SOUNDS SHOWCASE 1 (SOUNDS 1987)

All four tracks were exclusive to this EP on release and all bands were signed to Beggars Banquet.

1.  Outlaw - The Cult

This is an early version of the track from The Cult's 1987 album 'Electric' but not the earliest. Outlaw was first recorded in 1986 with producer Steve Brown along with their new songs at the Manor Studio in Oxfordshire. However, the band had started to move towards a more American heavy rock sound, and the resulting album, Peace, was deemed unsatisfactory. The Cult moved to the US and re-recorded the entire album with Rick Rubin. It was released in 1987 as Electric to a mixture of derision and praise, and rode on the crest of the burgeoning US heavy rock scene eventually outselling their classic 1985 album, Love. The original Peace version of Outlaw, double in length, can be found on the Manor Sessions EP. The version we have here is an early works-in-progress of th official Rubin production giving the UK the first glimpse of the band's new direction.

2. Hey! Luciani (Original Version) - The Fall

Considering this track was released as a single from Mark E. Smith's play Hey! Luciani: The Life and Codex of John Paul I, it's surprising that the near-title track, produced by Ian Broudie, was by far the band's most commercial single to date. Typically, they were rewarded with a not so lofty chart position of #59. The version here is the less commercial original recording of the track produced by John Leckie. Sounds described The Fall on the sleeve as a band with 'a continuing ability to surprise and stimulate with every new release', words that still ring true 25 years later.

3. Spin This Web - The Adult Net

Brix Smith was very much part of The Fall in 1987 and, as founding member of The Adult Net, it's a double feature for her on this EP. Already with a couple of Top 100 singles behind them, this track, pop brilliance produced by that man Broudie again, was meant to be the title track for the band's forthcoming first album. Although a reality at the time of the release of this EP, the album was recorded but remains unreleased. A re-recorded version of Spin This Web appeared on the band's first released album, The Honey Tangle,  in 1989, recorded with Craig Gannon (ex-Smiths) and Clem Burke (Blondie).

4. I Just Get Caught Out - The Go-Betweens

Another exclusive at time of release, ths track eventally made it on to Australian indie-pop band The Go-Betweens' fifth album Talullah. Hugely critically acclaimed, the band recorded 9 albums between 1982 and 2005 until the sudden death of  Grant McLellan in 2006 brought the band to a sad finish.