Elizabeth & The Catapult - Happy Pop - The Best Of Elizabeth & The Catapult (2021)

Elizabeth & the Catapult is a Brooklyn–based project by the American singer-songwriter Elizabeth Ziman, who grew up in Greenwich Village, and trained from youth as a classical pianist, writing her first songs on an upright piano at age 6. She attended the Berklee College of Music on a scholarship to study classical composition, and her original plans to pursue film scoring were changed in 2002 when Patti Austin came to Berklee to recruit background vocalists for an Ella Fitzgerald tribute tour. Ziman toured with Austin for 18 months, causing her subsequent compositional style to draw heavily from jazz vocalists such as Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. She met fellow students Dan Molad and Esperanza Spalding at a party during their final semester at Berklee, and they began performing together shortly afterward. Spalding left the band soon after and another Berklee student, guitarist Pete Lalish, later joined the band after Ziman saw him performing at a Boston bar and invited him to collaborate, with the band moving to Brooklyn in early 2005 after they'd completed their studies. Using Molad's home studio, the band financed, recorded and produced an EP, 'Elizabeth & The Catapult' in 2006, which led to them being signed to Verve Records in 2008. 

Having been popular on New York's Lower East Side, the band achieved a measure of national notoriety in the spring of 2009 with their first Verve album, 'Taller Children', which the band had chosen to record at Mike Mogis' studio in Omaha, Nebraska. In 2009, Ziman was commissioned by John Schaefer of NPR's Soundcheck to write a song cycle for a Lincoln Center show, and having gone through a band breakup, Ziman turned to Leonard Cohen's poetry collection 'Book Of Longing', recording demos for much of the new album as a duo at Molad's father's home in Austin, Texas. Following their record label's suggestion of working with a producer, Molad suggested Tony Berg, and the band moved into the studio to complete the album. 'The Other Side Of Zero' was released in October 2010, and featured Gillian Welch and David Rawlings on the title track. In 2014 she performed at Madison Square Garden opening for Sara Bareilles, and later that year the band released their third album 'Like it Never Happened' on Thirty Tigers Records, which was produced by Dan Molad, Peter Lalish, and Paul Loren with string arrangements by Rob Moose. 'Keepsake', the fourth album from Elizabeth & the Catapult and the first on Compass Records, was released in October 2017, followed by 'sincerely, e' in March 2021. Despite releasing five albums over a twelve year period, Elizabeth & The Catapult are still something of an unknown quantity to most people, so I hope that this collection will introduce the band to a wider audience. 

Track listing

01 Underwater (from 'Keepsake' 2017)
02 Rainiest Day Of Summer (from 'Taller Children' 2009)
03 Right Next To You (from 'Taller Children' 2009)
04 Salt Of The Earth (from 'Like It Never Happened' 2014)
05 Time (We All Fall Down) (from 'The Other Side Of Zero' 2010)
06 Something More (from 'Keepsake' 2017)
07 Open Book (from 'The Other Side Of Zero' 2010)
08 Pop The Placebo (from 'sincerely, e' 2021)
09 Race You (from 'Taller Children' 2009)
10 Happy Pop (from 'Like It Never Happened' 2014)
11 Complimentary Me (from 'Taller Children' 2009)
12 Julian, Darling (from 'The Other Side Of Zero' 2010)
13 Apocalypse In A Major (from 'sincerely, e' 2021)
14 You And Me (from 'The Other Side Of Zero' 2010)
15 Ambrosia (from 'Keepsake' 2017)

Whiskeytown - Forever Valentine (1997)

