An Alternative History of "Pop" Music: Part 2, 1982 -

[jamiefairlie]

Cinerama - Kerry Kerry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HDyRmHwLQA



Formed by David Gedge in 1998 while on a break from The Wedding Present, Cinerama started as a duo of Gedge and his then-girlfriend Sally Murrell. This is their debut single and it reached number 15 in the Festive Fifty.

[Brundle-Fly]

Intro- There's Only One Year Left/ Everybody Rise - Busta Rhymes.  Released on Elektra in 1998.





Nearly a quarter of a century later, this sooth saying album-opening message (and pre 911 exploding NYcover art) is a little too close for comfort, I've added the following track, Everybody Rise because they go together in my mind.

Busta Rhymes is an American hip-hop MC, born May 20, 1972 in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, and raised in Uniondale, New York. A founding member of the Leaders Of The New School, and later the Flipmode Squad.

VERY NSFW lyrics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYemDgRXyQs&;

[Astronaut Omens]

Uilab-St. Elmo's Fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsaj7T7iUlU

Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier and Mary Hansen collaborated with dual-bass outfit Ui, led by music journalist Sasha Frere-Jones on this Brian Eno cover.
St. Elmo's fire is an unusual weather phenomenon where a blue glow can be seen on the ends of pointy objects during a thunderstorm. It has often been observed at sea.

[Greg Torso]

Uilab-St. Elmo's Fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsaj7T7iUlU

Love this, I remember it getting a bit of air play on John Peel's show back in the day.

[daf]

Mansun – GSOH



B-side to the single 'Legacy" - reached #7 in the chart in July 1998

As well as the tracks that featured on Six, Mansun also recorded a second album's worth of songs, that were released as B-sides.

Paul Draper : "When we recorded each album I had in mind that I would record another albums worth of material at the same time. These songs could be used to make the EPs we would release to promote the album. I never really thought we were a singles band, instead we would put 4 EPs out with every album. Miraculously all these EPs went in the bloody charts! But the real reason for doing so many tracks was that I was trying to make at least two albums worth of material. Now a lot of people have said about Mansun that the b-sides were our best material, well that's possibly true, because they weren't b-sides, they were an album in their own right in my mind spread across 4 EPs. I always planned to release these tracks as the albums they were meant to be at some point in the future, but the band collapsed before we got there."



The album comprised of the Six B-sides was intended to be called 'The Dead Flowers Reject'.

Paul Draper : "If you think of 'Six' as our third album then 'The Dead Flowers Reject' could be thought of as the fourth Mansun album if you're that way inclined. I think the record would probably have been my favourite Mansun album, it's the closest to how we played live. The title, well it's obviously a nod to the Rolling Stones, and relates to it being recorded at the same time as 'Six'."



One of the songs ear-marked for inclusion for Dead Flowers Reject was "GSOH" - co-written by Draper and Chad.

Paul Draper : "Chad plays the part of the guy placing the ad on the voicemail on the first verse and the reply in the 3rd verse, and he plays the girl answering the ad in verse 2. I was reading the paper and noticed how everyone in Lonely Hearts columns says looks aren't important but then always want a photograph. The best bit is at the end when I shout 'a fucking photograph'. I was rolling around on the floor listening to this 10 minutes ago, Chad's bit is hilarious. I've never listened to it since we did it and totally forgot about it. A Mansun classic, typical Mansun, Should have been the lead off single..."

[Brundle-Fly]

Great Five Lakes - Buffalo Daughter   Released on Grand Royal in 1998.





I forgot to nominate these Japanese gems back in the mid-90s, so better late than never. Cute promo alert!

Buffalo Daughter is a Japanese rock band formed in 1993. The three main members are suGar Yoshinaga (ex-Havana Exotica) on guitar, Yumiko Ohno (ex-Havana Exotica) on bass, and Moog (later changed to MoOog) Yamamoto on turntables and graphic design. The group had a drummer, Chica Ogawa, but after his departure, they have had no permanent drummer and have hired different people to fill in as needed. In addition, the band is well known for using a number of electronic instruments, such as the TB-303, TR-606, Minimoog, shortwave radio, and other instruments. Although they emerged from Shibuya at about the same time as other Shibuya-kei acts, Yoshinaga does not believe the label accurately describes the band's music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_13F4pK9_O4&list=PLzUdzw2rESsSv_lwtpqiN_AbVoCWkBnRc&index=1

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

John Martyn - Glory Box



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VmqYr26Mzs

The immensely talented experimental jazz folkie John Martyn is regarded as a pioneer of what eventually came to be known as trip-hop, so it made a whole heap of sense when he recorded a version of one of Portishead's signature tunes for his 1998 covers album The Church with One Bell.

