NEW RELEASE: The Bluetones Expecting To Fly

“Expecting To Fly (is) the tale of quiet resolve winning out against the clatter of instant acclaim, of the redeeming power of single-mindedness against compromise; the joy in winning the battle bloodlessly, by force of personality alone.”
NME – 8/10, 1996
“This combination of classic pop hooks and emotional intelligence ensures that Expectin To Fly has dated far better than might be expected… well worth revisiting”
Q – 4/5, 2016

Order your copy at the 3 Loop Music shop.

20 years ago, in 1996, The Bluetones released their debut album, Expecting To Fly. It knocked Oasis ‘What’s The Story Morning Glory’ off the top of the charts in the week the Mancunians scooped an armful of BRIT Awards and heralded the start of The Bluetones hugely successful career.

The Number 1, platinum album featuring the hits Bluetonic, Cut Some Rug and Slight Return is now re-issued with a second disc of previously unreleased material including demos, live and session tracks. The demos are from the Proper Demo Thing cassette which got the band signed to A&M Records and taken from a copy recently found in drummer Eds’ archives.

There is a complete concert of the band playing one of their earliest gigs. Supporting Supergrass in March 1995 at the LA2 in London, the small sister venue of the legendary Astoria venue. It captures the vibrant energy and spirit of a band taking their first steps and the 7 track set features the songs that would go on to become some of their most famous hits.

Additionally, each band member has chosen their favourite b-side from the era and along with the stand-alone single Are You Blue Or Are You Blind?, the band’s first hit single, make this a fitting package to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the album.

The 2CD comes in a tri-fold sleeve with new artwork, never seen before photographs, sleevenotes from guitarist Adam Devlin, and contributions from the Eds, Scott and Mark.

Order your copy of the 2CD set now from the 3 Loop Music shop and get an exclusive 7″ artprint signed by the boys – it’s perfect for framing!

INTERVIEW: Earl Brutus vs The Quietus

Read what happened when The Quietus spent a night down the pub with Earl Brutus's Jim and Gordon

The Quietus recently spent a night down the pub with Earl Brutus’s very own Jim and Gordon to discuss the re-issues of their albums and tell the story of Earl Brutus…

Read the article here.

The re-issues of Your Majesty… We Are Here and Tonight You Are The Special One on 2CD and heavyweight LP are available now in all good shops and directly from the 3 Loop Music shop -click here.

NEW RELEASE: Earl Brutus – the re-issues

“Earl Brutus are a legendary band, even though they’ve never had a hit” Select Magazine, 1995.
“Gloriously unfettered… still filthy after all these years” Uncut – 8/10, 2016
“Repackaged with obsessive care… the sound, fury and humour of Earl Brutus is here for all to marvel” Record Collector – 5/5, 2016
“Worship here” Q – 4/5, 2016

Order your copy at the 3 Loop Music shop.

We are thrilled to announce the Earl Brutus re-issues of their two albums, Your Majesty… We Are Here, released on Deceptive in 1996 and Tonight You Are The Special One, originally released on Fruition / Island in 1998.

Both will be available on vinyl and as double CD packages including a disc of rarities and unreleased tracks. Lavishly packaged and featuring extensive sleeve notes, this will also be the first time Tonight You Are The Special One has been available on vinyl.

The packaging of both albums have been art-directed by acclaimed artist Scott King who also designed a poster for the limited edition ‘glitter-dipped’ box set which houses the 2CD editions of both albums. This limited edition box, which brings the Earl Brutus story to an end, is appropriately titled Closed.

Standing outside of their time then and now, Earl Brutus gave no simple answers. Born in the north and west of England in the early 60s, they were old enough to know better – but they did it anyway.

Stuart Boreman, Nick Sanderson, Jim Fry, Gordon King and Rob Marche had variously served time in groups including World Of Twist, Clock DVA, The Gun Club, Subway Sect, JoBoxers, If? and English Boy On The Love Ranch. But when they came together in north west London at the end of 1992, they would achieve a true expression of themselves, and fuse obsessions with Bowie, Kraftwerk and everyman stadium rock of the most extreme pomposity with an absurdist worldview steeped in lager, paradox and an undeniable sense of the mythic.

With synaptic cues including an imaginary greyhound, the unloved jeans brand, a seventies aftershave and “a council estate pub with a flat roof that could get a bit rough on Saturday night but did a nice carvery on Sunday lunchtimes,” the group were named Earl Brutus in a boozer off Kilburn High Road.

