Michael Palin - Around the World in 80 Days 3 & 4

Here is part 3 and 4 of a 8 part series
Synopsis:
In the autumn of 1988, Michael Palin set out from the Reform Club with an ambitious plan: to circumnavigate the world, following the route taken by Jules Verne's fictional hero Phileas Fogg 115 years earlier. This fascinating and humorous account tells the story of his travels: from Venice on the back of a rubbish barge to the Pyramids on a camel. Read by the author. Now with added music.

Download here:
Around the World in 80 Days part 1
Around the World in 80 Days part 2
Around the World in 80 Days part 3
Around the World in 80 Days part 4

Teeanage Fanclub - Have Lost It

I think that the newer version of Everything Flows is great.

1. Don't Look Back (acoustic) (Love) 3:22
2. Everything Flows (acoustic) (Blake) 5:31
3. Starsign (acoustic) (Love) 4:57
4. 120 Mins. (acoustic) (McGinley) 2:51

Download Here: Have Lost It

Teenage Fanclub - Sparky's Dream

Check out the Neil Young cover.

1. Sparky's Dream (Love) 3:17

2. Burned (Neil Young) 2:23

3. For You (McGinley) 3:25

4. Headstand (Love) 3:03

Download Here: Dream

Cigarettes and Alcohol - 40 Modern Anthems

No reason apart from it is a great compilation. Yes there is some crap but not much.

Disc: 1
1. Cigarettes & Alcohol - Oasis
2. London Calling - The Clash
3. A Design For Life - Manic Street Preachers
4. Dancing In The Moonlight - Toploader
5. There She Goes - The La's
6. I Am The Resurrection - The Stone Roses
7. The Day We Caught The Train - Ocean Colour Scene
8. Down In The Tube Station At Midnight - The Jam
9. The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
10. All Or Nothing - The Small Faces
11. Common People - Pulp
12. Lust For Life - Iggy Pop
13. She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult
14. Maggie May - Rod Stewart
15. Up The Junction - Squeeze
16. Ghost Town - The Specials
17. Walkaway - Cast
18. You Really Got Me - The Kinks
19. Mama Told Me Not To Come - The Stereophonics / Tom Jones
20. True Faith '94 - New Order

Disc: 2
1. Let Me Entertain You - Robbie Williams
2. Happy - Travis
3. One To Another - The Charlatans
4. Panic - The Smiths
5. Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll - Ian Dury & The Blockheads
6. The Size Of A Cow - The Wonderstuff
7. Ever Fallen In Love - The Buzzcocks
8. Two Princes - Spin Doctors
9. Sunday Shining - Finlay Quayle
10. Hey Dude - Kula Shaker
11. Place Your Hands - Reef
12. New Perfume - Crashland
13. What Do You Want From Me - Monaco
14. My Girl - Madness
15. In A Room - Dodgy
16. Step On - Happy Mondays
17. Road Rage - Catatonia
18. Life Of Riley - Lightning Seeds
19. Wake Up Boo! - The Boo Radleys
20. Smile - The Supernaturals

Download here: FIXED OOPS!!!
Disc 1
Disc 2

Ride - OX4 The Best of Ride.

I thought I would leave the best till last, well not quite, so these people who are new to the blog can try out a bit of Ride. None in my opinion or anywhere near there best but they were mostly singles so I suppose they had to release it.

1. "Chelsea Girl"
2. "Drive Blind"
3. "Like a Daydream"
4. "Taste"
5. "Dreams Burn Down"
6. "Vapour Trail"
7. "Unfamiliar"
8. "Leave Them All Behind"
9. "Twisterella"
10. "OX4"
11. "Birdman"
12. "From Time to Time"
13. "How Does it Feel to Feel"
14. "I Don't Know Where it Comes From"
15. "Black Nite Crash"

Download Here: OX4

Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque

I used to cover December in my band way back in the days of old.
The whole album is so well balanced...take your pick they are all good songs. A classic album.

