The First Comprehensive Survey Of U.K. Indie Music, Rhino's 4-CD The Brit Box

Though the British Invasion of the 1960s has been well documented, the wave of U.K. bands that followed in the wake of '80s post-punk hasn't -- until now. Rhino's 4-CD set THE BRIT BOX: U.K. INDIE, SHOEGAZE, AND BRIT-POP GEMS OF THE LAST MILLENNIUM is the first collection anywhere to chart the rise of cool Britannia.

Due October 2, THE BRIT BOX gathers key recordings from 78 U.K. performers spanning the last 15 years of the 20th century. While many of these artists enjoyed superstar status in England, with just a handful of exceptions few dented the American charts -- for the most part, only the pasty-looking outsiders and college kids willing to dig through their local import bins got to hear this stuff on release.

Independent record companies have always been the lifeblood of alternative rock, but what makes a disc "indie" goes far beyond the label it's on. Unlike punk groups, indie bands don't reject mainstream music so much as co-opt it for their own ends. On the first CD of THE BRIT BOX, seminal artists like The Smiths, Jesus & Mary Chain, and The Stone Roses take good old fashioned guitar-pop and turn it into something fresh, while groups like Happy Mondays and Primal Scream borrow gleefully from hip-hop to give birth to acid house.

By 1990, the British press was up in arms over acts that spent more time looking at their feet than their audiences and, for better or worse, disparate bands like Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Lush, and The Telescopes were lumped together as "shoegazers." Disc Two of THE BRIT BOX looks beyond the performance style to show that their records did have sonic similarities, emphasizing introspective soundscapes, hazy guitars, and dense production -- a style currently enjoying a (typically understated) revival.

Disc Three of THE BRIT BOX opens with Suede's "Metal Mickey," a shot across the cultural bow heralding the arrival of Brit-pop. Another term bandied about frequently (and often derisively) by the U.K. rock press of the mid-'90s, "Brit-pop" reflected a newfound confidence in the English music scene, and bands like Oasis, Blur, Pulp, and Elastica reveled in the highlife as hit singles seemed to pour forth effortlessly (a tuneful bacchanal immortalized in the 2003 documentary Live Forever). The final CD of THE BRIT BOX shows that even latecomers to the party like Ash, Super Furry Animals, Mansun, The Verve, and Placebo had some smashing songs in them.

There are enough art school refugees peopling these bands that Rhino's design team felt compelled to go bonkers. THE BRIT BOX is housed in a 6"x12" box depicting a traditional English phone booth illuminated with a battery-powered flickering light bulb! The photo-filled 80-page accompanying book includes a foreword from Creation Records founder Alan McGee and an essay from Select magazine.

A labor of love years in the making, THE BRIT BOX follows such previous collections as Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era and Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The '80s Underground in the proud Rhino tradition of dicing up pop music's past four CDs at a time. But more than mere history lessons, these anthems for Anglophiles remain incredibly catchy today (and offer proof that the recent American success of groups like Coldplay, Keane, and Snow Patrol didn't occur in a vacuum).







Disc 1
1. The Smiths -- "How Soon Is Now?"
2. Cocteau Twins -- "Lorelei"
3. Felt -- "Primitive Painters"
4. Shop Assistants -- "Somewhere In China"
5. The Mighty Lemon Drops -- "My Biggest Thrill"
6. The Cure -- "Just Like Heaven"
7. Echo & The Bunnymen -- "Lips Like Sugar"
8. The Jesus And Mary Chain -- "April Skies"
9. Spacemen 3 -- "Walkin' With Jesus (Sound Of Confusion)"
10. The Primitives -- "Crash"
11. The Wonder Stuff -- "Unbearable"
12. The Stone Roses -- "She Bangs The Drums"
13. The Charlatans UK -- "The Only One I Know"
14. Happy Mondays -- "Step On"
15. Primal Scream -- "Loaded" (single version)
16. Inspiral Carpets -- "This Is How It Feels"
17. The Trash Can Sinatras -- "Obscurity Knocks"
18. The La's -- "There She Goes"
19. The Sundays -- "Here's Where The Story Ends"

Disc 2
1. Ride -- "Vapour Trail"
2. Pale Saints -- "Sight Of You"
3. My Bloody Valentine -- "Only Shallow"
4. Lush -- "For Love"
5. The Telescopes -- "Flying"
6. Chapterhouse -- "Pearl"
7. Catherine Wheel -- "I Want To Touch You"
8. Bleach -- "Trip & Slide"
9. Curve -- "Coast Is Clear"
10. Five Thirty -- "You"
11. Moose -- "This River Will Never Run Dry"
12. The Family Cat -- "(Thought I'd Died) And Gone To Heaven"
13. The Dylans -- "(Don't Cut Me Down) Mary Quant In Blue"
14. Thousand Yard Stare -- "0-0 A.E.T. (No Score After Extra Time)"
15. Ned's Atomic Dustbin -- "Grey Cell Green"
16. Birdland -- "Shoot You Down"
17. Manic Street Preachers -- "Stay Beautiful"
18. Teenage Fanclub -- "Star Sign"