After performing punk rock with a band called The Patty Duke Syndrome, Ryan Adams founded Whiskeytown in 1994 in Raleigh, North Carolina, with the music of country-rock artist Gram Parsons serving as his inspiration. The band initially consisted of Adams, violinist Caitlin Cary, drummer Eric "Skillet" Gilmore, bassist Steve Grothmann and guitarist Phil Wandscher, and after signing to Mood Food Records, they released their debut album, 'Faithless Street', in 1995, establishing the group as one of the genre's leaders, thanks to glowing reviews in publications such as No Depression, This helped the band score a major-label record deal with the Geffen Records imprint Outpost, who re-released 'Faithless Street' in 1998 with nearly a dozen bonus tracks from the era, including previously unreleased tracks, and songs that had been released on earlier albums and EPs. One track, 'Oklahoma', was removed, and Adams claimed that the reason for the re-release was the muddy sound of the original version, and his distaste for 'Oklahoma', which was added to the album despite his objections. Whiskeytown's 1997 major-label debut, 'Strangers Almanac', helped to establish Adams' reputation as a songwriter, but in the midst of the album's recording, Gilmore and Grothman left, with Wandscher following soon after the album's release. 

The band cycled through numerous members throughout the next year, including Jeff Rice and Steven Terry, both of whom were involved in the recording of 'Strangers Almanac' but left later that year. Despite the band's internal strife, '...Almanac' was a successful album with critics, with the tracks '16 Days' and the Replacements-esque 'Yesterday's News' receiving significant radio play, and Rolling Stone magazine praised them as the Nirvana of alternative country. During the tour to promote the album most of the band was fired or quit at a concert in Kansas City, with the only people who started and finished the tour being Adams, Caitlin Cary, and tour manager Thomas O'Keefe. The band managed to add a new core member in multi-instrumentalist Mike Daly, who contributed significantly to the band's sound. This new line-up quickly recorded an album without their record label knowing about it, since it fell outside of the terms of their contract at that time. 

Produced by Chris Stamey, it also featured his his bass-playing, alongside Ben Folds on piano and ex-Firehose member Ed Crawford on guitar, 'Forever Valentine' was recorded between their 'Strangers Almanac' and 'Pneumonia' albums, and music critic Steven Hyden of Grantland ranked it with Adams's best Whiskeytown material. Work then began on their third album, 'Pneumonia', but possibly because of the band's constantly changing dynamic, the traditional country was largely replaced with a more sophisticated country-rooted pop sound, very similar to Wilco's 1999 album 'Summerteeth'. Despite the album's completion and Whiskeytown's sizable fanbase, Outpost Records closed during the merger between Polygram and Universal, and as a result the album stayed in limbo for nearly two years, effectively ending the band. Lost Highway Records, the roots-minded label imprint of Universal Music, picked up the album after signing Adams, following the recording of his highly acclaimed debut solo record 'Heartbreaker' on indie label Bloodshot Records, and they released 'Pneumonia' in May 2001. 'Forever Valentine' remains one of Ryan Adams's great lost albums, and so here it is so that you can hear what could have been Whiskeytown's official third record. 

Track listing

01 Anyone But Me 
02 Don't Wanna Know Why
03 Easy Hearts
04 Sittin' Around
05 Rays Of Burning Light 
06 Ghost Without Memory
07 Runnin' Out Of Road
08 Can't Take A Lover
09 I Don't Care What You Think About Me
10 Crazy Lonesome (A Memory Away)
11 Caroline

Janet Jackson - Pops Up (2004)

In April 2001 Janet Jackson released her seventh studio album 'All For You', which saw her working with new producers for the first time since 'Control' in 1986, while maintaining her partnership with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. It debuted at number one in the United States, and its title track became the first song by a female artist in the decade to reach number one in the United States, where it remained for seven weeks, becoming her second-longest single to stay at the top. Following the album's release, Jackson embarked on the All For You Tour, which grossed over US$40 million in ticket sales. Upon completion of the tour in 2002, she started recording a new album, with a hope to release it in early 2003. As Jackson completed work on the album, she was featured as a performer on the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show, which took place on February 1, 2004, in Houston. At the end of the performance, guest artist Justin Timberlake pulled off a part of Jackson's costume, which accidentally exposed her right breast, and although the costume tear was orchestrated, her breast's exposure was not the intended result. As a consequence, the singer suffered a backlash from the media, who accused her of planning the incident as a publicity stunt for her then-upcoming album, and it resulted in the blacklist of Jackson's singles and music videos from many major radio formats and music channels worldwide. 

