The Dream Machine - Mountain For My Head (2023)

The Dream Machine are a modern psychedelic pop band from The Wirral in Merseyside, and taking their name from a William Boroughs invention that recreates hallucinations similar to psychedelics without taking substances, the band was formed in 2021 after meeting at The Mosslands School in Wallasey. Comprising Zak McDonnell (vocals, acoustic guitar and percussion,), Matt Gouldson (backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, lap steel, piano), Jack Inchboard (backing vocals, bass) and Isaac Salisbury (drums), Zak's dad David McDonnell was a former member of Hoylake heroes The Coral, and so music was in his blood. After hearing an album that his dad had made in his bedroom under the name of The Sand Band, Zak started drumming in his first band The Mysterines when he was 13, and by the time he was 16 he'd left them and started to play guitar and write songs, and while working in Parr Street Studios in Liverpool, The Corals' James Skelly encouraged him to start his own band. After recruiting his school-mates and forming The Dream Machine, the band released a couple of EPs in 2021, and a single and a third EP in 2022, and they have just issued their debut album 'Thank God! It's The Dream Machine...' on Modern Sky Records, and it's great stuff. So much so that I delved into their back catalogue to hear their earlier releases, and I found that a lot of the music on them was not on the album, and so for a band who have only been together for a couple of years they already have enough extra material for a second record, and so here it is. If you like what you hear then do check out the album, as I think that they could turn out to be something special.    

Track listing 

01 Introduction (from 'Vol 1: Sacraments' 2021)
02 Jesus Babe (from 'Vol 1: Sacraments' 2021)
03 I Still Believe (In Jim Jones) (from 'Vol 1: Sacraments' 2021)
04 Days Of Heaven (from 'Vol 1: Sacraments' 2021)
05 Oceans Wide (from 'Vol 2: On The Water' EP 2021)
06 Me And My Ghost (from 'Vol 2: On The Water' EP 2021)
07 The Sea Is My Friend (from 'Vol 2: On The Water' EP 2021)
08 Taking The Reins (from 'Vol 2: On The Water' EP 2021)
09 Too Stoned To Die (from 'Vol 3: Pooch Slingers' Wild Round Up!' promo EP 2022)
10 Wild One (from 'Vol 3: Pooch Slingers' Wild Round Up!' promo EP 2022)
11 Om Kring (from 'Vol 3: Pooch Slingers' Wild Round Up!' promo EP 2022)
12 Peregrine (from 'Vol 3: Pooch Slingers' Wild Round Up!' promo EP 2022)
13 Yokozuna (b-side of 'TV Baby/Satan's Child' single 2022)
14 The Blue Rose (from 'Lola, In The Morning' EP 2023)
15 Mountain For My Head (from 'Lola, In The Morning' EP 2023)
16 Song To Betty (from 'Lola, In The Morning' EP 2023)
17 Trip Away (from 'Children, My England' EP 2023)
18 U-Train (from 'Children, My England' EP 2023)
19 Baby Run (from 'Children, My England' EP 2023)

Kitchens Of Distinction - Elephantine (1996)

Drummer Dan Goodwin met guitarist Julian Swales at college in 1980, who already knew bassist Patrick Fitzgerald from a party he attended in 1985, and the trio began rehearsing together, taking their name from a Hygena advert that Swales spotted on the side of a bus. The band's first single, 'The Last Gasp Death Shuffle', featuring Swales on lead vocals and bass, as well as guitar, was recorded in just one day on an eight-track in a Kennington basement, and was released in December 1987 on the band's own Gold Rush Records. It gained a 'Single of the Week' accolade in NME, and this led to the band signing with British indie label One Little Indian Records. It was around this time that Fitzgerald put his career as a medical doctor on hold to devote himself fully to the band, and their first singles for One Little Indian, 1988's 'Prize' and 1989's 'The 3rd Time We Opened The Capsule', both made it onto the NME Writers' '100 Best Indie Singles Ever' list, published in 1992. Their first full-length album, 'Love Is Hell', was released in April 1989, with Fitzgerald's impassioned, wordy, often bluntly personal vocals careening over what sounded like a mass of swirling guitars, even though the band only had one guitarist. Swales' chiming, effects-laden style of playing drew comparisons to the guitarists of the Chameleons, Cocteau Twins, and A.R. Kane, and the group's melodic yet abstract sound was a precursor to the shoegaze scene of the late 1980's/early 1990's. Despite the promising start, the band faced a subdued reception from the mainstream music industry, generally due to their lyrical content, such as 'Margaret's Injection', from the 1989 'Elephantine' EP, being a fantasy about killing then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Fitzgerald was openly gay, and his lyrics were unapologetic, especially on tracks like 'Prize' and 'Within The Daze Of Passion', but for once their label was very understanding, with A&M never asking him to change his words or closet himself in interviews. However, some indie-focused television programs like Snub TV and Rapido failed to give them much coverage, and they were not at first offered a John Peel radio session, although they did eventually did get one after asking Peel personally. 

