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Archive 11
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251 - 275
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Here
you will gain exclusive access to my own personal record collection! I
try to bring you mp3s of rare tracks, deleted material, long forgotten
artists, total flops and down right obscure shit. Often, my choices were
only available on vinyl or were just plain unreleased, the aim being to
indulge an old fan or inspire a new one. I try not to post up
forthcoming releases or anything that's too readily available. Honest,
Gov!
There's a tenuous thread running through the tracks but
your requests are always welcome and I'll try and squeeze them in amongst my
own fancies... eventually.
Do read all the blurb, as there's often links to extra tracks lurking in
there... ; )
Tracks are only available for a 'limited
time' folks (sometimes months!), so get them while you can!
Now for the science bit! To access the music, please click on 'Download' and
you'll be whisked off to those nice people over at Sharebee.
Tracks are ripped at 192 kbps and wherever possible taken from the
highest quality source available. All of the music offered here has been
purchased by myself and is part of my own collection. Tracks are for
evaluation purposes only and wherever possible, purchasing is always
encouraged. If you own any of the material posted here or anywhere else
on this site and are very cross with me, please
email me with threats and such like...
We interrupt our regular programme
to bring you this quick reminder! You can still get 'Never Mind The
Baubles - Here's Christmas!', our 42 track Christmas compilation double
album available as a digital download
This is
Moonbaby. Otherwise known as
Miranda Cooper,
one of the main songwriters in pop production team Xenomania. Have a flick through your
Girls
Aloud album booklets and you'll see her name on just about every
track. So what was Moonbaby all about, then?
Well, Miranda's first brush with pop came
via Bob Stanley and
Pete Wiggs of
Saint
Etienne fame. Whilst on hiatus from their main band in 1995 (Sarah
Cracknell was working on her debut solo LP 'Lipslide' at the same time),
Bob and
Pete were pursuing a new pop project with
various female vocalists. Enter Miranda. The
sessions were fruitless in the end and the lads went back to their parent band,
however, this abortive project would eventually prove beneficial as their
friendship resulted in Xenomania
writing and
recording with Saint Etienne in the future.
Anyway, Miranda then found herself involved
in something a little more unsavoury. The name of the band was
T-Shirt and they were a manufactured girl
group whose first single was to be a cover of Hot
Chocolate's 'You Sexy Thing'. Miranda felt exploited by this cheesy project and actually walked out
on the management. She doesn't like talking about it apparently but the
T-Shirt single did come out in 1997 - they
just replaced her. It was big in Australia, I'm told. At this point, things get
interesting. After writing some tracks of her own, London/First Avenue
Records saw great potential in Miranda and signed her as a solo artist in 2000, under the name
Moonbaby. Her debut single, 'Here We Go', was pressed
up, the video shot (check that out over 
I never expected to be sticking
Frank on this page quite so soon! They really
should have been around for a little longer but it seems record companies are
getting even more lazy/tight fisted than anyone could have ever imagined.
Frank were born out of a successful TV show ,
'Totally Frank', bagged a support slot on a sell out
Girls Aloud arena tour and had the mighty
Xenomania writing all their material... so
why was it all over in about 6 weeks?! Mania's
unreleased track, 'I'm Not Shy', was released as
Frank's debut single and it would seem the
curse of Mania struck again. The single only
reached 40 in the charts before disappearing altogether. I have to say, It's not
the most instantaneous track to break a new band, but I think it was a little
harsh of Polydor to simply drop the band shortly after, especially as it
was probably them that made the decision to run with that track as the lead
single! Surprisingly, Frank's album did
actually appear the following week - I was sure they'd shelve it but I'm glad
they didn't! Amongst the tracks on 'Devil's Got Your Gold' (an
awful title... and artwork, too!) are 'Money In My Pocket'
(another, better Mania cast off), live
favourite 'Turn It Up' and one of Xenomania's finest compositions,
'Never Left A Girl'
(which we're bringing you here). The latter was rumoured to have been earmarked
for single release... but it's all over now. They weren't shy on Monday - but
they were dropped by Tuesday. R.I.P. Frank.
