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Archive 03
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51 - 75
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...
Rare combined trip-hop and dub with a
live rock sound which sounded a bit like dance music. Their one and only
album, 'Peoplefreak', was released in 1997. 'Something
Wild' preceded the album and scraped into the UK singles chart at
57. The group toured the UK but were deterred by the lukewarm response they
were met with and ultimately called it a day shortly after. I honestly don't
know much more. The lead singer was called
Mary and this single is really
catchy. The album is pleasant enough too. I figured they deserved a bit of a
re-airing after I couldn't find any information on them anywhere whatsoever.
Anyone?
We've all fell for the packaging gimmicks employed by record companies and
bands alike that lure you in with some tactile and unusual sleeve only to
find the contents anything other than great. Now I can think of a few
exceptions, but none more fantastic than
It's been ages since we had a flop girl band up here so I thought we'd offer
up Faith, Hope & Charity for a giggle.
There weren't many pretenders to the Bananarama
throne during the 1980s but by the 1990s, their reign was nearing an
end and new girl bands were popping up like nobodies business. Cue this bunch of
lasses put together by pop svengali Tom Watkins
(Pet Shop Boys,
East 17). They looked like three 'Grange Hill' extras who'd had a run in with
Sique Sigue Sputnik
and narrowly missed a decent chart placing with their debut
single 'Battle Of The Sexes' in 1990. It's follow up faired
much the same, but I think it's the stronger track of the two, like an
embryonic All Saints down tempo track.
If you bought the 7" single, you got a nifty little metal badge with their
logo on (a cross, a heart and... an anchor?) which I wore proudly on my
school blazer. What a tit I must have looked... Anyway, it's common
knowledge TV presenter Dani Behr was in
the band so I wont bother mentioning that. Oh, and hello to
Out of the ashes of well thought of indie stalwarts
Comet Gain emerged the fragrant
Velocette. A lovely band with a knack for writing epic, warm,
multi-textured 60's flavoured pop tunes which fall around your ears like
lovely autumn leaves. Blissful. 'Spoiled Children' was their
second single and taken from a great album called 'Fourfold Remedy'.
Signed to Wiiija, they didn't stick around long sadly and who knows
what happened to them. I fondly recall a great gig at Newcastle's old
Riverside. The line up was three Wiiija acts,
Bis were headlining with Brassy
and Velocette supporting. How
great was that gig? Anyway, with just four singles and one album to collect,
you shouldn't find yourself too much out of pocket by adding this super band
to your collection - especially as the album is only £1.00 on
Aren't cover versions great? I for one love them. I know they get a lot of
stick and bad press but quite often they end up being better than the
original. Point in case is crazy-as-a-bed-bug Shonen Knife's super take of
Martha
Reeves & The Vandellas' Motown classic '(Love Is Like A)
Heatwave'. I dare you not to grin with joy as you play it...
Shonen Knife are still going strong, now
only 2 of them mind. They enjoyed a brief period of success here in the UK
in the 1990's when Kurt Cobain name
dropped them, but their brand of novelty pop-rock is largely embraced by
cult die-hard fans these days. 'Let's Knife' is their best
album to date if you ask me, but this track is from the rarities collection,
'The Birds And The B-sides' which is great also.
Another piddling 1990's indie band that came and went in the blinking of a
heavily-mascaraed eye. Posh were fucking
brilliant. I was well into the whole moment and lapped up the singles one
after the other... right until the last one, which is where this track comes
from. 'Geisha Girl' was the B-side to 'I Confess'
and I like it slightly more than the A-side. It's from a three-single
package they released called 'Threesome', which was basically
three singles released across eight weeks which you collected and put in a
little 'Poshette' box. Other fantastic
Posh
moments include the council estate squalor of 'Chips And Oxy 10',
the aquatic-sex romp that is debut single 'Mermaid' and 'Body Fascists', a pumping pop at gym elitism.