The group had signed with A&M Records in the US in 1990, and went into the studio with producer Hugh Jones, with their second album 'Strange Free World' being released in February 1991, and spawning some moderately successful singles which were very well received by college radio in the US. The band went back into the studio in 1992, again with Jones at the helm, and their third album 'The Death Of Cool' came out in August that year, named in honour of the recent passing of Miles Davis, whose influential album titled 'The Birth Of The Cool' had been released in 1950. A&M were wary of the band's choice of 'Breathing Fear' for the first single, due to its touchy subject matter of gay bashing, so 'Smiling' became the album's initial single in the US, although 'Breathing Fear' was released later in the UK only. The band toured extensively, including a high-profile slot opening for their US label-mate Suzanne Vega, and in late 1993 they began work on their fourth album, co-producing it themselves with engineer Pete Bartlett. Their label rejected the album twice, but eventually both label and band agreed to bring in up-and-coming producer Pascal Gabriel to work on a couple of tracks, as one of the label's complaints about the album  was that it seemed to lack a potential hit single. Gabriel produced the new song 'Come On Now', that had been written after the rest of the record was already recorded, and he also remixed two of the album's other tracks. 'Cowboys And Aliens', was released in the UK in October 1994, and although the band admitted that they enjoyed working with Gabriel, his changes did nothing to help the album's dismal sales. When it was released in the US a few months later, it was largely ignored by the same alternative rock radio and media that had championed them just a few years earlier, and by the end of that year, both A&M and One Little Indian had dropped the band. Shortening their name to Kitchens O.D. and signing to the London-based indie label Fierce Panda Records, they issued the single 'Feel My Genie' in May 1996, but despite being named 'Single of the Week' by Melody Maker, the group officially disbanded that summer after a farewell gig at Kings Cross in London. Although I knew of the band's work, I didn't have any of their albums, and so this collection of non-album b-sides is my introduction to the group, and I must say that I was impressed enough to investigate their other recordings, so if you don't know them either then  give them a try. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1987-1990
01 The Last Gasp Death Shuffle ‎(single 1987)
02 Escape (b-side of 'The Last Gasp Death Shuffle')
03 Concede (b-side of 'Prize' 1988)
04 Innocent (b-side of 'Prize' 1988)
05 Into The Sea (b-side of 'The 3rd Time We Opened The Capsule' 1989) 
06 Elephantine (single 1989)
07 Margaret's Injection (b-side of 'Elephantine')
08 The 1001st Fault (b-side of 'Elephantine')
09 Anvil Dub (b-side of 'Elephantine')
10 These Drinkers (b-side of 'Drive That Fast' 1990)
11 Elephantiny (b-side of 'Drive That Fast' 1990)
12 Three To Beam Up (b-side of 'Drive That Fast' 1990)

Disc II - 1992-1996
13 Goodbye Voyager (b-side of 'Breathing Fear' 1992)
14 Skin (b-side of 'Breathing Fear' 1992)
15 Air Shifting (b-side of 'Breathing Fear' 1992)
16 Glittery Dust (b-side of 'When In Heaven' 1992)
17 Don't Come Back (b-side of 'When In Heaven' 1992)
18 Spacedolphins (b-side of 'When In Heaven' 1992)
19 Jesus Nevada (b-side of 'Now It's The Time To Say Goodbye' 1993) 
20 White Horses (b-side of 'Now It's The Time To Say Goodbye' 1993) 
21 What We Really Wanted To Do (b-side of 'Now It's The Time To Say Goodbye' 1993) 
22 Feel My Genie (single 1996)
23 To Love A Star (b-side of 'Feel My Genie')

The Lilac Time - Tree (1989)

