The second post this month is another volume of songs tracking the last days of Britpop. Like Volume 1, which was posted last month, this is a selection of B-Sides, single edits and the odd different recording, be it demo or rough mix. All the main players are here along with some recordings but some of the eras also rans. There is also a song from one band called Polarbear who would sell a lot more records when they changed their name to Snow Patrol.
Side 1
Cosmonaut No.7 – Scarfo
Step Right Up (Full Version) – Mainstream
M.O.R. (Road Version) – Blur
Jump or Be Sane – Catatonia
Heads High – Don
Stay Young – Oasis
Side 2
Cardboy King – Salad
Filmstar (Orignal Version) – Suede
Mary Wana – Nicotines
Roadie – The Boo Radleys
I’m A Man – Sleeper
Stay – 18 Wheeler
We Still Ned More (Than Anyone Can Give) (Dust Brothers Recording) – Supergrass
Side 3
Holy Cow – Polarbear
Scumbag – Pink Kross
Michaela – Pippi & The Butcherbirds
The Face Smiles Back Easily – Ocean Colour Scene
Fill Me – Elcka
Superstar – Superstar
Raspberries – Comet Gain
Side 4
Oh Yeah, Baby – Dweeb
Let It Lie – Dustball
Air Hockey – Bennet
Bar Bar Bar (Demo) – Elastica
Golden Skin – Silver Sun
Times Up – Sussed
Tomorrow Never Dies (Rough Mix) – Pulp
As this was produced to be a double LP, this is what the artwork for the gatefold sleeve.
I cannot remember where I found this image, but if it was produced by Double J (who has included their name in Damon Alban’s head), I think you. It is wonderful.
Volume 1 can be found here – https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/various-artists-1997-the-last-days-of-britpop-vol-1/
Britpop ran out of steam by 1997 with the big players in the movement moving in a new musical direction, suffering from burnout, splitting up or just seeing further sales diminish. Blur released a self titled album which took its influence from the American lo-fi scene. Pulp released ‘This Is Hardcore’, which sounded like morning after the night before. Oasis released ‘Be Here Now’ which was an overproduced bloated mess.
Bands that followed on from this took elements that had inspired the Britpop bands, but looked to make music that would appeal to a wider audience. There was less focus on Britain, the lyrics became more introspective and there was a greater attempt to appeal to the American market.
Many of the bands that made up the Post-Britpop era started during the Britpop years. Radiohead and The Verve predated it but found critical acclaim with their ‘OK Computer’ and ‘Urban Hymns’ albums respectively. Coldplay became one of the biggest selling bands of the era with their first two albums going multi platinum. Travis, Catatonia and Snow Patrol also shifted a good deal of units at this time. As with any movement, this also ran out of steam by 2002 when bands such as The White Stripes, The Strokes and The Hives were hailed as the saviours of rock and roll.
Like ‘The Britpop Years’ compilations from the last few months, there are a number of artists that would not normally be associated with the Post Britpop years. Once again, the compilations look at the years the music was produced in, not necessarily sticking to what would be considered Post Britpop as that would mean artists from outside the UK could be included.
Disc 1
Holes – Mercury Rev
Hundred Mile High City – Ocean Colour Scene
Porcelain – Moby
Don’t Falter – Mint Royal (with Lauren Laverne)
78 Stone Wobble – Gomez
Praise You (Radio Edit) – Fatboy Slim
Boys Better – The Dandy Warhols
Jesus Says – Ash
Clint Eastwood – Gorillaz
Prologue To History – Manic Street Preachers
Cement Mixer – Clinic
Tequila (Mint Royal Shot Mix) – Terrorvision
Korean Bodega – Fun Lovin’ Criminals
Pure Morning – Placebo
Dolphins Were Monkeys (UNKLE Remix) – Ian Brown
Rising Sign – Hurricane #1
Shining Light – Ash
Disc 2
My Star – Ian Brown
Scar Tissue – Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Go Let it Out – Oasis
You Stole The Sun From My Heart – Manic Street Preachers
Celebrity Skin – Hole
Whatever Happened To My Rock & Roll – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Denise – Fountains Of Wayne
Subterranean Homesick Alien – Radiohead
Walk Like A Panther (7” Version) – The All Seeing I
Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad – Moby
Brimful Of Asha (Single Version) – Cornershop
Underdog (Save Me) – Turin Brakes
Pipe Dreams – Travis
To You – I Am Kloot
Great Divide – The Cardigans
Wishing Stone – Dot Allison
Come Back To What You Know – Embrace
Morning Afterglow – Electrasy
All I Want – Puressence
Delta Bottleneck Stomp – Mercury Rev
Interlude – Blur
The front cover, which is pretty much the same for all of the volumes, was adapted from a compilation released many moon ago and I have no idea what it was.