Pippa Brooks
(the lass on vocals) and James Dearlove morphed into another little band shortly after
called Shopgirl but to my knowledge they
only did a few gigs on the London circuit before fizzling out. This
I found this in a charity shop for 50p a few summers back on the coast. It's
on Heavenly Records which have knocked out a few half-decent acts
over the years so I thought I'd give it a home. It's a nice little track
which had me hunting down more... For whatever reason,
Espiritu didn't break through on the music scene and her debut
album got lost in contractual red tape. Queue bloody Japan! Always to be
relied on for an obscure CD issue, Espiritu's
first album made it out over there (search eBay if you're desperate)
but the rest of us had to wait for a second album. I think by this time, the
momentum was lost though and all she's remembered for is her collaboration
with Tin Tin Out on their
Sandie Shaw cover 'Always
Something There To Remind Me'. 'Francisca' is
dedicated to her Nanny of the same name. Her singles can be collected for
tuppence across the world wide web...
It's tragic how some bands are over before they've began.
Sexus seemed to have it all yet it was
snuffed out in a flash. The irony around the single 'The Official End
Of It All' is a tragedy in itself. I think both 'Smash Hits'
and 'Melody Maker' had it as their single of the week?
They had a great video, loads of press, big budgets, yet the chart placing
wasn't so high. And then, before follow up single 'How Do You Kiss?'
got released, it all fell apart. I dunno if it was ZTT's fault or
what but there's more info on Sexus
I don't like
All About Eve. Lead singer
Julie Ann Regan was put to better use
fronting her own little spin-off band, Mice.
Riding the coat tails of Brit Pop along with Sleeper
and Echobelly,
Mice were a sweet offering of sugar
coated guitars and honeycomb vocal musings. Criminally overlooked, the album
'Because I Can' from 1996 is pretty good. From it, I've picked
'Miss World'. It's a heart wrenching tale of a young girl's dreams
of being, er, Miss World, which she realises, but it doesn't last for
long. Like Mice themselves didn't. The
album was re-issued 2 or 3 years ago under the title 'New And
Improved' with some re-recordings and b-sides thrown in. "See how
dark it is when the stage and flash bulbs fade/When they stop the cheques
and you're only an ex-Miss World...". Wise words indeed. The album also
has a lovely chocolate box-style contents track listing on the sleeve which
I think is genius. Buy this CD!
A flop. I know nothing about
Reno,
really. I liked the sleeve of the album and paid my money. It's an eclectic
dance-pop hybrid with guest vocalists and samples all over the place. What
struck me most, however, was this brilliant title track. Dark, brooding and
full of negative energies. It gripped me on a discman a few years ago, one
cold winter evening, and has been a favourite of mine ever since. Like an
electrical storm brewing, it grows and swells, keeping a sweet yet tortured
vocal prisoner at the centre of it all, then passes by to leave an
unsettling calm behind... it's a great track. I hope someone else likes it!
Pizzicato Five are a ceaseless and
tireless Japanese pop phenomena who seem to have been doing what they do for
centuries. I've picked up a few CDs over the years, usually drawn in by
their exquisite sleeves and packaging, and although what I find on them
entertaining and fun, I also find them a bit impenetrable. Almost like a
joke I don't get... but some of their material whooshes off the disc and up
your nose like a very fizzy and sugary glass of pop! 'Mon Amour Tokyo',
from 1997's 'Happy End Of The World' on Matador, will
quench your thirst and have you bouncing off flat surfaces for it's entire
duration. As I say, the joke isn't so funny to me, especially as their brand
of day-glo pop never, ever stops. It's album after album of fun, fun, fun...
but by all means dip your toe.
Now crap albums are never 100% crap I find. Somewhere on them, there has to
be one little gem. Just one. Goya Dress'
debut matches this profile perfectly. After a few quite good EPs, they
delivered a bit of a stinker in 1996's 'Rooms', the album, but
it's namesake track 'Rooms' is 4 minutes of divinity and
soaring perfection. It's a piano-driven torch song composed on a grey cloud
on the edge of longing... "Why wont you fall in love with me...?".
Luckily for you, I've extracted it from all the other dull tracks on the LP
to bring you the only Goya Dress track
you'll ever need. Thank me.