In early 1989, the Lilac Time's record company Fontana/Phonogram asked the band to begin recording their second album, which the band had hoped to record at their country retreat in the Malvern Hills, although Phonogram insisted that it be recorded in a modern studio not far from the company's London headquarters instead. It was originally intended to be a double album titled 'Tree', with one album consisting of singer-songwriter Stephen Duffy's songs and the other one of instrumentals, primarily composed by his brother Nick. Fontana refused to release it in that format, and so the record instead became a single album, with the revised title of 'Paradise Circus', and made up of twelve tracks written by Stephen and one by Nick. Many of the instrumentals that were recorded during the sessions instead saw release on the b-sides of the singles taken from 'Paradise Circus' and its follow-up '& Love for All', as well as on the first album by Nick Duffy's spin-off band Bait. The sound that Duffy and engineer/producer Tony Phillips were attempting to achieve on the recordings was later described by Duffy as a "small folky sound without the de rigueur large ambient snare drums of the age", but as the recording sessions progressed, Fontana became unhappy with the music that the band had committed to tape, and insisted that they return to the studio to cut more commercial songs which could be released as singles, while also urging them to "Americanize" their sound - something that was reportedly parodied by Duffy in his song 'American Eyes'. Fontana also insisted that the pedal steel guitar was lowered in volume, as the wife of one of the Phonogram executives didn't like sound of the instrument (!!). As a result of this, which served to both annoy the band and delay the album's release, it didn't appear until October 1989, two years after the release of the band's debut album. When 'Paradise Circus' was reissued in 2006, its bonus tracks included an additional twelve instrumentals from the recording sessions that had been intended for the second disc of the proposed double album, and so I've extracted them and made them into a stand-alone record, with its own cover art of a Peking lilac tree. 

Track listing

01 Ponderosa Pine 
02 Night Mail/Dirty Armour 
03 Shepherd's Plaid 
04 Ounce Of Nails 
05 Spin á Cavalu 
06 Australian Worm 
07 On Milkwood Road 
08 Night Soil 
09 Rubovia 
10 Silver Dagger 

11 November 
12 Paradise Circus (Old Smithy version)

Lana Del Rey - My Best Days (2010)

And another collection from the prolific Lana Del Rey from 2010.

Track listing

01 Dangerous Girl
02 St. Tropez (Party Girl)
03 In The Sun
04 My Best Days
05 Afraid
06 Behind Closed Doors
07 Jealous Girl
08 Butterflies
09 So Legit
10 Dynamite
11 Noir
12 Velvet Crowbar

Nine Inch Nails - Purest Feeling (1988)

While living in Cleveland in 1987, Trent Reznor played keyboards in the Exotic Birds, a synthpop band managed by John Malm Jr., with Malm informally becoming his manager when he left to work on his own music. At the time, Reznor was employed as an assistant engineer and janitor at Right Track Studios, and studio owner Bart Koster granted Reznor free access to the studio between bookings to record demos, and as he was unable to find a band that could articulate the material as he desired, he was inspired by Prince to play all instruments himself, except for the drums which he programmed electronically. In November 1988 Reznor used his free studio time to record nine demos, some of which would later be re-recorded for Nine Inch Nails' debut album 'Pretty Hate Machine'. The first Nine Inch Nails performance, featuring Reznor and Chris Vrenna on drums, took place at the Phantasy Theater in Lakewood, Ohio, on 21 October 1988, with the band later supporting Skinny Puppy, after which Reznor aimed to release a 12-inch single on a small European label, having signed to TVT Records after several labels responded favourably to the demo material. After six of the demos were released in revised form on Nine Inch Nails' first studio album 'Pretty Hate Machine' in 1989, the original demo recordings appeared on a number of unofficial CDs in 1994, released in Germany, Italy and the US. The overall sound of the demos is lighter than that of 'Pretty Hate Machine', with several songs containing more live drumming and guitar, as well as a heavier use of film samples, and both 'Sanctified' and 'That's What I Get' could be considered better versions that those that were officially released. 'Twist' is an early version of 'Ringfinger', featuring different lyrics and less use of sample loops, and some of the songs re-recorded for 'Pretty Hate Machine' had lyrics cut from them, but Reznor chose to print the full lyrics in the 'Pretty Hate Machine' booklet to retain some of the original meanings of his songs. Because of the differences between these demos and the eventual sound of Nine Inch Nails, fan's opinion is divided over them, but newcomers should find them a good introduction to the band, while hard-core fans can now hear Reznor's original vision of his songs before they were re-imagined for official release.   

