Babybird - the original Lofi Recordings - Vbr 192 kbps mp3s'-6 album box set
Long before 'You're Gorgeous' catapulted Babybird into pop notoriety, he was recording around 400 songs in his house on a 4-track, using a cheap keyboard, a questionable guitar and his own very eccentric voice.
This may not sound like a great purchase, but the lo-fi music is considered by many to be Stephen Jones' best work. After listening to this collection, it's easy to see why. The music pushes the primitive recording equipment to the limit, and as a lyricist, Stephen Jones has a wonderfully cynical view.
The highlight album is 'Fatherhood', with it's 20 brooding tales of love won, love lost, and all the tat inbetween, but all of the first three albums are definitely potential classics. 'Dying Happy' is an interesting experiment - comprised mostly of instrumentals, but significantly darker than its predecessors. Great listen, though. 'Petrol Cigarette' is amazing.
'The Black Album' is a wonderful finish to the first phase of Jones' lo-fi career, and this box set is, quite frankly, a bargain. If you can get it, do, and enjoy the sound of one of the most original artists in years. Try to ignore the impact of 'You're Gorgeous'. One thing you learn from the personal comments Jones adds to this collection, is that he tries to ignore it almost every day.Amazon Reviewer
CD one (I Was Born A Man)
- "Blow It To The Moon"
- "Mans Tight Vest"
- "Lemonade Baby"
- "C.F.C."
- "Cornershop"
- "Kiss Your Country"
- "Hong Kong Blues"
- "Dead Bird Sings"
- "Baby Bird"
- "Farmer"
- "Invisible Tune"
- "Alison"
- "Love Love Love"
Rapidshare link - I_Was_Born_a_Man.rar
CD two (Bad Shave)
- "KW Jesus TV Roof Appeal"
- "Bad Jazz"
- "Too Handsome To Be Homeless"
- "Steam Train"
- "Bad Shave"
- "Oh My God You're A King"
- "The Restaurant Is Guilty"
- "Valerie"
- "Shop Girl"
- "W.B.T."
- "Hate Song"
- "45 & Fat"
- "Sha Na Na"
- "Bug In A Breeze"
- "It's Okay"
- "Happy Bus"
- "Swinging From Tree To Tree"
- "Past Lasts Longer"
- "Why?"
Rapidshare link - Bad_Shave.rar
CD three (Fatherhood)
- "No Children"
- "Cooling Towers"
- "Cool & Crazy Things To Do"
- "Bad Blood"
- "Neil Armstrong"
- "I Was Never Here"
- "Saturday"
- "Good Night"
- "I Didn't Want To Wake You Up"
- "Iceberg"
- "Aluminium Beach"
- "Goddamn It, You're A Kid"
- "Daisies"
- "Failed Old Singer"
- "Fatherhood"
- "Dustbin Liner"
- "Not About A Girl"
- "Good Weather"
- "But Love"
- "May We"
Rapidshare link - Fatherhood.rar
CD four (The Happiest Man Alive)
- "Razorblade Shower"
- "Sundial In A Tunnel"
- "Little White Man"
- "Halfway Up The Hill"
- "Horsesugar"
- "Please Don't Be Famous"
- "Louise"
- "Copper Feel"
- "Seagullably"
- "Dead In Love"
- "Candy Girl"
- "Gunfingers"
- "Married"
- "In The Country"
- "Planecrash Xmas"
- "This Beautiful Disease"
- "You'll Get A Slap"
- "In The Morning"
Rapidshare link - The_Happiest_Man_Alive.rar
CD five (Dying Happy)
- "Losing My Hair"
- "Tomorrow's Gone"
- "Petrol Cigarette"
- "When Everyone Speaks English, The World Will Explode"
- "Homesick Satellites"
- "TV"
- "The Unemployable Rub Oil On Her Coffin"
- "Grandma Begs To Be 18 Again"
- "It's Alright Dad, Isn't It"
- "Lead Cloud"
- "Cheap Astronaut"
- "Metal Waterpistol"
Rapidshare link - Dying_Happy.rar
CD six (The Black Album)
- "Pipes Of Heaven"
- "Come On (Home)"
- "Coming Alive In Your Eyes"
- "I'm So Tired"
- "I Know"
- "To Find The Sunshine"
- "The Lights Go Out"
- "When The Sun Is Shining"
- "All I Want"
- "Pretty Little Sparks"
- "I Wanna Be Your Jesus Christ"
- "Take Me Away"
- "You Will Always Be Here"
- "The Last Breath"
- "Drunk Car"
- "Harry & Ida Say Goodnight"
Rapidshare link - The_Black_Album.rar
Babybird - ugly beautiful - Vbr 192 kbps mp3s'
This is one of those albums you find while you're wandering aimlessly in the music store, just checking out whatever they've got on the listening booths. And then you snap out of your fog as the first track starts up, because it's one of the most beautiful melodies you've ever heard, with these sort of rough, sort of plaintive, sort of smirky vocals that, frankly, you just can't stop listening to. You are haunted by this album, even as you drift through the store, listening to snippets of other songs. So because you just know that you couldn't possibly live without this album, you buy it, and listen to certain tracks obsessively, irritating some and delighting others of your household & acquaintance, who also buy it. One caveat: you can't really listen to the whole thing in one sitting, because some of the later songs on the album are not super-high quality, and to be honest, the vocals can grate on one's nerves after a while. It's all worth it, though, to get an earful of the tuneful excellence which characterizes most of the album. Amazon Reviewer
