Yet More RateYourMusic Reviews

To keep the momentum of posting to this blog going a little bit longer, here's a few more short reviews I've written for RateYourMusic over the last couple of years. They're perhaps not as detailed as the previous ones, but IMO they warrant a mention.

Chumbawamba - Uneasy Listening (1998)

 

Although Tubthumper is the big famous album from Chumbawamba's time on EMI, they actually got the chance to release 3 albums on the label before being dropped in 2001 (as well as a few singles and promo releases). This is the second one, and is basically a collection of the group's best early indie songs before their proverbial rise to stardom.

Seeing as finding copies of their albums on Agit-Pop and One Little Indian couldn't have been super easy even in '98, Uneasy Listening is a good way to get an overview of this period of the band's history. A good chunk of their most notable early songs are here, like Timebomb, Behave, UGH! Your Ugly Houses! and many others. There's also some deep cuts, non-album tracks and unreleased rarities thrown in for good measure.

That being said, there are a few omissions that are slightly glaring. The singles "Never Gave Up" and "Homophobia" are not included, which is a shame as I consider both to be some of the band's best work, and their inclusion over something like "On Being Pushed" would have elevated the collection further.

Even so, this is still a fine compilation of the band's work (as well as the ONLY such compilation they ever came out with). It's not especially easy to come by, but alongside the other two entries in what I call their "EMI Trilogy", this is worth picking up, especially if you're trying to get into the band.

Jamie Lenman - Muscle Memory (2013)

 

A curious double album, and not like many others i've ever seen before. Disc 1 is comprised of a hardcore thrash sound, not too dissimilar to Jamie Lenman's prior work with Reuben, but much more ferocious, especially with the vocals. It's a very angry 40 minute selection of music, but it's varied enough that it's not a slog to get through, and much recommended for fans of the album. Fizzy Blood and A Terrible Feeling especially are highlights.

Disc 2 is a complete departure, pivoting to folk and big band infused music alongside a more melodic songwriting theme. Surprisingly the whiplash doesn't work against it, and it comes together for a genuinely interesting listening experience in its own right. Highlights from this disc include I Ain't Your Boy, If You Have to Ask You'll Never Know and the lead single Pretty Please.

If you grab this album, make sure it's the 2023 vinyl reissue. The whole album got remixed to improve the sound and help it all sound more cohesive as a single unit. Plus, it comes with a bonus disc of outtakes and live tracks from both the hardcore and folk sides, perfect for those looking for more of the same.

Oasis - Gas Panic! (2000)

 

This is Oasis' best song.

I know, with the previous three albums worth of material to consider, that's a big claim, but I'm dead serious.

Largely a biographical piece about Noel's struggles with substance abuse, Gas Panic! is a very slow burning track, steadily building itself until exploding into life on the second verse. The moody atmosphere compliments the lyrics perfectly, and the longer song length is more than earned in comparison to a track like All Around The World, as it really does need that extra room to breathe. No filler to be found here.

Plus, this is a song where basically every circulating version is great in its own way. The album version has a great vocal take from Liam, as well as some stellar guitar solos. A demo that appeared on some promo CDs around the time has Noel sing on it, and his presence has its own charms that add to the slightly stripped back arrangement. And the live version on Familiar To Millions has to be heard to be believed, boasting a ferocious performance and an extended jam-based outro that should have made the song a regular to their setlist just on its own. "It's a good fuckin' tune this, cmon!" indeed.

This should have been a single. Check it out.

Oasis - Falling Down (2009)

Call it a controversial opinion, but I feel Oasis' experiments with psychedelic rock is some of their most interesting material, if only because if proved they could f*ck with the formula once in a while. Who Feels Love and Gas Panic! off Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants are some of their most unique songs as a result, but a general public rejection of that direction led to the band trying to rehash their old "rockier" style to diminishing returns.

Falling Down feels like an attempt to rekindle that experimental side of the band, especially as Dig Out Your Soul as an album stands out much more than their other 2000s records. It has an almost ethereal quality to it, and Noel's vocals only add to that in a way that Liam's certainly would have spoiled had he sung on it. Prior single The Shock Of The Lightning is also really good, and I like it almost as much, but this edges it out on account of there being almost no other Oasis song quite like it.

As far as final singles go, this is probably one of the best ways for a band to dissolve, by releasing a song that's widely considered on par with their prime material, and it's one that I hope gets more appreciation over time. The appearance as the title theme in Eden Of The East is an added bonus.

Scatman John - Scatman's World (1995)

 

The vast majority of 90s eurodance was made up of faceless studio creations designed without an identity and usually under some zany pseudonym. As such, the scene is almost completely devoid of any real recognisable figures, one of the few of which people could name from memory most likely being John Larkin, AKA Scatman John.

Larkin began his career as a jazz pianist, appearing on a Sam Phillips record in the 80s and even getting an album of such music released under his own name, which is genuinely good in it's own right. Having suffered from a lifelong stutter, he eventually used it to his advantage through Scat singing, which became a part of his performance. A European producer around 1994 got the idea to build a dance track around it, and the rest is history.

Going off the singles from this record, such as the titular "Scatman" track that made him famous, or the slightly later title track, one might write off Larkin's stab at the dance scene as a tacky novelty, but he manages to make it work both with solid songwriting and palpable enthusiasm. This isn't a record done for money or contractual obligation, this is a record by a man who sounds overjoyed to be there and wants everyone to know it. It's not just a case of the singles being noteworthy either, as there are numerous album tracks that also rise to the same standards, such as "Only You" or my favourite "Take Your Time". The subject matter is no slouch either, discussing his vision of a world without strife, and how he wants us to reach such a world. Cheesy as hell? Sure, but the songs are still good enough that they manage to shine through regardless.

And it paid off big time. After a career or relative obscurity Larkin's new direction was an immense success, most of all in Japan where he ranks as one of the best selling foreign artists. Sadly he didn't get to enjoy it for very long, only releasing two more albums of more moderate success before passing away of cancer in December 1999.

In short, this is one of the few albums of the 90s Eurodance craze that feels like it still stands on its own today, and hasn't collapsed under the obnoxiousness and poorly aged production so often prevalent to the genre (see Eiffel 65 or Aqua for such examples). The enthusiasm is as genuine as it gets, not feeling synthetic like its peers, and its impossible to hate how Larkin was able to turn a lifelong struggle into his greatest gift.

Recommended.

