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I Need More Catherine Wheel

For Record Store Day 2018, the lone Catherine Wheel compilation album "Like Cats And Dogs," originally released in 1996, was re-released on vinyl. Although I missed out on purchasing it on the actual Record Store Day that occured the day after Thanksgiving, a Christmas Elf delivered it to my door on December 24th by surprise. I'm already plotting a reciprocal shipment as a thank you to that Elf, and listening to this release elicited numerous reactions:




  1. Damn, this is good. I mean, these are b-sides. This is non-album tracks compiled and released between albums "Happy Days" (1995) and "Adam & Eve" (1997), and just about any other band would be happy to release this quality of material as a regular album.
  2. I was caught off guard that the song "Pleasure" was listed as track three on the vinyl reissue, and sure enough when I double-checked by CD, it was not listed. At first I thought, what a weird decision to add that track, but cut the unlisted bonus tracks "Angela Nero" and the great cover of Rush's "The Spirit Of Radio." Turns out, that's how the original vinyl release was organized, although that was on ten inch vinyl, whereas this has been reissued on twelve inch (a very cool purple, I might add).
  3. We really need a Catherine Wheel reunion. All these reissues are great, I've enjoyed getting the first two albums on vinyl, as well as tracking down an original vinyl copy of "Happy Days," and I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that "Adam & Eve" and "Wishville" are (hopefully) up next. Seeing them live again, not hampered setlist-wise by an album cycle, would be the best icing on the biggest cake imaginable.
  4. We also really need a second "Like Cats And Dogs." I know the odds are long, but there are a lot of early and late b-sides that are not easy to track down. If I were in charge, it would be a triple vinyl (there's so much material!). Here's what my Volume 2 looks like:
    • 1A: Spin (Painful Thing EP)
    • 2A: Painful Thing (Painful Thing EP)
    • 3A: Crawling Over Me (Black Metallic EP)
    • 1B: Let Me Down Again (Black Metallic EP)
    • 2B: Upside Down (She's My Friend EP)
    • 3B: Wish (She's My Friend EP)
    • 1C: Collideoscopic (I Want To Touch You single)
    • 2C: Our Friend Joey (I Want To Touch You single)
    • 3C: Dead Girl Friend (I Want To Touch You single)
    • 1D: Intravenous (Balloon single)
    • 2D: Free Of Mind (30th Century Man single)
    • 3D: Glitter (only on UK version of "Happy Days"/Judy Staring At The Sun single)
    • 1E: Judy Staring At The Sun [Tanya Donelly mix] (Judy Staring At The Sun single)
    • 2E: Descending Babe (Ma Solituda single)
    • 3E: Paranoia (Ma Solituda single)
    • 1F: Lucifer (Ma Solituda single)
    • 2F: Come Back Again (Crank single)
    • 3F: Smother (Show Me Mary single)
  5. Like the LCAD compilation, I left off live and demo versions of songs, but unlike that version, I did not include any covers. That was tough, as there are some great covers of Husker Du, Scott Walker and Sebadoh in the b-sides, but I wanted to focus on getting just the original material together. There are also plenty of remix/alternate mix versions for radio, and none of that interested me except the alternative version of Judy Staring At The Sun that features Tanya Donelly of Belly more prominently.
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