The Delgados - Primary Alternative (2005)

The Delgados were a four-piece indie-rock band from Glasgow, comprised of guitarist/vocalist Alun Woodward, guitarist/vocalist Emma Pollock, bass guitarist Stewart Henderson, and drummer Paul Savage. Taking their name from the famous Spanish cyclist Pedro Delgado, one-time winner of the Tour de France in the late 1980's, The Delgados formed in 1995 after Woodward, Henderson, and Savage were asked to leave Bubblegum, a band they played in together during 1993 and 1994. With the addition of Savage's then-girlfriend, and later wife, Emma Pollock, they set about crafting songs, drawing inspiration from less obvious artists, such as The Incredible String Band and Hamish Imlach. Besides the inclusion of an early track for a Canadian-released compilation, the group failed to gain label interest, and so they decided to take it upon themselves to release records by founding their own label, Chemikal Underground. From the beginning, the quartet was adamant that the label would not only serve as a vehicle for their own music, but for that of other aspiring groups in the musically fertile city of Glasgow, and since its inception the label has channelled the careers of Mogwai, Arab Strap, Magoo, Cha Cha Cohen, and the Radar Brothers. At first, however, the band were often overshadowed by their own record company, being better known for their label than for their music, so they buckled down and released their debut single 'Monica Webster'/'Brand New Car', which became a Melody Maker Single of the Week. After issuing the 'Lazarwalker' EP on the Radar imprint, they returned to Chemikal Underground for the 1996 release of the singles 'Cinecentre' and 'Sucrose', culminating in the 'Under Canvas, Under Wraps' EP, which was named number three on John Peel's Festive 50 of 1996, with Peel later dubbing The Delgados the best band in Britain in 1998. 

Their initial success also led to a slot supporting Elastica for a short tour of the UK, and in October 1996 they released their first album, 'Domestiques', hailed by New Musical Express as a "dazzling debut which positively drips with diversity." Such praise in the music press, coupled with headlining gigs at smaller venues at the end of 1996 and into 1997, helped establish the band as a major player in the British underground music scene, and highlights of 1997 included tours with the Wedding Present and Pavement. In August 1997 the group were offered a John Peel session, debuting three new songs which would later appear on their second album, but before that 'Everything Goes Around The Water' was issued as a single in March 1998, earning another Single of the Week honour in both New Musical Express and Melody Maker. Returning from a short Italian tour, the band joined Peel for his Evening Session program, where they played their second single 'Pull The Wires From The Wall', which provided the group with their first airing on Daytime Radio 1, and their first showing in the UK Top 75, entering at number 69. Second album 'Peloton' was released in June 1998, and was met with universal praise from both critics and fans alike on both sides of the Atlantic. The songs were extremely inventive, including odd structures, snatched guitar patterns, strange noises, samples, swirling strings, cut-ups and abrupt changes, all serving to create something wonderfully odd. At the end of the year, the record appeared on several "best of" lists, and the band had three showings on John Peel's Festive 50 of 1998, including the number one slot. In the spring of 1999, The Delgados embarked upon a two-week American tour, then returned to Britain for the Glastonbury and T in the Park festivals, plus a performance at the opening of the Scottish Parliament. Sessions for their third album started in September 1998, but the group found the project both long and arduous, so they decided to enlist the help of someone not involved in the recording process, and they approached Dave Fridmann, producer for the Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, and Mogwai. 

Fortunately, Fridmann agreed, and 'The Great Eastern' finally hit the shops in April 2000. Most agreed that the album was The Delgados' most accomplished work to date, a miraculous achievement especially given its fractured and prolonged recording process, and its quality was vindicated when it was short-listed for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. The band also won the Spirit of Scotland Award, an honour recognizing individuals who inspire and lead the way in Scottish culture. In March 2001, The Delgados appeared at London's Barbican Centre to perform their original score to a film based on the work of painter Joe Coleman, and in 2002 their fourth studio album, 'Hate', was released on Mantra rather than the band's own label, returning to Chemikal Underground for their fifth and final studio album 'Universal Audio' in 2004. In April 2005 the band announced that they were splitting up, due to the departure of Henderson, who found it difficult to pour so much energy and time into something that he felt never seemed to get the attention or respect it deserved. All four continued to run Chemikal Underground together, while Pollock and Woodward pursued individual projects, and Savage continued production duties at the band's new studio, Chem19. I'm grateful that the band were so generous to their fans by adding new songs to nearly all their singles, as they truly were a great outfit, and so I'm particularly pleased to be able to post this three disc set of rare singles and b-sides, which will be a god-send to fans of the band, and will hopefully introduce a whole new raft of listeners to one of the great indie groups of the 1990's.    

