Description

The Woodentops – Before During After: Remasters Remixes & Rarities 1982-1992

3 CD collection comprising remastered versions of Giant and Wooden Foot Cops On The Highway, plus rare and unreleased material, and a third disc of live, alternate and remixed versions, some appearing here for the first time.

“The story of the 80s often glosses over The Woodentops. Yet, for 10 years, Rolo McGinty’s eclectic troubadours were ahead of the game; when The Smiths were unavailable for a BBC radio session, The Woodentops were the last-ditch replacement. For John Peel, it was love at first sight.

Where the majority of indie bands at the time were guitar-led, The Woodentops’ sound was built on a layer of tight percussion, augmented by emerging electronic jiggery-pokery. Latin and African rhythms fused neatly with indie guitars to present top-class pop songs in a way that attracted the attention of everyone from Morrissey (who selected their debut Plenty as single of the week in Melody Maker) to Lee Perry, who stumbled into their studio by mistake and decided to hang around. Elsewhere, Adrian Sherwood would often pitch in with a remix, while the band anticipated the indie/ dance crossover when their highly charged live show stormed the burgeoning Balearic dance scene.

Remastered from the original tapes under McGinty’s supervision, both the band’s albums are presented here as fresh and relevant today as they ever were, while a third disc of singles, remixes and rarities completes the story. The Woodentops, it seems, were even better than you might remember. Definitive retrospective of criminally underrated act.” – **** Record Collector