Supergrass - Kiss Of Life (2008)

After three years out of the limelight, with just their appearance on the 'Mike Bassett: England Manager' soundtrack to keep their name in the public eye, Supergrass returned in 2002 with their fourth album 'Life On Other Planets', which was released in September. It was recorded at Heliocentric, Rockfield and Mayfair Studios and produced by Beck collaborator Tony Hoffer, and appeared on the Parlophone labrel in the UK and on the Island Def Jam imprint in the U.S. It was not as commercially successful as the band's first three albums, failing to make the Top Three in the UK albums chart, but the critical response to the album was generally very positive, and it has since gone gold in the UK. 'Life On Other Planets' was also notable as it was the first Supergrass album to recognise Gaz's brother Rob Coombes as an official member, even though he had been playing with the band on and off since 1983, and some of their records were often credited to 'Supergrass and Rob Coombes'. Once the album had been released the band took another extended three-year break, devoting their time to touring and personal engagements, and in 2004 the band's record company suggested that they release a singles compilation, and so 'Supergrass Is 10' appeared later that year, spawning two new self-produced tracks: 'Kiss Of Life' and 'Bullet'. Recording of their fifth studio album, 'Road To Rouen', began in France in a studio built by the band in Normandy and it represented a significant change in direction for them, being perceived as a more mature body of work. The album was preceded by the single 'St. Petersburg' in August 2005, and the album followed a week later. Opinion at the time was divided, but the album garnered the band many new fans, and cracked the Top 10 of the UK album chart. 

The second single 'Low C' featured a video by acclaimed 'Pumping On Your Stereo' video director Garth Jennings, and third single 'Fin', which was interpreted as a missive to the Coombes brothers' recently deceased mother, received much critical praise. The follow-up album, 'Diamond Hoo Ha', was recorded in Berlin and mixed in Los Angeles in 2007, and before its release the band did a summer tour. On 27 September 2007, bassist Mick Quinn sustained a broken heel bone and two spinal fractures in a sleepwalking accident, when he sleepwalked out of a first floor window of the villa he was staying at in the South of France. During his recuperation, Coombes and Goffey promoted first single 'Diamond Hoo Ha Man' as the Diamond Hoo Ha Men, with a run of small club shows in December and January. In 2008, Parlophone was taken over by venture capitalist group, Terra Firma, and Supergrass ended their contract with the label, with the final single from the album, 'Rebel In You', being released under licence from Parlophone on the band's own imprint Supergrass Records. This final post features exclusive b-sides to the singles lifted from 'Life On Other Planets', which appeared in 2002 and 2003, plus the new songs from the 2004 compilation album, and we end with a live outing from the DVD edition of their 'Low C' single, plus the flip of that final single on their own label from 2008. As mentioned in some of the comments, I hope that this short series highlights what an under-rated band Supergrass were, with most casual listeners only knowing them for the 'Alright' single, but they had so much more to offer than just that song. 

Track listing

01 Velvetine (b-side of 'Grace' 2002)
02 Electric Cowboy (b-side of 'Grace' 2002)
03 Tishing In Windows (Kicking Down Doors) (b-side of 'Grace' 2002)
04 That Old Song (b-side of 'Grace' 2002)
05 The Loner (b-side of 'Seen The Light' 2003)
06 I Told The Truth (b-side of 'Seen The Light' 2003)
07 Everytime (b-side of 'Rush Hour Soul' 2003)
08 Kiss Of Life (single 2004)
09 We Dream Of This (b-side of 'Kiss Of Life' 2004)
10 Bullet (b-side of 'Kiss Of Life' 2004)
11 Lady Jane And John Coltrane (from 'Low C' DVD 2005)
12 Car Crash (b-side of 'Rebel In You' 2008)

Supergrass - Believer (2001)

