demo, Hard-to-find, Most downloaded tracks, Studio master tapes, studio outtakes

It Was Plenty Years Ago Today

Craig McAllister

A year or so ago I had the idea to run a series of pun-tastic posts called ‘It was plenty years ago today‘. Based on the success of those Beatles mastertapes that I had posted (when Plain Or Pan melted immediately and the internet police first cottoned on to this site) I would combine my expert textpert knowledge of The Beatles with some of their better bootlegs in my collection and post rare outtakes and the like on the anniversary of the track being recorded. For one reason or other, I never quite got round to doing it, until today.

beatles walrus group

Given that this weekend is Beatles Weekend on BBC2 and given that the remastered albums are out in the middle of the week (now there’s a novel way of promoting a computer game – cannae wait to play it by the way), this is as good a time as any to get things going. Plenty years ago today (42 41  (oops!) to be precise), a week or so after Brian Epstein’s death, The Beatles reconvened (at Paul McCartney’s insistence – the others, especially Lennon, had no motivation to continue) on the 5th September to start work on the Magical Mystery Tour project.

beatles walrus

First up saw them tackle I Am The Walrus. Between the 5th and 6th and 27th, 28th and 29th September, The Beatles twisted and turned John Lennon’s gobbledigook nonsense tune into the psychedelic masterpiece you are no doubt familiar with. The tune itself began life in Lennon’s Weybridge house. Absent mindedly tickling the ivories one morning, Lennon heard the sound of a police car outside, noting how the ‘notes’ of the siren changed as the car got further away. He began replicating this sound on the piano, and this became the chord progression for I Am The Walrus. It should be noted here that JWL was heavily into LSD by this point in his life. Taking drugs to make music to take drugs to, as Spacemen 3 once said. Ian Macdonald’s excellent Revolution In The Head book dissects Lennon’s acid-soaked Walrus lyrics to the nth degree way better than I ever could. It’s a fantastic book. The last time I was in Fopp I think it was on sale for about £4! But I digress. Back to the music…

Over the course of the 5 sessions, the tune would go from instrumental (here‘s take 7) to incomplete vocal versions (here‘s take 16, minus the drunk-sounding strings at the start. Listen out for Lennon fluffing the ‘yellow matter custard’ line.), to alternate mixes (here‘s one) to the finished item complete with a King Lear radio play and various bits ‘n bobs woven into the mix by George Martin. Achtung! Here‘s the German mono mix.

capa

The tracks above come from a 15 track bootleg called Walrus, Eggman and Pinguins. It varies in quality and, to be honest, many of the tracks sound identical, but it nonetheless charts the studio progress of one of The Beatles more interesting moments. You can download the whole shebang here. Goo Goo G’joob!

Also available for download, reissues (!) of those Beatles 4 track mastertapes that caused all the fuss way back when.

Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

A Day In The Life

She’s Leaving Home

With A Little Help From My Friends

And also still available (in high quality flac form only – the internet police jump straight on board with their handcuffs and truncheons whenever the mp3 of this becomes available) is the previously unheard 10min + mix of Revolution. Possibly an outfake, possibly the real deal, I wrote about it a wee while ago here. It’s a good read, even if I do say so myself. On the other hand, if you’re only here circling overhead like a vulture awaiting your next musical feast, you can cut out all the crap and download it here.

*Bonus Beatle fact #1!!!

I Am The Walrus is in Gary Numan’s list of Top 20 songs ever.

*Bonus Beatle fact #2!!!

As well as recording I Am The Walrus on the 6th September, The Beatles also had a go at George Harrison’s under-rated masterpiece Blue Jay Way. Sadly I have no outtakes of this. If anyone does have, you know how to contact me…

*Bonus Beatle fact #3!!!

Did you know that at the end of I Feel Fine the studio microphones unwittingly picked up the sounds of some dogs barking outside Abbey Road?  Hear it here! Right after the last “ooh!” backing vocal. Now dig it out your own copy, listen to it, turn it up for the last 10 seconds and you’ll hear them. I wonder if the dogs’ll still be on the up and coming remasters?

 

demo, Hard-to-find, Studio master tapes

Spread ’em!