Disc 3
1. Suede -- "Metal Mickey"
2. Swervedriver -- "Duel" (radio edit)
3. Eugenius -- "Breakfast"
4. Superstar -- "Barfly"
5. New Order -- "Regret"
6. James -- "Laid"
7. Nick Heyward -- "Kite"
8. The Boo Radleys -- "Lazarus"
9. Saint Etienne -- "You're In A Bad Way"
10. Stereolab -- "Wow & Flutter"
11. Blur -- "Tracy Jacks"
12. Oasis -- "Live Forever"
13. Pulp -- "Common People"
14. These Animal Men -- "Speeed King"
15. Mega City Four -- "Wallflower"
16. Echobelly -- "Insomniac"
17. Gene -- "Sleep Well Tonight"
18. Menswear -- "Sleeping In"
19. Supergrass -- "Alright"
20. Cast -- "Alright"
21. Elastica -- "Stutter"

Disc 4
1. Dodgy -- "In A Room"
2. Ash -- "Girl From Mars"
3. Sleeper -- "Sale Of The Century"
4. Marion -- "Sleep"
5. Kula Shaker -- "Tattva"
6. Ocean Colour Scene -- "The Riverboat Song"
7. Babybird -- "You're Gorgeous"
8. The Bluetones -- "Slight Return"
9. Super Furry Animals -- "Something 4 The Weekend"
10. The Divine Comedy -- "Something For The Weekend"
11. Cornershop -- "Brimful Of Asha"
12. Silver Sun -- "Service"
13. Spiritualized -- "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space"
14. Mansun -- "Wide Open Space"
15. Hurricane #1 -- "Step Into My World"
16. The Verve -- "Lucky Man"
17. Rialto -- "Untouchable"
18. Catatonia -- "Mulder And Scully"
19. Placebo -- "You Don't Care About Us"
20. Gay Dad -- "Oh Jim"

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TXNBDG/?tag=imwan-20

I'm in love.

This time, I can't think a single artist they missed. And for once, there's a goodly number of songs on here that I don't have already!

Battery-powered flickering light bulb! Battery-powered flickering light bulb!

Oh, fookin' HELL YEAH is all I'm sayin'. Fantastic. I love every single subgenre represented here, TONS of my favorites are in the set, and a chance to revisit the era and "discover" artists and songs you missed the first time around is AWESOME. What a cool set.

The price isn't bad, either. I have a few friends who would drool if they got this as an Xmas gift.

Wow, that tracklist is killer.

I have albums from many of the artists, but there are several I'm missing. This collection is going on my list. Rhino is fantastic about these compilations, it's impressive they're able to get it done so often, and so well.

Incredible set, I am getting this on day one!!!

I like the way they have the songs "Alright" by Supergrass and Cast back to back (different songs).

wow! That was the last great era of music. All that stuff is fun fun fun to listen to.

Great job Rhino!!!

I hope they release a video edition.

And on Disc 4:

9. Super Furry Animals -- "Something 4 The Weekend"
10. The Divine Comedy -- "Something For The Weekend"

I can only echo the sentiments already expressed-this is a monster.
I will lose myself in this for weeks.

This is very nice. Actually excellent...but, no House of Love?

Wow, this really is a great selection. Of the artists I know best they've more often than not chosen the exact same track I would have picked. That's a rare thing indeed!

I agree. Oasis's "Live Forever" is my fav track by them.

This release has been pushed back to November 20th ...

Oh, this hurts. I have been waiting for this, was planning in taking the day off especially for this release.

Well, need to reschedule the vacation day.

Rick A.

BUMP ~ after a couple of postponements this beautiful box set is on schedule to be released on Tuesday.

I saw a copy today. It does look great!

In my opinion, I agree with all above that this looks like a great comp. However, the November 2007 issue of Mojo pretty much pans it, giving it only two stars in a review entitled "Bummed Out". The reviewer more or less calls it a glorified, unauthentic look at "cool Brittania" filtered through the distorted eyes of U.S. Anglophiles, and moans about how certain seminal bands or tracks were left off.
Ironic, really, that a British music journal slags it for living up to what I understood to be it's original purpose: an anthology intended for the American market.

U.S. Anglophile with distorted eyes- that suits me to a t.

Sounds like maybe MOJO is just being pissy and snooty about the whole thing.I'll have to read the review and see what they think should have been included.("Knees Up Mother Brown", maybe?) In the meantime, bring this baby on.

Maybe we will get a second volume like they did with the Nugget series if this one sells well. I bought my last night and played disc one with the rest today. I am really enjoying it.

Looks like the design as changed, didn't the original packaging one display only one lite? This one has many across the top.

Rick A.

Bestbuy will have it for $49.99 Tue/Wed only.

I wonder if it will be cheaper on Friday.

I was thrilled to find out that Simon was holding a copy of the Brit Box for me at 'Rama today. Cool package, terrific line-up, neat book. I'd love to have a Vol. 2, but I doubt we'll be seeing too many more of these elaborate box sets.