Following the success of their second album and the singles released from it, Supergrass took a short break before returning in May 1999 with the single 'Pumping On Your Stereo', and its memorable promo video, produced in conjunction with Jim Henson's Creature Shop, featuring the band with comical "muppet" bodies. The single generated welcome publicity following their time out of the limelight, as did a small sold-out tour scheduled around the release of the single, the final night of which was at Shepherd's Bush Empire as part of MTV's "Five Night Stand" festival. The band's third self-titled album soon followed, with a US release appearing later in the spring of 1999, and once more the album was recorded at Sawmills Studio with longtime associate John Cornfield producing. Although 'Supergrass' was well received critically and commercially, and has since gone platinum in the UK, it didn't attain the same level of success as its predecessors, with critics claiming that the album was somewhat hit and miss, and contained some of their lesser work surrounded by songs that are as great as anything that they had ever recorded. Despite this criticism their next single 'Moving' proved popular and reached the Top Ten in the UK, although third single 'Mary' could only scrape into the Top 40. There then followed a long hiatus where the band kept a low profile, finally emerging two years later to provide a track for inclusion on the soundtrack of the 2001 film 'Mike Bassett: England Manager'. Although it might not have seemed like it, 1999 was a very prolific year for Supergrass, as the b-sides of their singles plus out-takes from the 'Supergrass' album provide enough material for a second volume of non-album tracks, headed by the flips of one last single from 1997's 'In It For The Money'. 

Track listing

01 Nothing More's Gonna Get In My Way (b-side of 'Richard III' 1997)
02 20ft Halo (b-side of 'Richard III' 1997)
03 Out Of The Blue (studio out-take 1999)
04 You'll Never Walk Again (b-side of 'Pumping On Your Stereo' 1999)
05 Sick (b-side of 'Pumping On Your Stereo' 1999)
06 What A Shame (b-side of 'Pumping On Your Stereo' 1999)
07 Lucky (No Fear) (b-side of 'Pumping On Your Stereo' 1999)
08 Blockades (studio out-take 1999)
09 Stinkfinger (studio out-take)
10 Believer (b-side of 'Moving' 1999)
11 Country Number (studio out-take 1999)
12 Oracle (from the soundtrack to the film 'Mike Bassett: England Manager' 2001) 

Supergrass - Wait For The Sun (1997)

While attending Wheatley Park School just outside Oxford, 16 year-old Gaz Coombes and 18 year-old Danny Goffey were playing in the Jennifers along with Nick Goffey and Andy Davies. The band began building a reputation in the Oxford indie music scene, influenced by Ride, the Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets, the Kinks, and the Who, and also including traits of the shoegaze era, and they played gigs at various venues around Oxfordshire, often public houses and clubs. They sold a demo tape recorded and produced by Nick Langston at Stargoat Studios near Banbury, which included three songs, the fast-paced 'Flying', the funky 'Inside Of Me', and the guitar-based ballad '(Slow Song)'. The band enjoyed enough success to release the single 'Just Got Back Today' in 1992 on Nude Records, and this is now a highly sought after rarity. A second single 'Tightrope' was never released due to disagreements with Nude Records, although you can hear it on the compilation CD 'Days Spent Dreaming', and following this disappointment the band split up soon afterwards. Andy Davies went off to university and Nic Goffey went on to form a directing partnership with friend Dom Hawley, later directing many videos for Supergrass, while Coombes began working at the local Harvester, where he befriended co-worker Mick Quinn. The two realised they had common music interests and Coombes invited Quinn to come and jam with himself and Goffey. In February 1993 they formed Theodore Supergrass, but soon dropped the Theodore, as "it was a bit rubbish". Coombes brother Rob played flute for the band's début gig at the Co-Op Hall, Oxford in 1993, later moving to keyboards in January 1995 for a live Radio 1 John Peel session. Although his role in the band progressed over the years, he wasn't introduced as a band member until almost a decade later. 

