"The Best New Homegrown Talent" according to Melody Maker. How did this lot fare then in the 21st Century then?
1. Daria - Chicks
From the EP 'Little Monkeys With Lots Of Money', this Irish girl punk pop band, a mini-Breeders if you will, were Melody Maker cover stars, played support for Manic Street Preachers and Sonic Youth and were signed by Dreamworks on a two album deal. Chicks soon fell apart and their much touted debut album "Chicks Do Philly" never hatched.
2. The Rock (No Handshakes Mix) - Delakota
Formed from the ashes of Senseless Things, Delakota were an indie-dance hybrid, a poor man's Primal Scream. Their debut album hit #58 and spawned three Top 75 hits including The Rock which hit#60. A decent start, but the band quickly disappeared. This remix, co-mixed by Tim Goldsworthy, was featured on the single.
3. Dope Slax - Seafood
Alt-punk band from London influenced by Sonic Youth. This track, an XFM session, appeared on their first album, Messenger In The Camp, a compilation of their early Fierce Panda EPs. The band went on to attain a cult following scoring a number of Top 200 entries over the next decade.
4. Uncle Benson - Ten Benson
Named after a packet of cigarettes, this comedy psychedelic/heavy metal outfit released a clutch of acclaimed singles and EPs in the late 90s recording a couple of Peel Sessions along the way. In 2002 they released an album called Satan Kidney Pie - enough said.
5. Into The Waves - Witness
The silliness of Ten Benson gives way to serious alernative Americana...from Wigan. The Verve-ish Witness (Nick McCabe was mates with them)were well received by the music press but a little too uninteresting for commercial success. Their two albums both hit the Top 75 but they soon faded away. This track was the AA side of their first single, along with Quarantine.
6. Why Did My Igloo Collapse? - Ooberman
From the Shorley Wall EP which was one of THE critics' favourites of 1998. After the EP's cult success Ooberman were the band most likely to in 1999. However, despite good reviews and a Top 40 single with Blossoms Falling, subsequent singles and their debut album The Magic Treehouse bombed. The band plodded on but Shorley Wall remained their crowning glory.
7. We've Gone Wrong - Llama Farmers
Greenwich indie-punk four piece who released a number of Top 200 singles and an album Dead Letter Chorus in 1998/9. This track acted as a B side to their biggest single, Big Wheels, which hit #67. They also released a single called Yellow in 1999 which was probably better than that Coldplay muck.
8. The Sad Witch - Hefner
Probably the 'indie-est' band of the late 90s. Singer Darran Hayman was particularly awkward looking, met his band mates at art school and played lo-fi indie folk rock that is destined to never climb higher than #50 in the hit parade. However, they attained a massive cult following recording 10 Peel Sessions in their six years together. This track is from their debut album Breaking God's Heart.
9. Closet Heroine - The Crocketts
Welsh rock band who tragically released an album in 2000 called The Great Brain Robbery. This one is from their debut album called We May Be Skinny & Wirey. V2 dropped them for crimes against album titles in 2001. Singer Davey McManus formed The Crimea soon after.
10. Wheelking 1973 - One Lady Owner
Glam-punks on Creation who hit the dizzy heights of #136 with this single in 1998. An album There's Only We and a couple of follow up singles also surfaced but it was soon to be bye bye One Lady Owner and not long after that bye bye Creation and Three Colours Red.
11. Choke Bore (Jeans Remix) - Scott 4
Indie-country fusion dubbed as 'electronic cowpunks'. Scott 4 met with critical acclaim, especially with their 1999 album, Works Project. This remix from a track on their 1998 Recorded In State LP first surfaced in 1997 as a promotional 12 inch making this the one true rarity on this compilation.
12. Lipstick, Cigarettes, Packet Of 3- Younger Younger 28s
A cross between The Human League and Shampoo singing an ironic song about getting drunk you say? How can this possibly fail to reach higher than #61? Because it sounds like this.
12. We're Going Out - Younger Younger 28s
ReplyDeleteThis is in fact "lipstick, Cigarettes, Packet Of Three" and is a unique version on CD, having only previously been released on independent picture disc 7". It only became "We're going out" (in a different version) when they signed to V2
You're totally right about the title - just double checked and I've updated the entry. This kind of info is exactly what I need to make the site as good as possible so thanks!
ReplyDeleteFrom my own site, http://www.theinternationalhouseofpussy.co.uk -
ReplyDelete[41] Younger Younger 28's - Two Timer (Crap In Bed)
This track has me all confused. Younger Younger 28s were one of those bands who had a load of hype but not really enough good tunes to back it up. They were marketed as a new Human League but that was due to geographical location as well as any musical similarities. I first heard them on an old 'Melody Maker' cover mounted freebie CD. The track 'Lipstick, Cigarettes, Packet Of Three' sounded great - witty, boy-girl action, lots of samples, fresh, etc. - yet once they'd gotten signed with V2 Records, they totally changed the track, calling it 'We're Going Out', adding an awful chorus and extracting any humour! Disgrace. Follow up single 'The Next Big Thing' was more of the same and I approached the debut album 'Soap' with caution. Thankfully, the next single was to be their safe but certain hit 'In Between Days', a cover of The Cure song. It was around this time that this one track promo CD surfaced. It is not on the album, despite being better than most of the tracks that are. 'In Between Days' never came out. I had always thought that this was maybe a new track intended to either re-promote the album or was just a stand alone single, but then this never came out either. And then just the other day, I found a finished promo copy of the 'In Between Days' CD single, with 2 B-sides, one of which is this track. So, seems it was just a lowly B-side... or was it? Anyone know? Anyway, it's a great track! Lost until now...
Great story Anfunny - thanks. Gives me an idea....
ReplyDeleteInteresting... I never knew there was a finished promo of the "In Between Days" single. There were to have been two CDs, with four B-sides between them: "2 Timer", "Psychoworld", "We Want A Man" and the album track "Sugar Sweet Dreams". "2 Timer" was a standalone radio-promo-only single issued ahead of the album, and never intended as a full single release.
ReplyDeleteIn Between Days WAS on the album. I have the finished promo of In Between Days, and also the CDR for the second single with the b-sides. Worth getting is also the Japanese full length CD with a unique cover of M's "Pop Musik". And then, for completists, there's Superkev !
ReplyDeleteIn response to this, I've posted the "In Between Days" CD-R here.
ReplyDelete