Leftfield are a British electronic music group formed in 1989, a duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley. The duo was influential in the evolution of electronic music in the 1990s, with Mixmag describing them as "the single most influential production team working in British dance music". As with many of their contemporaries, such as The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, Leftfield are notable for their use of guest vocalists in their works. Among them are Toni Halliday on "Original", Johnny Rotten on "Open Up", Djum Djum on "Afro-Left", Earl 16 and Cheshire Cat on "Release the Pressure", and Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C. on "Full Way Round". The term progressive house was coined to define their style, a fusion of house with dub and reggae.
Leftism is the debut studio album by English electronic music duo Leftfield, released in 1995 on Columbia Records. It contained a mixture of new tracks along with reworked versions of previous Leftfield singles. The album contains guest spots from musicians not associated with dance music at the time such as John Lydon from Public Image Ltd. and Toni Halliday from Curve. The album was described as progressive house, although some journalists found that label too limiting, suggesting the album incorporated many genres. After completing the album, the duo initially were not pleased with it.
In Sides is the fourth album by British electronic group Orbital, released in the UK on Internal on 29 April 1996. The album's title is a reference to the fact that the original vinyl LP release of the album was as a 3-LP vinyl box set, with one track per side of each disc. In Sides saw the band continue the process, begun on their previous album Snivilisation, of moving away from making music for the rave scene towards more intricately crafted melodies and reflective, downtempo tracks. Gathering widespread acclaim not just from dance music magazines but also the UK's more traditional rock music papers such as NME and Melody Maker, the album is considered by many reviewers and fans to be among Orbital's best work.
Brand New Second Hand is the first studio album by English hip hop musician Roots Manuva. It was released on Big Dada in 1999.
Rhythm King Records Ltd was a British independent record label, founded in the mid-1980s by Martin Heath, Adele Nozedar, DJ Jay Strongman and James Horrocks. It was based in Chiswick, London.
Stoned & Dethroned is the fifth studio album by the Scottish alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain. After spending most of 1992 touring, including a slot on that year's Lollapalooza tour, the band went into the studio during January 1993 with the notion of recording an acoustic album. For the first time since Psychocandy, JAMC recorded with a full band with Steve Monti from Curve playing drums and touring bassist Ben Lurie. The recording took longer than planned, lasting the better part of a year. The album also features lead vocals from guests Shane MacGowan from The Pogues on "God Help Me" and Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval, singing a duet with Jim Reid on "Sometimes Always", which was the album's first single.
"Alright" is a song by British alternative rock band Supergrass. It was released with "Time" as a double A-side single from their debut album, I Should Coco (1995), on 3 July 1995 by Parlophone. It was concurrently released on the soundtrack of the 1995 movie Clueless, which helped it become a big hit for the band. "Alright" peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, number six in Iceland, number eight in Ireland, number 30 in France and number 96 in Australia. The music video for the song was directed by Dom and Nic and filmed in North Wales.
"Paninaro" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, originally a B-side to the 1986 single "Suburbia". In 1995, a re-recording titled "Paninaro '95" was released to a wider market, to promote the duo's B-side compilation album Alternative, though only the original version was included on the compilation.
"You Don't Have to Worry" is a song by American girl group En Vogue from their debut album, Born to Sing (1990). The song was released as the third single from the album on October 31, 1990, and was the group's third consecutive number-one single on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
"Open Up" is a song by British electronic duo Leftfield featuring John Lydon. It was released as a single on 1 November 1993 by Hard Hands label. The single reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart, number one on the UK Dance Singles Chart and number 39 in both Australia and New Zealand. NME reported in their 18 September 1993 issue, "This is the record that people have always wanted Lydon to do." In 2014, the same publication ranked "Open Up" at number 444 on their list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". A black-and-white music video was produced to promote the single, directed by British director Lindy Heymann.
Rhythm and Stealth is the second studio album by the English electronic group Leftfield, released on 20 September 1999. It reached number 1 on the UK Albums Chart. It was nominated for the 2000 Mercury Music Prize.
Stealth Remixes is an album by Leftfield released on 29 May 2000. It was originally on Leftfield's official web-site. It was a follow-up to 1999's Rhythm and Stealth and essentially contained remixes of songs from that album. The album was released on CD and double-12". Later, it was released as a double album along with Rhythm and Stealth.
Dusk is the fourth studio album by The The. It was recorded in 1992 and released by Sony Records on 25 January 1993. The album peaked at No. 2 in the United Kingdom, and at No. 142 in the United States. In 2002 the album was reissued in remastered form on CD. It is the band's final album to feature guitarist Johnny Marr.
"Release the Pressure" is the third single by the English electronic duo Leftfield and the first to involve Paul Daley with writing duties after he joined the group. The song was released exclusively on 12" in 1992. Unlike previous releases that had been released on the Outer Rhythm record label, Leftfield had now officially split from Outer Rhythm. Major labels had offered them deals but neither member wanted to give up creative control to any major company. They formed the Hard Hands record label with "Release the Pressure" being the label's first official release. The song featured reggae singer Earl Sixteen on vocals, with a lyric taken from his 1981 single "Trial and Crosses". "Release the Pressure" made the top 20 in the UK charts and featured at number one in the Melody Maker "Stone Free Chart of the Year". It was used in Telefónica O2 and O2 (UK) commercials during its first year.
"Original" is a song by English electronic duo Leftfield, released on 12" and CD on 13 March 1995 by Hard Hands/PolyGram as the third single from their debut album, Leftism (1995). It features singer Toni Halliday on vocals and gave the group their first appearance on Top of the Pops, reaching number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. Halliday wrote the lyrics with Neil Barnes and Paul Daley. The beginning of the song is used often on the UK version of Big Brother.
"Ridiculous Thoughts" is a song by Irish rock band the Cranberries, released in July 1995 by Island Records as the fourth single from their second studio album, No Need to Argue (1994). The song peaked at number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and number 23 in their native Ireland. Its music video was directed by Samuel Bayer, featuring Elijah Wood. In 2017, the song was released as an acoustic, stripped-down version on the band's Something Else album.
"Sour Times" is a song by English trip hop group Portishead from their debut album Dummy (1994). It was written by all three members of the band and released as a single by Go! Beat Records in August 1994, accompanied by three bonus tracks: "It's a Fire", "Pedestal", and "Theme from To Kill a Dead Man". It's music video was directed by Alexander Hemming. NME ranked "Sour Times" number 32 in its list of the 50 best songs of 1994. Slant Magazine placed it at number 77 in its ranking of "The 100 Best Singles of the 1990s" in 2011.
"I Don't Know Anybody Else" is a song by Italian music group Black Box. It was the second single from their debut album, Dreamland (1990), and was originally released in the United States in December 1989. It was released worldwide in the early months of 1990 and had a great success in record charts, including Ireland, Switzerland, Norway and the United Kingdom, where it reached the Top 5. In other countries, it peaked between number 5 and number 10. It entered the UK Singles Chart on 17 February 1990 and remained for eight weeks.
Live at the BBC is a live compilation album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released by Windsong International Records in 1995. The compilation features three different sessions by the band for the BBC: two in 1974 and one in 1992.
"Middleman" is a song by English rock band Terrorvision, which was released in June 1994 as the second single from their second studio album How to Make Friends and Influence People. The song was written by Terrorvision and produced by Gil Norton. "Middleman" reached No. 25 in the UK Singles Chart and remained in the Top 100 for five weeks. The song's music video was directed by Tim Royes and produced by Alan Wachs.