In mid-1994 Supergrass issued their debut single 'Caught By The Fuzz' on the small independent local label Backbeat Records, with the song being a true story of Coombes's experience of being arrested by the police for possession of cannabis. The limited release of vinyl copies sold out quickly, thanks in part to support from John Peel on his Radio One show, and the Parlophone label soon signed the band so that they could re-release the single in the autumn of the same year. 'Mansize Rooster' followed in February 1995, peaking at number 20 in the UK Singles Chart, and third single 'Lenny' was the band's first top 10 single. The band's debut album 'I Should Coco' appeared in May 1995, entering the UK Albums Chart at number one, and achieving half a million sales in the UK and over a million worldwide. The album's fourth single, the double A-side release 'Alright'/'Time', stayed in the UK Top Three for a month, peaking at number two. Supergrass followed 'I Should Coco' with 18 months of heavy touring, appearing at festivals such as Scotland's T in the Park and the Glastonbury Festival. After performing at Rio's Hollywood Rock Festival in April 1996, Supergrass met the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, and he apparently said to them, "I was frightened for my life when I heard there was a supergrass in the area". A photograph of Biggs and Coombes together was subsequently included in the music video for their 1996 single 'Going Out', after which the band returned to Sawmills Studio to record their follow up album 'In It For The Money'. This was released in April 1997 and was a huge success, going platinum in the UK, but confusing some fans who were expecting something similar to 'I Should Coco'. Three more singles were released from the album, with 'Richard III', 'Sun Hits The Sky' and 'Late In The Day' all reaching the UK Top 20. This first in a short series collecting the band's non-album tracks includes the b-sides from their singles between 1995 and 1997, including the free 7" which came with vinyl copies of 'I Should Coco', plus the flip of a rare Japanese single.  

Track listing

01 Wait For The Sun (b-side of 'Lenny' 1995)
02 Sex! (b-side of 'Lenny' 1995)
03 Stonefree (from free 7" single with vinyl edition of 'I Should Coco' 1995)
04 Odd? (from free 7" single with vinyl edition of 'I Should Coco' 1995)
05 Condition (b-side of 'Alright' 1995)
06 Je Suis Votre Papa Sucre (b-side of 'Alright' 1995)
07 Where Have All The Good Times Gone (b-side of Japanese edition of 'Alright' 1995)
08 Melanie Davis (b-side of 'Going Out' 1996)
09 We Still Need More (Than Anyone Can Give) (b-side of 'Late In The Day' 1997)  
10 Don't Be Cruel (b-side of 'Late In The Day' 1997)
11 The Animal (b-side of 'Late In The Day' 1997)
12 Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others (b-side of 'Sun Hits The Sky' 1997)

Various Artists - An Alternative Hendrix (1990)

I was listening to my New Fast Automatic Daffodils 'Peel Sessions' album the other day, and was reminded at just how great their take on 'Purple Haze' was, which in turn prompted memories of another couple of Hendrix covers by new wave/alternative bands that I'd always loved - 'All Along The Watchtower' by XTC and 'Foxy Lady' by The Cure. I wondered if there were any more punky versions of Hendrix's songs out there, and found that although there have been two tribute albums released, with 'Stone Free' in 1993 and 'If Six Was Nine' in 1990, they seemed to concentrate on more mainstream groups to contribute to them, and so I only had to borrow four songs from the latter to flesh out this collection of re-imaginings of Hendrix classics by some of my favourite new wave/alternative bands. 

Track listing

01 Purple Haze - New Fast Automatic Daffodils
02 Can You See Me - Thee Hypnotics
03 Stone Free - Supergrass
04 Are You Experienced - The Mock Turtles
05 Who Knows - Bevis Frond
06 Foxy Lady - The Cure
07 Love Or Confusion - The Screaming Trees
08 Hey Joe - Patti Smith
09 All Along The Watchtower - XTC
10 Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) - The Membranes
11 Crosstown Traffic - Richard Hell & The Voidoids