Alphabet Soup II (B)

Hello, Alphabet Soup back to B and I continue with the format of picking one from the 7, 9 and 0 ties...as the 8 ties has its own dedicated day...First up the seventies contribution from Bachman-Turner Overdrive, when ripping that vinyl i thought how good some of the tracks are..a track like Hey You showed the US wave pop, which came a few years later, the way. The 76 album here Best Of B.T.O. (So Far) never got extended much hits wise but a great number of variations have seen the market...but this is the original one...its even been rereleased remastered now, not many original compilations ever get to that stage.. Secondly..Brad, the band that aquinted me with the voice of Shawn Smith, it was an agreeable one as i bought into his other projects Satchel and his work with Steve Fisk in Pigeonhed aswell. Well thats the thing with vocals they can grab you or push / make you cringe. Obviously most of the time vocals stay in the bland range..adapting to the lyrics....Finally Broadcast, i happen to have chatted with them after a show the guys had a very intellektual approach to their music, Trish the singer was as sweet as she looks and sings..ah well it was a few years ago. Broadcast's retro-futuristic sci-fi music sounding like they could've been written in the sixties and yet they don't sound dated, far from it...judge yourself..

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Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Best Of B.T.O. (So Far) (76 ^ 90mb)

Following his 1970 departure from the Guess Who, guitarist Randy Bachman recorded a solo album (Axe) and planned a project with ex-Nice keyboardist Keith Emerson (later canceled due to illness) before forming Bachman-Turner Overdrive in 1972. Originally called "Brave Belt," the metal group was comprised of singer/guitarist Bachman, fellow Guess Who alum Chad Allan, bassist C.F. "Fred" Turner, and Randy's brother, drummer Robbie; after a pair of LPs (Brave Belt I and Brave Belt II), Allan was replaced by another Bachman brother, guitarist Tim, and in homage to the trucker's magazine Overdrive, the unit became BTO. While their self-titled 1973 debut caused little impact in the U.S. or the band's native Canada, Bachman-Turner Overdrive II was a smash, netting a hit single with the anthemic "Takin' Care of Business." Prior to the release of 1974's Not Fragile, Tim Bachman exited the group to begin a career in production, and was replaced by Blair Thornton; the album was a chart-topping success, and notched a number one single with "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet."

After 1977's Freeways, Randy Bachman left the group for a solo career and formed another group, Ironhorse. Bachman-Turner Overdrive continued on in his absence with replacement Jim Clench for two more albums, Street Action and Rock n' Roll Nights (both 1978), eventually changing their name to simply BTO. At the tail-end of the decade, the band dissolved, but in the 1980s they re-grouped to tour as both Bachman-Turner Overdrive (led by Randy) and BTO (led by Robbie); the ensuing confusion the name game triggered ultimately resulted in Randy Bachman filing suit against his one-time bandmates for rights to the group's logo.

This nine-song collection released in 1976 was the first of close to two dozen "Best Of," "Greatest Hits," and "Greatest Hits Live" collections .. ". These songs are culled from the group's first five albums, 1973's Bachman Turner Overdrive debut up to 1975's Head On. They ruled the charts as a North American counterpart to the British Bad Company, whose first version charted during the same time period with almost the same amount of hits. Five of the nine songs were composed all or in part by Randy Bachman, including the song that didn't break the Top 40 but should have, "Looking Out for #1." Its "Girl From Ipanema" riff and majestic performance was touted by Mercury in the trades as their next number one, but for some inexplicable reason, it fizzled. This album has been re-mastered and refined over the years, but it is what it is, a compact collection of their hits released over a two-year period.



01 - Roll On Down The Highway (3:53)
02 - Hey You (3:27)
03 - Lookin' Out For #1 (5:12)
04 - Gimme Your Money Please (4:13)
05 - Let It Ride (3:26)

06 - Take It Like A Man (3:36)
07 - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet (3:34)
08 - Blue Collar (6:02)
09 - Takin' Care Of Business (4:41)

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Brad - Shame ( 93 ^ 99mb)

Regan Hagar was in a band called Malfunkshun with Andrew Wood, and Malfunkshun shared a rehearsal space with Green River which Stone Gossard was a member of. Andrew Wood and Stone Gossard played together in Mother Love Bone after that and Regan, Shawn and Mike formed the band Satchel. They all remained friends during this time as Regan, Stone, and Jeff Ament would often have jam sessions and eventually Regan, Shawn, Mike, and Stone decided to form another band which they wanted to call `Shame` but that name was already taken by a man named Brad Wilson... so they decided on the next best thing, they called this band Brad. That is the story on how this band was formed.

