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From the press release:
Though the British Invasion of the 1960s has been well documented, the wave of U.K. bands that followed in the wake of '80s post-punk hasn't -- until now. Rhino's 4-CD set THE BRIT BOX: U.K. INDIE, SHOEGAZE, AND BRIT-POP GEMS OF THE LAST MILLENNIUM is the first collection anywhere to chart the rise of cool Britannia.
Due November 20, THE BRIT BOX gathers key recordings from 78 U.K. performers spanning the last 15 years of the 20th century. While many of these artists enjoyed superstar status in England, with just a handful of exceptions few dented the American charts -- for the most part, only the pasty-looking outsiders and college kids willing to dig through their local import bins got to hear this stuff on release.
Independent record companies have always been the lifeblood of alternative rock, but what makes a disc "indie" goes far beyond the label it's on. Unlike punk groups, indie bands don't reject mainstream music so much as co-opt it for their own ends. On the first CD of THE BRIT BOX, seminal artists like The Smiths, Jesus & Mary Chain, and The Stone Roses take good old fashioned guitar-pop and turn it into something fresh, while groups like Happy Mondays and Primal Scream borrow gleefully from hip-hop to give birth to acid house.
By 1990, the British press was up in arms over acts that spent more time looking at their feet than their audiences and, for better or worse, disparate bands like Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Lush, and The Telescopes were lumped together as "shoegazers." Disc Two of THE BRIT BOX looks beyond the performance style to show that their records did have sonic similarities, emphasizing introspective soundscapes, hazy guitars, and dense production -- a style currently enjoying a (typically understated) revival.
Disc Three of THE BRIT BOX opens with Suede's "Metal Mickey," a shot across the cultural bow heralding the arrival of Brit-pop. Another term bandied about frequently (and often derisively) by the U.K. rock press of the mid-'90s, "Brit-pop" reflected a newfound confidence in the English music scene, and bands like Oasis, Blur, Pulp, and Elastica reveled in the highlife as hit singles seemed to pour forth effortlessly (a tuneful bacchanal immortalized in the 2003 documentary Live Forever). The final CD of THE BRIT BOX shows that even latecomers to the party like Ash, Super Furry Animals, Mansun, The Verve, and Placebo had some smashing songs in them.
There are enough art school refugees peopling these bands that Rhino's design team felt compelled to go bonkers. THE BRIT BOX is housed in a 6"x12" box depicting a traditional English phone booth illuminated with a battery-powered flickering light bulb! The photo-filled 80-page accompanying book includes a foreword from Creation Records founder Alan McGee, an essay by Select
A labor of love years in the making, THE BRIT BOX follows such previous collections as Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era and Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The '80s Underground in the proud Rhino tradition of dicing up pop music's past four CDs at a time. But more than mere history lessons, these anthems for Anglophiles remain incredibly catchy today (and offer proof that the recent American success of groups like Coldplay, Keane, and Snow Patrol didn't occur in a vacuum). Track Listing
Disc 11. The Smiths -- "How Soon Is Now?"
2. Cocteau Twins -- "Lorelei"
3. Felt -- "Primitive Painters"
4. Shop Assistants -- "Somewhere In China"
5. The Mighty Lemon Drops -- "My Biggest Thrill"
6. The Cure -- "Just Like Heaven"
7. Echo & The Bunnymen -- "Lips Like Sugar"
8. The Jesus And Mary Chain -- "April Skies"
9. Spacemen 3 -- "Walkin' With Jesus (Sound Of Confusion)"
10. The Primitives -- "Crash"
11. The Wonder Stuff -- "Unbearable"
12. The Stone Roses -- "She Bangs The Drums"
13. The Charlatans UK -- "The Only One I Know"
14. Happy Mondays -- "Step On"
15. Primal Scream -- "Loaded" (single version)
16. Inspiral Carpets -- "This Is How It Feels"
17. The Trash Can Sinatras -- "Obscurity Knocks"
18. The La's -- "There She Goes"
19. The Sundays -- "Here's Where The Story Ends"
Disc 21. Ride -- "Vapour Trail"
2. Pale Saints -- "Sight Of You"
3. My Bloody Valentine -- "Only Shallow"
4. Lush -- "For Love"
5. The Telescopes -- "Flying"
6. Chapterhouse -- "Pearl"
7. Catherine Wheel -- "I Want To Touch You"
8. Bleach -- "Trip & Slide"
9. Curve -- "Coast Is Clear"
10. Five Thirty -- "You"
11. Moose -- "This River Will Never Run Dry"
12. The Family Cat -- "(Thought I'd Died) And Gone To Heaven"
13. The Dylans -- "(Don't Cut Me Down) Mary Quant In Blue"
14. Thousand Yard Stare -- "0-0 A.E.T. (No Score After Extra Time)"
15. Ned's Atomic Dustbin -- "Grey Cell Green"
16. Birdland -- "Shoot You Down"
17. Manic Street Preachers -- "Stay Beautiful"
18. Teenage Fanclub -- "Star Sign"
Disc 31. Suede -- "Metal Mickey"
2. Swervedriver -- "Duel" (radio edit)
3. Eugenius -- "Breakfast"
4. Superstar -- "Barfly"
5. New Order -- "Regret"
6. James -- "Laid"
7. Nick Heyward -- "Kite"
8. The Boo Radleys -- "Lazarus"
9. Saint Etienne -- "You're In A Bad Way"
10. Stereolab -- "Wow & Flutter"
11. Blur -- "Tracy Jacks"
12. Oasis -- "Live Forever"
13. Pulp -- "Common People"
14. These Animal Men -- "Speeed King"
15. Mega City Four -- "Wallflower"
16. Echobelly -- "Insomniac"
17. Gene -- "Sleep Well Tonight"
18. Menswear -- "Sleeping In"
19. Supergrass -- "Alright"
20. Cast -- "Alright"
21. Elastica -- "Stutter"
Disc 41. Dodgy -- "In A Room"
2. Ash -- "Girl From Mars"
3. Sleeper -- "Sale Of The Century"
4. Marion -- "Sleep"
5. Kula Shaker -- "Tattva"
6. Ocean Colour Scene -- "The Riverboat Song"
7. Babybird -- "You're Gorgeous"
8. The Bluetones -- "Slight Return"
9. Super Furry Animals -- "Something 4 The Weekend"
10. The Divine Comedy -- "Something For The Weekend"
11. Cornershop -- "Brimful Of Asha"
12. Silver Sun -- "Service"
13. Spiritualized -- "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space"
14. Mansun -- "Wide Open Space"
15. Hurricane #1 -- "Step Into My World"
16. The Verve -- "Lucky Man"
17. Rialto -- "Untouchable"
18. Catatonia -- "Mulder And Scully"
19. Placebo -- "You Don't Care About Us"
20. Gay Dad -- "Oh Jim"
