The Squire Presents

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

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

1. Cherub Rock – Acoustic Live On MTV Europe 1993 (Earphoria)
2. Quiet – BBC Session 1993 (Siamese Dream Deluxe)
3. Today – Broadway Rehearsal Demo (Siamese Dream Deluxe)
4. Hummer – Lost Tapes 94 (Viewphoria)

Side B

1. Rocket – Rehearsal Demo (Siamese Dream Deluxe)
2. Disarm – Live On The Word, UK 1993 (Earphoria)
3. Soma – Live At Astoria 1994 (Earphoria)

Side C

1. Geek U.S.A. – Live At Alabamahalle 1993 (Earphoria)
2. Mayonaise – Acoustic Alternative Version (Rarities & B-Sides)
3. Spaceboy – Acoustic Mix (Siamese Dream Deluxe)

Side D

1. Ache – Sliverfuck Rehearsal Demo (Siamese Dream Deluxe)
2. Sweet Sweet – Demo (Quiet & Other Songs Bootleg)
3. Luna  – Apartment Demo (Siamese Dream Deluxe)

Where many Britpop bands focused on the works of Lennon & McCartney, The Who, The Kinks or XTC, Kula Shaker were one of the few, if the only band from the era who seemed to have listened to the work of George Harrison, including those songs that were influenced by his journeys into Indian music. The name of the band was even inspired by Kulasekhara who was one of the twelve Vaishnavite avatars. I would recommend you look it up if you don’t know what that is. Lead by singer and guitar player, Crispian Mills, his songs were also inspired by Indian culture and Hinduism which he had encountered whilst he was on a backpacking trip around India in the early 1990s. Having played in a couple of bands, Mills would recruit college friend Alonza Bevan on bass, Paul Winterhart on drums and Jay Darlington on keyboards. 

The band were signed to Columbia Records and released their first single, ‘Tattva’. The chorus of the song is a slice of Hindu philosophy sung in Sanskrit which reached the lower reaches of the Top 100. Not bad for a debut single that was limited to 1000 copies. The band continued by releasing some more conventional sounding rock songs in the shape of ‘Grateful When You’re Dead’ and ‘Hey Dude’, as well as a rerecording of ‘Tattva’ and ‘Govinda’. Govinda has the distinction of being the only top ten hit UK single to be sung entirely in Sanskrit. The meaning of the chorus translates as ‘Krishna, Glory, Glory’. The band seemed to go from strength to strength with the release of their debut album, ‘K’, which would eventually reach double platinum status in the UK.1996 had been a good year for the band and 1997 seemed to be going in the same direction when their cover of Joe South’s ‘Hush’ made number two in the UK singles chart, but some ill advised remarks by Mills regarding the swastika lead to a backlash in the UK press. 

This and the delay in releasing the second album lost the band the momentum they had built up. Only ‘Sound of Drums’, the first single from the ‘Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts’ LP breached the top ten. The parent album did make the Top Ten in the UK album chart but sold nowhere near as many copies as the previous album. By the end of 1999, the band split up even though they did get back together in 2007 and are still going today, even though it has taken until recently for th original four members to come back together. 

This is another in my series of B-Side albums from the era’s big hitters and there was enough material to put out an album that would stand up (in my opinion) to the main albums. Well, in some respects it does, even thought I did include what would have been an unreleased song if this album had come out in reality. That additional song is ‘Strangefolk’ which was included on the ‘Kollected’ album. ‘Strangefolk’ was the original title of the second album, but this was edited and the full length song would see the light of day on the 10th Anniversary reissue of ‘Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts’.  

Side A

1. Avalonia (Mystical Machine Gun – 1998)
2. Guitar Man (Mystical Machine Gun – 1998)
3. Moonshine (Tattva – 1996)
4. Holy River (Mystical Machine Gun – 1998)
5. Dance In Your Shadow (Tattva – 1996)
6. Goodbye Tin Terriers (Shower Your Love – 1999)
7. Troubled Mind (Hey Dude – 1996)

Side B

1. Prancing Bride (Mystical Machine Gun – 1998)
2. Raggy One (Waiting For Tomorrow) (Hush – 1997)
3. Gokula (Govinda – 1996)
4. Under The Hammer (Grateful When You’re Dead/Jerry Was Here – 1996)
5. Drop In The Sea (Hey Dude – 1996)
6. Another Life (Grateful When You’re Dead/Jerry Was Here – 1996)
7. Light Of The Day (Shower Your Love – 1999)
8. Strangefolk (Kollected – The Best Of Kula Shaker – 2002)

The cover is adapted from the bands 2007 release of the B-Sides from their ‘Strangefolk’ album.

