Pink Rhythm was one of John Rocca’s mid 80’s solo project and an evolution of his pioneering band Freeez. Pink Rhythm lasted between 1984 and 1985 three singles were released including the cult favourites 'Melodies of Love' & 'India'.

Over the years John Rocca’s music has been sampled by many including Jamie XX, Empress Of, Brandy, Burial, Todd Terry , Coolio and more. Often credited as one the pioneers of BritFunk, John’s music is iconic and has been used in TV & Film and the Fashion world for Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton and more.

'An 80’s Love Affair' contains six classic Pink Rhythm tracks, four of which have not been available on vinyl since the original single releases in 1985. The tracks were originally produced and recorded at Miraval Studios in The South of France (made famous by George Michael with Careless Whisper).

They were mixed by John in Rooster Studios London and remastered in 2024 by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road.

It is pure, smooth 80s drum machines, it is synth sounds, saxophones, and keyboards.... it’s retro, but it could also be current. Either way, it's as refreshing now as it was then.

TRACK LISTING

1. Melodies Of Love
2. Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love
3. India (12” Instrumental)
4. More & More
5. Walking In The Rain
6. India (12” Version)

Beggars Arkive in conjunction with the Estate of Mark Lanegan are celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Mark Lanegan’s acclaimed 2004 album 'Bubblegum' with this remastered double LP edition of the original album.

TRACK LISTING

1. When Your Number Isn't Up
2. Hit The City (With PJ Harvey)
3. Wedding Dress
4. Methamphetamine Blues
5. One Hundred Days
6. Bombed
7. Strange Religion
8. Sideways In Reverse
9. Come To Me (With PJ Harvey)
10. Like Little Willie John
11. Can't Come Down
12. Morning Glory Wine
13. Head
14. Driving Death Valley Blues
15. Out Of Nowhere

Beggars Arkive in conjunction with the Estate of Mark Lanegan, are honored to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Mark Lanegan’s acclaimed 2004 album 'Bubblegum' with 'Bubblegum XX'.

The limited-edition 'Bubblegum XX' 4LP box contains a 64-page hardcover book with essays by Troy Van Leewuen, Josh Homme, Chris Goss, Alain Johannes, David Catching, Greg Dulli, Duff McKagan, and Brett Netson along with studio notes and previously unseen photographs by Steve Gullick. It includes 'Bubblegum', which has been cut as a double LP and remastered by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road. It also includes a remastered edition of 'Here Comes That Weird Chill (Methamphetamine Blues, Extras & Oddities)' to which three bonus tracks have been added. The fourth LP contains demos and unreleased tracks, comprised of outtakes from the Bubblegum sessions and tracks recorded, produced and mixed by Troy Van Leeuwen in various hotel rooms with Mark singing and Troy playing all the instruments. The set was executive produced by Mark’s former manager Brian Klein, who worked with him during the 'Bubblegum' era.

TRACK LISTING

4LP Tracklist:

LP1/LP2: Bubblegum:
1. When Your Number Isn't Up
2. Hit The City (with PJ Harvey)
3. Wedding Dress
4. Methamphetamine Blues
5. One Hundred Days
6. Bombed
7. Strange Religion
8. Sideways In Reverse
9. Come To Me (With PJ Harvey)
10. Like Little Willie John
11. Can't Come Down
12. Morning Glory Wine
13. Head
14. Driving Death Valley Blues
15. Out Of Nowhere

LP3: “Here Comes That Weird Chill” (Methamphetamine Blues, Extras & Oddities):
1. Methamphetamine Blues
2. On The Steps Of The Cathedral
3. Clear Spot
4. Message To Mine
5. Lexington Slow Down
6. Skeletal History
7. Wish You Well
8. Sleep With Me
9. Sleep With Me - Version
(Bonus Tracks)
10. Sympathy (Previously Only Available On The Has God Seen My Shadow Anthology)
11. Mirrored (B-side From Hit The City Single)
12. Mud Pink Skag (B-side From Hit The City Single)

LP4: Demos & Unreleased Songs:
1. Heard A Train %
2. Union Tombstone (feat Beck) %
3. Josephine %
4. Kingdom %
5. Soldier %
6. Little Willie John % (Alternate Version Of Like Little Willie John)
7. Blood (Crackers & Honey) %
8. You Wild Colorado # (Johnny Cash Cover)
9. Revolver # (Original Demo)
10. Leaving New River Blues # (Previously Only Available On The Has God Seen My Shadow Anthology As Heaven Is Dry)
11.. St James Infirmary # (Cover)
12. Willie John # (Alternate Version Of Like Little Willie John)
13. Pure Religion # (Alternate Version Of Strange Religion)

% Outtake
# Troy Van Leeuwen Hotel Session

3CD Tracklist:

CD1: Bubblegum:
1. When Your Number Isn't Up
2. Hit The City (with PJ Harvey)
3. Wedding Dress
4. Methamphetamine Blues
5. One Hundred Days
6. Bombed
7. Strange Religion
8. Sideways In Reverse
9. Come To Me (With PJ Harvey)
10. Like Little Willie John
11. Can't Come Down
12. Morning Glory Wine
13. Head
14. Driving Death Valley Blues
15. Out Of Nowhere

CD2: “Here Comes That Weird Chill” (Methamphetamine Blues, Extras & Oddities):
1. Methamphetamine Blues
2. On The Steps Of The Cathedral
3. Clear Spot
4. Message To Mine
5. Lexington Slow Down
6. Skeletal History
7. Wish You Well
8. Sleep With Me
9. Sleep With Me - Version
(Bonus Tracks)
10. Sympathy (Previously Only Available On The Has God Seen My Shadow Anthology)
11. Mirrored (B-side From Hit The City Single)
12. Mud Pink Skag (B-side From Hit The City Single)

CD3: Demos & Unreleased Songs:
1. Heard A Train %
2. Union Tombstone (feat Beck) %
3. Josephine %
4. Kingdom %
5. Soldier %
6. Little Willie John % (Alternate Version Of Like Little Willie John)
7. Blood (Crackers & Honey) %
8. You Wild Colorado # (Johnny Cash Cover)
9. Revolver # (Original Demo)
10. Leaving New River Blues # (Previously Only Available On The Has God Seen My Shadow Anthology As Heaven Is Dry)
11. St James Infirmary # (Cover)
12. Willie John # (Alternate Version Of Like Little Willie John)
13. Pure Religion # (Alternate Version Of Strange Religion)

% Outtake
# Troy Van Leeuwen Hotel Session

The Bolshoi were different. Their songs were dark and subversive, sufficient evidence for many critics to corral them under the ‘Gothic’ banner at the time of their debut album 'Friends' - but they really only “flirted” with Goth. They oozed dark, pensive lyrics supported with inventive pop-goth guitar making them nearly impossible to categorize. The suburban surrealism of the lyrics was rooted in the stories of characters on the fringes of society rather than brooding romantics, with an undercurrent of boredom, inadequacy, and violence. Not the usual themes for pop success! Based in London, the band consisted of Trevor Tanner (lead vocals, guitar), Nick Chown (bass), Jan Kalicki (drums), and Paul Clark (keyboards). With powerful live shows The Bolshoi built a substantial following before disbanding in 1988.

TRACK LISTING

1. Away
2. Modern Man
3. Someone’s Daughter
4. Sunday Morning
5. Looking For A Life To Lose
6. Romeo In Clover (Call Girls)
7. Books On The Bonfire
8. Pardon Me
9. Fat And Jealous
10. Waspy

In 2023, Death Cult returned and reunited for a handful of performances. In 2024, to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of The Cult, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy have curated the previously released Death Cult collection 'Ghost Dance', and recompiled the tracks for a 2024 release titled 'Paradise Now'. 

Southern Death Cult formed in 1981, releasing their sole, self-titled album posthumously in 1983. That same year, Death Cult formed, with Astbury joining forces with Duffy for a musical partnership that has endured for 40-plus years. The band released two 12-inches that same year, one being the 'Death Cult EP', which were subsequently combined and released as a CD. Death Cult is a vital transmission from the generation of Shamanic post-punk gothic futurists. In late 2023, Astbury and Duffy reformed Death Cult for a series of live performances including a sole U.S. date at The Theatre at The Ace Hotel in Los Angeles and a limited run of U.K. dates including back-to-back sold out shows at the Brixton Electric. Death Cult became The Cult in 1984, releasing Dreamtime that same year. The seminal post-punk band has gone on to sell in excess of four million albums with numerous international and U.S. gold and platinum certifications.

Ian Astbury (vocals) and Billy Duffy (guitar) have released 11 studio albums over The Cult’s 40-year career. The band, dubbed “Shamanic goths” by Classic Rock Magazine, found international renown with the 1985 album, 'Love', which featured the enduring rock anthem “She Sells Sanctuary,” as well as the oft-heard follow-up single “Rain.” Electric arrived in 1987, with Rolling Stone saying the collection of songs (particularly “Love Removal Machine,” “Wild Flower” and “Lil’ Devil”) “swaggers, crunches and howls.” Most recently, The Cult released Under the Midnight Sun. Mojo, in a review of the eight-song album, said “rock’s unquenchable melodramatists have the fire in their eyes still”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Horse Nation
2. Ghost Dance
3. Brothers Grimm
4. Christians
5. Gods Zoo (These Times)
6. A Flower In The Desert
7. Butterflies
8. With Love (Sea And Sky)

The Bolshoi released three albums during their existence, but they also recorded a fourth album that was never officially released during their tenure. Provisionally titled Country Life, it was released in 2015 as part of a limited 5-CD box set. We are excited to now release it on vinyl for the first time. Country Life consists of demos recorded for the album, and many of these only survived on reference cassettes but were digitally restored. We are especially thrilled that Trevor Tanner has recorded a brand new acoustic reimagining of the song “Dolores Jones” made specifically for this release.

The Bolshoi were different. Their songs were dark and subversive, sufficient evidence for many critics to corral them under the 'Gothic' banner at the time of their debut - but they really only "flirted" with Goth. They oozed dark, pensive lyrics supported with inventive pop-goth guitar making them nearly impossible to categorize.

The suburban surrealism of the lyrics was rooted in the stories from characters on the fringes of society rather than brooding romantics, with an undercurrent of boredom, inadequacy and violence. Not the usual themes for pop success!

TRACK LISTING

1. World In Action 
2. Under The Shed 
3. What’s Your Favourite Colour 
4. Country Life 
5. We Don’t Want Him Here 
6. Boy From The Nursery World 
7. Long Tall Sally In A Black Dress 
8. Too Late 
9. Out There In The Distance 
10. Castaway 
11. Dolores Jones 
12. Yee Hee 
13. Madame Hecate 
14. Last Chance For The Slow Dance 
15. Everything Is Done For You Today 
16. Dolores Jones 2023

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2024 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 20TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 22ND.