The Velvet Underground - Squeeze (1973)

 

Alright, I'm gonna level with you. This album to me really isn't that bad. With slightly better production and credited to Doug Yule directly which was quite likely intended during recording, it'd probably be recieved more amicably, if nothing more than as an interesting curio.

The songs themselves are admittedly hit and miss, with some definitely falling into the pit of mediocre 1970s power pop that was big in 73 (tracks like Mean Old Man and Jack & Jane, although not terrible, are mostly uninteresting affairs, and I've never liked Crash all that much). Others are much better, and deserve better than the perception often sent their way. In particular are the opening and closing tracks "Little Jack" and "Louise", which I genuinely think would fit well in Loaded era VU. The latter especially is probably the best track here.

I also don't buy the notion that Doug Yule had no buisness being in this position. Sure, he wasn't a founding member, but he featured on a full half of the band's "canon" albums, and proved himself to be a capable singer-songwriter, so he certainly had a right to be in the band if nothing else.

The loss of Lou Reed is sorely felt for sure, but Yule nonetheless showed bother here and elsewhere that he could deliver a fine track or two on his own. If he'd been able to have his 1971 live lineup backing him (which included Maureen Tucker), then I genuinely think things would've come out better. Alas, their manager dismissed them all in hopes just having to deal with Yule would mean an easier cash cow. It was apparently him who pulled strings and had the record credited to the Velvet Underground to boost sales.

Squeeze is by no means a record to stand up to the heights of their previous albums, but there are bits and pieces here to suggest that all was not necessrily lost, and it's genuinely better than its reputation suggests. I reckon it deserves a proper reissue and remaster, maybe with that 1971 Amsterdam soundboard as a bonus disc, so it can finally add extra context to the final days of this legendary group.

The Pogues - A Pair of Brown Eyes / Whiskey You're the Devil (1985)

 

When I was growing up I was exposed to a lot of music that my parents listened to, whether stuff they themselves had been shown growing up, or stuff that they discovered as adults. This is likely what was instrumental in developing my deep rooted love for music.

Of course, there was a lot of music that they played. Graceland by Paul Simon, Vampire Weekend, Nirvana, among many others. And one of them that I do remember is The Pogues.

Although I've very likely heard more, there are two Pogues songs that I can remember off the top of my head: Fairytale of New York / The Battle March Medley, quite a jaunty number I must admit, and this song, A Pair Of Brown Eyes, which has stuck with me much longer for reasons I couldn't begin to guess. When I hear this song, I am reminded of home.

The song, as I understand it, is about a man who is drowning himself in booze at a pub after the love of his life left him, and an older man comes up to him going on about how he doesn't know nuthin' about hardship. He then weaves a tale about how in the horrors of the wars he served, and lying among the dead and injured, he saw the brown eyes of a fellow soldier. And when he returned home after the war, there were no brown eyes waiting for him. The younger man brushes him off as a drunk annoyance, but as he wanders home it seems as though he recognises parallels between their two experiences, as his own lover had brown eyes.

The song is great at weaving a scenario for the listener to put together in their head, and the scene put forward is great, but when I was younger I interpreted a slightly different meaning, which I would like to put down here.

In my interpretation, the story again takes place in a pub, but both the narrator and the other patrons have gotten so drunk that it's devolved into them basically collapsing into a giant pile of intoxicated drunks on the floor of the bar. And from this mass of barely-alive patrons, the main character sees a pair of brown eyes staring back at him. I always imagined the eyes belonging to that of a man.

But when the drunks are finally shoved out of the pub around closing time and everyone tries to head home, the protagonist cannot find whoever the brown eyes belonged too, and so resolves to set out on what in his mind is an epic quest, to find this person, for they felt a deep connection being made in those brief moments.

Of course, this is just my interpretation, but it's one I feel a sort of comfort with, though I couldn't tell you why as I do not drink myself. In any case, the song has always stood out to me as I've grown into the man I am now, and I hope that it shall remain there as I continue going through life.

Warsaw Pakt & Needle Time!: 1970’s Punk’s Best Kept Secret

(Note: I originally wrote this article in 2023 as part of a University work experience excursion for an indie news website. It's no longer on there for whatever reason, so I decided to mirror it and the other pieces I wrote for it here, so I can at least get some use out of them.) 

In 1977, a small Punk Rock band named Warsaw had begun to gain a following in the Salford area. Featuring members Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris, they recorded their debut EP An Ideal For Living in December and would self-release it the following year. Before then, however, they discovered that there was a fellow punk band down in London named Warsaw Pakt that had been building up their own following, so to avoid confusion Warsaw rechristened themselves Joy Division, and would go on to help innovate a new and developing subgenre known as Post Punk.

But what became of Warsaw Pakt, the band that made Joy Division decide to rebrand themselves? As it turns out they had an interesting story of their own, and its one that is not nearly as well-known as their Post Punk contemporaries.

Formed in 1975 as a Rhythm & Blues inspired group named The Rockets, the group went through numerous line-up changes over the following two years as their R&B roots steadily shifted towards a punk sound that was gaining popularity across the UK at the time. The line-up they eventually settled on featured Jimmy Coull on vocals, Andy Colquhoun on lead guitar, John Walker on rhythm guitar, Chris Underhill on Bass and Lucas Fox on drums. 

After building up a following throughout 1976 and early 77, Warsaw Pakt was eventually able to score a record deal with Island Records, continuing the 70s punk tradition of bands getting signed to major labels in the hopes of getting some notoriety like the Sex Pistols. A single quickly hit the stands in October, featuring the songs “Safe & Warm” and “Sick & Tired.”

By now the band’s setlist consisted of a number of original songs that Colquhoun had written with famed journalist Mick Farren, as well as some songs written by Frank Day, back when he had been The Rockets’ manager. The Day tracks, originally written to fit the band’s former R&B style, were given updated grittier lyrics by Colquhoun to reflect their new sound after Day left.

Meanwhile, Island Records were eager to get a record out by the band as soon as possible to capitalise on Punk Rock’s growing prominence as the Pistols and numerous other bands dominated the UK charts, and it was around this time that it seems an idea was formed; to record, press and sell the album in as short a time as possible. Such quick turnarounds were not unheard of; indeed, John Lennon’s 1970 single “Instant Karma” had been written, recorded and released in a three-day timespan.

