TeamBB

Most of these songs formed part on Beachbuggy’s early live sets, and all except “Tequila” and “What I Want” are known to exist on live recordings of the period (so if you know of a recording of these songs, tell us about it). A few of these can also be found on Jack’s home demos of the period, but copies of these recordings are ultra-rare.

CENTREFOLD
Adolescent wet dreams explored to the full (“I met you in a magazine, all you wore was a smile for me / I’ve never seen a girl like you before, I turn the page just to see some more”). An early live favourite which didn’t survive in the band’s repertoire past the first six months.

HOW DOES IT FEEL?
Epic set-closer. Starts in somber, reflective mood (“How does it feel to be left on the shelf?”) then builds into a seemingly never ending guitar-frenzy and invariably segues into “Silver Machine” complete with proper rock star-type guitar noodling.

I’LL BE WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BE
In which Jack plays the hero (“If you were drowning at sea / I’d be there to save you”). Rarely heard at live shows (although one brief, aborted version survives in a live recording from 1992), this appears in full on the fabled Straker home demos complete with trance-inducing bassline.

MARSHALL AMP
Jack dreams of Rock ‘n’ Roll excess (“I wish I had long black hair / I wish I had a Les Paul guitar / I wish I had a Marshall amp” etc). A live favourite for a brief period, this quickly disappeared from the BB set list, but not before it provided a pseudonym for one daft BB fan. This track was NOT released as a special one-sided 7-inch single in a limited edition of zero for Record Store Day in 2017 and was DEFINITELY NOT released in an ultra-limited test pressing of minus one with rejected artwork! 

NOW YOU’RE GONE
Jack’s strict “Just Say No” policy comes under serious threat (“I didn’t know what drugs were ’till I found you / But it’s too late now that you’re gone”). Another home demo track which only appears to have been played live on a few rare occasions.

TEQUILA
Yes kids, it’s true – some very early BB gigs saw this 1958 hit given the once-over to the delight of beer-crazed students everywhere. Before he bought the guys decent race-suits, Hawaiian shirts were Jack’s uniform of choice and this Champs classic provided a fitting soundtrack.

TOM’S DEAD (vocal version)
A live favourite at early shows, this is the full vocal version of the instrumental that ended up on “Sport Fury”. Jack is in somber mood as he laments the loss of a much-loved cat – or was it a dog? (“You went away before I had a chance to say, to say goodbye / It’s not by choice it ended up like this, you still died). Presented for your delight in suicide-inducing Velvets-style drawl: grown men have been known to weep openly on hearing this (Not me, obviously!). Another home demo track.

WHAT I WANT
Jack in full-blown Jagger/Stones mode (“I know what I want / And what I want is you”). This is super-rare and is only known to exist in very rough, home demo form. No-one present at the bands early gigs recalls hearing it played live (but if you know better, you know where to find me).

Know any other unreleased BB classics? Leave a comment below and let us all know.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 10:16 pm and is filed under Unreleased Songs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.