Track listing

Disc I - 1994-1996
01 Freud's Field Day (from The MiST Masters - Fledgling' compilation album 1994)
02 Monica Webster (single 1995)
03 Brand New Car (b-side of 'Monica Webster')

04 Primary Alternative (from 'The Lazarwalker' EP 1995)
05 Lazarwalker (from 'The Lazarwalker' EP 1995)
06 Buttonhole (from 'The Lazarwalker' EP 1995)
07 Blackwell (from 'The Lazarwalker' EP 1995)
08 I've Only Just Started To Breathe (from the Che Records double 7" compilation 1995)
09 Booker T. Jones (split single with Urusei Yatsura 1995)
10 Liquidation Girl (split single with Van Impe 1996)
11 Cinecentre (single 1996)
12 Thirteen Gliding Principles (b-side of 'Cinecentre')
13 M.Emulator (b-side of 'Cinecentre')

Disc II - 1996-1998
01 The Dirge (b-side of 'Sucrose' 1996)

02 Chalk (b-side of 'Sucrose' 1996)
03 Eurosprint (b-side of 'Sucrose' 1996)

04 Een Telf (b-side of 'Under Canvas Under Wraps' 1996)
05 Bear Cub (b-side of 'Under Canvas Under Wraps' 1996)
06 Strathcona (b-side of 'Under Canvas Under Wraps' 1996)
07 Sacré Charlemagné (split single with New Bad Things 1997)
08 The Drowned And The Saved (b-side of 'Everything Goes Around The Water' 1998)
09 Mark The Day (b-side of 'Pull The Wires From The Wall' 1998)
10 Mauron Chanson (b-side of 'Pull The Wires From The Wall' 1998)
11 A Very Cellular Song (b-side of 'The Weaker Argument Defeats The Stronger' 1998)

Disc III - 2000-2005
01 Euphoria Heights (b-side of 'American Trilogy' 2000)
02 How Can We Hang On To A Dream (b-side of 'American Trilogy' 2000)
03 The Choices You've Made (b-side of 'No Danger' 2000)
04 Don't Sleep (b-side of 'No Danger' 2000)
05 Coalman (b-side of 'Coming In From Cold' 2002)
06 Crutches (b-side of 'Coming In From Cold' 2002)
07 Mad Drums (b-side of 'All You Need Is Hate' 2003)
08 Mr. Blue Sky (b-side of 'All You Need Is Hate' 2003)
09 Don't Leave Clean (b-side of 'Everybody Come Down' 2004)
10 I See Secrets (b-side of 'Everybody Come Down' 2004)
11 Ballad Of Accounting (BBC Radio 1 session) (b-side of 'Girls Of Valour' 2005)
12 Last Rose Of Summer (BBC Radio 1 session) (b-side of 'Girls Of Valour' 2005)

Lankum - The Rocky Road To Dublin (2018)

I've just discovered my new favourite folk group, and so if you like folk music and you haven't heard Lankum yet, then you have to rectify that immediately. Having read an intriguing review of their latest album 'False Lankum', but not having heard of the band before, I looked them up on Youtube, and the first thing that came up were three live pieces recorded for WBGH, and after hearing their stunning 10-minute take on 'The Wild Rover' I knew I'd found something really special. The second song was 'The Rocky Road To Dublin', and surprisingly that was not from one of their albums, and so as soon as I'd got hold of their four studio albums I went back to Youtube to see if there was any more unreleased music from the band, and there was in fact enough for a fifth album from them. 'The Rocky Road To Dublin' is a 19th-century Irish song written by Irish poet D. K. Gavan, which has since become a standard of Irish folk music, and Lankum's version does it full justice. Radie Peat has a superb voice, and the harmonies on this recording are exquisite, while the Uilleann pipes, fiddle, concertina and droning harmonium are the perfect accompaniment. 'Love Is Kind' is a song from their first album, under their previous name of Lynched, and this live take is augmented by Julie Fowlis on harmonium and Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh on flute, while 'Harpatamio' is a short piece which was a hidden track on the CD version of their 'Between The Earth And Sky' album from 2017. 'Hares On The Mountain' is a duet by Radie Peat and Daragh Lynch on the classic Shirley Collins song, and 'Little Tommy Tucker' is a humourous a capella piece which is popular at their concerts. A medley of barn dances and reels is followed by their contribution to the Topic Records celebration album 'Vision & Revision: The First 80 Years Of Topic Records', where current folk groups were invited to cover a song from an old Topic album, and Lankum chose 'The Sea Captain'. 'Rosie Reilly' is a mournful folk tune given an extended treatment in the live arena, but which is yet to appear on a studio album, and for 'Fall Down Billy O'Shea' they were joined onstage by folk legend Eliza Carthy. 'The Old Main Drag' closes the album, with a recording made at Shane McGowan's 60th birthday celebration, and is their take on the Pogues' classic. If you are at all into traditional Irish folk music and you don't know of Lankum, then try this introductory collection, and if you like what you hear then do invest in their four studio albums.      