1. The Concept (Blake) 6:06
2. Satan (TFC) 1:22
3. December (Love) 3:03
4. What You Do To Me (Blake) 2:00
5. I Don't Know (McGinley) 4:35
6. Star Sign (Love) 4:56
7. Metal Baby (Blake) 3:39
8. Pet Rock (Love) 2:35
9. Sidewinder (Love/O'Hare) 3:03
10. Alcoholiday (Blake) 5:26
11. Guiding Star (Love) 2:48
12. Is This Music? (Love) 3:17

Download here: Bandwagonesque

Cast - Mother Nature Calls

Everything about this album is fantastic. I look into freinds collections and I always see they have All Change but not this one. Upon asking them why they often say I thought they only did one album. Like shite these are gems of songs and should be celebrated. Power is a great song writer and if you get the chance check out his solo album here:

All songs written by Power.

1. "Free Me"
2. "On The Run"
3. "Live The Dream"
4. "Soul Tied"
5. "She Sun Shines"
6. "I'm So Lonely"
7. "Mad Hatter"
8. "Mirror Me"
9. "Guiding Star"
10. "Never Gonna Tell You What To Do (Revolution)"
11. "Dance Of The Stars"

For their second album, 1997s Mother Nature Calls, the fast paced guitar songs were replaced with a a more contemplative sound. The band continued to release radio-friendly material such as "Free Me". According to Power the title of the album was supposed to be tongue in cheek because Mother Nature is always calling (because of man's mortality), but also because he was on the toilet at the time he came up with the name. The band decided to once again use John Leckie to help record the album and the production was much more well-developed on this album, with the band using much more than the simple guitar-bass-drums mix as they had done on the previous album. John Power has blamed the initial poor reception on the album on the fact that it is a "grower" requiring much more patience than the more pop-based style of All Change and has claimed that a number of critics later told him that they felt they had changed their perceptions of the album. Despite this the album spawned another two top ten hits with "Live the Dream" and "Guiding Star" and one top twenty hit with "I'm So Lonely". The album peaked at #3, going platinum (according to the BPI), but many believe the album went at least double platinum, if not more, considering its chart peak.

Download Here: Cast - Mother Nature Calls

Oasis - All Around the World

Over the top nonsense which I think is great

1. "All Around the World" - 9:38
2. "The Fame" - 4:35
3. "Flashbax" - 5:07
4. "Street Fighting Man" (Jagger/Richards) - 3:54
   

"All Around the World", nearly ten minutes long, is embellished with string and horn pieces, and is followed by a two-minute-long instrumental, "All Around the World (Reprise)". Upon its release the reviews were generally positive. It is in keeping with many Oasis songs, such as "Whatever", "Acquiesce", "Live Forever" and "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" in that it preaches the belief that "it's gonna be OK". It also features a backing vocal in the coda remarkably similar to the corresponding section in The Beatles' classic "Hey Jude".

Download here: All Around the World

Oasis - The Importance Of Being Idle

I think Pass Me Down the Wine is the best song Liam has wrote and likewise with the single for Noel, one of my favs that he has done too.

1. "The Importance of Being Idle" (Noel Gallagher) - 3:43
2. "Pass Me Down the Wine" (Liam Gallagher) - 3:51
3. "The Quiet Ones" (Gem Archer) - 2:01

Noel has said that the lyrics of "The Importance of Being Idle" are inspired by his own laziness. Some of the second verse, with the reference to begging his doctor for "one more line", seems to be referring to an actual event as this resembles Noel's account of how he gave up cocaine in 1998.
Most reviewers acclaimed the track as one of the highlights of Don't Believe the Truth, which itself was widely praised as a marked return to form. The band mentioned in interviews in June that it would become the second single, after the UK Number One "Lyla". The b-sides are Liam Gallagher's "Pass Me Down the Wine" and Gem Archer's "The Quiet Ones."

Download Here: Idle

Michael Palin - Around the World in 80 Days Part 2 of 8

Here is part 2 of a 8 part series
Synopsis:
In the autumn of 1988, Michael Palin set out from the Reform Club with an ambitious plan: to circumnavigate the world, following the route taken by Jules Verne's fictional hero Phileas Fogg 115 years earlier. This fascinating and humorous account tells the story of his travels: from Venice on the back of a rubbish barge to the Pyramids on a camel. Read by the author. Now with added music.

Download here:
Around the World in 80 Days part 1
Around the World in 80 Days part 2

Ride - Firing Blanks

The box set is a must have for anyone in there collection I would recomend buying this as the whole package is great.