 
Track listing 

01 Slate (Intro)
02 Sanctified
03 Maybe Just Once
04 The Only Time
05 Kinda I Want To
06 That's What I Get
07 Purest Feeling
08 Twist
09 Down In It

I, Ludicrous - Preposterous Tales (2008)

I, Ludicrous were formed by John Procter and Will Hung (David Rippingale) in Brixton, South London, England in 1986, and their music satirized insular British society while remaining provincial and in-jokey themselves. They can be seen as a cross between The Fall and Half Man Half Biscuit, with the witty and acerbic lyrics of Half Man Half Biscuit intoned over huge Fall-like riffs, and they readily admit their Fall influence, which is why they are still popular with fans of that band. In fact, The Fall leader Mark E. Smith booked them to support his band once he heard an early four-track cassette. Initially restricted to a bedroom studio set-up, Procter and Hung recorded their first single, 'Preposterous Tales', and released it as a free flexi-single in Blah Blah Blah magazine. It was a comical observation of a self-aggrandizing man regaling a pub with his exploits, backed by a drum machine and a distorted guitar, and as usual I first heard it on the John Peel show and fell in love with it, especially when it made that year's listener-voted Festive 50. In mid-1987 they were invited to record a Peel session, an event which saw them became a trio with the temporary recruitment of Mark Crossley on bass, and in September 1987 the group issued their debut album, 'It's Like Everything Else', on Kaleidoscope Sound Records. The debt to the Fall was more apparent, with Hung's limited vocals and delivery sounding like those of a London-born Mark E. Smith, while the music restricted itself to repetitive riffs. 

A follow-up album was in the works in 1988 when Kaleidoscope Sound folded and took the master tapes with them. 'A Warning To The Curious' continued the mockery in 1989, taking aim at yuppies and television personalities, and it also marked the start of a short relationship with the Rodney Rodney! Records label. 'Light And Bitter' followed a year later, salvaging some of the songs from the lost 1988 album, and that same year saw a re-recording of 'Preposterous Tales' issued as a 10" single. Another label switch, this time to Old King Lud, occurred with 1992's 'Idiots Savants', a more accomplished set with better production and arrangements, and a lighter tone. Following this six year flurry of activity, the band wound down, occasionally supporting the Fall on tour in Britain, but not releasing any new material until the 'Approaching 40' EP in 2000, and 'The Museum Of Installation' album in 2003. The retrospective '20 Years In Show Business' was issued by Sanctuary in 2007, and in early 2008 the duo became a trio with the recruitment of former Voice Of The Beehive bassist Martin Brett, leading the band to go into the studio to record the 'Dirty Washing' EP, which came out later that year. Another seven years passed before 'Dull Is The New Interesting' surfaced in 2015, and then just two just two years later we were treated to 2017's 'Songs From The Sides Of Lorries', the final song of which was titled 'Obituary', so perhaps that's telling us something. I think that fans of both Half Man Half Biscuit and The Fall will get some pleasure from this collection of rare singles, EPs and b-sides, but if you are unsure then check out 'Preposterous Tales' and 'Three English Football Grounds' on Youtube, and when you've finishing chuckling to yourself then come back and download this album.   

Track listing

01 Preposterous Tales (flexi-disc given away with Blah Blah Blah fanzine 1987)
02 Quite Extraordinary (Peel session version 1987)
03 Mistakes (b-side of 'Quite Extraordinary' 1988)
04 Kick Down The Stumps (b-side of 'Quite Extraordinary' 1988)
05 At The End Of The Day (b-side of 'Quite Extraordinary' 1988)
06 Spock's Brain (b-side of 'Preposterous Tales' 10" single 1990)
07 Hats Off To Eldorado (single 1993)
08 Hacky's Wine Bar (b-side of 'Hats Off To Eldorado')
09 Our Mates (b-side of 'Hats Off To Eldorado')
10 Man's Man (b-side of 'Hats Off To Eldorado')
11 Football, Beer And A Cigarette (b-side of 'Approaching 40' 2000)
12 Autobiography (b-side of 'Approaching 40' 2000)
13 Away From The Rabble (b-side of 'Approaching 40' 2000)
14 Argument In The Laundrette (from the 'Dirty Washing' EP 2008)
15 The Highland League (from the 'Dirty Washing' EP 2008)
16 The Ruby Wax Song (from the 'Dirty Washing' EP 2008)
17 Chav It Up With Jeremy Kyle (from the 'Dirty Washing' EP 2008)
18 Finding Things Out About John (from the 'Dirty Washing' EP 2008)

Foxy Brown - Ill Na Na 2: The Fever (2003)

