& we will include a free physical copy with anything purchased while supplies last.  

1. Dot Dash – Airwaves  (Beauty 054)
What more can we say about Dot Dash that we haven’t already said before. They are a solid 3 piece band (like The Jam) who continue to get better with every release and they are now at their 7th album so you can just imagine how impressive they are. Blending Power Pop with Mod and Post Punk with a healthy dose of Jangle making for a perfect listening experience. I chose this song from their latest album “Madman In The Rain” as it has hints of New Order, a band I’m quite fond of. Also keep an eye out for their very first release on vinyl “Sixteen Again” thanks to Ray and Chuck at the fabulous Country Mile Records ( https://www.countrymile.org/ ) who have been hitting them out of the park these days with so many fantastic releases. This is a collection of 16 favourite tracks as chosen by Ray and Chuck and it will be absolutely brilliant.
( https://dotdashdc.bandcamp.com/music )

2. Theatre Royal – Down South With The Chameleons *
This is an incredible band from the Medway that I discovered a few years ago and a band that I would be very proud to have released any of their music but sadly till now, this has never happened, so I’m extremely pleased to include one of their songs on this compilation. And to think this was just a b-side or a track that didn’t make one of their albums, just boggles the mind, so thankfully it was included on a compilation “B-Sides & Other Cuts ” which the Kool Kat Muzik label released and again here for more people to hear. They are one of the finest guitar Pop bands around these days and sadly too few have heard of them. They have a treasure trove of music available on their Bandcamp page (https://theatreroyal.bandcamp.com/merch ) for you to discover – you are in for a treat, and may I suggest you purchase everything they have released, you won’t regret it – enjoy!

3. The Yellow Melodies – Follow The Sun  (Beauty 061)
Another band that are familiar to fans of the beautiful music label is Spain’s The Yellow Melodies, a band that has been around for many years with numerous releases to their credit and a band that are not only musicians but also superfans and record collectors as well. Rafa Skam also runs his own label, a blog and a radio show and plays in other bands as well. They are a band who have great taste in music, as their numerous covers and tributes attest to, recently releasing an album of Ramones covers. Previously they also released 3 full length albums of exclusively covers and also for our label, an EP of Television Personalities covers and another EP of BMX Bandits covers, not to mention a gorgeous cover of a song by Monograph (a band that recorded for the legendary Shinkansen label) for another one of our free samplers. The song “Follow The Sun” is a summer Pop gem taken from the aptly titled album “Sunshine Pop” which will no doubt bring a ray of sunshine into any day and has certainly brightened our imaginary world. Traveller’s Tunes description of “The pop sensibilities of The Lightning Seeds and the jangle of Sarah’s Records collide with a triumphant melancholy a la Teenage Fanclub” really does suit the music– how can you go wrong with that.
( https://theyellowmelodies.bandcamp.com/music )

4. The Milestone Band – Starting Over Again *
The legend of Sarah Records continues to grow with books, tributes and documentaries  made about the label and the many wonderful artists that recorded for the label. The records continue to grow in value and new fans continue to discover the exceptional and timeless music that was released on that label. In 2023 the book ‘These Things Happen” was released along with some corresponding live concerts featuring bands associated with the Sarah label and in 2024 the fine folks behind the Skep Wax label (who were in several Sarah bands) are releasing a sequel to the “Under The Bridge” compilation album featuring many of the acts or musicians who recorded for the Sarah Records label
 ( https://www.skepwax.com/ndrthebridge  ). Quite a few of the bands continue releasing excellent music to this day and are worth searching out. So why all this talk about Sarah Records? Well as you can figure, I am also a big fan of the label and one of my favorites, The Sweetest Ache were a band that seemed to disappear till one day I discovered The Milestone Band and then the band Moore, and then Mumbles, then Summerhouse, all bands that have managed to stay way under the radar but had connections going back to The Sweetest Ache with the talents of Peter Stone & Neil Edmunds. Suffice to say I have wanted to release some of their music for years to let everyone know they were still releasing great music and deserve to be heard. We finally were able to release something by The Milestone Band on the 4th volume of our Television Personalities tribute and 2 more songs by Summerhouse on the previous free sampler and now finally on this sampler another song by The Milestone Band – you are in for a treat. enjoy! And breaking news Summerhouse now have a Bandcamp page – check it out:
( https://summerhouse2.bandcamp.com/music )

