MP3: The Wildhearts - Endless Nameless

The Wildhearts gained success through a rather nifty mixture of heavy rock and super poppy melody, and by doing so basically invented 'Britrock'. They're probably the most underrated and yet influential British band of the last 20 years. Without them you'd have no Ash, Feeder, Three Colours Red, etc etc. Now I used to be quite a big fan of them. I went through a phase of buying every single thing I could lay my hands on, as I used to do whenever I went crazy for a band. However I recently relistened to a lot of it and it seems that they're another of those bands that you obsess over for a year and then never really get back into. It's certainly true for most of their catalogue. However one album is it not true of is 1997's Endless Nameless.

Recorded when the band were on the verge of their first major drug/drink/mayhem fuelled split, and just about all of them were taking enough illegal substances to make Pete Docherty look like a four year old sniffing sherbert for kicks in comparison. Out of that drug fuelled haze came this album. One of the best produced records I've ever heard, and certainly one of the loudest. It's not really surprising that most Wildhearts fans didn't take kindly to Endless Nameless when it was first released.

From the start it's completely unlike any other Wildhearts album. Gone are the melodic choruses and the millions of melodic guitar hooks they used to fit into each song, to be replaced by the most fantastically distorted mess of instruments i've ever heard. And yet the loyalty of the bands fans meant that the first single from it, Anthem, still went into the charts and gave them a Top of the Pops appearance. When you hear it you'll see how bizarre that must have been. The sonic booms that occur in that song and throughout the album are really something amazing. If only they'd test the stereos they install on Pimp My Ride with this record. That would be incredible.

The album doesn't really calm down at all. Even the few slower songs are still smothered in distortion, and yet it remains incredibly listenable, as the bands usual great songwriting still shines desperately through everything thats trying to obscure it. If you ever listen to one Wildhearts record, make it this one. Unsurprisingly the album was a very very poor seller, and the band split very shortly after. They've since reformed, released a new record, and then split again. For more info on the band check out the official website or this rather nifty page on Wikipedia. Enjoy.

Download: Anthem - MP3 2.66mb (rapidshare)
Download: Pissjoy - MP3 4.10mb (rapidshare)
Download: Why You Lie - MP3 3.66mb (rapidshare)

Discography: (minus a few out of print releases)

(click to buy at amazon.co.uk)

Don't Be Happy, Just Worry (1992)	Earth VS. The Wildhearts (1993)	PHUQ (1995)
Best Of... (1996)	Endless Nameless (1997)	The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed (2003)
Coupled With (2004)	The Wildhearts Strike Back (2004)	Silver Ginger 5: Black Leather Mojo (2000)
Ginger: Greivous Acoustic Behaviour Live At The 12 Bar (2001)	Ginger: A Break In The Weather (2005)