For those of you who had the luck of… I don’t know…. the luck that Webcuts didn’t have, and are currently dancing around your copy of “Fool’s Day” as it spins round your turntable, or you’re one of those heinous folk who scored a copy only to peddle it straight away on eBay, then this is the good news you’ve been waiting for.

Recorded especially for Record Store Day 2010, “Fool’s Day” marked the first new track from the band in 7 years. Released on a 1000 copy limited edition 7″, “Fool’s Day” was only available in the UK through independent music retailers participating in Record Store Day. I’m sure we’d be correct in saying it sold out in micro-seconds and was the cause of many a shed tear. Even for the jaded Blur fan, this was something to get excited about.

To wit, Blur’s manager Chris Morrison realised the importance of the track and requested the song be made available to all. “To avoid fans having to illegally obtain an inferior copy of this track from pirate sites – we have made it freely available through the band’s website”.

So there you go. Head over to blur.co.uk to get the goods!

In other Record Store Day news, Webcuts was off to a shakey start this morning, but our night owl hours negated the possibility of RSD apathy. Arriving at Rough Trade East about an hour before doors opened, the queue was large and winding, and the look on people’s faces as they arrived at normal opening hours was mildly comical. You snooze, you lose.

For those who ventured out for the occasion, we hope you had a great day. The London sun shone and everybody was on their best behaviour. Webcuts, lucky ol’ souls, got everything on their wishlist and have been contentedly gazing at the pile of Crystal Castles, Nick Cave, Beach House, Rolling Stones, She & Him, The Fall and Pet Shop Boys vinyl booty. Who says we get all our records for free??

There isn’t much that hasn’t already been said (or typed) about Blur. From the early-90′s Britpop to the mid-90′s psychedelia, the late-90′s American Indie and the ’00′s African/Electronica experimentalism.  The haughty youth, the depression, the in-band fighting between Damon and Graham, the rivalries with Oasis and the comparisons with Radiohead, the eventual removal of Graham and his consequential solo albums. And, of course, Damon’s brief top 40 success with the ministration of cartoon band mates. All leading up to a 2009 reunion tour and this, the quintessential 2-disc anthology collection, complete with remixes, revamps and deep album cuts.

But the predictable commercial foibles of a greatest hits compilation are largely avoided here; each of the tracks have been carefully selected by the band and many of them are touched-up or alternative versions. And rather than skim the band’s lengthy array of hits, the playlist feels more like a record in-and-of itself, favoring quality over familiarity, and leaving the listener with a balanced perspective of both the band’s ability and their legacy.

Naturally, this replaces what one would expect to discover within the amalgamation. The hip, sardonic beats of “Girls and Boys” are overshadowed by nearly eight minutes of gospel-chorused hippie fuzz on “Tender”. “Song 2″‘s rowdy woo-hoo’s are no match for the punked-out horns in “Popscene”. In fact, there’s such an effortless ebb and flow between the breezy and the brainy that you’d hardly guess this was a retrospective aside from wavering audio fidelity and the suspicious unending supply of high-caliber tunes.

Even still, aged fans might question the band’s emphasis; the majority of the music here is art rock, more Elbow or Super Furry Animals than the Kinks or Madchester. Which is not to say Blur didn’t do art rock fiendishly well, it just wasn’t their career’s calling card. Albarn made countless efforts to be more accepted, more mainstream, and to unlock the English music charts’ secrets before retreating into his cave of artistry, and followers may notice the lack of attention to this specific detail within the set.

All nit-picking aside, it’s a brilliant mixture of songs, devoid of clunkers, and Blur’s importance as a musical outfit is neither underscored nor exaggerated by it. In fact, it’ll probably stand by itself as one of the few retrospectives that wasn’t a label’s ploy for money or a band’s attempt to revitalize a sagging fan base. There’s certainly enough of the old here for casual fans to enjoy, with enough new arrangements and remixes to make it relevant to the hardcore base.

