VOX: CLASS OF 95

Vox's Best of '95 cassette:

1. This Is A Call - Foo Fighters

A year after Kurt Cobain's - and ultimately Nirvana's - demise, drummer Dave Grohl announced Foo Fighters to the world. This was their debut single proper and immediately hit the Top 5 in the UK as did their debut eponymous album. Give them a few years and they'd be one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world...

2. He Thought Of Cars - Blur

Blur may have won the Blur-Oasis singles chart battle with Country House but Oasis won the war with the era-defining ...Morning Glory. Blur's The Great Escape reached #1 but was not nearly as loved as Parklife previously. Ultimately, it marked the end of Blur Mk1 before they shed the Britpop sound that made them famous. This relatively downbeat track is one of The Great Escape's highlights.

3. Sitting Up Straight (Live) - Supergrass

One of the few bands to be born during the so-called Britpop years to last the distance, something they did until last year when they became one of the era's final casualties. Sitting Up Straight was one of the first 'Grass songs appearing as B-side to the original 7" release of Mansize Rooster in its initial incarnation. The track was re-recorded and appeared on the re-released Rooster single and subsequently on their classic debut I Should Coco. This live version is only available on this cassette and was recorded at 1995's T In The Park Festival.

4. In The Name Of The Father (Choppers Mix)- Black Grape

1995's most unexpected, and celebrated, comeback. After Happy Mondays' messy split, Shaun Ryder's future looked bleak. He returned, alongside Bez and Kermit from Ruthless Rap Assassins amongst others, with Black Grape and massive album It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah. In The Name Of The Father preceded the album as their second single and hit #8. The Choppers Mix, mislabelled here as the Chopper Mix, was remixed by Danny Saber. Shaun Ryder was last seen on This Morning.

5. Down By The Water - PJ Harvey

Second outing for this To Bring You My Love in a week on TheFreeEPs. Harvey's new album Let England Shake is out on February 14th.

6. History - The Verve

The third single from The Verve's second album A Northern Soul was to be their final single. Posthumously released, it became their biggest hit reaching #24. Needless to say, the History books had to be rewritten two years later......

7. Sorted For Es & Wizz (Live) - Pulp

Recorded live at their triumphant Glastonbury performance in 1995. Pulp were only invited to perform Glasto after illness forced a dying Stone Roses to pull out. On the back of the release of the anthem Common People, this couldn't have come at a better time and the band went on to become one of the era's defining bands.

8. Yes - McAlmont & Butler

David McAlmont's career was going precisely nowhere until he hooked up with Bernard Butler, fresh from leaving Suede behind. Combined, the results were magic and Yes became an immediate Top 10 and one of 1995's most uplifting singles. The two released one more single, You Do, and one album - which wasn't much more than a compilation of their singles - before splitting acrimoniously. They did patch things up for one more album, Bring It Back, in 2002. Since then, McAlmont has kept himself busy on the jazz circuit. Butler has not only worked with Brett Anderson again with the one-off Tears project but also become a producer of note, producing amongst others Duffy's huge Rockferry.

9. (Nice Dream) - Radiohead

Radiohead had little to do with their contemporaries but almost certainly benefitted from the Britpop movement and the resurgence of indie/alternative rock with huge sales for their album The Bends which included this track. The album's huge, epic sound was light years from their grunge-inflected debut Pablo Honey. The band would travel several more light years over the next decade...

10. Screamager (Live) - Therapy?

The original version of Screamager was taken from NI's biggest alternative metal band Therapy?'s highest charting single, the Shortsharpshock EP which hit the Top 10 in 1993. The band scored several more hits throughout 1993 and 1994 before releasing the dark, ballad-laden album Infernal Love in 1995, which still hit the Top 10 and spawned three Top 40 singles. It proved to be the band's last major stab at success, their next album Semi Detached proving less successful before they retreated into cultdom.

11. Hyperballad - Bjork

Even though this was the 4th single from Bjork's second album Post, and released after given away free on this very cassette, it still managed to hit #8. This was no doubt in part to being released straight off the back of Bjork's big pop single, It's Oh So Quiet. Although it was probably given a leg-up by a lot of casual buyers who weren't expecting this wonderful slice of electronica, justice was done as this is one of Bjork's finest moments and deserved to be a Top 10 hit.

MELODY MAKER: THE BASEMENT TAPES VOLUME 2 (1997)

"All tracks are demo versions" so reads the legend on this free cassette given away by MM in 1997; not strictly true but there are some real rarities on this one:

1. For All The Cows (Live) - Foo Fighters

Reading Festival 1995 was Foo Fighters' first major show in the UK. This is a performance from that set. This version was broadcast live on Radio 1 and was included as an extra track on the Cows single which hit #28 in 1995.

2. Europe Is Our Playground (Alternative Mix) - Suede

Originally featured as a B-side to the Top 3 single Trash, this new version of Europe Is Our Playground turned up on superlative B-side compilation Sci Fi Lullabies. At the time, this was unique to this compilation until that album's release.