Track listing

01 The Rocky Road To Dublin
02 Love Is Kind (with Julie Fowlis & Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh)
03 Harpatamio
04 Hares On The Mountain
05 Little Tommy Tucker

06 The Sea Captain
07 Medley: Lucy Farr's Barndance/Road To Glountane/The Congress/Lucy Campbell's Reel
08 Rosie Reilly
09 Fall Down Billy O'Shea (with Eliza Carthy)
10 The Old Main Drag

Mutya Buena - Addiction (2011)

Following her departure from The Sugababes in December 2005, Mutya Buena began working on her debut album after signing a solo deal with her previous label, Universal Island Records. The first single to be released in the UK featuring her vocals was a ballad duet with George Michael, titled 'This Is Not Real Love', which was released in November 2006 and reached number 15 in the UK. In early 2007 the title track of her debut solo album 'Real Girl' was released as a single and reached number 2 in the UK, as swell as receiving a BRIT Award nomination for Best Single. The album peaked at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart, while 'Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control)', her collaboration with dance duo Groove Armada, was released in the UK in July 2007, and reached number 8 in the charts. The fourth release from the album, 'Just A Little Bit' stalled at number 65, and following a collaboration with Amy Winehouse on a re-working of the Ronettes' track 'Be My Baby', she was dropped by her record label in February 2008, who cited poor sales and charting positions from 'Real Girl' and her last two singles. While without a label, she featured on Asher D's second single 'With You', from his album 'Ashley Walters', as well as the Don-E track 'The Time Is Now', 'Fallin'' with Agent X, and 'Give Back' with Tah Mac. In October 2010, Buena expressed uncertainty about continuing in the music industry, and said she was currently training to become a psychologist for children, although despite this announcement, she teamed up with City Boy Soul and digitally released 'Be OK' in January 2011, as well as recording lead vocals for 'Give Me Love', penned by UK DJ/Producer Paul Morrell. In 2011 she released a demo on SoundCloud called 'All B4', and tweeted that a rumoured Sugababes reunion was not happening as she was working on her own stuff, which had fans speculating that a second solo album might be on the cards. However, in July 2012, it was officially confirmed that the original line-up of The Sugababes had reformed under the name Mutya Keisha Siobhan, and they were writing songs for a new album for Polydor, so any follow-up to 'Real Girl' was put on hold. A few tracks have since surfaced which were said to be intended for her second solo album, and if we add those to some of the collaborations that she recorded in 2008, plus a few out-takes from 'Real Girl' and a Live Lounge cover of 'Fast Car', there is enough material to put together a pretty good album, which could have followed 'Real Girl' if her label hadn't dumped her. 

Track listing

01 Addiction
02 Fallin' (feat. Agent X & Ultra)
03 Give Me Love (feat. Paul Morrell)

04 All B4

05 Dark Side
06 The Time Is Now (feat. Don-E)
07 With You (feat. Asher D)
08 If We Fall
09 Love Story
10 Fast Car  
11 To The Limit
12 Addiction (Reprise)

Lana Del Rey - Serial Killer (2010)

2010 was an extremely prolific year for Lana Del Rey, as following the release of the 'Lana Del Rey' album, a.k.a. 'The Lizzy Grant Album', she recorded over 70 songs, which started to leak onto the internet around 2014, and before long there were enough tracks floating around to put together half a dozen albums from this year alone. I'm starting with one named after one of the most famous of her unreleased tracks, 'Serial Killer'. 