They wanted to do great things, they didn’t want to compromise, and they never did, but after five albums — the rush of adrenaline that was Everyone’s Got One (1994), the Britpop breakthrough of On (1995), the more experimental Lustra (1997) and the post haitus measured People Are Expensive (2001) and torch song tinged Gravity Pulls (2004) — Echobelly’s primary songwriters, the mellifluous voiced Sonya Madan and slide guitar superstar Glenn Johansson seemed to call it a day.

Fans can rejoice though with the dynamic duo returning on July 9 to play an acoustic set of old and new material at Moho Live in Manchester. If that doesn’t sate your belly (ha) we’re going to feature an interview with Ms Madan as part of our Britpop special over the coming weeks. Yes you heard us, Britpop. Say it loud, say it proud — Britpop, Brit Pop, BRITPOP!!!

Over the forthcoming weeks Webcuts has a cornucopia of Brit-indie goodies in store. Apart from Sonya we will also interview other under-appreciated and mis-understood acts who were rather uncermoniously lumped together, including luminaries such as Martin Rossiter and Matt James (Gene), Jake Shillingford (My Life Story), Crispin Hunt (Longpigs), and Shirley Lee (Spearmint) (and possibly more Jarv and Damon please get in touch). Also we’ll hear from the fans of the scene who are now working in the music biz (that they are also friends of Webcuts is entirely coincidental). We also will have reviews of Blur’s new Best Of and the Common People box set to boot. Whoah… here comes the big rush.

You are one of the most successful alternative bands in English history and although seen as Britpop’s poster-child your career was actually multi-faceted ranging from madchester lite pop, to mining the best British rock from the ’60s to ’90s with addtional excursions into post-grunge and art-rock.

However you face a dilemma. Whilst you’ve buried the hatchet and various members of the band have either sold millions with a cartoon pop-hop act, written a tell all autobiography or put a promising law career on ice, for a slew of mega outdoor festivals and concerts you haven’t actually got anything new to peddle. The answer? Simply do what every other band has done since the birth of the record industry and release another best of. Will anyone remember that a pretty decent greatest hits album was released nine years previously (but only one album before the last studio one)? Probably, but out of earshot out of mind as they say. Besides you can never own too many big houses in the country, can you?

To further this (to the) end Blur are releasing Midlife: A Beginner’s Guide To Blur, which will include 25 tracks spanning the band’s career of seven studio albums on June 15 (UK), June 26 (Aus) and July 28 (US) through EMI.

Midlife: A Beginner’s Guide To Blur tracklisting:

CD1

1. Beetlebum
2. Girls & Boys
3. For Tomorrow
4. Coffee & TV
5. Out Of Time
6. Blue Jeans
7. Song 2
8. Bugman
9. He Thought Of Cars
10. Death Of A Party
11. The Universal
12. Sing
13. This Is A Low

CD2

1. Tender
2. She’s So High
3. Chemical World
4. Good Song
5. Parklife
6. Advert
7. Popscene
8. Stereotypes
9. Trimm Trabb
10. Badhead
11. Strange News From Another Star
12. Battery In Your Leg

For a Britpop compilation that doesn’t feature Blur (or for Oasis for that matter) but whose artists really could use the royalties try Common People – Brit Pop The Story (22 June). Compiled by St. Etienne’s Bob Stanley (and former Melody Maker scribe) Common People looks to be a broad and all encompassing box set concentrating on British pop in the years 1993 to 1997. From the big guns (Pulp, whose track provides the set with its title, The Stone Roses, James, Elastica, Supergrass) to the mid-level bands that had a surprisingly lengthy run (Gene, Divine Comedy, Placebo) to the one album/one hit wonders  (Powder, Menswear, Rialto, Longpigs) this should serve as either a great introduction to the time or alternatively provide a few hours of dewy eyed nostalgia as you reminisce about making eye contact with that cute boy/girl during the playing of Sleeper’s “Inbetweener” at the local indie club. Ah, those were the days.