Inga DeCarlo Fung Marchand, known as Foxy Brown, was born on 06 September 1978, growing up with her two older brothers in Park Slope, a middle-class neighbourhood in Brooklyn. While still a teenager, she won a local talent contest, and members of the production team Trackmasters, who were working on LL Cool J's Mr. Smith album, were in attendance that night. They were impressed enough to invite Brown to rap on 'I Shot Ya', following this with appearances on several RIAA platinum and gold singles from other artists, including remixes of songs 'You're Makin' Me High' by Toni Braxton, as well as featuring on the soundtrack to the 1996 film 'The Nutty Professor'. She became an instant sensation due to rapping provocatively at such a young age, and this led to a label bidding war at the beginning of 1996, which was won in March by Def Jam Records, who then added the 17-year-old rapper to their roster. In 1996 she released her debut album 'Ill Na Na' to strong sales, helped in no small part by being heavily produced by Trackmasters, and featuring guest appearances from Jay-Z, Blackstreet, Method Man, and Kid Capri. Following the release of 'Ill Na Na', Brown joined fellow New York-based hip hop artists, Nas, AZ, and Cormega (later replaced by Nature) to form the supergroup known as The Firm, releasing their debut album on Aftermath Records. It boasted production duties by  Dr. Dre, the Trackmasters, and Steve "Commissioner" Stoute, and crashed into the Billboard 200 album chart at No. 1. She spent the first half of 1997 touring, joining rapper Snoop Dogg, pop group The Spice Girls, and rock band Stone Temple Pilots, for the spring break festivities hosted by MTV in Panama City, Florida, and then joining the Smokin' Grooves tour, performing alongside Cypress Hill, Erykah Badu, The Roots, OutKast, and The Pharcyde. 

Her second solo album was released in January 1999, with 'Chyna Doll' once again topping the Billboard 200 Album chart, equalling Lauryn Hill's record as the first female rapper to accomplish this feat. Two years later she released 'Broken Silence', but despite a couple of popular singles being released from it, it could only manage a number 5 showing on the Billboard Charts, although like previous albums, it did sell over 500,000 records and was certified gold by the RIAA. In 2002, Brown returned to the music scene with her single 'Stylin'', which was to be the first single from her upcoming album 'Ill Na Na 2: The Fever', and the next year, she was featured on DJ Kayslay's single 'Too Much for Me' from his 'Street Sweeper's Volume One Mixtape', as well as on Luther Vandross' final studio album 'Dance With My Father', but her fourth studio album stayed mysteriously absent from the schedules. In April 2003, Brown appeared on popular New York radio DJ Wendy Williams' radio show, and revealed the details of her relationship with Lyor Cohen, president of Def Jam Recordings at the time, and also with Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. Brown accused both of illegally trading her recording masters, and announced that Cohen had cancelled promotion for 'Ill Na Na 2: The Fever' over personal disagreements between them. 'Stylin'' was later released on the compilation album 'The Source Presents: Hip Hop Hits Vol. 6', but its parent album has never seen the light of day. It did get as far as a promo CD, but with no support from the record company it quietly vanished, and so here is the cancelled fourth album from Foxy Brown, which as is so often the case with these shelved projects, is far too good not to be heard.    

Track listing

01 Intro (Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood) (feat. Nina Simone)
02 Magnetic
03 The Original
04 We Makin' It (feat. Pretty Boy) 
05 Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep 
06 Open Book 
07 Memory Lane 
08 Jumpin' (feat. Fox-5) 
09 Streets Love Me 
10 Why, Why, Why?
11 All My Life (Black Girl Lost) 
12 Fan Love 
13 I Need A Man (feat. The Letter M) 
14 Superfreak (feat. Jazze Pha) 
15 Stylin' 

Lana Del Rey - Hit & Run (2010)

More from Lana Del Rey from the year 2010.

Track listing

01 Hit & Run
02 Backfire
03 Oooh Baby (Are You Ready)
04 Lift Your Eyes
05 Go Go Dancer
06 Girl That Got Away
07 Put The Radio On
08 She's Not Me
09 Driving In Cars With Boys
10 Break My Fall
11 Television Heaven
12 Scarface

The Lilac Time - Crossing The Line (2008)

Stephen Anthony James Duffy was a founding member, vocalist, bassist, and then drummer of Duran Duran, formed after meeting John Taylor at the School of Foundation Studies & Experimental Workshop at Birmingham Polytechnic. Together with Taylor's childhood friend, Nick Rhodes, on synthesizer and Taylor on guitar, Duffy was the band's vocalist/lyricist and bassist, but when bass player Simon Colley joined, Duffy moved to drums, eventually leaving both the school and the band in 1979, just before Duran Duran signed with EMI in 1980. He went on to form Obviously Five Believers, sometimes known as The Subterranean Hawks or The Hawks, and he made his first four-track recordings with the group, who also released their only single 'Words Of Hope' in 1981. In 1982, he created the band Holy Tin Tin, with John Mulligan and Dik Davis (both then of Fashion), Andy "Stoker" Growcott (of Dexys Midnight Runners) and Bob Lamb (original producer of Birmingham band UB40). Shortening their name to Tin Tin, they signed with WEA Records in the UK, and released the single 'Kiss Me' in 1982, to little acclaim in the UK. By 1983, Tin Tin had signed with Sire Records in the US, and when 'Kiss Me' was released over there it hit the dance charts, while a second single was released in the UK, with 'Hold It' stalling just outside the UK Top 50. After a stint of working in the US, Duffy returned to England and signed a deal as a solo artist with Virgin 10, now working under the name Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy. He recorded a new version of 'Kiss Me' which was released in 1984, this time only in the local West Midlands area, followed by a nationwide release of 'She Makes Me Quiver' which peaked at no. 88 in September 1984. 

