Following up the recent ‘Best Of’ thread, these are albums that we can go out and buy. But what about the spin-off tracks? When band members go off-piste, get their side project on and strike out for solo glory. By the time three band members have signed to separate labels the prospect of a comprehensive Spin Off Best Of for say, New Order, is nil. Which is where we come in of course, and here’s my Spin Off Best Of for New Order. I’d rather listen to this than the last two NO albums for sure.
Electronic – Get The Message
Electronic – Feel Every Beat
Electronic – Disappointed
Electronic – Forbidden City
Electronic – Vivid
Monaco – What Do You Want From Me?
Monaco – Sweet Lips
The Other Two – Tasty Fish
The Other Two – Selfish
Bad Lieutenant – Sink Or Swim
Freebass – You Don’t Know This About Me
Peter Hook & The Light – Pictures In My Mind
Your collected and imaginary Spin Off Best Ofs please for – brave souls – let’s say the members of The Beatles. Will Ringo get even a track? Will anyone be brave enough to put together a 12-track best of for The Stones side projects? The Who, Led Zep – also interested in their Spin Off Best Ofs, and finding out if anyone has listed to those Roger Daltrey solo lps.Who knows – maybe a record company or two will get in touch and make these a reality. One rule only: 10-12 tracks. No-one wants a double best of – it’s just not making the hard choices.
This is going to be fun, but it will take some thinking. Bands that first spring to mind include Talking Heads, the Velvets, The Who and Blur. But there are many possibilities.
I would love to see a Talking Heads Spin Off Best Of – please do it, have a soft spot for Jerry Harrison’s Casual Gods alongside Mr Byrne’s oeuvre and Tom Tom Club. Would you include No Talking, Just Head?
A Roxy Spin-Off Album tentatively called Have-A-Long (Career)
1. Tokyo Joe (BF)
2. Kings Lead Hat (BE)
3. The ‘In’ Crowd (BF)
4. This (BE)
5. Diamond Head (PM)
6. The Price of Love (BF)
7. Baby’s on Fire (BE)
8. Slave to Love (BF)
9. I’ll Come Running (BE)
10. Third Uncle (BE)
11. TNK (Tomorrow Never Knows) (801)
12. An Ending (Ascent) (BE)
I’ll restrict myself to 1971 for the spin off Beatles.
Side One
1. Give Me Some Truth (Lennon)
2. Another Day (McCartney)
3. What Is Life? (Harrison)
4. Oh My Love (Lennon)
5. Tomorrow (McCartney)
6. Art Of Dying (Harrison)
Side Two
1. It Don’t Come Easy (Starr)
2. Let It Down (Harrison)
3. Crippled Inside (Lennon)
4. Moma’s Little Girl (McCartney)
5. Isn’t It A Pity (Harrison)
Side Three
1. Maybe I’m Amazed (McCartney)
2. Jealous Guy (Lennon)
3. I Dig Love (Harrison)
4. Blindman (Starr)
5. Back Seat Of My Car (McCartney)
Side Four
1. Beware Of Darkness (Harrison)
2. How? (Lennon)
3. Too Many People (McCartney)
4. Wah-Wah (Harrison)
5. It’s So Hard (Lennon)
Of course, it’s a double!
But what’s the title? (Must be a pun!)
No “Run of the mill”?
Best song ever not included?
*shakes head in disbelief*
Nope.
What a great tracklist @tiggerlion. I am knock that together and going to add that to my playlists
Going to knock that together, I mean
Enjoy! Well, let me know if you do.
WRT the OP – you need some Revenge:
(State Of Shock)
How could I have forgotten Revenge? NO have a proper spin-off history, dense enough for you to completely forget that X did Y. Never heard the album I’m afraid.
‘Memo From Turner’, a sure-fire no. 1 if it had been credited to the Rolling Stones but a no. 33(?) credited to Mick Jagger, should be on every Stones comp., and is actually on the 3-cd London Years.
Madness spin-off ten track album called May Contain Traces Of Nuts.
1) The Greatest Show On Earth – Suggs (Suggs McPherson )
2) People – The Nutty Boys (Chris Foreman & Lee Thompson)
3) You Don’t Have To Hide Your Love Away – The Magic Brothers (Daniel Woodgate)
4) Watermelon Man – Butterfield 8 (Mark Bedford)
5) Do You Believe In Love? – Cathal Smyth (AKA Chas Smash)
6) Ali Baba – The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra (Lee Thompson, Mark Bedford)
7) Mutant Blues – The Fink Brothers (Suggs McPherson, Cathal Smyth)
8) Beat The Bride – The Madness (Suggs McPherson/ Lee Thompson, Chris Foreman, Cathal Smyth)
9) You Keep Me Hanging On – The Dangermen (entire band ska tribute alter ego)
10) Can I Say I Love You?- Fergal Sharkey (entire band sans Mike Barson)*
This is very Sgt Pepper era Beatles
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4SZiPKFqlg
oops
Ooo! Ooo! And Woody was in Voice of the Beehive. Who were ace.
They were ace but not Woody’s band so don’t count.
Otherwise I could include Robert Wyatt – Shipbuilding because Bedders played bass on it or Hey Little Rich Girl by The Specials because El Thommo was on sax duties.
The answer is of course Throbbing Gristle: although on 3rd Annual Report they sort of did this already, including one solo track each.
Psychic TV – Unclean
Chris & Cosey – Yes Know
Peter Christopherson – 5th track from Time Machines II
Coil – Princess Margaret’s Man In The D’Jamalfna
Chris & Cosey – Rise
Psychic TV – Oi You Skinhead! (live)
Chris & Cosey – Temple Bar
Threshold Houseboys Choir – So Free It Knows No End
Coil – Things We Never Had
X-TG – Faet Narok Eight
Chris Carter – Resonance
The more I think about it, the better this idea is, and the cracker of an album this would be!
Is anyone up to doing The Housemartins? Loads to choose from there – Beautiful South, Fatboy Slim, Beats International, Biscuit Boy, Freakpower, Pizzaman, the film “So I Married An Axe Murderer”..
Now there’s a conundrum. The Beautiful South sold far more records than the Housemartins ever did, recorded more albums etc, as did Fatboy Slim. I think the point at which you have your own Greatest Hits is when your Spin Off project stops being a spin off. Paul Weller’s career is a bit more than a solo project by an ex-member of The Jam – and whether we could include Foxton’s ‘Freak’ or the oeuvre of Time UK alongside the modfather’s in a post-Jam best of is debatable.
Could include Foxton’s “From The Jam” stuff to bring it all back full circle!
Good point, well made. It would be as if you chucked a dozen New Order songs onto your compilation and called it a Joy Division spinoff.
Really, I just wanted to make an “axe murderer” joke..
Zanti as big an Undertones fan I was/am that Sharkey track is truly fucking awful. I’m assuming that was your point 🙂
It was the rare b side to Listen To Your Father, the single he released with Madness. It got to number 23 in 1984.
Awful? I wouldn’t go that far. I thought it was quite unusual at the time.