NME: SPRING OFFENSIVE (1999)

1. Popstar - Suede

One of many B-sides from Electricity, lead single from Suede's 4th, Head Music. The single hit #5 and was the band's last Top 10 hit.

2. Dreamer - Cast

Also on the commercial slide from their Britpop heyday, this was featured on their third album Magic Hour.

3. The Hexx - Pavement

One of the most influential indie bands of their time, this one's from their final album Terror Twilight. Like Suede and Cast, they have recently reformed.

4. Same Old Show - Basement Jaxx

From the first album Remedy, this samples Selecter's On My Radio and, more obscurely, Veda Simpson's Oooh Baby.

5. Dream Lottery - Regular Fries

"We hate the charts and the charts hate us" claimed Regular Fries when they split just 2 years after releasing their debut album Accept The Signal. A damn shame, but they were just too out there for the mainstream. They were right though, the album, which contained this track, peaked at #81.

6. Moaner - Underworld

A rare example of a track edited down for inclusion an album. In a case of the track being far better than the movie from which it came, this started off life as a 10 minute beast on the Batman & Robin soundtrack. It was cut by 3 minutes when it appeared on the album Beaucoup Fish and it's this version that appears here. The full length version can be found on their 1992-2002 compilation.

7. Small Children In The Background - Mogwai

There had to be a Mogwai track on here somewhere...this one's from the No Education=No Future (Fuck The Curfew) EP.

8. Robot New York - Add N To (X)

From Mute avant-garde techno band's album Avant Hard.

9. Bring A Man Down - Mishka

Actually, ignore what I said earlier about 3 Colours Red in a previous post. This dude signalled that the end for Creation was nigh. A vanity signing, Mishka was a Bermudan reggae singer and professional windsurfer. He managed one Top 40 hit on the back of Alan McGee's hype, delivered one album for Creation before the ship sank and vanished. He's still putting out albums..on Matthew McConaughey's label. All very odd.

10. Fame Thing - Ultrasound

Hyped to death post-Britpop, Ultrasound were the next big thing to end all next best things. Fronted by portly yet oddly glamorous lead singer Tiny (it was a joke), their huge and epic sound and outsider image meant their first singles and gigs were met with rapturous applause. Such early acclaim however was destroyed when they released their debut album, Everything Picture, a sprawling double album which both disappointed the critics and undersold. The band never recovered, and that was that. A decade later, they're making a comeback....watch this space?

11. Flame (Exclusive Acoustic Version) - Sebadoh

The first exclusive on this CD and it's exactly what it says on the tin, an acoustic version of Sebadoh's only brush with the mainstream, Flame, which reached #30 in 1999.

12. Download (Remix) - Super Furry Animals

SFA exclusively released the Llwybr Llaethog remix of Download on the Melody Maker Reading '98 CD which you can read about on this site. Bizarrely, the following year, yet another exclusive remix of the same track appeared on this CD. A nice surprise as it isn't billed as a remix on the sleeve itself apart from the credits which state the the track to be remixed by Kevin Ford and John Griffiths, who just so happen to be.....Llwybr Llaethog. It's a slightly dubbier version of the '98 mix. A great lesson in reading the small print and the credits. A massive hidden gem, and a must for all SFA fans.

13. The Spark That Bled - The Flaming Lips

A trailer for what was to become THE critics' favourite of 1999 The Soft Bulletin. This track was for a short while exclusive to this CD.

14. She's So Strange - Travis

When Travis' laddish rock n roll gave way to melancholy, with added Nigel Godrich on production duty, their second album The Man Who became unstoppable and sold over a million. This is taken from that very album.

NME: CLEAN SWEEP - LIVE AT THE LONDON ASTORIA (1998)

Note: All these tracks were, as the title suggests, recorded Live At The London Astoria between the 18th and 25th January 1998 on the NME/Miller Genuine Draft London Shows. These versions are all exclusive to this release.