Recording sessions for 'Damita Jo', a title taken from Jackson's middle name, lasted for a total of 18 months, and was the longest that she had spent recording an album. She reunited with Jam and Lewis for initial writing sessions in August 2002, concluding in February 2004, and during its initial sessions, Jam described its musical direction as "all over the place", and that there was no clear direction at that moment. The record saw Jackson teaming up with several new producers, among them Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Kanye West, Dallas Austin, Scott Storch, and duo Bag & Arnthor, consisting of Anders Bagge and Arnthor Birgisson, in addition to Jam and Lewis. The album was released first in Japan on 22 March 2004, before its release in Europe by EMI a week later, followed by a US release by Virgin Records on 30 March 2004. Although it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 381,000 copies in its first week, the album was considered a sales disappointment compared to Jackson's previous efforts. Prior to the Super Bowl incident and blacklist, music journalists predicted 'Damita Jo' would have massive chart success and outsell its predecessor 'All For You', which had sold eight million copies worldwide, and although the album received positive to mixed reviews upon release, some critics concentrated on the controversy over the Super Bowl incident, or the sexually-charged nature of some of the songs, which were composed well before the incident. Even though the album contained 22 tracks, there were a number of recordings which were left off the final running order, including a Just Blaze remix of 'Just A Little While' with new vocals, lyrics, and instrumental, titled 'Love Me', and this post takes that and a number of other out-takes to compile an excellent companion album to 'Damita Jo'. 

Track listing

01 Sex, Lies & Videos
02 Put It on You (Speed It Up) (feat. Jinx Bezzle & Hasan) 
03 Love Me (Just Blaze Mix)
04 Could This Be Love
05 All Nite (Don't Stop) (Remix)
06 Put Your Hands On 
07 Ruff (I Like It) (feat. Pharrell & Jevar)
08 I'm Here
09 What Can I Say
10 Pops Up 

Terrorvision - Funny Feels Fine (2001)

Terrorvision were formed in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England in 1987, and after abandoning the name Spoilt Bratz in 1991, Terrorvision (named after a cult B-movie) formed around vocalist Tony Wright, guitarist Mark Yates, bass player Leigh Marklew, and drummer Shutty. A single demo tape was enough to convince EMI Records to offer them not only a deal, but their own imprint, Total Vegas. Their first release on the label was the 'Thrive' EP in 1992, swiftly followed by the 'Formaldehyde' album later that year. Although showing their obvious Heavy Metal influences, there was a sense of humour and pop leaning which could not be hidden, particularly in their breakthrough single 'My House'. It was those pop quirks which informed their breakthrough second album 'How To Make Friends And Influence People' in 1994, which was a collection of exuberant pop-metal classics, featuring the single 'Oblivion', which showed off their trademark mix of disenfranchised lyrics coupled with enormously catchy tunes. The singles released from the album all charted well, propelling the decidedly unfashionable Terrorvision firmly into the mainstream. By the time their third record, 'Regular Urban Survivors', was released in 1996, Briptop was firmly established in the mainstream, but perhaps surprisingly Terrorvision thrived, with their 'Perseverance' single charting at number five, and the band even got in a few digs in at the Briptop elite, with 'Superchronic' taking a decidedly humourous swipe at Oasis. 