Though who originated the plan seems unclear, it was quickly set in motion, and at 10pm on November 26th, 1977, the band stepped into London’s Trident Studios to record their debut album, which was to be called Needle Time!. Both the A and B side of the album would each be recorded in a continuous take, to ensure the recording process was as streamlined as possible. To save time and achieve a better sound for the record, the band skipped recording to tape and cut the album directly onto the cutting lathe that would be used to produce the vinyl records themselves. Around two hours later, they were done, having finished their album in record time.

As the insert included with original copies of the album illustrate, around midnight the cutting lathe was rushed to a factory in Leichter where over the next several hours a stamper was grown to press the records that would go out to the public. By 8am it was ready, and the stamper was then rushed to West Drayton where the records were pressed. Rather than having a proper album cover, the vinyl records were instead packaged in a plain brown paper bag with a number of ink stamps and stickers slapped on the front displaying the band’s logo and likenesses.

Once the vinyl had cooled and was packaged in the sleeves, distribution was started and by 7pm, barely 21 hours since the band had begun recording the album, Needle Time! was on store shelves and the band were out signing copies, achieving perhaps one of the quickest album release turnarounds in the era of pre-digital recording equipment, long before the advent of CDs and the internet were able to shorten the gap even more.

The finished Needle Time! was a tight and infectious 32-minute piece of Punk Rock that rivalled many of their contemporaries in energy. Recording to the cutting lathe had succeeded in giving the record an excellent clarity and sound quality that barely hinted at the great rush the record had been recorded in. 

The songs themselves were certainly not an unworthy affair either. Starting with a respectable rendition of The Who song “It’s Not True,” the group tear through thirteen originals at great speed. “Even Money” for example, was a song about wanting to get with a woman, though the lyrics had been changed from the Frank Day original, so it was the woman now giving the “even money” to spend time with the narrator instead of the inverse. Elsewhere, the song “Cut Glass Jaw” paints a picture of a down-on-his-luck boxer in the throes of alcoholism.

An odd detail about the original 1977 pressing of the album is that the labels and paper insert that list the tracks describe the record as being 12 songs long and including the song “Safe & Warm” when in fact the album was 14 songs long and didn’t include “Safe & Warm” at all. A likely reason is that the group changed their planned session setlist after both the labels and inserts were printed in advance, and it was too late to have them updated before recording and pressing began. What little reissues the album has received in the years since would fix this problem and provide a correct list of tracks.

Inaccuracies aside, the album was in stores, and with a solid publicity stunt such as this the band’s fortunes seemed to be on the up and up.

But, as it turned out, it wouldn’t quite work out so well. After the initial roughly 5000 pressing run of Needle Time! sold out, Island Records inexplicably refused to press any more. Whether they wanted to preserve the collectability of the first pressings or just didn’t believe it was financially viable isn’t clear, but almost immediately after being released the album was out of print and the band were unable to properly promote it. It would remain unavailable for many years.

To make matters worse, their live gigs began to dry up as their manager started to cancel bookings. Warsaw Pakt was able to just about limp on for a few more months but by the new year the writing was on the wall and in March 1978 they had broken up, not even four months after releasing their debut album. A cassette of recording outtakes from the Needle Time! sessions entitled See You In Court! would surface in 1979, but that was about it for the band from them on.

The album would remain obscure in the years since, whilst many of the band members went on to new projects. Colquhoun would provide bass on Mick Farren’s second album Vampires Stole My Lunch Money and would continue to play in Farren’s band The Deviants, whilst Fox, previously of Motörhead before Warsaw Pakt snapped him up, would sustain a solid career as a drummer in the following years. Such fortunes sadly did not appear to rhythm guitarist John Walker, who would pass away from suicide in the early-1980s.

However, it seems that Needle Time! may yet be reappraised as it deserves. After remaining out of print for over 40 years save for a couple of independent reissues on CD through labels like Captain Trip and Gonzo Multimedia, the album finally entered the digital age proper with a fully-fledged vinyl reissue through Munster Records in 2020, accompanied by the album’s official arrival on streaming services. The sound is great, as clear and punchy as ever, and as a special bonus the rare “Safe & Warm” single was included as a bonus on both the digital version and as a 7” single with the vinyl repressing.

Not since its original repressing has Needle Time! been so accessible, and even though two of the band members are no longer with us, with lead singer Jimmy Coull having also passed away in 2018, it seems like it might finally be time for Warsaw Pakt’s recorded works to get the reassessment that it’s long overdue for and join the pantheon of great Punk Rock acts from the original 1977 explosion.

Copies of both the vinyl reissue and a digital download of Needle Time! in both MP3 and WAV can be bought from Munster Records’ Bandcamp, as well as on many major streaming services: https://munsterrecords.bandcamp.com/album/needle-time

White Town: Women In Technology – 25 Years On

(Note: I originally wrote this article in 2023 as part of a University work experience excursion for an indie news website. It's no longer on there for whatever reason, so I decided to mirror it and the other pieces I wrote for it here, so I can at least get some use out of them.) 

In 1997 an unlikely hit song by the band White Town, “Your Woman”, was making the rounds on the radio. Based off a sample of a trumpet line from the Al Bowly song “My Woman”, which White Town’s Jyoti Mishra had heard from the soundtrack to the 1970s TV production Pennies From Heaven, the song had been made entirely in his bedroom with a sampler and whatever recording software he was able to afford. 

Featuring that distinct trumpet sample and Mishra’s ambiguous lyrics about longing and heartbreak, adding up to a sound which has led many to draw parallels to music by future virtual band Gorillaz, it was a strong song to be sure. And incredibly, it hit number one on the UK singles chart, which was a surprise as very little music quite like that had graced the top ten before that moment. 

It was far from the first time a musician had recorded their music in a DIY fashion, but this was one of the first times that it had birthed a number one single, and the success of “Your Woman” changed a lot about how musicians could record and perform their music to get people to hear it.

Born in 1966, Jyoti Prakash Mishra grew up in Derby, England, and the name of White Town was directly inspired by his experiences and difficulties from growing up in an English town after having been born in Rourkela, India. Initially forming the band in 1990 with some friends, it eventually morphed into a solo project, through which he released his first album Socialism, Sexism & Sexuality on Parasol Records in 1994. This first effort bordered more on an indie-pop inspired sound than the electronica he’d later become known for, but the first step in that direction came shortly after when he acquired a sampler and began to use it in his future work.