Here is what Steve from the band thought of the album.

Something's Burning - During the summer of 1993 we recorded two sessions at Courtyard Studios in Oxford as preparation for "Carnival Of Light". Sadly this song, whilst good enough to have been included was dropped along with various other potential tunes. Just too many songs knocking around at that time.

Chelsea Girl (4 track demo) - This is Andy and Me demoing tunes during 1988 in my bedroom. I had a four track machine which we used for all sorts of ideas in the early days before we had a proper band. In later months we managed to demo a lot of early songs squeezing the whole band into bedrooms or living rooms much to the neighbours disgust.

Blue & Everybody Knows - Written by Loz, these were originally included in the tracklisting for Going Blank Again. Unfortunately they were dropped along with 'Tongue Tied' on the advice of both record companies who were insisting that the album was way too long. I think they had a point.

Dreams Burn Down dub - Again we made Creation very nervous when we played them this saying that we had re-thought the whole concept of the song. Although it would be difficult to top the real version, I think this is a fantastic alternative offering an even darker atmosphere.

She's So Fine - It took three years for this song to finally make it on to Tarantula. This is the original version recorded back in 1993, another song left by the wayside in preparation for Going Blank Again. We demoed it again in Cornwall with John Leckie, this time looping a 4 bar sample which never made it to the vocal stage.

New Age - The only cover on the CD. Recorded at Abbey Road as a potential b-side for 'How Does It Feel To Feel' but later superseded by some instrumental nonsense from me and Loz in the shape of 'Walkabout'. God knows why!

Tongue Tied - This in my opinion is the best unreleased track that we ever recorded. I think this is one of the few occasions where the intensity and beauty of Ride was captured perfectly on tape, everything fits together perfectly. Unfortunately it was dropped as a way of reducing the length of Going Blank Again. Why it never turned up on a b-side I don't know. Dropped and forgotten.

I'm Fine Thanks - Another song from the early days. It was originally titled 'Why' and demoed several times on the four track before we took it into our first proper recording session at Union St. Studios in Oxford where we recorded Drive Blind. An early live favourite.

Xmas Song - Absolutely nothing to do with Christmas. A sign of cabin fever setting in during the Going blank again sessions.

King Bullshit - Yet another piece of music that could have been included on Going Blank Again. The full version is over 8 minutes long and was edited down to about 60 seconds to bridge a couple of songs on the album instead. This version uses all the best bits without having to endure the full horror of Me and Loz going on and on and on...

Smile (4-track version) - We had to work hard to clean this version up as every other demo fell short of the danger that appears here. Again another song that worked really well live but never sounded right in the studio, hence this hissy mess that captures Andy's speakers giving up half way through the outro.

Welcome To Paradise - Recorded and mixed for Tarantula but cut from the final tracklisting.
In A Different Place (differently) - This is included as it has something that the Nowhere version failed to capture. Andy's lead guitar is way over the top and the rest of us are playing all sorts of bum notes but for some reason it remains the best take we ever did.

BarneyS - This is what happens when you're trying to record an album but your singer is still in bed at 3 in the afternoon. It's a tribute (or blatant rip off) to New order that gradually built throughout the day looping Loz's fills and Andy's riffs onto my backing track. However as soon as Mark arrived with axe in hand, normal Ride business was resumed.

Download here: Firing Blanks

Verve - No Come Down

I have liked everything that these have done and I am looking forward to the new stuff.

1. No Come Down
2. Blue
3. Make It Till Monday
4. Butterfly
5. Where The Geese Go
6. Six O'Clock
7. One Way To Go
8. Gravity Grave
9. Twilight

If you're best acquainted with the magnificent fireworks and impassioned preaching that characterised The Verve's epic parting shot, Urban Hymns, then No Come Down should prove a peculiar second take on Wigan's finest. An American release, it collects together rarities and live versions of The Verve's earliest work. "Make It Till Monday" and "Butterfly" are acoustic takes on the dazed psychedelic sketches that appeared on The Verve's disappointing debut, A Storm In Heaven. Stripped down from their original incarnations, they find a new, more impassioned soul that allies "No Come Down" with The Verve's soulful acoustic forays. It's the quite remarkable live take on "Gravity Grave" that proves No Come Down's centrepiece, though--recorded live at Glastonbury, it's the deepest reading of The Verve's tripped-out anthem that you'll find. --Louis Pattison

Download here: No Come Down

Kula Shaker - Strangefolk

I am not going to make a point about putting albums up that are yet to be released but I found this and thought it was the best album I have heard in such a long time. I will be first in line to get this when it is released and I hope you will be too.

