No Man - Colours

This wonderful cover version was originally pressed as a 7" single and distributed by the band through friends and at gigs as a promotional tool. I'd like to thank a follower for ripping his copy. Most were in plain sleeves, some were in hand drawn covers. It was picked up by Mark Radcliffe who played it regularly on his BBC Radio One show.

Later that year, a 12" was made commercially available on Probe Plus Records. No Man were soon to break through with a danceable brit-pop sound infused with hip-hop rhythms and sign to One Little Indian Records.

No Man still record to this day (when Wilson can pull himself away from other projects), and have even played two live shows in recent years. The stunning Schoolyard Ghosts album released in 2008 is close to their finest work with a unique beauty which at times can make the hairs on your kneck stand up.

Colours : ripped from a 7" vinyl single released on Hidden Art Records (HA 4) in 1990.
A. Colours
B. Colours (Re-Modelled)

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No Man Is An Island - The Girl From Missouri

The band's first vinyl was a complicated and sometimes overblown four track 12" EP (the last track is uncredited). The band's music was purely a vehicle for the Bowness voice, the band have since distanced themselves from this era's work but even though they have a theatrical edge, the tracks on this release were a good pointer towards the atmospheric sound developed in more recent years.

Only 500 copies were sold and now fetch silly money.

The Girl From Missouri : ripped from a 12" vinyl EP released on Plastic Head Records (PLASS 012) in 1989
A1. The Girl From Missouri
A2. Forest Almost Burning
B1. Night Sky, Sweet Earth
B2. The Ballet Beast

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No Man Is An Island - Swagger

No Man (Is An Island ...except the Isle Of Man) was a college artrock band formed in Hemel Hempstead by vocalist Tim Bowness, multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson and violinist Ben Coleman in the mid-80s. They were initially augmented by a guitarist who left prior to any official releases.

The bands unique sound combined diverse & adverse influences from jazz, rock, brit-pop, hip-hop, prog rock and punk. The Bowness voice has a stunning sometimes tragic melancholy, a quality only ever bettered by Billy Mackenzie in that decade.

Swagger was the band's debut release (except for a few compilation tracks) and was a limited run of 150 cassette tapes sold at the bands live shows.

Swagger : Ripped from a cassette tape released on Hidden Art in 1989

A1. Flowermouth
A2. Life Is Elswhere
B1. Bleed
B2. Mouth Was Blue

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Steven Wilson - Altamont / Karma Tapes

On the eve of the official release of Wilson's debut solo LP Insurgentes, here are extracts from two very rare cassette albums released on the Acid Tapes cassette label in 1983 & 1985.
Altamont & Karma were two bands fronted by Wilson prior to his reincarnation into the early Procupine Tree. These were formative and highly proficient recordings made in his home studio when Wilson was still of school age in Hemel Hempstead.
The Altamont recordings are highly experimental with an industrial edge, whereas Karma lent more to classic rock, prog-rock and at times, disco. Of note are the very early versions of songs which went onto becoming part of the PT repertoire, especially interesting is the 14min blow out version of Nine Cats.

Altamont - Prayer For The Soul (TAB004 - Acid Tapes) Released September 83
1. Altamont
2. Watching Statues
3. The Tell Tale Heart
4. Split Image

Karma - The Joke's On You (KM01 - Private Cassette) Released October 1983
1. Intruder D'Or
2. Tigers In The Rain
3. Small Fish
4. Nine Cats

Karma - The Last Man to Laugh (Private Cassette) Released 1985
1. Where Is The End If There Is No Beginning?
2. A Peace Of Earth And Good Swill To All Pigs (Pt.1)
3. A Peace Of Earth And Good Swill To All Pigs (Pt.2)

Get: Well Not Anymore Because Dorothy Sherman Says Fans Can't Have Unavailable Material