Formed in 1984, Fields of the Nephilim is the creation of vocalist and front man Carl McCoy. Highly influential, especially in the world of goth, but also within the metal and electronic genres, their legacy endures to this day. You can hear their influence on bands like Swans, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Explosions In The Sky, Wolves in The Throne Room, Behemoth and more. The band’s unique sound, an apocalyptic fusion of Victorian underworld meets Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western, had an appearance to match (wide-brimmed hats, long duster coats and cowboy boots, usually black and smothered in white flour as a substitute for dust), and set them apart from their contemporaries. Elizium is one of their most beautiful albums and considered by many to be their best. As The Quietus wrote, “it was both their most accessible and their most experimental work, concluding and consolidating the Nephilim’s five-year shamanic journey. Lead-off single and opening track ‘For Her Light’ featured a lengthy mid- section that anticipated the apocalyptic post-rock of Godspeed! You Black Emperor (unsurprisingly, it failed to chart), and the album featured some of the band’s hardest rock in the wah-overload of ‘Submission,’ as well as further incorporating dance elements – more successfully and organically than many of their peers, it must be said - on second single ‘Sumerland’.” Louder Sound also called “Sumerland” their “greatest ever track”.

Beggars Arkive is happy to announce a double vinyl expanded deluxe reissue of Fields Of Nephilim's third highly acclaimed album Elizium, released by Beggars Banquet in 1990. The album has been expanded onto a double LP for audio clarity and contains 4 bonus tracks. Recorded and produced by Pink Floyd engineer Andy Jackson, the audio is via analogue transfer to 96khz/24 bit by John Dent at Loud, with vinyl mastering by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road.

TRACK LISTING

A1. (Dead But Dreaming)
A2. For Her Light
A3. At The Gates Of Silent Memory
A4. (Paradise Regained)
B1. Submission
B2. Sumerland (What Dreams May Come)
C1. Wail Of Sumer
C2. And There Will Your Heart Be Also
C3. Sumerland -Single Version *
D1. For Her Light -Two *
D2. Submission Two -The Dub Posture *
D3. Sumerland -Dreamed Version *

* Bonus Tracks

Originally released in 1984, following the band’s evolution from the Southern Death Cult, to Death Cult, and then simply The Cult, Dreamtime finds the outfit featuring Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, pivoting from their goth and punk roots into something eclectic, aspirational, and adventurous. Rife with lyrical references to the indigenous cultures of the Americas and Australia, and set against a more bombastic and muscular musical backdrop, Dreamtime hints at what would envelop the band over the next four decades, a dedication to their wholly unique songwriting, both musically and thematically, and the frenzy that was soon to come with the release of Love only a year later.

TRACK LISTING

1. Horse Nation
2. Spiritwalker
3. 83rd Dream
4. Butterflies
5. Go West
6. Gimmick
7. A Flower In The Desert
8. Dreamtime
9. Rider In The Snow
10. Bad Medicine Waltz

The Cult is fronted by Ian Astbury on vocals and Billy Duffy on guitar.

Electric, their third album, came out in 1987 and caused the band to explode to new levels of fame. It contains the massive hits “Love Removal Machine”, Wild Flower” and “Lil’ Devil” and was produced by Rick Rubin. A seminal work, the album features some of the band’s most iconic songs. It is a departure from the band’s previous work, with a raw, aggressive and stripped-down sound. The album’s opening track, “Wild Flower,” sets the tone with its pounding drums, blistering guitar riffs, and Ian Astbury’s powerful vocals.

Electric was a commercial and critical success, propelling The Cult to the forefront of the hard rock scene and cementing their status as one of the most influential bands of the era. The album remains a touchstone for hard rock and heavy metal fans, a classic work that captures the spirit of rebellion and the power of rock and roll.

Ian and Billy recently announced the return of Death Cult. The storied post-punk progenitor to The Cult will return for a sole U.S. performance on Oct. 23 at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles. They will follow the Los Angeles outing with a U.K. trek featuring the same, remarkable celebration of The Cult’s origins. Death Cult became The Cult in 1984, releasing Dreamtime that same year and going on to experience a career that has seen the release of 11 full-length albums, as well as numerous international and U.S. gold and platinum certifications.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wild Flower
2. Peace Dog
3. Lil' Devil
4. Aphrodisiac Jacket
5. Electric Ocean
6. Bad Fun
7. King Contrary Man
8. Love Removal Machine
9. Born To Be Wild
10. Outlaw
11. Memphis Hip Shake

Beggars Arkive are happy to announce a vinyl reissue of the second Fields Of The Nephilim album The Nephilim, released 35 years ago by Situation Two/Beggars Banquet in 1988, and not pressed on vinyl since then. The album is pressed on golden brown vinyl and is expanded to a double LP. The album contains their epic, legendary track “Moonchild” plus three bonus tracks.

Formed in 1984, Fields of the Nephilim is the creation of vocalist and front man Carl McCoy. Highly influential, especially in the world of goth, but also within the metal and electronic genres, their legacy endures to this day. You can hear their influence on bands like Swans, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Explosions In The Sky, Wolves in The Throne Room, Behemoth and more.

The Nephilim was recorded in a former courthouse in the Somerset countryside where defendants who were sentenced to death were hung. “Moonchild” is the band’s best known song due to it reaching #28 in the UK single charts, and LouderSound called it a classic and said that it “perfectly encapsulates this era of the band and it has some nifty guitar work, great bass lines from Tony Pettitt, Nod’s stellar drumming and McCoy’s distinctive vocals.”

In a 2013 remembrance of the album, PopMatters said “The band’s sophomore effort, regarded not only as its best work but also as one of the UK goth scene’s masterpieces, is a seamless, hour-long trek into a surreal land populated by chiming guitars, hypnotic bass, found samples, and McCoy’s storytelling.”

TRACK LISTING

1 - Endemoniada
2 - The Watchman
3 - Phobia
4 - Moonchild
5 - Chord Of Souls
6 - Shiva
7 - Celebrate
8 - Love Under Will
9 - Last Exit For The Lost
10 - Celebrate (Second Seal)
11 - Psychonaut Lib III

Beggars Arkive will release a vinyl reissue of THE CULT’S fifth album Ceremony on August 11th. Two editions will be available. Blue/Red vinyl and black vinyl will be available everywhere. Originally released in 1991, The follow up to the massive Sonic Temple marked a turning point in the band’s sound and style and it was their first without longtime bassist Jamie Stewart. The album was a commercial success, reaching No. 25 on the Billboard chart and it remains a fan favorite and an important album in The Cult’s discography. The Cult continued to develop their sound on this album, and it is heavily influenced by Native American culture. Ceremony is a testament to their ability to evolve and adapt while staying true to their roots and it’s songs are about spirituality, love and rebellion. It includes the singles “Wild Hearted Son” and “Heart Of Soul”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ceremony
2. Wild Hearted Son
3. Earth Mofo
4. White
5. If
6. Full Tilt
7. Heart Of Soul
8. Bangkok Rain
9. Indian
10. Sweet Salvation
11. Wonderland

Beggars Arkive will release a special translucent green vinyl edition of THE CULT’S fourth album Sonic Temple on August 11th. This edition is pressed on translucent green vinyl. Released in 1989, Sonic Temple album catapulted The Cult into superstar status and remains their most commercially successful release. Declared platinum in 1990, it was also a critical success, cementing their place in the pantheon of hard rock and heavy metal bands and earning them a devoted following that endures to this day. Sonic Temple had four massive hits; “Fire Woman”, “Edie (Ciao Baby)”, “Sun King” and “Sweet Soul Sister ”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sun King
2. Fire Woman
3. American Horse
4. Edie (Ciao Baby)
5. Sweet Soul Sister
6. Soul Asylum
7. New York City
8. Automatic Blues
9. Soldier Blue
10. Wake Up Time For Freedom
11. Medicine Train
12. The River
13. Bleeding Heart Graffiti
14. Messin' Up The Blues
15. Fire Woman (NYC Rock Mix)
16. Edie (Ciao Baby) (Acoustic)

Released in 1997, when it went straight to the top of the album charts.

Building on the sound of their eponymous, previous release (‘The Charlatans’, also a Number One), the band’s performance on ‘Tellin’ Stories’ has the feel of a classic British Rock band combined with the more focused songwriting of Britpop. It has aged well.

Reissue of the original single LP on black vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

With No Shoes
North Country Boy
Tellin’ Stories
One To Another
You’re A Big Girl Now
How Can You Leave Us
Area 51
How High
Only Teethin’
Get On It
Rob’s Theme

The Cult is fronted by Ian Astbury on vocals and Billy Duffy on guitar. Their music and albums at this point need no introduction as they have cemented themselves over the years since they began in 1983, as one of the greatest rock bands around. 1994 brought their seif-titled sixth album The Cult, sometimes also known as the “Black Sheep” album due to the cover image. Recorded with Bob Rock, It is a very personal album with a lot of the narrative subject matter referring to Astbury’s younger years. Unlike their previous albums, this one revealed itself more slowly with each listen. This album is considered an overlooked and underrated gem and preceded their 1995 break-up. The band reformed in 1999 and continues to tour and release albums, including their most recent, 2022’s Under The Midnight Sun.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Gone
A2. Coming Down (Drug Tongue)
A3. Real Grrrl
B1. Black Sun
B2. Naturally High
B3. Joy
C1. Star
C2. Sacred Life
C3. Be Free
D1. Universal You
D2. Emperor’s New Horse

D3. Saints Are Down

Love And Rockets is the seminal, groundbreaking trio of Daniel Ash (vocals and guitar), David J (vocals and bass) and Kevin Haskins (drums). They formed in 1985 after the first split of their band Bauhaus. Love and Rockets provided a clean slate and an opportunity to plumb the depths of imagination and influences.

The band’s 1985 debut album Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven was an unashamedly psychedelic adventure, far removed from the dark, angular soundscapes of Bauhaus. Yet they had to fight hard to avoid being branded ‘goth’, citing Syd Barrett, Marc Bolan and the later period Beatles as primary influences. This is a single black LP with a gatefold sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. If There's A Heaven Above
2. A Private Future
3. The Dog-end Of A Day Gone By
4. The Game
5. Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven
6. Haunted When The Minutes Drag
7. Saudade

This, their fourth album, came out in 1995. It was their most ambitious and focused album to date, and returned them right back to the number one slot in the charts. The album also spawned three UK top 40 singles, “Crashin’ In” , “Just Lookin’” and “Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over” which peaked at no. 12

When the Charlatans started out, there were countless bands “similar” to them, but they immediately catapulted to the forefront of the Madchester scene, standing alongside such icons as The Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays.