Wendy James might be flogging a dead
horse with that bizarre Racine album
right now but give me the baby pink lipstick and brittle bleached hairdo any
day. Transvision Vamp were such a fab
band. Loud, a bit silly and best of all, slightly raunchy. Clearly ripping
off everyone from T Rex to
Blondie, their sound owed much to Rock
'n' Roll's rich tapestry that went before them. Still, nowt wrong with a bit
of pilfering. 'Oh Yeah' is a little slab of punk nonsense,
taken from the B-side to their crap Eco-friendly single 'Sister Moon'.
Listen out for Wendy asking the rest of
the band, "Now wot?" after she's finished her vocals towards the end.
Classic.
Pet Shop Boys were responsible for young
Cicero, writing with him and putting him
on their Spaghetti Records label in 1992. A young wee Scottish lad,
his rough and ready appearance was quite appealing, but his record sales
weren't so hot. I really like 'Heaven Must Have Sent You Back To Me'
and it got released twice, failing to hit the charts both times.
This is the second 'Remix'. I believe this young chap is now very
collectable among Pet Shop Boys fans...
Wonder what he's up to these days?
Madonna's backing singer/dancer/lackey
Donna DeLory had a crack at her own little pop moment. I'm not
sure how successful she was in the USA, but over here she stiffed. Even this
track, penned by Madonna, with backing
vocals by Madonna
and given to Donna
as a birthday gift from
Madonna couldn't get her in the door.
It's great though, so that's a shame. Do you remember
Nikki Harris, the other dancer? She did
that record with Snap!, 'Exterminate', around the same time. What's wrong with these people?
Doesn't Madge
pay them enough to be her bitch dancers? Although,
I suppose Madonna doesn't tour that
regularly and a gal's gotta eat. Heck, why don't they sell some bitchy
stories or write a confessional book about how wicked she is to work with? I
would.
The bizarre failure of
Alison Clarkson's
second album from 1993 continues to baffle me. I think it's better than her
first, 'Boomania', which was a massive success by comparison.
'Grrr! It's Betty Boo!' was released in the shadow of three
not very big hit singles and subsequently flopped. Even this luscious,
country-tinged heartbreaker, 'Hangover', seemed to fall on
deaf ears. I was listening though! Betty Boo
pretty much vanished after this. I heard a rumour that
Madonna wanted to sign her to her Maverick label but for what ever reason, it didn't happen.
Betty recently wrote the
Girls Aloud track 'Love Bomb'
(featured on the first issue of their debut album and then on the B-side
to 'Jump') and the latest rumour is she's in a band with
Alex from Blur,
called Wigwam. Hmmm.
It's been a while since I dipped into The Compact Organization so
let's have a listen to the Queen of Hairspray, Mari
Wilson. Now, 'Just What I Always Wanted' may be
pretty unlistenable these days thanks to those rotten furniture
store/Christmas TV adverts, but there's still lots of goodies in her
repertoire. This track was made famous by the beautiful
Julie London in the 1950's.
Mari's version came out in 1983 and was
a number 27 hit. The 7" vinyl came with a free limited edition
Mari Wilson handkerchief. So you could
cry her a river, I suppose. Sweet.
Doesn't he look just dreadful these days? Time has not been kind.
'Calling Your Name' is one of those songs that sounds familiar when
it begins yet is quite hard to name. Then the vocal kicks in and you go 'Ah! Yes! Got it'. This song is of particular interest to me as it forms
one of my earliest memories. I must've been five and had just taken my
evening bath. I was wearing only a towel and my babysitter thought it would
be fun to wrap the towel round my head, mimicking Marilyn's blond dreadlocks, and make me dance in front of the TV
where he was performing on 'Top Of The Pops'. Oh my god. She
made me gay. Anyway, more singles came and then a pretty poor album,
'Despite Straight Lines', and then he
went away. Still, he remains forever immortalized in the original
Band Aid line-up. Not sure if he
actually appears on it vocally, but he's there in the photos, seriously
pouting like a trouper.
The ratio of bands that allegedly 'sound like
Saint
Etienne' is very, very high, isn't it? If you are a pop band with
a female lead singer and you're not playing guitars, then you must be
compared to Saint Etienne. It's the law.