At the end of 1984, Duffy recorded a third version of 'Kiss Me', produced by J.J. Jeczalik and Nicholas Froome, which was released in February 1985, and the song finally cracked the UK Top 10, peaking at number 4, and staying in the Top 10 for five weeks. His first album, 'The Ups And Downs', came out in 1985 and reached number 35 in the UK, while at the same time he formed a design office with his brother Nick, exhibiting paintings, drawings, photographs, and video at the album's launch. Dropping the "Tin Tin" from his name, he released the single 'Unkiss That Kiss', as Stephen A.J. Duffy, following that with the album 'Because We Love You' in 1986, for which he was credited simply as Stephen Duffy. In 1986, Duffy began writing and recording music that would become The Lilac Time's first album, released on Swordfish Records, with 'The Lilac Time' coming out in November 1987, and subsequently being reissued in remixed form by Fontana in February 1988. The group originally consisted of Stephen Duffy, his elder brother Nick Duffy, and friend Michael Weston, who recorded the first album together, with Michael Giri and Fraser Kent joining when the band was ready to go on tour. Their second album 'Paradise Circus' was released in October 1989, and was initially intended to be a double album, titled 'Tree', and consisting of one album of songs by Stephen Duffy and one of instrumentals, mostly composed by Nick, but it ended up being condensed into a single record at the record company's insistence. It's generally regarded by critics as being bolder and fuller-sounding than the band's first album, with a greater country & western influence. Many of the instrumentals that were recorded during the sessions saw release on the b-sides of singles taken from 'Paradise Circus' and its follow-up '& Love For All', but after its release in 1990 the band were dropped by Fontana. 

They were then briefly signed to Creation Records, with their sole release on the label being the 'Astronauts' album in 1991, after which the band temporarily split up, and Duffy pursued a solo career for a second time. In 1999 The Lilac Time regrouped with Claire Worrall and Melvin Duffy (no relation to the brothers), and after signing to spinART Records they recorded 'Looking For A Day In The Night' with producer Stephen Street. 'Lilac 6' appeared in 2001 on yet another label, this time on Cooking Vinyl Records, while the melancholic 'Keep Going' was released in 2003 under the name Stephen Duffy and The Lilac Time on Folk Modern. For the next few years the band took a break while Duffy collaborated and toured with Robbie Williams, and on his return the band released 'Runout Groove' in October 2007 on the Bogus Frontage label. In 2009 Stephen handed over leadership duties to his brother NIck, who released 'Sapphire Stylus' as Nick Duffy And The Lilac Time, while yet another label change resulted in 'No Sad Songs' coming out on Tapete Records in 2015, while their most recent record was 'Return To Us', appearing in October 2019. Throughout their career The Lilac Time have often added non-album songs to the b-sides of their singles, although these became fewer as the years progressed, and so this collection therefore concentrates on their most prolific period of 1987 to 1991, with a few later offerings added to the end. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1987-1989
01 Railway Bazaar (b-side of 'Return To Yesterday' 1987)
02 Reunion Ball (b-side of 'Return To Yesterday' 1987)
03 Gone For A Burton (b-side of 'Return To Yesterday' re-issue 1988)
04 Rooftrees (b-side of 'Return To Yesterday' re-issue 1988)
05 Rain On A River (b-side of 'You've Got To Love' 1988)
06 Tiger Tea (b-side of 'Black Velvet' 1988)
07 Street Corner (b-side of 'Black Velvet' 1988)
08 Black Dawn (b-side of 'Black Velvet' 1988)
09 The Queen Of Heartless (b-side of 'The Days Of The Week' 1989)
10 The World In Her Arms (b-side of 'American Eyes' 1989)
11 Crossing The Line (b-side of 'American Eyes' 1989)
12 Big Yellow Taxi (b-side of 'American Eyes' 1989)

