As with Side 1, mostly 1990s indie with a few 1980s and major label releases thrown in for good measure. Matt Johnson appears twice, both with The The and The Gadgets (albeit on guitar and backing vocals only on the latter).
I've seen The Psychedelic Furs, The The, The Boo Radleys, PJ Harvey and Gold Blade live in concert. Gold Blade would have been circa 1996/1997, probably the latter as this was undoubtedly the prompt for buying the Home Turf album. I've long lost the ticket and I can't find any details online, but it must have been a good gig...!
There are a couple more inclusions from the Volume CD/book series, this time featuring Ultra Vivid Scene and Madder Rose. I got the first couple but the two here more likely came from Sharks Patrol These Waters, one of two Volume compilations released in the mid-1990s. Likewise, the Pulp song came from cash-in compilation Countdown, collecting their pre-Island label recordings and repackaging it to make it look like a contemporary Pulp release in the style of Different Class.
The cassette sleeve artwork has been cut up and pasted from the Captain Star comic strip by the brilliant artist Stephen Appleby. The series originally appeared in NME but I think had transferred to Vox (and in colour) by 1998. Apart from some record sleeve artwork in my collection, notably Nobody's Diary by Yazoo, I haven't really followed their work since and it was difficult to find much info online, apart from their bibliography on Amazon and an enlightening biography ahead of a guest appearance at last year's International Literature Festival in Berlin. Time to catch up with my reading, I think.
1) Entertain Me (Album Version): The Psychedelic Furs (1989)
2) Always Crashing In The Same Car (Album Version): David Bowie (1977)
3) Leaves And Sand: The Boo Radleys (1993)
4) Uneasy Listening: The Gadgets (1983)
5) Blue Glow: Pulp (1985)
6) Saddest Song: Gold Blade (1997)
7) Easy (4-Track Demo): PJ Harvey (1992)
8) Rave Down: Swervedriver (1990)
9) Cut Throat (Remix): Ultra Vivid Scene (1993)
10) Roland Navigator: Madder Rose (1994)
11) Bluer Than Midnight: The The (1993)
1977: Low: 2
1983: Blue Album: 4
1985: Little Girl (With Blue Eyes) EP: 5
1989: Book Of Days: 1
1990: Rave Down EP: 8
1993: 4-Track Demos: 7
1993: Dusk: 11
1993: Giant Steps: 3
1993: Volume Six: 9
1994: Volume Nine: 10
1997: Hometurf: 6
Side Two here
That's a great cassette cover. Pretty fine list of songs too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rol. It made me want to listen to several of the source albums again, Giant Steps by The Boo Radleys especially.
DeleteYes, as Rol says, great cassette cover (yours are always wonderful anyway!) I love Steven Appleby's work too; somewhere in the house we have a copy of their 'Guide to Life' which I really must dig out again. Had no idea about their record sleeve artwork, uh!
ReplyDeleteGreat selection of songs too, a lot of crossovers with my own listening late '80s/early '90s and like you, saw some live, in my case Madder Rose and Swervedriver - Madder Rose I think have been particularly overlooked down the years so fab to see them feature here.
Ah, I'd forgotten all about 'Guide To Life'...wasn't that originally in a newspaper, The Guardian possibly? I must check it out and their later books, which look really interesting.
DeleteThis might have been the first Madder Rose song I heard and I liked them a lot. Did you know that they reformed and released another album in 2020? I can't figure out if they're still together but it's a pretty good coda to the band, if they have gone their separate ways again.