Craig McAllister

I’ve been meaning to mention that Stone Roses reissue from a few weeks back. Whatever you think of them, I have to tell you that the remastered album sounds absolutely magic. It’s night and day compared to the weak, tinny excuse of a CD that didn’t even come out when the album was initially released. The new version sounds like a jet plane taking off in your living room. I can only guess what it must sound like through a decent pair of Senheissers after a jazz cigarette. If I had the money I’d have sprung for the complete nuts ‘n bolts b-sides ‘n all release in the John Squire artwork adorned canvas 12″ box. If everything sounds as good as the mastering on the album it’ll be well worth it, and the rest. Until I have the money, bittorrent will be my best friend…

stone roses bw

I’ve written about Love Spreads before (here – you’ll find the demo and the guitar tab) but I feel compelled to write about it again given that mp3s of yer actual studio mastertapes fell into my exciteable wee hands only a couple of hours ago. Aye, that’s right! The studio mastertapes for Love Spreads! Sort of…

Lead guitar

Mani Bassline

Reni drum track

vocals + guitar + piano

I’m sure they’re taken from one of those Guitar Hero-type video games (maybe Rock Band?) but I have 3 seperate tracks and one amalgamated track featuring vocals, guitar and piano (with a bit of bass bleeding through now and again). They sound fantastic. The bassline alone is crying out for some bedroom nerd to remix it into oblivion. In fact, if you had the time to combine the bass parts with the drum track, you’d have yourself the perfect backing track if you fancy a spot of bedroom hip hop.

Squire’s isolated guitar part sounds fairly easy to play, although the ‘track’ I have sounds like 2 guitar tracks added together – one fat sounding dropped D Les Paul doing all the slide parts and a thinner sounding guitar playing all the clipped chords and those top-of-the-scale notes. Find my tab from the other post and jam along. That’s what I’ve been doing this morning instead of the ironing! 

stone roses love spreads vid

Remember to get Audacity for the full Phil Spector four track bedroom production effect! And try not to make a mess in yer Calvins, McMark.

Bonus Track!!!

The long-forgotten live-in-the-studio version of Love Spreads that made it’s only appearance on the original 1995 Help album. No one ever mentions it but this version is immense. Features a nice piano ‘n drums break down not on the single version. Get it!

Cover Versions, demo

Brass In Pocket double whammy

Craig McAllister

With a mountain of ironing to do and house-husband status unwillingly thrust upon me, I’ve been watching a lot of crap telly recently, all the while putting more creases into my shirts than what were there to begin with. The thought of another David Dickinson repeat was an orange glowed step too far yesterday afternoon, so I found myself watching Lost In Translation for the umpteenth time. There’s a bit in it where Scarlett Johansson sings a wee bit of Brass In Pocket to Bill Murray and this had me thinking back to the days when buying a 7″ single was a big deal. I remember standing for ages in John Menzies deciding between Brass In Pocket and The Police’s Walking On The Moon, not quite with brass in pocket, but with a pound note burning a hole in my 11 year old hands. The Pretenders won out because Brass In Pocket was a newer single and my purchase helped take it all the way to the toppermost of the poppermost for 2 weeks.

pretenders brass sleeve

Brass in Pocket would be The Pretenders only number 1 single. In true artist fashion, Chrissie Hynde didnae like it. “Listen to that woman’s voice,” she told NME.  “I hate it.” You can decide for yourself – here‘s the demo version. A bit slower than you’ll be familiar with, but nonetheless not a million miles away from the polished Telecaster-and-chorus pedal sheen of the smash hit.

pretenders stage

As a young vinyl freak, I often wondered what Chrissie Hynde meant when she sang about ‘Detroit Leaning’. Thanks to the wonders of the internet I have discovered that the Detroit Lean is a style of driving where the slouched driver has one hand on the wheel and the other hand over the window sill and onto the door. Being America, the right hand would be steering and the left arm would be leaning. The driver may also use the left hand to tap the bodywork gently in time to whatever music happens to be coming over the FM airwaves. Think Snoop Dogg in his pimp mobile, although I’m sure you were thinking that already. If you’ve ever watched the wee boys race their souped up Corsas and Clios up and down Ayr shore front you’ll know what I mean. Although they listen to shitty, bass-heavy happy hardcore CDs. And drive Corsas and Clios. Although I’m sure you were thinking that already too.

Someone who is probably fonder of his own voice than Chrissie Hynde is Brett Anderson (or Bert from Suede, as I recall Norman Blake saying in one the music papers back at the start of the 90s). Suede had a go at covering Brass In Pocket for Ruby Trax, an NME compiled triple CD released to celebrate 40 years of the charts where the artists du jour covered some of their favourite tracks of the past 4 decades. Warning! The Suede version is very quiet and even slower than The Pretenders demo but, (whisper it), I quite like it. Even if Bert does take himself a wee bit too seriously. Just listen to the way he sings the “I’m special, so special” line.

brett

A portrait of the artist as the young man.

