youshouldve

In this section, we take a look at bands you should've listened to but were:
a) Too afraid to try something new,
b) Complacent and secretly happy listening to 'Soundtrack Classics' when no one
was looking,
c) Too stingy to buy.
We also take a look at bands you've listened to but really should have reached for
the Argos catalogue instead...

There's the moon asking to stay
Long enough for the clouds to fly me
away
Well it's my time coming, I'm not afraid
to die
My fading voice sings of love,
But she cries to the clicking of time
Of time
GRACE

AND

You

YOU DIDN'T..

Should've...

Jeff Buckley
With only one finished album, 'Grace' and a release of unfinished songs
entitled 'Sketches for my Sweetheart the Drunk,' Buckley is the tragic
victim of one of nature's greatest crimes. However before he was so
swiftly stolen, Buckley gave us a gift of poems meticulously bound in
delicate words and wrapped in folds of evocative music.
www.jeffbuckley.com

Mazzy Star
Proof of the unnerving truth that you can have critical acclaim, work
with the best in the biz e.g. Jesus and Mary Chain/ Chemical Brothers,
have the most ethereal voice known to mankind and still be massively
unknown to the masses. Hope Sandoval and Co are all working on side
projects but remain an overwhelming haunting force when they come
together in this US Indie/Acoustic outfit.
http://www.mazzystar.nu/ for more info.

The Anniversary
Ah, the band that use the funny-sounding Moog..unfortunately they
disbanded last year so don't say we didn't warn you when you fall in love
with them and then get really p*ssed off that you can never see them
live and to top it off, they will never release anything else ever again.
Join the club. Good news is they're all in new bands.
Check out: http://www.lawrence.com/bands/the_anniversary/ for
downloads and http://www.anniversaryrock.com/
for info on new projects.

Psyched Up Janis
Yet another disbanded act that will haunt you for the rest of your life
after your hear them. Classic grunge band who were the unsung heroes
of the European grunge movement and really should have relished in the
fame that the useless Bush undeservedly reaped. Oh well. Singer Sune
Wagner has now moved on, well sort of, to form the retro-inspired The
Raveonettes..who, unless you've been sitting on your spectacles for the
last month, have just been given the royal treatment by SSS. Wanna
catch them live? They've just toured extensively round the UK. Better
luck next time.
Psyched info: Think all the good ones are in Danish but this is pretty
comprehensive and in English http://www.gizmodesign.dk/puj/

Angie Stone
Moving to a completely different spectrum but still worth a fat mention
(no pun intended), the glorious Angie will sing volumes through your
ghetto blaster. This soulster's 1999 debut album, Black Diamond is a
good place to start. An enriching mix of uplifting tracks intertwined with
tales of what men do best to women i.e. good ol'heartbreak. Angie's
way of exorcising her failed relationship to Rn'B singer, D'Angelo is
worth a listen or three.
http://www.angiestoneonline.com/

UNKLE
No doubt the words 'Psyence Fiction' and 'Rabbit In Your Headlights,' a
collaboration with Radiohead refugee, Thom Yorke may ring some
distant bells. They're releasing a single, 'Reign' featuring the original
monkey boy, Ian Brown and a new album, 'Edit Music For A Film' later
this month.
http://www.unkle.com/

Belly/The Breeders
Slightly unfair to lump these bands together, but they are joined by an
omnipresent force in the way of Pixies' bassist, Kim Deal and Tanya
Donnelly. They are the real deal that prove women in rock CAN rock. At
times poignant, at times downright bizarre, the lyrics and sounds these
girls create can grab you just as well as anything by Cobain or Damien
Rice.
www.4ad.com

Hole
Sticking with the women in rock theme, who will ever forget the face
like a trucker/mouth like a trucker/no knicker
wearing/Madonna-intimidating/witch-princess Courtney Love? She is
Number 1 in the 'people I would sh*t my pants if I ever met' list.
However, SSS gives credit where credit is due (and in case she ever
reads this). Debut album 'Pretty on the Inside' is a fine squelch of
tormented punk songs and proof that Courtney can make decent
albums by herself. Definitely worth checking out the highlight track,
'Garbage Man.' Of course, the 1994 follow-up 'Live Through This'
reached a massive audience and contains fabulous but more
commercial songs like 'Miss World' and the fantastic 'Violet.' Things
have taken a slight downturn since 'Celebrity Skin,' but Courtney will
always remain a fascination for all mankind even if it's not because of
her muzak.
www.courtneylove.com