Track listing

01 Serial Killer
02 Beautiful Player (feat. Starz)
03 French Restaurant
04 Ghetto Baby
05 Dreamgirl
06 Damn You
07 You & Me
08 Hanging Around
09 Live Or Die
10 Roses (feat. Theophilus London)
11 Making Out
12 Last Girl On Earth

Squeeze - Blood From A Stone (1986)

As a follow-up to the recent b-sides collection from Squeeze, here is an album full of unreleased tracks and demos that I discovered along the way while putting that one together. It starts with a track left off their debut album from 1978, and then goes on to include songs from the sessions of all their albums from 1979 to 1982, plus their contribution to the 1986 film 'When The Wind Blows', and as a little bonus at the end we have their theme tune for the 1985 TV series 'Girls On Top'. Being from the pens of Difford and Tilbrook, all of these tracks could easily have been included on their parent albums, but lack of space meant they had to be shelved, so here they all are together in one place for your enjoyment, and despite the eight year timespan, this really does hang together just like a lost Squeeze album.       

Track listing

01 Heartbreak (previously unreleased 1978)
02 Blood And Guts (previously unreleased 1979)
03 I Must Go (previously unreleased 1979)
04 Ain't It Sad (previously unreleased 1979)
05 Funny How It Goes (previously unreleased 1980)
06 Go (previously unreleased 1980)
07 Library Girl (demo 1980)
08 The Axe Has Now Fallen (previously unreleased 1981)
09 Looking For A Love (previously unreleased 1981)
10 I Can't Get Up Anymore (previously unreleased 1982)
11 When Love Goes To Sleep (previously unreleased 1982)
12 Love's A Four Letter Word (previously unreleased 1985)
13 What Have They Done? (from the soundtrack of the 1986 film 'When The Wind Blows')

14 Girls On Top (theme to the 1985 TV series)

The Woodentops - Ombooshi Plum (1991)

As mentioned in the last Woodentops post, in 1989 the band stopped working together, although they didn't actually split up, but as their record company fell apart around them, this triggered the collapse of the whole band. Everybody agreed it was time to do something different, as the original members had worked through their entire twenties for the Woodentops and they all felt individual desires to do something else, and so a final concert took place at Subterrania in London in 1992. Rolo McGinty had become heavily involved in the dance/rave scene, and so he linked up with Les Lawrence and Benny Staples to provide rhythm tracks, while guitars were courtesy of Simon Mawby, Skip Macdonald, and McGinty himself, who also added the bass, while reggae singer Bim Sherman was invited to provide backing vocals. Along with producer Ian Tregoning, this collective had allegedly been working on a double album in the early 1990's, but this never saw the light of day, although there were some white label techno crossover 12" records released around this time, with 'Conehead' becoming a hit on the northern techno scene, and 'Tainted World' being popular on NYC radio. While the other members of The Woodentops started to do different things, McGinty was releasing dance music under the name Pluto, and also as Dogs Deluxe with Rob Miller, although the rumoured double album remained elusive. Various recordings have since leaked, and so by adding these to the 'Conehead' and 'Tainted World' singles we can actually make up a double album of McGinty's dance/club recordings, which I've housed in a sleeve based on a painting by Woodentops' resident artist Panni Bharti, and which I've titled after a deliberately(?) mis-named Japanese fruit. Just because you love the Woodentops won't necessarily mean that you'll like this music, as it is a real departure from their trade-marked hypno-beat, but it's still from the pen of Rolo McGinty, and it's great in its own way, so do give it a try. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Smokin'
02 You Could Be Happy
03 Because Of You/Dub
04 Ombooshi Plum
05 Children Of Today
06 Pleasure
07 Tainted World

Disc Two
01 Conehead
02 I'd Love You Again
03 Zoom Zoom
04 Don't
05 Back To Work 2
06 Stay Out Of The Light

Clearlake - We All Die Alone (2006)