Following the critical and chart success of 'Regular Urban Survivors', hope were high for the next record, but 1998's 'Shaving Peaches' was a curiously restrained record, which in hindsight sounds like an ill-founded attempt to gain a mainstream audience, which in truth they probably already had. Despite the album selling poorly, it ironically spawned their biggest hit in 'Tequila', although admittedly it was a Mint Royale remix of the track which reached number 2 in the UK charts. Possibly due to the poor sales of 'Shaving Peaches', Terrorvision were dropped from EMI, and after a two year break they finally returned in 2001 with the independently released 'Good To Go' on Papillion Records. Probably knowing it would be their final record, it is very much a return to 'classic' Terrorvision, and while the record lacks some of their prime period sparkle, the choruses are undeniably huge and the album brims with the band's trademark good time party vibes. Terrorvision played their 'final' gig in October 2001, in their hometown of Bradford, and the riotous celebration of all things Terrorvision was eventually released as a double live album, 'Take The Money And Run', after which the band called it a day. While they have never returned to music full-time, Terrorvision have reformed numerous times since their initial split, and in 2011 Wright announced that they band would be releasing a new album, 'Super Delux'. They remained elusive in the following years, emerging in 2016 for a U.K. tour alongside Thunder, and another in 2017 alongside Reef and the Wildhearts, but they finally returned to the studio in the early 2020's, resulting in their seventh studio album, 2024's 'We Are Not Robots'. This post looks back at their classic period between 1992 ans 2001, and all the non-album tracks that they tucked away on the b-sides of their singles, including some well-chosen covers, from artists as diverse as Free, Cheap Trick, Iggy Pop, Kraftwerk and 70's teeny-boppers Slik.  

 
Track listing

Disc I - 1992-1994
01 Blackbird (from the 'Thrive' EP 1992)
02 Coming Up (b-side of 'My House' 1992)
03 Psycho Killer (b-side of 'American T.V.' 1993)
04 We Are The Roadcrew (b-side of 'Problem Solved' 1993)
05 Corpse Fly (b-side of 'Problem Solved' 1993)
06 Sailing Home (b-side of 'Problem Solved' 1993)
07 I'll Be Your Sister (b-side of 'Middleman' 1994)
08 Wishing Well (b-side of 'Middleman' 1994)
09 The Passenger (b-side of 'Middleman' 1994)
10 Surrender (b-side of 'Middleman' 1994)
11 What Do You Do That For? (b-side of 'Oblivion' 1994)
12 The Model (b-side of 'Oblivion' 1994)
13 Remember Zelda (b-side of 'Oblivion' 1994)

Disc II - 1994-1996
01 What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor (b-side of 'Alice What's The Matter?' 1994)
02 Suffocation (b-side of 'Alice What's The Matter?' 1994)
03 Blood On My Wheels (b-side of 'Some People Say' 1995)
04 This Drinking Will Kill Me (b-side of 'Some People Say' 1995)
05 Mr. Buskerman (b-side of 'Some People Say' 1995)
06 Wake Up (b-side of 'Perseverance' 1996)
07 What Goes Around Comes Around (b-side of 'Perseverance' 1996)
08 Sick And Tired (b-side of 'Perseverance' 1996)
09 Hard To Feel (b-side of 'Perseverance' 1996)
10 You Really Got A Hold On Me (b-side of 'Celebrity Hit List' 1996)
11 Tom Petty Loves Veruca Salt (Remix) (b-side of 'Celebrity Hit List' 1996)
12 Don't Come Here (b-side of 'Celebrity Hit List' 1996)
13 Crossed Line On The Grapevine (b-side of 'Celebrity Hit List' 1996)

Disc III - 1996-2001
01 Fobbed Off (b-side of 'Bad Actress' 1996)
02 Too Stoned To Dance (b-side of 'Bad Actress' 1996)
03 Funny Feels Fine (b-side of 'Bad Actress' 1996)
04 Conspiracy (Hexadecimal Dub) (b-side of 'Conspiracy' 1996)
05 Moonage Daydream (from 'Long Live Tibet' charity album 1997)  
06 Forever And Ever (from the 'Come Again' compilation album 1997)
07 Reasons To Deceive (b-side of 'Josephine' 1998)
08 Go Jerry (b-side of 'Josephine' 1998)
09 Falling Down (b-side of 'Josephine' 1998)
10 28 Hours (b-side of 'Josephine' 1998)
11 Risk Worth Taking (b-side of 'Tequila (Mint Royale Shot)' 1999)
12 If That's What It Takes (b-side of 'Ill Wishes' 1999)
13 100 Things (b-side of 'Ill Wishes' 1999)
14 It's The CD's Or Me (b-side of 'D'You Wanna Go Faster' 2000)
15 Business As Usual (b-side of 'Fists Of Fury' 2001)