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Post by andrew07 on Mar 21, 2012 1:05:45 GMT 1
If there was ever an underrated band, it's got to be Big Star. Fronted by Alex Chilton, they were critically acclaimed but their records weren't big sellers, due to poor distribution and lack of promotion from their labels (particularly Columbia, who felt that the band weren't marketable). Lack of success led to in-band fighting and drug addiction. Chris Bell, was tragically killed in a car accident after their 3rd album was released in 1974 and Big Star split.
But in 1993, the remaining members reformed and went on to tour with 2 members of The Posies joining the fold, until 2010 when the band called it a day following the recent passings of original members Alex Chilton and Andy Hummell.
Big Star would become a huge influence on the likes of R.E.M and Teenage Fanclub among others. Here's, what is seen as one of Big Star's greatest songs.
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Post by andrew07 on Mar 18, 2012 1:55:09 GMT 1
I just heard "A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed" in a repeat of The Inbetweeners last night. And there was a great b-side that Theaudience did, "You And Me On The Run", which I heard on a free cd with Select back then too.
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Post by andrew07 on Mar 15, 2012 18:51:06 GMT 1
I remember watching CD:UK and on it mentioned that Purple Pills by D12 came close to disqualification as it had a free sticker inside. When I went to Virgin Megastore that same saturday, I noticed that they'd taken the stickers out of the cds and placed them on the counter, meaning that anyone could just take a free sticker, whether they bought the cd or not. Too bad that didn't happen when Electric Soft Parade had a single disqualified just because they gave away a free sticker too.
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Post by andrew07 on Mar 7, 2012 23:49:46 GMT 1
That Steps single was sold in record stores, by mistake a week before it was meant to be released, resulting in a first week charting of No.72. I read that this was the first time that happened since "Everybody In The Place" by the Prodigy in 1992.
Musically, things started to get a bit better in 2001, The Strokes released what I think is the first brilliant album of the 21st century "Is This It". The White Stripes and Gorillaz emerged onto the scene too, Elbow released their debut album, and Avalanches released what I felt was album of the summer, "Since I Left You", they're supposed to be releasing that long-delayed follow up this year too.
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Post by andrew07 on Mar 4, 2012 17:31:35 GMT 1
Love Daft Punk, their first two albums are ace And I was laughing hysterically when Bob The Builder ended Westlife's run of consecutive No.1's back then.
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Post by andrew07 on Feb 24, 2012 20:07:49 GMT 1
I like Six, such an understated and adventurous album.
This is one of my fave tracks off it:
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Post by andrew07 on Feb 23, 2012 2:40:09 GMT 1
I know it's a bit silly but I was a bit p*ssed off at the time that the only SFA to get a top 10 hit was the one in this topic, and not the Welsh band who had lots of hits. Yeah, I know how you feel, I even bought both the Furries "Northern Lites" (#11, 1999) and "Juxtapozed With U" (#14, 2001) singles in the weeks that they came out, and I was convinced either would give them a top ten hit, especially the latter as it had more airplay than anything else they put out but was stunned that it missed out. Definitely one of my fave bands ever, and I really liked Gruff's most recent album too.
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Post by andrew07 on Feb 20, 2012 0:06:19 GMT 1
I did find the year 2000 slightly disappointing for new music. Oasis had released Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants, which got savaged at the time but did have a few good tracks on it, Richard Ashcroft released his first solo album which I didn't feel was as great as what he did with The Verve and Radiohead put out Kid A which actually took me a number of listens to get into before I warmed to it. Even I was stunned when that got to No.1 in the UK and the US.
But having said that, my fave albums of that year were Lost Souls by Doves, Parachutes by Coldplay and Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea by PJ Harvey.
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Post by andrew07 on Jan 30, 2012 2:44:51 GMT 1
When the White Stripes split, exactly a year ago this week, they left a message saying "The White Stripes belong to you now and you can do with it whatever you want". So my feeling is Jack White ain't bothered about who covers his stuff as long as he gets a good pay out of it. However, I'm not keen on Marcus' cover though.
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Post by andrew07 on Jan 24, 2012 20:17:10 GMT 1
When I got my first cd stereo in 1997, I started collecting free cds that came with magazines, and the first one I got (which was called "Be There Then") came with an issue of Select that year, and this song is the most memorable for me, from a band whose career was very short:
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Post by andrew07 on Jan 24, 2012 20:01:04 GMT 1
Love "Jediwannabe" by Bellatrix I first heard that on Steve Lamacq's show on Radio 1 and bought it on day of release. Another song I heard that year from the same show, which got a limited release and was voted "Alternative Single Of The Year" on Steve's show:
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Post by andrew07 on Dec 30, 2011 20:20:02 GMT 1
I bought both cds of "Tender" on the day that song came out, and I remember in the midweeks it was neck-and-neck with Britney Spears for the No.1 position. It's possibly their best song not to reach No.1, but if you bought their album "13" on the strength of that song, you probably would have been a bit disappointed. They'd become much more experimental and I must admit, at first listen it did seem a bit depressing and also given the subject matter that ran through much of the album (Damon's breakup with Justine Frischmann, especially on "No Distance Left To Run"), but with time I grew to appreciate it for its bravery and sincerity, at times I couldn't tell which parts were Blur's and which were William Orbit's. Seeing them perform this song on the Glastonbury highlights 2 years ago was, for me, one of the best performances I've ever seen.