1. Bad Behaviour - Super Furry Animals

SFA once said that they deliberately didn't release certain tracks as singles because they'd become too big a hit and overshadow the group. This stomper, from their 1996 debut album Fuzzy Logic, would surely have been one of those they had in mind... This version speeds up the song even further - it's a riot.

2. Traffic - Stereophonics

Stereophonics' first Top 20 hit - and from their debut 'Word Gets Around'.

3. Good Feeling - Travis

Title track from Travis' more upbeat Top 10 debut album.

4. Down Down Down - Warm Jets

Short-lived indie band whose lead singer Louis Jones became a brief tabloid fixture due to his dalliance with Zoe Ball. Their one and only album Future Signs hit #40 and contained two Top 40 hits. This was featured on their Move Away EP.

5. Radars - Dawn Of The Replicants

What were East West thinking signing Dawn Of The Replicants? Whatever they were on, I'll have some, please. One of the most inventive bands of their time, DOTR's wonky psych-rock was laden with hooks and a complete joy to behold. They were never going to hit the heights East West predicted and they retreated to indies after album number two. This was from their debut album One Head Two Arms Two Legs and originally the lead track on the Rhino Rays EP. In a parallel universe, they're probably huge.

6. You Just Have To Be Who You Are - Idlewild

Before Idlewild made it big with expansive and melodic rock inspired by REM amongst others, they were loud and fast with Roddy Woomble prone to screaming and rolling about on the stage in a rather worrying manner. This is clearly one of those moments. The track appeared on their debut mini-album Captain.

7. Ex Cowboy - Mogwai

Then unreleased track from post rock legends Mogwai, so this was a real incentive for fans to get a copy of this CD. The studio version didn't appear until a year later, on their album Come On Die Young.

8. One Man's Fear - Lo Fidelity Allstars

It's full title is actually One Man's Fear Another Man's High and appeared on their debut single Kool Rok Bass. Lumped in with the Big Beat crowd, Lo Fidelity Allstars were a much more complex beast taking in influences from funk, Northern Soul, electronica and early 90s indie. Their second single Disco Machine Gun famously got them into trouble after The Breeders complained that a sample from their Cannonball hadn't been cleared...all copies of the single had to be withdrawn with immediate effect and the sample was taken out, and the song renamed, for inclusion on their album. The original studio cut of One Man's Fear also included a sample that isn't present on this live version....of Jack and Vera Duckworth!

9. Come Taste My Mind - Earl Brutus

Knowingly chaotic indie rock band consisting of ex-World of Twist members Gordon King and the late Nick Sanderson and also Jamie (Martin's brother) Fry. This appeared on their album Tonight You Are The Special One, and, at about the same time as the release of this free CD, as a single in its own right where it became their biggest hit - charting at #88.

1o. My Own Summer (Shove It) - The Deftones

It wasn't just about British Indie music...the Deftones' US allternative metal also made an appearance on this NME tour. This was featured on their breakthrough album Around The Fur and appeared as a single in March 1998 hitting #29.

11. Assassin - Asian Dub Foundation

ADF's potent and politically charged mix of punk rock, ragga, dub and dancehall won many admirers and they became an incendiary live unit. This was featured on their Top 20 album Rafi's Revenge.

12. Running On The Spot - Bentley Rhythm Ace

Mistitled - this is Run On The Spot from BRA's eponymous debut album.

13. I Never Have Been Done - Theaudience

Every year, a band always emerged who were touted as the New Smiths. In '97 it was the turn of Theaudience. Only this time, this was the Smiths with a female at the front....none other than 18 year old Sophie Ellis Bextor. Whereas Theaudience called it a day after poor sales of their debut album, SEB fared slightly better.... To all fans of SEB expecting this to be a completely unreleased track - beware! Although this live version is exclusive, the track itself appeared on their album as 'You Get What You Deserve'.

