Thursday, February 15, 2024

VA - British Indie Post-Britpop: 215 Blistering Alternative Anthems (Super Deluxe Edition) [2024] (11 x CDs)

K's BRITISH INDIE POST-BRITPOP SPECIAL

VA - British Indie Post-Britpop: 215 Blistering Alternative Anthems (Super Deluxe Edition) [2024] (11 x CDs)

Post-Britpop is an alternative rock subgenre and is the period in the late 1990s and early 2000s, following Britpop, when the media were identifying a "new generation" or "second wave" of guitar bands influenced by acts like Oasis and Blur, but with less overt British concerns in their lyrics and making more use of American rock and indie influences, as well as experimental music. Bands in the post-Britpop era that had been established acts, but gained greater prominence after the decline of Britpop, such as Radiohead and Embrace and new acts such as Travis, Keane, Snow Patrol, Stereophonics, Feeder, and particularly Coldplay, achieved much wider international success than most of the Britpop groups that had preceded them, and were some of the most commercially successful acts of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

From about 1997, as dissatisfaction grew with the concept of Cool Britannia and Britpop as a movement began to dissolve, emerging bands began to avoid the Britpop label while still producing music derived from it. Bands that had enjoyed some success during the mid-1990s, but did not find major commercial success until the late 1990s including Radiohead. After the decline of Britpop they began to gain more critical and popular attention. Radiohead - although having achieved moderate recognition with The Bends in 1995 - achieved near-universal critical acclaim with their experimental third album OK Computer (1997), and its follow-ups Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001).

The cultural and musical scene in Scotland, dubbed "Cool Caledonia" by some elements of the press, produced a number of successful alternative acts, including the Supernaturals from Glasgow, whose re-released single "Smile" (1997) reached number 25 in the UK charts, and whose album It Doesn't Matter Anymore (1997) entered the top ten, but who failed to sustain their success or achieve the anticipated international breakthrough. Travis, also from Glasgow, were one of the first major rock bands to emerge in the post-Britpop era. Utilising the hooks and guitar rock favoured by Oasis in a song-based format, they moved from the personal on Good Feeling (1997), through the general on their breakthrough The Man Who (1999), to the socially conscious and political on 12 Memories (2003) and have been credited with a major role in disseminating a new Britpop. From Edinburgh Idlewild, more influenced by post-grunge, just failed to break into the British top 50 with their second album Hope Is Important (1998), but subsequently produced 3 top 20 albums, peaking with The Remote Part (2002), and the single "You Held the World in Your Arms", reaching numbers 3 and 9 in the respective UK charts. Although garnering some international attention, they did not break through in the US.

The first major band to breakthrough from the post-Britpop Welsh rock scene, dubbed "Cool Cymru", were, Stereophonics, they used elements of a post-grunge and hardcore on their breakthrough albums Word Gets Around (1997) and Performance and Cocktails (1999), before moving into more melodic territory with Just Enough Education to Perform (2001) and subsequent albums. Also from Wales were Feeder, who were initially more influenced by American post-grunge, producing a hard rock sound that led to their breakthrough single "Buck Rogers" and the album Echo Park (2001). After the death of their drummer Jon Lee, they moved to a more reflective and introspective mode on Comfort in Sound (2002), their most commercially successful album to that point, which spawned a series of hit singles.

There were also a number of British bands getting more 'progressive' in their music style. Radiohead released OK Computer in May 1997, a few months before Oasis released Be Here Now (known as 'the album that killed Britpop' in some parts of the press). At the end of the 1990s, Devon band Muse would emerge from Teignmouth and sign to (Australian record company) Mushroom Records' new British arm via independent company Taste Media. Initially dismissed in certain sections of the press as 'Radiohead wannabes', the band would go on to top the UK albums chart six times, with every studio album reaching the top from 2003 to 2018.

These acts were followed by a number of bands who shared aspects of their music, including Snow Patrol from Northern Ireland, and Athlete, Elbow, Embrace, Starsailor, Doves, Gomez and Keane from England. The most commercially successful band in the millennium were Coldplay, whose first two albums Parachutes (2000) and A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) went multi-platinum, establishing them as one of the most popular acts in the world by the time of their third album X&Y (2005). Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" (from their 2006 album Eyes Open) is the most widely played song of the 21st century on UK radio.

