Cigarettes and Alcohol: Volume 2 – Various Artists
Compilations like this give compilations like this a bad name.
Think of a barrel. Imagine the bottom of the barrel. Scrape the barrel. Mentally dig right through the wood at the bottom of the barrel with your bare hands. Imagine the sound of your nails splintering through the wood.
That would probably sound better than this two disc compilation.
Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh. It seems like the compiler of this compilation had been tasked, presumably after the success of compiling Cigarettes and Alcohol: Volume 1, to reenact their skill in compiling a compilation around a certain topic, in this case “lad culture”.
Yet it fails. It’s too disjointed thematically. For example the track list:
Disc 1
| 1. Cum on feel the noize – Oasis |
| 2. Should I stay or should I go – The Clash |
| 3. Town called malice – The Jam |
| 4. Stay with me – The Faces |
| 5. Rocks – Primal Scream |
| 6. All day and all of the night – The Stranglers |
| 7. Do or die – Super Furry Animals |
| 8. You stole the sun from my heart – Manic Street Preachers |
| 9. Little respect – Wheatus |
| 10. Cool for cats – Squeeze |
| 11. Baggy trousers – Madness |
| 12. Too much too young – The Specials |
| 13. Connected – Stereo MCs |
| 14. Hallelujah – Happy Mondays |
| 15. Blue Monday – New Order |
| 16. Unbelievable – EMF |
| 17. The only one I love – The Charlatans |
| 18. Sunny afternoon – The Kinks |
| 19. All the young dudes – Mott The Hoople |
| Disc: 2 |
|---|
| 1. Have a nice day – Stereophonics |
| 2. The riverboat song – Ocean Colour Scene |
| 3. Lazy Sunday afternoon – The Small Faces |
| 4. Don’t let me down gently – The Wonderstuff |
| 5. Save tonight – Eagle Eye Cherry |
| 6. Come back to what you know – Embrace |
| 7. Don’t dream it’s over – Crowded House |
| 8. Achilles heal – Toploader |
| 9. Snow – JJ72 |
| 10. Everybody’s happy nowadays – Buzzcocks |
| 11. Love removal machine – The Cult |
| 12. Another girl, another planet – The Only Ones |
| 13. Whiskey in the jar – Thin Lizzy |
| 14. What a waste – Ian Drury |
| 15. ‘Coz I luv you – Slade |
| 16. Baby I love you – Ramones |
| 17. Lucky you – The Lightning Seeds |
| 18. This charming man – The Smiths |
| 19. Here’s where the story ends – The Sundays |
| 20. 19-2000 – Gorillaz |
It’s always difficult to do compilations. Some work some don’t. Similarly, it’s difficult to write entries in the Music Project for compilations too, which is a shame as there are many on the horizon. Thankfully this was a “gift” from Jamie and there are some songs on it that I like so I don’t feel entirely robbed.
