MELODY MAKER: STEVE LAMACQ'S BOOTLEG SESSION VOLUME 3 (1999)

1. King Of Snake (Barking Mix) - Underworld

The only Underworld track to share a co-writing credit with Giorgio Moroder, thanks to its interpolation of Donna Summer's I Feel Love, King Of Snake was edited down from its full 9 and a half minute length from the Beaucoup Fish album into two separate single mixes,the Straight (Mate) Mix and this one. The third single from the album, it reached #17 in 1999. The title of the remix, a play on words referencing an insane state of mind and the place in Essex, was resurrected in 2010 for Underworld's most recent album - Barking.


2. Caught By The Fuzz - Supergrass

Exclusive version recorded for Lamacq's Evening Session in April 1999. The fact that this was recorded five years after its original release, whilst in the throws of promoting their third album, was testament to the song's enduring appeal. Caught By The Fuzz was released as Supergrass' first limited edition single on Backbeat Records in 1993 and released as their first single proper a year later. Despite narrowly missing a Top 40 place, the track became a modern day classic and helped turn debut album I Should Coco into a million seller.


3. Pyromaniax! - Arsonists
Underground hip hop from New York, this is taken from the rap crew's 1999 debut album As The World Burns. One more album, Date Of Birth, followed in 2001.


4. Paint Nothing - Idlewild

Before they found the folk, Idlewild were a pretty mean live proposition. Shambolic and messy live, Roddy Woomble spent half of their live sets crawling along the floor like a man possessed. This chaotic, yet compelling, start was captured in their debut mini-album Captain which gained not considerable support from Steve Lamacq himself to whom the band probably owe their entire career. Idlewild's rough edges were smoothed out more and more as the next 10 years unfolded, the first signs being their debut album Hope Is Important. Whilst not abandoning their edgy and angular sound completely, the album edged more towards a more commercial sound that would reap further rewards in later years. Paint Nothing is from that album.

5. Stuck On Me - Sukpatch

Electronic hip-hop from the Tie Down That Shiny Wave EP from the Beastie Boys' Grand Royale stable. Other Sukpatch releases were released on Sub Pop and Moshi Moshi amongst others.

6. Oi To The World - The Vandals

US pop punk band who formed in 1980 and have undergone various radical line up changes in their 30 year career despite an influence a new wave of 90s punk acts such as Green Day and The Offspring. Oi To The World was originally released in 1996 as part of the band's Christmas album of the same name. An album which contained a ditty entitled Christmas Time For My Penis of which we will say no more and move on - only to say this is an exclusive live session version so, Vandals completists everywhere, take note that man.

7. Bursting Off The Back Beat - Jacknife Lee

Early single from producer Jacknife 'Garret' Lee which reached #153 in the chart and taken from his debut album Muy Rico! Lee had modest success with subsequent albums, but much like his earlier incarnation as guitarist with the heavily hyped indie rockers Compulsion, his career failed to take off. Jacking in the solo albums, however, and concentrating on producing other artists seemed to do the trick though....his credits including recent output by U2, REM, Weezer, Snow Patrol and Kasabian.

8. Generator - Elastica

The build up and release of Elastica's 1995 eponymous album was huge and Justine Frischmann et al were seen as guiding lights in the thriving Britpop scene. Frischmann's relationship with Damon Albarn and the fact she was an ex-girlfriend of Brett Anderson, having once been a member of Suede, kept Elastica in the headlines. Despite accusations of plagiarism from both Wire and The Stranglers, the album reached #1. Then it all fell apart and the band disappeared, only to resurface in 1999 having undergone various line up changes. The result was a low key 6 track EP called, well. '6 Track EP' which acted as a document to what the band had been up to in their lost years prior to the release of their second, and final album, The Menace. The EP contained a Mark E Smith collaboration in How We Wrote Elastica Man and this, Generator. The version here is exclusive to this EP and was recorded  live at Reading in 1999. The track also featured in a re-recorded version on the second album.

9. Going Out - Vyvyan

Short-lived all girl indie group from the West Midlands who only released on single and one mini-album, Teenage Wannabes on the Sympathy  From The Record Industry imprint. They did have to time to record one evening session and this version of the album track is featured here.

10. Such A Rush - Coldplay

Hidden in the depths of this CD then are Coldplay whose Blue Room EP, featuring this track, was released to limited but widespread acclaim in 1999. The release gained support from Lamacq's Evening Session, hence their inclusion here,  and led to a co-headlining tour with Welsh band Terris, a set of dates heavily hyped by NME who proclaimed these two bands as the future of music in the 21st Century. Those who mock NME for making such a noise over Terris, who fell flat on their arse, seem to have forgotten that they had more success with their championing of Coldplay who went on to world domination. An early version of Such A Rush was included on Coldplay's debut Safety EP, currenty fetching a crazy £870.00 on Ebay. A copy of Terris' debut EP, The Time Is Now, described by NME as semi-legendary at the time, recently failed to sell on Ebay....for 49p. Better luck next time, lads.

11. Lamacqnaut 2000 - Frigid Vinegar

Novelty indie rap played to death on the Evening Session in 1999 under the original single release title, Dogmonaut 2000. This adapted version paying tribute to the host was performed on the Session and included here exclusively. Despite record label Rotator's website - still active - suggesting that Frigid Vinegar aka Alex Lusty, could soon be seen performing on CD:UK, it never quite happened...