Disc II - 1990-2008
01 Julie Written On The Fence (b-side of 'It'll End In Tears' 1990)
02 Cover (b-side of 'It'll End In Tears' 1990)
03 Bed Of Roses (b-side of 'All For Love & Love For All' 1990)
04 Oeil Biques A Bacs (b-side of 'The Laundry' 1990)
05 Only Passing Through (b-side of 'The Laundry' 1990)
06 Hurricaned Rice (b-side of 'The Laundry' 1990)
07 Bird On A Wire (b-side of 'Madresfield' limited 7" single 1990)
08 The Rain Falls Deepest On The Shortest Haircut (b-side of 'In Inverna Gardens' 1991)
09 Hard For Her (b-side of 'A Dream That We All Share' 1999)
10 Ratoon (b-side of 'A Dream That We All Share' 1999)
11 Talkin' Pessimism & Pain Blues (from the 'Happy Birthday Peace' EP 2008)
12 Run Out Groove (from the 'Happy Birthday Peace' EP 2008)

Fad Gadget - Spoil The Child (1991)

Fad Gadget was the alter ego of British musician Frank Tovey, who was born on 08 September 1956 in London. At school he tried to learn many different musical instruments, but realised that he didn't have the co-ordination to be able to play any of them really well, so he drifted away from the idea of playing music, and began getting involved in other art forms instead. He later studied visual arts and mime at Leeds Polytechnic, but when he felt the need to give his mime act some sort of musical accompaniment, he went back to the idea of recording music, with the initial musical pieces being formed of sound manipulation using tape recorders. He began experimenting using an old Grundig tape recorder, and spent a lot of time building up sound collages, and in the mid seventies he managed to set up his own home studio. The initial equipment he used consisted mainly of his Grundig tape recorder, but he later added a Crumar Compac electric piano and a Korg Minipops drum machine, and finally a Korg synthesiser. He then began writing music seriously, and after sending a demo tape of 'Back To Nature' to Daniel Miller, he was signed as Fad Gadget to Daniel Miller's Mute Records, being the first artist to sign to Mute. 'Back To Nature' was re-recorded at RMS Studio in London, and was the second single on the label, after Miller's own effort as The Normal. 'Back To Nature' was a great success for Mute Records. so a follow-up record was produced, and 'Ricky's Hand' included Tovey's wife Barbara singing a vocal part near the end of the recording. Fad Gadget then went on to record an album for Mute Records, and 'Fireside Favourites' was recorded at Blackwing Studios in London without Daniel Miller's assistance, as Tovey felt it was important that he made all the decisions about recording the album himself. Live appearances reflected his days studying the visual arts, and often included dressing in theatrical costumes, and he quickly became known for his confrontational stage antics, such as covering himself in tar and feathers, swinging his microphone like a whip, leaping backwards into the audience, climbing up speakers, hanging from ceiling fixtures, pulling out his body hair, and playing instruments with his head. 

Another one-off single on Mute was released in 1981, with 'Make Room' being backed with 'Lady Shave', which went on to become one of his most iconic tracks. Fad Gadget recorded two more albums for Mute Records at Blackwing Studios, using more complex recording equipment, and both 1981's 'Incontinent' and 1982's 'Under The Flag' showed a progressive change in his music, due to the technological advances in the equipment, and his own growing knowledge of recording techniques. The recording of 1984's 'Gag' was a turning point in his recording career, as it would be the first time he used a band of musicians to record an album, whereas before he had recorded most of the musical parts himself. It also saw a change in the recording location from London to Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin, as he wanted to utilise the recording equipment that was installed at Hansa at that time, including the computer controlled mixing desk. He found the new recording practices refreshing, having other people collaborating in the writing and recording process, and the recordings included many acoustic instruments, which veered away from the electronic instruments which had been used on previous recording sessions. During the recording of 'Gag', the German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten were recording for Some Bizzare Records at Hansa, and Tovey liked their use of industrial equipment and found objects, so when he heard a large printing press nearby which had a distinctive rhythm, he got his engineer Gareth Jones to record it, and this was then looped and became the basis for his 12" single 'Collapsing New People', released on Mute in 1984. After releasing 'Gag' in 1984, Tovey began recording under his real name, moving toward acoustic instruments, which resulted in an album of protest and labour songs titled 'Tyranny And The Hired Hand', including such standards as 'Sixteen Tons'. This was followed by a couple of albums as Frank Tovey And The Pyros, but after touring in 1993, he withdrew from the music business. In his later years, he began to perform at festivals, and also supported his former colleagues and Mute label-mates, Depeche Mode, on their European tour. He was working on a new album at the time of his death, suffering a heart attack on 3 April 2002 at the age of 45. Despite a lack of commercial success, Fad Gadget was regarded as a pioneer in synth-pop, electro and industrial music, and influenced bands and artists such as Depeche Mode, Vince Clarke of Erasure, Skinny Puppy, Liars, and The Twilight Sad. As a reminder of his pioneering work in electronic/industrial music, here are all his non-album singles and b-sides as Fad Gadget, Frank Tovey, and with The Pyros. 

