Rooster Indierock | Alternative 9 Items

A special 25th anniversary edition of THE Heads’ debut album, first released in 1996 and housed in new gatefold jackets with updated art and bonus material. Amidst a world suffocating in Britpop smarm, The Heads' debut cut a timely swath of unkempt psychedelic rock into the face of the English underground. Featuring ten tracks of guitar-driven, amp-destroying jams, Relaxing With... takes its cues from the US--Stooges, MC5, Mudhoney, Pussy Galore, early Monster Magnet--but adds a distinctly British stamp with the drone and fuzz of Loop / Spacemen 3, the attitude of The Fall, Pink Fairies and Walking Seeds and the spaced rock of early Hawkwind. It is obvious that the four members of The Heads are music obsessives. Bonus LP includes the remastered tracks from the band's Radio 1 sessions from November '95, March and May 1996, along with "Jellystoned Park" (the B-side of their "Television" 7-inch). Jacket art has been embellished with new silver foiling and bordering.

Originally released in 2002 on the Sweet Nothing label (snlp/cd 11), Under Sided was recorded in 2001 at WhiteHouse Studios in Weston Super Mare, with Martin Nichols engineering. The band had previously recorded tracks for Mans Ruin 10” at these studios (also famous for Ripcord, Heresy, Slowdive, Hardskin, Decadence Within, Icehouse.. amongst many others!). For the reissue, the original recordings were remastered for vinyl and CD by long time Heads Masterer (!) Shawn Joseph. The resultant 8 tracks, spread over 4 sides of vinyl are some of the best music the Heads have recorded, after a bit of a hiatus following their 2000 US tour / Peel session (included in the boxset / on the 2CD version here), the band regrouped and worked out the tracks for the album, relentless rehearsing for the recording. Very few shows happened in that 2001-2002 timeframe.. band members were busy, earning a living, getting on with life, but they still had some riffs/songs there. Upon release in 2002 the album got great reviews in the press, from Kerrang and Mojo to the Sunday Times, all helping the Bristol fourpiece confirm their cult status, which has continued to current times.. The remastered album is being reissued as a 4LP + 2CD boxset. The extra 2LP features their Peel session from 2000, as well as a couple of compilation tracks (For Mad Men Only / Born To Go), and some unreleased demo versions, as well as 2 exclusive to this set CDS that feature nearly 150 minutes of Live recordings (mastered, but RAW!) from their gigs on the Thekla in Bristol and rehearsal room tapes in 2001 and 2002. The boxset will also have a special slip-mat, stickers, and a 24 page booklet of photos /writings, including recollections by each band member, and others including Stewart Lee. Under Sided is a pounding sike-nightmare that shows the Heads at the peak of their powers, there’s a flow throughout the album of melding psychedelic noise rock to unrelentin rhythms and creating a bad trip for all listening.. open battering-ram “Dissonaut” is a staple in their live shows to this day… even the gentle sooth of “Energy” is enveloped by a white noise fury.. the intensity of some of the tracks: the terror inducing “Bedminster” or “False Heavy” (a tour worn riffmonger from 2000) or the Magnet-esque “Heavy Sea”, showed the band as ferocious as any of the insurgent “stoner” genre of that time. They were never going to make their living out of touring, record sales… as Hugo mentions in his notes for the booklet, “.. we had less boundaries and felt we could experiment more and not worry about commerciality…” but they were able to make this album.

Originally released in 2002 on the Sweet Nothing label (snlp/cd 11), Under Sided was recorded in 2001 at WhiteHouse Studios in Weston Super Mare, with Martin Nichols engineering. The band had previously recorded tracks for Mans Ruin 10” at these studios (also famous for Ripcord, Heresy, Slowdive, Hardskin, Decadence Within, Icehouse.. amongst many others!). For the reissue, the original recordings were remastered for vinyl and CD by long time Heads Masterer (!) Shawn Joseph. The resultant 8 tracks, spread over 4 sides of vinyl are some of the best music the Heads have recorded, after a bit of a hiatus following their 2000 US tour / Peel session (included in the boxset / on the 2CD version here), the band regrouped and worked out the tracks for the album, relentless rehearsing for the recording. Very few shows happened in that 2001-2002 timeframe.. band members were busy, earning a living, getting on with life, but they still had some riffs/songs there. Upon release in 2002 the album got great reviews in the press, from Kerrang and Mojo to the Sunday Times, all helping the Bristol fourpiece confirm their cult status, which has continued to current times.. The remastered album is being reissued as a 4LP + 2CD boxset. The extra 2LP features their Peel session from 2000, as well as a couple of compilation tracks (For Mad Men Only / Born To Go), and some unreleased demo versions, as well as 2 exclusive to this set CDS that feature nearly 150 minutes of Live recordings (mastered, but RAW!) from their gigs on the Thekla in Bristol and rehearsal room tapes in 2001 and 2002. The boxset will also have a special slip-mat, stickers, and a 24 page booklet of photos /writings, including recollections by each band member, and others including Stewart Lee. Under Sided is a pounding sike-nightmare that shows the Heads at the peak of their powers, there’s a flow throughout the album of melding psychedelic noise rock to unrelentin rhythms and creating a bad trip for all listening.. open battering-ram “Dissonaut” is a staple in their live shows to this day… even the gentle sooth of “Energy” is enveloped by a white noise fury.. the intensity of some of the tracks: the terror inducing “Bedminster” or “False Heavy” (a tour worn riffmonger from 2000) or the Magnet-esque “Heavy Sea”, showed the band as ferocious as any of the insurgent “stoner” genre of that time. They were never going to make their living out of touring, record sales… as Hugo mentions in his notes for the booklet, “.. we had less boundaries and felt we could experiment more and not worry about commerciality…” but they were able to make this album.

