Sunday 28 February 2016

1001 7" Records You Must Own No.59 The Cribs - You're Gonna Lose Us / I Was Her Man But I Done Her Wrong



Leave it to The Cribs to write a b-side that was so good they ended up re-recording it as a single, ‘You’re Gonna Lose Us’ is classic New Fellas era Cribs full of their usual wit and charm and shout along chorus that only just manages to hold it together without falling apart. On the flipside you get the equally amazing ‘I Was Her Man But I Done Her Wrong’ showcasing the bands softer side and reminiscent of the outstanding ‘It Was Only Love’ from the New Fellas album, beautiful stuff.

Saturday 13 February 2016

1001 7" Records You Must Own No.54 The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love / You Can't Do That


Don’t get me wrong, there’s tons of great Beatles records but this is one of my favourites, of course you have the classic a-side which everyone should know and shame on you if you don’t but that’s not why I love this record so much it’s the flipside. ‘You Can’t Do That’ is a lost classic that should have been the first track, Lennon is superb on this one and full of jealous subdued rage showing that even the less well known songs were far superior to other bands making the charts in those days.

1001 7" Records You Must Own No.55 Buckcherry - Lit Up / Late Nights In Voodoo




More sleaze rock, while they’ve not always been completely consistent Buckcherry can write some amazing songs when they’re on form and with their debut single they started out with a an ode to Cocaine not my thing but that doesn’t get in the way of it being a big bombastic track with a huge chorus and great melodies for anyone who misses the early Guns N Roses style. Backing this up is the amazing ‘Late Night In Voodoo’ which if it wasn’t a b-side would have been a highlight of the first album and would have made a great single in its own right, far too good to be relegated to obscurity, one day I’ll make a playlist of my favourite b-sides and this will make the cut easily.

Wednesday 10 February 2016

1001 7" Records You Must Own No.53 Backyard Babies - Babylon / Stars



Cover songs as singles can sometimes leave a bad taste in the mouth, if they’re too similar to the original they seem pointless, Backyard Babies don’t take this route, they amp the original up to 11 and bring in a certain Mr. Ginger Wildheart to make it even more worthwhile. Not dissing the original Faster Pussycat version but this has so much more energy and power, backing this up with ‘Stars’ and ode to some of their favourite and not so favourite artists with the catchy chorus of “Shut Up You Fuck” you have another outstanding 7”.


Sunday 7 February 2016

1001 7" Records You Must Own No.52 At The Drive-In - One Armed Scissor / Pattern Against User / Incetardis


Having got into At The Drive-In via their mini-album ‘Vaya’ I was so blown away by their chaotic unique take on punkrock that I couldn’t wait to hear more, luckily in their short existence they were extremely prolific and I didn’t have to wait long. ‘One Armed Scissor’ takes what they’d done before and pushed it to higher levels of excellence, it’s chaotic  yet holds enough melody to make it a highlight among the bands output. ‘Pattern Against User’ again let people know just how amazing the forthcoming album was going to be and to top it all off you get the exclusive ‘Incetardis’ showing that even the cuts that didn’t make the album pissed all over other bands at the time.

Thursday 4 February 2016

1001 7" Records You Must Own No.51 Three Colours Red - This Is My Hollywood / Hate Slick



As a statement of intent goes, the first outing from 3 Colours Red or ‘Three Colours Red’ as they went by on this release you couldn’t get a better introduction to a band.  Once again released by the excellent Fierce Panda label when the needle hits the record you know you’re onto something special ‘This Is My Hollywood’ is classic 90’s rock that stands up against contemporaries like The Wildhearts, Kerbdog and Baby Chaos but with a more punky edge, full of vigour and melody and a great shout a-long chorus, I could listen to this on repeat for hours. Backed up by the even heavier ‘Hate Slick’ you have a perfect coupling that would pave way for an excellent debut album.

Monday 1 February 2016

1001 7" Records You Must Own No.50 Sunhouse - Smalltime Sessions


Despite his shyness and unwillingness to tour Gavin Clarke had actually been quite prolific during his 20 year or so career, and his recent passing is made all the more upsetting by the fact that he was finally getting back on track. Recent album ‘Evangelist’ and the odds and sods double LP ‘Beautiful Skeletons’ are both outstanding examples of his brilliant song writing and his amazing voice, which is probably right up there with Mark Lanegan and Ben Ottewell. But before his recent output there was about an albums worth of guest vocals for bands like UNKLE, the exceptional Clayhill, but in the beginning there was Sunhouse. I remember reading a very favourable review of their first album in Uncut magazine and picking up what would become one of my favourite records ever, they only released that album and a hand full of b-sides but everything they recorded is worth checking out including this early single. The Smalltime Sessions were recorded for the very low budget early Shane Meadows film of the same name and on this record you get two of the best songs Sunhouse ever did. Starting with ‘Hurricane’ one of their more upbeat songs it’s the best single you’ve never heard it should be considered a classic. On the flipside you have the come down of ‘Crazy On A Weekend’ which shows off Gavin’s amazing vocals to their best effect, both of the these tracks and pretty much everything he did is worth checking out. RIP Gavin, god bless and thank you for sharing your talent with us while you could.