The NME's Big Four from 1986

The NME used to give away cool 45's with issues of their paper. Today's mp3s are all from the '86 EP The NME's Big Four....
Tom Wait's Downtown Train (NME Version) is a great tune that most people know of because of Rod Stewart's hit version in the '80s. It's a more traditional style song than a lot of Tom's stuff - straight up rock with a fairly straightforward vocal, instead of swampy voodoo cabaret. I think that's why I like it so much. It's a hell of a lot better than Rod's rendition too...

The Jesus And Mary Chain's Some Candy Talking is from the earliest years of their career, when it was all about the huge, Phil Spector-like reverb laden VU riffs. When I first heard this song all those years ago I thought it was rubbish - but then, I was young and foolish. A lovely melody buried in a wall of sound.

Husker Du were Minneapolis' garage rock gods at the time of this recording - a great little cover version of the Beatles classic Ticket To Ride. It captures the trios raw energy - big drums, the bristling guitars and the vocal interplay between Grant and Bob. Big rock music.

Troublefunk burst out of DC with their vibrant, big band sound - "go-go" music's rising stars, fusing the energy of rap, the funk of bands like Parliament and the instantly recognizable "go-go" drum rhythms of this uniquely DC/Maryland/Virginia scene. For a year or two there was a lot of hype and a bunch of fresh records, but it never crossed over. Let's Get Small is a typically funky number with a very memorable melody line that sounds like it's played on a harmonium, and lots of call and response shouts. Definitely a booty shaker.