Miles Davis
Jumping to something old and something blue, 'Kind of Blue' is one of
those albums that everyone must own, even if your die-hard passion is
Country. Well, actually then there's some hope for you besides a mullet
and KFC every meal for life. A jazz great with the ability to express every
human emotion in a juxtaposed raw and tender way and sometimes
only moments apart, check out Miles and ponder if life will ever be the
same again.
www.milesdavis.com

By Dee Sekar

Garbage
Their disastrous come-back single (wish they hadn't), 'Why Do You
Love Me?' says it all. Well, actually it doesn't sum things up as
beautifully as their video. What is more appealing than watching an
ageing, tragic Shirley Manson pouting, posing and dancing badly in
front of a blown-up image of Debbie Harry? This definitive act sums up
entirely what Manson has spent years trying to prove...she is just a
desperate wannabe. Even the rest of the band (the most boring people
on the planet) look completely disinterested and pay no attention to
Manson, who then gets p*ssed of and jumps in the bath instead. The
band are happy sitting there watching paint dry. Again, well done Mr
Director! You've epitomised exactly how we feel when we have the
misfortune of seeing the band on TV/in magazines. Can't think of a
more aptly-titled band.

Rooster
Doing the rounds on irritating Sunday morning music shows and with
an equally-irritating name, Rooster sound a bit like surf rock band,
Reef. However, they are yet to come out with a student anthem-
classic like 'Place Your Hands' and it seems highly unlikely that they
will ever achieve anything but a bit of airplay because Daddy
Corporate Label says so. Where Reef were all about being a bit
stoned and laughing at themselves, Rooster are a firm clean and
humourless.

By Dee Sekar

An album to put in the totally overrated category would be Pearl Jam’s
“Ten”. Overplayed, over hyped (at the time) and over copied by too
many wannabe bands. Not in my collection.

A must to avoid: The band - Coldplay. As pretentious as it gets.

A band that never should have gotten near the amount of attention it
did is Destiny’s Child. Too manufactured and plastic for its own good.

Another overrated band that got far too much attention is the God-
awful Nsync. Note to that Justin fellow: Imitating Michael Jackson is
not necessarily a good thing.

By Dave H

The Cocteau Twins
An essential album that should not have been overlooked is the shimmeringly gorgeous “Heaven Or Las Vegas” by The Cocteau Twins.
Released in the early 90’s, it still sounds as fresh today as it did then. I try not to throw the word “genius” around too much, but there is no better
description for Robin Guthrie, one of the most creative sound manipulators ever to record.

But if a band is truly to be a collaboration of ideas, then Guthrie found the perfect frontperson in Liz Fraser. Despite the knock against Liz’s
propensity to be extremely “vague” with her lyrics on previous recordings, one can clearly make out the sheer joy over the birth of her first child
throughout many of the songs. Warm, magical tracks like “Iceblink Luck”, “Fifty-Fifty Clown” and the title track, give insight to the personal
relationship Robin and Liz had together.

Their sound can reasonably be described as “otherworldly”. Like the sheer uniqueness that Kevin Shields created with MBV’s “Loveless”,
Guthrie and the rest of his “twins” consistently created a sound that previously did not exist. What is just as remarkable, is that no one else has
ever been able to accurately recreate it since. Ms. Fraser harmonizes with herself in such a lush and sugary-sensual way, that you can’t help but
fall in love with each song. Tracks like “I Wear Your Ring” (written at a time when they were still happily together) comes complete with the
amusing lyrical hook “so useful”. Well, yes -- I suppose that is one way to appreciate your significant other. Other songs like “Wolf In The
Breast” provide additional audible snippets into their world, when she sings - “my baby cries - I pretended to snooze away” - adding to a charm
that is undeniable. But what Cocteau Twins album can exist without a song title that is so mysterious that it defies any definition? Here we have
“Frou Frou Foxes In Midsummer Fires”, who’s cascading guitars-like-sleighbells with long feedback notes for agreeable dissonance. A must
have.

