YOU MUST REMEMBER THESE......

From around 1987 - 1996, a series of albums/tapes/CDs were issued on Beechwood Music, the aim of which was outlined in the sleeve notes:-

The Indie Top 20 series of indie chart hit singles.  The number one indispensable guide to the British independent music scene. Now up to the 23rd volume, nowhere on the planet can you find all these excellent singles on one CD.

The particular description for Volume 23, which came out in October 1996 said this:-

The Indie Top 20 is back once again with a priceless selection of the finest moments from the Indie Chart. Suede, Blur, The Boo Radleys & Ash have all been brought together on one album which really does highlight the breadth & strength of the scene in general.


We have also been lucky enough to include some bands who have never before been on the series such as Morcheeba, Collapsed Lung & Northern Uproar who are all creating a noise in the music industry at the moment & making people sit up & listen.

The full list of the songs and artists was as follows:-

Trash - Suede
What's In The Box (See Watcha Got) - The Boo Radleys
From A Window - Northern Uproar
Sale Of The Century - Sleeper
Charmless Man - Blur
Goldfinger - Ash
Your Smile - Octopus
Tape Loop - Morcheeba
Eat My Goal - Collapsed Lung
Born Slippy - Underworld
Goodnight - Baby Bird
Mouse In A Hole - Heavy Stereo
The Aim Indeed - Pusherman
Talk To Me - 60ft Dolls
Crabs - 18 Wheeler
Phasers On Stun - Urusei Yatsura
Are You Ready? - The Gyres
One In A Million - Sussed
I'm Doing Fine - TC Hug
Andrex Puppy Love - Orange Deluxe

Looking back now, it's easy to mock.  Outside of the songs that made the actual charts, it is quite hard to actually recall most of these.  It really was the fag-end of Britpop and most of the acts on the compilation weren't really on indie labels but the alternative smaller labels set-up, financed and controlled by the majors.  And so when Britpop went quickly out of fashion at the tail end of 96 and early 97, most of these acts were unceremoniously dropped and quickly forgotten about other than die-hard fans.

I've only got three of the Indie Top 20 in the CD collection - but this website provides details on all the releases in the series, including compilations and video releases.  It's fair enough to comment that all of the compilations had high and low points and there's at least one or two forgotten bands on each and every one of them. But somehow Volume 23 seems particularly poor and lacking in depth.

The sleeve notes end with this prophesy:-

The Indie Top 20 will be back in a few months to deliver another unique collection of what's going on at the cutting edge of the Indie scene. Until then relax & enjoy.

But there never was a Volume 24.  For such small mercies we should be grateful.  Anyhow, here's five songs I can't ever recall:-

mp3 : Octopus - Your Smile
mp3 : Heavy Stereo - Mouse In A Hole
mp3 : 18 Wheeler - Crabs
mp3 : TC Hug - I'm Doing Fine
mp3 : Orange Deluxe - Andrex Puppy Love

Of this lot, I vaguely remember 18 Wheeler as they were often quoted as being the band on top of the bill at King Tut's in Glasgow the night that Alan McGhee signed support act Oasis to Creation Records.  And I'm sure that one of Heavy Stereo would later join Oasis......(Just checked and turns out it was the case....Gem Archer is the bloke I had in mind...). 

Doing a bit more delving and it turns out that Octopus were a band from just outside Glasgow who released four singles and an album on Food Records (the one featured above reached #42),

Orange Deluxe might well have been unlucky.  The London-based quartet recorded an album which a few thousand copies indicating they had a fair sized fan base.  But before they could tour, one of their members broke his back playing football and by the time he was fit enough again to play guitar the world of music had moved on.

But I've drawn a blank on TC Hug.........

Happy Listening