5. Hiro, Rie & Yoshito – Kismet  (Michael Head Cover) *
Hiro or Hirotsugu Hosono ( @hiro_monstera on twitter) is probably the biggest Michael Head fan you will ever meet. I’m also a big fan but nowhere close to the level that Hiro is at. He has the largest collection of music, t-shirts, posters and related music merchandise from all the phases of Michael Head’s career from the Pale Fountains and Shack to Michael Head & The Strands to Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band. He doesn’t stop there but also with his band in Japan, Papa San & friends he often records covers of Michael Head songs. That is how I discovered Hiro when I heard about a CD he recorded and released in 2016 – … From Across The Pacific Ocean (Tokyo To Liverpool… The Songs Of “Micheal Head”) where they performed some wonderful Michael Head covers, including some of my favourites like “Comedy”, “Jean’s Not Happening” & “Newby Street”, I wanted a copy in my collection so I reached out to him and purchased a copy. Several years later in 2022, when Michael Head & The Red Elastic band released the amazing “Dear Scott” album, Hiro was at it again and recorded a few more covers of songs from that album – I heard his version of Kismet and loved it and asked Hiro if we could release it, as I wanted more people to hear it, as it didn’t have an officially release. So I’m very proud to be able to include this cover on the compilation and just as Michael Head is preparing to release a brand new album “Loophole”.

6. SUPER 8 – Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb Cover) *
There is no stopping Paul Ryan AKA Trip as he operates under the name SUPER 8, as he continues to release some incredible music in the past few years. He has released at least 9 albums since 2018 on labels like Futureman Records and the Subjangle label and a few self released on Bandcamp. We are quite honoured to have been involved with several of these releases, including his release with Lisa Mychols (beauty 052) and 2023 release “Hoopla” (beauty 058). This Jimmy Webb cover sadly was not on one of our releases, but rather on a free download album on Bandcamp “Raindrops On Roses” and since this Jimmy Webb composition (made popular by Glen Campbell) is one of my all-time favourite songs, we just had to include it on our compilation. It’s an absolutely gorgeous cover and is up there with The Pearlfishers cover of the same song. I highly recommend that you check out the SUPER 8 Bandcamp page and download some of Trip’s magnificent albums – “Universal Journey” from 2022 is a favourite of mine that many folks have probably not heard yet and his tribute to one of his earlier bands “LEGENDS – A Tribute to Astrud” is also highly recommended.
( https://trip8.bandcamp.com/music )

7. Tender Engines – Love Is Blue  (Edward Ball cover – Beauty 030) **
Anyone who knows us will know how much we were fans of the Summershine label, that was founded in 1989 by Jason Reynolds and later associated with the Sub Pop label. Summershine released so many timeless Pop classics from Velvet Crush, The Earthmen, East Village, The Sugargliders, The Springfields, Luna, Autohaze, The Clean, Birdie and even Stephen Duffy and The Pernice Brothers, so you know this label has a cool factor that is off the charts. The label was so highly regarded that the Slumberland label even released a compilation of Summershine singles in 1995 titled – Various – Just A Taste (A Summershine Records Compilation) which is partly how I discovered the label. The Tender Engines were one of the fabulous bands that recorded and released music on the Summershine label and they had 3 songs on the Slumberland release, and great songs at that. They were a favourite of mine even though they never had a chance to release an album, they did leave us with 4 great singles which I managed to track down. Members of The Tender Engines were also associated with other great bands like The Dunaways and The Fish John West Reject (check out our last free sampler for a FJWR track), The Odolites, and Noddy’s Revenge. Thanks to having connected with Harvey Saward while doing the last sampler we inquired whether The Tender Engines might be interested in recording a cover for a future tribute now that they were back together and recording new songs and that’s how this wonderful cover of an Edward Ball song was born. The long awaited Times / Edward Ball tribute is in the works and it is hoped that we can complete it before the year is up. In the meantime, check out the new music by The Tender Engines and keep an eye out for The Tender Engines play Noddy’s Revenge album where they pay tribute to an earlier band that some of the members were involved in and they do a very cool cover of an early Mike Scott song when he was in Another Pretty Face.
( https://tenderengines.bandcamp.com/ )

