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.

NME: BRATPACK '98

In what must have been one of the final cassette giveaways ever, this contained 10 tracks from 1997.

1. Deadweight - Beck

Taken from the soundtrack to Danny Boyle's A Life Less Ordinary, Beck released this as a single which acted as a neat stopgap between the release of Odelay and Mutations. The track, which hit #23 on the UK chart, can now be found on the re-issued deluxe edition of Odelay.

2. Meeting In The Aisle - Radiohead

Haunting instrumental taken from the Karma Police single in the UK and No Surprises in the USA. Now available on the OK Computer deluxe edition.

3. Smack My Bitch Up (Edit) - The Prodigy

Probably the most controversial single of the decade, Kool Keith's infamous sample lead to various accusations of misogyny towards Liam Howlett. The X-rated video didn't help the cause despite it's ending being anything but misogynistic. Most level-headed people didn't read anything sinister into the actual words; it was just a brutal sample. The single, which included this edit of the Fat Of The Land original, hit #8.

4. A Thousand Trees - Stereophonics

It's no wonder Stereophonics' debut Word Gets Around became so huge the amount of times they're featured on these FreeEPs. This was one of that album's defining tracks hitting #20 0n single release.

5. Dirt (New Radio Edit) - Death In Vegas

Two edits exist of this Dead Elvis track. A 4:11 edit featured on the original 1996 single release and the 1997 Slayer Edit, slightly shorter at 3:53 and featured here, featured on the reissue. This fared 27 places better than the original but still only managed to hit #61. This version is also available on DIV's Milk It compilation.

6. I'm Just A Killer For Your Love - Blur

From Blur's eponymous fifth album, this one defined the band's new lo-fi sound.

7. The World's Still Open - Mansun

Epic moment from Mansun's stand-alone seventh EP, Closed For Business. Now available again on the 3CD deluxe reissue of Attack Of The Grey Lantern, Paul Draper reveals, in the sleevenotes, that this should have been the EP's lead single instead of Closed For Business itself. It didn't stop the EP hitting #10 becoming Mansun's second Top 10 hit.

8. Why Is A Frog Too? - Bentley Rhythm Ace

Another act heavily featured on late 90s FreeEPs, this is from BRA's (ho-ho) eponymous debut.

9. 20 - Travis

Early B-side from the band's second Independiente single, All I Want To Do Is Rock, which reached #39 on release. Ironically, Travis only hit it big when Travis stopped rocking...

10. Round The Universe - The Seahorses

Total coincidence of course that The Seahorses is an anagram of 'He Hates Roses'. This is from the one and only album released by John Squire's post-Stone Roses group. Only one more stand-alone was released after this in 1998 and the end was nigh.

VOX: THE SPRING COLLECTION (1997)

1. My Beloved Monster (Live From Tennessee) - Eels

A live version of a track from Eels' first album Beautiful Freak. This version was also released on their Top 10 breakthrough single Novocaine For The Soul.

2. Into The Blue - Geneva

Last seen on Never Mind The Buzzcocks' career-defining identity parade, Geneva's Andrew Montgomery was an early incarnation of Keane's Tom Chaplin. Montgomery's angelic vocal coupled with melodic production won over the critics but not the public at large. As this track hit the Top 30 in 1996, this is a rare instance of a hit single being featured on a free compilation; it probably shows how hard Nude were pushing their debut album, Further, at the time. The album promisingly charted at#20 but got no further.

3. Bloke - Republica

For a few minutes in 1997 Republica were massive. With two ubiqitous singles, Ready To Go and Drop Dead Gorgeous, a Top 5 album (containing this track) and an iconic lead singer in Saffron, Republica should have gone on to bigger - and better -things. An underwhelming second album released on a soon to be defunct record label - DeConstruciton - put paid to that and Republica were no more.

4. Believe (18B Remix) - GusGus

Cult Icelandic electronic band Gus Gus are now in their 15th year and still making music. Their album Polydistortion and single Believe, along with this remix, scraped the Top 200. The band continiued to scrape the bottom end of the UK chart for the next 6 years.

5. The Holy Blood & The Holy Grail - Mansun

Mansun released 14 EPs and three albums in their all too brief career. This is from their 5th EP, featuring lead track She Makes My Nose Bleed, which reached #9 in early '97. Their next release, debut album Attack Of The Grey Lantern, went straight in at #1.

6. Closer - Lamb

UK Electronic/trip-hop duo consisting of Andy Barlow and Lou Rhodes. Although their debut eponymous album only peaked at #109 it was a steady seller and spawned the Top 40 single Gorecki. This is from that debut.

7. It's Coming Down - Cake

Alternative Californian rock. This track is from the album Fashion Nugget which featured two Top 30 hits, The Distance and an ironic cover version of I Will Survive. Three more albums followed with ever decreasing success in the UK.

8. Stunt Girl - AC Acoustics

Glasgow's AC Acoustics were one of the most celebrated cult bands of their time playing Jesus & Mary chain inspired fuzz rock. Lauded by their peers, they had no commercial success whatosever and split in 2003 after a decade releasing music. Stunt Girl merited a place in John Peel's 1996 Festive 50 and hit a mighty #182 in the UK Charts. The album Victory Parts failed to chart at all. The 2010 reissue of their follow-up album Understanding Music has given the band's legacy a new lease of life.

9. Low Place Like Home - Sneaker Pimps

Sneaker Pimps were the band to name drop when they put out their album Becoming X in 1997. Two singles, 6 Underground and Spin Spin Sugar also gave them mainstream credibility. Lead singer Kelli Dayton (now known as Kelli Ali) was also cute and fast becoming the latest in a long line of female indie pin-ups. When she was suddenly ousted from the band in 1998, it was also goodbye to success and little has been heard from the band since 2002. A waste.

10. Pie In The Sky - The Supernaturals

Pie In The Sky really is a very Supernaturals title for a song - a cliche that doesn't take itself very seriously. Their single Smile is forever ingrained in everyone's memory after its inclusion on countless television adverts for the website of that name. That, and this track, were included on their Top 10 debut It Doesn't Matter Anymore. The title of which nicely sums up The Supernaturals.

11. Top Trumps - Silver Sun

When this band released their debut EP Sun! in 1996, containing this track, that was also the name of their band until they realised it was already taken. They added the Silver to the band name and the rest was, as they say, a few minor hits and indie obscurity.

12. Ain't Goin' To Goa (Special K Mix) - Alabama 3

An alternative blues ten piece from Brixton...not quite what the name suggests. However, despite not having much chart success - this reached #98 and #40 a year later on reissue - their music has been used on countless television and film soundtracks, most notably The Sopranos which used their single Woke Up This Morning as its theme. This remix is I think exclusive to this CD.

13. Dirt (Edit) - Death In Vegas

The single radio edit of DIV's 1996 single which, like parent abum Dead Elvis and its other singles, was more electronic and instrumental in style than their later dark, guitar-heavy material. This era was only a modest commercial and critical success for Richard Fearless. 1999's Contino Sessions, featuring Iggy Pop, Bobby Gillespie, Jon Spencer, Jim Reid and Dot Allison would change that...

14. Concerto Of The Desperado - The Roots

From Russia With Love sampling cut from Philadelphian hip-hop legends' Iladelph Halflife album.