This disc could not be reproduced on Spotify due to one more songs not being available on that platform.
Something a little different to finish off the month. By 1997, Britpop was burning itself out. The fun and games of the previous three or so years had started to become stale. The main artists of the period were starting to release music that had lost some of its sparkle which could be argued to have been caused by exhaustion/drug problems etc.
That didn’t stop some quality music from being released. I put this compilation together from songs that I had not used on previous posts this year. Most of the major Britpop acts are included, with some obscure ones added for good measure. There are stand alone singles, single mixes, B-sides and album tracks. As the are the midst of a vinyl revival, I have made this a double LP.
Side A
Hush – Kula Shaker
Young Girls & Happy Endings – Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
Echo Bass – The Verve
Everything Is Sorrow (Granby Remix) – The Boo Radleys
Down A Different River – Super Furry Animals
Side B
Taxloss (Single Version) – Mansun
Nothing Is Changing – Sleeper
Hello Monday – Ocean Colour Scene
Death Of A Party (7” Remix) – Blur
Don’t Need A Gun – The Charlatans
Sometimes I Make You Sad – Supergrass
Side C
Brimful Of Asha (Album Version) – Cornershop
Thickshake – Silver Sun
I Am The Mob (Luca Brasi Mix) – Catatonia
Stand By Me (French Radio Edit) – Oasis
True Love Waits (Full Band) – Radiohead
Side D
Free Me (Acoustic) – Cast
Where Are They Now – Gene
Best Regrets – Geneva
Duschess – Suede
Laughing Boy – Pulp
Come Together – Spiritulized
The artwork comes from BBC Radio 2 show about Britpop. Used Virgin as the record label as they were the ones who produced The Best Album in the World Series of CDs that I bought in the 90s.
Out of all of the bands that could be classed as Britpop, Pulp formed first. Starting out in 1978 (when Tim Wheeler from Ash was about 1 year old), front man Jarvis Cocker has been the only ever present. It took them two years to play a gig and then in 1981, they had recorded a demo tape which the band gave to legendary DJ, John Peel, who duly gave them some exposure with a Peel Session. The original line up disbanded not long after this as most of the members went off to University and, the Peel Session not leading to any success. A new line up was formed and it was then that ‘It’, their first album was recorded and released in 1983. A second album, ‘Freaks’ was released in 1987 but Cocker took a break to study at Central Saint Martin College, putting the band on hiatus.
By the 1989, Cocker had resurrected the band and they had a deal with Fire Records. It was whilst on that label that the released the ‘My Legendary Girlfriend’ single. This was made weekly music newspaper, the NME’s single of the week. The trajectory of the band started to rise and ‘O.U’ was made single of the week by Melody Maker, an other UK weekly music paper. Signing to Island Records, ‘Lipgloss’ became their first single to break the UK top 40. Parent album, ‘His ’n’ Hers’ broke into the top ten of the LP charts and the band was on its way, finally.
‘Different Class’ followed soon afterwards but there were some incidents of controversy. There was the single ‘Sorted For E’s & Whizz’ which was said to be pro drugs and the original artwork showed people how to make a paper wrap which was interpreted as a way of hiding drugs. Then there was the 1996 BRIT Awards when Cocker rushed the stage during Michels Jackson’s over the top performance of ‘Earth Song’ for which he ended up spending a night in jail for. None of this seemed to hurt record sales though.
There would three year gap before their next album was released. ‘This Is Hardcore’ which was darker than the previous two efforts, mostly down to the pressures of fame, Cocker having a cocaine addiction and a lack of new material. The band would record one more album, 2001s ‘We Love Life’ before splitting. There have been a few reunions but none that herded any new music. They did leave quite of a lot of quality music though for us to listen to and this is shown by the amount of top notch B-Sides they produced during the period they were signed to Island Records. For this, the sixth and final B-Sides collection from the major players of Britpop, Pulp are afforded a double album.
