Vox & Radio 1 presents The Mark Radcliffe Sessions
We stray outside of the main box again this week, with a
cover mount cassette courtesy of Vox magazine that I’ve hung on to over the
years for whatever reason. I was a big fan of Mark Radcliffe’s late-night Radio
1 show the Graveyard Shift, as to me it was pretty much the perfect radio show.
Radcliffe and his sidekick, Marc ‘Lard’ Riley, were basically given free reign
to do whatever they fancied. A typical playlist might feature psychedelia and
garage rock from the sixties, punk from the seventies, electronica from the
eighties, and Britpop and ambient music from the nineties. But it wasn’t just
about the music, there were regular guests such as poets Simon Armitage (now,
rather wonderfully, the poet laureate), Joolz, Ian McMillan and John Hegley,
cult TV reviewer Kim Newman, cult film critic Mark Kermode, broadcasters Stuart
Maconie, Andrew Collins and Katie Puckrik, authors Caitlin Moran and Will Self,
BMX Bandits frontman Duglas T. Stewart, former Orange Juice drummer Steven
Daly, comedians Bill Bailey, Sean Lock, Lee & Herring and Greg Proops
amongst many others. But it wasn’t just about the guests either, there were
daft comedy sketches, singers and musicians reading their favourite stories,
and plenty of nerdy music minutiae. A major feature of the show was live
sessions, but rather than being pre-recorded at Maida Vale these were recorded
live on the night at BBC Manchester, in the studio itself if it were acoustic,
or in a room downstairs if it was a full band set up. There was always a lot of
humorous chat between hosts and artists, and some big names recorded their
first sessions for Radcliffe: Oasis, Supergrass, (the) Verve and Cornershop to
name just a handful. What we have here then is a collection of tracks taken
from the some of those sessions, predominantly from 1995 and 1996.
Artist: Various
Album: Vox & Radio 1 presents The Mark Radcliffe Sessions
UK Record Label: Vox Magazine
UK Release Date: 1996
UK Single Releases from Album: None
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – O’Malley’s Bar (Part
One): Recorded 26th February 1996. The tape opens with
the well-remembered Graveyard Shift ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ intro, and
then we’re straight into our first track. And what a track it is kick things
off. ‘O’Malley’s Bar’ is a very long track from Cave’s seminal 1996 album Murder
Ballads, so in order to keep the session tracks to a manageable length it
was split into three on the night. We only get part one on the cassette, and it
see’s Cave in playful mood, making several humorous alterations to lyrics
(‘O’Malley walked past and scratched his arse’ and so on). The tale itself is
one of a patron going on a murderous rampage in a bar, and is certainly a
memorable way to open things up.
Album: Vox & Radio 1 presents The Mark Radcliffe Sessions
UK Record Label: Vox Magazine
UK Release Date: 1996
UK Single Releases from Album: None
Links:
Links:
Website (fansite)
Discogs
Teenage Fanclub – The Shadows: Recorded 11th
December 1995 (acoustic version). Ah, who doesn’t love a bit of the
Fannies? Sure, they wear their influences on their sleeves (Big Star, the Byrds
and the Beach Boys are obvious touchpoints) but when they write songs as
glorious as this, who cares? The original version is one of the b-side to their
1995 single ‘Neil Jung’, and at less than three minutes in total, it’s a
perfect bitesize example of what the band were all about at this point in time.
The track finishes with singer Norman Blake claiming somewhat dubiously that it
was original by The Creepers (Lard’s band post-The Fall).
Links:
Discogs
Salad – Kiss My Love: Recorded 20th
December 1993. Before the track begins, we get a show trailer spoofing
Radcliffe’s eclectic music taste with promises of the (sadly not delivered)
likes of Mad Kenny’s Allnight Drinker and the Nutley Brass. From the
early days of the show, up next are recently reformed Britpoppers Salad. Featuring
former MTV VJ Marijne Van Der Vlugt on vocals, Salad never really hit the
heights of some of their contemporaries, but I always quite liked their two
albums, Drink Me and Ice Cream. This track though is one of the
b-sides to the ‘Drink the Elixir’ single, and even features a band member
meowing, which is commented on by the band in the post-track patter. I’ve
rather enjoyed hearing this one again for the first time in probably twenty
years.
Links:
Discogs
Tindersticks – She’s Gone: Recorded 17th
October 1995 (acoustic version). Side 1 closes with long time Graveyard
Shift favourites Tindersticks. Those of an unkind bent have compared singer
Stuart Staples to that of Vic Reeves’s club singer in Shooting Stars, but I
prefer to go with Scott Walker! The studio version is taken from their
eponymously titled second album (confusingly their 1993 debut long player was
also called Tindersticks). It’s a typically mournful affair with Staples
bemoaning his lost love, over a sparse backing of Dickon Hinchliffe’s violin.
Wonderful stuff.
Links:
Discogs
Echobelly – Car Fiction: Recorded 29th
August 1995. Opening Side 2 it’s a variation of the ‘Is There Anybody Out
There?’ intro. That’s followed by a spoof show trailer promising songs from
Northside and Delicate Vomit. What follows is a track recorded when Radcliffe
& Riley were on holiday, and Mark Lamarr was at the helm. I’ve always felt
that Echobelly were unfairly derided back in the nineties. Singer Sonia
Aurora-Maden has a great voice, and they came up with some really catchy
Britpop tunes that to my mind still stand up. The studio version of this one is
the opener of their second album On, and it’s fab!
Links:
Discogs
Ride – I Don’t Know Where It Comes From: Recorded
21st July 1994. Initially part of the early 90s shoegaze scene, ‘I
Don’t Know Where It Comes From’ sees Ride at a transformative stage. Taken from
their third album Carnival of Light, it sounds more like something from
the nascent Britpop scene than it does Slowdive or Chapterhouse. It’s also a
very likeable catchy little tune, that’s liable to get stuck in your head for
days after hearing it.
Links:
Discogs
Suede – My Insatiable One: Recorded 10th
February 1994 (acoustic version). A favourite amongst the Suede fan base, ‘My
Insatiable One’ was originally a b-side to their debut single ‘The Drowners’. It’s
testament to how strong some of the band’s b-sides were that this could easily
have been a single in its own right. As the track ends, Brett mentions he made
a big mistake in there somewhere, but it still sounds pretty good to my ears.
Links:
Discogs
The Boo Radleys – Find The Answer Within: Recorded
27th April 1995 (acoustic version): Much like Babybird with ‘You’re
Gorgeous’, the Boo Radleys are often judged solely on one track, the overly chirpy
‘Wake Up Boo!’). In my opinion they produced some much better material than
that though, and this follow up single is one of them. ‘Find the Answer Within’
showcases song writer Martin Carr’s knack of coming up with a great melody,
whilst we’re also treated to the delicate and rather wonderful voice of singer
Sice. This is a really great pop song.
Links:
Discogs
The Orb – Montagne D’Or: Recorded 12th
July 1995: Our final track today is some ambient goodness courtesy of the
The Orb. Originally featured on their/his third album Orbus Terrarum, I
like this a lot. Dr. Alex Paterson gets to play around with interesting samples
and make some intriguing noises. A fine way to finish.
Links:
Discogs
It’s been a lot of fun to go back and listen to this
compilation again, I just wish there was something close to the Graveyard Shift on the air nowadays.
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