The band was/is successful because in addition to being able to ride the groove, they could also write amazing songs. These were the gifts that made them among the greatest British survivors of our time, rolling through tragedy and stylistic changes to amass a terrific body of work - one that was modern enough to play in clubs but classic enough to stand the test of time, and one that continues to grow to this day. They have notched up thirteen Top 40 studio albums – three of them number ones – alongside twenty two hit singles, four of them Top 10.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: By the release of this album, they'd well and truly shaken off the Madchester / baggy tag. Previous album, Up To Our Hips had proved they were so much more than that, and this album was even more ambitious, perfectly combining killer melodies, dancefloor nous and great songwriting. One of my all time favourite albums!

TRACK LISTING

1. Nine Acre Court
2. Feeling Holy
3. Just Lookin'
4. Crashin' In
5. Bullet Comes
6. Here Comes A Soul Saver
7. Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over
8. Tell Everyone
9. Toothache
10. No Fiction
11. See It Through
12. Thank You

“I still like a lot of the Warriors stuff and Bill Nelson did a lot of very inventive things on it which, because of our differences, I failed to appreciate at the time. I think the Mad Max image convinced a lot of people, the press especially, that it was a sci-fi album. Much of it though was actually quite autobiographical. Even songs like ‘The Iceman Comes’ and ‘This Prison Moon’ were more to do with what I was going through than anything sci-fi. Lyrically I was already becoming overly focused on the career struggle. Warriors was written, in the main, in a hotel room in Jersey. My girlfriend had just left me, I’d been evicted from the house I was living in and I felt pretty much alone in more ways than one. Despite its surface gloss of futurism it was really very inward looking. To me the image was meant to represent someone fighting for survival as much as anything” – Gary Numan

The achievements over his four decade career (and counting) are remarkable for someone who never made any concessions to mainstream success. Seven Top 10 singles, including ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ and the debut solo hit ‘Cars’; seven Top 10 albums, three of which topped the charts; and huge critical acclaim, most notably with the Inspiration Award at the prestigious Ivor Novellos.

In a career that spans over forty years, the music evolves and the themes change. But fans remain fascinated by Numan for the very fact that he’s so uncompromising. Gary recently released his twenty first album Intruder in May 2021.

TRACK LISTING

1. Warriors
2. I Am Render
3. The Iceman Comes
4. This Prison Moon
5. My Centurion
6. Sister Surprise
7. The Tick Tock Man
8. Love Is Like Clock Law
9. The Rhythm Of The Evening

Beggars Arkive is excited to reissue The Fall’s 10th studio album, 1988’s THE FRENZ EXPERIMENT. Available as an expanded edition on CD and LP, the releases both contain the original album, plus singles and B-Sides. The notes included with both formats contain brand new interviews conducted by Daryl Easley in May 2020.

“I was clearing out the other day and I came across a review of Frenz Experiment, saying how this could have been great, how it could have been like T. Rex’s Electric Warrior. I never attempted to make an album like T-Rex. I don’t see the point in anybody trying to make an album like T-Rex, although people do. I don’t mind it when journalists make fair comparisons, when they’ve done their homework. But comparing Frenz to Electric Warrior is plain daft.”
- Mark E Smith, Renegade – The Lives And Tales Of Mark E Smith, 2008

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Beggars Arkive re-issue The Fall’s 10th studio album, 1988’s ‘The Frenz Experiment’. Released at the height of their mainstream popularity, this expanded edition (on vinyl and CD) features the monstrous “Hit The North” as well as the cover versions of “Victoria” and “There’s A Ghost In My House”, alongside firm fan favourites like “Carrier Bag Man”, and “Bremen Nacht”.

TRACK LISTING

2LP

A1 Frenz
A2 Carry Bag Man
A3 Get A Hotel
A4 Victoria
A5 Athlete Cured
B1 In These Times
B2 The Steak Place
B3 Bremen Nacht (Vinyl Version)
B4 Guest Informant (Excerpt)
B5 Oswald Defence Lawyer
C1 There's A Ghost In My House (from There’s A Ghost In My House Single)
C2 Sleep Debt Snatches (from There’s A Ghost In My House Single)
C3 Mark'll Sink Us (from There’s A Ghost In My House Single)
C4 Haf Found Bormann(from There’s A Ghost In My House Single)
C5 Bremen Nacht Run Out (from The Bremen Nacht Run Out Single)
C6 Northerns In Europ (from The Hit The North Single)
D1 Hit The North Part 1 (from The Hit The North Single)
D2 Australians In Europe (from The Hit The North Single)
D3 Guest Informant (B-side From The Victoria Single)
D4 Tuff Life Booogie (B-side From The Victoria Single)
D5 Twister (B-side From The Victoria Single)

2CD

CD1
1 Frenz
2 Carry Bag Man
3 Get A Hotel
4 Victoria
5 Athlete Cured
6 In These Times
7 The Steak Place
8 Bremen Nacht (Vinyl Version)
9 Guest Informant (Excerpt)
10 Oswald Defence Lawyer
11 Bremen Nacht Run Out (from The Bremen Nacht Run Out Single, Included W. Initial Pressing Of The Album)
12 Mark'll Sink Us (2) (from The Bremen Nacht Run Out Single)
CD2
1 There's A Ghost In My House (from There’s A Ghost In My House Single)
2 Sleep Debt Snatches (from There’s A Ghost In My House Single)
3 Mark'll Sink Us (from There’s A Ghost In My House Single)
4 Haf Found Bormann (from There’s A Ghost In My House Single)
5 Hit The North Part 1 (from The Hit The North Single)
6 Australians In Europe (from The Hit The North Single)
7 Northerns In Europ (from The Hit The North Single)
8 Guest Informant (B-side From The Victoria Single)
9 Tuff Life Booogie (B-side From The Victoria Single)
10 Twister (B-side From The Victoria Single)
11 Bremen Nacht (Alternative)
12 A Day In The Life (from Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father NME Compilation, 1988)
13 Frenz (1987 Janice Long BBC Session) *
14 There’s A Ghost In My House (1987 Janice Long BBC Session) *
15 Get A Hotel (1987 Janice Long BBC Session) *
16 Haf Found Boorman (1987 Janice Long BBC Session) *

* - Previously Unreleased

Originally release in 1979, The Pleasure Principle was Gary Numan's debut solo LP. 

TRACK LISTING

Airlane
Metal
Complex
Films
M.E.
Tracks
Observer
Conversation
Cars
Engineers

Replicas is the second and final album by Gary Numan + Tubeway Army and was originally released in 1979. It was the first album in what Numan referred to as the “machine” phase of his career.  “Are Friends’ Electric?” was a surprise #1 UK hit single and this album was a huge breakthrough. Replicas began as a concept album, based on a book that Numan never completed about a futuristic metropolis where androids with cloned human skin called “Machmen” team up with machines to keep citizens controlled under fear and force.

TRACK LISTING

Me! I Disconnect From You
Are 'Friends' Electric?
The Machman
Praying To The Aliens
Down In The Park
You Are In My Vision
Replicas
It Must Have Been Years
When The Machines Rock
I Nearly Married A Human

30-year Anniversary edition of Buffalo Tom’s epic second album Birdbrain. Available on mint green vinyl, the album has been out of print for years.

Buffalo Tom (Bill Janovitz, Chris Colbourn and Tom Maginnis) formed at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1984 - a breeding ground of post punk guitar bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Pixies. The three longstanding bandmates recognize the achievement of their longevity as a creative unit. Initially offering a raw, propulsive sound that emphasized Janovitz’s imposing guitar squall on such early releases as 1989’s Buffalo Tom and 1990’s Birdbrain, Buffalo Tom’s early approach gave way to a more melodic, yet no less distinctive, style on 1992’s Let Me Come Over (including the hit ballad “Taillights Fade”), 1993’s Big Red Letter Day (including the hit “Soda Jerk”) and 1995’s Sleepy Eyed.

Their friendship with J. Mascis helped the band’s career take off by assisting with the production on the band’s first two albums; their self-titled debut, and Birdbrain.

Since Birdbrain’s release 30 years ago, many songs from it album have become live favourites including the epic title track “Birdbrain”, and “Enemy”. Trouser Press wrote that “[Birdbrain] boasts most of Buffalo Tom’s best songs.”

Buffalo Tom continues to make fantastic music, and they only get better with age. Their most recent album Quiet and Peace, came out in 2018.

TRACK LISTING

Birdbrain
Skeleton Key
Caress
Guy Who Is Me
Enemy
Crawl
Fortune Teller
Baby
Directive
Bleeding Heart

Beggars Arkive is excited to reissue the classic FREEEZ debut album SOUTHERN FREEEZ. The second LP contains seven brand new tracks from the band’s leader John Rocca.

Freeez were a legendary group from London, known as one of the UK’s main jazz-funk bands of the early 1980s…aka Brit funk. Led by John Rocca, Freeez consisted of various musicians, originally with Rocca and others including Andy Stennet (keyboards), Peter Maas (bass guitar) and Paul Morgan.

Their debut album Southern Freeez was released in 1981 and contains the hit song “Southern Freeez” which included guest vocals by Ingrid Mansfield Allman. John Rocca initially released the album it on his own Pink Rythm label before being signed to Beggars Banquet.

A few years later, they had even more hits. Their biggest, “IOU”, was a #1 club single and was written and produced by renowned producer Arthur Baker with lyric contributions and lead vocals by John Rocca and remixed by Jellybean Benitez and Baker. It was a hit in the US in addition to the UK and was used in the legendary breakdancing movie Beat Street. “Pop Goes My Love” was another hit. Rocca also had a hit as a solo artist in 1984 with “I Want It To Be Real”.

While they may not be a household name, if you know, you know. They have been sampled many times, by artists including Jamie xx, Coolio, Brandy, Madlib and more.

Nearly 40 years after the original release of Southern Freeez, after being contacted by Beggars Arkive about a reissue, John was inspired to go back to his roots. He pulled together some of the work that he had been experimenting with over the years and enlisted some musicians (including his nephews) to play on the tracks, saying that doing so “was a nice reflection of the past meeting the present”.

“"The melancholic suburban soul of ‘Southern Freeez’ never gets tired for me....an album that has remained at the top of my Brit Funk pile!" - GILLES PETERSON

TRACK LISTING

LP1/FREEEZ – SOUTHERN FREEEZ
A1 Mariposa
A2 Caribbean Winter
A3 Easy On The Onions
A4 Sunset
B1 Flying High
B2 Southern Freeez
B3 Roller Chase
B4 First Love
B5 Finale

LP2/John Rocca
A1 Southern Freeez 20+20
A2 Feeel The Music
A3 Simple Breeez
B1 My Name Is Love Part 1 + 2
B2 Slow Down (ordinary Dawn)
B3 Rain

Beggars Banquet release two special titles to commemorate the legendary albums Gary Numan/Tubeway Army issued in 1979 – these editions are titled Replicas – The First Recordings, and the debut under his own name, The Pleasure Principle – The First Recordings.