Watch their only video, for 'I'm Not Shy',
Mania
are/were (almost certainly were I should think) Xenomania members
Niara Scarlett and
Giselle Sommerville. They formed
Mania in 2004, deciding that they wouldn't
mind basking in some of that there limelight instead of giving their damn fine
songs to bona fide popstars (Sugababes,
Girls Aloud, etc.) whilst they themselves
lurked in the shadows. They released a debut single, 'Looking For A
Place', and even nabbed a slot on 'Top Of The Pops' the
week prior to it's release (in fact, it was a live show filmed at the Baltic
Centre For Contemporary Arts which is just down the road from us!). The
single pretty much flopped by today's standards, charting in the mid to lower
reaches of the top 40 (the exact position escapes me - twenty-something?). About
this time, a few promo CDs were cropping up and there was talk of a follow up
single, the amazing 'Money In My Pocket', but then it all went
quiet. The title of their unreleased album was to be 'Do You Know Your
Daughter's On The Roof?' (a genius title!) and whilst it never
completely leaked, you can cobble a large portion of it together from their
promo samplers if you're lucky enough to have them. By late 2005,
Mania's unreleased tracks were appearing in
Channel 4's 'Totally Frank', albeit re-recorded by the show's
central band Frank (think 'Pugwall'
meets 'Hollyoaks'). But that's another story... I'm not
sure If either Niara or
Giselle are still part of the
Xenomania
team,
The 'Charlie's Angels'
of pop, Sugababes
Version 3.0 have just
released their first best of set, partly an exercise in drawing a line under
their past (something they are clearly uncomfortable with) and partly to
establish the 'new girl', Amelle. It's a
little selective in it's track selection (no 'New Year', 'Soul Sound',
'Follow Me Home') and fails to document
original co-founding member Siobhan Donaghy
very much and even Mutya (exiting in 2005)
is excluded from from the accompanying sleeve images. I'd have preferred a more
comprehensive package, with all their single releases in tact and a collection
of photographs taken throughout their career. That would have been very welcome.
As it stands, it's a very simple, 'bare bones' release with only one unreleased
track to temp us - even the accompanying DVD is rather scant. Shame on them. I
was forced to compile my own bonus set of tantalising B-sides, remixes and
rarities as a result and one of the jewels in this crown has revealed itself to
be 'Down Down', a B-side taken from their 'Too Lost In You'
single. We also recommend the B-sides 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dance
Floor' (Obviously - and it should have been an A-side really), 'Little Lady Love', 'Shake It',
'Someone In My Bed'
and 'Who' (last two produced by Xenomania).
Could
Alexis Strum be the only artist to have had a music career based
almost entirely on 'promotional-only' releases (other possible contender -
The Modern)? She has so far only managed to
physically release one single into the shops, 2005's flop 'Bad Haircut'
, but she's been recording and releasing tracks on promos for 5 years now. Her
debut, Xenomania-produced album exists
across one 4 track and one 5 track promo CD, issued by Warners in 2002 and then
pulled from commercial release. A lead single, the electro-rock track 'Addicted', also made it out on a 3 track promo CD single. Two of the
other tracks included on the (non) album have since been adopted by
Kylie Minogue ('Still Standing')
and Rachel Stevens ('Nothing Good
About This Goodbye'). Her 'second' album, 'Cocoon', now on
Mercury Records, appeared in full in 2005 on two different promo CDs
with slightly different tracklistings. A proper release date came and went and
then it turned up on one or two download stores briefly, in error, and was
swiftly removed. The tracks 'Why My Why Now' (used in an episode
of 'The O.C.') and 'It Could Be You' (co-written
with Billy Steinberg) were also released as
promo CDs with accompanying remixes which were otherwise unreleased. Then
in early 2006, Alexis landed a spot
performing the theme tune to TV show 'Vital Signs' with a
track called 'Go My Own Way' and then it looked like Mercury
might release the album after all. Now it's been cancelled again and all we have
are 10 tracks/mixes chucked on iTunes as an after thought. I think
Alexis has now left the music business to concentrate on 'new
challenges'... Her
Rachel
Stevens here with a half decent cover version of a seventies disco
classic. It's obviously not 'More More More', officially the worst
thing she's churned out, but instead her contribution to the 'DiscoMania'
compilation, Amii Stewart's 'Knock On
Wood'. A pretty cut and shut cover, no nonsense, no surprises. I think
Rachel gives a whole new meaning to the term
'pop puppet'. She really is like a lifeless lump of clay moulded by whichever
person writes/produces/dresses her. When I look into her eyes as she's
performing, there's nothing there. She's hollow, she's empty... there's no
magic. I still really like her music, it's great modern pop, but as a whole
package, I don't feel like I'm really into her in the way I am some other pop
acts. Her 'Come & Get It' album is pretty damn fantastic (see
'Dumb Dumb') but I think her general popstariness (I made that word
up y'know!) is weak and that's why the album suffered. Great singes, but she
doesn't have enough personality to stretch across a whole album, me thinks.
