Jul 3

Beachbuggy playlist cover

By Kevin Boyd

First published here, July 2020

Quite a few years ago, I burnt a CD (when that was still a thing) of my favourite tracks by the band Beachbuggy. You’d be forgiven for struggling to place then – they made three albums from the late-90s to the early-00s before fizzling out due to the (some would say outrageous) indifference of both critics and audiences. They’ve since made a couple of very brief reappearances, but the chances of a more permanent reunion are close to zero.

Currently, only the first of their albums – “Unsafe… At Any Speed!” (1998) – is readily available on the usual streaming and download sites. Their much more accomplished second and third albums – “Sport Fury” (2001) and “Killer-B” (2003) – are nowhere to be found, which is a real pity. Both were recorded by legendary engineer Steve Albini in his Chicago studio. Albini is perhaps best known for his work with Nirvana and the Pixies in the 80s and 90s, but has latterly made a considerable impact as a jobbing engineer and studio boss with dozens of production and engineering credits under his belt. Albini’s contribution helped codify the band’s sound and deliver on the rough and ready promise of their 90s debut. Their primary influences – notably the Pixies and The Fall – are rarely far from the surface on “Sport Fury” and “Killer-B”, but there’s a singular robustness to their overall sound and a structure and consistency to their arrangements that’s lacking in many of the less disciplined tracks on “Unsafe…”. 

Both Albini albums were released on the relatively short-lived Poptones label. This was Alan McGee’s ill-fated post-Creation project which no doubt swallowed a sizeable chunk of his Oasis millions. I don’t know who’s to blame for the non-availability of these albums. Perhaps Poptones see no value in their continued availability, or perhaps the licences have reverted to the band – who to all intents and purposes is just singer, guitarist and songwriter Jack Straker – who may have chosen not to make them available. Whatever the reason, it’s a shame their no-fi, hot rod, rock ‘n’ roll goofiness can’t be experienced a bit more widely. 

Anyway, I recently found that CD I’d burnt. It has tracks from all three albums, plus one errant EP track I particularly liked. In the absence of most of this material on Spotify, I uploaded the tracks as a playlist on my iPhone to listen on my daily lockdown walk and also made front and back covers for the CD, which is really the point of this post. I’ll also include the track list so, if you have access to the relevant CDs, you can make your own version. 

  1. Radio Ad – from Unsafe… At Any Speed
  2. Kickin’ Back – from Sport Fury
  3. The Hitt – from Killer-B
  4. Kill Straker! – from Unsafe… At Any Speed
  5. Just A Little Punk – from Sport Fury
  6. Killer Bee – from Killer-B
  7. Firebird Special – from Unsafe… At Any Speed
  8. Touch My Stuff (You Can Die) – from Sport Fury
  9. Four Four 0 – from Unsafe… At Any Speed
  10. I Got Root Beer – from Kickin’ Back EP
  11. General Electric Pilot – from Unsafe… At Any Speed
  12. Dirty Mouth – from Killer-B
  13. Radio Ad (Italia) – from Sport Fury
  14. Fire In My Eye – from Killer-B
  15. The Driver – from Unsafe… At Any Speed
  16. It Might Be The Jets – from Sport Fury
  17. Easycome Easygo – from Killer-B
  18. Quarter Mile Machine – from Unsafe… At Any Speed
  19. Oh Wow! – from Killer-B
  20. Science Fiction – from Sport Fury
  21. Deathray – from Killer-B
  22. Godspeed My Friend – from Sport Fury
  23. Radio Ad (Japan) – from Killer-B

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