Something a little different to finish off the month with, especially as they are not Britpop in anyway shape or form. I have written in length about the Smashing Pumpkins and how I came to find out about them in previous posts, but just to recap. I have been a fan of the original incarnation of the Smashing Pumpkins since I bought their first album ‘Gish’ in 1993. I mentioned the circumstances I became aware of the band back in my October 2020 post about the first album that never was. 

‘Gish’ was released in 1991 but I did not get myself a copy until two years later. It is a bit of a difficult album to categorise as Corgan seems to be trying to harness the power of classic rock bands such as Black Sabbath with aspects of sound utilised by bands such as The Cure. The band were given a rather generous budget of $20,000 to record which afforded Corgan and producer Butch Vig the time to get the sounds right but relations within the group were harmed by the production methods. That was due to Corgan rerecording the bass and guitar parts from Darcy Wretzky and James Iha respectively. To add insult to injury, Corgan used their instruments as well. The press for the album were generally favourable and it would eventually sell over 1 million copies in the US alone.

I liked what I heard with ‘Gish’ and bought ‘Siamese Dream’ soon afterwards. I continued buying all of the material that they had released/recorded between the late 80s up until 2001. This continued with the Deluxe Editions of all of those albums, which have been a treasure trove of previously unreleased material, alternative takes and live material. This was one of the best reissue programmes I have seen, especially as main songwriter Billy Corgan had a hand in putting it all together. I have found that for the majority of the time, the last people you want being in charge of a reissue programme are the artists themselves. Anyway, I digress. 

As so much material has been released, I wondered if it would be possible to compile a completely alternative version of the studio albums they made before they broke up in 2000, just using the material from the Deluxe Editions. Well, I wasn’t able to do this so I had to have a look into the murky world of the bootleg, including ones that Corgan put on line in the early days of the internet. This also included the short lived Smashing Pumpkins Record Club (which offered up tracks to download from the internet that were not included on any of the Deluxe Edition reissues). What this means is that ‘Pieces Iscariot’ and ‘The Aeroplane Flies High’ will not be included here (look at my entry from October 2022 to see my alternative version of ‘The Aeroplane Flies High). 

Side A

1. I Am One – Limited Potential Version (Single A-Side)
2. Siva (Peel Radio Session EP)
3. Rhinoceros (Version Two) – Reel Time Sessions (Smashing Pumpkins Record Club)
4. Bury Me – Reel Time Demos (Gish Deluxe)
5. Hippy Trippy – Crush Demo (Gish Deluxe)

SIde B

1. Seam – Suffer Department Demo (Gish Deluxe)
2. Snail – Radio Session (Mashed Potatoes Bootleg) 
3. Tristessa – Sub Pop Version (Single A-Side)
4. Window Paine – Live (Mashed Potatoes Bootleg)
5. Daydream – Old House Demo (Gish Deluxe)

What was surpassing was how close I could achieve this aim. Seeing as I bought these records on vinyl, I have followed the order on that release.

Back in 2021, Edsel Records released the compilation ‘Caught Beneath The Landslide’. It was a companion piece to photographers Kevin Cummins book, ‘While We Were Getting High: Britpop & The 90s’. Cummings was the chief photographer at the NME, which at the time of Britpop was a best selling music weekly newspaper. He then compiled a four disc compilation which included some of the biggest names from the period along with some of the also rans. The recordings were not the obvious hits either, but alternative versions, single edits and B-Sides. 

Well, in this year of Britpop themed releases on this site, I have looked to do something similar with a second volume of the ‘Caught Beneath The Landslide’ compilation. What is different about this one is that it is not based around the Cummins book and does not include as many of the Britpop big hitters as the first volume. What we have though is another four disc set encompassing the years 1993-1998 which I hope will be a worthy follow up to the original. 