59 Lyndhurst Grove – Live (Common People – French Single)
I normally would not include live tracks on B-Sides collections, but this version of ’59 Lyndhurst Grove’ was. It finishes with a nice thank you by Jarvis Cocker and I felt it was a really nice way to finish off.
I must admit that Moby passed me by for most of the 1990s. I seem to remember the single ‘Go’, but that is about it. I therefore did not know anything about the artist when I picked up the ‘Honey’ single after listening to it on the radio. Even though I did not think much of the remixes, I still liked ‘Honey’. The mix of an old song with a techno beat intrigued me so a few months later when I saw there was an album for sale with ‘Honey’ on it , I picked it up. What I din’t realise at the time was this was this was Moby’s last throw of the dice as far as his music career was concerned. His previous effort, ‘Animal Rights’, had been a commercial disaster and he was contemplating quitting music all together. Some positive feedback from fellow musicians gave him the confidence to at least give music another go.
‘Play’ was released in mid 1999 to little fanfare. It initially sold enough to break into the UK Top 40, but after his fanbase had bought their copies, it slipped down the chart. However, in an attempt to get the music heard, Moby and his management team decided to license the tracks for adverts. In the end, every song from the album was licensed and exposure for the record increased dramatically. In the end, the record would sell over 12 million copies worldwide and eight singles were ultimately released from it. The album was so popular that in 2000, a compilation album was released called ‘Play: The B-Sides’. This also sold in good numbers but was not a comprehensive set as it did not contain any remixes. Moby recorded so much material in preparation for ‘Play’ that a bootleg came out not long after this called ‘Play: The Outtakes’.
One of the features of the album of the numerous styles that were incorporated into it. There are the aforementioned techno and blues. However, there was electronica, downtempo, ambient, breakbeat and roots. As successful as this album was, it was also quite schizophrenic. What I looked to do here is repackage these records with more of a theme.
The first disc is called ‘Natural Blues’ and contains songs that sampled blues and roots music. The second is ‘Bodyrock’ which contains more big beat and techno tracks. The third is a reimagining of the album which took out the more uptempo numbers to be replaced by something more ambient.
Natural Blues
Side A
Honey – Play
Find My Baby – Play
Flower – B-Side (Find My Baby)
Run On – Play
Side B
Natural Blues – Play
Flying Foxes – B-Side (Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad)
Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad – Play
The cover was used for the ‘Natural Blues’ single.
Bodyrock
Side A
Bodyrock – Play
Machette – Play
7 – Play
Side B
Flying Over The Dateline – B-Side (Porcelain)
Running – B-Side (Run On)
The cover was used for the ’Bodyrock’ single.
Play
Took out the more upbeat numbers to make something a bit more mellow.
Side A
Dispatched – Play: The Outtakes
If Things Were Perfect – Play
Porcelain – Play
South Side – Play
The Sun Never Stops Setting – B-Side (Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad)
Side B
Everlong – Play
Inside – Play
Graciosa – Play: The Outtakes
Rushing – Play
Side C
The Whispering Wind – B-Side (Natural Blues)
The Sky Is Broken – Play
Summer – B-Side
Sown Slow – Play
Side D
Guitar, Flute & String – Play
Deep Seated – Play: The Outtakes
Memorial Gospel – B-Side (Run On)
My Weakness – Play
The cover is the same as the one used for ‘Play’
This reimagining of ‘Play’ could not be recreated on Spotify as a number of these treks come from the Outtakes bootleg.
Last month, I posted a what-if compilation of The Beatles and what could have been their LP release of 1969, with additional singles. They were one of the bands mentioned by multiple artists during the Britpop era as a major influence. They even got back together (sort of) to release two new(six) songs during the mid 90s. So, wouldn’t it be interesting to put together a compilation of artists that were an influence on that period so this is what I put together.