1. Goodnight
2. Candy Girl
3. Jesus Is My Girlfriend
4. I Didn't Want to Wake You Up
5. Dead Bird Sings
6. Atomic Soda
7. You're Gorgeous
8. Bad Shave
9. Cornershop
10. King Bing - Baby Bird,
11. You and Me - Baby Bird,
12. 45 and Fat - Baby Bird,
13. Handsome to Be Homeless - Baby Bird,
14. July
15. Baby Bird
Rapidshare link - Ugly_Beautiful.rar
Babybird - Bugged - Vbr 192 kbps mp3s'
Insights into the world of Stephen Jones, the heart and mind of Babybird, have always happened upon a fascination with the dark side--transexuality, paedophilia, necrophilia and the kids who sniff glue behind the bike-sheds. So it's perverse that
Bugged, Babybird's eighth offering, is a return to hearth and home--an album about family values. "I love my mum, and I love my dad" squawks Jones, on "The F-Word", "I wanna have all that they never had". Accordingly,
Bugged jettisons Jones's more difficult musical experiments. The lumpen band has gone, with Jones returning to the studio alone--and it's an approach that turns out a number of dreamy, genial, hi-fidelity pop gems. "Getaway" comes in operatic wide-screen, replete with parping trumpets, while "Out Of Sight" comes with echoes of the laid back country of Embrace's
"Hooligan".
Bugged is Babybird's most ambitious, most consistent and most upbeat album.
--Louis Pattison
1. The F-Word
2. Getaway
3. Out Of Sight
4. Fireflies
5. Eyes In The Back Of Your Head
6. Till You Die
7. Wave Your Hands
8. All I Want
9. The Way You Are
10. One Dead Groove
Rapidshare link_Bugged.rar
Babybird - There's Something Going On - Vbr 192 kbps mp3s'
Yes this is Babybird, yes this is Stephen Jones, and those in the know are aware that he will never appeal to a wide audience. But if you want thought provoking, intelligent lyrics; dark, sometimes disturbing themes; an eclectic mix of melodic and jangly or shuffling and sparse rhythms, this album is for you. 'If You'll Be Mine' is an outstanding track that should have sold better on its release and ridden high in the charts. 'Back together, 'Take Me Back' and 'I was Always Here' are classic Babybird. The album ends with the haunting, 'There's Something Going On' which captures a heartbreaking yet accepting reaction to infidelity. For those who know only 'You're Gorgeous' (the sentiment was sadly misinterpeted by the majority and was actually a common wedding day tune at the time!!) this album might prove too heavy. But for those 'in the know'..........this is, the magnificent Babybird. Amazon Reviewer
1. Bad Old Man
2. If You'll Be Mine
3. Back Together
4. I Was Never Here
5. First Man On The Sun
6. You Will Always Love Me
7. Life
8. All Men Are Evil
9. Take Me Back
10. It's Not Funny Anymore
11. There's Something Going On
Rapidshare Link - There_s_Something_Going_on.rar
Babybird - Between My Ears There's Nothing But Music - Vbr 192 kbps mp3s'
Wow! The master of hooky multi-harmonied pop genius is back and how?!?!. This album is simply stunning. Full of wonderful lyrics and quirky production touches and all the things that make Stephen Jones the most underated artist in the UK today.
From the heart string tugging plead against consumerism "Too Much" through power pop love letters of "Snails" and "Lighter 'n' Spoon" he delivers in spades.
Amazon Reviewer
1. Too Much
2. Dive
3. Snails
4. Old Skin
5. Little Things
6. 70
7. Lighter 'N' Spoon
8. Divorce Song
9. Shoutabout
10. Better Than Love
11. Beautiful Place
Rapidshare link - Between_My_Ears_There_s_Nothing_But_Music.rar
Babybird - Double A EP Fireflies/Getaway / cd singles w/b-sides Vbr 192 kbps mp3s'
1. Fireflies
2. Getaway
3. Bad Habit
4. To Die For
5. First Man On The Sun
Candy girl cd single
1. Babybird - Candy Girl
2. Babybird - Farmer (Not On Any Album)
3. Babybird - Oh What A Beautiful Day
4. Babybird - You're Gorgeous 3 (Acoustic Version - Not On Any Album)
Good Night cd single
1. Goodnight
2. Harry And Ida Swop Teeth
3.July
You're Gorgeous [CD1] [Single]
1. You're Gorgeous
2. You're Gorgeous Too
3. Honk Kong Blues
4. KW Jesus TV Roof Appeal
You're Gorgeous [CD 2] [Single]
1. Babybird - You're Gorgeous
2. Babybird - Ooh Yeah
3. Babybird - Carcrash
4. Babybird - Bébé Limonade (feat. Olivia Trench)
Rapidshare link BabyBird.part1.rar
Rapidshare Link BabyBird.part2.rar