It was back in 2008 that I embarked on the project of compiling the 45 45s @ 45 series for the old blog (and subsequently reproduced between September 2015 and June 2016 on the current blog.)
For all that I think I got things more or less spot on, in that the selected songs were knitted together to tell something of the backstory, but in a far from chronological fashion, of how my musical tastes evolved, developed and expanded, I listen to some songs these days and wonder why I didn’t find room for them…..albeit I’d have real difficulty in chucking anything out. Here’s an example of what I mean.
I bought Dance Me In by Sons and Daughters when it was issued as a single in June 2005. In fact, I bought three copies of it….one 7″ single on red vinyl, one 7″ single on blue vinyl and the CD version….and this at a time when I didn’t actually have a turntable to play them on! I’d fallen heavily for the brilliance of the debut mini-LP, Love The Cup, and was really anticipating the release of an actual proper debut album, with the band having been signed by Domino Records.
The album was to be preceded, by a short period of two weeks, with the release of Dance Me In as an advance single. The promo video was aired a few times on MTV2, and I was utterly hooked, especially when Zane Lowe said that the new record had been produced by Edwyn Collins. It actually turned out that the remix of the single was at the hands of Edwyn but that the album was the work of Victor Van Vugt, whom I knew from his involvement with much loved albums by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and PJ Harvey.
The Repulsion Box would find itself on heavy rotation in due course, but that was after I had given constant plays to RUG 196CD, the only version of Dance Me In that I could play at the time.
As it turned out, all the b-sides were different, and I’m delighted to share them with you today. I still can’t quite get my head around the fact that it’s been fully seventeen years since these songs were released….Oh, and only one of the 7″ releases had the Edwyn remix with the other having the album version.
mp3: Sons and Daughters – Dance Me In (single version)
mp3: Sons and Daughters – Drunk Medicine
mp3: Sons and Daughters – Dance Me In (album version)
mp3: Sons and Daughters – Poor Company (early demo)
mp3: Sons and Daughters – Come In Out Of The Rain
mp3: Sons and Daughters – Blood
The first two are the red 7″, the middle two are the blue 7″ and the final two were on the CD single, along with the single version and the video. The version of Blood is a different take on that which had been included on Love The Cup, and is a version produced and mixed by the afore-mentioned Edwyn Collins.
The thing is, no matter that I have a huge love for Dance Me In, it still wouldn’t make it into any updated/revamped 45s series on the basis of the rule of one entry per band, and there’s no way I’d remove this:-
mp3: Sons and Daughters – Johnny Cash
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Initially, I wasn’t keen on Sons and Daughters. I hadn’t actually heard a peep – the ‘art-school’ lot were cooing and that always made me suspicious. When I saw them live much humble-pie was eaten.
What an assault it was – in the best possible way. I only managed to follow them till the 2nd LP – commitments took me away from music – but I do play the 1st and 2nd LPs quite regularly.
Bought the mini- album, their debut from memory. Johnny Cash is a belter. Loved them for a while, nice to hear them again today.