Britpop was a harking back to the great British song book of the 60s, 70s and 80s. It was also a rejection of American grunge music, so many of the songs writers from this period looked to write about Britishness in their lyrics. The 60s influences (especially Blur) ranged from The Kinks (especially when they were banned from the USA and their songs became more British in their lyrical content), The Beatles, and Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd. From the 70s, Noel Gallagher took inspiration from Slade. Art rockers such as Roxy Music were an influence on Suede. Bands from the late 70s such as The Strangers and Wire were such an influence on Elastica that the band lost plagiarism court cases due to the similarity of their songs to those of these earlier bands records. The indie scene of the 80s and very early 90s played a part in creating Britpop. The Madchester Scene where bands such as the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays played a part, incorporating dance beats and jangly guitars into their sound. With all this thrown into the mix, Britpop emerged.
Whilst not all of these songs were the most inspirational in terms of Britpop, with The La’s and the song ‘There She Goes’ being called by Rolling Stone magazine, the foundation of Britpop, I did not want to use songs that were used on other compilations I have put together for this years celebration. If this compilation had actually been released back in the 90s, and I am surprised nothing like this was, then The Beatles and Pink Floyd would have been nowhere near it with those bands and/or record labels would not have released these songs for a compilation such as this. I also feel that compilers back in the day would have picked a Beatles song by John Lennon, but I went with ‘The Inner Light’, a George Harrison number as I needed to have something with an Indian influence to cover Kula Shaker.
Disc 1
My Generation (Mono) – The Who
The Last Time – Andrew Oldham Orchestra
Arnold Layne – Pink Floyd
The Inner Light – The Beatles
Autumn Almanac – The Kinks
Lazy Sunday – Small Faces
Street Fighting Man (Single Mono Mix) – The Rolling Stones
Starman (Single Mono Mix) – David Bowie
Cum On Feel The Noize – Slade
Do The Strand – Roxy Music
20th Century Boy – T.Rex
No More Heroes – The Stranglers
Take My I’m Yours – Squeeze
Radio, Radio – Elvis Costello & The Attractions
I Am The Fly (Single Version) – Wire
Groovy Times – The Clash
Cleopatra – Adam & The Ants
Harmony In The Head – The Buzzcocks
Disc 2
The Eton Rifles – The Jam
Bloody Revolutions – Crass
Treason – The Teardrop Explodes
Do Nothing (Single Version) – The Specials (feat. Rico & the Ice Rink String Sounds)
Senses Working Overtime (Single Edit) – XTC
Our House (Radio Edit) – Madness
The Cutter – Echo & The Bunnynmen
This Charming Man – The Smiths
24 Hour Party People – Happy Mondays
I Wanna Be Adored (Single Version) – Stone Roses
Brassneck – The Wedding Present
Def Con One – Pop Will Eat Itself
Timeless Melody – The La’s
Dragging Me Down – Inspired Carpets
L.S.I. – The Shamen
Cut Your Head – Pavement
Disc 2 could not be reproduced on Spotify due to one or more songs not being available.
The front cover images is adapted from pinterest user, Tim Benson. Virgin Records released several compilations during this era so I used their logo here.
Just because I have been looking at lots of music from the Britpop era this year doesn’t mean there isn’t room for one of the bands that were an inspiration for good number of the musicians during that era. That band is The Beatles and today is also the 55th anniversary of ‘Abbey Road’.
This post could easily have been title ‘The Beatles in 1969’. As it is, this this one was a case of having some album artwork but not having an album to go with it. That is because back in December of 2023, I posted a fake album of ‘Almost Beatles Songs’ (https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/elvis-orbison-almost-beatle-songs/) which was made up of recordings of the songs The Beatles worked on during the Get Back/Let Ot Be sessions that weren’t taken forward by the band. In most cases, they weren’t even taken forward by them when their solo careers started. I talk about the ‘Get Back’ sessions back in November 2021 (and you can read that post here – https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/the-beatles-the-get-back-box-set/) so I will not cover old ground here. However, the people behind Almost Beatle Songs produced a number of other tracks that I did not include on my previous post and I was wondering if there was enough material to make up a second release. Well, at the
is time, not quite.