But Peach were bloody good and I wont
forgive you all for not buying more of their records. Five singles and one
album down the line, they just gave up trying to win you all over. I hope
you can all live with yourselves. 1998's 'Audio Peach' knocks
spots off many albums released that year and all of the bands singles
dripped with juicy deliciousness. 'From This Moment On' pushes
all the right buttons and Lisa Lamb's
'do-do-dos' will leave you humming and nodding for the rest of the week.
Check out
The gorgeous autumnal twee-pop sensations
Birdie
were a lovely and uncomplicated band who seemed to do exactly what it said
on the tin. One book you could well and truly judge by it's cover, their
debut 1999 album 'Some Dusty', is an all too brief shufty
round some delicate tones and cosy reverbs. 'Linus' is named
after the big girl's blouse from the Charlie Brown/Peanuts comic
strip and that just sums up their whole vibe really. Cute, sensitive and
very, very nice. Singer Debsey Wickes
is
of course that bird out of cult indie girl trio Dolly Mixture
and both she and Paul
Kelly are cohorts of Saint Etienne
(that's Debsey singing on 'Who Do
You Think You Are?'). They didn't really capture many hearts on the
music scene and after a follow up album, 'Triple
Echo', in 2001 and a odds and sods compilation in 2003, they seem
to have completely vanished. Or have they?
The Three Stages Of Ms
Jan Johnston;
Early 1990s - Middle of the road pop-rock as part of flop boy/girl duo
J.J.. Mid-1990s - Quirky day-glo pop
pixie solo artist. Late 1990's to present day - Faceless guest vocalist diva
on a squillion and one dance/trance/pants singles. Will there be a further
stage? I wonder... My favourite era was the mid-1990s when she looked like
she might do fairly well with the fantastic 'Alive' and the
video was getting some play on 'The Chart Show'. It's a great
video with lots of little piglets, edible flowers, silly tights and bright,
bright colours. Sort've thing Cyndi Lauper
would knock out perhaps. Any road, I paid 75p for this CD single back
then and not much more for all of her other stuff. The album 'Naked
But For Lilies' is a very pretty little set of songs and you could
do worse than to buy it, if you can find it. One of the other singles from
the album, 'Paris', features a b-side called 'The
Prayer', which was later sampled and used in a dance track... and
that's how she fell into the bizarre world of 'featuring
Jan Johnston'. There's a whole
unreleased dance album by Jan recorded
for Perfecto which is actually quite good really and I do like some
of the trance-ier singles ('Flesh' with
DJ Tiesto is alright, innit?) but she's getting on a bit and
shouldn't be a Club Diva at her age if you ask me. Still, it keeps the
wolves from the door, isn't that right, pet? She has a really good site
The
only girl group of the 1960s if you ask me -
The Shangri-las! This track is one of
my all time favourites. The song is basically about a girl who, upon losing
out on some hot action due to being stood up by a lad, ends up going to a
club and having a dance with some strangers instead. We've all done that,
right? You can get hold of their whole recorded output, just about, for
around £3.00 all on
Saint Etienne chanteuse and all round
sweetheart Sarah Cracknell
was hard done
by if you ask me. Her solo album 'Lipslide' on Honey
Lane/Gut Records was pure gold and should have won plaudits and placards
from all sectors of the press for it's pop-ness and all round perfect-ness.
But of course it jolly well didn't. Who's fault was that? Who knows. I
recall tuning into 'The Big Breakfast' on Channel 4 one
morning as I tucked into my Raison Splitz. There was
Sarah, miming away 'live' from some cruddy shopping centre to
plug the new single, 'Anywhere' and I just felt sick. It was
all wrong. The single did about as well as a Saint
Etienne single (crept into the top 40 briefly) but it was all
down hill from there. The follow up single, 'Goldie', was
pulled last minute (now quite collectable too!) and the album sort of just
appeared and then disappeared without any fanfare or fuss. It should have
made her a star. Bless. Still, it went down a treat in Japan. 'If You
Leave Me' is one of many potentially great hit singles and it was
quite hard choosing just one track to post here. 'Taxi' and
'Taking Off For France' are really great too. If you can lay your
hands on the original UK release of this album, then do so. You will not be
disappointed. There was a USA release afterwards which repackaged the album
with a different track listing and left off some of the best tracks,
although it does include some new ones too. Best to get both!