While both of these albums have remained in print, these releases concentrate on the early recordings made prior to the completed albums and present the evolution of the albums. The tracks have been sequenced as they appeared on the original tapes and the audio has been taken from the high resolution digital transfers made by John Dent in 2007. One of the Freerange studio tapes suffered irreparable print through damage on two tracks so they were not used in the 2009 release. However an alternative source has been located so the tapes can now be presented as complete for this release.

Even before the single “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” was released, Numan had recruited a permanent drummer and keyboard player and demoed an album’s worth of new material between April 9-12, 1979 at Freerange Studio in London’s Covent Garden. This was supplemented by a second session, probably the following June, that yielded four further songs and two re-recordings. Following the hectic schedule of promoting “AFE?”, Numan recorded a new session for John Peel the day after the single hit #1 on the UK charts. Rather than record as Tubeway Army, the session was credited to Gary Numan and the group name abandoned at the peak of it’s success. As before, rather than promote the current album, Numan chose to record four new songs. While the album Replicas hit #1, Numan was busy recording a follow up in Marcus Music Studio. From the surviving tapes there are six mixes marked as out-takes and these have been included in the CD package. The discs have been sequenced with the stronger, second Freerange demo preceding the first session but all tracks are in the order of the tapes.

TRACK LISTING

CD
DISC 1
1. Cars (Demo Version 2)
2. Films (Demo Version)
3. Complex (Demo Version)
4. Random (Remastered 2009)
5. M.E. (Demo Version)
6. Conversation (Demo Version 2)
7. Tracks (Demo Version 1)*
8. Cars (Demo Version 1)*
9. Metal (Demo Version)
10. Airlane (Demo Version)
11. Trois Gymnopédies No.1 (Demo)
12. Observer (Demo Version)
13. Conversation (Demo Version 1)
14. Engineers (Demo Version)
15. Asylum (Remastered 2009
16. Oceans (Remastered 2009)
17. Photograph (Remastered 2009)

DISC 2
1. Airlane (BBC Peel Session)
2. Cars (BBC Peel Session)
3. Films (BBC Peel Session)
4. Conversation (BBC Peel Session)
5. Tracks (Outtake Mix)
6. Complex (Outtake Mix)*
7. M.E. (Outtake Mix)
8. Engineers (Outtake Mix)*
9. Airlane (Outtake Mix)*
10. Cars (Outtake Mix)*

* Previously Unreleased

LP
A1. Cars (Demo Version)
A2. Films (Demo Version)
A3. Complex (Demo Version)
A4. Random (remastered 2009)
A5. M.E. (demo Version)
B1. Conversation (Demo Version 2)
B2. Tracks (Demo Version 1)*
B3. Cars (Demo Version 1)*
B4. Metal (Demo Version)
B5. Airlane (Demo Version)
C1. Trois Gymnopédies No.1 (Remastered 2009)
C2. Observer (Demo Version)
C3. Conversation (Demo Version 1)
C4. Engineers (Demo Version)
C5. Asylum (Remastered 2009
C6. Oceans (Remastered 2009)
C7. Photograph (Remastered 2009)
D1. Airlane (BBC Peel Session)
D2. Cars (BBC Peel Session)
D3. Films (BBC Peel Session)
D4. Conversation (BBC Peel Session)

* Previously Unreleased

Originally released in 1989, Sonic Temple proved to be a pivotal moment for both band and the wider rock scene. Produced by the legendary Bob Rock (Metallica, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith), Sonic Temple had four hit singles; “Fire Woman”, “Edie (Ciao Baby)”, “Sun King” and “Sweet Soul Sister”. The album catapulted The Cult into superstar status and remains their most commercially successful release. It has sold over 1.5 million copies in the US alone, and was declared platinum in 1990. It made it to #10 on the Billboard charts, and the abovementioned songs are all rock-radio staples to this day.

TRACK LISTING

DOUBLE LP
A1 Sun King
A2 Fire Woman
A3 American Horse
A4 Edie (Ciao Baby)
B1 Sweet Soul Sister
B2 Soul Asylum
B3 New York City
B4 Automatic Blues
C1 Soldier Blue
C2 Wake Up Time For Freedom
C3 Medicine Train (From The Edie (Ciao Baby) Single)
C4 The River (From The Sweet Soul Sister Single)
D1 Bleeding Heart Graffitti (from The Edie (Ciao Baby) CD EP)
D2 Messin' Up The Blues (from The Fire Woman Single)
D3 Fire Woman (NYC Rock Mix) (from The Fire Woman CD EP)
D4 Edie (Ciao Baby) (Acoustic) (From The Heart Of Soul CD Single)

BOX SET
Vinyl:
A1 Sun King
A2 Fire Woman
A3 American Horse
A4 Edie (Ciao Baby)
B1 Sweet Soul Sister
B2 Soul Asylum
B3 New York City
B4 Automatic Blues
C1 Soldier Blue
C2 Wake Up Time For Freedom
C3 Medicine Train (From The Edie (Ciao Baby) Single)
C4 The River (From The Sweet Soul Sister Single)
D1 Bleeding Heart Graffitti (from The Edie (Ciao Baby) Single)
D2 Messin' Up The Blues (from The Fire Woman Single)
D3 Fire Woman (NYC Rock Mix) (from The Fire Woman CD EP)
D4 Edie (Ciao Baby) (Acoustic) (From The Heart Of Soul CD Single)
E1 New York City (live) *previously Unreleased)
E2 Automatic Blues (live) *previously Unreleased)
E3 American Horse (live) (from The Sweet Soul Sister Single)
E4 Sun King (live) *previously Unreleased
F1 Soul Asylum (live) (from The Sweet Soul Sister Single)
F2 Sweet Soul Sister (live) (from The Sweet Soul Sister Single)
F3 Fire Woman (live) *previously Unreleased

Cassette:
A1 Sonic Temple Radio Promo
A2 New York City (demo)
A3 American Horse (demo)
A4 Sun King (demo)
A5 Automatic Blues (demo)
A6 Yes Man (demo)
A7 Wake Up Time For Freedom (demo)
A8 Citadel (demo)
A9 The River (demo)
B1 The Crystal Ocean (demo)
B2 Cashmere (demo)
B3 Edie (demo)
B4 Bleeding Hearts Revival
B5 Star Child (demo)
B6 Medicine Train (Rock Demo)
B7 New York City (Rock Demo)
B8 Fire (Rock Demo)

5-CD SET
1-1 Sun King
1-2 Fire Woman
1-3 American Horse
1-4 Edie (Ciao Baby)
1-5 Sweet Soul Sister
1-6 Soul Asylum
1-7 New York City
1-8 Automatic Blues
1-9 Soldier Blue
1-10 Wake Up Time For Freedom
2-1 Sonic Temple Radio Promo
2-2 Fire Woman (Edit)
2-3 Messin' Up The Blues (from The Fire Woman Single)
2-4 Medicine Train (From The Edie (Ciao Baby) Single)
2-5 Fire Woman (NYC Rock Mix) (from The Fire Woman CD EP)
2-6 Edie (Ciao Baby) (Edit)
2-7 Bleeding Heart Graffiti (from The Edie (Ciao Baby) CD EP)
2-8 Sun King (Edit)
2-9 Sweet Soul Sister (Edit)
2-10 The River (From The Sweet Soul Sister Single)
2-11 Soldier Blue (Werman Extended Version)
2-12 Fire Woman (LA Rock Mix)
2-13 Sweet Soul Sister (Rock's Mix)
2-14 Edie (Ciao Baby) (Acoustic) (From The Heart Of Soul CD Single)
3-1 Medicine Train (demo)
3-2 New York City (demo)
3-3 American Horse (demo)
3-4 Sun King (demo)
3-5 Automatic Blues (demo)
3-6 Yes Man (demo)
3-7 Fire (demo)
3-8 Wake Up Time For Freedom (demo)
3-9 Citadel (demo)
3-10 The River (demo)
4-1 The Crystal Ocean (demo)
4-2 Cashmere (demo)
4-3 Edie (demo)
4-4 Bleeding Hearts Revival
4-5 My Love (demo)
4-6 Star Child (demo)
4-7 Medicine Train (Rock Demo)
4-8 New York City (Rock Demo)
4-9 Fire (rock Demo)
4-10 Spanish Gold (jam Demo)
5-1 New York City (live) *previously Unreleased)
5-2 Automatic Blues (live) *previously Unreleased)
5-3 American Horse (live) (from The Sweet Soul Sister Single)
5-4 Sun King (live) *previously Unreleased
5-5 Soul Asylum (live) (from The Sweet Soul Sister Single)
5-6 Rain (live) *previously Unreleased
5-7 Sweet Soul Sister (live) (from The Sweet Soul Sister Single)
5-8 She Sells Sanctuary (live) *previously Unreleased
5-9 Fire Woman (live) *previously Unreleased

Classic compilation, now back in stock across two CD albums. 

‘1979-1983’ was originally released as a double album on vinyl in 1985 and then split into two volumes for release the following year. Together they offer an in-depth introduction to one of the most influential bands of recent times.

TRACK LISTING

Kick In The Eye
Hollow Hills
In Fear Of Fear
Ziggy Stardust
Silent Hedges
Lagartija Nick
Paranoia, Paranoia
Swing The Heartache
Third Uncle
Spirit
All We Ever Wanted Was Everything
Slice Of Life
She’s In Parties
The Sanity Assassin
Who Killed Mr. Moonlight
Satori
Crowds

Late 2018 will mark the 40th anniversary of Bauhaus. To celebrate, Beggars Arkive is reissuing six records from the band’s catalogue on limited edition coloured vinyl.

Formed in 1978, The legendary and hugely influential quartet hailed from Northampton, England and is comprised of Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins. The dark, dramatic music that they made, possessed far more force, variety and playfulness than the "founding fathers of goth" tag that is always attached to them.

Bauhaus' landmark debut album, In the Flat Field, came out towards the end of 4AD's first eventful year. Following the plan at the time, the band then "moved upstairs" to Beggars Banquet, for whom they cut three further albums before dissolving in 1983. They charted with their cover of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust”, they’ve been and namechecked by everyone from Nine Inch Nails, Sepultura, Janes Addiction, MGMT, Interpol, Bjork, Nirvana and more. They remain a huge cult concern, periodically reforming to wow their legions of dedicated followers.

Released in 1982, this is a live album, compiled from shows across the UK from 1981–82. Press the Eject… features a striking version of John Cale’s “Rosegarden Funeral Of Sores,” a particularly spooky run-through of “Hollow Hills” that out-creeps the studio version on Mask, and the punk rock fuzz-out of “Dark Entries”. Of course, “Bela…” appears here as well, in a luxurious nine-and-a-half-minute version. Washed in feedback and ever-so subtly accelerating and decelerating, this song is the true center of “Goth” mythology. This was mastered from HD audio files transferred from the original tapes.