Anyway, the jury is out on Miss Stevens.
2007 should herald her return to pop music but whether anyone will care remains
to be seen... Very pleasant fansite
This is a bloody good track! Sorry,
but put any shame aside and just give it a listen! Some may say this track was
wasted on this 'band' and yes, I think they'd be right. It could've gone to
Rachel, Kylie,
anybody but this bunch of stage school brats! It's 101% pure pop and I admit to
buying it. There, I said it. Along with the poster, the karaoke version, the
dance steps and the usual trappings of a kiddie-friendly pop single package,
this one also came with a mash-up remix which mutates 'New Direction'
with 1970's disco number 'Magic Fly' by
Space. Genius. You really can't beat the
regular version however. Existing between 2002-2005, S
Club Juniors (later S Club 8)
released two albums and seven singles, and two members,
Calvin and
Frankie, released a
further album and single under the name I Dream,
a TV spin-off project about a fictional performing arts school for kids... like
'The Kids From Fame' meets 'The Tweenies'. Shudder.
Former
Spice Girls manager
Simon Fuller pieced together youthful pop sensations
S Club 7.
They were forced upon a susceptible pre-teen nation via several kids TV shows
which eventually spawned a string of record releases previously performed in the
shows. Parents everywhere stumped up the pocket money which secured top ten
placings for hits like 'S Club Party', 'You're My Number
One' and the irritatingly repetitive 'Reach', plus a load
more nauseating, uber-pop moments. Fine in small doses, but lethal if exposed to
for longer than, say, 15 minutes. Thankfully, this track is barely 3 minutes in
length. 'Stronger' is from the groups 2001 released third album,
'Sunshine', and their last with a full compliment of members.
Subsequent releases were without one member, Paul,
and hence forth they reverted to the name S Club.
Like herpes, S Club
spread into the film
world (2003's 'Seeing Double' - in Tesco's bargain bins as
we speak!), had their own magazine and bred a spin off band,
S Club Juniors, a troupe of even younger
tiny tots (nicknamed Paedo-pop, if you please). With a new generation to take
their place, S Club Seniors fizzled out in
2003. Rachel went solo,
Jo did too, but with less success and
Bradley turned up in this years MTV
reality/documentary show, 'Totally Boyband'. Who care's about the
rest?
It's 1997 and
Gobby Spice,
Dykey Spice, Slapper Spice,
Stuck-up Spice and
Paedo Spice are slap bang in the middle of world domination. I can't think of a better track
to illustrate Spice fever than this, 'Move Over/Generationext', which they originally recorded for a 30
second Pepsi TV advert. This live version was available as a 1 track CD
to those lucky people who drank enough of the sugary crap to collect about 25
metal ring pulls and send them off in an envelope. 3 weeks later, you had the
CD. It was one of 4 titles and if you really liked your caffeine-packed Pepsi,
you might also have got through enough cans of it to have collected the
Coolio, Hanson and
Eternal CDs too. You could even
get a nice plastic wallet to store them in. This was actually
Spice Girls second Pepsi tie-in freebie, the first being the
'Step To Me' CD single earlier the same year. Let's have a look at
that Pepsi ad
When
Ginger
Spice walked out of the
Spice Girls, my
world fricken ended! She was always the selling point for me and was the obvious
leader of the group, a position she wrestled for with Mel B if we're to believe the rumours. I can't really explain why she
appeals to me and all her other fans but I think a large part of it must be her
sheer determination to do just what the hell sell likes. Yeah, she's not got a
great voice, isn't such a great dancer, she can look a right state at times, she
puts her foot in it occasionally, etc. etc. but Christ, at least she's working!