If you weren't familiar with the original, you'd be forgiven for assuming it was a Martyn composition. It suits his soulful grizzly bear croon to languorous perfection. In a word: balmy.

[Astronaut Omens]

Gang Starr- The Militia Part One
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GySKDJzZdfQ

Obviously Gang Starr aka Dj Premier and Guru are one of the greatest hip-hop groups of all time, but this tune just about makes it into "alternative" history by dint of the guest verse by Freddie Foxx, who has had a more chequered career, including a record company shelving an LP , and missing a meeting with Eric B, after which Rakim ended taking his place.

[Astronaut Omens]

Killah Priest-One Step
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AHzkg7yxww

Literally no-one in the world has listened to all of the ludicrous flurry of second-rate Wu-Tang Clan product the band and their various hangers-on started to put out around this time, but if some wide-eyed mad person attempted to put a best-of from around this time, this solemn tune with a Motowny arrangement would probably be on there.

[jamiefairlie]

Mogwai - Xmas Steps

https://youtu.be/OrxeFflN738



The lead track from their third EP, "No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew)". It reached number two in the Festive Fifty

[Brundle-Fly]

Cry - Money Mark  (Dust Brothers mix). Released on Mo Wax in 1998.





Nice slice of lazy funk-hop from the Mo Wax stable. We've covered Money Mark before back in 1995, so instead let's sweep up The Dust Bros with a kewl pic and micro-bio.

The Dust Brothers are a pair of songwriters and producers consisting of E.Z. Mike (Michael Simpson[1]) and King Gizmo[2] (John King). They are famous for the sample-based music they produced in the 1980s and 1990s, and specifically for their work on the albums Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys, Odelay, Midnite Vultures and Guero by Beck, the soundtrack to the film Fight Club, and "MMMBop" by Hanson. They are based in Los Angeles, California.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i93MOBQSNVk&t=

[jamiefairlie]

Saint Etienne - Goodnight Jack

https://youtu.be/f8PBFBzi850



Rather like Radiohead, I always liked the concept of Saint Etienne more than I did the execution, but this one hits the right tone for me. It's from their fourth album, "Good Humor".

[Brundle-Fly]

Latex - Matmos Released on Vague Terrain in 1998.





The Bay Area's sonic answer to Gilbert & George? Certainly worthy fellow musical warlocks and Frisco natives, The Residents. Squelchy.

Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo originally from San Francisco but now residing in Baltimore. M. C. (Martin) Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hUJhZzEeFM&t

[jamiefairlie]

The Hope Blister - Sweet Unknown

https://youtu.be/YBkXWzHbCyI



Effectively a continuation of This Mortal Coil, but with a fixed line-up of singer Louise Rutkowski, bass player Laurence O'Keefe and string arranger Audrey Riley. They released two albums, ...Smile's OK (containing this track) in 1998 and Underarms  in 1999.

[Astronaut Omens]

Groove Chronicles- Stone Cold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT4FHEbzdSM
Bit disturbed by that horrifying "the Alternative Nation Fights Back" indie-only attitude covered in the other thread, so here's a smooth-as-anything unofficial garage remix of Alliyah's "One in A Million" as an antidote. There are other youtube videos of the same track where the super bassline that comes in halfway through is a bit beefier, but they all reduced my pathetic laptop into a flurry of farts.

Groove Chronicles is an English-based UK Garage project founded in 1996 by DJ and producer Noodles (real name Steven Jude)

[Astronaut Omens]

Mariah Carey featuring Mobb Deep- The Roof (Remix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-zU4Sdn02s
Mariah Carey consistently courted hip-hop fans by including guest appearances by rappers on her B-side remixes- on this one (the B-side to a single that only reached 87 in the UK charts) she goes one step further by doing her own interpolation of Mobb Deep's underground classic "Shook Ones pt 2".