1. Out On The Highway
2. Second Sight
3. Die For Love (Album Edit)
4. Great Dictator
5. Strangefolk
6. Song Of Love / Narayana
7. Shadowlands
8. Fool That I Am
9. Hurricane Season
10. Ol' Jack Tar
11. 6ft Down Blues
12. Dr Kitt
13. Super Cb Operator

Download Here: Strangefolk

Ride - Live Reading Festival 1992

Live at Reading Festival 1992Released 24th September 2001

1. Leave Them All Behind
2. Taste
3. Not Fazed
4. Sennen
5. Like A Daydream
6. Twisterella
7. Time Of Her Time
8. Nowhere
9. Vapour Trail
10. Seagull
11. Close My Eyes
12. Mouse Trap

"...It all kind of centred on Loz. He was a hurricane behind the drums, you'd just see this blur of sticks and hair. Stage right was Steve, staring intently downwards, snapping the groove tightly down. Off to the left was Andy, in his own world. I'd never seen anyone play guitar as naturally as he did. The fucker was 19! And right up front you had Mark, thrashing wildly at the six strings, but cooing like an angel into the mic, the Ride duality in one body. A fit one it was, too. Somehow, there were already girls at the crash barrier, gazing up at him..."

Download here: Live Reading Festival

Straw - Shoplifting

I just think that this was one of the best albums of the 90's and I think that you all should download this.

1. Dracula Has Risen From The Grave
2. Weird Superman
3. Aeroplane Song
4. Moving To California
5. Shoplifting
6. Kill Your Boyfriend
7. Anthem For The Low In Self Esteem
8. United States Of Amnesia
9. Postcards From Hell
10. Soundtrack Of The Summer
11. Wake Up (Miss Venezuala)
12. We Don't Belong

The debut album from these young major label signings offers keyboard-driven power pop that delves back in time to incorporate vibes from the Beatles and Small Faces. When it works it's great, especially on "Weird Superman" which swaggers along with a great hook. "United States Of Amnesia" soars high with clever lyrical play, while "We Don't Belong" closes the record with incredible energy. Straw offer refreshingly coy yet largely unpretentious songs that come over particularly well after they've been seen live, yet the quartet sometimes try to be doing too much at times. The sickeningly jaunty "Aeroplane Song" is something you'd expect from latterday Space and there's too much similar gimmickry elsewhere.

Download here: Shoplifting

The Charlatans - Me In Time

The single never appeared on any album but Christ it is good and the two B-Sides are fantastic.

1. Me In Time
2. Occupation
3. Monster

Download Here: Me In Time

Dodgy - Staying Out For The Summer

This is a must to get for the cover version of Soul 2 Soul's Back To Life. F**king amazing.
CD2 :

1. Staying Out For The Summer
2. Lovebirds (Demo)
3. As My Time Goes By (Demo)
4. Back To Life

Download Here: Staying Out For The Summer

Chapterhouse - Whirlpool

This album is just so of it's time and it is great to chill out to.

1. "Breather" (Andrew Sherriff) – 4:20
2. "Pearl" (Sherriff) – 4:52
3. "Autosleeper" (Stephen Patman) – 4:50
4. "Treasure" (Patman) – 6:22
5. "Falling Down" (Sherriff) – 3:58
6. "April" (Sherriff) – 4:39
7. "Guilt" (Patman, Sherriff) – 4:15
8. "If You Want Me" (Russell Barrett, Sherriff) – 2:41
9. "Something More" (Sherriff) – 3:20

Their first LP Whirlpool, released in 1991, has been cited as one of the genre's high points, but failed to capture a wider market. In the same year, Chapterhouse also appeared in their home town Reading Festival immediately following Nirvana's UK debut, an event which was seen to sound the death knell for shoegazing.