Anyway, one of the tunes I did not use was an instrumental called l ‘The Palace Of The King Of The Birds’. Brought to the sessions by Paul McCartney, it was attempted three times but was all but forgotten until McCartney used parts of it as one of the songs for his unreleased ‘Rupert The Bear’ album. To me, it sounded like it could have been used as the title for the second ‘Almost Beatles Songs’ LP so I made up a sleeve. How could I use this sleeve for something Beatle related? Well, I came up with a playlist but the title just didn’t fit with the artwork, nor the concept of the album, It also sounded like something that would have been released during the height of the psychedelia and that were over by 1969 which is when all of the songs I was working with came out. So, I changed the name of the album to ’Everest’, which was a working title for the ‘Abbey Road’ record.
Well, I was playing through ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘Let It Be’ again and wondered what it would sound like if I made up an album combining songs from both projects to make a solid LP with accompanying singles. Well, The Beatles could have done this themselves if they had chosen to. It was not set in stone that they needed to release the material recorded for what would become ‘Let It Be’ as its own entity. What they did have from ‘Let Let Be’ were some really good songs, mostly by Paul McCartney (even though to this day, I cannot stand ‘The Long & Winding Road’). Lennon was working his way through a heroin addiction and had not been focused on writing new material. He did have some good material in the works, which was shown in the ‘Get Back’ documentary from 2021 but these were put to one side for the songs we eventually got. Harrison had plenty of good songs at this time but was reluctant to bring them to the band as he felt (justifiably) that Lennon and especially McCartney were not giving his efforts the respect they deserved. Starr had a couple of ideas but judging from the footage in the ‘Get Back’ documentary, he did not push those for inclusion.
‘Abbey Road’ is more cohesive LP with some absolutely great songs and is the only Beatles album I can listen to without wanting to skip any of the songs. Yes, I can listen to ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ all the way through (even though I did not include it here as there were far superior songs to be added). I played through both albums and the difference in productions styles of ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘Let It Be’ did not gel in the way I wanted them to. Even with Phil Spector’s production covering over some of the bum notes, the interspersing of banter between songs did not go with the aesthetic I was looking for. However, ‘Let it Be…Naked’ did. That was because of the use of some digital corrections, different takes and production make this sound more like a finished album than the original ‘Let It Be’.
Out of the songs from the ‘Let It Be’ sessions, I picked for the album ‘Two of Us’, I’ve Got A Feeling’ and ‘Let It Be’ for the LP. ‘Get Back’ and ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ would stay as the stand alone single it was back in April 1969. Originally I did have the ‘Let It Be…Naked’ version of ‘Get Back’ on here but it meat that there would be only one song by Harrison so it was jettisoned, especially as it was represented by the single version.
I was close to keeping the double A-Side configuration of ‘Come Together’ and ‘Something’ as a single, but keep them off of the parent album. One of the greatest combinations of songs for a single, I feel that sales were hurt (in the UK) as this single was released after the ‘Abbey Road’ LP and I believe this prevented it from becoming a number 1 hit there. It didn’t stop it from becoming a number 1 in the USA though. ‘Come Together’ would still be a single A-Side in this alternative universe release, but backed with ‘For You Blue’ from the ‘Let It Be ‘ sessions. ‘Something’ would be kept back as the second song for the LP. This reconstruction also does away with the majority of the songs that would become the long medley. I like the medley but there just wasn’t enough room for it all here so I cut it at ‘Sun King’.
I did have to make one slight adjustment to ‘Sun King’. As this was part of the Side B melody on the original ‘Abbey Road’ album, the song does stop quite abruptly as it went into the drum beat that started ‘Mean Mr Mustard’. I just added a quick fade to soften the abruptness of the original cut. As it is, the transition between songs is not as smooth as it was for the rest of the LP. As a little bonus, and to make up for the fact that side two was a little shorter than side 1, I added the ‘Get Back (Reprise)’ from the aborted ‘Get Back’ Album. ‘The Ballad Of John & Yoko’ single has been added to the playlist as it came out between the two singles I have talked about here and fits with The Beatles in 1969 vibe.