She was very lucky with her solo career and she knows she has a shelf life but
makes the most of it - who wouldn't? She's currently playing Mummy after giving
birth to Bluebell Madonna
on May 14th, a
convenient time to get pregnant/give birth, seeing as her last album, 2005's
'Passion', was struggling to make it off the shelves. Looking to the
future, a Spice Girls
reunion seems ever
illusive and rumours of a Geri Halliwell
'best
of' album have come and gone but whatever her next career move, it's sure to
attract huge media attention and criticism. Will she return to music? Pop up in
a minor acting role? Drop another book or tackle something new? I guess we'll
just have to wait and see... but going back to her doing what the hell she
likes, here she is banging out a tacky Bond theme cover version (you can find it
on the B-Side of her third single 'Lift Me Up'). Oh
Geri - you are a character!
It's
Rose
from 'Doctor Who', who used to be Mrs Chris Evans, who used to be
Billie Piper the popstar, who used to be just
Billie
the popstar, who used to be the girl in the 'Smash Hits' advert!
Now, I can't say I thought much of Billie at
the time but when this single came out in 1998, I kinda had to surrender because
I think it's dead good. Don't you agree? It's easily her best single. I don't
have a lot to say about Billie
but I always
thought it was hilarious that she released a record which has 'Something
Deep Inside Billie Piper ' written on the sleeve - didn't they think
about changing that?! Seeesh. Her autobiography, 'Growing Pains',
was released earlier this year for which she received a 6 figure sum. And in
2005, a handy little CD collecting her singles, B-sides and a couple of album
tracks was released. Get it
I once met
Atomic Kitten in Virgin Megastore when they were doing a
signing for their debut single. They were loud, annoying and rough as fuck. I'm
not complaining! What I'd like to complain about is the fall out after
Kerry jumped ship! Christ! All those ballads
and the obvious media training, it was an awful sight to behold. I much
preferred them when they all had their own hair colour - one blonde, one
brunette, one ginger. Once 'Whole Again' became so successful and
the record company realised they'd better not drop them and instead needed to
find a third girl and quick, they morphed into a three-headed, tanned and
hair-dyed, dull as dishwater, funless bunch of twats! (Sorry but I feel quite
strongly!). Innocent Records sniffed a ca$h cow in a ballad-pushing,
R'n'B light group and they set to work finding a suitable cover version to
announce the group's transition from pop to pap. What better choice than the
putrid stench of a slushy 80's ballad, 'Eternal Flame'. Shudder.
Let's try and remember the earlier incarnation, the one that ate chips, wore
trainer bras and shell pants, released records like 'See Ya',
'I Want Your Love' and 'Right Now'. Try this track on
for size - it's the B-side to their 4th single, 'Follow Me', and it's
just a fluffy bit of fun, smothered in nonsense. Oh, and I must add, I can't
stand Kerry 'Iceland' Katatonia, I just have
a fondness for the original line-up back in the day, that's all. 
Vicki
Peterson, Debbie Peterson,
Michael Steele and
Susannah Hoffs were (and sort've still are)
The Bangles - a
hybrid of The Carrie Nations ('Beyond
The Valley Of The Dolls') and The Mamas And
The Papas. Forever immortalised as the band that did 'Eternal
Flame' (although a younger generation can blame/thank
Atomic Kitten for that now), it's ironic
that the track's huge success in 1988 would split the band up the following
year, with tensions arising from the constant media attention on lead singer
Susannah. After their split,
Hoffs made an obvious bid for solo success
with her very underrated 'When You're A Boy' album in 1991.
