POLYDOR PRESENTS...SOUNDS DOUBLE A SIDE (1986)

1. Back Door - Brian Spence

Brian Spence used to be in a band called Bilbo Baggins and another one called Chisholm And Spence. You'd never get names like that in 2011....youwouldn't really get a rock star called Brian Spence. Mind you, there wasn't one in 1986 or any year for that matter.  Back Door was taken from the great man's first solo album Brothers. The all round nice guy's (courtesy spencemusic.co.uk) also contributed to the not quite a blockbuster film P.I. Private Investigations with the single City Of Shadows. Spence's only chart action appeared in 1988 with his track Reputation which hit #78. However, the song had a second lease of life when it was covered by Dusty Springfield and appeared on her album of the same name. Released as a single it hit the Top 40 at #38. Well done Brian!

2. Know It All - Chris Sutton

In a long and illustrious career, Sutton played in midfield and attack for six clubs in the English and Scottish Premier Leagues including Norwich, Blackburn, Celtic and Chelsea. Not many people know that as a 13 year old boy, he also sang backing vocals for Smokey Robinson, supported James Brown and released several singles, including Prince Of Justice and Don't Get Me Wrong, and an eponymous album which all failed to chart. This may or may not be a case of mistaken identity, but the perm definitely belongs on a Division One football pitch.

3. Stephanie Says - The Velvet Underground

This trac first saw the light of day (legitimately) on the compilation VU in 1985, an album which contained a number of tracks originally recorded for what would have been the band's second release on MGM until they were booted off the label. Although not one of those specific tracks, Stephanie Says was an unreleased gem from the era and included on this release. Although unreleased, Lou Reed had recorded it and released it himself, albeit in a different tone, on his classic 1973 album Berlin renaming it Caroline Says II.

4. Here Comes The Style - Smiley Culture

Smiley Culture, aka David Emmanuel, released a clutch of acclaimed reggae singles in the mid-80s and was renowned for his unique fast-chat which mixed Jamaican patois with Cockney dialect. Two singles, Police Officer and Cockney Translation, sold well but the follow up album, Tongue In Cheek (25 years before Dizzee Rascal) fared less well as did the next single Schooltime Chronicle. Despite TV and film work, Culture faded away but has since been regarded as a major cultlural influence by the likes of Roots Manuva as pioneer in Brit Rap. Sadly, Culture earlier this year after a police raid gone wrong at his London home, but his contribution to Culture lives on.

THE VOX BOX (1992)

Drawn from the labels of Polydor, Vertigo. Mercury, Def American and A&M

LIVE SIDE - yep, they're all live tracks. No idea if these are unique to this cassette OR when these were recorded so all help welcome

1. Don't Believe A Word - Thin Lizzy

A 1976 #12 UK hit from Northern Ireland's premier hard rock outfit, the studio version originally taken from their album Johnny The Fox.

2. Statesboro Blues - The Allman Brothers Band

Featured on the country blues legends' 1971 At Filmore East, this is the most famous version of a track originally written and recorded by Blind Willie McTell. Rolling Stone magaine name the Allman Brothers version as the ninth greatest guitar song of all time.

3. Stay With Me - Rod Stewart & The Faces

Credited to simply The Faces on release in 1971, this enduring classic hit #6 in the UK charts and released on the album A Nod Is As Good As A Wink...To A Blind Horse. The track has been performed live ever since by Rod Stewart and covered by McFly and Manic Street Preachers.

4. Crossroads - Cream

Originally written and recorded by Robert Johnson as 'Crossroad Blues', Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce's live version, retitled Crossroads, was released on their album Wheels On Fire and released as a single in the USA.

5. Hard To Handle - The Black Crowes

The most famous version of the Otis Redding original, was released on their 1990 debut Shake Your Moneymaker. Released twice as a single in the UK, it eventually hit a peak of #39 but has remained a radio staple ever since.

6. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) - Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix's only, and posthumous, #1 in the UK. The title here is misleading. The track 'Voodoo Chile' is a 15 minute jam featured on Side 1 of the classic Electric Ladyland. A much shorter recording, 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)' is the last track on the same album and it's this version that was released as the single....When the single appeared though, the track was confusingly titled 'Voodoo Chile'.

STUDIO SIDE

7. Get The Funk Out - Extreme

Extreme's second album Pornograffiti II propelled Extreme into orbit, mostly thanks to the acoustic ballad More Than Words which hit #2 in the UK and #1 in the US. The hard rocking Get The Funk Out was the lead single from the album and paved the way for More Than Words by hitting the UK Top 20. Since the initial demise of Extreme, lead singer Gary Cherone briefly joined Van Halen, lead giuitarist Nuno Bettencourt released a solo album entitled Schizophonic and bassist Pat Badger bizarrely had his birthday announced in The Sun every year for about a decade afterwards.

8. When You're Young - The Jam

One off single released by The Jam in 1979. The single reached #17. Regulars in the Top 40 by this time - this was their eighth - the band would hit even greater heights with their next two singles, The Eton Rifles and Going Underground.

9. She's A Girl And I'm A Man - Lloyd Cole

The lead single from Lloyd Cole's second solo - that is, without The Commotions -album, Don't Get Weird On Me Babe. The single only hit #55 and the album #21 despite good reviews.

10. Sweet Jane - The Velvet Underground

Classic VU, written by Lou Reed and pulled from their 1970 album Loaded which proved to be the band's proper swansong, the Doug Yule helmed Squeeze notwithstanding. Sweet Jane has been covered by Mott The Hoople, The Sugarcubes and -oh dear - The Kooks.

11. Shine The Light - 10cc

Well I can't actually play this cassette, but I can only assume this is 10cc's Shine A Light In The Dark which was released in the same year as this compilation, 1992, on their album ...Menwhile. The album was a comeback for the band's original four members - Graham Goldman, Godley & Creme and Eric Stewart - after the success of the 10cc/G&C compilation Changing Faces. Despite resurgence in interest for the band's back catalogue, this didn't translate into sales for new material, the album failing to break the UK Top 75.

12. Wideshire - Thousand Yard Stare

Early 90s indie favourites from Berkshire. Their singles and EPs, inluding the Spindrift EP containing this track, regularly topped the indie charts and grazed the bottom end of the official UK chart. Despite indie success, they failed to break the mainstream and were brutally bumped off by the rise in the UK Britpop scene. Wideshire was also featured on their album Hands On.

13. Donation - The Wonder Stuff

If you're name is Miles Hunt, you really ought to endear yourself to the UK music press. This didn't happen and the lead singer of the most successful band to emerge from the West Midlands grebo scene became popular rhyming slang - c.f. James Blunt. Donation featured on the band's third album Never Loved Elvis which saw them shed their indie status and become genuine pop stars. The success of the album, and lead single The Size Of A Cow, lead to their first and only #1 single with their Vic Reeves collaboration, Dizzy. No big pop moment would be complete without the inevitable bleak, comedown album (Construction For The Modern Idiot) and split followed by a decade long silence and inevitable reformation....