____twoism

such a good band. Perfect summer music. Also, remove all the cheery psych-pop and dub references and that's pretty close to what i imagine waay early boc sounding like. in my happy happy brain.

I'll second that. The Beta Band were a great band. Their 1st album is hugely under-rated.

Yeah great band.
'the 3 ep's' is almost perfect all the way through but i love the track 'its not too beautiful'. its a masterpiece
not heard any of their follow on material. is it also good?

audiotrack wrote:Yeah great band.
'the 3 ep's' is almost perfect all the way through but i love the track 'its not too beautiful'. its a masterpiece
not heard any of their follow on material. is it also good?

Yeah - I reckon all of their albums are great. Hot Shots II is kind-of R&B influenced, while Heroes to Zeroes is a slightly more straight-forward guitar-based album. Both worth a purchase. There's also a live CD, but I think it was a bonus disc on their best-of; i haven't heard it, but was lucky enough to see them live on the tour it was recorded (their farewell tour) and they were magnificent live.

I just heard The House Song on internet radio recently, and I loved it. Is the rest of their stuff similar?

You certainly won't hear me arguing. The Beta Band fall into the category of band "I never got to see them Live and now I REALLY regret it".

If you don't know them, start with the 3 EPs mini-collection and go from there. Oh and buy their DVD too - which highlighted their rather unique videos. So incredibly creative and talented. They rarely, if ever, put a foot wrong.

Sadly missed...

Mexicola wrote: Sadly missed...

After they split they formed some other bands.. King Biscuit Time, Lone Pigeon and Aliens.
I havent heard these has anyone else?

Steve Mason (lead singer with Beta Band) has a solo album coming out v.soon. Just heard the 2nd single - 'Lost and Found' on 6Music and I have to say it's everything us Beta Band fans would hope for. Maybe a little straight-ahead/simple on first listen, but sometimes less is more right? This is very very good news imo.

Free download of debut single available on his website too.

EDIT: unless I'm mistaken, that's David Dixon in the video, who played Ford Prefect in the TV series of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Nice!

youse guys, dont bump my extremely old threads! i seriously had a mini paroxysm of self hate when i read this

need to fix my writing style. i promise i dont talk like this.

ive had a 'BETA BAND DAY' today..
been listening to all their stuff.

cannot for the life of me get why this band didnt make it big time..?!!?

have to say my favourite tracks are:-

Shes the one
Lion thief
Its not too beautiful
Shrek (has anyone else got this b-side tune? its bloody awesome)

audiotrack wrote:Shrek (has anyone else got this b-side tune? its bloody awesome)

no i have not. i'm very interested in hearing it if you're feeling altruistic.

They're all from around here, Tayport, Cupar, all wee villages right near me. Local heroes I'm sure you can imagine. As for why they didnt make it big, long story short it's the classic case of bad management and promotion. They had a couple of tours where they literally ran flat out of money and much bickering ensued = premature breakup. A real shame.

Infinite E wrote:

audiotrack wrote:Shrek (has anyone else got this b-side tune? its bloody awesome)

no i have not. i'm very interested in hearing it if you're feeling altruistic.

They're all from around here, Tayport, Cupar, all wee villages right near me. Local heroes I'm sure you can imagine. As for why they didnt make it big, long story short it's the classic case of bad management and promotion. They had a couple of tours where they literally ran flat out of money and much bickering ensued = premature breakup. A real shame.

To be honest I always thought they were quite big, here in the UK at least...Squares got a lot of radioplay and I think it featured on an ad or two when it came out. I do really like the Beta Band, Liquid Bird is a track I regularly go back to.

add this to your collection..

SHREK

Can't wait for the new Steve Mason one. I'll be buying it. The guy could do with it as well I think.

Just something simple and yet memorising about his voice. It sneaks up on you.

audiotrack wrote:add this to your collection..

SHREK

quality! great tune, thanks AT

BrandNewRetro wrote:

Infinite E wrote:

audiotrack wrote:Shrek (has anyone else got this b-side tune? its bloody awesome)

no i have not. i'm very interested in hearing it if you're feeling altruistic.

They're all from around here, Tayport, Cupar, all wee villages right near me. Local heroes I'm sure you can imagine. As for why they didnt make it big, long story short it's the classic case of bad management and promotion. They had a couple of tours where they literally ran flat out of money and much bickering ensued = premature breakup. A real shame.

To be honest I always thought they were quite big, here in the UK at least...Squares got a lot of radioplay and I think it featured on an ad or two when it came out. I do really like the Beta Band, Liquid Bird is a track I regularly go back to.

bigger than boc yeah

actually mainstream big nah

and unlike boc i reckon they had the mass appeal to make it proper big

This One's For The Humans by Alien Stadium. You're welcome.

Thanks for the headsup, mexi! Coincidentally just started relistening to those beta band records just the other day. This sounds amazing.

Infinite E wrote:As for why they didnt make it big, long story short it's the classic case of bad management and promotion.

Responding to an old quote, I think I remember steve saying in an interview that there were attacks from the industry trying to keep them small. A lot of really odd coincidences surrounding their releases.