The notion of a "second wave" of Britpop has also been applied to bands originating in the new millennium, including Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, and Bloc Party. These bands have been seen as looking less to music of the 1960s and more to 1970s punk and post-punk, while still being influenced by Britpop.

Arctic Monkeys were heralded as one of the first bands to come to public attention via the Internet, with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed. Their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006), received widespread critical acclaim upon release and topped the UK Albums Chart, becoming the fastest-selling debut album in British chart history at the time. It won Best British Album at the 2007 Brit Awards and has since been hailed as one of the greatest debut albums. The band's second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007), was also acclaimed by critics and won Best British Album at the 2008 Brit Awards.

Their debut single "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", which was recorded at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire, was released on 17 October 2005 and went straight to No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. Their second single, "When the Sun Goes Down" (previously titled "Scummy"), released on 16 January 2006, also went straight to No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. The band's success with little marketing or advertising led some to suggest that it could signal a change in how new bands achieve recognition.

The band finished recording their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire in January 2006 with British record producer Jim Abbiss producing. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not became the fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history, selling 363,735 copies in the first week. It sold more copies on its first day alone - 118,501 - than the rest of the Top 20 albums combined.

So, after exhaustive and extensive online research, plus my own recollections and memories, here is my personal compilation of what I consider to be the 215 best and most important tracks from the British Indie Post-Britpop era.

This fully packed 11CD set contains many hard-to-find tracks. Only the original studio mixes are included. No later remixes, re-recordings, 'stereo enhanced' or live versions here! Compiled as always using the very latest and highest quality digital remasters, with a considerable number of tracks sourced from the original master tapes for superior sound quality and enjoyment.

K

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Track lists

CD01

01 Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor 2:52

02 Radiohead - Airbag 4:44

03 Editors - All Sparks 3:32

04 Embrace - All You Good Good People 6:07

05 The Kooks - Always Where I Need to Be 2:41

06 Elbow - Any Day Now 6:18

07 Embrace - Ashes 4:22

08 Elbow - Asleep in the Back 3:43

09 The Enemy - Away from Here 3:01

10 Keane - A Bad Dream 5:02

11 Arctic Monkeys - The Bakery 2:56

12 Bloc Party - Banquet 3:19

13 Stereophonics - The Bartender and the Thief 2:54

14 Shack - Beautiful 3:22

15 3 Colours Red - Beautiful Day 4:19

16 Keane - Bedshaped 4:35

17 Keane - Bend and Break 3:38

18 Geneva - Best Regrets 4:07

19 Hard-Fi - Better Do Better 4:38

20 Arctic Monkeys - Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts 2:58


CD02

21 Doves - Black and White Town 4:16

22 Editors - Blood 3:27

23 Starsailor - Born Again (Radio Edit) 4:44

24 Gomez - Bring it On (Radio Edit) 3:56

25 Feeder - Buck Rogers 3:13

26 Editors - Bullets 3:13

27 Ash - Burn Baby Burn 3:29

28 Hard-Fi - Can't Get Along (Without You) 3:00

29 The Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now 3:24

30 Keane - Can't Stop Now 3:38

31 Ash - Candy 4:51

32 Hard-Fi - Cash Machine (Radio Edit) 3:44

33 Doves - Catch the Sun 4:49

34 Doves - Caught by the River 5:56

35 Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance 5:26

36 Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars 4:27

37 The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger 3:35

38 Snow Patrol - Chocolate 3:11

39 Coldplay - Clocks 5:07


CD03

40 Travis - Closer 4:00

41 Kasabian - Club Foot 3:34

42 Embrace - Come Back to What You Know 4:10

43 Travis - Coming Around 3:07

44 Arctic Monkeys - Cornerstone 3:17

45 Snow Patrol - Crack the Shutters 3:22

46 Keane - Crystal Ball 3:53

47 Stereophonics - Dakota 4:57

48 Toploader - Dancing in the Moonlight (Stargate Radio Mix) 3:30

49 Franz Ferdinand - The Dark of the Matinée 4:05

50 Franz Ferdinand - Darts of Pleasure 3:00

51 Keane - Disconnected 3:57

52 Arctic Monkeys - Do Me a Favour 3:27

53 Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To 3:36

54 Arctic Monkeys - Don't Forget Whose Legs You're On 3:35

55 The Libertines - Don't Look Back into the Sun 2:58

56 Coldplay - Don't Panic 2:17

57 Travis - Driftwood 3:34

58 Kasabian - Empire 3:23

59 Editors - An End Has a Start 3:44

60 Keane - Everybody's Changing 3:36

61 Kaiser Chiefs - Everyday I Love You Less and Less 3:38


CD04

62 Radiohead - Everything in Its Right Place 4:11

63 Kaiser Chiefs - Everything Is Average Nowadays 2:42

64 Suede - Everything Will Flow 4:40

65 Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales of San Francisco 3:01

