Not sponsored by YouTube, honest

Whilst piddling around on iTunes again earlier (yep, same voucher), I noticed some Beta Band remixes available in the 'Plus' format and thought I'd take a punt. This in turn led to me putting the 'Best of' DVD on and this in turn led to me ordering the three studio albums on vinyl. Fuck knows quite how my mind works, but it does at least ensure that I have a constant pile of great records to plough through. They were a fucking awesome band at times, and I have fond memories of catching them on their farewell tour. They were slightly too 'out-there' for the music-buying public and never seemed to concrete their reputation outside of critical adoration. I loved 'The Three EPs', which I received from the ever-splendid Adam Walton at BBC Radio Wales as part of a competition prize pack. Weird but wonderful - the CD that is, rather than Adam, who is one of those genuinely passionate broadcasters who makes you as enthusiastic about certain records as he already is. Anyhoo, loved the EP collection but didn't buy the debut because, as a cash-strapped teenager, their interview in the NME where they denounced it just prior to release ensure that I couldn't justify it being one of the rare additions to my still nascent collection. As a result, I have to confess that I took my eye off them for a while and only really returned with the quite fabulous, 'Heroes To Zeros'. By then it was too late. The band were splitting up and the future was bleak in terms of record company support. It's well worth picking up the aforementioned DVD to check out the documentary about the making of that album. Interesting stuff. Plus you get to see an old Safeway store. Ah.
Anyway, spiffing band and the subject of today's chit-chat as I'd dug out some of their marvellous music and thought you might like to as well. Ahhhh, again.
Anyhoo, here's a bit of classic Beta.