14. Tightrope Walker - Therapy?

A track from Therapy?'s final major label album Semi-Detached. Soon after this, Therapy? retreated from the mainstream and have spent the last decade as a much rawer, exclusive concern.

15. Rocket USA - Spiritualized with Suicide

Saving the best till last, Spiritualized, fresh from the across-the-board acclaim given to their masterpiece Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space were joined on stage by hugely influential electronic punk band Suicide - Alan Vega and Martin Rev. This 10 minute live reworking of a track from Suicide's eponymous debut helped seal both band's status as past and present musical mavericks. Essential.

NME: RADIO 1 SOUND CITY (1998)

1. Carrot Cake & Wine (Live) - Stereophonics

The only place to find the official audio of this, a live version of the track which originally appeared on the A Thousand Trees single. You can view the performance on the video/DVD Cwmaman Feel The Noize.

2. Kalifornia (Simon's Edit) - Fatboy Slim

Simon being presumably engineer and mixer Simon Thornton, this is an exclusive edit of the 'You've Come A Long Way Baby' album track, chopping off about a minute and a half.

3. Lipstick - Rocket From The Crypt

RFTC went from cult concern to Top 20 chart stars with the infectious On A Rope. Despite releasing the follow up When In Rome (Do The Jerk) as a limited edition picture disc to prove they hadn't fully sold out, they attempted the big time yet again with this pop punk blast. However, the single stalled at #64 and they became cult figures once again. This is an exclusive BBC session recorded for Radio 1's Evening Session on 16th August 1998.

4. Get A Real Tattoo - Six By Seven

Typically sprawling but magnificent 7 minute opus from Nottingham's criminally under-rated space rock group Six By Seven. The fact that this was merely a B side to their For You single shows how good their debut The Things We Make was, and is.

5. Root Cage - Tiger

Tiger's mullets and fuzzy indie sound were strange sight in 1996 but they secured an early following with John Peel and the music press with their debut single Shining In The Wood. Such was the love for them, their second EP Race even made the Top 40. But as soon as they came, they went, their album We Are Puppets thought by the majority as a disappointment. This was taken from their much delayed second album Rosaria which was finally released long after this compilation in May 1999. The band folded soon after.

6. Pull Yourself Together (Didjeridu Mix) - Hefner

A far cry from the Playboy Mansion, Hefner were a indie folk band from East London championed by John Peel. Never a friend of the charts, Pull Yourself Together was one of the band's more well known singles. This remix did the rounds on free CDs - this and another in Germany - and was finally released on Hefner product on their Best Of in 2006.

7. Hush The Warmth - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci

Where fellow countrymen Super Furry Animals became arguably, not just Wales', but the UK's most successful cult band of the 90s and beyond, Gorky's could never escape the trappings of cultdom. But, my God they tried. Seemingly, all their singles hovered around the 41-75 mark without breaking the magic #40 barrier. This is from their album Gorky 5, a #67 smash.

8. Kimberly - Clinic

This was taken from Clinic's single Cement Mixer and later appeared on their self titled rarities compilation before they signed to Mercury and sold about 58 more records...

9. Guacamole - Super Furry Animals

This uptempo blast of a tune was featured on SFA's B side compilation Out Spaced having appeared as an extra track on the If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You single. Not only is it ridiculous that songs of such quality festered as B sides but this was a last minute replacement for The Man Don't Give A Fuck when the infamous Steely Dan sample initilly failed clearance. Madness.

10. Spanner In The Works - Terrorvision

From the album Shaving Peaches which was a huge disappointment sales-wise for the Bradford rockers. They were down and out but were given a temporary and unexpected reprieve by the Mint Royale remix madness that was Tequila. When such an unstoppable juggernaut of a hit couldn't save the album, the writing was on the wall....

11. Harsh Shark - Campag Velocet

We heard from this lot earlier...this was recorded Live At Reading in 98. I actually saw this performance live - which isn't very interesting but probably the most interesting thing about it. The original turned up on the Bon Chic Bon Genre album a year later.