My Bloody Valentine
One of the most innovative bands to ever push the limits of the recording studio is My Bloody Valentine and their masterpiece 'Loveless.' The
sonic layers are so dense you almost need an aural machete to hack through it all. Yet, somehow this disquiet manages to be quite soothing.
Lyrics are indistinct; emotions, as in real life, murky and convoluted. Vocals are mixed low to form another brick in the wall of sound A lot may
have been written about them at the time of this release, but adventurous music listeners today clearly need to find this record.

Telstar Ponies
A band you should have listened to are the Telstar Ponies. 'Voices From The New Music' came out of Ca Ca Studios, Glasgow, Scotland in the
summer of 1996. The band consisted of: David Keenan (vocals, whistling, electric & bowed guitars, mandolin, bells, bucket, keys, amp-heat,
reverb unit, glvoe, bottle-opener, bottle); Rachel Devine (vocals, guitar, violin, tin whistle, piano, keyboards, metal percussion, gong, tin can,
headphones, hairbrush); Richard Youngs (vocals, guitar, table-top violin, piano, Hammond B-3 organ, bagpipe chanter); Gavin Laird (vocals,
guitar, tin whistle, electric & bowed basses, metal percussion, brush handle); Brendan O'Hare (vocals, piano, keyboards, drums, metal
percussion, gong, bucket, switch, reverb unit). Highly recommended.

The Gun Club
One band that never got their proper due yet produced not one, but two albums that should not have been overlooked is The Gun Club. Both
1982’s breakthrough “Miami” and 1984’s masterpiece “The Las Vegas Story” capture an original band at their peak of creativity.

Lead man Jeffrey Lee Pierce's tribal, psychobilly blues meets bayou-swamp rock with swaggerific hell-bound lyrics, and a measure of gothic
country still sounds just as fresh and honest today. Miami’s opening track “Carry Home” asks the question, “do you still want me - now that I’m
home?” and adds “I have howled across fields and my eyes are still grey - are yours still the same?”

“Like Calling Up Thunder” moves quickly to the mania that motivates the central character - “to hear myself. to kill myself - I’m calling up
thunder.” On the track “Brother and Sister”, Pierce again presents a question - “all these little skeletons, why you do keep bringing them back
to me?” While their cover of Creedence Cleerwater Revival’s “Run Through The Jungle” has the band taking what was already something of a
humorously ominous song and makes it even spookier. Pierce implores “I’ve never been no Christian, I don’t’ want to be baptized.” Their version
here sounds like something both Iggy’s Stooges *and* the Cramps would be right at home with.

“A Devil In The Woods” has Pierce again presenting a question “how dark can an animal be?” Well, Jeffrey, how dark indeed? While on “Texas
Serenade”, the story of the sudden passing of a war veteran is told. “He’s dead on the lawn. In front of the house that he owned” - more
questions - “but what will they say about him?” “He was the violent kind. He saved me once or twice. But, what will I say about him?”

On their follow-up album, “The Las Vegas Story” takes this raw clatter to a new level, wrapping it in a much fuller sonic envelope. The guitars
now rumble with a power that lacked on their prior outing. Lyrically, it gets even darker. “Walkin’ With the Beast” merges American
iconography with voodoo ritual and junkie-sex overtones:

“I pray to Elvis on my knees,
to take the snake from around me
I’ll stab it with a thundercrack
and change my blues to black.”

“I’m not alone there’s trucks outside,
“my body hurts, there’s trucks outside,
“you get lucky in the bar,
you’re down and lucky in the dark."

While “The Stranger In Our Town” outlines the sometimes harsh realities of interpersonal relationships. With a Peter Gunn-like descending
guitar line, Pierce spits out the gritty tale: “He’s got a burning heart. He wants to get off on you.. He’s going to break your heart - and then get
over you.” In essence, these two albums are utterly primal. No pretence. No attempt at any kind of manufactured, commercialized popularity.
Pure, rock and roll, tapping into all the sources that spawned rock music in the first place. Find these treasures and be rewarded.

By Dave H