• Track Listing

Six CD set. At the inaugural 'In The City' event in Manchester in November 1993 - a music industry showcase organized by Factory Records boss Tony Wilson - a crop of spiky young bands shared a radical, back-to-basics approach. Two in particular stood out - S*M*A*S*H and These Animal Men. Angry, articulate and caustically tuneful, both bands would - over the course of 18 glorious months - light up the British music scene as spectacularly as a distress flare. Backed by electrifying live performances both bands would go to be heralded by the NME in January 1994 as part of the 'New Wave Of New Wave'. Both signing record deals with Virgin off-shoot Hi-Rise Recordings, the bands would go onto to releases a string of EPs such as You're Not My Babylon, Spring 1994, Too Sussed? & I Want To Kill Somebody. Before debut albums Self-Abused and (Come On, Join) The High Society came out to respectable chart positions of 59 and 62. However, with both Blur and Oasis enjoying unprecedented chart success, both were seen as disappointing. Internal divisions, too, were pushing both bands to breaking point. SMASH imploded and TAM would go onto release the criminally overlooked second album Accident & Emergency. This unique 6CD collection brings together both bands output from this short lived scene. All of the EPs and albums are here and ordered chronologically to give the listener the best possible perspective of the how the scene unfolded. As the music and photographs compiled here illustrate, the look and sound of both bands remains timeless. Turn up the volume. S*M*A*S*H and These Animal Men will see you in the speakers.