VV.AA. - No Alternative (1993)

A mixture of B-sides, outtakes, live tracks, and newly recorded songs, No Alternative was the most successful benefit album of 1993, both commercially and artistically. Exceptional songs from Nirvana, Bob Mould, Urge Overkill, Smashing Pumpkins, American Music Club, and Pavement enhance fine outtakes from Buffalo Tom and Matthew Sweet, strengthen Uncle Tupelo and Soul Asylum's strong covers, and make the weak live tracks from the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, and the Breeders tolerable. However, nothing can save the Goo Goo Dolls' atrocious pop-metal take on the Rolling Stones' "Bitch." Still, that's only one song out of 19, making No Alternative a worthy purchase. Source: [AMG]

Smashing Pumpkins - Glynis



Track Listing
1. Matthew Sweet - Superdeformed
2. Buffalo Tom - For All to See
3. Soul Asylum - Sexual Healing
4. Urge Overkill - Take a Walk
5. American Music Club - All Your Jeans Were Too Tight
6. Goo Goo Dolls - Bitch
7. Pavement - Unseen Power of the Picket Fence
8. Smashing Pumpkins - Glynis
9. Bob Mould - Can't Fight It
10. Sarah McLachlan - Hold On
11. Soundgarden - Show Me
12. Straitjacket Fits - Brittle
13. Barbara Manning - Joed Out
14. The Verlaines - Heavy 33
15. Uncle Tupelo - Effigy
16. Beastie Boys - It's the New Style (live)
17. The Breeders - Iris (live)
18. Patti Smith - Memorial Song (live)
19. Nirvana - Sappy [*]

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The Feends - Freek Show (1993)

Outside of their love of '60s surf, garage, bubblegum-pop and '70s punk, the Feends also took their surroundings of the beach as a major musical aspiration. Accompanied by their matching thrift store attire, the line-up of Ian (guitar ), Danni (bass ), Sam (keyboards ), Kent (vocals ), Will (guitar), and Henry (drums) first made their splash in 1990. Following three years of playing throughout their native coast of Western Australia, the band hooked up with the small independent label Spinning Top Records, resulting in their 1993 debut, Freek Show. Source: [AMG]


Track Listing
1. Only Loved One Fish Before
2. On The Prowl
3. RPM
4. Bats
5. Supernatural Feet
6. No More
7. Freek Show
8. Haunted Sea
9. Ghost Train
10. Space Girl

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Thee Headcoats - Heavens To Murgatroyd, Even! It's Thee Headcoats! (Already) (1991)

Thee Headcoats is one of the various band monikers assumed by garage rock primitive Billy Childish (aka Bill Hamper), a native of Kent, England. Over several decades -- and regardless of the fashion of the time -- Childish has churned out no-frills garage rock, the likes of which saw a resurgence in hipness in the new millennium with groups such as the Hives and the White Stripes. The ultra-prolific bandleader/producer/poet/painter/publisher first emerged in 1979 with mod-punkers Pop Rivets. By 1982, the Pop Rivets had become the more musically catchy Milkshakes (akaThee Milkshakes or Mickey & the Milkshakes). The band was remarkably prolific, releasing no fewer than seven albums in 1984 (four of them on the same day). Shortly thereafter, Childish moved on to the similarly minded Thee Mighty Caesars. Nevertheless, since the late '80s, Thee Headcoats -- a trio that includes Pop Rivets/Milkshakes/Mighty Caesars drummer Bruce Brand -- has been Childish's primary outlet for his more accessible, straight-up rock & roll. As of 2000, Thee Headcoats were Childish's most prolific outlet (no small accolade). The group played its final gig that year at London's Dirty Water club, though tracks continued to be released. Source: [AMG]

Thee Headcoats - Girl Of Matches


Track Listing
1. Mantrap
2. No Way Out
3. Reindeer Are Wild
4. Hand to Hand
5. Headcoat Man
6. Girl of Matches
7. I Don't Like the Man I Am
8. Pokerhuntus Was Her Name
9. We're Gone
10. Stewball
11. I Ain't About to Give You My Name
12. Rusty Hook

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The Hives - Barely Legal (1997)

The Hives launched the first salvo in their global assault on all that is lame in our culture with their debut album, 1997's Barely Legal, and there is little arguing that these guys had the right idea out of the gate. Emerging from Fagersta, Sweden (which, at least in 1997, was the rock equivalent of Absolutely Nowhere), the Hives set a high standard with their hot-wired fusion of garage rock tunes and punk rock speed and energy, and they hit the sweet spot just right, sounding tight enough to connect with unified force while still letting the frenzy of their forward momentum give the performances a bit of dizzy sway that indicates true rock & roll. If Barely Legal lacks an obvious "breakout hit" tune like "Main Offender" or "Hate to Say I Told You So," the rapid-fire assault of these songs is impressive indeed, and this disc plays like a brick of firecrackers that refuses to stop exploding until "Closed for the Season" crosses the finish line. And while the Hives rock like nobody's business here (especially the Siamese twin guitars of Vigilante Carlstroem and Nicholaus Arson), the real secret weapon is Howlin' Pelle Almqvist, whose cocky swagger actually communicates on tape, and is the perfect vehicle for his "We are cool, you are nothing" lyrical outlook. Veni Vidi Vicious was the album that let the world know who the Hives were and what they were all about, but Barely Legal let a clued-in few know about their monumental coolness three years ahead of the game, and for sheer rock action, it's as good as anything they've put to tape. Source: [AMG]

The Hives - A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T


Track Listing
1. Well, Well, Well
2. A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T
3. Here We Go Again
4. I'm a Wicked One
5. Automatic Schmuck
6. King of Asskissing
7. Hail Hail Spit N'Drool
8. Black Jack
9. What's That Spell?... Go to Hell!
10. Theme From...
11. Uptempo Venomous Poison
12. Oh Lord! When? How?
13. The Stomp
14. Closed for the Season

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