Cover Versions, Double Nugget, Hard-to-find

Sounds like Bowie? Oh Yeah!

Craig McAllister

The Shadows Of Knight were a genre-straddling garage punk band from mid 60s Chicago. Taking their cue from The Yardbirds, The Who, The Stones, The etcs etcs blah blah blah, they are as well known on the northern soul scene for ‘Shake‘ as they are on the garage circuit for their feedback soaked version of Them’s ‘Gloria‘. Lenny Kaye’s Nuggets album included this, their version of Bo Diddley’s ‘Oh Yeah’.

shadows-of-knight

A garage stomper of a track, guitars drop in and out of the mix. The rhythm section takes it down. The singer whispers. The rhythm section section takes it up again. The singer screams. The guitars scream. The girls in the audience probably screamed as well. David Bowie was clealry taking notes. The similarity between Oh Yeah and Jean Genie is bordering on the criminal. But you knew that already.

“Has anybody seen Kosher Pickle Harry?” ask The Premiers at the start of Farmer John, their 1964 universally accepted garage classic. Welding the rhyhtms of Louie Louie and Wild Thing (of course) onto a standard 1950s croon-fest proved a success, given that this track reached the giddy heights of number 19 on the charts before the group disappeared from view forever.

the premiers

Farmer John is seemingly recorded live at some Animal House type frat house party. Girls whoop and cheer, everyone sings the backing vocals and a rocking good time is seemingly had by all. In fact, the track was recorded to 3 tracks in the studio before the band invited their pals in to hear the record for the first time. The engineer at the desk used the 4th track to record the sounds of the studio party and mixed it across the top.

Neil Young liked this track so much he took to covering it live in concert at the start of the 90s. He turned it into a bucketful of grunge and sucked the life out of it, but, hey hey my my, if he hadn’t covered it, I’d never have gone out of my way to dig out the original. So a backhanded ‘thanks‘ to him for that. And remember folks, as the saying goes, “If you dug it, it’s a nugget!”

Hard-to-find

Just so you know…

Craig McAllister

…a few of my files have been deleted by persons unknown today. If you’re trying to download something and you get a ‘file expired’ message or nothing happens at all, it’s nothing to do with me. Those pesky internet police are on my back again. I’m trying to stay a step ahead by re-uploading what I know is missing, but I thought I’d let you know.

lethal-bizzle-police-on-my-back-240907

You fink they’d have better fings to do wiv their time, like catchin’ real criminals n’ vat. Gawdon Bennet, it makes ya wonder, eh?

Here‘s the first track from that Danger Mouse album that never got released. Featuring Wayne Coyne, it’s called Revenge. Stick it to the man!

Blur Fanclub Singles, demo, Hard-to-find

His Arse Was Just A Blur

Craig McAllister

That’s the punchline to a well-quoted Billy Connolly joke, where he explains the joys of cycling at high speed. You yourself better get on yer bike and download the following tracks ASAP before the internet police remove some or all of them quicker than you can say “Wow! More Blur fanclub singles!” Go! Go! Go!

This is the second volume of the Blur Fanclub Singles. You can find out the background to the singles here, where the first few tracks are still available (after much re-uploading).  

sing_cover_big

2000: Sing (To Me)

Early version of an insignificant album track (Leisure) that gained it’s rightful status as a melancholic piano and vapour guitar-fest when it was included on the soundtrack to Trainspotting. This early version finds Damon mumbling and shouting nonsense a la a Home Counties Mark E Smith over the top of a piano seemingly played by Les Dawson. “So what’s the word?” The word is excellent, Damon. Top notch.

bsidesep_cover_big

2001: Tracks from a Camden Electric Ballroom gig in September 1999

I’m Fine

Bone Bag

No Monsters in Me

Young & Lovely

The gig itself was a one-off b-sides gig where Blur played nothing but, er, b-sides. For the record, the original studio version of I’m Fine can be found as an extra track on the 12″ and CD single of Popscene. These days, it’ll cost you an arm and a leg to buy. In the days of Nirvana, the post-Leisure pre-Modern Life… Popscene single was considered a bit of a flop and quickly forgotten about, much to the band’s chagrin.

