HEADS – Under Sided

Description

A deluxe, remastered, 20 year anniversary edition of the Heads’ third album proper, the under-rated gem in their canon that is “Under Sided”.

Originally released in 2002 on the Sweet Nothing label (SNLP/CD 11), Under Sided was recorded in 2001 at WhiteHouse Studios in Weston Super Mare, with Martin Nichols engineering. The band had previously recorded tracks for Mans Ruin 10” at these studios (also famous for Ripcord, Heresy, Slowdive, Hardskin, Decadence Within, Icehouse.. amongst many others!).

For the reissue, the original recordings were remastered for vinyl and CD by long time Heads Masterer (!) Shawn Joseph. The resultant 8 tracks, spread over 4 sides of vinyl are some of the best music the Heads have recorded, after a bit of a hiatus following their 2000 US tour / Peel session, the band regrouped and worked out the tracks for the album, relentless rehearsing for the recording. Very few shows happened in that 2001-2002 timeframe.. band members were busy, earning a living, getting on with life, but they still had some riffs/songs there.

Upon release in 2002 the album got great reviews in the press, from Kerrang and MOJO to the Sunday Times, all helping the Bristol fourpiece confirm their cult status, which has continued to current times..

The remastered album is being reissued as a 4LP + 2CD boxset. The extra 2LP features their Peel session from 2000, as well as a couple of compilation tracks (For Mad Men Only / Born To Go), and some unreleased demo versions, as well as nearly 150 minutes of Live recordings (mastered, but RAW!) from their gigs on the Thekla in Bristol in 2001-2002.

The boxset will also have a special slipmat, stickers, and a 24 page booklet of photos /writings, including recollections by each band member, and others including a 1000 word essay by Stewart Lee.

Undersided is a pounding sike-nightmare that shows the Heads at the peak of their powers, theres a flow throughout the album of melding psychedelic noise rock to battering rhythms and creating a bad trip for all listening.. even the gentle sooth of “Energy” is enveloped by a white noise fuiry.. the intensity of some of the tracks: the terror inducing Bedminster or False Heavy (a tour worn riffmonger from 2000) or the Magnet-esque Heavy Sea, showed the band as ferocious as any of the insurgent “stoner” genre of that time.

They were never going to make their living out of touring , record sales …as Hugo mentions in his notes for the booklet, “.. we had less boundaries and felt we could experiment more and not worry about commerciality…” but they were able to make this album.