Disappointing sales, however, resulted in her being dropped from her label
quick-smart. Vicki toured with
The Go Go's for a brief spell and sister
Debbie formed short-lived duo
Kindred Spirit with
Siobhan Mayer
from The
River City People. Steele
(an ex-Runaway)
simply retired from music. After some years apart, no one was more surprised
than the band themselves when they reformed to tour in 2000 and even record a
new album, 'Doll Revolution', in 2002. By 2005,
Steele decided she liked retirement more and
left the group once again. The band are still performing together with a
replacement bassist but future releases seem uncertain. The track
'Complicated Girl' is taken from their career-best 1988 album
'Everything' and is one of my favourite Bangles
tunes. The album has been out of print for ages but you can buy it second hand
for a couple of quid
"Ch-ch-ch-chaka Khan... Chaka
Kahn, Chaka Khan!". Not many people know this but I have the intro to this
song set as my morning alarm. It's the only way to wake up! This legendary
track, I'm sure I don't need to tell you, was written by
Prince, and it shows. Prince
also came to Chaka's aid when she had a bit
of argy bargee with her label Warner Bros in the 90's, something
Prince knows all about!
Chaka left
Warners and recorded her 1998 set 'Come 2 My
House' under the guidance of Prince
on his New Power Generation label. Personally, I think there's only
really two Chaka Khan albums worth their
salt; 'I Feel For You' (1984) and 'Life Is A Dance: The
Remix Project' (1989). However, there is now a neat little budget
compilation which we're probably gonna buy
...But not very often. It's a small
rarity for his Right Royal Pervy Purpleness Prince
to put down his smutty funk pen and write something deep from the soul
but when he does, it resonates with genuine emotion. 'Sometimes It Snows
In April' is taken from 1987's 'Parade' album, which was
essentially the soundtrack to his moody black and white flick, 'Under The
Cherry Moon', from the same year. Not one of his most famous
compositions, this track sits in the shadow of the international smash hit
single that was lifted from it, 'Kiss'. The album also boast's
'Mountains', giving The Revolution
members Wendy & Lisa
a showcase spot. The
album is still available to buy and although it's patchier than the previous
year's phenomenal 'Sign O' The Times', this one track is worth the
admission price alone. Hopefully, Prince
is
due some heavy re-issuing action soon and we'll get some re-mastered and bonus
track-stuffed expanded editions of his amazing back catalogue!
Remember these two? It's
Gayle &
Gillian ('Gill' is pronounced as, er, y'know... fish gills, rather
than, er, (Jack and) Jill). They
were the Alessi twins from 'Neighbours' who lived and worked with
Paul Robinson
(Stefan
Dennis - don't worry! His single is not next...)
and one of them even married him, but we can't remember which one. At the height
of the 'Aussie-soap-star-to-pop-star-via-Stock-Aitken-& -Waterman' craze, they
had a bash at being popstars. First off, they were called
The Twins (original!)
on their first single 'All Mixed Up' in 1991 and then they went
back to 'Neighbours' for a bit. They left the show for good to concentrate on
their music (?!) and reverted to Gayle & Gillian
for a further 2 singles ('Mad If Ya Don't' in 1993 and the
bastardised Prince
cover 'Wanna Be Your
Lover' in 1994). The British public weren't having any of it though and they called it
quits. Fair enuf. We're posting up 'All Mixed Up' coz it was
Anyone who bought ex-'Neighbours'
actress Holly's last single, 'State Of Mind', should have got a free fold out
calendar for 2003! Great! Except it was only the first 6 months... to get the
other half you had to by the next single, 'Desire', which they happily informed
us was due out in February... What an utter disgrace then, dear readers, to find said
single had been withdrawn and Ms Valance retiring from pop music to be an
actress! I want part 2 of my calendar please! You owe me, bitch! Anyway, here's
'Desire' the single that never was. Her second (and last) album was an
electro-dance-monster and a vast improvement on the debut album but promotion
ground to a halt after the first single, whether it was her choice or not, I
just don't know. Since her music 'career', Holly has done some adverts in a bikini
for 1800-Reverse (an Australian collect call telephone service), starred in US TV shows
'Prison Break' and 'CSI', and most recently did a film based on a video game
called 'Dead Or Alive', which is apparently not bad. Whatever. She also turned up singing
on a couple of Har Mar Superstar's tracks from his last album,
'The Handler'
(check out 'Body Request', 'Back The Camel Up').
Holly is now apparently coming back to
music early next year! W.T.F.? Yes, it's all true. Madonna
has written a track for
her, 'System Overload', and she's been recording a new album in Los Angeles
(probably why she turned up in 'Bo' In The USA' the other week).
Well! I! Never!