TRACK LISTING

In The Flat Field (Live @ The Old Vic, London)
Rose Garden Funeral Of Sores (Live @ The Old Vic, London)
Dancing (Live @ The Royal Court, Liverpool)
The Man With X-Ray Eyes (Live @ Hammersmith Palais, London)
Bela Lugosi Is Dead (Live @ The Old Vic, London)
The Spy In The Cab (Live @ The Royal Court, Liverpool)
Kick In The Eye (Live @ The Royal Court, Liverpool)
In Fear Of Fear (Live @ The Royal Court, Liverpool)
Hollow Hills (Live @ The Old Vic, London)
Stigmata Martyr (Live @ The Royal Court, Liverpool)
Dark Entries (Live @ The Royal Court, Liverpool)
Terror Couple Kill Colonel (Live @ Le Rose Bon, Paris)
Double Dare (Live @ Le Rose Bon, Paris)
In The Flat Field (Live @ Le Rose Bon, Paris)
Hair Of The Dog (Live @ Le Rose Bon, Paris)
Of Lilies And Remains (Live @ Le Rose Bon, Paris)
Waiting For The Man (Live @ Fagins, Manchester)

Beggars Arkive reissue The Fall’s ninth studio album, Bend Sinister, originally released in 1986. This edition is titled Bend Sinister/The 'Domesday' Pay-Off Triad-Plus!

It was the last of three albums in a row produced by John Leckie and was named after a dystopian novel by Vladimir Nabokov.

After the universal acclaim for the previous year’s This Nation’s Saving Grace, Bend Sinister often stands in its predecessor’s shadow. It is a dark, brooding album made at the height of the group’s Beggars Banquet years and many people include this at the top of the list of favourite Fall albums.

From Bend Sinister, “Mr. Pharmacist” is a lurching instalment in pop music’s ongoing conversation with drug dealers, illicit and otherwise. Actually a cover of 1960s garage-rockers the Other Half, it’s also a demonstration of how the Fall’s relatively unchanging style could bolster other people’s songs. – PITCHFORK

“Part musical hypnotist, part ranting madman, Smith was a singular figure in post-punk. His Mancunian accent, dry witticisms and plays on words were one of the Fall’s most constant characteristics. Their songs were odysseys into his ever-verbose psyche, marked by repetitive rhythms and melodies.” – ROLLING STONE

“At various points in the band’s four-decade career, the Fall might sound like punk, hard rock, psychedelia, funk, blues-rock, jazz-rock, electropop or sheer noise. “If it’s me and your granny on bongos, it’s the Fall,” Mr. Smith once declared. The BBC disc jockey John Peel, an early and steadfast supporter, said of the Fall that ‘they are always different, they are always the same.’” - THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Mark E Smith’s group of psychedelic post-punks rank as one of the most visionary, singular British bands of all time.” -THE GUARDIAN

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Originally released in 1986, one year after the highly celebrated ‘This Nations Saving Grace’, ‘Bend Sinister’ was a darker brooding album, but had the Brix pop sensibility to counteract Mark E. Smith’s caustic vocals. Still highly regarded by Fall fans to this day, this was MES and his band hitting their creative peak. Reissued as a double disc edition with a plethora of bonus material.

TRACK LISTING

LP TRACK LISTING:
A1. R.O.D.
A2. Dktr. Faustus
A3. Shoulder Pads 1#
A4. Mr. Pharmacist
A5. Gross Chapel – British Grenadiers
B1. U.S. 80’s – 90’s
B2. Terry Waite Sez
B3. Bournemouth Runner
B4. Riddler!
B5. Shoulder Pads 2#
C1. Living Too Late (From The Living Too Late Single)
C2. Hot Aftershave Bop (From The Living Too Late Single)
C3. Lucifer Over Lancashire (From The Mr.Pharmacist Single)
C4. Auto Tech Pilot (From The Mr.Pharmacist Single)
D1. Hey! Luciani (from The Hey! Luciani Single)
D2. Entitled (from The Hey! Luciani Single)
D3. Shoulder Pads #1b (from The Hey! Luciani Single)
D4. Living Too Long (From The Living Too Late Single)

CD TRACK LISTING:
1-1. R.O.D.
1-2. Dktr. Faustus
1-3. Shoulder Pads 1#
1-4. Mr. Pharmacist
1-5. Gross Chapel – British Grenadiers
1-6. U.S. 80’s – 90’s
1-7. Terry Waite Sez
1-8. Bournemouth Runner
1-9. Riddler!
1-10. Shoulder Pads 2#
2-1. Living Too Late (Remastered/from The Living Too Late Single)
2-2. Hot Aftershave Bop (Remastered/from The Living Too Late Single)
2-3. Lucifer Over Lancashire (Remastered/from The Mr.Pharmacist Single)
2-4. Auto Tech Pilot (Remastered/from The Mr.Pharmacist Single)
2-5. Hey! Luciani (Remastered/from The Hey! Luciani Single)
2-6. Entitled (Remastered/from The Hey! Luciani Single)
2-7. Shoulder Pads #1b (Remastered/from The Hey! Luciani Single)
2-8. Living Too Long (Remastered/from The Living Too Late Single)
2-9. R. O. D (Peel Session, June 29 1986)
2-10. Gross Chapel – British Grenadiers (Peel Session, June 29 1986)
2-11. U. S. 80s – 90s (Peel Session, June 29 1986)
2-12. Hot Aftershave Bop (Peel Session, June 29 1986)
2.13. Luciani (Original Version, Previously Unreleased)
2.14. DKTR. Faustus (Rough Mix, Previously Unreleased)
2.15. Terry Waite Sez (Yellow 2 Mix, Previously Unreleased)
2.16. Lucifer Over Lancashire (Abbey Road Take 2, Previously Unreleased)
2.17. Entitled (Abbey Road Take 2, Previously Unreleased)
2.18. Town And Country Hobgoblins (Live, From The Bend Sinister Cassette Release)

I Am Kurious Oranj is The Fall’s eleventh studio album. Released by Beggars Banquet 30 years ago, in 1988, it contains some of their most loved songs including “Cab It Up!”, “New Big Prinz” and “Jerusalem” which takes its lyrics from a poem by William Blake.

The album was written as the soundtrack to an avant-garde ballet titled I Am Curious, Orange, produced by the experimental Michael Clark Company and performed in London with The Fall playing live. As it said in the original ballet program, replicated inside this reissue, “Mark E. Smith is a history buff and admirer of Michael Clark, and I Am Curious, Orange spawned the idea of a thematic delving into the foibles and little-known psyche of William of Orange.”

According to Mark E. Smith in his book, Renegade, “We adapted the title from a Swedish porno film--I am Curious, Yellow. I was trying to make the point that we all share some kind of common knowledge that’s within ourselves; that comes out in all sorts of things. Some people call it a gene pool. It’s as if you already know subconsciously about historical incidents. You don’t have to have been taught it. It’s in-built. At the time I wanted to put this across, basically as a loose explanation of what was happening in Belfast: it’s in the head and bones and there’s nothing you can do about it. I was on a roll at the time. I’m rarely short of ideas, and I’m not into preserving them much, either. If it’s in your head and you’ve got the right people around you them there’s no better time to tell the story.”

TRACK LISTING

New Big Prinz
Overture From ‘I Am Curious Orange’
Dog Is Life/Jerusalem
Kurious Oranj
Wrong Place, Right Time

Win Fall C.D. 2080
Yes, O Yes
Van Plague?
Bad News Girl
Cab It Up! 

‘Dance’ was Gary Numan’s fifth studio album and was released in 1981. Beggars Archive are excited to reissue this album on double purple vinyl.

The original 50-minute album was cut onto a single LP with a resulting compression and compromise to the sound. For this new edition, the tracks have been mastered over three sides for improved fidelity and the fourth side contains relevant singles, B-sides and an out-take.

Additionally, the previously unreleased, full length version of ‘Moral’ has been used to close out the original album. The double LP will be released on purple vinyl in an adapted, colour-corrected gatefold jacket with two printed inner sleeves.

‘Dance’ makes a notable effort by Gary Numan to step away from the synth-pop he was famous for and experiment with something a little more jazzy, saxophones and all. Guests on the album include guitarist Rob Dean and (fretless) bassist / saxophonist Mick Karn of Japan, drummer Roger Taylor of Queen, keyboardist Roger Mason of Australian band Models and Canadian alternative musician Nash The Slash.

Buffalo Tom (Bill Janovitz, Chris Colbourn and Tom Maginnis) formed at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1984 - a breeding ground of post punk guitar bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Pixies. They thrived on college radio in the late 1980’s and toured extensively in Europe, the US, Australia and Japan. In 1992 the band recorded their third album Let Me Come Over with a varied group of songs they had been developing at home and on the road - mixing their live power trio sound with some more acoustic based guitar ballads. The album’s single “Taillights Fade” would become their signature song.

2017 marks the 25th anniversary of this album, and to celebrate, Beggars Arkive reissues it on vinyl + cd and package it with a live album. Recorded in London at ULU (University of London Union) in 1992, this marks the band’s first-ever live release. The double LP contains 10 live tracks, and the cd edition contains the entire show (17 songs).

Buffalo Tom have never really stopped making music or playing shows, and 2017 has seen them celebrating the album’s anniversary with commemorative live shows, including a date at Islington Assembly Hall in London on 9 June. For these shows, they have been performing two sets – the first being Let Me Come Over in full, and the second being favorites from throughout their career. They have also funded a new album via Pledge Music which will see release later this year.

On its first two albums, Buffalo Tom constructed towering guitar-scapes and mastered a naturalistic version of quiet-to-loud dynamics. So, for its third, we found Buffalo Tom shedding a bit, but not all of the skin it had worn and emerging with its charms more front and center. Let Me Come Over is the sound of the trio exiting the insular underground for the wide world of “alternative” rock--but more or less bringing its best moves along with it, too. Previously loosely linked with fellow travelers Dinosaur Jr. and Uncle Tupelo via a similar three-piece format, stunning depth of songwriting and association with Boston’s Fort Apache Studios--it’s not hard to imagine Buffalo Tom wanted to stake a claim stylistically. Yet, LMCO never feels like a break with the past, it’s a transition. Inside that abstruse cover are undeniably magnificent tunes.

“Staples” is emblematic of a band in flux with a grungy lyrical conceit rendered with hi-fi guitar squalls. It’s the first single “Taillights Fade,” however, where the band appears to find a new comfort zone, at an unhurried speed where Janovitz’s storytelling and car crash metaphors stand the best chance of making an impression. It plays with quiet-to-loud dynamics, and as for emotional expression, it swings for the bleachers--and a place on alternative rock radio. “Mineral” jangles in a similar vein and makes grand gestures. “Darl” and “Larry” (referencing the brothers from the Newhart show I always thought?) are solid but disparate cuts. Colbourn’s “Darl” feels a bit like an outlier with its thrashy feel--it sounds better louder. “Larry” has a sweetness to it that’s augmented by its busker’s strumming.

