Music: 'Popscene – From Baggy To Britpop 1989-1994'
Another stellar compilation from the folks at Cherry Red Records
Labeling music either by location or genre is a two-fold initiative. Sell the records to the public with a bite-size moniker and inflate the sphere that surrounds a band’s fanbase. Not necessarily a bad thing when you weigh the options in Popscene – From Baggy to Britpop 1989–1994, a 4CD 90-track anthology that provides the UK indie environment that spawned Primal Scream, The Mock Turtles, Flowered Up, and many others: Heretofore, a selection from that all-to-short era.
Shed Seven drove down the lane of stinging guitar riffs and funky bongo beats with this number from their 1994 debut Change Giver. While not a total press darling, the band is still full-on and reached the UK Number 1 spot with this year’s release A Matter of Time.
Oxford-natives Supergrass exploded with this Green Day-styled speedster in 1994 with vocalist Gaz Coombes spit-pleading a regretted drug-addled arrest that weirdly makes you sympathetic to his plight.
Is this Oasis? Nope, it’s Dodgy aided and abetted by stellar production work from Ian Broudie of The Lightning Seeds. Their 1993 debut single works in every way possible, from the jangly guitars to the layered vocals to the faked-out ending with a little early Who thrown in for good measure.
The dance-punk vibes are heavy on the 1990 version of That Petrol Emotion. The straight-forward production from Scott Litt (who had steered R.E.M. to the top of the mountain) shows up in spades on this track, with a repetitive earworm guitar riff, tribal drumming and sinewy vocals from singer Steven Mack.
Drawn into the fray with the soaring vocal prowess of Sonya Madan, Echobelly slips and slides around the drug references of this 1994 tune, cleverly performing a windup before driving home the point during the chorus. And of course, Morrissey loved them.
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Popscene – From Baggy to Britpop 1989–1994 is available at Cherry Red Records, Amazon in the US, on Amazon UK and Rough Trade.
A rare Dodgy sighting! Thanks, Amy! Long ago, I wrote about the band's 1998 compilation CD, "Ace A's + Killer B's," obviously a UK import, as none of their stuff was released in the States! "Lovebirds" was on that single-disc comp, but so were the two I love only slightly more than "Lovebirds," which is no less incredible than "Staying Out for the Summer" and "Good Enough"!
In case you missed it, and for your readers who now love 💖🕊🕊"Lovebirds": https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/audio-autopsy-1994-dodgy-staying
I loved Flowered Up, Echobelly, and Shed Seven! I do believe this is the first time I've read their names on Substack. "Weekender" Glastonbury live version is one of all time epics!