Volume, gaudy fishes and all, was quite the shit in the early-to-mid ‘90’s. On a somewhat quarterly schedule, a digipak-sized full color magazine was released with a compilation disc. Generally, each contained at least 17 tracks: finished work from forthcoming releases, alternate mixes, demos and the occasional outtake. At over 100 (small) pages, there were lots of glib interviews, photo shoots with minimal styling, and frequently puerile British humour. It came off as less calculated than the broadsheets, and produced a pretty solid sampling of what was hitting the independent chart in the UK. Much of it’s dated, but the quality was higher than most of the other magazine comps. And, having said so much here, I’ll leave the individual songs blurbless. They’re all stripped down, giving you a clearer structural view of songs you hopefully know. If not, you should track down the full versions.
Suede- My Insatiable One (Piano Version)
Belly- White Belly (Original Version)
Disco Inferno- Second Language (Demo Version)
May 24th, 2005 at 9:33 am
Dan, three cheers to you for pointing out the brilliance of Volume. I still include tracks from there on mixes with alarming regularity. Possibly my favorite track from there is “Belt” by Teenage Fanclub — a piss-take that finds them basically imitating Felt from the Let Their Snakes Crinkle Their Heads To Death album with an uncanny accuracy. Seek it out, collectors!
May 25th, 2005 at 9:57 am
Yeah, “Belt” is a winner. “Fake ‘88″ by Saint Etienne & “Lip Tripping” by The The round out the three coolest rarities in my partial collection.