Released as a second single, “Velvet Roof” had given us a taste of what was newly possible, a hook-heavy stomper with a densely woven rhythm matched by tight lyric writing--each piece expertly crafted to go into the next, no frayed ends here--and a snazzy mix by Ron Saint Germain, a pro who would later bring out the best in Soundgarden. A wailing harmonica solo gives it all a swagger that’s kind of new for the band. “Stymied” summons the emotional intensity of Birdbrain--it’s probably the album’s darkest moment. Somehow both life-affirming and wistful “Porchlight” contrasts with the way “Saving Grace” blazes through the barroom like a ‘Mats tribute. There’s no filler to be found here. “Frozen Lake” sees the band caressing acoustic guitars in comedown mode.

Let Me Come Over is kind of a short story collection with equal parts thunder and intimacy, hills and valleys, last night’s mistakes and tomorrow’s contrition. Ultimately, it’s possibility, a sense of ‘hey, this just might work’ that makes it such a deep spin 25 years later. Let Me Come Over triumphs.

TRACK LISTING

2CD
‘Let Me Come Over’
Staples
Taillights Fade
Mountains Of Your Head
Mineral
Darl
Larry
Velvet Roof
I’m Not There
Stymied
Porchlight
Frozen Lake
Saving Grace

Live From London, ULU
1992
Birdbrain
Staples
Taillights Fade
Impossible
Enemy
Larry
Velvet Roof
Fortune Teller
Sally Brown
The Bus
The Crawl
Mineral
Sunflower Suit
I’m Not There
Bleeding Heart
Skeleton Key
Reason Why

2LP
‘Let Me Come Over’ + 10
Live Tracks (1-10) +
Download Of Full Live
Show

Having formed in 1994, Six By Seven have gone through various incarnations, with the only constant being singer and composer Chris Olley. They recorded three albums for Mantra Records via Beggars Banquet - ‘The Things We Make’ (1998), ‘The Closer You Get’ (2000), ‘The Way I Feel Today’ (2002) - toured extensively, had two hit singles - ‘Candlelight’ (1998) and ‘I O U Love’ (2002) - recorded five Peel Sessions and appeared on Later With Jools Holland (December 1998). Despite heaping praise on Six By Seven’s breakthrough second album ‘The Closer You Get’, the press seemed confused as to how to categorise them. The band straddled a fine line between post-Brit Pop, British rock and a much edgier kind of punk. Inspired by The Pistols and The Stranglers as well as US bands such as Sonic Youth and Mercury Rev, Six By Seven consciously wanted to write songs that would get played on the radio, as Chris Olley explains: “We wanted to fill a gap I think, fill it with the sort of music we would like to hear and buy ourselves; sort of Captain Beefheart doing pop.”

Mixing misanthropic lyrics with Olley’s distinctive vocal style, the music was underpinned by malevolent, slow-burning guitars, creating a menacing, dense wall of sound. Chris Olley continues; “There is a great sense of vitriol running through ‘The Closer You Get’ both musically and lyrically.” Journalist Sharon O’Connell commented in her review for Mojo; “Few bands now have the courage to make noise as meaningful as this; it’s like warming your heart against a limited nuclear strike.”

TRACK LISTING

A Beautiful Shape
Candlelight
Crying
For You
IOU Love (Single Edit)
So Close
Catch The Rain
New Year
Eat Junk Become Junk
Bochum (Light Up My Life)
Oh! Dear
Always Waiting For...
Change
Truce
European Me (Student Radio Session)

Nottingham’s finest rock export Six By Seven release a double vinyl reissue of their 2000 classic ‘The Closer You Get’, with an additional LP of Peel Sessions and B-sides via Beggars Arkive.

Despite heaping praise on Six By Seven’s breakthrough second album ‘The Closer You Get’, the press seemed confused as to how to categorise them. The band straddled a fine line between post-Brit Pop, British rock and a much edgier kind of punk. Inspired by The Pistols and The Stranglers as well as US bands such as Sonic Youth and Mercury Rev, Six By Seven consciously wanted to write songs that would get played on the radio, as Chris Olley explains: “We wanted to fill a gap I think, fill it with the sort of music we would like to hear and buy ourselves; sort of Captain Beefheart doing pop.”

Mixing misanthropic lyrics with Olley’s distinctive vocal style, the music was underpinned by malevolent, slow-burning guitars, creating a menacing, dense wall of sound. Chris Olley continues; “There is a great sense of vitriol running through ‘The Closer You Get’ both musically and lyrically.” Journalist Sharon O’Connell commented in her review for Mojo; “Few bands now have the courage to make noise as meaningful as this; it’s like warming your heart against a limited nuclear strike.”

Back in 2000 it didn’t seem like the country was ready for Six By Seven’s brand of politically aware, angry and astute rock & roll. Whilst Olley was singing about junk food culture, unexploded mines, fake success and “this country’s dirty and depressing,” others were embracing Blair’s Britain. People had it ‘good’ and Coldplay were about to become the biggest band in the world. It seemed like no one understood where Six By Seven were coming from. As Olley explains: “To us it felt like everything was being diluted, merged and homogenised.” He talks about the sense of isolation they felt from the rest of the music industry: “We actually felt quite helpless and not part of anything, it was almost like we were in our own broken dream, stranded on an island because we had pulled up the drawbridge.”

With everything going on in the world currently, the time is ripe to experience these impassioned songs again. The idea for the reissues came following a fan’s campaign to get the song ‘Eat Junk Become Junk’ to a Christmas Number One after Shaun Keaveney played it on his breakfast show last year, knocking both Slade and The Darkness off the Number One spot for a brief moment during Christmas week in 2015. Following this flurry of interest, Olley and Lesley Bleakley from Beggars Arkive decided to reintroduce the band’s classic sophomore album ‘The Closer You Get’ to a modern audience, as part of a carefully curated reissue package.

‘The Closer You Get’ is presented in all its former glory, without being remastered or tampered with and will sound the same as it did when it originally came out. In homage to Beggars Arkive’s re-release of Olley’s heroes and labelmates’ Mercury Rev’s ‘Yerself Is Steam’, the additional LP will be polybagged together with the album. It will feature Six By Seven’s third Peel Session on one side and various B-sides and other Peel Sessions on the other.

TRACK LISTING

‘The Closer You Get’ (LP1)
Eat Junk Become Junk
Sawn Off Metallica T-Shirt
Ten Places To Die
New Year
One Easy Ship Away
My Life Is An Accident
Don’t Wanna Stop
Slab Square
England And A Broken Radio
Another Love Song
Overnight Success
100 & Something Foxhall Road

‘Peel Sessions’ (LP2)
Sleep
Another Love Song
England And A Broken Radio
Sawn Off Metallica T Shirt
Overnight Success
Get A Real Tattoo (B-Side)
Oh! Dear (1st Peel Session)
I’m Wide Open (B-Side)

‘Melting Pot’ is a greatest hits album by The Charlatans, featuring tracks from their time at Beggars Banquet Records between 1990 and 1997.

This compilation shows what a great band they were around that time (and still are!) There's not a bad track on here.

TRACK LISTING

The Only One I Know
Then
Opportunity Three
Over Rising
Sprotson Green (US Remix)
Weirdo
Theme From Wish Patrol (Chemical Brothers Remix)
Can’t Get Out Of Bed
I Never Want And Easy Life If Me An He Were Ever To Get There
Jesus Hairdo
Crashin’ In
Just Lookin
Here Comes A Soul Saver
Just When You’re Thinking Things Over
One To Another
North Country Boy

Originally released in 1985, their 8th album is one of The Fall’s most loved releases and is often hailed as one of the greatest albums of the 1980s. Drawing from the well of primal rock ‘n’ roll, the band play with muscular spontaneity and inspiration to create music that still sounds unique and challenging, especially against today’s anodyne imitations of Rock and ‘guitar music’.

This LP has also been mastered from HD files.

TRACK LISTING

LP:
A1. Mansion
A2. Bombast
A3. Barmy
A4. What You Need
A5. Spoilt Victorian Child
A6. L.A.

B1. Gut Of The Quantifier
B2. My New House
B3. Paintwork
B4. I Am Damo Suzuki
B5. To Nkroachment: Yarbles

Released in 1984, The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall was the band’s seventh studio album and their first for Beggars Banquet. It makes few conces¬sions to the larger market - every potential hook seemed spiked with the band’s usual rough take- it-or- leave- it stance - though the integration of Brix Smith into the band added a melodic twist.

This LP has been mastered from HD files transferred from the analog tapes.

STAFF COMMENTS

David says: This is the pinnacle of The Fall’s ‘golden period’, bookended by ‘Perverted By Language’ and ‘The Frenz Experiment’. When I first arrived in Manchester I saw them six times in six months, on each occasion they were 100% more shambolic than the previous gig, which is impressive even by their standards.

TRACK LISTING

1. Lay Of The Land
2. 2 By 4
3. Copped It
4. Elves
5. Slang King
6. Bug Day
7. Stephen Song
8. Craigness
9. Disney's Dream Debased

This contains the material from the two singles and the EP, Call For Escape Route, that the band released in 1984, which were also part of the extended cassette ver-sion of the original album. These were the remaining tracks recorded at the sessions.

TRACK LISTING

1. Oh! Brother
2. God-Box
3. C.r.e.e.p.
4. Pat - Trip Dispenser
6. No Bulbs 3
7. Slang King 2
8. Draygo's Guilt
9. Clear Off
10. No Bulbs

Available for the first time on vinyl, this collection compiles the singles released around This Nation’s Saving Grace and includes 5 tracks from the bands’ 1985 BBC Peel sessions. Also included is the track “Ma Riley” which made its debut on the CD box set in 2011.

Drawing from the latter years of the Beggars Banquet recordings (1987-1989), this set features often overlooked albums and a compilation of singles and alternative takes.

Out of all the late 70s punk and post punk bands, none were longer lived or more prolific than The Fall. Throughout their career, the band underwent myriad lineup changes, but at the centre of it all was vocalist Mark E. Smith. With his snarling, nearly incomprehensible vocals and consuming bitter cynicism, Smith became a cult legend in indie and alternative rock.

Over the course of their career, The Fall went through a number of shifts in musical style, yet the foundation of their sound was a near-cacophonous jagged jumble of guitars, sing-speak vocals, and keyboards. During the late 70s and early 80s, the band were at their most abrasive and atonal.

In 1984, Smith’s American wife Brix joined the band as a guitarist, bringing a stronger sense of pop melody to the group. By the mid 80s, the band’s British following was large enough to result in two UK Top 40 hits, but in essence, the group have always been a cult band; their music was always too abrasive and dense for the mainstream.

‘The Frenz Experiment’ reverts to the original vinyl version with bonus 7” tracks at the end.

