these seemed to fit better on this compilation that the main Britpop Years ones. The only anomalies to all these are ‘The Shoe Of The Moon’ by The Waterboys and ‘Everyday Is Like Sunday’ by Morrissey. The Waterboys songs originally came out in 1985, but I only became aware of it from the 1991 re-release so it fits in here better (for me anyway) than an 80s compilation.
Disc 1
Connected – Stereo MC’s
Hit – The Sugarcubes
Ebeneezer Goode – The Shaman
Jump Around – House Of Pain
Ain’t No Love (Radio Edit) – Sub Sub feat. Melanie Williams
Regret – New Order
Runaway Train – Soul Asylum
For Love – Lush
Sex Type Thing – Stone Temple Pilots
Far Gone & Out – The Jesus & Mary Chain
Rocks – Primal Scream
Spin The Bottle – Juliana Hatfield 3
No Rain – Blind Melon
Two Princes – Spin Doctors
Lenny Valentino – The Auteurs
Hey Jealousy – Gin Blossoms
Is It Like Today – World Party
So Glad (Single Version) – Thrum
Creation – Stereo MC’s
Haze On The Hills/The Majestic Song – The Tea Party
We were unable to recreate this playlist on Spotify due to one or more songs not being available on that platform.
Disc 2
Born Of Frustration – James
Good Morning Britain – Aztec Camera
Friday I’m In Love – The Cure
Movie’ On Up – Primal Scream
Whole Of The Moon – The Waterboys
Motorcycle Emptiness – Manic Street Preachers
Alice, What’s The Matter – Terrorvision
Shadow Of The Season – Strangelove
Lucky You – The Lightning Seeds
Welcome To The Cheap Seats – The Wonder Stuff
Step It Up – Stereo MC’s
Creep – Radiohead
Babies – Pulp
Put The Message In The Box – World Party
Everyday Is Like Sunday – Morrissey
Wild Wood – Paul Weller
One – U2
Me In Honey – R.E.M.
The artwork is adapted from the compilation of the same name that came out in 2002.
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
Ultranol (The Univsesal – 1995)
Threedneedle Street (To The End – 1994)
Bone Bag (For Tomorrow – 1993)
My Ark (Chemical World – 1993)
St Louis (Chemical World – 1993)
Beechcoma (For Tomorrow – 1993)
Anniversary Waltz (Girls & Boys – 1994)
Side B
A Song (Stereotypes – 1996)
No Monsters In Me (The Univsesal – 1995)
Into Another (For Tomorrow – 1993)
The Man Who Left Himself (The Story Of The Charmless Man – 1996)
Theme from An Imaginary Film (Parklife – 1994)
Tame (Stereotypes – 1996)
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
For the next set in The Britpop Years collection, there are less of the big hitters and more of the groups that would not be considered Britpop, especially those acts that were not from UK.
Disc 1
Stuck On Amber (Original Mix) – The Boo Radley
I Believe (Edit) – Booth & The Bad Angel
Trash – Suede
Slight Return – The Bluetones
Sick & Tired – The Cardigans
Where The Wild Roses Grow – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
In The Name Of The Father – Black Grape
A Design For Life – Manic Street Preachers
Buddy Holly – Weezer
Caught By The Fuzz – Supergrass
All Gone Away – Joyrider
Better Day – Ocean Colour Scene
This Is Hardcore – Pulp
Your Star Will Shine – The Stone Roses
Tom Petty Loves Veruca Salt – Terrovision
Karma Police – Radiohead
Waiting For The Sun – Thrum
Don’t Look Back In Anger – Oasis
Stay Together (Full Length Version) – Suede
I cannot reproduce this play list here as one or more of these songs are not available on Spotify
Disc 2
Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve
Sale Of The Century – Sleeper
What’s In The Box (See Whatcha Got) – The Boo Radleys
Following on from my alternative version of the Smashing Pumpkin’s ‘Gish’ album, I now take a look at its follow up, ‘Siamese Dream’. Recording once more with producer Butch Vig helping out behind the desk, Billy Corgan was not exactly in the right frame of mind for recording a record. He was suffering from writers block and would later admit that he was planning for his own suicide. His band mates might not have helped matters either. James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky had ended their romantic relationship. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlain had become addicted to heroin and even though the sessions were moved to a studio in Georgia, away from the bands Chicago base in attempted to get him from his suppliers failed. Chamberlain disappear fro days on end feeding his drug habit. The drummer would eventually enter rehab.
Corgan would continue with the working practise of playing practically every instrument on the record, apart from the drums, himself. He and Vig would be in the studio for days on end, perfecting the sounds and crafting the songs before Corgan was happy with the finished product. He had set himself the task of producing an album that would set the world on fire and he did just that, even though the record went over budget by $250,000.
I tried to find a version of every song on an official release, and got close with only ‘Sweet Sweet’ needing to come from a Bootleg. I have followed the running order of the vinyl LP, as that was the format I bought this on back in 1993 when it originally came out in the UK. The cover is the original cover but in negative.
Side A
Cherub Rock – Acoustic Live On MTV Europe 1993 (Earphoria)
As I have mentioned on previous posts, Britpop was the first era when I buying a good deal of the music that was being released. Remember folks, this was a time when if you wanted the music, you need to have it on some sort of physical media, even if that included copying the music onto a cassette. I am old enough the remember the ‘Home Taping is Killing Music’ campaign
However, there was a period before this that went by many names. These included Baggy, Madchester and Indie, but there were others as well. I might not have been buying due to a lack of funds (I was at school at the time) but I was listening, soaking it all up. However, by the turn of the century, the first retrospective compilations of that time started to see the light of day. One of my favourites, and the inspiration for this compilation was released in 2001. ‘Unbelievable’, named after the song by EMF, covered all the big hitters from that era including a few who would continue into the Britpop era.
Not only did I take songs from the ‘Unbelievable’ compilation, I have also included songs from around the same time that were on ‘The Best Album In The World Compilations’ that I was buying throughout the Britpop years and tunes that I heard from people I was at University..