Disc 1

1. So Sad About Us – Jubilee
2. Come Back Tomorrow – Salad
3. Saturday Night – Ned’s Atomic Dustbin
4. Christopher – Kinky Machine
5. Natural One – The Folk Implosion
6. Born Disco, Died Heavy Metal – Cornershop
7. This Is The Sound Of Youth – These Animal Men
8. Town Clowns – Blameless
9. Walter’s Song – Shack
10. Now That You Know Me – Coast
11. Cracked – Nylon Bombers
12. Mall Monarchy – Compulsion
13. Ha Ha You’re Dead – Sleeper
14. Bring You Down – The Real People
15. Daydream – Back To The Planet
16. Scenester – Flamingoes
17. Girl A, Girl B, Boy C – My Life Story
18. Sometimes Always – The Jesus & Mary Chain
19. Love Songs On The Radio – Mojave 3
20. Sure As Fate – Passion Fruit & Holy Bread
21. Out Of This World (Original Mix) – Republica

Disc 2

1. Step Out – Oasis
2. I Don’t Know – Ruth
3. Shirtlifter – Lick
4. Cookie – David Devant & His Spirit Wife
5. Mrs Hoover – The Candyskins
6. Child’s Body – Gene
7. Box Star A.M. – Embassy
8. Looey Vs. Christ – Baba Booey
9. Smiler (Single Version) – Heavy Stereo
10. Love 45 – Orange Deluxe
11. Queenie – Pimlico
12. Bellyache – Echobelly
13. Good Intentions – Livingstone
14. Mark – Shed Seven
15. Don’t Know – Ash
16. London Breeds – 60ft Dolls
17. Merched Yn Need Gwallt Eu Gilled – Gorky’s Zygotic Mynchi
18. Hello Victim – Baby Chaos
19. Man Of Leisure – The Weekenders
20. Today & Tonight – Marion
21. Alison – Slowdrive
22. Odd (Peel Session) – Supergrass
23. Bandstarter – Brainpool

Disc 3

1. Privilege – Mainstream
2. U16 Girls – Travis
3. Three Beasts – Moms
4. Hype – Headswim
5. Straighten Out – Brassy
6. Where Have You Been Tonight? – Shed Seven
7. Death Of A Party (7” Mix) – Blur
8. English Tea – Thurman
9. We Are The Supercool – Space Monkeys
10. Blinded By The Sun (Edit) – The Seahorses
11. All Pop No Star – Slingbacks
12. All I Want – Poppyheads
13. Know Where To Find You – Mantaray 
14. The Kazoo Song – The Sweeney
15. Crush – Goya Dress
16. It Fell Of The Back Of A Lorry – Denim
17. Holiday – Pullover
18. Supersexy Revolutionary – Disco Pistol
19. Primary Alternative (Peel Session) – The Delgados
20. The Mill Hill Self Hate Club – Edward Ball
21. Another Night In – Strangelove
22. Can’t Be Sure – The Sundays

Disc 4

1. To Earth With Love – Gay Dad
2. A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed – theaudience
3. Soloman Bites The Worm – The Bluetones
4. I Like Rock – Bennet
5. Roll With It – Mogul
6. Rent (Live) – Suede & Neil Tennant
7. Tuesday Afternoon – Ex Boyfriends
8. Drag Queen – The Dandys
9. Candlelight – Six By Seven
10. Break – The Gyres
11. Julia – Silver Sun
12. Nothing To Lose – Elcka
13. Hurricane – Warm Jets
14. Now I’ve Seen Through You – Hillman Minx
15. Best Friend – Ether
16. Move Over – Mover
17. Maniac – Cinerama
18. How Free – Don
19. Will You Still Care – The Crocketts
20. Vinegar Vera – Rialto
21. Dry The Rain – The Beta Band

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

Top row (l to r) – theadiance, Travis, The Sundays

Middle row (l to r) – Blur, The Delgados, Cornershop

Bottom row (l to r) – Ash, The Weekenders, Seahorses

Part 1 – Sci-Fi Lullabies (Break Up Version)

Most, if not all musical movements receive their name from people who tend not to be part of that movement, be it the press, critics or the artists A&R. Some movement names are used whilst it is still active, such as punk whereas other are retrospectively given with Freakbeat being a good example. Some artists embrace the movements name, some do not and therefore seek to distance themselves from it. There is also the added problem of trying to work out what is the first record to be released that could be described as starting that moment off. The amount of words that have been written trying to work out what the first Rock ’n’ Roll record was is arguably a good deal more than the amount written by Shakespeare. 

British band Suede fit nicely into lots of the categories mentioned above. Their first album is considered (myself included) to be the first Britpop album. They hated the title and their second album can therefore be considered to be the first post-Britpop LP, four years before anyone else tried to produce one of their own. 

