On A Friday - Union Street (1990)

The third known On A Friday demo tape comes from the summer of 1990, and was recorded between the sessions for their last two cassette releases. It's a compilation of 4-track recordings made between June and August at Clifton Hampden Village Hall, Nuneham Courtenay Village Hall and at home. This tape contained 15 new songs, and has been recompiled over the years, sometimes removing 'Tell Me Bitch' (which is really no great loss), and also re-titling some of the songs. By the time of these recordings all the members were at different Universities around the country, but reconvened over the summer, with the exception of Phil who was in Ireland. In order to keep recording and rehearsing, the band drafted in school friend Nigel Powell, who had recorded some previous demos with the band, to keep the drum stool warm. The Clifton Hampden tracks were recorded over a number of weeks with this line up, and in between sessions Jonny took the four-track home with him where he, Thom and Colin would continue working on the tracks, and when Phil returned the band recorded one more demo track 'What Is That You See?'. The band did not have a settled name during this period, having dropped On A Friday temporarily, but not yet having come up with anything better. One possibility was Shindig, which survived long enough for Thom to spray paint it on his acoustic guitar case, but by the time of their next 'proper' demo in April 1991 (the previously mentioned 'Manic Hedgehog', from which two songs for this 1990 tape would be substantially developed), they had reverted to On A Friday. For this post I've gone with the 14 track version, but kept the original song titles. 'Tell Me Bitch' has already appeared on a previous post in a different form, but it you are a masochist and really want to hear it, you can track down the original speeded up version yourself online. 

Track listing

01 Keep Strong
02 Somebody
03 Burning Bush
04 Climbing Up A Bloody Great Hill
05 Mr B
06 What Is That You See?
07 Everyone Needs Someone To Hate
08 Upside Down
09 The Greatest Shindig (Of The World)
10 Give It Up
11 How Can You Be Sure?
12 Life With A Big F
13 Rattlesnake
14 New Generation