After the dark morass of ‘Bend Sinister’, the sound of 1988’s ‘Frenz Experiment’ comes as a bit of a shock. The arrangements are spare and broken down to the essentials, with the distorted guitars brought down low, and Wolstencroft’s drums high in the mix. Marcia Schofield had also joined the band to add keyboards. Their cover of The Kinks’ ‘Victoria’ marked The Fall’s first entry into the British charts, but also fitted in with Smith’s continuing explorations of Britain’s history and how it translates into issues of class identity.

‘I Am Kurious Oranj’ keeps the vinyl track sequence and adds bonus tracks and alternative mixes at the end.

The last thing most Fall fans expected the group to do in 1988 was provide music for a ballet, but in fact this is what they did. Of course, it helped that the Michael Clark company of dancers were some of the most avant-garde at the time in Britain, inspired originally by The Fall’s ‘Hey! Luciani’ single.

‘Hit The North (Parts 1 - 6)’ includes all 6 released versions (four have never been on CD and one not even on vinyl) as well as an unreleased instrumental track (just in case you wanted more).

‘Singles 1987 - 1989’ is a new compilation of singles tracks and alternate / unreleased versions.

‘Seminal Live’ is a hybrid album, featuring 5 new studio songs followed by live recordings from 1988. This is sequenced as the original CD.

When they released their first album in 1989, the Boston-based trio Buffalo Tom were written off as Dinosaur Jr. junior. Admittedly, their debut was in debt to J Mascis’ thundering guitar and folk-tinged songs and it didn’t help that Mascis produced the record either. Over time, Buffalo Tom stripped away their grungier influences and developed into a straight-ahead rock group of the early 90s, capable of throttling rockers and beautiful ballads.

Buffalo Tom began to develop their own style with their second album, 1990’s ‘Birdbrain’, which featured a noticeable improvement in songwriting.

In 1992, Buffalo Tom released ‘Let Me Come Over’, a gritty set of driving rock and achingly melancholy ballads; several of its tracks became alternative radio staples, including the gorgeous ballad ‘Taillights Fade’. Despite an increased amount of critical praise and some radio airplay, the album didn’t sell.

The follow-up, 1993’s ‘Big Red Letter Day’, featured a more polished, radio-ready production, but the album received only a small push from radio and MTV. ‘Soda Jerk’, the first single from the album, became a minor alternative radio and MTV hit.

After a yearlong tour, the group returned in the summer of 1995 with ‘Sleepy Eyed’, a return to the more direct sound of ‘Let Me Come Over’, following it with ‘Smitten’ in 1998 before taking a decade long hiatus.

The albums are released in their original CD configurations.

In 1985 The Cult enjoyed breakthrough success with the single ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ and the album ‘Love’, establishing themselves as a new breed of alternative rock band.

When it came to recording a follow-up, the band booked into The Manor studios in Oxfordshire with Steve Brown again producing the album. By the end of October 1986 the album was recorded, the masters assembled and it was given the title ‘Peace’. However, the band weren’t happy with the final results which seemed too polished. Appreciating the rawness of Run-D.M.C.’s ‘Walk This Way’, the band contacted producer Rick Rubin to re-mix the lead track, ‘Love Removal Machine’. Rubin agreed to work with the band but only on condition that the track was entirely re-recorded. The result was a sparse, dry, riffing version that captured the sonic excitement the band were looking for. Enthused by the results, the decision was made to abandon the expensive ‘Peace’ recordings and re-record the entire album in New York with Rick Rubin. The new tracks would become The Cult’s third album, re-titled ‘Electric’, and a multi-million seller.

Tracks from ‘Peace’ were used as single B-sides and some of the alternative versions were issued on an early CD - ‘The Manor Sessions’ - but it wasn’t until the limited ‘Rare Cult’ box set in 2000 that fans got to hear the full album correctly sequenced. The box rapidly sold out meaning that ‘Peace’ has been unavailable for 13 years. Until now.

This expanded release of Biffy Clyro’s ‘The Vertigo Of Bliss’ has been re-mastered over three sides of vinyl for improved sound quality. The fourth side contains six non-album B-sides.

Available on coloured double vinyl in gatefold sleeve.

“Based on the evidence of ‘The Vertigo Of Bliss’, Ayrshire's Biffy Clyro have matured massively since their debut album, ‘Blackened Sky’. While retaining a highly refined melodic sensibility that manifests itself mostly in their effortless vocal harmonies, they've added a metallic heaviness to their sound, and bravely given themselves full range to experiment.”

“‘The Vertigo Of Bliss’ is never predictable, hardly even stable. Most of the tracks here are in constant flux. Pastoral acoustic guitars, fuzzed bass and sweet strings slip in and out of the mix, leading on to the next folksy interlude, wild jazz break or punky firestorm. One example of this is ‘With Aplomb’, where a pretty acoustic riff is gradually submerged in lush strings and vocal harmonies, before the band engage in a series of brief solos rising to a kind of Elizabethan rock climax recalling Ritchie Blackmore. Elsewhere ‘Diary Of Always’ is a bizarre ballad driven by a Laurie Anderson-style vocal pulse, while ‘Now The Action Is On Fire!’ mixes turbulent guitars and staccato strings, like a cross between John Cale and Ozzy Osbourne” - Dominic Wills

Released in 1997, when it went straight to the top of the album charts, this year marks the 15th anniversary of ‘Tellin’ Stories’.

Building on the sound of their eponymous, previous release (‘The Charlatans’ - also a No.1), the band’s performance has the feel of a classic British rock band (the type which also contain ‘roll’ in the music), combined with the more focussed songwriting of Britpop.

The package contains the original album, re-mastered and cut from the analogue studio tapes, in addition to a collection of the single B sides, plus an unreleased, early version of ‘Don’t Need A Gun’, originally entitled ‘Rainbow Chasing’. Of the eight B sides only half were re-issued on the anthology ‘Songs From The Other Side’.

TRACK LISTING

With No Shoes
North Country Boy
Tellin' Stories
One To Another
You're A Big Girl Now
How Can You Leave Us
Area 51
How High
Only Teethin'
Get On It
Rob's Theme
Two Of Us
Reputation
Don't Need A Gun
Down With The Mook
Title Fight
Keep It To Yourself
Rainbow Chasing (Don't Need A Gun First Take)
Clean Up Kid
Thank You (Live)

“They have an admirable knack for building songs on unorthodox time signatures without ever sounding fussy, and are able to shift from delicately drifting melodies to full throttle rock & roll without an audible grinding of gears - ‘The Go- Slow’ and the winningly titled ‘Kill The Old, Torture Their Young’ are particularly noteworthy in this respect” - Andrew Mueller

During 2012, Beggars Archive are releasing the original Biffy Clyro albums in expanded, double vinyl editions, starting with their 2002 debut, ‘Blackened Sky’.

In addition to the original album, the second disc contains two tracks from their pre-Beggars single, ‘thekidswhopoptodaywillrocktomorrow’, and various rare B sides, some with a vinyl release for the first time.

The albums will be pressed on heavyweight purple vinyl.

With the increasing success of the band over the past decade, this is an opportunity for latecomers to the Biffy party to get acquainted with their early catalogue and for original fans to have all the studio B sides in the one vinyl package.

Can it really be twenty years ago that The Charlatans furtively and then confidently appeared in the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays’ slipstream to carve their own distinctive, tough, psychedelic soundtrack for those brief, heady years when Manchester was the centre of the world? From that auspicious start they experienced career highs and lows, broadened their musical base and endured to become one of the era’s most respected and successful bands.

This 2 disc Expanded Edition includes "Some Friendly" restored to its original vinyl sequence plus a second disc of the non album singles and previously unreleased BBC sessions. It includes the UK top 10 single (and perennial classic) "The Only One I Know", the follow-up, "Then", and the "Over Rising" EP. All tracks have been re-mastered from the original analogue studio masters (except the BBC recordings). The set also includes a 20 page book with notes by the author John Robb.

TRACK LISTING

CD1 - Some Friendly
1. You’re Not Very Well
2. White Shirt
3. Opportunity
4. Then
5. 109 Pt.2
6. Polar Bear
7. Believe You Me
8. Flower
9. Sonic
10. Sproston Green

CD2 - Singles & Sessions
1. The Only One I Know
2. Imperial 109
3. Everything Changed
4. Then (BBC Peel Session)
5. Always In Mind (BBC Peel Session)
6. You Can Talk To Me (BBC Peel Session)
7. Polar Bear (BBC Peel Session)
8. You’re Not Very Well (BBC Goodier Session)
9. Indian Rope (BBC Goodier Session)
10. The Only One I Know (BBC Goodier Session)
11. White Shirt (BBC Goodier Session)
12. Then (Alternate Take)
13. Taurus Moaner
14. Polar Bear (12” Mix)
15. Over Rising
16. Way Up There
17. Happen To Die (Long Version)
18. Opportunity Three

Having left a permanent mark with both his bands, Hüsker Dü and Sugar, and with a half-dozen, uncompromising solo albums released during and after these bands lived, Bob has long been regarded as a name at the forefront of American music. Not one for sentiment, Bob prefers to ignore his legacy and 'cult status', going straight to what he does best – namely that of making hair-raisingly emotional, undeniably catchy, loud, mature, guitar rock. "District Line" instantly sounds both familiar and classic. Providing a backbone to the record is Brendan Canty (Fugazi), a perfect foil to Mould's determined guitar riffs, insistent basslines and passionate, vulnerable singing, while the beautifully bittersweet cello comes courtesy of Amy Domingues. They make a huge sound for a small team and fans will delight in this, a new 'Loud Bob' record. Recorded in a warehouse space with a mobile studio, "District Line" is a dozen flavours of Mould's inspired, instantly memorable, melodic songwriting and playing.

The National's 2005 album "Alligator" saw them fulfil the promise shown on their previous two albums, and set the bar impossibly high for their follow up.

However, with "Boxer" they've created something quite stunning, in fact the opening three tracks, "Fake Empire", "Mistaken For Strangers" and "Brainy" are possibly their best songs ever. A taut rhythm section is present throughout, and complements the languid vocals and lush string arrangements perfectly. Although the strings and Matt Berninger's distinctive drawl create a solemn mood, there are plenty of upbeat moments here too, creating a rich anthemic album with just the right amount of melancholy.