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Post by andrew07 on Dec 22, 2011 12:30:25 GMT 1
I've got 3 words for Steps - Belle And Sebastian And that Stardust track is still great, that should have been No.1, because there was no video for it at the time, The Chart Show created this video where they used all their old logos and indents over the years, and had that song been No.1 it would have been fitting as the show was coming to end after 12 years.
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Post by andrew07 on Dec 13, 2011 20:39:18 GMT 1
"Stand By Me" was a great single, and it's got one of my fave b-sides on it too, "Going Nowhere". There was a very good acoustic version of Stand By Me which they performed on the Oasis documentary "Right Here Right Now" that same year.
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Post by andrew07 on Dec 12, 2011 20:11:51 GMT 1
We're getting into the latter stages of Britpop here. I didn't realise the whole bubble would have burst within a year, but the general direction of britpop does seem to be changing slightly from the way it was 2 years earlier. The wave of the few bands that would still be there to carry us through the lean spell mostly made their first appearances around now: Travis (a more rocky version), Sterephonics, Feeder and to some extent Catatonia. By the way, I am one of those who feels that the correct Verve single reached #1. In any case their album Urban Hymns was #1 for a while and I bought that album, although I never really got into it that much. On 21 August 1997, Oasis famously released "Be Here Now". It was much hyped and did have a few good songs on it (one will be up shortly) but overall the album wasn't as good as What's The Story Morning Glory. (Actually was it really possible to beat that album?). And with all this, as we get into 1998, enter The Corrs and Shania Twain. They will be the new big album sellers... Bye bye Britpop? I would agree that Be Here Now did signal the end of Britpop. After their 2 successful gigs at Knebworth, there was so much expectation for that album and when it did come out, it did well but listening to it, it was just overblown, and the songs went on for ages, there was only a couple of songs on it I liked. Other bands from that era began to flounder, Sleeper had just released their last album and pretty soon after they were dropped. Elastica's 2nd album didn't come out till 2000. Menswear recorded a 2nd album which only got a japanese release. But at least Blur did the right thing by moving away from their previous sound and began to experiment more over time. At least a "Welsh invasion" took over the following year with the Manics, Stereophonics and Catatonia all having huge success
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Post by andrew07 on Dec 10, 2011 13:32:44 GMT 1
Carter USM found themselves in a similar situation in 1991 over their "After The Watershed" single, even though they'd only used a little of "Ruby Tuesday" near the end of the song, the Stones' publishers still demanded 100% royalties. Back to The Verve, I'm surprised Richard Ashcroft gets nothing for Bitter Sweet Symphony, despite the fact that he not only sang on it, but he wrote the lyrics. It has been mentioned though, that the Stones song "The Last Time" was based on a traditional gospel song, "This May Be Our Last Time" which The Staple Singers recorded in 1955. That aside, it's one of my fave No.2 hits of 1997, this came out just as I was leaving the gates of high school for the very last time. An amazing comeback for The Verve and although many had expected the Oasis album Be Here Now to be the big triumphant album of that year, it was The Verve that got the glory with Urban Hymns. Still a great album from start to finish.
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Post by andrew07 on Dec 8, 2011 14:06:52 GMT 1
Blur had done a song like Song 2 before, the limited edition 'Popscene' which was just as heavy and arguably better it came out in 1992 actually. I loved 'Song 2' at the time and Blur were my favourite band of the 90s no question but I'm tired of it now. You cant even imagine a song like 'Richard III' making the top 40 now never mind number 2 how things have changed I actually thought that Song 2 was the sequel to Popscene, even the backdrop in both videos looks similar.
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Post by andrew07 on Dec 8, 2011 0:50:11 GMT 1
Love Richard III, and In It For The Money is a smashing album, very understated too I like Song 2 also, their self-titled album was actually the very first cd I got when i got my first cd player. Blur changed to a lo-fi sound on that album (Pavement were an influence on it) and they certainly managed to reach out to audiences overseas that previously had yet to embrace them (particularly the US), and I feel that Graham Coxon had more involvement as it's the sound he's stuck to on his solo works.
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Post by andrew07 on Dec 5, 2011 22:12:12 GMT 1
That Shamen song "Comin' On" did chart actually. It was on the S.O.S EP they released, charting at No.14.
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Post by andrew07 on Dec 2, 2011 17:16:20 GMT 1
I thought Kula Shaker were ok at the time, and then Crispian Mills had to go and open his big mouth.
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