In 1996 Mishra would release the EP >Abort, Retry, Fail?_ through Parasol, which included the track “Your Woman. The title of the EP was inspired by hard drive issues he’d suffered when working on the tracks included on the CD. Although it was a hit in White Town’s DJ sets, it was at first not a massive success. However, that would change when BBC Radio 1 DJ Mark Radcliffe came across a copy and put “Your Woman” onto his setlist, which helped the song soar up the charts to an extent no one saw coming, least of all Mishra himself. Suddenly White Town was offered a contract with Chrysalis Record’s offshoot label Brilliant!, and through their rerelease of >Abort, Retry, Fail?_, “Your Woman” reached number one on the UK charts.

To capitalise on the success of the single, Brilliant! quickly put out a full album of White Town’s new songs from the last few years entitled Woman In Technology in February 1997 which, although only reaching 83 on the UK charts and 84 on the US charts, would become White Town’s highest charting album. 

His time on Brilliant! would be short lived however, as they had trouble following up his hit song, compounded by Mishra preferring anonymity and resisting attempts to push him into the spotlight or even get photos taken of him. Eventually the label seemed to lose interest in promoting him completely, and he eventually left before he’d even been on their roster for a year, returning to independently released music for good afterwards.

Although “Your Woman” is White Town’s most popular song, it is actually something of an outlier in the sound that Woman In Technology explores as a whole. The rest of the album delves into a similar style of electronica, but with a poppier edge than its big hit. Second single and album opener “Undressed” is a light joyful song which lyrically is a more direct love song in contrast to the ambiguity of “Your Woman”. Moving away from the electronics, “A Week In June” is a solo acoustic number featuring guitar from Robert Fleay, who provides guitars to several other tracks on the record. One of the last attempts at a follow-up single was “Wanted”, which Brilliant! tried to push on the radio without success, and featured guest Ann Pearson on lead vocals.

Although Woman In Technology didn’t lead to lasting commercial success for White Town, over 25 years on it has become something of a milestone, representing the moment where the music industry began to shed its reliance on professional studio productions in favour of a DIY attitude. Today, Bedroom Pop is a well-regarded movement which allows musicians to find success within the confines of their own bedroom, and in hindsight “Your Woman” and its parent album has proven to be something of a trailblazer, a sampler of what was to come once musicians were able to finally express themselves without the need of a record label.

As an extra celebration of the album’s 25th anniversary, Mishra oversaw the release of a digital deluxe edition featuring rare B-Sides and remixes, and a vinyl reissue is being planned for release on Record Store Day 2023, so now is as perfect a time as any to discover this album.

25th anniversary digital deluxe edition: https://open.spotify.com/album/682NMEFpbRkqbf8UKiDRmk

RSD 2023 listing: https://recordstoreday.co.uk/rsd-list/white-town/

WYSIWYG: Chumbawamba’s Forgotten Follow-Up to Tubthumper

(Note: I originally wrote this article in 2023 as part of a University work experience excursion for an indie news website. It's no longer on there for whatever reason, so I decided to mirror it and the other pieces I wrote for it here, so I can at least get some use out of them.) 

It was the year 1998, and Chumbawamba were at an all-time high. They were almost on the top of the world with their hit single “Tubthumping”, which dominated the charts the world over after being released by EMI, and its parent album “Tubthumper” was just as popular. All over the world, pubs, bars and sports teams were singing the song as a sort of theme song.

After spending a long time stuck in small clubs, Chumbawamba were now playing big venues, appearing on TV, and everyone was playing their music. After 15 years of toiling in obscurity, never managing high sales numbers with their work, it looked like all that work was finally paying off.

But that popularity was unstable and looked prone to send them straight into One-Hit Wonderdom. Follow up single “Amnesia” managed to crack the top 10 in the UK and find some success elsewhere, but each subsequent release was increasingly unsuccessful, and although “Tubthumping” remained popular, that fame couldn’t last forever off the strength of just one song. 

Along with this, the group were getting into quite a bit of controversy by refusing to play by the rules now they were hitmakers on a major label (a fact which itself had alienated a lot of their older fans). Two of the most infamous of these were when member Alice Nutter appeared on TV and told their fans to just shoplift their record if they couldn’t afford a copy, and then at the 1998 BRIT Awards Danbert Nobacon poured a jug of water on then-UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott over the group’s anger on how striking Liverpool dockers had been treated. 

Needless to say, this didn’t help the band endear themselves to the masses, but that was never really their goal in the first place. Not when there was a chance to use their position to make some change in the world.

Soon a question began to bubble over: how were the group going to repeat the success of their hit song?

After convening back in the UK after around eight months of touring and promoting their record, Chumbawamba began the process of writing some new songs with the plan of recording a follow up album, eventually coming up with around 10 new songs for it. However, they quickly grew unsatisfied with this new material, finding it samey and uninspired. Worst of all though, it sounded too much like Tubthumper, and they feared they were in danger of repeating themselves. 

So, they scrapped what they had and decided to start afresh, determined to produce something new that was inspired from everything they had seen during their brief success in America. Two years of rewrites, refining and recording later and the result was released as WYSIWYG (short for What You See Is What You Get).

Whereas Tubthumper relied heavily on an explicitly dance-pop sound, WYSWIYG is as diverse as it is packed with tracks, clocking in at a full 22, and none of them sound quite alike. The styles and ideas that Chumbawamba tinker with include folk (Celebration, Florida), acapella (New York Mining Disaster 1941), and many others. 

Use of samples is also heavily utilised and numerous string musicians were hired to provide accompaniment on numerous songs, giving WYSIWYG a lusher soundscape than its predecessor. Perhaps the most radical change was that, unlike before where the group aimed for complete songs, the tracks on WYSIWYG are extremely short, many clocking in at under two minutes after only a couple of verses (and some are even shorter than one minute).

Lyrically, it’s perhaps the group’s most ambitious outing. Their brief time in the American limelight gave them a lot to think about, and it bears out in these new songs. Themes that they tackle include the rise of home computing (Pass It Along), the violent disaster that was Woodstock ’99 (I’m Not Sorry, I was Having Fun), wilful ignorance of societal problems whilst living in suburban bliss (Celebration, Florida), and it only goes on from there, firing cylinders at anything and anyone they believe deserves it.

After a roughly two year writing and recording cycle to complete it, WYSIWYG hit the shelves on the 4th of April, 2000. A few months earlier, on February 28th, the only major single “She’s Got All Her Friends That Money Can Buy” arrived to kick things off, and ended up being the only song on the album the band made a music video for. An attempt was also made to release a rerecorded version of “Pass It Along” as a second single, but it only arrived as a promo in a select few countries.