Back in 1998 John Peel played a new single by the intriguingly named Not Bit Of Wood that I liked so much so I bought it the next week. Fast forward to 2002 and I read some rave reviews of an album titled 'Cedars' by a group I'd not heard of before called Clearlake, so I took a chance and discovered my new favourite band. The album was brilliant, and it didn't take long to back-track and get their debut 'Lido', which was every bit as good. What I'd never realised until researching this post was that Not Bit Of Wood and Clearlake were in fact the same band, with a name change imposed on them by their record company. The band came together in Brighton in 1998, and comprised Jason Pegg on guitar and vocals, David Woodward on bass, James Bancieri on drums, and James Lewis on keyboards, and they recorded and released their first single under the name Not Bit Of Wood in 1998, with 'Bad Hair Day'/'Perfect Setting' picking up a lot of airplay on the John Peel Show. They also recorded an album called 'Musikland', which included both sides of the single, plus another eight songs, two of which would later be re-recorded for inclusion on the first Clearlake album. 'Musikland' was pressed up on CD but it never received an official release, so I'm including tracks from it on this post. Not Bit Of Wood signed to Domino Records subsidiary Dusty Records in 2000, but the label asked them to change their name from Not Bit Of Wood to something a bit less 'odd-ball', hence Clearlake. With the signing to the label came a line-up change, with Sam Hewitt replacing James Lewis on keyboards, and they released a re-working of 'Winterlight' from the 'Musikland' album as their first single in January 2000. The limited edition release was awarded Single of the Week in a number of music publications, and it gained airplay on Radio 1 as Mark and Lard's record of the week, resulting in it selling out within a fortnight, and breaking into the Top 100 of the UK singles chart.

They followed 'Winterlight' with the much-acclaimed singles 'Don't Let The Cold In' and 'Something To Look Forward To', and their debut album 'Lido' was released in April 2001 to mainly rave reviews in the U.K. music press, with NME proclaiming that "in terms of sheer charm and lustre, Clearlake leave their contemporaries out in the cold". The album included another re-recording from 'Musikland', this time of 'I Want To Live In A Dream', and after a slot on 'Later... with Jools Holland', the single 'Let Go' followed, with an affectionate cover of Neil Young's 'Cinnamon Girl' on the flip. The band then started work on their second album, with 'Cedars' being released in February 2003, and like 'Lido' before it, it was greeted with almost universal acclaim, and this is when I first heard them. Bancieri left at the end of their U.K. tour supporting 'Cedars', with drummer Toby May stepping in as his replacement. Having now discovered this great new band, I had to wait three years for their next album, with 'Amber' coming out in 2005, produced by frontman Jason Pegg, but with founding member Sam Hewitt leaving the band just as the album was being completed. After that things went a bit quieter, although the band were still writing and gigging, and they played their only show of 2007 at The Brunswick, Hove, in September of that year, where they debuted seven new songs. 2008 was a far more active year for Clearlake, recording new track 'One Of A Kind', which was released as a web-only single on 9 May via their website, while a further single, 'Dark Blue', was recorded in the same way in August 2008 and released the following month. The band started 2009 by releasing one final single from the new album 'The Credit Or The Blame', but to date the album from which those singles were supposed to be taken has never been released. As an epitaph to a brilliant but much under-rated band, here is a collection of rare tracks, including their single and exclusive recordings as Not Bit Of Wood, plus non-album b-sides from Clearlake, while they were still signed to Domino Records. If you like what you hear then do check out 'Cedars', as it really is an excellent album. 

Track listing

01 Bad Hair Day (single by Not Bit Of Wood 1998)
02 Perfect Setting (b-side of 'Bad Hair Day')
03 Change In The Weather (from the 'Musikland' album by Not Bit Of Wood 1998)
04 Ice Cream (from the 'Musikland' album by Not Bit Of Wood 1998)
05 Lie In (from the 'Musikland' album by Not Bit Of Wood 1998)
06 I'll Kill Myself (from the 'Musikland' album by Not Bit Of Wood 1998)
07 The Weekend Is Nigh (from the 'Musikland' album by Not Bit Of Wood 1998)
08 Let's Get Out Of Here (b-side of 'Something To Look Forward To' 2000)
09 Daybreak (b-side of 'Something To Look Forward To' 2000)
10 Don't Lie To Yourself (b-side of 'Let Go' 2001)
11 Cinnamon Girl (b-side of 'Let Go' 2001)
12 We All Die Alone (b-side of 'Can't Feel A Thing' 2003)
13 I Want To Walk (b-side of 'Can't Feel A Thing' 2003)
14 What's It Like Where You Are (b-side of 'Neon' 2006)
15 How Long (b-side of 'Neon' 2006)
16 Chemically Free (b-side of 'It's Getting Light Outside' 2006)

Lana Del Rey - Hundred Dollar Bill (2009)

