The Mock Turtles - The Waning Moon (1994)

The Mock Turtles were led by former Judge Happiness singer Martin Coogan, older brother of actor/comedian Steve Coogan. The band began to pick up attention around 1990, with tracks such as 'Lay Me Down' and 'And Then She Smiles' on the Imaginary label, and they released the excellent 'Turtle Soup' album in 1990, which was full of superb indie rock songs, but it was 'Can You Dig It?' which gained them wider attention. Originally a b-side to 'Lay Me Down', the band's new record label, Siren, re-issued it with additional guitar work, and it breached the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart. They released a second album 'Two Sides' in 1991, but they were unable to follow up their early success and were dropped by their label. In 2002 and 2003 Vodafone used 'Can You Dig It?' for an advertising campaign, which saw the band make a comeback, with Norman Cook doing a remix of the song which reached No. 19 in the UK chart. Most recently, 'And Then She Smiles' has been used as the theme song for the television programme 'Stella' on Sky1. Despite their short career they recorded a lot of extra tracks which were used for singles, or as contributions to tribute albums - sometimes both at the same time (their take on 'Are You Experienced?' is a revelation, and it's a shame it's only available as a vinyl rip). Add in a few b-sides and we have a fine collection of songs which shows what a massively under-rated band The Mock Turtles were.

Track listing

01 Watching The Waning Moon (from the 'Pomona' EP 1987)  
02 John O'War (from the 'Pomona' EP 1987)
03 Big Sky (from 'Shangri-La - A Tribute To The Kinks' 1989)
04 Bathing In Blue (from the 'Pomona' EP 1987)
05 No Good Trying (from 'Beyond The Wildwood - A Tribute To Syd Barrett' 1987) 
06 Calm Before The Storm (b-side of 'And Then She Smiles' 1989)
07 Shangri-La (from 'Shangri-La - A Tribute To The Kinks' 1989)
08 Fionnuala (b-side of 'Wicker Man' 12" 1989)
09 Time Bewteen / Why (from 'Time Between - A Tribute To The Byrds' 1989)
10 Croppies Lie Down (freebie single with Bucketfull Of Brains magazine 1989)
11 Magic Boomerang (single 1990)
12 Take Your Time (b-side of 'Magic Boomerang')
13 Are You Experienced? (single 1990)
14 She Told Me (b-side of 'Strings And Flowers' 1991)
15 Pale Blue Eyes (from 'Fifteen Minutes - A Tribute To The Velvet Underground' 1994)
16 Big Eyed Beans From Venus (from 'Fast 'n' Bulbous - A Tribute To Captain Beefheart' 1988)