Bone Bag backed CD2 of For Tomorrow, the single that introduced the band’s new found kicking-against-the-pricks anglified-and-proud-of-it organic Kinksian Modern Life Is Rubbish sound. Nah. I don’t know what that means either. And I wrote it. But you get the drift.

No Monsters In Me is a late era Blur b-side, making its appearance on the CD single of The Universal, that tune that Britrish Gas hijacked for their TV adverts. Young & Lovely was a track I always thought could’ve been held back for greater things. Instead, it was stuck away on the b-side of Chemical World. In hindsight, that makes Chemical World that rarest of things – a Blur single with good A and B sides. Let’s face it. Some of Blur’s b-sides are a bit ropey, aye?

wont_cover_big

2002: 2 tracks

Come Together (demo)

Won’t Do It (demo)

No, not a cover of yer Beatles Chuck Berry rip-offathon. Paul Weller and assorted showbiz pals got there first with that one. A live version of Come Together graced CD2 of the Chemical World single, but I think I’m right in saying the demo version featured here is the only studio recording to see the light of day. I’m sure Blurophiles will correct me if I’m wrong. I’m also sure they’d agree Come Together wsas perhaps best left in the studio. A noisy mess is how I’d describe it. Oops!!! Come Together is on Leisure. Of course it is. In my defence, I only have a promo copy of Leisure that has no tracklisting with it.

Won’t Do It graced the 12″ of There’s No Other Way. The demo version sounds exactly the same – the sound of a band finding their feet; one foot firmly placed in the experimental/feedback/racket side of the fence, the other foot making tentative steps towards that green faraway place known as ‘melody’. The first foot wins.

Anyway, enough of this tuneless fanclub nonsense. Only one sleep till the real Fanclub – Teenage Fanclub live in the rock n’ roll hotbed of Motherwell. Review and the usual pish about how great they are to follow.

Oh, and one more thing. The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that the first post in this series ended at 1998 and this post begins at 2000. Somehow, I’ve lost the 1999 tracks and artwork. My computer detectives are onto it……

 

Most downloaded tracks

Radioheadline News

Craig McAllister

As usual, limping just one half-step behind the rest of the world when it comes to exciting new stuff, Plain Or Pan brings you the not entirely exclusive revelation that Radiohead have once again gone under the radar to release some new material. No trumpets. No fanfares. No ads in the press. No emails to those on the geeklist. Perhaps not quite on the grand scale of things when In Rainbows came from nowhere and had most of us all in a lather and foaming at the mouth, the weekend nonetheless saw a new Radiohead track leak online. I wouldn’t be surprised if the band had leaked it themselves. Aye. It’s easy to give away yer music when you happen to be that rarest of things – a commercially successful worldwide band/brand and critically acclaimed, but still, kudos where it’s due. By today (Monday), the track’s not so much leaked online as totally drowned the world wide web’s file sharing communities in a tsunami-like tidal wave of expectant saliva.

radiohead twisted words 

It’s rumoured that These Are My Twisted Words is from a new 4 track ep called Wall Of Ice. The supposed tracklisting varies depending where you google and visits to radiohead.com and wallofice.com reveal nothing, but you knew that already. The track itself is pretty decent. Taking off where In Rainbows left us, it starts with some wonky guitar, some pattering computerised beats and a bit of atmospheric bass. Decent singing too. Not in any way forced like last week’s Harry Patch single. It’s playing as I type, and it sounds fantastic. But you knew that already too. For those of you even slower than me on the uptake, here it is.

Now keep your eyes peeled for the real thing. And let me know about it when you find anything out. Ta!

*Cheers to Paul in the comments section. Since posting the track, it’s been made available at Radiohead’s official site, here. Possibly due to it being everywhere by now, it’s free! It’s probably also slightly higher quality. It comes with a wee note from the band. It also comes with artwork (see above) which you can customise. Generous stuff!

*Postscript. This website has a really good article about Radiohead and These Are My Twisted Words.