By the time that she released her debut album, Lana Del Rey had recorded over 100 songs, and when they eventually leaked online around 2014 the total had grown to over 200. Some of these, such as 'Serial Killer' and 'You Can Be The Boss', were performed live even though they could not be bought by her fans, and of those 200 songs, only eleven have later turned up on her albums, although she has also repurposed some of them for film soundtracks, including 'Elvis' for 'The King' in 2018, 'Life Is Beautiful' for 'The Age Of Adaline' in 2015, and 'I Can Fly' for 2014's 'Big Eyes'. Despite stating during a 2017 show that she intends to release a collection of 25 of her favourite leaked songs, this has so far failed to appear, so it has been up to the fans to put together playlists of her unreleased music. There have been many of these published on the Lanaboards forum over the years, and many of them have been compiled as concept album or themed collections, but for the rest of these posts I will be compiling them chronologically, starting with 15 tracks that were recorded in 2009, before the release of the 'Lana Del Ray' album, and which were probably out-takes from the sessions for that record that didn't make the final cut.

Track listing

01 Every Man Gets His Wish
02 Catch And Release
03 Motel 6 (Vicarage)
04 Hundred Dollar Bill
05 Daytona Meth
06 Maha Maha
07 Party Girl
08 Betty Boop Boop
09 Heavy Hitter
10 Greenwich
11 Put Your Lips Together
12 Spin Me Round
13 I Learned How To Make Love From The Movies
14 Wolf T-Shirt
15 Stoplight De-Lite

Dubversive featuring Boy George - Demographics (1997)

In 1995 Boy George released the rock-driven album 'Cheapness And Beauty', which moved away from the electronic sound of his previous records, and gave us some rock-oriented tracks with a glam-rock edge. One of the reasons he cited for this change in style was the fact that he was revisiting his teenage years while writing his autobiography, 'Take It Like A Man', which was released around the same time as the album. The record peaked at number 44 in the UK album chart, and the single taken from it, 'Same Thing In Reverse', became a Top 30 hit in the US. Having got that out of his system, in 1997 he started a new project, joining up with two long-time musicians, John Themis and Ritchie Stevens, and forming a group named Shallow, which was later changed to Dubversive. The original idea was to make music which incorporated trip-hop, dub and reggae, but despite one single released in 1998, which was a multi-mix version of the Junior Murvin classic 'Police And Thieves', and which featured Mica Paris, the project was not picked up by any major labels, and so it was quietly abandoned. Before that happened, however, the trio went into the studio and recorded an album's worth of material, which was then shelved, with some of the songs later being included on the 2002 Culture Club Box Set. The album is best known as the 'Dubversive' album, but the original title was to have been 'Demographics', and so that's what it's called for this post of an extremely obscure part of the Boy George discography. 

Track listing

01 Police & Thieves
02 Armageddon 
03 Hiroshima 
04 Shoreline 
05 Run Run Run
06 Children 
07 Righteousness 
08 I Could Be Someone 
09 Petrified 

Thotch - The Honeycomb Is Over (1976)

Thotch were a UK progressive rock band of the mid 70's, comprising Brian Pern on lead vocals, Pat Quid on guitar, Tony Pebblé (actually Pebble, but he added the accent himself) on keyboards, "John" on bass, Michael Philips on drums, and original member Bennet St. John, who left before their first recording session. They broke onto the scene with their song 'Black Christmas' in 1975, and followed this with their debut album, which was a live recording from the Rainbow Theatre, London. 'Onion Divorce' was their first studio album, following which Pern left the band in 1977, forcing them to hire American Lindsey Simon, who did so much cocaine that his nose fell off. When Simon left, the band recorded one more album, 'And Then There Were Four', before Quid renamed what was left of the group as Pat & The Patios, and they had a surprise hit single with 'Christmas In Me Car'. Quid released a solo album under his own name, with 'I Quid', and Pebblé recorded the concept album 'Periodic Tablé: A Symphony', while Pern decided to perform his unreleased rock opera 'The Day Of The Triffids', based on the book of the same name, at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. A warm-up show at Wembley Arena was scheduled for Friday 6 June 2014, with former James Bond actor Sir Roger Moore as the narrator, but unfortunately Moore was stuck in New Zealand filming, and so had to fulfil his role from his hotel room via Skype. Pern passed away in 2017 as the result of a "segway mistake", and as their albums are now impossible to find, here is a tribute to these neglected UK prog-rock pioneers, with a collection of some of their best work, both from Thotch and from Pern's solo career, including his 1985 duet with Carly Swan on 'Keep Trying'.  

