Shriekback S & D

"Faded Flowers"

oh right! We're good then.

this is an impossible task.
there are some albums that are complete and cannot be broken up.
jam science/oil and gold/big night music are examples of this.

^^^ and, I have to say based on my first full listen to it in over a decade, Sacred City!

It's true, those albums are all fantastic pieces unto themselves. But it's great to have a cross-section of an artists entire work, that's why I love well-chosen anthologies and singles comps. And there's been NOTHING covering these lads over most of their career. And I like the challenge of picking a limited-but-excellent number of tracks, it makes you really consider an artists best work.

I don't know what I'd take out to get "Malaria" in, but "Malaria" is one of my favorite songs of all time so I want that one. Maybe "Gunning for the Buddha" which has a nice sound but never really did the job for me

I'd lose "Shark Walk". In fact, I like to pretend that Go Bang! never happened.

I considered that, but that's always the question when compiling - to ignore an artists nadir or not. Even the latest Killing Joke singles comp included stuff from "Outside The Gate"!

Ok, I took a bunch of your suggestions and also remembered the excellent closing track on "Go Bang" - "Dust And A Shadow". Here's my revised anthology - I just gave it a listen and it's 2.5 hours of smiles!

Disc 1:
Sexthinkone (from Tench)
A Kind Of Fascination (from Tench)
Accretions (from Tench)
My Spine Is The Bassline (non LP)
Lined Up (from Care)
Cleartrails (from Care)
Sway (from Care)
Working On The Ground (non LP)
Hand On My Heart (from Jam Science)
Partyline (from Jam Science)
Mercy Dash (from Jam Science)
Everything That Rises Must Converge (from Oil & Gold)
Fish Below The Ice (from Oil & Gold)
Faded Flowers (from Oil & Gold)
Nemesis (from Oil & Gold)
Black Light Trap (from Big Night Music)
Underwaterboys (from Big Night Music)
The Reptiles And I (from Big Night Music)
Dust And A Shadow (from Go Bang!)

Disc 2:
White Out (non LP)
Signs (from Sacred City)
Exquisite Corpse (from Sacred City)
Beatles Zebra Crossing (from Sacred City)
Pond Life (from Naked Apes And Pond Life)
Invisible Rays (from Naked Apes And Pond Life)
Berlin (from Naked Apes And Pond Life)
Captain Cook (non LP)
More Heat Than Light (from Having A Moment)
God's Gardenias (from Having A Moment)
Sea Theory (from Cormorant)
Reason With The Beast (from Cormorant)
Voiled Karletus (from Cormorant)
Hooray For Everything (from Glory Bumps)
Mahalia (from Glory Bumps)
Semidelicious (from Life In The Loading Bay)
Running With The Mothmen (from Life In The Loading Bay)
The Flowers Of Angst (from Life In The Loading Bay)
My Vast Behaviour (from Life In The Loading Bay bonus disc)

jam science is a fucking brilliant album.

It sure as shit is. Some good stuff on the shriek tumblr about the making of, btw.

Anyone get the outtakes and demos comp they just put out? (very limited run. I wish I could afford a cd right now)

The new album, "Without Real String Or Fish", is another fine entry in their catalog. Carl's back full force this time around. Fun video for "Now Those Days Are Gone".

String...Fish is great yeah. Totally recommend.

Warning: Utter pedantry ahead.

The Shriek lads have been really busy releasing limited reissues of their early back catalog. Unfortunately, these have been a bit shoddy with obvious vinyl transfers and incorrect versions. The new release, "Peel Sessions And Singularities", caused me to take a closer look at the recent releases. Here's what I found:

Care remaster:
"Feelers" is the Can't Speak Mix, quite crackly though.
Note that I didn't buy this and haven't done a thorough review, I just noticed this in my investigation into "Feelers".

Tench remaster:
"Sexthinkone" is the 7" version (3:39), not the original EP version (4:23).
"Accretions" is the Infinite remix (4:28), not the original EP version (4:16).
"So Hard So Hard" clips the first few seconds from the CDr version I have.
"Accretions (remix)" is the same as the Infinite remix, thus a duplicate of the previous version.

Peel Sessions And Singularities:
6 Peel sessions tracks appeared on the "Vicissitudes" CDr; new are "Faded Flowers", "Feelers" and "Fish Below The Ice".
The Peel version of "Newhome" on Vicissitudes sounds like a radio recording with a crossfade at the beginning whereas this new version is clean. Everything else has similar sound quality.
The Peel version of "Feelers" (5:07) sounds identical to the single version (5:01). I have a 3:54 MP3 alleging to be the Peel version which sounds different from every other mix I've got.
"Sexthinkone (exotic mix)" is the same as the 12" mix.
"Accretions (original)" is the missing Tench version, albeit crackly.
"Lined Up (instrumental)" is 4:17 whereas the 12" version is 5:00, it's a MUCH earlier fade.
Everything else is solid and crackle-free.

Oh, and the "Secrets Of The City" reissue compared to the CDr changes a bunch of track titles and excludes the brief 'Interlude 2'.

Would you say the new peel disc is worth getting

I gather it will sell out soon

It's nice to have it all in one place, and it supports them, so - yeah.

Shriekback have a kickstarter going to fund the logistics of a world tour with the roster to include Barry, Carl, Martyn, Mike Cozzi, the Partridge sisters and a bassist who isn't dave allen. Basically the same lineup that toured Oil and Gold except for dave. I don't have the link handy but they are past the halfway mark.

here it is

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1283576192/shriekback-live

while i will always love this band, their recent money grab groove feels weird.
if you want to play a few gigs then play a few gigs.
fans who can sort things out will sort the rest out ..

It's East European, West European, it's moving so fast!

they met their goal and tickets for london glasgow and manchester go on sale tomorrow already. i would assume/hope more tba

Shriekback business:

Just out, new studio album "Why Anything? Why This?" First listen indicates it's solid but it needs more listens. Some tracks sounds like retreads of previous material, others are quite excellent like "And The Rain" led by Carl. No matter what, Martyn Barker is one of his generations best drummers.

Last year they put out "The Elated World", a compilation of fan-funded tracks. Some great bits, some instrumentals, worth hearing but not a critical addition to their canon.

In 2015 they released "The Island Of The Hopeful Monsters (Lost Demos From The 80's & The 90's)", which is what it says on the tin. Pretty inconsequential.

They've also put out a new live album from their 2017 tour and an old live album from 1987 but I didn't get those.

I wish they had a download store. I’m not quite at the level of wanting a physical copy of the new one and it’s not on bandcamp emusic etc.