The album’s packaging was perhaps one of the band’s most provocative since 1994’s “Anarchy”, where they had included an uncensored picture of a baby being born as the front cover. The seemingly innocuous picture of a dog on the front folded out to show it was in fact two dogs mating, and on the other side of the fold-out booklet was extensive liner notes by the band on every track, explaining their thought process, inspiration, and different social and political issues/causes they believed deserved the listener’s attention. From the presentation alone it was clear the band had gone all out on this new project.

Sadly, their attempt to innovate their approach from their experience in the limelight was not a hit with the public at all. The album failed to chart, along with the lead single, and it’s believed that it only sold around 20,000 copies compared to the roughly 4 million that Tubthumper managed to sell. Critics were also mixed on their takeaway on the album, finding it ambitious but unfocused and unmemorable due to how short the songs were. The more critical among them found the political and social satire surface level and irrelevant compared to more biting statements by groups like Rage Against The Machine and Public Enemy.

Not long after, EMI finally decided that the group’s diminishing returns no longer justified their hijinks and dropped them a short time later. The group would remain in the indie circuit for the rest of their existence, eventually reinventing themselves as a folk-rock unit before officially dissolving in late 2012, after 30 years and fourteen studio albums.

Over 20 years later, WYSIWYG has managed to gain some attention from fans who heard Tubthumper and wanted to hear more by the group, but it remains an obscure artifact in the band’s journey that is sorely overdue the reappraisal it deserves. The band may have been one hit wonders, but they had a lot more to give to the world than just that one hit.

 

Some More Music Reviews From RateYourMusic

Hey all, long time no post! Been busy the last little while, mostly working on my University degree. I haven't stopped writing music reviews, I've mostly just been posting them to RYM these days. I thought to dust this blog off I'd post a few of my favourites that I've written in the intervening time!

ALL - All (1998)

 

Allroy was here...

All are essentially the slightly less consistent little brother of punk veterens Descendents, born out of the ashes of the earlier band after lead vocalist Milo Aukerman left the music industry, seemingly forever. Certainly much less of a household name than the band that bought us Milo Goes to College, they ran through a number of vocalists during their run in the late 80s through to the early 2000s, and were much more prolific. Despite not having released anything since 2002, they still match the Descendents in amount of records released, at 10 or 11 depending on whether you count the EPs as well.

And out of all of these releases, their 1998 self titled compilation album is easily their most essential release alongside 1989's Allroy's Revenge, incidently their one album to rack up against any Descendents record. Compiling the absolute best of their songs from their formation through to 1995, that alone would be enough reason to check it out, as all of the filler that tended to appear on their main albums has been trimmed thoroughly. However, the band also decided to remix every track for a cleaner and perhaps more modern sound, sometimes radically changing the sound from the original production job. It legitemately sounds now as though they were all recorded at the same time, even though it's all culled from a period of about 7 years.

Another reason to pick it up, even if you happen to own most of their studio albums, is the inclusion of a Milo vocal track with "Just Like Them", representing one of the only musical appearances he would make before the Descendents would reform for 1996's Everything Sucks. The track had been released before, but with new All vocalist Scott Reynolds taking the reins, and getting to hear Milo take the helm on his own track is excellent. It's unclear when his vocal take was recorded, but it is nonetheless excellent, as was much of his work in the 90s.

Some highlights for me include "Dot", "Mary" and "Shreen", though the vast majority of the collection is absolutely indespensible Pop Punk that easily ranks up there with the most underrated music of the genre. Get it if you haven't, even if you never buy another All record again.

Gorillaz - The Singles Collection: 2001-2011 (2011)

 

On paper, there's nothing wrong with this compilation. All the band's most well known songs from 2000-2010 are here, the artwork consisting of a collage of Jamie Hewlett's artwork is a bit tacky but an alright touch, and is probably an alright release if you want to get into the band's music.

No, the issue I have with this release, as I do with many other compilations and retrospectives, is what it doesn't include. It may not be obvious, since all the "big name" tracks are here, but there are in fact some omissions throughout from singles the band released and yet aren't included. 911, Lil' Dub Chefin, Rhinestone Eyes, White Flag, Revolving Doors and Amarillo were ALL put out as singles in one way or another before this album dropped, and none are included here. And yet two remixes of prior tracks show up instead, which is funny considering they never came out as their own singles. This compilations doesn't even fill up a full CD, it's only 56 minutes including the remixes, and you're telling me you couldn't have padded it out a bit more?

THIS is how the tracklisting ought to have looked:

1. Tomorrow Comes Today / 2. Clint Eastwood / 3. 19-2000 / 4. Rock the House / 5. 911 / 6. Lil' Dub Chefin / 7. Feel Good Inc / 8. DARE / 9. Dirty Harry / 10. Kids With Guns / 11. El mañana / 12. Stylo / 13. Superfast Jellyfish / 14. On Melancholy Hill / 15. Rhinestone Eyes / 16. White Flag / 17. Doncamatic / 18. Revolving Doors / 19. Amarillo

(and then maybe the remixes if you have space for them)

There, fixed your cash grab. I'll never understand record labels, I swear.

Harvey Danger - King James Version (2000)

 

Harvey Danger followed up their surprise hit single "Flagpole Sitta" with the intriguing sophomore album King James Version, which expanded their sound and gave a better idea of what they were capable of musically than the slightly rough demo tracks that were utilised for their debut.

Comparisons to Radiohead's OK Computer are common, and the group were definitely inspired by that record, but the two albums are not terribly alike in direction. Rather than going for boundary pushing, Harvey Danger instead sought to refine their satirical songwriting formula, and in the process managed to hit a sweet spot that helps it to click for each song on the record.

The production on this record is much more clean and polished, and the arrangements are more diverse to match. Some of the bands best material is here as well; lead single "Sad Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" is easy in the top 3 of their best songs they ever recorded. Elsewhere is the track "Authenticity", which appears in a few movie soundtracks at the time, and a remake of a Merrymakers outtakes "Carjack Fever".

Sadly the album was fraught with issues. Their label got bought out and it took well over a year for them to get disentangled enough to put it out, but by then the momentum from Flagpole Sitta had waned enough that the album bombed, and after further issues prevented them from touring outside their home town, they split up acrimoniously. They reunited for a third album in 2005 but by then they were quite clearly jaded by their experiences and some of that youthful energy had waned.