Live shows were where the Brutus myth began. At early shows the band wore sweat-soaked nylon safari suits bought from a Nigerian leisurewear outlet in Shepherd’s Bush, they tipped their gear over, let off pyrotechnics and soon got noticed. By 1993 they had put out their first single, Life’s Too Long, on Bob Stanley’s Creation subsidiary, Icerink and a couple of year’s later Stanley released a second single, Bonjour Monsieur, on his new label, Royal Mint.

Signing to Deceptive in 1995 after label boss Steve Lamacq had seen them at a beery, riotous show at The Dublin Castle in Camden which saw them blowing Brut aftershave through a wind machine, Earl Brutus would pick up talismanic member Shin-Ya Hayashida around this time.

“Nick had an idea about me to join the band to shout and scream swear words in Japanese and in English,” confirms Shins, an early twenty-something at the time. Visually and socially strong, the classic Brutus line up was set and it was this team that would record their debut album, Your Majesty…We Are Here, at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire with Happy Mondays engineer John Pennington, which was released in 1996.

A move to Fruition / Island Records in 1997 saw the band begin work on their second album which was again recorded at Chapel Studios. Released in 1997, first single The SAS And The Glam That Goes With It was one of the band’s most transcendent moments: pounding and livid, it was named after a VHS tape of Sanderson’s, where the 1980 storming of the Iranian Embassy sat next to a pro¬gramme about Mick Ronson.

The new year would see gushing press coverage and a further two singles, Come Taste My Mind and Universal Plan before the release of their second album, Tonight You Are The Special One in June 1998, a record that was conclusive proof of the remarkable durability of Earl Brutus’ singular vision.

Former manager Gareth Sweeney named the album Tonight You Are The Special One: to understand it, you must look in a mirror when staying home alone on Saturday night, wearing your best clothes and drinking a can of nice bitter, “trying to tell yourself you’re alright.”

Following its release guitarist Rob Marche would depart, they would be joined by former Intastella guitarist Martin Wright and release one final single, Larky in 1999.

Continuing to play sporadically – highlights being the appearance of their celebrated floral wreaths reading ‘Fuck Off’ at gigs at the Scala and the Embassy club in 1999 and a deranged and legendary ten-minute show at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Knightsbridge in 2001 which saw a return to the pandemonium of their early shows – they would play their last show in 2004, a fundraiser for Ken Livingstone at Hammersmith Working Men’s Club.

Earl Brutus never really ended as such, a track listing for proposed third album ‘Victorian Wanking Machine’ was devised but sadly the death of lead singer Nick Sanderson to cancer in June 2008 meant it was never to be.

“I’m so proud to have been part of that group,” recalls Jim Fry. “I don’t think it ever would have died. We were taking time off when Nick got ill… I think with Nick, we would have been in a group together by now. I think we would have been more riotous. I think it would have been called Earl Brutus.”

By the cold lights of market reach, not much happened for Earl Brutus. But in other ways, it all happened. Their explosive performances and compact, volcanic discography made anything seem possible, and to those who saw them, they’ll always be the greatest unsung band of all. To those who didn’t, their recorded work reveals a singular and uncompromising vision that cannot die. It continues to transmit the most important message to live by: You Are Your Own Reaction.

Order your copy at the 3 Loop Music shop.

THE PACKAGING
The presentation of these re-issues have been directed by acclaimed artist Scott King. Working alongside production guru, Daniel Mason (Something Else) we have a very special set of releases.

THE BOX
The rigid lift of lid box is an offset set printed in 5 colours, silk screen printed with Silver glitter and gloss laminated wrapped over a Black lined board. 2 colour permanent adhesive label applied to lid. Base is printed in 1 colour, silk screen printed with silver glitter and gloss laminated.
It exclusively includes an offset printed poster booklet in 1 colour with detail offset printed in 3 fluorescent colours on a 57gsm Bible paper stock and features an essay by Ian Harrison that complements his sleevenotes for each album.

THE CDs
The CD packaging is offset printed in 4 colours with album artwork and text silk screen printed with a gloss varnish on a 300gsm coated board. Construction follows in standard CD digipack format.
The CD discs are printed in 2 colours plus a Silver glitter ink for a unique audio CD.
The concertina booklet is offset printed in 4 colours on a 120gsm off white uncoated paper stock.


