Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - 2Kindsa Love 7"

Look me in the eye and tell me you don't already love a Jon Spencer Blues Explosion 7" on bright pink vinyl. Good. So do I. I've tried to scan the 7" itself, but the colour doesn't do it justice at all - it's really quite horrible in real life.

Now, if you don't know this track then you've been missing out for 15 years or so; it's bloody great. Everything about it, shouting, crazy guitar sounds, great production... Love it.

It's off his Now I Got Worry album, which is up there with his very best. The b-side is a poorly-punctuated but nicely-nuts slice of blues/punk madness, with some killer keyboard (at least that's what I think it is).

1. 2Kindsa Love
2. Lets Smerf

Here

The Flaming Stars - Sweet Smell Of Success 7"

I used to love this band. Still do, in fact, but back then they were one of those ones that I seemed to be into, but no-one else was, which always adds a certain something. Partly I loved them for the music, partly for the sound (all analogue equipment and so on - same studio the White Stripes used a lot, I think), and partly for their habit of releasing limited 7"s with four tracks on them. Needless to say, the one I've chosen only has two tracks, but they're both awesome. It's listed as a double a-side, which always seemed a completely pointless idea to me, but there you go. Still, it kind of makes sense on a record like this.

The first a-side is a killer tune, and sounds lush when the guitar really kicks in. The second a-side, however, is one of my favourite of their tracks, and completely different to the first. Great stuff. And both under 2:30!

You should listen to these, it's only 5 minutes of your life. You'll like them. And I'm glad y'all liked Teenage Fanclub.

1. Sweet Smell Of Success
2. The Day The Earth Caught Fire

Here it's.

Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix Bonus 7"

Just when you thought I'd run out of Teenage Fanclub... Because I was/am kind of obsessed with this band, I picked up this LP pretty much the day it came out, and was lucky enough to get hold of one with the bonus 7". Here, for your (hopefully) equally obsessive interest, it is.

Track 1 seems to be a recording of some vocals and a shaker, with the rest of the music in the background somewhere. There's some whistling too. And clapping. It's kind of nice. Track 3 is another version of the album track, with louder drums, I guess it's also a demo. Tracks 4 and 6 I had to do some digging about to find names (there's nothing listed on the record) - both instrumentals.

I hadn't listened to this 7" in years, and it's got a real intimate feel to it. Maybe that's just me. I like it, and hope you do too.

1. Discolite (demo)
2. Answerphone message (to Norman)
3. I Gotta Know (demo)
4. Coffee Morning
5. Norman's outgoing answerphone message
6. Untitled

Hear them roar.