3. No One Speaks (Demo Version) - Geneva

The proto Keane. Geneva were tipped for huge things in 1997. Despite a Top 20 album and 4 Top 40 singles, the band never properly broke through. No One Speaks was their debut single and hit a respectable #32. This demo is unique to this cassette.

4. DJ Shadow's Theme (1990 Demo) - DJ Shadow

Shadow's Theme forms part of Joshua Davis' legendary Entropy set. This demo is impossibly rare and is unique to this cassette - at least in the UK. A Japanese collection entitled The 4 Track Era Collection 1990-1992 was released on Reconstruction in 2009 containing the 'Original Version' of DJ Shadow's Theme. Is this the same version?

5. Never Again (Campfire Version) - Dodgy

Never Again is featured on Dodgy's debut album, er, The Dodgy Album in 1993. This stripped back version was first included on the I Need Another EP the same year.

6. London - Sparklehorse

Early track from the late Mark Linkous. This dates from 1995 and was released a limited 7" single. It turned up again as an extra track on his Someday I Will Treat You Good single.

7. Love's Cradle (Demo Version) - 3 Colours Red

It's them again! This is a unique version of the Pure album track so is a must-get for both 3CR completists out there.

8. Dark Globe - Placebo

Brian Molko suggested he left a trail of blood and spunk across the country in the wake of Placebo's massive success with their debut album and Nancy Boy single. The band enjoyed their first taste of controversy however in July 1996 when the Chris Cunnigham directed video for single 36 Degrees was banned from daytime air play for showing the band playing underwater. Dark Globe was originally included as an extra track on the 36 Degrees single which hit #83 in the chart. Two singles later they were in the Top 5 and needed a wash.

MELODY MAKER: READING '98

1. Hammering In My Head - Garbage

Taken from their No. 1 second album 'Version 2.0'

2. A Life Less Ordinary (Tim Simenon Mix) - Ash

Rare and then-exclusive remix of Ash's Top 10 hit and theme song to Danny Boyle's film of the same name. This eventually got released by Ash on the deluxe edition of their first album proper '1977'.

3. Hey, Johnny Park - Foo Fighters

Track from second album 'The Colour & The Shape'

4. Commuter Love - The Divine Comedy

From the album 'Fin De Siecle'

5. Run Me Over - Kenickie

Kenickie's debut 'At The Club' promised big things for these indie-pop-punk Mackems. However, their second album 'Get In' , containing this track, spent one week in the Top 40 before falling off the radar completely. They soon disbanded, singer Lauren Laverne becoming a successful music presenter and 6 Music institution.

6. Cheapskate - Supergrass

From the recently departed Supergrass' superlative second album 'In It For The Money'. This was actually released as a promo single in the USA complete with video, oddly airbrushed from history after being omitted from their video compilation Supergrass Is 10.

7. Five In The Morning - A

From Leeds' alt-rock band's first album 'How Ace Are Buildings'. This was first released as their debut 7" in 1996.

8. Jessica - Llama Farmers

B-side to briefly touted Greenwich four-piece's debut single 'Always Echoes' on Fierce Panda. It also turned up on their debut album 'Dead Letter Chorus' in 1999.

9. Download (Llwybr Llaethog Mix) - Super Furry Animals

Still the main incentive to own this CD. This is a completely exclusive remix of the 'Radiator' track which has not been released anywhere else to this day. Welsh experimental electronic duo Llwybr Llaethog (Welsh for Milky Way) also remixed SFA's 'The Undefeated' on their remix album 'Phantom Phorce' in 2004.

10. Drencrom (Velocet Synthemesc) - Campag Velocet

Debut release on Fierce Panda's spin-off label Rabid Badger in 1997 and re-released as a split single with Regular Fries a year later, Drencrom...fused lo-fi baggy beats with Clockwork Orange Nadsat speak to critical acclaim but, ultimately, commercial obscurity. This was also available on their debut album 'Bon Chic Bon Genre'.

11. She Left Me On Friday - Shed Seven

One of the most successful Indie groups of the 90s, Shed Seven scored fifteen Top 40 singles. Despite this hitting no. 11 on release as the lead single from third long player 'Let It Ride', the album undersold and marked the beginning of the band's slide.

12. Medication - Spiritualized

8 and a half minute masterpiece from J Spaceman's 1995 album 'Pure Phase'. Included here most likely as a taster of the band's pre Ladies And Gentlemen... material for new converts.

13. Jayou (Clean Version) - Jurassic 5

Jayou is taken from the American alternative hip-hop crew's eponymous debut album. This clean edit was included on the single release.

14. The End - Symposium

London pop-punk band Symposium scored three Top 40 hits during their brief stay in the indie limelight. By the time their second album 'On The Outside' had been released, which included this track, sales were already on the wane and they soon split.