King James Version is Harvey Danger's finest hour, and an album that deserves much more attention and acclaim than it's currently getting, I feel. Their songwriting was at it's best, as was their playing and ambitions, all of which come together for a really exciting record despite all the hardships that it had to face.

Copies are currently quite rare since it sold so poorly, but if you happen to find one it'll be one that's well worth cherishing.

Napoleon XIV - For God's Sake, Stop the Feces! (2023)

 

For God's Sake!!!

Y'know those times when an unreleased album finally gets released by some reissue label decades after the fact and you end up wondering "Boy! What were those Record Execs thinking, rejecting this?!" Well, this record is one of the few times I can quite honestly say "Gee, I see why they didn't want this."

Don't misunderstand, that doesn't mean this album is bad, but to say that it is a difficult listen (at least the first 15 that make up the unreleased record itself) would be putting it mildly. Simply put, it's as far away from the debut album as one could get without leaping to another genre entirely.

There's maybe two or three actual "songs" on here, the rest being a mixture of skits and rather interesting audio collage material that paints something of a story. And quite often, that story was extremely transgressive, not least for 1968-70, dealing with sexual assault, manic depression, and suicide, often in graphic detail. I imagine there would have been a boycott or two had it shown up in record stores at the time, and I can't say I would entirely blame them.

The production work is indeed pretty innovative for the time, featuring really impressive audio panning and effects that very few were tinkering with at the time (Frank Zappa being a notable exception). Speaking of Zappa, I'm surprised Samuels didn't shop it to his label when Warner Bros vetoed it, it would have sat at home with some of the odd stuff Bizarre/Straight was putting out around that time.

Would it have been innovative had it seen release at the time? Maybe, maybe not, it's impossible to say. As mentioned, it wasn't alone in some of the audio production innovations on display, but it's quite possible that it would have encouraged musicians to try taking bigger risks with their own releases. After all, if this record could get out, imagine what we could do as well. If nothing else it would certainly have been infamous, and spoken with some hushed awe today.

For those who can't quite digest the main offering, a selection of post-album recordings are included afterwards, mostly more straightforward piano-vocal songs, and they are quite enjoyable indeed.

In short, I recommend you check it out at least once. It's a very odd and fascinating listen, if nothing else...

Les Rallizes Dénudés - '77 Live (1991)

 

Les Rallizes Dénudés are a band surrounded in myth and misinformation, largely due to how they essentialy flew under the radar during their initial run, rarely giving interviews and mostly sticking to small venues and music festivals. Formed in 1967 by a group of Japanese students involved in a major radical movement in Japan during the late 60s, the creative direction of Les Rallizes largely rested on the shoulders of the lead singer and guitarist Takashi Mizutani, who himself has become a symbol of mystery in the band's fanbase due to just how little he was seen outside of the band. We didn't even know he had passed away in 2019 until two whole years later.

One of the things that adds to the mystery of the band is that next to no professional recordings of the band exist, and indeed they released nothing of their own work whilst active. The only exception is an appearance on the 1973 compilation OZ Days Live, which collected a variety of soundboard recordings done at a venue Les Rallizes frequented at the time. It would take until 1991, a full 24 years after their formation, for them to release anything of their own.

The three albums released in 1991, nicknamed by many as the "Rivista Trilogy" after the imprint it came out on, are archival collections from the earlier years of the group. '67–'69 Studio et live and Mizutani / Les Rallizes Dénudés combine a selection of studio and live recordings from their first four years, and are more in line with the psychedelic rock and folk sounds of the time period than the barrage of sound that they would later be acclaimed for. For that, you only need to look to the third album in the collection, the infamous '77 Live.

Recorded on the 12th of March 1977 (hence the name), '77 Live featured a near-complete soundboard recording of that night's show. And what a show it was! Even in the context of the numerous bootlegs of the group that exist, '77 Live towers over them all in the sheer power and energy the group was bringing to the table that night. Parallels have often been made to The Velvet Underground, and while there are similarities, this is a different experience all on its own.

The song's in the show's setlist are simple in concept, featuring some basic and borderline repetitive chord progressions, speckled in numerous places by Mizutani's reverb soaked vocals, singing some surprisingly dark lyrics that compliment his singing quite well. Just have a look at English translations to see what I mean.

But to call the band's repetitive song structures "boring" would be to miss the point entirely, as these songs don't need distinct parts to power through their runtime. Most vital to the experience is Mizutani's guitar work, sounding less like a conventional guitar performance and more like a swirling constant wave of feedback that he's reining in like a horse rider. It's both parts chaotic and yet carefully controlled, spurred along by a chugging baseline and fine backing by the rest of the group. which allowes for Mizutani's playing to really shine.

The recording quality isn't the best, clearly having been recorded onto a cassette tape (there's even a few dropouts in the sound in places), and yet '77 Live is not only one of the best shows the band would ever make, but also one of the best recorded. Most of the other circulating recordings of their shows were done from the audience and sound much less direct than this document of a fateful spring night in the late 70s.

TL,DR: An excellent piece of noise rock that sounds at least 10 years ahead of its time. Check it out.

Sid Vicious - My Way / Something Else / C’mon Everybody (1979)

 

Sid Vicious is probably one of the most tragic characters in the history of Punk. Died aged 21, grew up in a heroin addicted household that grew the addiction that eventually killed him, dated an unstable groupie and had one of the most turbulent relationships in show business before she was murdered, by who no one knows, but Sid caught the blame.

Even with his music it is regarded as a horrible waste, as all he recorded on his own were three studio cover songs and a small smattering of live shows in which he was often barely sober enough to stand. Even with the Sex Pistols, the group he idolised and eventually joined, signalling his rise to infamy, he is known perhaps erroneously as a talentless hack who had little business being in the band except to grow their brand of danger and bad attitudes.

Today he is known to most as a punk icon, the ultimate example of the movement's attitudes and anti-conformist ideals, but those that know of the man behind the myth consider him a confused idiot who could not play the bass, made a fool of himself on stage, potentially killed his girlfriend, and died long before his time in a way it seemed he was almost destined for.

And yet, when I hear his rendition of "My Way", I hear nothing but triumph. I hear the musician that Sid could have been had he lived longer. Against the world, and not afraid to tell them to shove it. As the strings in the back swell along to the roaring guitar leads, he just pile-drives his ideals for living, and makes the song truly his own more so than any AOR performer like Paul Anka who wrote the track ever could.