66 Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen (Radio Edit) 2:47

67 Kasabian - Fire 4:13

68 Arctic Monkeys - 505 4:13

69 Travis - Flowers in the Window 3:28

70 Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent 2:57

71 Starsailor - Four to the Floor 3:51

72 Arctic Monkeys - From the Ritz to the Rubble 3:11

73 Geneva - Further 4:52

74 Gomez - Get Miles 5:16

75 Gomez - Get Myself Arrested 4:03

76 Embrace - A Glorious Day 3:52

77 Coldplay - God Put a Smile upon Your Face 4:57

78 Maximo Park - Going Missing 3:42

79 Starsailor - Good Souls 4:58

80 Elbow - Grace Under Pressure 4:49

81 Maximo Park - Graffiti 3:05


CD05

82 Embrace - Gravity 4:40

83 Athlete - Half Light 3:38

84 Hard-Fi - Hard to Beat 4:15

85 Stereophonics - Have a Nice Day 3:25

86 Bloc Party - Helicopter 3:40

87 Radiohead - How to Disappear Completely 5:56

88 Embrace - I Can't Come Down 4:14

89 The Pigeon Detectives - I Can't Control Myself 2:46

90 The Pigeon Detectives - I Found Out 2:07

91 Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict a Riot 3:52

92 Embrace - I Wouldn't Wanna Happen to You 3:49

93 The Pigeon Detectives - I'm Not Sorry 3:42

94 Coldplay - In My Place 3:47

95 The Coral - In the Morning 2:35

96 Geneva - Into the Blue 3:24

97 Keane - Is It Any Wonder? 3:05

98 James - Just Like Fred Astaire 3:45

99 Stereophonics - Just Looking 4:14

100 Radiohead - Karma Police 4:21

101 Embrace - Keeping 4:32

102 Kasabian - L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever) 3:17


CD06

103 Radiohead - Let Down 4:59

104 Bloc Party - Little Thoughts 3:27

105 Hard-Fi - Living for the Weekend 3:44

106 Stereophonics - Local Boy in the Photograph 3:19

107 Embrace - Looking As You Are 4:06

108 The Feeling - Love It When You Call 3:35

109 Idlewild - Love Steals Us from Loneliness 3:14

110 Keane - The Lovers Are Losing 5:04

111 Radiohead - Lucky 4:19

112 Embrace - Make It Last 4:23

113 Doves - The Man Who Told Everything (Summer Version) 5:41

114 Arctic Monkeys - Mardy Bum 2:53

115 Kaiser Chiefs - Modern Way 4:03

116 The Automatic - Monster 3:42

117 Travis - More Than Us 3:58

118 Editors - Munich 3:49

119 Travis - My Eyes 4:08

120 The Kooks - Naive 3:26

121 Shack - Natalie's Party 3:50

122 Embrace - Nature's Law 4:07


CD07

123 The Feeling - Never Be Lonely 3:32

124 Geneva - No One Speaks 3:35

125 Radiohead - No Surprises 3:48

126 The Courteeners - No You Didn't, No You Don't 3:58

127 The Courteeners - Not Nineteen Forever (Radio Edit) 3:23

128 Keane - Nothing in My Way 4:00

129 Kaiser Chiefs - Oh My God 3:35

130 Keane - On a Day Like Today 5:27

131 Elbow - One Day Like This 6:40

132 Radiohead - Paranoid Android 6:24

133 Stereophonics - Pick a Part That's New 3:32

134 Bloc Party - Pioneers 3:35

135 Starsailor - Poor Misguided Fool 3:49

136 Bloc Party - Positive Tension 3:54

137 Doves - Pounding 4:46

138 Elbow - Powder Blue 4:30

139 Arctic Monkeys - Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured 2:23

140 Arctic Monkeys - Riot Van 2:15

141 The Pigeon Detectives - Romantic Type 2:37


CD08

142 Snow Patrol - Run 5:56

143 Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head 5:51

144 The Pigeon Detectives - Say It Like You Mean It 2:44

145 Coldplay - The Scientist 5:09

146 The Feeling - Sewn 5:55

147 The Kooks - She Moves in Her Own Way 2:49

148 Suede - She's in Fashion 4:52

149 Ash - Shining Light 5:10

150 Coldplay - Shiver 4:59

151 Travis - Side 3:55

152 Starsailor - Silence Is Easy 3:40