8. Marc Elston – The Worst Year Of My Life  (Wild Swans Cover) *
You have probably figured out by now that we love a good cover song (by all the tributes we have released and the many covers we have included on free compilations) and Marc Elston has recorded a few brilliant covers through the years that I discovered on his Soundcloud page and various other places. You may even spot another one of his covers on a future tribute. Anyone who covers The Wild Swans is someone who has great taste so we asked Marc if we could include this cover and he was happy to go along with the idea. I’m hoping that Paul Simpson gets a chance to hear this and realize how much his music has meant to so many other people. The Wild Swans really deserve way more attention and with Paul’s new book just released and Grant McPhee’s film documenting the Liverpool scene soon to be released, a few more people may finally discover the absolutely gorgeous music of The Wild Swans. This is our small contribution to spreading this music around but please go out and buy any Wild Swans records you can find. As for Marc Elston, he is an amazing talent in his own right and has played in several bands that I’m quite fond of, like Bulldozer Crash and The Liberty Ship with releases on labels like Matinee, Sunday Records and the Jigsaw label. He has several solo releases as well and creates beautiful music that is well worth searching out but it may not be easy to find.

9. The Names – Kissing In The Dark  (The Sound cover – Beauty 049)
The Names were a Brussels new wave band originally active between 1979 and 1982, and were associated with legendary labels Factory Records and Les Disques du Crepuscule and worked with legendary producer Martin Hannett. I remember purchasing their first single “ Spectators Of Life” around 1980 and I was hooked. Their next single which came out on Factory Records “Nightshift” was also brilliant and they followed that up with an album entitled “Swimming” which are all highly recommended. There were a few more releases and then they went quiet and pursued other interests but reformed in 2007 and have been quite active with more releases and several reissues as well. I can’t tell you how pleased we were and very honoured that they were willing to record an Adrian Borland cover for our tribute and it is a beautiful cover in true Names fashion. Since it is taking us a bit longer (maybe a lot longer) than we had anticipated, we thought we would slip in a preview on this compilation. We are hoping to complete the 2nd volume of the Adrian Borland / Sound tribute later this year when you will be treated to this cover once again along with many other wonderful covers. Please check out The Names online on their Facebook page or on the LTM label that has released quite a number of their recordings.
( https://www.facebook.com/thenamesmusic ) or ( https://www.ltmrecordings.com/the_names.html )

10.  Lisa Mychols & SUPER 8 – Flying Close To The Sun  (Beauty 052)
Well what do you get when you combine two musical geniuses together? Well an album by Lisa Mychols & SUPER 8 obviously and this one was a bit of a dream partnership, as I was already a huge fan of both these fine musicians and together they created a truly beautiful album of twists and turns, showing off a multitude of influences and their exceptional talents. We featured a song from this album on our last compilation but there are so many great songs so here is another one of my favorites and really highlights the dreamy and joyful sound that can transport you into a different time and place, a happy place. This is the power of a great song and shows off the varied talents of Lisa & Ryan (aka Trip). Although they have moved on to other projects, both these incredible talents continue to release some truly beautiful music and as mentioned earlier, a new album by SUPER 8 came out in 2023 on the beautiful music label.
( https://lisamychols.bandcamp.com/ ) or ( https://trip8.bandcamp.com/ )

11.  Emma Sounds – Part Time Punks  (TVP cover – Beauty 035)
Another new band to enter the imaginary world of the beautiful music is Emma Sounds all the way from Mexico and provides us with a cover of one of Television Personalities classic songs “Part Time Punks”. We know very little about this mysterious band, other than Millo Salgado is the genius behind the project but we do know they have created some absolutely gorgeous instrumental music that you can probably find on their Soundcloud page and they also sent us a few TVP covers so you will most likely be hearing from them again on our long overdue instrumental compilation and definitely on the next installment of our incredibly insane Television Personalities tribute series. Welcome to the world of Emma Sounds.
( https://soundcloud.com/millo-salgado )

