Freedom Is A Good Thing

The world of the free cd is not always a happy place to be. Stuck at the end of a shelf, in a pile of The Mail On Sunday and Evening Standard piss poor disco compilations, 80s worst ofs, and charity collections featuring a rogues gallery of the most deplorable acts free publicity can attract, all put together in shoddy cardboard sleeves. Except for the one the little purple chap chucked out a few months ago of course. The sleeve was still very poor though.

Yes, for the occasional quality free cd, it can be a pretty lonely existence. And so we should remember the great and good of the free cds, for they should be treasured.

In recent times, my considered king amongst the complimentary cd peasants has been Unconditionally Guaranteed 2000.3, which was given away with the then-acceptable-now-generally-boorish Uncut magazine, in early 2000 (as the more astute of you may have determined from the title).

Seemingly randomly put together from the better elements of what was knocking around that month, it is markedly better than the majority of cds that they make you pay for. I had it in my cd walkman (so old, so old) for months, and I didn’t even mind it skipping whenever I deviated out of a smooth, horizontal float down the road (so cheap, so cheap).

Perhaps the best measure of it’s quality is that I went on to buy a couple of albums by it’s featured artistes as a result. So, in the general theme of talking about something specific, let me tell you a bit more about that.

The cd opens up with Kit And Holly by Echoboy. I hadn’t heard of him before, but I thought it was one of the best things I’d heard in ages. I think I was looking around for something a bit new and inspiring, and the electronic / guitary mix-up, sounding like the future, flicked my switch. So I bought Volume One, and it was rubbish. There wasn’t anything else like Kit And Holly on it, mostly instrumental and less melodic stuff, and so my switches were swiftly unflicked.



Echoboy – Kit And Holly


About five years later, I realised I was wrong about the album, and that it’s actually rather good. That happens sometimes. The songs that I thought were rubbish weren’t rubbish anymore. None more so than this nine minute slice of wandering melodica and ten pin bowling percussion.



Echoboy – Constantinople


I’ve picked up some Echoboy since, and it’s okay, but he seems to have tried to take the Kit And Holly line a bit more, without really hitting the same heights. Oh well. Get Volume One though, here.

Track 7 on the cd is Museum Mile by Geneva. Another band I’d never heard of – I obviously wasn’t getting out much. At the time, I thought it was the jewel of the compilation, and I still do probably. Huge vocals, dreamy synths, indie guitars, and production you can see your face in. Lovely. Looking back, the lyrics are a bit on the dodgy side. But then I’ve never really cared about dodgy lyrics. Debris and Stardust think I’m a bit weird for that, but I’ve always considered the voice to be an instrument first and foremost, and if it works within the overall song, then I can forgive everything else. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate good lyrics, but it’s not the be all and end all. Like I say, weird.



Geneva - Museum Mile


So, I bought Weather Underground, and listened to it solidly for about a year. Unlike Echoboy, the album's more of the same, which did me just fine. Shortly after buying it, Geneva announced a gig at the Camden Underworld that I went to. Before the last song, which I’m pretty sure was Museum Mile, they announced that it would be their last gig for a while, and they never appeared again. Andrew Montgomery, he of the huge shimmering voice, formed a band called Amityville, but like the name, they were pretty horrendous. So I stuck with Weather Underground, and it’s beautiful, clichéd majesty.



Geneva – If You Have To Go


Buy it here. Because weird is okay.

Finally, to give Unconditionally Guaranteed 2000.3 the honour it deserves, here is the full track listing:

1. Echoboy – Kit & Holly
2. The Cash Brother – Nebraska
3. The Handsome Family – A Beautiful Thing
4. Doves – Rise
5. Gonzales – Real Motherfuckin’ Music
6. Josh Rouse – Laughter
7. Geneva – Museum Mile
8. Black Box Recorder – Weekend
9. 16 Horsepower – Clogger
10. Earl Bostic – Flamingo
11. Cathal Coughlan – Officer Material
12. Virginia Rodrigues – Jeito Faceiro
13. Ivan (Buddy Holly) – Real Wild Child
14. Morphine – Rope On Fire
15. Seafood – Easy Path
16. John McEntire – J.I.H.A.D.
17. Six By Seven – My Life Is An Accident
18. Talk Talk – Ascension Day

Sir, we salute you.


Tiny Dancer


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