THE VINYLS
The LP outer sleeve is offset printed in 4 colours with album artwork silk screen printed with a gloss varnish on a 320gsm coated board and the inner sleeve
is offset printed in 4 colours on a 240gsm off white uncoated board. Both are die cut and glued.
The LP vinyl record is pressed on 180gsm heavyweight vinyl with all centre labels printed in 1 colour.
The Your Majesty… We Are Here MP3 Download Code Card is offset printed on a 320gsm uncoated board. Download code digitally printed to the reverse.
The Tonight You Are The Special One MP3 Download Code Card is die stamped in 1 colour on a 350gsm high rag content uncoated board. Download code digitally printed to the reverse.

Order your copy at the 3 Loop Music shop.

NEW RELEASE: The Bluetones

“Return To..” is as fresh as your first outdoor breath on a crisp spring day, as adrenalising as a five mile freefall into neat vodka and as heartbreaking as finding an ex’s hair on a long forgotten shirt.”” Melody Maker, 1998

THE BLUETONES – RETURN TO THE LAST CHANCE SALOON


The Bluetones return!
The Bluetones - Return To The Last Chance Saloon - 2CD and LP re-issue on 3 Loop Music

The Bluetones - Return To The Last Chance Saloon - 2CD and LP re-issue

The Bluetones are one of the most important and successful bands from the Britpop era. Clocking up an impressive 17 years together with the same line-up (and managing to get through those 17 years without brothers Mark and Scott Morriss having any Gallagher-esque fall-outs), they finally called it a day in 2011.
They’ve reformed for a UK tour and we are thrilled to announce that we are kicking off a re-issue camapign of their catalogue with the glorious Return To The Last Chance Saloon.

The album was the follow up to their debut Expecting To Fly in which the band explored a more rockier blues-tinged sound. In 1998, Melody Maker described the album as a “17 year old, good looking and popular” teenager. Now 17 years since its release, it is apparent that that teenager has retained its exciting, fresh and joyous (superior) qualities.

Return To The Last Chance Saloon is a hit packed, gold selling, Top 10 album that includes the hit singles Solomon Bites The Worm, If…, and Sleazy Bed Track plus mail order only single 4 Day Weekend.

The re-issue will be available on 2CD set and heavyweight vinyl on 18th September and you can get a signed copy when you pre-order your copy at the 3 Loop Music store.

The bonus material on the expanded 2CD set includes standalone Top 10 single Marblehead Johnson, each band member’s hand-picked, favourite b-side, previously unreleased BBC session tracks from the era and a stunning gig recorded at BBC’s Sound City in Newcastle in 1998. It’s a set packed with all their hits and is the sound of a band at the top of their game playing to a jubilant and adoring audience.

CLASSIC VIDEOS


Here’s the videos for some of the singles from Return To The Last Chance Saloon.

Hold Me Down

Solomon Bites The Worm

4 Day Weekend

TOUR DATES


The Bluetones 20th Anniversary Tour Poster

The Bluetones back on tour


The Bluetones are back on the road to celebrate 20 years since their first single was released. See them in September at:
16th – Leeds O2 Academy
17th – Glasgow ABC
18th – Newcastle O2 Academy
19th – Manchester Ritz
23rd – Portsmouth Pyramids
24th – London Forum
26th – Birmingham O2 Academy
27th – Bristol O2 Academy
Click here for tickets

NEW RELEASE: World Of Twist

World Of Twist The Scene

“World Of Twist were the Roxy Music of their time. I can’t think, or give a better compliment than that” Jeremy Deller

3 Loop Music hare proud to announce the re-release of World Of Twist’s sole album, Quality Street.

The 2-CD package includes the original album, an extra CD of B-sides and radio sessions for John Peel and Mark Goodier and a 24-page booklet featuring extensive sleeve notes by band member Gordon King and rare photos and memorabilia from the World of Twist archive.
The limited edition LP is on heavyweight vinyl and includes an MP3 download of the album.

Originally released in October 1991 on Circa, it included the singles The Storm, Sons Of The Stage and a cover of The Rolling Stones’ She’s A Rainbow.

The band was formed in Sheffield in 1983 by Gordon King and Jamie Fry (who would later make up the core of Earl Brutus with fellow ex-World of Twist-er Nick Sanderson) where their frivolous brand of post modernism, an amalgam of Barry Gray, Roxy Music and Wigan’s Chosen Few, felt woefully out of place next to the likes of ABC and The Human League.

Following a third place behind a Madness tribute act and an early incarnation of Mumford & Sons at a battle-of-the-bands contest at the Sheffield Top Rank, Jamie Fry called it a day and the band returned to their native Manchester where band members Gordon, Tony and Andy decided to continue.