[Astronaut Omens]

Autechre - Acroyear2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seKlXbLtsL8
On 1998's untitled fifth LP, Autechre took big steps away from being a hip-hop influenced ambient dance band towards the dense, complex and inhuman sound they're now best known for.

[Brundle-Fly]

Stop/ Edge - Scanner  Released on Audio Research Editions in 1998.





A soundscape for wandering alone through the centre of London at 4am.

Robin Rimbaud is an electronic musician who works under the name Scanner due to his use of a mobile phone and police scanners in live performance. He is also a member of the band Githead with Wire's Colin Newman and Malka Spigel and Max Franken from Minimal Compact.  Rimbaud is also a writer and media critic, multi-media artist and record producer. He borrowed his stage name from the device he used in his early recordings, picking up indeterminate radio and mobile phone signals in the airwaves and using them as an instrument in his compositions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD4NzILeoA8&t

[jamiefairlie]

Ok chaps, time to end 1998. get your late entries in soon as we start 1999 later on Monday.

[Brundle-Fly]

Le Patron Est Devenu Fou ! - Étienne de Crécy feat. Minos.   Released on Different in 1998.





A 'choooooooooon' as I believe was used in nightclub parlance back then?

Étienne de Crécy is a French electronic producer born on the 25th of February 1969, in the city of Lyon.
He is co-founder of the Disques Solid label in 1994.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsX55eiWhtg

[Astronaut Omens]

Sonic Youth-Hoarfrost
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_mN6_PRC1M


Hoarfrost occurs when ice crystals form on the edge of leaves or blades of grass. This song recalls a walk in snowy Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada towards the house where Lee Renaldo's in-laws live. 

[Astronaut Omens]

Le Patron Est Devenu Fou ! - Étienne de Crécy feat. Minos.   Released on Different in 1998.

Brilliant album, and since we never did a Nina Simone track I'd like to add this Simone-sampling number from the same LP:
Air: Soldissimo (EDC mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6DzBcz9lsI
The Nina Simone sample comes from a performance of a folk song, "When I was a Young Girl", the origins of which seem to date back to some time in the 18th century. The sly, smirking memory of youthful-hijinks I hear in the Super Discount sample sounds really different in the original song, the lyrics of which are much more downbeat:

When I was a young girl I used to see pleasure
When I was a young girl I used to drink ale
Right out of the ale house and into the jail house
Right out of the bar room and down to my grave

Come mama come papa sit you beside me
Come mama come papa and pity my case
My poor heart is aching my heart it is breaking
My body salve-aided and I'm bound to die

Go send for the preacher to come and pray for me
Go send for the doctor to heal up my
My poor heart is aching my heart it is breaking
My body salve-aided and hell is my home

I want three young ladies to bear up my coffin
I want three young ladies to take me along
I want them to carry a bunch of wild roses
To put on my body as I pass along

One morning one morning in May
One morning one morning in May
I spy this young lady all clad in white linnen
All clad in white linnen cold as a clay

When I was a young girl I used to see pleasure
When I was a young girl I used to drink ale
Right out of the bar room
Right out of the ale house and into the jail house
Right out of the bar room down to my grave

[jamiefairlie]

Welcome to 1999!

[jamiefairlie]

Birdie - Let Her Go

https://youtu.be/e-KdaAKlB6g



Formed in 1997 by Paul Kelly and Deborah Wykes, both members of Saint Etienne's live band. This is their third single and they'd release two albums before splitting in 2001.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Cousteau - The Last Good Day of the Year



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66W0D7HMD0E

Burt Bacharach and a young Scott Walker nod approvingly...

Cousteau are a London-based band who enjoyed considerable international success, particularly in Italy and the U.S, from 1999 to 2005. The band's sound has been compared to Burt Bacharach, Scott Walker and David Bowie with an updated contemporary edge.

Their best known song remains the single The Last Good Day of the Year, from their eponymous debut album. It has featured in numerous advertisements, documentaries, films and television programmes around the world. It also enjoyed radio play on both BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2 in the UK, but never became an actual chart hit. Strange.