12.  Robert Rotifer – Red With Purple Flashes  (The Times Cover – Beauty 030)
Robert Rotifer has been releasing music since 1996 but it wasn’t till 2011 and thanks to Edwyn Collins AED label, that I discovered his wonderful music when he released “The Hosting Couple” album. He has worked with Wreckless Eric, Pete Astor and collaborated with Darren Hayman (Hefner) and Ian Button (who runs the amazing Gare du Nord label and has worked with Dot Allison , Death in Vegas, Papernut Cambridge, Swansea Sound, The Catenary Wires, The Night Mail, Thrashing Doves). A few years after that release, Mike Stone, who played with Television Personalities on their later releases tells me he is playing with Robert now and they may be interested in doing a cover for one of our tributes and having started work on our Times / Edward Ball tribute it was a perfect fit to include several musicians that I was quite fond of, doing a cover of an absolute classic by The Times. The recording was completed in 2013/2014 and sadly it has been sitting gathering dust in the vaults, as the tribute kept getting delayed. With the work started on this compilation, I couldn’t bear keeping this song to myself any longer so permission was granted to include it on this release, as the wait continued for the official release of the tribute (It is our hope to complete it later this year). Robert has also worked as a presenter on several radio shows and also as a music journalist and as a curator for the Popfest on Karlsplatz in Vienna. I’ve also heard that Robert played in a mod band The Electric Eels many years ago and would love to hear any recordings they did. Enjoy this excellent cover and if you like Robert’s music please check out his many other releases.
( https://robertrotifer.bandcamp.com/music ) or ( https://robertrotifer.co.uk/ )

13.  Roy Moller – Byers Road Saturday  (Beauty 017)
We have released a few wonderful albums with Roy Moller already and Roy has done radio sessions with Marc Riley at the BBC and has worked with a  member of Belle & Sebastian in The Store Keys and has been involved with several other bands and musicians and is a true undiscovered talent. He has had releases on several cool labels like Slumberland, Felicite, Edition 59, Pickled Egg, Heliotone including many on the Stereogram Recordings label which you can find on Roy’s Bandcamp page. We also just released the “Songs From Be My Baby” album which accompanies his book “Be My Baby” that documents his search for his biological parents and his discovery of his Scottish/Canadian roots. This song however was taken from his very first album on the beautiful music ” Playing Songs No One’s Listening To”.
( https://roymoller.bandcamp.com/ )

14.  Armstrong – Cosmos World *
Julian Pitt (aka Armstrong) has been described as “one of the finest songwriters in the United kingdom at the moment”, “one of music’s best kept secrets’, a “neglected pop genius” and “the unheralded prince of pastoral-pop” so who are we to argue. We have been so smitten with the genuinely beautiful songs of Armstrong, that we have already released 4 albums of his songs and there are likely to be more in the future, His last album “Happy Graffiti” (Beauty 034) was a joint release with the Country Mile label in the UK and contained many shimmering timeless melodies. This song however has not had a physical release yet but was included on a wonderful self-released digital EP that can be found on his Bandcamp page. We loved this song and thought a few more people would enjoy hearing it, so it is our immense pleasure to include it on this label sampler. If you are interested in learning a bit more about Armstrong, check out the interview with Kevin McGrath https://redsoapbox.tumblr.com/post/676839147099553792/as-happy-graffiti-wows-the-critics-julian-pitt and the lovely radio interview with Adrian Goldberg. If you are a fan of Roddy Frame, The Pearlfishers, Prefab Sprout, Lloyd Cole and sounds like these, you may find the music of Armstrong extremely enjoyable.
( https://armstrong2.bandcamp.com/ )

15.  The Black Watch featuring Julie Schulte – Julie *
We still can’t believe that The Black Watch are not loved by every music lover out there. Their music catalogue is more than impressive with at least 23 albums as of today’s date along with some compilations and many singles and I know a few more albums are likely to be released very soon. Trouser Press says it better than I could “ It’s astonishing that a group as dedicated to quality and craft as California’s Black Watch could go for two decades with a cult following the size of a kitchen sponge. Literature professor/bandleader John Andrew Frederick and his cohorts have become experts at straining influences — mostly ’80s British guitar pop, with a sprinkling of Dylan and Velvets — through a distinctive sieve, making warm, melodic music that tweaks the mind as much as the heart. The band’s body of work is remarkably consistent, worth searching out by more than just epicures of obscurity.” If you don’t already have it, a great place to start is “31 Years Of Obscurity: The Best Of The Black Watch: 1988-2019” released on Atom Records. This beautiful song was taken from the “Brilliant Failures” album released on the fantastic A Turntable Friend label in Germany and is a bit of a departure from the usual, having a guest vocalist, Julie Schulte do the singing but it’s absolutely gorgeous. So do yourself a favour and check out more of the brilliant sounds of The Black Watch.
( https://theblackwatch.bandcamp.com/ )