Download here: Whirlpool

Heavy Stereo - Smiler

Glam rock on!!!

1. Smiler
2. Cartoon Moon
3. Wonderfools

Download here: Smiler

Oasis - Stop Crying Your Heart Out

I love shout it out loud, this is a great tune that just shows what great B-Side they could still make.

1. "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" - 5:02
2. "Thank You For The Good Times" - 4:32
3. "Shout It Out Loud" - 4:20

Noel Gallagher had high expectations for the song, saying "I hope it does for us what 'Don't Look Back In Anger' did... I didn't want it as a single because I thought we'd done all that before, but everyone's going, 'You're fucking mad.'" It appears Gallagher's hopes were well founded, as the song received a warm response from the critics. NME said, with regards to the album " 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out' [is where] you really start rolling out the red carpet. A return to the long lost humanism of 'Don't Look Back In Anger', it's a reminder of Noel's uncanny knack of cheering up his audience just when they need it most." Q magazine held up the song as proof that "genius never completely left Oasis".

Download here: Stop Crying Your Heart Out

Michael Palin - Around the World in 80 Days Part 1 of 8

I have just bought this from a charity shop and have listened to the first hour of it and have really enjoyed it so I whacked it onto mp3. I will do the same for the rest of it and post in a series. Total length 7h 33m.

Synopsis:
In the autumn of 1988, Michael Palin set out from the Reform Club with an ambitious plan: to circumnavigate the world, following the route taken by Jules Verne's fictional hero Phileas Fogg 115 years earlier. This fascinating and humorous account tells the story of his travels: from Venice on the back of a rubbish barge to the Pyramids on a camel. Read by the author. Now with added music.

Download here: Around the World in 80 Days

Ride - Tarantula

Ride the Wind and Deep Inside my Pocket are the two outstanding tracks however Andy wrote some go ones here.

All songs written by Andy Bell unless otherwise stated.

1. "Black Nite Crash"
2. "Sunshine / Nowhere to Run"
3. "Dead Man"
4. "Walk on Water"
5. "Deep Inside my Pocket" (Gardener/Rieley)
6. "Mary Anne"
7. "Castle on the Hill"
8. "Gonna Be Alright" (Colbert)
9. "The Dawn Patrol"
10. "Ride the Wind" (Colbert)
11. "Burnin'"
12. "Starlight Motel"

The album was re-released on 24 September 2001 and featured the following bonus tracks taken from the "Black Nite Crash" single:

"Nothing Lasts Forever"
"Slave"
"A Trip Down Ronnie Lane"

Download here: Tarantula

Teenage Fanclub - Hang On

The last two posts are from the album 13 which will appear here soon. Also lots more Fannies to come.

1. Hang On (radio edit) (Love) 3:12
2. Hang On (Love) 5:06
3. 120 Minutes (live) (McGinley) 3:15
4. Four Strong Winds (live) (I. Tyson) 3:51
5. Hang On (live) (Love) 2:53

Thirteen, is more grungy than Bandwagonesque in style; it suffered scathing reviews at the time of release, possibly motivated by a backlash against the critical praise heaped on Bandwagonesque and also instigated in part by the group who with typical honesty (and probably fatigued by the protracted recording process) did not hide their disappointment with the album from interviewers. Brendan O'Hare left Teenage Fanclub during this period due to "musical differences" and was replaced by Paul Quinn (formerly of the Soup Dragons).

Download Here: Hang On

Teenage Fanclub - Norman 3

I love this band and here is one of many singles buy them that I have. Check out Older Guys. I think that this is a Flying Burritos Brothers track.

1. 1. Norman 3 (Blake) 3:43
2. 2. Older Guys (Parsons/Hillman/Leadon) 2:41
3. 3. Genius Envy (McGinley) 2:58
4. 4. Golden Glades (O'Hare Esq) 4:30

Download Here: Norman 3

Idha - A Woman in a Mans World

Very nice lady.

This is Idha's most different, and one of her most beautiful releases - a four track E.P. of cover songs all written by men. All of these songs are unique to this single and don't appear on either of her two albums. The songs are great check out Willin' the Byrds cover.

1. Ooh La La,
2. A Song For You,
3. Willin'
4. Going To Mexico.

Download here: Woman in a Mans World