Suede started when students Brett Anderson and Justine Frischmann met whilst studying at University College London. They became a couple soon afterwards and with Anderson’s friend, Matt Osman, they decided to form a band. Neither Frischmann or Anderson felt they were good enough guitar players to play lead so after an advert was placed in the music paper, the New Music Express (or NME as it is more commonly known), a certain Bernard Butler got their job. Early gigs would see the band backed up with a drum machine which proved to be unreliable. They would briefly be joined by drummer Justin Welch, who would later reconnect with Frischmann in Elastica. He didn’t stay long and therefore another advert in the music weeklies was placed. The band were surprised when Mike Joyce, former drummer with The Smiths got in touch but he did not stay long either. Joyce bailed on the fledgling group because he felt that being in a band that was influenced by and had certain similarities to The Smiths would do Suede more harm than good. Eventually, Simon Gilbert joined behind the drum kit. 

Tensions began to build when Frischmann and Anderson split up. Frischmann had started a relationship with Blur’s Damon Alban but she did not leave Suede immediately. It was felt that the situation could be worked through but she was eventually fired after turning up late for rehearsals on too many occasions, sometimes due to being on the set of a Blur video. With Frischmann gone, Anderson and Butler became closer and began writing the songs that would make up the debut album. 

Anderson was the figurehead of the band, and appeared on the front cover of music weekly Melody Maker before they had released a record. The paper even called them the “Best New Band in Britain”. By the time of their third single released, ‘Animal Nitrate’ they had matched the hype with record sales as this was their first single to break into the UK Top Ten singles chart. When the album came out, it was the biggest selling debut since Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s ‘Welcome to the Pleasuredome’ LP. The album also won the 1993 Mercury Music Prize and it would seem that Suede were truly going to be the next big thing. That was until tension started to arise between Anderson and Butler. 

In early 1994, the band released ‘Stay Together’, their highest charting single to date but the sound was different to what had gone before. The song was also a portent of what was to come. Multi-layered guitars, increased length of the songs and sounding like nothing else around it. Butler did not help the situation by being quite critical of Anderson in one of the few interviews he gave at the time. Tensions got so high that Butler began to record his parts for the second album separately from the rest of the band until he came to the studio to find that he would not be allowed in and his guitars were left on the street. The band finished the album with either Butler recording in another studio or with a session player playing Butlers’ parts from the demo recordings. Considering the tension that went into making this record, it is surprising how good it is even if it took some members of the music press a number of years to catch up. 

Suede would recruit in a new guitar player in Richard Oakes, and continue to release records to this day. However, what this collection looks to do is see what a B-Sides collection would have looked like if the band had decided to call it a day after ‘Dog Man Star’ had been released. Some of Suede’s B-Sides were excellent, which is was clearly shown when the band released the ‘Sci-Fi Lullabies’ collection which this album shares its title and artwork with. Unlike the version that came out in real life, no songs recorded with Oakes could be included. There is also a lot more songs from the first album sessions as well which shows the strength of material they had before they had even entered a recording studio. Overall, a good record that more than stands up on its own merits.  

Side A

1. The Living Dead (Stay Together – 1994)
2. Killing Of A Flash Boy (We Are The Pigs – 1994)
3. He’s Dead (Metal Mickey – 1992)
4. My Insatiable One (The Drowners – 1992)
5. My Dark Star (Stay Together – 1994)
6. Where The Pigs Don’t Fly (Metal Mickey – 1992)

Side B

1. Modern Boys (The Wild One – 1994)
2. Whipsnade (We Are The Pigs – 1994)
3. High Rising (So Young – 1992)
4. The Big Time (Animal Nitrate – 1993)
5. To The Birds (The Drowners – 1993)

Part 2 – Lost Lullabies

When the real ‘Sci-Fi Lullabies’ came out in 1997, it was not a comprehensive collection of Suede’s B-Side. There were a number of tracks that did not make the cut. What I have done here, is to collect those lost songs to be a release all of their own. Called ‘Lost Lullabies’, it is weighed down by the Eno remix of ‘Introducing The Band’ which I first heard as the B-Side to the 12” single version of ‘The Wild Ones’. I think I played it once and for the second time when completing this collection. It is definitely something that does not warrant multiple plays. 

Side A

1. Eno’s Introducing The Band (The Wild Ones – 1994)
2. Feel (Lazy – 1997)

Side B

1. Dolly (So Young – 1993)
2. Digging A Hole (Lazy – 1997)
3. Painted People (Animal Nitrate – 1993)
4. Sam (Beautiful Ones – 1996)
5. This World Needs A Father (The Wild Ones – 1994)
6. Asda Town (The Wild Ones – 1994)

The cover is adapted from the original ‘Sci-Fi Lullabies’.