Side A
Two Of Us
Something
I’ve Got A Feeling
Octopus Garden
I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
Side B
Here Comes The Sun
Because
Oh! Darling
You Never Give Me Your Money
Sun King
Let It Be
Get Back (Reprise)
Singles
Get Back (Single Version)
Don’t Let Me Down
The Ballad of John & Yoko
Old Brown Shoe
Let It Be
For You Blue
In then end, I did not use the cover I originally was going to use as it was bit too psych for 1969, so I went with one that I believe was used on a bootleg for the ‘Abbey Road’ sessions. The band did put forward the idea of having their picture taken at Mount Everest, but logic stepped in and they just went outside the studio and walked across the road.
As I noted last month, I did spend the mid 90s listening to a lot of what we would now call Britpop, but that was not all that made its way onto my record player. There was a lot of other good music being produced at that time that was not Britpop and I thought I would put together another compilation of songs that reflected the period. Like last month, I could not produce a compilation for 1996 or 1997 individually so I have combined these years not a CD length playlist.
Premiers Symptômes (Modular Mix) – Air
Remember Me (Original 12” Version) – Blue Boy
Drinking In L.A. – Bran Van 3000
Where Have All The Cowboys Gone? – Paula Cole
Who Do You Think You Are? – Spice Girls
Mint Car – The Cure
Oh Marie – Sheryl Cole
Rotterdam (Or Anywhere) – The Beautiful South
Someone’s Daughter (Single Version) – Beth Orton
Black Eyed Boy – Texas
The Bright Light – Tanya Donelly
Don’t Speak – No Doubt
Have You Seen Mary? – Sponge
Kiss Me – Sixpence None The Richer
Real Love – The Beatles
Miss Misery – Elliott Smith
My Love – Mark One
Simple Beautiful – Briana Corrigan
Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space – Spiritualised
I did say at the beginning of this year that it would be focused on Britpop releases with the occasional anniversary fantasy box set thrown in for good measure, but Beck was an artist I was listening to during this time so it felt right to include him here.
I first heard of Beck whilst watching his debut UK television performance on legendary British music show, ‘Top Of The Pops’. I didn’t know what to make of the performance as I have never been a fan of rapping, and the band seems to be made up of very old men miming quite badly. I then saw a review for his ‘Mellow Gold’ in another British music institution that has now gone to the nostalgia bin in the form of Q Magazine. The review gave it five out of five, something you did not see very often. I was feeling flush that week so ‘Mellow Gold’ was purchased. It was like nothing I had heard before and even though ‘Loser’ had the potential to be a one hit wonder, there was enough in the grooves for me to become very interested in what this guy was going to do next.
What I didn’t realise is that he was going to to quite a lot, and had already done quite a bit already. Beck had been recording in one form or another since the late 80s with some now impossible to find low-fi cassette albums. These were never going to be on my radar, as they were only ever available in the USA and 1994 was essentially the age before the internet, so I did not find out about these releases until much later. What I did have was The Record Shop in Kingston Upon Thames. The haven for vinyl releases in the vinyl desert that was the mid 90s’. If you wanted something rare, and more importantly in this case, imported from abroad, that was the place to get it. I may well have bought ‘Mellow Gold’ there in the first place. Anyway, I digress.
Going back a few weeks after first playing ‘Mellow Gold’, I found that the Beck section had a 10” Beck record in it called ‘A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight’. It even came with a limited edition finger painting, which was nothing to shout about but this was only available with the initial run. Whereas ‘Mellow Gold’ was recorded with what sounded like a budget (all be it a small one), ‘A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight’ sounded as if the money for its production had been spent having a good time before hand. It was full of curious sound experiments, a tune that sounded as though he was plonking around on a guitar and playing around with the drum machine settings on a cheap Casio keyboard. There was the odd song in there, but this was one for the completist.
I then found out that he had released another album just before ‘Mellow Gold’ called ‘Stereopathetic Soulmaure’. I thought I would give that a go and found that this was in a similar vein to ‘A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight’ more noise experiments, home and live recordings. There even recordings made out on the street with guest performers. ‘Stereopathetic Soulmanure’ did have more in the way of songs on it, some of which showed a strong country influence. The song ‘Rowboat’ has some lovely pedal steel playing in it and is possibly the best of Beck’s early songs. There was another album released before ‘Mellow Gold’ called ‘Golden Feelings’ but I have never seen a copy for sale for anything other than a staggeringly high price on line.