A brand new studio full length from Bristol based sike-o-nauts Kandodo 3, orbiting in the Heads’ realm and led by Heads’ Simon Price, k3 continues their trajectory of outer space excursions.

Out of focus, relaxed and expansive vibes fuse together into serpentine rivers of minimalist rhythms and echoed tones, drawing the listener into tunnels of sound and scorched sonic landscapes—its one for the headphones at 30,000 feet or late night deserted drives.

The album finds three heads taking time out to dive into the dronal repetitions of deep space, three psychonauts killing time in the only way they know how: head-nodding drumfuzz layered with creamed strings. Guest guitar from fellow sike-head John McBain appears on the final half of this 40 minute trip! It takes the autobahn, veering left past the sun and heading on till morning. Settle in for the long haul and....

In 2014, THE HEADS reissued their 2000 album Everybody Knows We Got Nowhere in full deluxe, remastered glory and to much acclaim. To the deluxe five-LP box set edition they added a 70-minute CD packed with demos and unheard versions of material recorded in the rehearsal room on a walkman. For Record Store Day 2015, and to celebrate their rare live performances at Roadburn 2015, SIMON PRCIE took the material he edited for the bonus CD and added more tracks to the pot. With the mastering expertise / tape-polishing skills of SHAWN JOSEPH, Price created a warts 'n' all document of the time in The Heads' rehearsal space just prior to the recording of the Every Knows album. This double-LP presents ten tracks of the artists in their element: raw and alive in the rehearsal room, tracks being formed, prototype Heads riffs in the sonic gloop. Hear this era of the band in all its speaker-blowing, walkman-warping glory-a true psychedelic rock document. Nobody Knows is packaged in a Price-designed sleeve-a gatefold sleeve, naturally! Limited to 1,200 copies pressed worldwide for Record Store Day 2015. Black vinyl, no download cards, no repressings.

Relaxing With... is The Heads' debut album, first released in 1996. This reissue, remastered and boosted with extras, has been a long time coming.

Amidst a world suffocating in Britpop smarm, The Heads' debut cut a timely swath of unkempt psychedelic rock into the face of the English underground. Featuring ten tracks of guitar-driven, amp-destroying jams, Relaxing With... takes its cues from the US--Stooges, MC5, Mudhoney, Pussy Galore, early Monster Magnet--but adds a distinctly British stamp with the drone and fuzz of Loop / Spacemen 3, the attitude of The Fall, Pink Fairies and Walking Seeds and the spaced rock of early Hawkwind. It is obvious that the four members of The Heads are music obsessives.

The first disc on this double-CD reissue features the album in its entirety. Originally recorded at Foel Studios (owned by Dave Anderson from Hawkwind), it has been remastered by Shawn Joseph and Simon Price. The bonus disc includes unreleased tracks (including "Spliff Riff" from 1991), all the early singles, a selection of their Radcliffe / Radio One Rock Show material, and their complete first Peel session. The artwork has been retooled and expanded by longtime art collaborator Johnny O, collating an appreciation penned by a former tour manager / dogsbody and dozens of fliers, unseen photos, clippings and more.

This 27-track release on the band's own Rooster imprint confirms The Heads' status as a "national treasure." Keep an eye out for a limited vinyl pressing as well as a deluxe reissue of their second album Everybody Knows We Got Nowhere, coming later in the year.


"If that's not a freakout, then I'm a Dutchman."

--John Peel, after airing the first session