NME: MIGHT CLUB (1999)

1. Don 't Give Up - Basement Jaxx


Track taken from Brixton house duo's acclaimed Top 5 debut album Remedy.


2. Remote Control - Beastie Boys


Single taken from the Beasties' 1999 comeback album Hello Nasty. This was released as a single as a AA side with 3 MCs &1 DJ and hit #21 in the UK chart.


3. So Many Soldiers - Ian Brown


Taken from King Monkey's second set Golden Greats. The lyrics and themes featured in this song were explored again in Brown's 2007 anti-war tirade Illegal Attacks.


4. My Ritual - Folk Implosion


Folk Implosion were supposed to be a low key side project for Sebadoh's Lou Barlow. The usage of Natural One on the soundtrack to the movie Kids changed that and for a time Folk Implosion eclipsed the profile of Barlow's main band. 1999 saw an album for each group - The Sebadoh and One Part Lullaby.

5. Swimming In Someone Else's Pool - Regular Fries

From the Fries' debut album Accept The Signal. As was perhaps to be expected from a seven pieced psych-rock band who used a birdcage as percussion, the band were doomed to failure. On their split in 2001, band member and rock hack Paul Moody declared "We hate the charts and the charts hate us. We're off into the cosmos!"

6. Indian Strings - Suede

Back in 1999 Suede began the hype for their fourth album by revealing a letter a week to the music press. They got as far as about H and E when they probably realised they couldn't keep it up for another seven weeks and announced the album would be called Head Music. Despite not hitting the heights of their previous albums, the album, containing this track hit #1 and spawned four Top 30 hits.

7. Held - Smog

Smog aka American singer-songwriter Bill Callahan released 10 albums between 1990 and 2005 before releasing music under his own name. Held was released on the album Knock Knock and as a single in its own right.


8. Race For The Prize - The Flaming Lips


More famous for the Beavis & Butthead adopted 1993 track She Don't Use Jelly, star-shaped CD singles for the release of This Here Giraffe and crazy experimental albums - see Zaireeka, 4 CDs to be played simultaneously for one, it was the Flaming Lips' music that finally got them the attention in 1999 when their classic The Soft Bulletin became one of the decade's most acclaimed albums. Despite the lavish praise, both the single of Race For The Prize and album only reached #39 but has sold steadily over the years.


9. Ghost Ship In A Storm - Jim O' Rourke


Experimental US singer-songwriter who has worked with and produced Sonic Youth, Wilco and the aforementioned Smog amongst others. This is taken from his 1999 album Eureka.


10. Calm Like A Bomb - Rage Against The Machine


Released on RATM's final studio album (to date) with Zack De La Rocha, The Battle Of Los Angeles, Calm Like A Bomb was never a single but became a fan favourite and was exposed to millions when featured in the credits of The Matrix Reloaded in 2003.


11. Flying - Death In Vegas


Making use of a variety of guests including Jim Reid, Bobby Gillespie, Iggy Pop and Dot Allison, this is one of The Contino Sessions' instrumental excursions proving Richard Fearless didn't always need back up from the big names.


12. Major Leagues - Pavement


Indie royalty, this was taken from the band's final album Terror Twilight and has the distinction of being the band's final UK single release as the non-chart eligible Major Leagues EP which contains cover versions of Echo & The Bunnymen's 'The Killing Moon' and The Fall's 'The Classical'.


13. Only Answers Delay Our Time - Campag Velocet


The last few copies of the decade, NME heavily hyped the Clockwork Orange obsessed Campag Velocet. Their album Bon Chic Bon Genre only hit #140 whilst their so-called rivals and tour mates Coldplay went on to slightly bigger things.


14. Death To Everyone - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy


Ending on a high note, this was taken from US singer-songwriter Will Oldham's sixth album. The lavish praise heaped on this dark, uncompromising record helped the record into the Top 200 providing a platform for future Top 75 albums whilst still maintaining his cult status. This album is still cited as one of the 1990s' best.

RECORD MIRROR: 4 TRACK SOLID EP (1986)

1. Dressed In Black - Depeche Mode

Billed as an exclusive track from their forthcoming LP - which was to be Black Celebration - this isn't quite right. It is in fact a demo/pre-version of album track Dressed In Black unreleased anywhere else, making this EP a huge collector's item for DM fans.

2. In The Night - Pet Shop Boys

This EP was released in February 1986 just after PSB hit Number 1 with West End Girls , a time when the duo still remained a mystery to many. This had been the B Side to their previous single, the original issue of Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money) which had stalled at #116. Not only would Opportunities achieve a new lease of life on re-release in 1986 but so would In The Night which became one of the most well known PSB songs in their entire canon after being adopted by the BBC in October 1986 as the theme tune to The Clothes Show. When the programme remixed in 1995, so was In The Night and so remained as the theme until the end of the show's run on the BBC. By which time, the mysterious duo had become pop royalty.

Synth-pop gives way to rap on Side 2 and two more acts in their infancy destined for bigger things...

3. Slow & Low - Beastie Boys

After a string of low key EPs in the USA, Beastie Boys started to make waves in 1985/6 with a string of live dates and singles. Released a good nine months before its parent album, the classic License To Ill, Slow & Low was one of the first pieces of mass exposure for The Beasties in the UK. Of course, they'd get even more exposure, especially of the tabloid variety, within the next two years...

4. Dangerous - LL Cool J

Def Jam's first full album release was Ladies Love Cool James' 'Radio' and became arguably the first modern rap record, paving the way for rap culture over the next two decades. Again, this EP brought this new, more, well, dangerous rap to the attention of the UK record-buyers. This seminal album features Dangerous as well as I Can't Live Without My Radio and career-best Rock The Bells. Like the Beasties, he's now one of rap's elder statesmen.