Cover Versions, demo, Double Nugget, Hard-to-find

Them was rotten days

Craig McAllister

Going to see a band these days is far too expensive. Yer enormodome megastars like U2, Springsteen, AC/DC etc etc charge a small fortune. Yer second string enormodomers like Coldplay, Oasis, (insert your own choice here) etc etc can get away with charging similar fortunes. Even relatively minor league acts are asking you to stump up anything upwards of £15 to hear their one album’s worth of whining nonsense. And why? Cos in this day and age, when folk (like me) illegally share music, the artist has realised that the only way to make money is on the road. That’s why live music has never been so bouyant.  Even Madonna is out and about playing a football stadium near you. You can’t download the live experience. Aye, you can download a Dylan concert the minute he’s off stage. And you can watch umpteen YouTube shaky camera phone videos of Paul McCartney on stage with Neil Young even before the last bit of feedback has fizzled out. What you can’t do is download the actual in-yer-face gig. And until you can, your favourite artists will continue getting away with charging you the price of feeding a family of four for a week. But you knew that already.

blur ticket

It wasn’t always like this. I saw Blur for £1! (see above). I paid £4 on the door the first time I saw the Stone Roses. Even their famous Alexandra Palace gig was only £8.50. And they were massive by this point. I’ve tons of tickets for concerts I’ve been to where I’ve paid a fiver or less. Sure, that first Stone Roses concert was 20 years ago. Blur was 18. I’m no economist, but surely the price of gig tickets these days outstrips the rate of inflation?

ticket

I saw the Inspiral Carpets loads of times. So named after one band member commented on his fellow band member’s mum’s orange and brown 70s living room carpet, the first time I saw them they were supporting the Wedding Present in the Barrowlands. I thought they sounded like the Teardrop Explodes; swirly organ, 60s references, bowl cuts and all that. Every song sounded like ‘Reward‘. I was hooked. I kept my fingers poised over the pause button of my tape recorder during John Peel shows and I kept my eyes peeled on the gig pages of NME. I went to see them all the time. I paid £3.50 to see them in the bar at Glasgow Tech. A quick visit to their merchandise stall to purchase 2 ‘Cool As Fuck’ badges (lost on the way home) and a demo tape called Dung 4 cost me a further £3.60. Add a couple of student-bar-priced watery pints  and you can see that I had a great night out for a tenner.

Inspiral Carpets - DUNG 4

Keep the Circle Around

Seeds Of Doubt

Joe

Causeway

Inside My Head

Sun Don’t Shine

Theme From Cow

Butterfly

26

Garage Full Of Flowers

96 Tears

A couple of weeks ago I dug out that old demo tape and converted it into mp3 files. It’s very much of it’s time, but still sounds pretty good. If you’re in anyway into Farfisa-led 60s influenced tunes sung by a shouty guy called Steve (these songs are pre Tom Hingley fame era) then it’s for you. Some of the tracks appeared polished and shiny down the line on the Rare As Fuck Plane Crash ep.  Others crept onto 7″ b sides or re-appeared in future Peel Sessions. If you’re a fan of Inspiral Carpets you’ll know most of them. If not, it’s as good a place to start as any. This tape was the one thing that convinced me I had seen the future of rock n roll. And it wasn’t called Bruce Springsteen.  

Inlay

The Inspiral Carpets occasionally gave out a newsletter. By issue 4 it had become known as the moos-letter. Here’s the one I got round about the time I saw them in Glasgow Tech and bought the tape that you’re just about to download.

find out why 1

find out why 2 3

find out why 4

Footnote:

I meant to write in my original post that about a year after the Glasgow Tech gig, I saw the Inspiral Carpets again at Strathclyde University. This was round about the time Noel Gallagher was roadying for them. The band were outside unloading their van and I took the chance to get them to sign the inside of my Levis denim jacket. They all signed it (apart from the singer who was, to quote the roadie (Noel?), “away shaggin'”). Clint Boon drew the cow logo and wrote “Inspirals ’89” underneath it. I think my sister nicked the jacket about a year later. Pre-eBay, I don’t know where it ended up…

Cover Versions, Hard-to-find

Flip Yer Whig

Craig McAllister

Being the totally shallow person that I am, one of the cooler records in my collections is the Afghan Whigs‘ Uptown Avondale 7″ single. On the Sub Pop label. On red vinyl.

Released in 1992, Uptown Avondale was the perfect distilation of the Afghan Whigs’ blend of Sabbath-heavy riffs fighting it out for centre stage with Stax and Motown soul tinges. Was it grunge/soul? Was it soul/grunge? It doesn’t really matter because to these ears it sounded fantastic.

