Non Metal Now Listening

[The Wretch]

BE BOP DELUXE - Sunburst Finish (1976)

Bill Nelson is criminally underrated as a guitarist.

This is absolutely fucking lethal!

I never heard of them before. It's like Queen, Big Star and Badfinger mixed together.

Excellent recommendation!

Cool, glad you enjoyed it! Great band. I came across them on the 'Guitar Heroes At The BBC' show that aired back in the 2000's I think, they played some footage of them on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Later I read in a Steve Harris interview that he was actually a big fan.

Edit - I think a lot of the NWOBHM era bands like Saxon, Diamond Head, Def Leppard etc have name-checked them too, and the neo Prog acts like Marillion and Pallas. And Steve Jones played them on 'Jonesy's Jukebox' I believe.

[son of the Morrigan]

First two Presidents Of The United States albums. must be 20 years since I listened to them.
God dammit they are enjoyable as fuck.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Started listening to the debut again about a year ago, with the young lad, and had exactly the same reaction 

[son of the Morrigan]

Ah that's nice, I'd imagine a young ladeen would get a great buzz off them. Great energy.
I must be getting old, 20 years ago if the mood was bad I'd be headbanging to Suicide Sacrifice and Born In A Casket to relieve the tension, now I'm dancing around like a fairy to songs about peaches, toy cars and fucking cats.

[Ollkiller]

First two Presidents Of The United States albums. must be 20 years since I listened to them.
God dammit they are enjoyable as fuck.

They really are. Funky as hell as well.

[StoutAndAle]

First two Presidents Of The United States albums. must be 20 years since I listened to them.
God dammit they are enjoyable as fuck.

I've only ever listened to the first one. "Lump" was massive when it came out (no pun intended).


I've had Semisonic's "Feeling Strangely Fine" on a fair bit over the last week. Haven't listened to the full way through in a long, long time. Dan Wilson knows how to write hook-laden belters.

[Giggles]

"Church of the Cosmic Skull, putting the Abba into Black Sabbath"

[StoutAndAle]

Microdisney - "We Hate You South African Bastards!"
Suede - "Coming Up"
Manic Street Preachers - "Gold Against The Soul"

I've said this before, it bears repeating; James Dean Bradfield is fucking monster guitarist and he gets nowhere near the recognition that other, lesser players receive. Some of the stuff he does while still singing is incredible.

[Carnage]

That's a seriously underrated album too, it pisses on the debut from a height.

[StoutAndAle]

That's a seriously underrated album too, it pisses on the debut from a height.

I played "Generation Terrorists" to death when I first got it. It's a struggle to get through now.

The US version of their debut is far more suited to a casual listen - except - I would drop "Repeat (Stars & Stripes)" and replace it with "Born To End".

Oh and leave it as the UK mix rather than the messing around Columbia Records did with it before releasing it in the States.

Oddly, the US mix of "The Holy Bible" is pretty decent - by Tom Lord-Alge. Not as good as the Alex Silva/Mark Freegard/Steve Brown UK version but it's interesting to hear what they did to make it more USA radio-friendly.

[Carnage]

Yeah, I have the reissue from a few years back (10th anniversary maybe?) with both mixes. It's grand, freshens it up a bit but I prefer the UK mix overall, that album is so dark that opening it up too much takes from it a bit IMO. I think they had another remastered version for the 20th anniversary, haven't heard that.

I've never liked Generation Terrorists, bar a few songs. Their obnoxious image and attitude at the time put me off them for years, I only really paid attention when The Holy Bible came out.

[StoutAndAle]

Yeah, I have the reissue from a few years back (10th anniversary maybe?) with both mixes. It's grand, feeshens it up a bit but I prefer the UK mix overall, that album is so dark that opening it up too much takes from it a bit IMO. I think they had another remastered version for the 20th anniversary, haven't heard that.

I'm with you. I prefer the seedy darkness of the original 1994 UK mix. There's a real menace to it.

I have the original album from when it was released. I picked up a US copy for less than $10 in New York around 2002. I have the 10th Anniversary box set of "The Holy Bible" with the US mix which was cleaned up a little bit more, I think, and also the "THB20" box set which contains a US version. The 10 and 20 copies sound identical to me, I don't think they did anything to the mix after the "THB10" version

"The Holy Bible" is 30 years old in August.

[Carnage]

Jaysus. My brother went to the Tivoli show on that tour. He had no interest but just went along with a mate, came back a complete convert so I got the album and was in from there. I don't think I have that CD anymore to compare with the 10th anniversary version, but the latter still sounds great to me.

Speaking of anniversaries, Sigur Ros' Agætis Byrjun is 25 years out today, so that'll be played later. That album kept me sane on an hour long commute to and from 14 hour night shifts back in the day, it'll always be a favourite.

[The Wretch]

THE LEE HARVEY OSWALD BAND - Blastronaut (1996)

[The Wretch]

THE LEE HARVEY OSWALD BAND - A Taste Of Prison (1994)