The Wildhearts

I have a question about your opinions of some Wildhearts songs. Tracks 1-6 from Landmines & Pantomimes were supposedly stolen from a tour bus and then never "officially" recorded. These tracks are:

Abhoria
Velvet Presley
Stupid Things
Tom Take the Money
State Of Nondependence
Ride the Wave

While they all have a touch of that Wildhearts charm we all know and love, I can't help but feel that they are subpar. They are certainly unappreciated songs, whether for good reason or not. No one ever talks about them as their favourites, the band doesn't play them live, nor are they asked to, etc.

My question is, are these songs hurt badly by their unfinished status and mediocre sound quality? If given the full studio treatment and recorded again, could these stand up to other Wildhearts album tracks? Or are they just plain not as good as other Wildhearts songs and that's why we don't give them as much attention? Some days I think it's one, and other days I think it's the other.

I positively love Abhoria, Tom Take The Money and State of Nondependance. I think they're all Wildhearts classics in every possible sense. I'm not so hot on the other three though, but they're still far from terrible.

Also, my understanding is that those six tracks were intended as B-sides for the ultimately shelved In Lilly's Garden single.

Yeah, I think you're right.. Dunno when they surfaced, but they were initially on the bootleg 'Shitty Fuckin Stupid Tracks'. Maybe around 1996 ish? Great tracks, though.

seventieslord wrote:If given the full studio treatment and recorded again, could these stand up to other Wildhearts album tracks ?.

Yes I think they would, there good song but just missing the special something. At the end of the day I have probably listened to Endless Nameless that bit more. Landmines & Pantomimes is not even on my ipod.
Think I will give it a listen today...

Abhoria is great - the others are good.

seventieslord wrote:the band doesn't play them live, nor are they asked to, etc.

I tried to get Ginger to play Abhoria at the 40th birthday show. And he *almost* went for it.

Cheers
Kris

seventieslord wrote:the band doesn't play them live,.

though Ginger did play Tom Take The Money live acoustically a few times

seventieslord wrote:While they all have a touch of that Wildhearts charm we all know and love, I can't help but feel that they are subpar. They are certainly unappreciated songs, whether for good reason or not. No one ever talks about them as their favourites, the band doesn't play them live, nor are they asked to, etc.

My question is, are these songs hurt badly by their unfinished status and mediocre sound quality? If given the full studio treatment and recorded again, could these stand up to other Wildhearts album tracks? Or are they just plain not as good as other Wildhearts songs and that's why we don't give them as much attention? Some days I think it's one, and other days I think it's the other.

According to Darren's WH History :-

1 June - 22 June 1996 The Wildhearts support AC/DC on their UK and European tour. During breaks in the European leg of the tour, they manage to record close to a complete album's worth of new material. The new songs include Abhoria, Ride The Wave, Tom Take The Money, Velvet Presley, State Of Nondependence and Stupid Things. A release is pencilled in for September.

So who really knows...?

I think the problem, and I can understand Ginger's thinking here, is that they were all unfinished songs (Someone mentioned, possibly on the List, that either Stupid Things or Ride The Wave were meant to have a long riffy bit in the middle) and if they were to be played live, the crowd would obviously want to hear the songs from the record. But, as they are unfinished, they're not the songs as Ginger wanted them to eventually sound. It'd be just the same as us all shouting for the early version of I Wanna Go... instead of the proper one.

They stand up pretty well as long as you take them for what they are. You can't really compare them to 'polished' official recordings, but they're nice things to have and a glimpse into what might have been...

Abhoria and Velvet Presley are superb in my opinion. The others are great, but sound unfinished. Would have been great to hear finished versions of all the tracks

Didnt Ginger say something like "There's a reason why they werent released"?

At the time, I remember he was urging the fans not to buy it.

I LOVE Abhoria, Nondependance, Velvet and espcially Stupid Things, they are some of my all time fave tracks. Abhoria and Stupid just grab my balls and squeeze in a manly, friendly, yet stil intimating way

I am gutted as I never owned the CD, my GF did but i dumped her cos she was fat and boring. Now I don't have them.

Boofuckinghoo

Assmask wrote:I LOVE Abhoria, Nondependance, Velvet and espcially Stupid Things, they are some of my all time fave tracks. Abhoria and Stupid just grab my balls and squeeze in a manly, friendly, yet stil intimating way

I am gutted as I never owned the CD, my GF did but i dumped her cos she was fat and boring. Now I don't have them.

Boofuckinghoo

"Fat And Boring"?
I'm not even going to ask!