Track listing 

01 The Honeycomb Is Over
02 Worm Equinox
03 Pound Land Polly
04 Eggless Planet
05 March Of The Triffids (demo)
06 Onion Divorce
07 Rock The Nation
08 The Honeycomb Is Over #2
09 Love Is Modern
10 Thotch
11 Keep Trying (with Carly Swan)
12 Maraca Man
13 Heaven Calling
14 The Honeycomb Is Over (Reprise)

Cyndi Lauper - Shine (2001)

By the year 2000, Cyndi Lauper had cultivated an extremely successful music career spanning nearly two decades, but that doesn't mean that she is exempt from the machinations of record labels, and 'Shine' is the perfect example, showing that no-one is safe, no matter how big they are. 'Shine' was to have been the eighth studio album by the American singer, and was all set for release in 2001 on Edel Records, but before it came out the label folded, and all future releases were cancelled. When this was announced, leaked tracks from promo discs quickly started to circulate on the internet, and by 2002 Lauper realized there was no point in trying to release the record in a widespread fashion. Two EPs were released instead, one of which was also called 'Shine', while the other was called 'Shine Remixes', and although the 'Shine EP' sold over 41,000 copies in the United States, that was well below her normal sales. The album would have expanded on the sound Lauper developed with her 1997 release 'Sisters Of Avalon', which was mostly pop songs, although it flirted with electronica and new wave, while incorporating traditional instruments like sitars and fiddles. The songs are not lyrically linked, and explore themes ranging from the Madonna/Whore Complex to celebrity life, and the track 'It's Hard To Be Me' was penned about Anna Nicole Smith, who unsuccessfully attempted to buy it as the theme song to her TV reality show. The album did make a belated appearance when it was released exclusively in Japan in 2004, so unless you are prepared to hunt out a Japanese copy then you are unlikely to be able to hear it, and to save you the trouble of having to do that, here it is.  

Track listing 

01 Shine
02 It's Hard To Be Me
03 Madonna Whore
04 Wide Open
05 Rather Be With You
06 Who Let In The Rain?
07 Comfort You
08 Eventually
09 Valentino
10 This Kind Of Love
11 Higher Plane
12 Water's Edge
13 I Miss My Baby

Lana Del Rey - The Lizzie Grant Album (2010)

With a new album just released, now is the perfect time to look back at the career of Lana Del Rey. Elizabeth Woolridge Grant was born on 21 June 1985, in Manhattan, New York City, and was the eldest of three children. When she was one year old, the family moved to Lake Placid, New York, and while attending St. Agnes School she began singing in her church choir, where she was the cantor. She had trouble making fiends during her teenage years, and this, combined with her obsession with death, caused her to drink to excess, and by the age of 14 she was an alcoholic. Her parents sent her to Kent School to get sober, and after graduating from Kent School, she spent a year living on Long Island with her aunt and uncle and working as a waitress. During this time her uncle taught her to play guitar, and she was soon writing songs and performing in nightclubs under various names such as Sparkle Jump Rope Queen and Lizzy Grant And The Phenomena. In 2004 she enrolled at Fordham University in The Bronx where she majored in philosophy, with an emphasis on metaphysics, and at the same time she was still writing, and even recorded an album called 'Sirens' under her stage name of May Jailer, which leaked onto the internet in mid-2012. At her first public performance in 2006, she met Van Wilson, an A&R representative for 5 Points Records, and the following year she submitted a demo tape of acoustic tracks to 5 Points, which offered her a recording contract for $10,000. She used the money to relocate to Manhattan Mobile Home Park, a trailer park in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she began working with producer David Kahne, with the plan of having a record ready to go right after she graduated from college. She graduated from Fordham with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy in 2008, and immediately released the three-track EP 'Kill Kill' under the name Lizzy Grant as planned. It was at this time that she was thinking of changing her stage name, and as she was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, and speaking a lot of Spanish with her friends, she wanted an exotic Latin-sounding name. She therefore combined Lana from the actress Lana Turner with the Brazilian-produced Ford Del Rey sedan, and became Lana Del Rey, although initially she used the alternate spelling Lana Del Ray for her self-titled debut album, which was released in January 2010. However, after being available on iTunes for just four months it was withdrawn from sale, with Del Rey reported to have bought the rights back from 5 Points, as she wanted it out of circulation to "stifle future opportunities to distribute it". It has therefore become something of a rarity in her discography, and so as I've already posted the May Jailer record, the logical place to start these posts is with the 'Lana Del Ray' album, also subtitled 'a.k.a. Lizzy Grant', but which I've simply called 'The Lizzy Grant Album'.