With drummer Regan Hagar, guitarist Stone Gossard formed Brad as a side project after his main band, Pearl Jam, became superstars in 1992. Also featuring vocalist Shawn Smith and bassist Jeremy Toback, the group spent the spring of 1993 putting together material. Recorded in roughly 20 days, with many tracks taken from in-studio jam sessions, Shame is an eclectic mix of styles and a raw, vital recording. The track "20th Century" was a minor hit in the UK. In the US it got mixed reviews and lukewarm sales. Shame is one of the sharper side-project efforts out there, largely because it doesn't seek to clone the parent group. Instead of Gossard, the focus falls on vocalist Shawn Smith, the sweetly voiced, soul-inspired frontman who also achieved notice later for his own group, Satchel, as well as his project with production legend Steve Fisk, Pigeonhed. On his first major effort, Smith shows excellent control, his astonishing falsettos have won him Prince comparisons, but he's no slavish imitator, with a rich tone and sense of hurt. He handles keyboards for the group as well, and his piano and organ parts quite fine and his performance sense generally spot on.

Their follow-up album, Interiors, in 1997 was much more polished, again to poor sales but a more enthusiastic cult audience started developing. It was accompanied by a tour of the United States in that year, as well as a small tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1998. Fans of the group championed the disc, but they would have to wait until 2002 before the group came together for another album. With Mike Berg taking Jeremy Toback's spot for most of the disc, Welcome to Discovery Park was released that summer. It mixes the rawness of Shame and the polished, produced sound of Interiors. In July 2005 they released an album of unreleased and incomplete Brad and Satchel tracks called Brad vs. Satchel. Currently the band is working on a fourth album.



01 - Buttercup (4:14)
02 - My Fingers (3:19)
03 - Nadine (3:31)
04 - Screen (5:11)
05 - 20th Century (4:02)
06 - Good News (4:23)
07 - Raise Love (4:14)
08 - Bad For The Soul (1:11)
09 - Down (4:17)
10 - Rockstar (2:47)
11 - We (5:26)

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Broadcast - Haha Sound ( 03 ^ 99mb)

Space-age pop collagists Broadcast formed in Birmingham, England, in 1995; comprised of vocalist Trish Keenan, guitarist Tim Felton, bassist James Cargill, keyboardist Roj Stevens, and drummer Steve Perkins The band's style is a mixture of electronic sounds and Keenan's 1960s-influenced vocals. It is heavily influenced by the 1960's American psychedelic group The United States of America, using many of the same electronic effects. It is also reminiscent of Stereolab. However, despite the similar musical pedigree, Broadcast's music often has a darker, edgier sound - with amorphous samples and analogue dissonance giving it a retro-futuristic sci-fi edge.

The band's first releases were singles released on Wurlitzer Jukebox Records ( "Accidentals" ) and Duophonic Records ("The Book Lovers") in the mid-1990s. "The Book Lovers" was also featured on the soundtrack of the film "Austin Powers." They attracted the attention of Warp Records, who compiled the singles in 1997 on Work and Non Work. All subsequent releases have been on Warp Records, or in the USA on Tommy Boy Records. Their song "Before We Begin" was used in the Season Four finale of the L Word. On their early singles and brilliant debut album, The Noise Made by People, Broadcast's commitment to crafting meticulously, ethereally beautiful atmospheres gave their music a detached quality that made them somewhat difficult to embrace fully.

Ever the studio perfectionists, fans had to wait until 2003 to hear any new material from the band, when the Pendulum EP arrived that spring and Haha Sound appeared that summer. While their music still sounds like it could've been crafted by ghosts in the machine, now Broadcast give it flesh and blood through more warmth and texture. Haha Sound's more human touch comes through in its looser, more intimate, and rougher sound. A big part of Haha Sound's expansive feel is Trish Keenan's increasingly expressive vocals; while she can still occasionally seem to be hovering slightly outside the songs, her delivery is much more vulnerable and emotive. The delicately spooky nursery rhyme "Colour Me In" begins the album with the wistful, childlike viewpoint that creeps into Haha Sound from time to time. "Pendulum" finds the band digging deeper into their psychedelic influences, with acid rock drumming and flashback-like washes of sound making it one of the most tense, driving tracks they've recorded. "Ominous Cloud," and "Winter Now" suggest that Broadcast could probably make dozens of immaculate pop songs like these if they wanted to.

In fall 2005, Broadcast -- pared down to the duo of Keenan and Cargill -- issued the America's Boy single and Tender Buttons full-length. 2006's Future Crayon collected the group's numerous rare tracks and B-sides. They are currently working on their fourth studio album.



01 - Colour Me In (2:51)
02 - Pendulum (4:21)
03 - Before We Begin (3:22)
04 - Valerie (4:04)
05 - Man Is Not A Bird (4:52)
06 - Minim (3:00)
07 - Lunch Hour Pops (3:36)
08 - Black Umbrellas (1:08)
09 - Ominous Cloud (3:46)
10 - Distorsion (2:02)
11 - Oh How I Miss You (1:17)
12 - The Little Bell (2:48)
13 - Winter Now (3:48)
14 - Hawk (3:42)

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