Beck was able to release these low-fi experimental albums because his label, which had released ‘Mellow Gold’ allowed him to do so. Great for the collector, but so much if you wanted a record that could be considered song based. Coming back to these records many years later, I wondered what would have happened if the more songs based tunes were released on their own without the more experimental efforts and so we have my version of ‘A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight’.
‘Aphid Manure Heist’ has been edited so that is just the violin intro, as I didn’t like the second section and this also meant that the run times would match up more evenly as this would be another of my what-if albums that would have been released on a 12” LP. It is still quite short for an LP and still has flashes of experimentation and is not exactly commercial, but it holds together.
Side A
Totally Confused – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
Thunder Peel – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
Modesto – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
Today Has Been A Fucked Up Day – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
Getting’ Home – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
Pinefresh – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
Satan Gave Me A Taco – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
Feel Like A Piece Of Shit (Cheetos Time!) – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
Ken (Hidden Track) – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
I could have used the more experimental efforts from these two albums and they could have been released as a companion piece called ‘Stereopathetic Soulmanure’ That is a project for another day, or even for somebody else.
Belly are an alternative rock act formed in 1991 by ex-Breeders and Throwing Muses member, Tanya Donnelly. I published a lost album of them which covered some of their best B-Sides back in January of 2023*, but this is complete over view of their work whilst they were signed to the 4AD label.
They only released two albums during this period, the second of which would turn out to be their last LP for twenty three years. This second album was called ‘King’ and was met with lukewarm reviews at the time as this was a bit different from their debut, ‘Star’ which was released two years earlier. The songs on ‘King’ were a bit rockier in sound, with heavier riffs and the lyrics were a bit more personal than they had been before.
Neither the singles or album sold in the quantities that the record label were expecting and this was after they had appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. Tanya Donelly, main songwriter and focus of the band decided to break up the group feeling that there was too much negativity around. She decided to start a solo career. Bass player Gail Greenwood played with L7 and Big Naked as well as her own group. Drummer and lead guitar player, Chris and Thomas Gorman founded a commercial photography business. All went quiet until 2016 when it was announced that they would be going out on a short tour and a year later, they started to record their third album.
I loved Belly and I was really disappointed when they split. I spent the next few years trying to find all of the different versions of singles so I could acquire all of the B-Sides. The album ‘Sweet Ride’ also included some songs that were not available anywhere else.
I thought I would put together a box set focusing on the years they were signed 4AD records, especially as this was one of my favourite bands form the 90s which is my focus for a lot of my playlists this year. What we get here are a five CD set which includes both albums, B-Sides and rarities. If I was curating this set, I would also include a DVD (or Blu Ray) disc which the official videos of the singles, TV appearances from the US and UK (I could not find any reference to any appearances from other countries) as well as their spots at the Glastonbury Festivals in 1993 and 1995 as well as the Great Expectations concert to raise money for the radio station, XFM.
A quick note on some of the songs. ‘It’s Not Unusual’ from the ‘Gepetto’ (Remix Disc 2) and ‘Ivo’ Version ‘ from the ‘Moon EP’ are very similar. I think they cold even be the same even though the credits make it seem as though they are different. The single version of ‘Gepetto’ on Disc 5 was only placed there because there wasn’t space on any of the others discs.
I am sure that if this was to be released, I would hope that there would be some previously unreleased performances included, including more demos.