AfghanWhigsUptownAvondale

The 7″ features 2 tracks. On the one side, a feedback-soaked minor key version of Freda Payne’s perennial disco classic Band Of Gold. Where the original is heartbreak sung euphorically, this version is half the tempo, half the euphoria but twice the heartbreak. I dug out my single last night and fired up the old Dansette. The single is one of those jukebox singles that’s missing the centre piece. I used to have one of those bits, but somewhere down the line it’s disappeared. I put it on anyway, thinking that the rubber mat on the turntable would keep it in place. Woah! “Noooowwwww ttttthhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaattttt yooooouuuuuu’vvvvveeee gggggaaaaaawwwwwwwnnnnnn aaaaaaallllll ttttttthhhhhhaaaaaaaaaattttt iiiiiiissssss llllllleeeeeeeeffffffftttttt iiiiissss aaaa bbbbbaaaaaannnnnddddd  ooooooffff gggggggoooooollllllldddddd.” I had to take it off. It sounded even more downbeat, depressing and deranged than ever. Thankfully, the mp3 sounds the way the Whigs intended.

afghan whigs

The flip side is even better. Here, they do a version of The Supreme’s Come See About Me. Whereas the original is all finger-clickin’ hip-shakin’ innocent teenage joy, the Whigs’ version sounds totally dangerous. The drums at the start don’t have the pistol crack that you’ll be familiar with, you’ll need to add your own handclaps, guitar riffs replace the rinky-dink piano trills and backing vocals are whispered with an air of menace rather than sung with innocent joy. “Come see about me” they implore. Eh, I’d rather not, thank you very much. It’s still soul music Jim, but not as we know it. It also happens to be in my Top 10 favourite tracks ever.

afghan whigs live

If you bought the 12″, you’d also find 2 extra tracks. This, their excellent though downbeat (of course) version of Al Green’s Beware and this, their faithful reworking of yer actual Elvis’ True Love Travels On A Gravel Road. Spooky keyboards. Descending bassline. Heartfelt vocals. All in a minor key. Again.

And if you bought the CD single, there’s a hidden track right at the end, a remix of the band’s own Milez Is Dead. Renamed Rebirth Of The Cool (see what they did there?) it’s apparent they’ve been listening to no less than Fools Gold. Aye! Funkier than a mosquito’s tweeter, some might say.  With added heroin.

Cover Versions, Hard-to-find, studio outtakes

There’s a riot goin’ on…

Craig McAllister

..and you might not even know it. The most prolific* band in showbiz, legendary Scottish band (C) The Trashcan Sinatras are currently burning up the highways and byways of the United States of America. I know many visitors here are from that big part of the globe and I thought I’d post this to let you know.

us09_tour_flyer_02

Relax girls. Some of them are even married.

Most fans of the Trashcans tend to be of the obsessive kind and will know all about the tour already. They’ll have their tickets, their accomodation sorted out and they’ll already have chosen which tracks from Cake they’re going to heckle for thoroughout the show. But you couldn’t be blamed for drifting off and seeing other bands during the Trashcan’s over-long hiatus. You might not be aware the band are still going strong. If so, this is a public service broadcast aimed at you, dear American reader. If they’re playing near you, get to the show. Go! Go! Go!

Listen out for the new stuff from the In The Music album – Prisons sounds like The Byrds doing Sugar Sugar, lead single I Wish You’d Met Her sounds like The Faces with the Bee Gees on backing vocals and Oranges and Apples is a 9 minute wig out (by Trashcans standards at any rate.) Watch the recent wig-out free acoustic in-store acoustic version here…

Here’s a couple of TCS rarities. First, Snow. Penned by Randy Newman, covered by Harpers Bazaar, this track was only ever released in Japan. At the tail end of the last century.

Next, Hammertime. Recorded for Weightlifting but left off at the sequencing stage, this track saw the light of day on the b-side of the highly collectable All The Dark Horses 10″ single. It was also briefly available as a download.

Lastly, Duty Free. A track so willfully obscure the band never even put their own name to it. Recorded as the Cat Protection League for a college project CD, Duty Free is classic Trashcans – melodic, melancholic and uplifting at the same time. It deserves a wider audience than it reached on the CD. Hence it’s appearance here at Plain Or Pan? Download then go and see the band live. Get to the show! Go! Go! Go!

Remember to check trashcansinatras.com for regular updates and video clips etc

You should really also visit Five Hungry Joes. Clearly a labour of love, it features an excellent array of all things Trashcansesque.

*Prolific. For our American readers, that was, like, irony, dude.