12. I Don't Know What To Say - Mogwai

Completely then-exclusive studio track from post rock masters Mogwai, a big deal at the time. This eventually reappeared on the 2008 reissue of their Young Team album

13. Are Friends Electrik (NME Edit) - Plastikman

Originally a twelve and a half minute techno track on the album Artefakts, and with no edit already existing, NME saw fit to edit it themselves to 7 and a half minutes. Odd, but exclusive and now rare. Nothing to do with Gary Numan, by the way.

14. Circles, Squares And Lines - Symposium

Everybody was on Symposium's side when they appeared in 1996 with a succession of pop punk indie hits. When they beefed up their sound and started to get serious, no-one seemed to care anymore. This is taken from their first album proper On The Outside. Funnily enough, it's their opening mini album One Day At A Time that contains the hits.

15. Be Myself - 3 Colours Red

Alan McGee said that 3 Colours Red were the most exciting band since the Sex Pistols. Anyone who might want to trace the downfall of Creation Records might want to start right there. This was an exclusive trailer for a track which ended up on their 1999 album Revolt.

16. Olympian - Gene

Forever compared to The Smiths, Gene's lush sound wasn't typical of the Britpop crowd of the mid to late 90s. They eventually burnt out and this, the title track of their debut album, remained their signature tune as its appearance here 3 years after its initial release testifies. This is an exclusive version recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall.

SELECT: THE DEEP END (2000)

1. Natural Blues (Mike D Remix) - Moby

Beastie Boy's remix of Moby's Top 20 hit from the Play album. This full length version hadn't been commercially released in the UK, though an edited version appeared on the Natural Blues CD single.

2. Ymaelodi A'r Ymylon - Super Furry Animals

From the best selling Welsh languge album ever, Mwng, this, one of the album's highights was released on this CD before the album release. The title translates as 'Joining The Periphery'.

3. T-Spot - Bentley Rhythm Ace

BRA's second album For Your Ears Only was ignored on release and more or less signalled the end of the big beat duo. This track was, again, released on the CD before the album. It turned up later on a Nik-Naks advert which probably earned them more royalties than the album itself...

4. Swastika Eyes (David Holmes Mix) - Primal Scream

Awesome Holmes remix of prime Scream Team from the classic XTRMNTR. Inexplicably only released on 12" promo, this is still the only official place to find this remix.

5. Everybody's Stalking (Demo Version) - Badly Drawn Boy

Another coup for Select. Back when BDB was the ultimate name-drop artist after a slew of EP releases, this rough cut preceded the album version on his Mercury Music Prize winning debut The Hour Of Bewilderbeast. It's still only available here.

6. The Sound Of Fear - Eels

Taken from E's third, Daisies Of The Galaxy.

7. Second Foot Stomp - Clinic

Another album trailer, this one preceding Clinic's debut Internal Wrangler.

8. Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II) - Handsome Boy Modeling School

A collaboration between De La Soul producer Prince Paul and Dan The Automator, this was lifted from the album So...How's Your Girl?

9. A Tribute To - The For Carnation

Post-rock from former Slint member Brian McMahan. This is taken from 2000's self titled second album.

10. The Distance From Her To There - Lambchop

A straight lift from the critics' favourite, 'Nixon'.

11. New Paths To Helicon (Part 1) - Mogwai

Rare Radio 1 Evening Session version of Mogwai's 1997 single recorded on March 10th 1999. Formerly exclusive to this release, it has since appeared on the BBC Sessions compilation Government Commissions.

12. Happiness - Elliott Smith

Another preview track - this time for Smith's album Figure 8.

But that's not all: this one is also a CD rom and contains the videos to Stereophonics' Hurry Up And Wait and Slipknot's Spit It Out UNCENSORED!! Woooh! NEXT.....