Rocks In The Attic #64: Bis - ‘New Transistor Heroes’ (1997)

I can understand why people don’t like Bis. I wouldn’t even argue about it. Manda Rin’s vocals are grating at best, but their saving grace is that they can write a decent pop song. However, I’m not a fan of this album.

I first caught them supporting Garbage in Manchester in 1995. I wasn’t too impressed - musically they sound okay, and they get a decent sound out of two guitars and a keyboard, but Manda’s vocals are just on the wrong side of the squealometer.

I remember being aware of Bis when I saw them support Garbage - most musos knew about them as a lot had been made of them being the first unsigned band to play Top Of The Pops (which is untrue). I definitely remember them playing Kandy Pop, which was the only song I knew them for, but they didn’t make me rush out and buy their records.

A couple of years later when I was at University, my good friends Robbie and Natalie introduced me to their second album, Social Dancing, which I still regard as an overlooked gem. I ended up meeting the band when they were touring that album, but I guess that story is best saved for another time.

Hit: Sweet Shop Avengerz

Hidden Gem: Tell It To The Kids

Rocks In The Attic #2: Various Artists - ‘Jackie Brown O.S.T.’ (1997)

This was the first Tarantino film I saw at the cinema, while on holiday with friends in Omagh, Northern Ireland. I had been far too young to see Reservoir Dogs (and probably unaware of it at the time), and I had narrowly missed seeing Pulp Fiction upon release (although I would later see it at the cinema on a special screening).

It took me a while to really appreciate Jackie Brown as a film. Like most people, I was besotted with Pulp Fiction, and I saw the follow-up as more of a letdown than anything else. Only upon repeated viewings did I realise that it’s a much different beast, much more of a slowburner. I had nearly worn out my VHS copy of Pulp Fiction by the time this was released on video, so this took over as the go-to film I would put on whenever Tarantino was in mind.

In terms of the music, even though I love the soundtracks for his first two films I think this one gels the best of the three. Even though there are a few departures (a Johnny Cash live performance and a rap track from Foxy Brown), the album generally sticks to sickly sweet 70s soul.

Oddly enough, two of the songs on the soundtrack are relatively famous from earlier movies. The film and soundtrack’s opening track Across 110^th Street is the title track from the 1972 blaxpoitation flick of the same name; whilst Randy Crawford’s Street Life had already been well used in Burt Reynold’s otherwise forgettable 1981 film Sharky’s Machine. Maybe Quentin thought he could use these songs better. He did.  

Hit: Across 110^th Street

Hidden Gem: Street Life