Track listing

01 Back To Nature (single 1979)
02 Ricky's Hand (single 1980)
03 Handshake (b-side of 'Ricky's Hand')
04 Make Room (single 1981)
05 Lady Shave (b-side of 'Make Room')
06 4M (b-side of 'Life On The Line' 1982)
07 I Discover Love (single 1983) 
08 Lemmings On Lovers' Rock (b-side of 'I Discover Love')
09 Spoil The Child (b-side of 'Collapsing New People' 1984)
10 Bed Of Nails (b-side of 'Luxury' by Frank Tovey 1985)
11 Clean This Act Up (b-side of 'Luddite Joe' by Frank Tovey 1986)
12 Victoria Falls (b-side of 'The Liberty Tree' by Frank Tovey And The Pyros 1991)

Leona Lewis - Twilight (2004)

Leona Louise Lewis was born on 3 April 1985, in Islington, London, and when her parents noticed her passion for singing they enrolled her at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, and later at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, the Ravenscourt Theatre School and the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology, until they could no longer afford to do so. At the age of 17, Lewis decided to leave the BRIT School to "get out there" and pursue a career in music, and by then she had already begun to write and record her own material. She worked as a receptionist at a solicitor's office and as a Pizza Hut waitress in order to fund the studio sessions, and at age 18 she secured a lead role in The Lion King theatre show in Paris, although she had to withdraw after injuring her back while she was ice-skating. In 2004 she recorded a demo album in collaboration with Spiral Music, a production company based in Fulham, but the resultant 'Twilight' failed to secure her an album deal with any record companies. Another demo album was recorded under license from UEG Entertainment, and it's been claimed that the company spent up to £70,000 trying to launch her career with the 'Best Kept Secret' album, but with no success, although one track from the album, 'Private Party', became a hit on the underground urban music scene in London in 2005. In 2006 Lewis auditioned for the third series of UK talent show The X Factor, singing 'Over The Rainbow' for judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and guest judge Paula Abdul. She was placed in the 16–24 category, with Cowell as her mentor. Throughout the course of the show, Lewis was compared with artists such as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion, performing songs by all three of them, and she eventually defeated Ray Quinn to win the competition on 16 December 2006. The prize for winning was a £1 million recording contract with Cowell's record label, Syco Music, and her debut single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's 'A Moment Like This', was released on 17 December 2006, breaking a world record after being digitally downloaded more than 50,000 times in less than 30 minutes. 

The song became the 2006 UK Christmas number one single, and spent four consecutive weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart, as well as being number one in Ireland for six weeks. In February 2007 she signed a £5 million five-album contract in the United States with Clive Davis's record label, J Records, and she began recording tracks for her 'Spirit' album in London, Miami, Los Angeles, New York City and Atlanta. The record was released in November 2007 and entered both the Irish Albums Chart and the UK Albums Chart at number one, becoming the fastest-selling debut album in both countries, and when it was released in other countries in January 2008 it went to number one in New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Germany, South Africa and Switzerland. It was finally released in the US in April 2008, with two additional tracks added to it, and it entered the Billboard 200 at number one, making Lewis the first British artist to reach number one with a debut album. This phenomenal success seemed to most people to have come out of the blue, but in fact she'd been slogging away trying to break into the music scene for some years, and we can hear her first efforts here with her 'Twilight' album from 2004. It's actually lucky that 'Twilight' was never officially released, and if it had been then she would have been booted off The X Factor, as it's stipulated in the rules that contestants must never have released an album under a major record label. In the end it leaked online for a while, but despite fears from insiders at her label that it would affect the release of 'Spirit', this didn't seem to be the case. Obviously you can't compare these songs to the ultra-produced ones on 'Spirit', with their host of co-writers and producers, but the spark is definitely there, and her vocals on these mostly self-composed tracks shows promise for what was to come just a few years later.   

 
Track listing

01 Paradise
02 Twilight
03 Wings
04 Words
05 Fascinated
06 Baby Girl
07 Could You Be The One
08 How Many Times
09 I Can’t Help It
10 Learn To Love You
11 So Deep

Lana Del Rey - Delicious (2010)

Here's another collection from Lana Del Rey from that prolific year of 2010, with more to come.

Track listing

01 Bad Boy
02 Delicious
03 Hey You
04 I Was In A Bad Way
05 Midnite Dancer Girlfriend
06 Daddy Issues
07 Criminals Run The World
08 I Want It All
09 Breaking My Heart
10 Playing Dangerous
11 Boom Like That

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)