Everybody’s favourite DJ has done it again! Over the past few years, Gary Crowley has curated a handful of excellent compilations, unearthing lost gems and revisiting forgotten classics from the late seventies to the mid-eighties - and his winning streak continues as he moves into the nineties with a wonderfully eclectic and terrifically energetic three-CD collection of blasts from the more recent past. [Fact check: If you graduated from university in the early nineties, that is *definitely* the recent past.]
Disc 1 - Classics - blasts off with The Wonder Stuff's rollicking A Wish Away and barely pauses for breath as it serves up killer tracks from the likes of Electronic, Primal Scream, Saint Etienne, The Sundays and Gene. The perfect power pop of Fountains Of Wayne's Radiation Vibe proves why the late Adam Schlesinger was the perfect choice to write the theme song for That Thing You Do! and if you're not familiar with Beth Orton's Trailer Park or Luscious Jackson's Fever In Fever Out, the inclusion of She Cries Your Name and Naked Eye should have you scurrying off to investigate further: you won't be disappointed!
Disc 2 - Curveballs - is an even more wide-ranging assortment of sounds and styles from Dodgy, Ocean Colour Scene, Miranda Sex Garden and more. Bennet's bizarre hymn to the glories of frozen food - Mum's Gone To Iceland - is outdone in delirium only by We're Not Supposed To by Supergrass. Best of all, however, nestled between Molly Half Head and Ned's Atomic Dustbin, is Travelling Light by Tindersticks and Carla Torgerson, a beautiful strings-strewn ballad of longing and regret which I mostly ignored in 1995; half a lifetime later and now in my fifties, I can appreciate the power of the emotional punch the song packs. Growing old is a funny thing: the songs stay the same, but we change.
Disc 3 - Bangers - does exactly what it says on the tin: fifteen floor-fillers guaranteed to get you moving and grooving. Fatboy Slim [Everybody Needs A 303] and Tricky [Black Steel] are the most well-known choices, but there are great selections from Lo Fidelity Allstars, 18 Wheeler, Definition Of Sound and Renegade Soundwave, whose Probably A Robbery might be the only top-forty hit with "skulduggery" in the lyric - and is all the better for it! In addition to World Of Twist and Fluke, there are reworkings of tracks from Manic Street Preachers and Paul Weller - and the Modfather himself is one of the interviewees in the accompanying book. Alan McGee, Sarah Cracknell and others also share their memories from the nineties, alongside Gary's own track-by-track guide to his selections.
My own musical nostalgia tends to focus on the era of the early years of Smash Hits and I confess I was a bit wary when I first heard about this set - but I needn't have worried. Gary has the best job in the world and he does it so well: Indie 90s Playback is another essential set of songs, hand-picked by a DJ whose passion for music remains undimmed and is evidenced every time he assembles one of these box sets. It's a perfect Christmas present for yourself and the music lovers in your life - I am already looking forward to Volume 2!
Gary Crowley's Indie 90s Playback is available from Amazon UK.
Disc 1: Classics
1 The Wonder Stuff - A Wish Away
2 The Sundays - Here's Where The Story Ends
3 Paris Angels - Perfume (Loved Up)
4 Electronic - Feel Every Beat (7" Remix)
5 Jesus Jones - International Bright Young Thing (Phil Harding 12" Mix)
6 Sultans of Ping F.C. - Where's Me Jumper?
7 The Stairs - Weed Bus
8 Pulp - My Legendary Girlfriend
9 Soul Family Sensation - I Don't Even Know If I Should Call You Baby (Marshall Jefferson Mix)
10 Saint Etienne - You're In A Bad Way
11 Gigolo Aunts - Where I Find My Heaven
12 Drop Nineteens - Winona
13 Gene - For The Dead
14 Primal Scream - Jailbird
15 Beth Orton - She Cries Your Name
16 Luscious Jackson - Naked Eye (Remix)
17 Silver Sun - Golden Skin
18 Fountains of Wayne - Radiation Vibe
19 The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Instant Repater '99
Disc 2: Curveballs
1 Thousand Yard Stare - Wonderment
2 The Montgomery Clifts - Lovesville USA
3 Katydids - Lights Out (Read My Lips)
4 The High - Up And Down
5 Ocean Colour Scene - Sway (Album Version)
6 The Impossibles - The Drum (12" Mix)
7 Poppy Factory - Stars
8 Adorable - Sunshine Smile
9 Catwalk - Little Miss Abyss
10 Miranda Sex Garden - Sunshine (Abrasion Mix)
11 Dodgy - Lovebirds
12 Credit To The Nation - Call It What You Want (Radio Edit)
13 Molly Half Head - Breaking The Ice
14 Tindersticks featuring Carla Torgerson - Travelling Light
15 Ned's Atomic Dustbin - All I Ask Of Myself Is That I Hold Together
16 The Weekenders - Inelegantly Wasted in Papa's Penthouse Pad in Belgravia
17 Supergrass - We're Not Supposed To
18 Bennet - Mum's Gone To Iceland
Disc 3: Bangers
1 Definition of Sound - Wear Your Love Like Heaven
2 The Railway Children - Music Stop (Steve Proctor Mix)
3 Renegade Soundwave - Probably A Robbery
4 Big Audio Dynamite II - Rush (Single Version) 5 Cola Boy - 7 Ways to Love (Straight to the Head Cola Boy 12" Mix)
6 World of Twist - She's A Rainbow (Right Foot Yellow Mix)
7 One Dove - White Love (Radio Mix)
8 Manic Street Preachers - La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh) (The Chemical Brothers Remix)
9 Fluke - Groovy Feeling (Make Mine A 99)
10 Paul Weller - Kosmos - Lynch Mob Bonus Beats (Lynchmob Beats Mix)
11 Tricky - Black Steel (Radio Edit)
12 18 Wheeler - The Hours and the Times (William Orbit Porcupine Mix)
13 Fatboy Slim - Everybody Needs A 303 (Original 12" Mix)
14 Mono - Slimcea Girl (Fat Boy Vocal)
15 Lo Fidelity Allstars - Battleflag (Radio Edit)
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