Track listing

1 Kill Kill  
2 Queen Of The Gas Station  
3 Oh Say Can You See  
4 Gramma (Blue Ribbon Sparkler Trailer Heaven) 
5 For K Part 2  
6 Jump  
7 Mermaid Motel  
8 Raise Me Up (Mississippi South)  
9 Pawn Shop Blues  
10 Brite Lites  
11 Put Me In A Movie  
12 Smarty  
13 Yayo

Kenickie - Waste You (1998)

Schoolmates Lauren Laverne (vocals, guitar), Marie Du Stantiago (guitar) and Emmy-Kate Montroe (bass) formed Kenickie in August 1994, while they were studying in secondary school. All three were 16 years old, and they recruited Laverne's older brother Johnny X as the drummer, naming themselves Kenickie after John Travolta's sidekick from Grease. Over the next few months, they wrote a batch of songs, made a demo, and by late 1994 they had begun playing indie clubs. Creation Records' Alan McGee approached the band in February of 1995, but they rejected his offer, preferring to release a series of indie singles, and DJ John Peel played their demo 'Catsuit City' well before its April 1995 release by the Newcastle-based indie label Slampt. The seven-inch 'Catsuit City' EP created a buzz around Kenickie, but because of their studies and "A" level exams, they didn't release their second single, 'Come Out 2 Nite', until nearly a year later. The song was the lead track on their second EP, 'Skillex', which appeared on the hip Fierce Panda label in spring 1996. A few months later, the band had signed to Emidisc, a subsidiary of EMI headed by St. Etienne's Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, and in the latter half of 1996 they released two singles, with 'Punka' and 'Millionaire Sweeper' both making the lower reaches of the UK singles chart. Early in 1997 they had their first Top 40 hit with 'In Your Car', which reached number 24, and this was followed in April by the band's full-length debut, 'At The Club', which peaked at number 9 in the UK album chart. The follow-up record, 'Get In', appeared in 1998, and was once again well received in the music press, but it sold less well than their first. Johnny X, who now referred to himself as Pete X, moved to guitar, with the live band augmented by Graham Christie on drums and Dot Allen on keyboards, but in October 1998 Kenickie broke up at the close of their London Astoria gig. Laverne released one solo EP in 2000, but is more well-known today for presenting various radio and television shows, such as being a guest on early episodes of music quiz 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks', and hosting BBC 2's 'The Culture Show', as well as presenting BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Although they were only together for four years, they released a lot of music, and collections of their non-album songs alone would equal the number of albums than they released in their lifetime. So here they are in a two-volume set of abrasive punk/pop from a band that are credited as having inspired a wave of mainstream female guitar bands that emerged in the wake of their split. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1995-1996
01 Rama Lama Lama (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
02 Private Buchowski (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
03 Come In (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
04 Snakebite (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
05 My Nites Out (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
06 SK8BDN Song (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
07 Perfect Plan (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
08 Jellybean (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
09 Scared Of Spiders from the 'Skillex' EP 1996)
10 Drag Race (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
11 Walrus (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
12 Cowboy (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
13 Lights Out In A Provincial Town (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
14 Waste You (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
15 We Can Dream (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
16 Brighter Shade Of Blue (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
17 Kamikaze Annelids (b-side of 'Millionaire Sweeper' 1996)
18 Girl's Best Friend (b-side of 'Millionaire Sweeper' 1996)

Disc II - 1996-1998
01 Can I Take U 2 The Cinema (b-side of 'In Your Car' 1996)
02 I'm An Agent (b-side of 'In Your Car' 1996)
03 Killing Fantasy (b-side of 'In Your Car' 1996)
04 "J.P." (b-side of 'Nightlife' 1997)
05 Eat The Angel (b-side of 'Nightlife' 1997)
06 Kenix (b-side of 'Nightlife' 1997)
07 Skateboard Song (b-side of 'Nightlife' 1997)
08 Packed In (b-side of 'I Would Fix You' 1998)
09 Rough Boys & Modern Girls (b-side of 'I Would Fix You' 1998)
10 Xmas Disco On The Dole (hidden track on 'Get In' album 1998)
11 Hooray For Everything (b-side of 'Stay In The Sun' 1998)
12 Save Your Kisses For Me (b-side of 'Stay In The Sun' 1998)