Natalie Imbruglia
and her massive eyes used to play Beth
in 'Neighbours', who was Brad's girlfriend.
She left after 4 years in 1994 but didn't start her pop career 'til late 1997. Initially a massive success
courtesy of 'Torn' (which was someone else's song anyway - thank you
Ednaswap), her 2004 released third album
didn't seem to be as well received as the two before it, despite lead single
'Shiver' hitting the top ten and hanging around the chart for bloody
ages it seemed. The album 'Counting Down The Days' was originally
rejected by BMG Records, her then label in 2003 and there was a bit of a 'to do'
and a 'hoo har'. It eventually came out on Brightside Records after a
split from her former label. Last we heard there was a 'best of'
on the cards - is that just a rumour? Anyway, let's rewind back a bit to 'White Lilies Island', her
'quite good, actually' second album from 1991, which yielded the very pretty single
'Beauty On The Fire', and that had some great B-sides
across the 2 CD formats.
In fact, they're some of her best recordings if you ask me. They're produced by
Line Of Flight, who are actually
Sneaker Pimps, and are
taken from early album recording sessions which were ultimately rejected in
favour of the pop rock edge the parent album eventually had. It's a shame she
didn't record a whole album in this spaced-out, Orbit-esque lounge style, it's got a nice
vibe going on and her voice seems really mellow and chilled out. One of the
tracks on CD 2, 'Cold Air', was also used in the
Mexican film 'Y Tu Mama Tambien'. 'Cold Air' happens
to be our favourite of the three tracks (but do seek out 'Broken Thread'
and 'Standing There' as well).
We hope you like it!
Originally intended to be a B-side
on the 1996 'Six Underground' single,
Sneaker Pimps' lounge cover version of
The
Prodigy's 'Firestarter' was not released. Why? Well,
Liam Howlett from The
Prodigy didn't like it and asked them not to release it. A handful of promo 7"
copies were pressed but otherwise, they did as he asked. It's a shame really as
they take the track to an altogether different place and it's hardly
recognisable from the original techno monster we all know, love and couldn't
dance too at the time. Copies of the 7" never ever turn up anywhere, so if
you're looking for one, join the queue! Sneaker Pimps
of course ejected lead singer Kelli Dayton
(now Ali) in an unpleasant falling out in
1998 and never really came to anything after her departure, despite carrying on
with Chris Conner
on vocals. I think it's
safe to say they've seen their best days, although they've apparently begun work
on a 4th album, now with a new unnamed female vocalist. Interesting...
Chris also records under the name
I Am X
and has produced material for
Robots In Disguise. More
Pimps past, present and future over
A return visit to
T'Pussy for Kelli,
ex-Sneaker Pimp
and floundering electro-goth
diva. Her relative failure as a solo artist just doesn't sit well with me I'm
afraid. She has a perfectly lovely kitten-esque voice (like a teen Manga
Eartha Kitt) and has paid her dues as a techno-pop
trip hop Pimp and gone on to make some great
music. Her debut single 'Kids' was a menacing, dark pop tale of
obsession and hero worship but never got any promotion and therefore no sales. I
blame One Little Indian, her label. Anyway, further singles and 2 albums
(2003's folky-pop set, 'Tigermouth' and 2004's rock'n'rolling
'Psychic Cat') continued to dip below the music radar and her
middle name is 'overlooked'. She's also racked up a few collaborations during
these wilderness years, including providing vocal duties on a Levi's ad
and singing on tracks with Marc Almond,
Bryan Ferry, Satoshi Tomiie,
Bootsy Collins
and Linkin Park
(talk about a mixed bag).
Anyhoo, let's not beat around the bush any longer. Here's
Kelli's last electro-disco-punk single from
2004, 'Hot Lips'. You can buy all her CDs over
Deee-Lite
are pretty much considered a one hit wonder, am I right? Can anyone
remember any other singles other than THAT one? 'Groove Is In The Heart'
is a fabulous song but I bet they can't stand it themselves... can't
blame them. The 1990 album 'World Clique' sold well on the back of
it but future hit singles there were not! Their brand of trippy, psychedelic
house music was too much for the mainstream kids I guess... Hell, I dunno. Too
much of a good thing maybe. This song here is the B-side to 'Good Beat'
and it's fairly typical of the Deee-Lite sound. Groovy, trippy, repetitive sunshine house-bounce music. It's tasty in
small doses but never overdose! As it's not on any of the albums, we thought
we'd post this one up, although our favourite Deee-Lite
track is probably 'Build The Bridge'. These days, the divine
Lady Miss Kier still DJs, sings and turns up
at gay-this and Mardi Gras-that but hasn't done much recording. She could've at
least knocked out a solo LP!