[daf]

Gay Dad ‎– U.S. Roach



Released in January 1999 as a B-side to "To Earth With Love" - reached #10 in the UK charts

Gay Dad were formed in 1994 by former Mojo and The Face journalist Cliff Jones and art magazine publisher Nick Crowe (drums), along with their Berkshire teenage friends Dominic Stinton (vocals), Tim Forster (keyboards), and bassist Nigel Hoyle. Jones, Stinton, Forster and Crowe had played together in various incarnations of Gay Dad ten years previously, such as The Timothy and the Astral Projection Society.

Their first Gay Dad demo was produced by Jim Irvin, (the writer and former frontman of Furniture) and funded by the Rolling Stones record producer, Andrew Loog Oldham and his business partner Tony Calder.

Following a band reshuffle, Crowe invited fellow Liverpool University graduate, James Riseboro, to play keyboards, and the band recorded three new tracks  during the autumn of 1996 including a song called "To Earth with Love". The demo attracted keen record label interest, and the signed London Records in December 1997.



With Charley Stone (formerly of Salad) joining as a live guitarist to add some of the overdubbed guitar parts from their multi-layered sound, they toured the UK in early 1998, before starting recording sessions at RAK Studios in Regents Park with the record producer Tony Visconti and engineer Mark Frith who had co-produced the demos that got the band signed. Visconti co-produced the track "To Earth with Love", before he was sacked.

The album sessions relocated to The Dairy studio in Brixton with producers/sound engineers Gary Langan (ex-Art of Noise) and Chris Hughes. Meanwhile, test pressings of the first single, made for the label bosses and marketing team at London, found their way to DJ Mark Radcliffe, then presenting on BBC Radio 1. They began to play the test pressings and London had to plan a rush release.



The band generated a huge amount of interest from the media, and Gay Dad were hailed as the "saviours of British rock" by magazines such as Select and Melody Maker. Some critics claimed that the over-the-top hype was an example of nepotism in the industry at the time, as band leader Cliff Jones had only recently stopped working in the music press himself.



"To Earth with Love" was finally released as the band's debut single in January 1999. It entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 10.

[Brundle-Fly]

Cousteau - The Last Good Day of the Year



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66W0D7HMD0E

Burt Bacharach and a young Scott Walker nod approvingly...

Adore that song. Once, coming home pissed on a late night tube about twelve years ago, I got gassing with this rather dapper-looking fellow who was similarly inebriated. The conversation led to our personal lives and he told me he used to be in a band that wouldn't have heard of. Try me?, I said. 'Cousteau'?, he replied.  I immediately burst into a slurred rendition of The Last Good Day Of The Year. His dewy-eyed, grinning expression was a sight to behold. I had made his night, apparently.

[DrGreggles]

Beck - Debra
[Green/Hansen/King/Simpson]
(taken from the Midnite Vultures album)



Originally planned (and discarded) for his 1996 album Odelay, Beck reworked Debra with the Dust Brothers after "it became the centerpiece of the whole set" on his 1997 and 1998 live tours.
The lyrics refer to Jenny and her sister, Debra, and the singer's hope of joining them in a thripple - a traditional American love song.
In true Beck style, there are honorary mentions of JC Penney, Hyundai and Zankou Chicken.
Some say that Midnite Vultures is Beck's best album and Debra his greatest song.
I'm with Some on this.

[DrGreggles]

The Chemical Brothers - The Sunshine Underground
[Rowlands/Simons/Asher]
(taken from the Surrender album)



I definitely prefer non-Big Beat Chems, and this is my favourite of anything they've done.
Tom Rowlands: "I think the title came from those psychedelic poster books. We wanted it to sound like a live band finding its feet. It was influenced by a live version of Angel Sigh on Spiritualized's Fucked Up Inside. It went through a lot of versions and this one's a composite of a lot of different takes. I love the mad bit in the middle when it goes into hyperspace and turns into this huge, gurning monster."
The songs gave its name to the Leeds indie band, er... The Sunshine Underground, who released the single Put You in Your Place in 2006, but it reached #39 and therefore won't appear in this thread.

[jamiefairlie]

Cinerama - Pacific

https://youtu.be/DlSCldbLyh8



Third single from David Gedge's post-Wedding Present duo. It reached number 13 in the Festive Fifty