Sid, above all, sounds completely sincere here. This is Sid's song, hell, it might as well be his eulogy. He faces the final curtain in these lyrics, and he has his regrets. He lived a miserable life, had an erratic and infamous career, and died a true Rockstar’s death, cutting off any potential as a performer that was there, perhaps even to rival Johnny Rotten.

And, despite the naysayers, despite all that suffering and pain that people today know him for, at the same time he was instrumental in the visibility of Punk Rock, and the struggles that it faced. He was an everyman alongside his bandmates who wanted to make change in the world, he was angry and frustrated, and he made that known, and simultaneously connected with thousands, if not millions, of angry people all over the world, who were in the same position.

Johnny may have been the voice, but Sid was the image. And he wore that image like a badge of honour until the day he died.

And above all, he did it his way.

Live at Goose Lake: August 8th 1970 [REVIEW]

The Stooges are a band that need no introduction. Utterly demented and a sight to behold, they are the most recognizable figures in the "Proto-Punk" umbrella. They had the attitude and on-stage presence of The Doors, and rivaled Led Zeppelin as one of the heaviest groups of their day. The only prominent group that could get near to their energy and sound was the MC5, and even they couldn't quite reach the same heights, specially not in the studio. Their three records The Stooges, Fun House and Raw Power are still wild and exciting to this very day, and help to showcase the long-lasting appeal of a young Iggy Pop.

Despite their current popularity, they were only a cult band when they were initially active. Their albums only barely charted anywhere, and the critics were generally dismissive of their raw sound (as they largely were of the majority of heavy groups at the time, as a matter of fact). As a direct consequence, there exists very few decent quality recordings of their infamous live shows. Back in the late 60s and early 70s, professionally recording live shows was an expensive process, usually only reserved for bands that record labels knew would shift copies. Plus, amateur recording equipment was still in its infancy to an extent, so audience recordings would end up sounding terrible, if they didn't end up degenerating over time to the point of being unplayable.

As such, there don't exist many live albums of the band in their hey-day, with most that exist being either from their 1972-74 period, or their reunion shows in the 2000s. A few different live albums exist on smaller labels, particularly on the Easy Action label, but for a while the only two prominent recordings of The Stooges' live act were 1976's Metallic K.O. and 2010's Have Some Fun: Live At Unganos. Metallic K.O. documents the band's final shows during the original run, dated February 1974, and has gained infamy from both its scarcity prior to it's CD release (apparently the process or procuring a legitimate copy were rather long-winded and difficult), as well as how generally hostile both the group and the crowd is. In both performances documented on the release, the band are playing in front of a biker gang, who are audibly pissed off at the group and are hurling abuse and beer bottles, as well as other such projectiles, almost the entire time (apparently one member of the gang went on the radio to send the group a death threat if they dared to perform the later show, which they did of course.) To make matters worse, Iggy is constantly baiting the crowd into getting more and more rowdy, throwing his own insults right back at them, even incorporating them into a barely recognizable cover of "Louie Louie". This escalated into a recording which rock critic Lester Bangs referred to as "the only rock album I know where you can actually hear hurled beer bottles breaking against guitar strings."

Have Some Fun: Live At Unganos is even more historically important to the band's history, being one of the only known recordings for the longest time of the group's Elektra Records period (though not of the original lineup, as founding bassist Dave Alexander had been fired a few months prior, with roadie Zeke Zettner filling his role instead. Taped by Danny Fields, the man who had signed them to Elektra in 1969, the August 1970 show is essentially a live run through of their second album Fun House, and their energy is almost palpable. Despite the extremely rough quality of the recording, the group's nerve is able to shine through, with Iggy giving one of his best performances caught on tape (apparently he'd begun clambering around the bar at several points during the set). But sadly, as previously stated, this was not the original lineup, which aside from a few sporadic video, audio and photo documents, went entirely unrepresented with a live document.

Until 2020.

Around that time, Third Man Records, a well regarded reissue label, began teasing the existence of a Stooges live tape, acquired from a basement in Michigan. In Mid-2020, it finally emerged, revealing itself to be a soundboard recording of the group's set at the Goose Lake Rock Festival on August 7th 1970. This was a massive revelation, for a few reasons. For one, it was one of the first full, uninterrupted recordings of the band's original lineup, with Dave Alexander on bass, to be discovered and released. For another, it's the only known soundboard recording of their initial lineup, and so is of pretty high fidelity, which is especially impressive considering how little soundboard recordings exist of them in the first place. And finally, the show itself is of historical performance, as it was the very last show of the group's first lineup, as Dave Alexander was fired immediately afterwards for apparently being so high on numerous substances that he barely played a note the entire show. He never played with the band again, dying in early 1975 due to complications directly stemming from his extreme alcoholism. As such, the Goose Lake Festival came to be known as a failure, the group completely screwing up one of their biggest live appearances to date (over 200,000 people attended the festival), with one member not even playing for almost the entire time.

That is not the performance that one can hear on this release.

The biggest thing one will notice is that Dave Alexander is in fact playing the bass, if sloppily in places. There's no doubt that he was intoxicated to hell and back, which would explain his expulsion right afterwards, but he's certainly able to keep in time in many numbers, most crucially on the more bass-driven numbers like "Dirt". This smashes the legend of Dave being a total liability on this show, and finally gives him some much-needed posthumous vindication. 

It also helps that the rest of the group are also in form on stage, providing a solid run-through of Fun House, similar to their Unganos show, although it takes a couple songs for them to really find their footing. Scott and Ron Asheton (brothers) play as well as they ever had, giving a respectable result all throughout the set. Iggy is slightly more spotty, not quite singing as strongly as he usually would at points, though this may be explained by video evidence of him flailing his microphone around as he sang. That energy does shine through on numbers like "TV Eye" and "Fun House", where he sounds downright demented at numerous points, to the level that the microphone nearly blows out more than once. Their performance of "1970" is especially powerful, with Ron's guitar playing reaching its peak here, but sadly the number ends before the saxophone solo section for whatever reason. This is despite the following number "Fun House" showing they did in fact have a saxophone player on stage with them. And of course, the group end it out with the Plastic Ono Band-esque "L.A. Blues" full of feedback, sax squeals and screams courtesy of Iggy, (though it's evidently more grounded and tuneful than the album rendition) to send the audience home shocked at what they had just witnessed.