Disc 1 – Star & Slow Dust EP
Someone To Die For
Angel
Dusted
Every Word
Gepetto
Witch
Slow Dog
Low Red Moon
Feed The Tree
Full Moon, Empty Heart
White Belly
Untogether
Star
Sad Dress
Stay
Dusted (Original Version)
Slow Dog (Original Version)
Dancing Gold
Low Red Moon (Original Version)
Dusted (Orignal Version)
Gepetto (Single Version)
Slow Dog (Radio Remix 3m 50 sec version)
Tracks 1-15 – Star LP
Tracks 16-20 – Slow Dust EP
Track 21 – Single Mix
Track 22 – US Single Promo
Disc 2 – Star Sessions
Gepetto (Remix) – Gepetto EP
Hot Burrito #1 – Gepetto EP
Sexy S – Gepetto EP
Sweet Ride – Gepetto EP
It’s Not Unusual – Gepetto EP (Remix Disc 2)
Star (Demo) – Gepetto EP (Remix Disc 2)
Dusted (Demo) – Gepetto EP (Remix Disc 2)
Are You Experienced? – Stone Free, A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix
Feed The Tree (U.S. Remix) – Feed The Tree Single
Star (Full Band Version) – Feed The Tree Single
Dream On Me – Feed The Tree Single
Trust in Me – Feed The Tree Single
Slow Dog (Remix) – Video Version
Dusted – Indie Top 20 Compilation Volume 16 Version
Gepetto – UK 7” Version
It’s Not Unusual (Ivo’s Version) – Moon EP
It’s Not Unusual (The Usual Mix) – Moon EP
It’s Not Unusual (Unusual Mix) – Moon EP
Full Moon, Empty Heart (Lunar Mix) – Moon EP
Full Moon, Empty Heart (Bloody Mary Mix) – Moon EP
Disc 3 – King
Puberty
Seal My Fate
Red
Silverfish
Super-Connected
The Bees
King
Now They’ll Sleep
Untitled & Unsung
L’il Ennio
Judas My Heart
Tracks 1-11 – King LP
Disc 4 – King Sessions & Live Tracks
Judas My Heart (Live In London) – Sun EP1.
The Bees (Live In London) – Sun EP
Spaceman – Sun EP
Seal My Fate (U.S. Radio Version) – Seal My Fate (Studio)
Diamond Rib Cage – Seal My Fate (Studio)
Think About Your Troubles – Seal My Fate (Studio)
Broken – Vinyl B-Side
Seal My Fate (Live) – Seal My Fate (Live)
White Belly (Live) – Seal My Fate (Live)
Untitled & Unsung (Live) – Seal My Fate (Live)
Thief – Now They’ll Sleep
Baby’s Arm – Now They’ll Sleep
John Dark – Now They’ll Sleep
Lilith – Sweet Ride, The Best of Belly
Super-Connected (Edit) – Super-Connected
Judas Mon Coeur – Sun EP
Disc 5 – Live & BBC Session
Low Red Moon
Dusted
Angel
Full Moon, Empty Heart
Star
Dream on Me
White Belly
Gepetto
Sexy S
Feed The Tree
Slow Dog
Stay
Dusted
Feed The Tree
Gepetto
White Belly
Angel
Gepetto (US. Radio Mix)
Tracks 1-12 – Live Grant Park, Chicago, 7th April 1993
Track 13 – Unknown
Tracks 14-17 – Mark Goodier BBC Session, 25th July 1992
Trak 18 – US 7” Single
Disc 6 – Blu Ray/DVD Disc
Official Videos For The Singles
Gepetto
Feed The Tree
Slow Dog
Super-Connected
Now They’ll Sleep
Seal My Fate
TV Appearances
Full Moon Empty Heart (Later with Jools Holland 18th June 1993)
Slow Dog (Later with Jools Holland 18th June 1993)
Gepetto (BBC Late Show 1993) Can’t find the exact date.
Feed The Tree (Late Show with David Letterman 1993) Can’t find the exact date.
Gepetto (The John Stewart Show 1993) Can’t find the exact date.
Feed The Tree (The Word 1993) Can’t find the exact date.
Are You Experienced (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno 25th February 1994)
Seal My Fate (Late Night With Conan O’Brien 30th January 1995)
Super-Connected (Late Show with David Letterman 4th April 1995)
Red (The John Stewart Show 19th June 1995)
Super-Connected (Ray Coke’s MTV Most Wanted 22nd June 1995)
Seal My Fate (Ray Coke’s MTV Most Wanted 22nd June 1995)
Great Xpectations Finsbury Park 13th June 1993
Low Red Moon
Angel
Gepetto
Full Moon, Empty Heart
Sexy S
Star
Feed The Tree
Slow Dog
Dusted
Glastonbury 25th June 1993
Feed The Tree
Angel
White Belly
Glastonbury 23rd June 1995
King
Puberty
Now They’ll Sleep
Untitled & Unsung
Full Moon, Empty Heart
Dusted
Judas My Heart
Super-Connected
Feed The Tree
Slow Dog
Red
Seal My Fate
Gepetto
The cover is based on the 2016 vinyl pressing of ‘Star’.