Apparently,
Kylie's re-activated Showgirl Tour
has
been re-jigged and now has lots of new bits here and there, one of which is the
inclusion of a performance of Madonna's
'Vogue'. I can almost smell the amyl nitrate now... anyway, back when
Kylie was in a bit of a mess, career-wise,
she ended up doing this. A electro-house stomper about a font. The man behind it
was of course Towa Tei, that crazy Japanese
DJ who made up one third of Deee-Lite and
constantly has a giant-sized pair of headphones attached to his head. You can
see him in the video
Signed to
Mushroom Records (Kylie
Minogue and, er, the 'Neighbours'
theme tune) spin-off
label Discordant, Garbage were
quickly accused of swiping their dark techno rock sounds from
Curve, who had at the time of their arrival,
gone on hiatus. Enter 1995's 'Subhuman', their second single and
in my eyes, their creative peak. Nothing since has topped it's brilliance and it
does indeed sound like something Curve
might've come up with if they'd carried on in the vein of 1993's 'Missing
Link' single. Never before released outside of it's initial limited
edition run (3,000 rubber-sleeved 7"s, 3,000 CD singles) with the exception of
it's inclusion as a bonus track on the Japanese import of the debut album,
'Subhuman' remains an obscure gem. It's B-side is also a work of dark
genius, '#1 Crush', and was remixed (ie. ruined) and stuck on the
'Romeo & Juliet' soundtrack. Bah! From here on in,
Garbage became less of a tantalising
proposition. They became increasingly unimaginative and less and less
experimental, blending into the mainstream M.O.R. rock niche like the best of
them, epitomised on 2005's mediocre 'Bleed Like Me' album (the
title track of which was heard last week in 'Coronation Street' as
reformed Goth Rosie sat and cried...). Where
next for Garbage? The band deny splits but
rumours abound. Shirley Manson
is still
signed to a solo album deal with Radioactive Records, a deal she struck
post-Goodbye Mr Mackenzie/Angelfish,
so a solo release at some point would seem likely. I hear prospective
collaborations are on the cards with Jack White
(Stripes), Billy
Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), and
Paul Buchanan (Blue
Nile). Right now, a much delayed best of package, 'Absolute
Garbage', continues to haunt the release schedules but keeps getting
pushed back every couple of months (last time we looked it was down for March
2007). Depending on who assembles this, it could either be a very meagre run of
singles or a wonderfully thought out set which stretches to include b-sides and
rarities (indeed, a stand alone album of such content was reported as being a
possible release way back in 2001). Anyway, if 'Subhuman' aint on
it, it will be an utter disgrace. Trivia! One of the samples heard on
'Subhuman' is the sound of a broken air conditioner unit which
Butch Vig rigged up to the mixing desk and
recorded.
The
International House Of Pussy rocks! Here's
David Grohl, ex-Nirvana
drummer, Rock
God, sworn enemy of The Widow Cobain
and
leader of the mighty Foo Fighters.
Dave's just about escaped his 'used to be the
drummer in Nirvana' tag these days and the
Foofs (as they are affectionately known to
some) have been consistently successful for reasons beyond the parent-band's
acclaim. I was a grunge fan, y'know and I even 'moshed' along to 'This Is
A Call' somewhere in an indie disco in deepest darkest Middlesbrough.
This cover of the old Gerry Rafferty
hit,
from the B-side of 'My Hero', was also covered by 90's dance duo
Undercover. Foo
Fighters replace the 'classic' sax with some heavy duty riff-action and
it generally rocks like a bastard. Hurrah. The other one from
Nirvana (the one that wasn't
Dave Or Kurt)
also tried a new venture post-blowing-out-of-brains with the female fronted
(courtesy of Yva Las Vegas)
Sweet 75. As a bonus,