CD1

The Auteurs – ‘Lenny Valentino’
Elastica – ‘Stutter’
Gene – ‘Be My Light, Be My Guide’
The Stone Roses – ‘Love Spreads’
James – ‘Laid’
Dodgy – ‘Staying Out For The Summer’
Saint Etienne – ‘You’re In A Bad Way’
Dubstar – ‘Stars’
Blake Grape – ‘In The Name Of The Father’
Duffy – ‘London Girls’ (Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy, not the current soul songtress)
Marion – ‘Sleep’
These Animal Men – ‘Speeed King’
S*M*A*S*H – ‘Shame’
Cast – ‘Alright’
Bluetones – ‘Slight Return’
Perfume – ‘Lover’
The Boo Radleys – ‘Wake Up Boo!’
Menswear – ‘Daydreamer’

CD2

Pulp – ‘Common People’
Supergrass – ‘Alright’
Sleeper – ‘Inbetweener’
Echobelly – ‘Great Things’
Powder – ‘Afrodisiac’
Northern Uproar – ‘Rollercoaster’
Paul Weller – ‘Thechangingman’
The Divine Comedy – ‘Something For The Weekend’
Babybird – ‘You’re Gorgeous’
My Life Story – ’12 Reasons Why’
Denim – ‘It Fell Off The Back Of A Van’
Kula Shaker – ‘Tattva’
Mansun – ‘Wide Open Space’
Salad – ‘Drink The Elixir’
Placebo – ‘Nancy Boy’
Longpigs – ‘She Said’
Ocean Colour Scene – ‘The Riverboat Song’
Shed Seven – ‘Chasing Rainbows’

CD3

Super Furry Animals – ‘God! Show Me Magic’
Suede – ‘Trash’
Kenickie – ‘In Your Car’
Theaudience – ‘A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed’
Catatonia – ‘Mulder And Scully’
Space – ‘Female Of The Species’
Embrace – ‘All You Good Good People’
Gomez – ‘Whippin’ Piccadilly’
Geneva – ‘Into The Blue’
Rialto – ‘Monday Morning 5:19′
The Seahorses – ‘Love Is The Law’
Hurricane #1 – ‘Step Into My World’
Monaco – ‘What Do You Want From Me’
Spearmint – ‘Sweeping The Nation’
Lodger – ‘Always Round Here’
Earl Brutus – ‘SAS And The Glam That Goes With It’
Stereophonics – ‘The Bartender And The Thief’
Gay Dad – ‘Oh Jim’

The B-side is every music geek/fan’s favourite thing to debate over. It’s the one place where an artist is allowed to record whatever they see fit, and the one place where a fan can expect the unexpected and be surprised, or wonder how long it took to throw that piece of junk down and never play it again. Many a great B-side should’ve been an A-side, and vice versa, but what makes a great B-side and what are the best B-sides ever?

An obvious disclaimer here is that these are my (check the name at the bottom of this post) favourite B-sides. This is not a list of the 10 greatest B-sides ever (despite what the paragraph above may suggest), nor have they been voted on by the Webcuts community. Far from it. The definitive over-argued lists are out there if you really want to find out and you’re more than welcome to list your own favourite B-sides in the comments box below. Be my guest. No, really.

There are certain rules about what counts as a B-side. In my world (and it ain’t everybody’s world), a B-side is the opposite of the A-side, also known as “the flipside”. This entails turning/flipping the record over. So goodbye CD singles, you sucked the fun out of the B-side forever and don’t even get me started on download only tracks. There’s no 12” singles or EP tracks included either. This list is based purely on the 7” single and the 7” single only, which coincidentally just celebrated its 60th birthday this year. Happy birthday, the all-magnificent 7″ single. Also, no remixes or live tracks. It has to be something that the band recorded in the studio. Okay?

Just to stress what I said above, this is not a list of the greatest B-sides ever. They’ve already been discussed and there’s no mystery to be found in evaluating old Beatles or Smiths B-sides. I never bought those records at the time, so they never had any impact, and to me “How Soon Is Now“ was just track 5, side 1 of Hatful of Hollow. No moment of “oh wow, they put this on the B-side?” to be found there. This is purely a quick round-up of singles that I once bought and had that exact described “oh wow” moment, which is really what all great B-sides should be judged upon.

With that said (and of which I‘ve meandered far too long already), here, in no particular order, is my rather 80s-centric selection…

1. Duran Duran – “Khanada” (B-side to “Careless Memories”)