153 Keane - Silenced by the Night 3:16

154 Travis - Sing 3:49

155 The Supernaturals - Smile 3:43

156 Editors - Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors 4:59

157 Doves - Snowden (Rich Costey Mix) 4:11

158 Bloc Party - So Here We Are 3:53


CD09

159 Embrace - Someday 5:38

160 Ash - Sometimes 4:09

161 Keane - Somewhere Only We Know 3:55

162 Coldplay - Speed of Sound 4:48

163 Muse - Starlight 4:01

164 Stereophonics - Step on My Old Size Nines 3:57

165 Arctic Monkeys - Still Take You Home 3:10

166 Radiohead - Subterranean Homesick Alien 4:29

167 Hard-Fi - Suburban Knights 4:31

168 Muse - Supermassive Black Hole 3:31

169 The Pigeon Detectives - Take Her Back 3:17

170 Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out 3:59

171 The Courteeners - Take Over the World 3:44

172 Coldplay - Talk 5:11

173 Embrace - Target 4:28

174 Feeder - Tender 4:14

175 The Courteeners - That Kiss 3:47

176 Doves - There Goes the Fear 6:56


CD10

177 Ash - There's a Star 4:22

178 Coldplay - Things I Don't Understand 4:53

179 Franz Ferdinand - This Fire 3:34

180 Arctic Monkeys - This House Is a Circus 3:11

181 Keane - This Is the Last Time 3:27

182 Starsailor - This Time 3:31

183 Hard-Fi - Tied Up Too Tight 4:50

184 The Libertines - Time for Heroes 2:39

185 Gay Dad - To Earth with Love 5:04

186 Athlete - Tourist 3:55

187 Geneva - Tranquillizer 3:33

188 Coldplay - Trouble 4:30

189 Feeder - Tumble and Fall 4:20

190 Travis - Turn 4:24

191 Athlete - Twenty Four Hours 5:01

192 The Libertines - Up the Bracket 2:38

193 The Zutons - Valerie 3:55

194 Arctic Monkeys - The View from the Afternoon 3:38

195 Coldplay - Viva la Vida 4:02

196 Franz Ferdinand - Walk Away 3:36


CD11

197 Ash - Walking Barefoot 4:12

198 Coldplay - Warning Sign 5:31

199 Keane - We Might as Well Be Strangers 3:12

200 Coldplay - What If 4:57

201 The Courteeners - What Took You So Long? 3:39

202 Arctic Monkeys - When the Sun Goes Down 3:20

203 Travis - Where You Stand 3:39

204 Gomez - Whippin' Piccadilly 3:12

205 Coldplay - White Shadows 5:28

206 Travis - Why Does It Always Rain on Me? 4:24

207 Athlete - Wires 4:17

208 Embrace - Wonder 4:26

209 Travis - Writing to Reach You 3:42

210 Coldplay - Yellow 4:29

211 Kaiser Chiefs - You Can Have It All 4:22

212 Idlewild - You Held the World in Your Arms 3:22

213 The Pigeon Detectives - You Know I Love You 3:03

214 Embrace - You're Not Alone 4:30

215 Coldplay - Fix You (Radio Edit) 4:57

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7 comments:

  1. Another K product as it is written in the book. Solid, consistently great, compiled with smart, expert knowledge. Thank you! Best, TC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, TC, for your kind comments.
      It’s nice to know how much you appreciate all the time and research I put into my compilations to make them as exact and authentic as possible for all to enjoy.
      K

      Delete
  2. Thanks K. You never fail to impress.
    Hi BB

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, lemonflag.
      Thanks for those kind words of appreciation.
      Cheers.

      Delete
  3. Yet another dazzling compilation K. Thanks Butterboy. I was thinking of a possible idea for a compilation is Mike Batt who is a very underrated and prolific composer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amazing compilation, thanks for this! Above all I liked the Hard-Fi tracks, a band that had eluded me somehow.

    ReplyDelete
  5. K always delivers! Many thanks.

    ReplyDelete