Obviously, this live recording is no masterpiece. The group are clearly not at their absolute best, especially not Dave, and the tape itself sounds a bit too dry to really make the band sound as powerful as they were on record. But regardless, this is easily the new most essential live document of the group, not just because of its quality or historical importance, but it's recognizably the Stooges. Loud, rough, high on drugs, and not quite caring how professional they sound (though Dave evidently crossed the line on what was an acceptable performance). Even when they weren't at their best, they still blew every other band out of the water. The remastering job of the tape by Vance Powell helps to bring it into the light, for the first time in 50 years, and finally satiate the appetite many Stooges fans have had for a long, long time. Now all we need is a recording of the band's 1967-1969 days.

You can pick up the record at Third Man on CD and vinyl here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-At-Goose-Lake-August/dp/B089TRYGYP

A selection of my RateYourMusic reviews #1

The following is a selection of reviews that I wrote for my RYM account that I've decided to cross-post here. Links to purchase these albums will be provided at the end. If you'd like to follow my RYM account, head here: https://rateyourmusic.com/~Broken_Mind

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Frank Zappa - You Are What You Is

In my opinion, this is Frank's final classic Rock Studio record (Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar was also excellent, but that was recorded live, and Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch was half studio/half live, so they don't quite count). He'd have some decent music out after this point, but most of those records never really reached the same heights, and had a growing amount of less-than-stellar content. You Are What You Is is the last one to be great from beginning to end, with seldom any filler. The songs were the classic biting commentary that people had come to expect from Zappa, with everyone from Teenagers to Religion to the Government getting covered in a song, not to mention that some of these tracks are some of the catchiest and well written of his career.

Although the production is perhaps a little more slick and dense than his 70s material had made people expect, it still sounds good (especially the 2012 CD remaster) and was recorded and mixed with analogue equipment, so manages to escape the perhaps less natural sounding material that came later on as he shed his rock roots to begin exploring sounds with his Synclavier. If you like his 60s-70s era music, than you'll find plenty to like here as well.

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Frank Zappa & The Ensemble Modern - The Yellow Shark

Frank spent his entire career dabbling on and off into classical music, and The Yellow Shark is easily his best effort at getting this across. The acoustics and sound are incredibly rich and full of life, compared to the perhaps more synthetic sounds of his earlier classical records, and the Ensemble Modern do an excellent job interpreting some of Frank's compositions for such a format. One particular highlight is "G-Spot Tornado", a dense and complicated piece that Zappa himself thought impossible to play with actual musicians, but the Ensemble pull it off impeccably. Fans of Frank's rock music likely won't find much here to enjoy, but those with an ear for the classical will more than likely get plenty of enjoyment out of it. This being the final record Zappa released when he was still alive gives it a kind of bittersweet feeling, but finally being able to achieve something he'd been rooting for his entire professional life makes this record something of a triumph.

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Ween - Paintin' The Town Brown: Ween Live '90-'98


Unlike Ween's other live albums, which showcase a specific live show, Paintin' the Town Brown: Ween Live '90-'98 is a compilation of several different live dates, from the band's DAT days, to their full band tour in support of The Mollusk. As well as showing off the band's virtuosity, with songs from all of their albums up to that point (bar The Mollusk), it also acts as a way of getting some of their more obscure songs to people, as several non-album tracks and b-sides appear here. Disc One acts as the general compilation, with Disc Two showcasing the band's skills at jamming, with a pair of nearly half-hour songs dominating it. Depending on your enjoyment of long songs and jams in general, Disc Two will generally be hit and miss. Regardless, this is a good summary of Live Ween, but those looking for a more condensed example may do better with Live at Stubb's, 7/2000.

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Weatherday - Come In


Loud, abrasive, and yet intensely beautiful. Many people have compared this to bands like Car Seat Headrest, and while some of the themes and recording styles may be similar, this manages to exist in its own world. It's the sound of someone making music in their bedroom with whatever equipment they have at their disposal, more caring about making something that they can be proud of than something super polished and clean. I hope that some day we can look forward to a physical edition.

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The Fox - For Fox Sake


For Fox Sake is easily one of the better hidden gems in the late psychedelic era. Apparently culled from a demo session that the band submitted with the intent of rerecording, the sound quality is fairly rough, but not unlistenable. As well as this, the demo performances allow for a sort of authenticity and spontaneity that may not have been present had it been redone with slicker production. In particular, tracks like "Lovely Day" and "Mr Blank" are quite well done, with a Hammond Organ giving the album a bit more of an abrasive edge. The closer "Madame Magical" is a good example of a long psych song done well, with different sections and some (maybe subdued) jamming in the middle. Despite the good tunes, the album's double entente title is probably a big reason it didn't sell. Original pressings are extremely rare and expensive, but definitely worth tracking down a reissue on CD/LP

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The Crescent - The Crescent


"One of the most underrated indie rock albums of the 2000s."

I say that title with no hyperbole in the slightest. Obviously, this release isn't perfect, but the fact that it's as obscure as it is feels like a crime.

The Crescent, mentored by the lead singer of The La's, managed to release a single self-titled album in 2002, alongside a small smattering of singles before breaking up the following year. And those teachings definitely carry over, as the sound of this LP reminds a lot of the sound of The La's, and by extension the early Cast records. The guitars are jangly, and have an edge to them that make great listening, especially on the single cut "Spinnin' Wheels", which I consider the best song here.

However, as previously mentioned, there are a couple drawbacks. The main one is that "On The Run", as catchy as it is, clearly steals part of its melody from "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones. The fact that they were able to avoid any legal action is kind of impressive, especially considering the debacle involving The Verve, who were also on the same exact label.

There's also a slight issue with the songs getting a little samey in the second half of the record, but since there's only 10 songs here clocking in at just over 40 minutes, this isn't as much of an issue. Not to mention that none of the songs can really be called clunkers, so there's no need to skip any of them. In short, if you like The La's, then in all likelihood you'll love this hidden gem.

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Places to buy these records:

Frank Zappa - You Are What You Is: https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Are-What-Frank-Zappa/dp/B008PPUMYQ

Frank Zappa & The Ensemble Modern - The Yellow Shark: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yellow-Shark-Frank-Zappa/dp/B008SBKYXQ

Ween - Paintin' The Town Brown: Ween Live '90-'98: https://www.discogs.com/Ween-Paintin-The-Town-Brown-Ween-Live-90-98/master/32657

Weatherday - Come In: https://weatherornot.bandcamp.com/album/come-in

The Fox - For Fox Sake: https://www.discogs.com/The-Fox-For-Fox-Sake-Vol-I/master/268949

The Crescent - The Crescent: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crescent/dp/B00006IQOM