TRACK LISTING

1. Fake Empire
2. Mistaken For Strangers
3. Brainy
4. Squalor Victoria
5. Green Gloves
6. Slow Show
7. Apartment Story
8. Start A War
9. Guest Room
10. Racing Like A Pro
11. Ada
12. Gospel

"So named due to this being a collection of stuff released on the Kamera label, for a long time Hip Priests was the only way to listen to material from the mighty Hex Enduction Hour album, as well as Room to Live and related singles like "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul" and "Look, Know." For that reason alone it was a useful collection, though it was also flawed in that nearly everything was mastered for CD from vinyl, a harbinger of what would eventually happen in the late '90s with any number of early Fall reissues. It's especially noticeable on "Hip Priest" itself. Whether or not one wants to debate the aesthetics of such an approach, it's still more than a little frustrating. Thankfully, the song selection is nearly impeccable -- omissions are unavoidable, but there's no overlap with Palace of Swords Reversed, and the highlights are legion: "Hip Priest," "The Classical," "Mere Psued Mag. Ed.," "I'm Into C.B.!," and the absolutely wonderful B-side "Fantastic Life." The CD and cassette versions both include a useful bonus of interest to hardcore fans -- four live cuts of varying fidelity of other material from that time. "Who Makes the Nazis?" is OK enough, but the take on "Just Step Sideways" gets delivered with rough, fiery authority. At the end of the collection, meanwhile, there's an extremely muddy take on "Jawbone and the Air-Rifle" that will likely cause immediate departures on the part of neighbors and friends. A full quarter-hour ramble and stumble through "And This Day" concludes the release as a whole; it's a great performance that at nearly every point sounds like it'll collapse into formless chaos. Mark E. Smith is his typically contrarian self, while the lineup has its usual off-center way with the proceedings." - AllMusic.

TRACK LISTING

Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul
The Classical
Fortress
Look, Know
Hip Priest
Who Makes The Nazis?
Just Step Sideways
Room To Live
Mere Pseud Mag. Ed.
Hard Life In Country
I'm Into CB!
Fantastic Life
Jawbone And The Air-Rifle
And This Day

"Again working with John Leckie on production, the Fall's third Beggars album, Bend Sinister, was a distinctly down affair -- not that the Fall were ever a shiny happy band, of course, but both music and lyrics seemed like a darker corner to dwell in. Happily there was no worry that the Fall would ever go goth; one suspects Mark E. Smith would rather have his tongue removed. Still, opening track "R.O.D." makes for a distinctly lower-key start in comparison to recent leadoffs like "Lay of the Land" and "Bombast," almost sounding a bit like fellow Mancunian legends Joy Division, Smith's lyric his own depressing vision of a beast slouching toward Bethlehem. Leckie's production emphasizes space in the recording, while the band as a whole sounds generally more deliberate and understated, even Craig Scanlon's guitar not leaping quite as much to trebly life as is normally the case. Songs like "Gross Chapel - British Grenadiers" favor Steve Hanley's bass work as much as anything, while the almost industrial/hip-hop beat of "US 80's-90's" sets the tone for a glowering vision of the States from, as Smith puts it, "the big-shot original rapper." Elsewhere, there's Smith's vision of the eternal outsider comes to life once again -- "Shoulder Pads 1," a hardly disguised sneer against being surrounded by people who "can't tell Lou Reed from Doug Yule," for all that there's a slightly quirky arrangement thanks to Simon Rogers' keyboards. Still, there are certainly moments of sheer fun -- in keeping with the band's regular ear for good cover versions, this time around psych-era obscurities the Other Half get the nod with a brisk rip through the obvious drug references of "Mr. Pharmacist." Brix again shares vocal leads with Smith at various points, notably "Dktr. Faustus," a distinctly reworked version of that particular legend that turns into a frantic, audibly unhappy dance groove." - AllMusic.

The Fall's contractual obligation album. With Brix leaving (or left, depending on your history) the group, this is a hastily assembled selection of what sound like Frenz Experiment outtakes and nine live tracks, their last for Beggars Banquet. These opening five tracks would have made a nice EP supporting the single "Deadbeat Descendant," the first song featured on the album. They're not among their best, but "H.O.W. (History of the World)" has a certain grim stateliness to it, with a grungy bassline by Hanley leading the group. "Pinball Machine" continues in Smith's long line of rockabilly covers.

Originally released in 1990, the seventeen songs collected here come from The Fall’s Brix Smith era, aka “the golden era of Fall releases.” This is a perfect introduction to the band, and as legendary critic Robert Christgau said, it’s “The only Fall record any normal person need own”.

The band’s legendary and notorious frontman Mark E. Smith passed away earlier this year at the age of 60. The band’s output since they formed at the height of the punk rock movement in Manchester in 1976 was prolific to say the least. It’s hard to be exact, but in their four decades, The Fall released 31 studio albums, 5 part-studio/part live albums, 32 live albums, 40 compilations, and Mark E. Smith also released two spoken word albums. Another high number is that of former members of The Fall. There were over 60 different band members over the years. Their high volume of quality work over the last 40+ years had an enormous influence which was extolled greatly after his death.

TRACK LISTING

1. Oh! Brother
2. C.R.E.E.P.
3. No Bulbs 3
4. Rollin’ Dany
5. Couldn’t Get Ahead
6. Cruisers Creek
7. L.A.
8. Living Too Late
9. Hit The North Part 1
10. Mr. Pharmacist
11. Hey! Luciani
12. There’s A Ghost In My House
13. Victoria
14. Big New Prinz
15. Wrong Place, Right Time No. 2
16. Jerusalem
17. Dead Beat Descendant

The music featured on this album was originally written for a contemporary ballet by Michael Clark's dance company.

TRACK LISTING

1 New Big Prinz
2 Overture From "I Am Curious Orange"
3 Dog Is Life/Jerusalem
4 Kurious Oranj
5 Wrong Place, Right Time
6 Guide Me Soft
7 C.D. Win Fall 2088 Ad
8 Yes O Yes
9 Van Plague?
10 Bad News Girl
11 Cab It Up!
12 Last Nacht 
13 Big New Prinz

"After the dark morass of Bend Sinister, the sound of 1988's Frenz Experiment comes as a bit of a shock. The arrangements are spare and broken down to the essentials, with the distorted guitars brought down low and Wolstencroft's drums high in the mix. Marcia Schofield had also joined the band to add keyboards. With most of the songs credited only to Smith himself, this could be seen as a solo album of sorts, or an indication of some rift within the group -- it certainly doesn't translate into the music. For the first time too, his vocals are loud and clear, though certainly not comprehensible; "Bremen Nacht" hints at some sort of run in with a ghost in Germany, "Athlete Cured," with its Spinal Tap-borrowed riff, tells of a "German athletic star" made ill from unusual circumstances -- the narrative turns strange, then funny until wandering off, a classic Smith tactic. Their cover of the Kinks' "Victoria" marked the Fall's first entry into the British charts, but also fit in with Smith's continuing explorations of Britain's history and how it translates into issues of class identity. The CD contains their other two singles from this time -- "Hit the North" and a cover of R. Dean Taylor's "There's a Ghost in My House," which the group makes their own -- plus several B-sides." - AllMusic.

TRACK LISTING

1 Frenz
2 Carry Bag Man
3 Get A Hotel
4 Victoria
5 Athlete Cured
6 In These Times
7 The Steak Place 
8 Bremen Nacht Alternative
9 Guest Informant Excerpt
10 Oswald Defence Lawyer
11 Tuff Life Booogie
12 Guest Informant
13 Twister
14 There's A Ghost In My House
15 Hit The North Part 1

"The Fall made the leap to a semi-major label -- Beggars Banquet -- with The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall, hooking up with noted producer John Leckie to create another smart, varied album. Contemporaneous with the slightly friendlier "Oh! Brother" and "C.R.E.E.P." singles without actually including them, Wonderful and Frightening World makes few concessions to the larger market -- every potential hook seemed spiked with the band's usual rough take-it-or-leave-it stance. Mark E. Smith's audible, tape-distorting spit on the descending chord blast of "Elves" -- already spiked with enough vocal craziness as it is -- gives a sense of where the album as a whole aims. Brix Smith co-writes about half the tracks, creating a strong partnership with many highlights. It may start with a semi-low-key chant, but when "Lay of the Land" fully kicks in, it does just that, Craig Scanlon in particular pouring on the feedback at the end over the clattering din. Smith sounds as coruscating and side-splittingly hilarious as ever, depicting modern Britain with an eye for the absurdities and failures (and crucially, no empathy -- it's all about a gimlet eye projected at everyone and everything). Two further standouts appear on the second half -- "Slang King," a snarling portrayal of a cool-in-his-mind dude and his increasingly pathetic life, and the concluding "Disney's Dream Debased." Though unquestionably the most conventionally attractive tune on the album, ringing guitars and all, Smith's lyrics portray a Disneyland scenario in hell, however softly delivered. Elsewhere, Gavin Friday from the Virgin Prunes takes a bow with his own unmistakable, spindly vocals on the trebly Krautrock chug of "Copped It" and the slightly more brute rhythm of "Stephen Song."

[The CD version, in an admirable move by Beggars Banquet, contains seven extra tracks to fill the disc out, including "Oh! Brother" and "C.R.E.E.P.," along with associated B-sides and the Call for Escape Route EP.] " - AllMusic.

These five Cincinnati friends recorded two albums and a mini album for Brassland before signing to Beggars Banquet. Their last effort, "Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers", was touted as one of the year's best by Rolling Stone and other magazines.

The National contains two pairs of brothers - Aaron Dessner (guitars, bass) and Bryce Dessner (guitar), Scott Devendorf (guitar, bass), Bryan Devendorf (drums) and singer Matt Berninger. Matt's potent baritone intones about matters fraught and funny and sad; about record collections, missing persons and medium-sized American hearts. The songs are intense, and emotive but generally quite restrained, but on one or two tracks, this intensity spills out into a superbly abrasive blast of emotion, before ebbing back into mellowness. Wonderful!

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: An absolutely awesome album - one of my albums of the year in 2005 when it was originally released. Although it's perhaps a little less 'polished' than "High Violet" it still has that same compelling, claustrophic intensity too it.

TRACK LISTING

1. Secret Meeting
2. Karen
3. Lit Up
4. Looking For Astronauts
5. Daughters Of The Soho Riots
6. Baby, We'll Be Fine
7. Friend Of Mine
8. Val Jester
9. All The Wine
10. Abel
11. Geese Of Beverly Road
12. City Middle
13. Mr. November

Featuring 15 original tracks and boasting some stunning guest appearances, "Bubblegum" is simply one of Mark Lanegan's (Screaming Trees singer and Queens Of The Stone Age member) best albums, a stunning dark americana journey full of tales of remorse and loneliness delivered by his unique and emotive gravel-edged voice. Musical assistance on "Bubblegum" comes from luminaries including Queens Of The Stone Age bandmates Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri, PJ Harvey (who provides vocals on "Hit The City" and "Come To Me"), Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers' Greg Dulli and Ween's Dean Ween amongst others.

The album was recorded in one day. The result is a rich, diverse album of angular post-hardcore / alt.rock. Taking it's title from a phrase in contemporary novel "I Lucifer", "The Vertigo Of Bliss" is an inspired rush of emotion, contemplation and twisting melodies. The sleeve for "The Vertigo of Bliss" includes an original illustration by celebrated Italian artist, Milo Manara, whose work was also featured on the sleeve of Biffy Clyro's recent single "The Ideal Height".

A sort of alternative best of, this album is a 15 track compilation of the best studio tracks that never appeared on their six official albums!