Soon joined by drummer Nick Sanderson, World Of Twist soon became something of a ‘live sensation’ in Manchester, in part a consequence of their Heath Robinson stage sets which involved a lot of things which went round and round, including a hypnotists wheel, revolving mirrored barbers poles and spinning cut-out heads of band members.

Selling out the 1500 capacity Manchester Ritz on December 23rd 1990 (a gig fondly remembered by the Gallagher brothers of Oasis) they would begin recording their debut album in the summer of 1991. Having mixed the record at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Wiltshire, where Nick would ask a bemused Gabriel to borrow his old Genesis masks for a photo shoot, the band would later spend a day in Tunbridge Wells trying to recreate the illustration on the front of the Quality Street tin for the album sleeve.

Their time following the album release was short lived and it wasn’t long before the band drifted apart, as Tony Ogden remarked; “We spent £250,000 making an album with the smallest bollocks in pop history. The band just fell apart. We were smoking marijuana for breakfast and that led to communication problems. I didn’t want to sing, the guitarist didn’t want to play. When the company didn’t get a hit they threw us in the bin. I was devastated – I spent four years on smack watching Third Reich movies because the good guys always win. I’m really sorry for letting our fans down. But I’d ask anyone to play that World of Twist album 20 times with every dial full on. If it doesn’t rock, come and smash it over my head.”

Praise for the Quality Street re-issue
World Of Twist’s timeless music is ripe for rediscovery… this remastered album at last gives Quality Street the cojones Ogden wantedThe Guardian
Quality Street quickens the pulse with agitating songs” Q
Madchester’s answer to Roxy Music” The Telegraph
In Quality Street’s junkshop glamour and playful retro-futurism you can hear a blueprint for Britpop and beyond” Uncut
an essential artefact of when big ideas and vision collided beyond the remit of its day. We’ve yet to see, and sadly are very unlikely to now, witness anything as wonderful as them againThe Quietus

Order your copy of Quality Street on 2CD Expanded Edition and LP at our shop

EXPLORE THE WORLD OF TWIST!

Watch World Of Twist on The Word
Watch World of Twist on SNUB TV

Watch World Of Twist on The New Sessions
Watch Jelly Baby
Watch Jelly Baby
Read an in-detph interview with Gordon and Jim


QUALITY STREET – THE RE-ISSUE

Order Quality Street Expanded Edition

Order Quality Street Expanded Edition

QUALITY STREET EXPANDED EDITION CD1

ORIGINAL ALBUM
1. Lose My Way
2. Sons Of The Stage
3. This Too Shall Pass Away
4. Jelly Baby
5. Speed Wine
6. The Lights
7. On The Scene
8. Sweets
9. The Spring
10. The Storm
11. She’s A Rainbow
12. Life And Death (extended mix)

QUALITY STREET EXPANDED EDITION CD2

1. Blackpool Tower Suite
2. This Too Shall Pass (chat)
3. She’s A Rainbow (12” version)
4. Sons Of The Stage (12” version)
5. Sweets (Barrett 200 mix)
6. Lose My Way (John Peel Session 25/6/91) *
7. St Bruno (John Peel Session 25/6/91) *
8. Kick Out The Jams (John Peel Session 25/6/91) *
9. Blackpool Tower (John Peel Session 25/6/91) *
10. I’m A Teardrop (Mark Goodier Session 22/9/90)*
11. Fire (Mark Goodier Session 22/9/90)*
12. Jelly Baby (Mark Goodier Session 22/9/90)*
13. Sons Of the Stage (Mark Goodier Session 22/9/90)*
14. She’s A Rainbow (Live at St Andrew’s University 21/10/91) *
15. Kick Out The Jams (Live at St Andrew’s University 21/10/91) *

* previously unreleased

Order Quality Street Heavyweight Vinyl LP

Order Quality Street Heavyweight Vinyl LP

QUALITY STREET LP RE-ISSUE

SIDE A
1. Lose My Way
2. Sons Of The Stage
3. This Too Shall Pass Away
4. Jelly Baby
5. Speed Wine
6. The Lights

SIDE B
1. On The Scene
2. Sweets
3. The Spring
4. The Storm
5. She’s A Rainbow

LP includes an MP3 download of the album

IF YOU LIKE WORLD OF TWIST, YOU MAY ALSO LIKE….

Earl Brutus - Your Majesty... We Are Here
Earl Brutus - Tonight You Are The Special One
The Pre New - Music For People Who Hate Themselves
The Pre New - The Male Eunuch