12. Radio Beatbox - Hedrock Valley Beats

AKA D Declan McLaughlin who released several singles and 12"s under the Hedrock Valley Beats moniker at the start of the millenium. The sleeve notes here claim that it's taken from "the first release on Bright Star Records" in 1999. Was it also the last??

13. Sunburn (Session) - Muse

Another huge band making an early appearance. At the time of this evening session, August 1999, Muse had released 2 limited EPs one major single, Uno, which had scraped the Top 75 and their second, Cave, was just around the corner. Initially dismissed as the next set of Radiohead copyists to come and bite the dust, support for Muse grew and grew beyond their initial fanbase and, despite a slow start, their debut album Showbiz knocked up strong sales and produced three Top 40 hits including Sunburn, their first major hit when it hit #22 in early 2000. As Muse shed the Radiohead-lite sound of their debut and became louder, more progressive and more bombastic, they became one of the UK's biggest bands. This is the only place you'll legitimately find this version so it's essential for all Muse completists.

14. I Love Only You - Hefner

Perhaps the most indie of all late 90s indie bands, Hefner were active from 1997 -2002 and produced a raft of singles and EPs, four albums and a number of radio sessions, most notably for John Peel. Never destined for commercial success at any point, this is taken from their second album The Fidelity Wars which hit the Top 200 for a week at #165.

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.

NME: THE GLASTONBURY BROADCASTS (1999)

Note: As is pretty obvious, all these tracks were all performed live at Glastonbury. The year of the performance is shown for each track.

1. Caught By The Fuzz - Supergrass (1995)

This captures Supergrass in their initial punk pop pomp on the verge of big things. Already regarded as one of the country's brightest new bands, debut album I Should Coco had recently charted at #3 and spawned three hits, including this, Gaz's account of being arrested for marijuana possession as teenager, which peaked just outside the Top 40. Fresh from this performance, Supergrass decided to release the album's fourth single proper, a AA side pairing two album tracks together, the laid back, bluesy Time and some song you may have heard called Alright. The single got to #2 and pushed the album to #1 and half a million sales in the UK.

2. Rock N Roll Star - Oasis (1995)

The fastest selling debut single of all time, 6 classic singles including one #1, Glastonbury headliners and critical idolisation. It couldn't get any bigger than this....could it?

3. The Day We Caught The Train - Ocean Colour Scene (1997)

After a shaky start with their baggy flavoured debut in 1992, OCS' second album, the R&B/soul tinged Moseley Shoals helped soundtracked the mid 90s, this being their biggest hit peaking at #4 in 1996. This performance sees them gearing up for the release of their third album Marchin' Already in September '97.

4. Allotment - Reef (1996)

The inclusion of Naked on a high profile MiniDisc advert helped boost Reef's profile in 94/95 resulting in first album Replenish hitting the Top 20. Not many expected much more, but Reef re-emerged in 1996 with Place Your Hands, an old fashioned hands-in-the-air rock anthem which hit #6 paving their way to a #1 album with Glow. This performance paves the way for their resurgence, which came a few months later, this track missing out on the album and finding its way as a B Side to their single Consideration.

5. Alright - Cast (1997)

For a band who were never quite taken seriously by anybody they sold a lot of records - debut album All Change became Polydor's fastest selling debut album ever. 1997 saw the release of second album Mother Nature Calls, the title of which pretty much sums up Cast - an attempt to sound cosmic and at one with the universe, it just sounds like John Power needs a wee.

6. Eternal Life - Jeff Buckley (1995)

An epic and dramatic performance from the late Jeff Buckley, and one which not only raised the profile of Buckley but also switched more people on to his debut album Grace which was fast becoming a modern classic. Buckley's death in 1997 raised both performer and album to iconic status.

7. Just Like Heaven - The Cure (1990)

Already a classic in 1990, this was taken from their Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me album in 1987. Step forward please the comedian in the CD writing department. Add this track to your iTunes and you'll find the composer is listed as......."A pantomime dame and some other wankers". Lol Tolhurst was that you?

8. Sorted For Es & Wizz - Pulp (1998)

After a triumphant performance in 1995 when they became last minute replacements for The Stone Roses, Pulp returned in 1998 in a much darker place. Not only was just-released album This Is Hardcore a dark and challenging work but Jarvis Cocker's exclamation of "put me in a field...I'm gonna need some drugs" at the end of this track proves it wasn't much fun to be in Pulp in 1998.

9. Gravity Grave - The Verve (1993)

Pre 'The' and pre-Urban Hymns ubiquity, Verve were more indebted to shoegazing and space rock than Oasis. This is Verve and Mad Richard's most defining 9 minutes, the climax of Aschroft screaming wildly to the stage control staff "WE GOT ONE MORE MINUTE!" ONE MORE MINUTE" over a sea of bass and psychedelia is mesmeric. You can also get this version on their 1994 B Sides compilation No Come Down.

10. Chime - Orbital (1994)

Orbital's visually and sonically stunning performances helped a new breed of electronic bands - Underworld, Leftfield, The Prodigy amogst others - to be taken seriously as live acts. Their Glasto 94 performance has gone into legend as one of the best ever dance/techno - call it what you want - gigs. Chime was first released in 1990 and hit #17.

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.