16.  Royal Ottawa – Carcosa *
This compilation has many rare gems but this one from local Ottawa band Royal Ottawa also comes with some extensive personal history but first I will share this quote by Tim Hinely “I have no idea where this band has been or where they are going, but Carcosa is the gleaming jewel hiding in the basement that needs to be seen/heard. – Daggerzine. Here is the story that shines some light on my musical tastes as a young lad in Ottawa. Most of the band members of Royal Ottawa were previously in the band Bugs Harvey Oswald a band my brother and I probably saw around a dozen times in the 80’s, making them one of the bands that we saw more than any other band (excluding Jonathan Richman who we probably saw a few more times) and for good reason as they were a great live band. They appeared on the Ottawa scene as if from nowhere, fully formed and sounding exceptionally brilliant, blending punk and post punk energy with the sophistication of bands like Roxy Music and Bowie, so it’s easy to see why we were hooked. The history is a bit hazy but we found out later that there was links to Ireland where the band’s origins seem to have germinated. They seemed to be everywhere and played opening sets for many bands that visited Ottawa like Mission Of Burma and even The Fall and their music was being played on all the cool radio stations like CKCU and  CBC when they  released a 7″ single “Bye Bye” (1982). Then it all ended and that album that we eagerly wished for never materialized. Not sure what happened but most likely real life got in the way. Many years later I heard rumors that some of the band members were involved in a band called Royal Ottawa and they released a mini album on CD in 1996 which wasn’t easy to locate, something that became a recurring theme. Shortly after that they seemed to vanish again.  Many years later in later in 2015 Royal Ottawa reappeared (and I know I’m skipping a lot of detail to try and keep this brief and not mentioning their side project The Lake Effect Sound, another rare release) with an album “The World We Know”, released only on vinyl and again extremely hard to find. Now skip to 2023 and I’m listening to dj tic on CKCU and there is an interview with the band Royal Ottawa and my ears perk up when I hear there us a brand new double album called Carcosa in the works and I didn’t have to wait another 20 years for a new release. I can no longer contain myself, I need to get in touch with the band and help them out so a few more people get to hear this magnificent album,  so I’m including a song from the album here.
( https://royalottawa.bandcamp.com/album/carcosa ) or ( https://www.royalottawa.ca/ )

17.  Lovejoy – Someone To Share My Life With  (TVP Cover – Beauty 005)
We have released a few Television Personalities tributes, four actually to be exact (well 8 if you count all the bonus discs) and this song goes back to the very first volume (Beauty 005) and this beautiful cover really deserves more listens which is why we included it here. Lovejoy has connections to the Sarah band Blueboy with Keith Girdler and Paul Stewart having worked with Richard Preece, the main person behind Lovejoy on several releases. They have released three highly recommended albums and numerous singles on the wonderful Matinee record label including a wonderful 7” tribute to Biff Bang Pow! Under the name Lovejoy! and covered Tears For Fears “Mad World” with the band The Snowdrops – all worth searching for. They are currently working on a brand new album after a few years of inactivity when it comes to releases. Lovejoy will also be included on several of our upcoming tributes. And I recently discovered that the Daydream records label will be reissuing the first Lovejoy album on vinyl. How cool is that!
( https://shop.matineerecordings.com/collections/lovejoy )

18.  Honeybourne – Beautiful Progress (Beauty 056)
We would like to welcome another new artist to our imaginary world. Honeybourne is the musical creation of Rob Morgan, a man of great taste and distinction and author of several blogs including the wonderful “A Goldfish Called Regret” and “Mangled Tapes” and recently another blog about The Teardrop Explodes, “Exploding The Teardrops” ( https://explodingteardrops.blogspot.com/ ). He has many releases on Bandcamp and has worked with folks from The Irony Board and Si Farrier in Milk Bottle Sympathy and on covers of songs by New Order and The Wake with Si just to mention a few things. We are looking forward to releasing a full album by Honeybourne in the near future but while you wait here is a teaser we couldn’t resist including as it includes the word beautiful in the title and because it is such a gorgeous song. Check out Honeybourne’s Bandcamp page where you will find plenty of music to enjoy.
( https://honeybourne.bandcamp.com/music )

19.  S K Y T O N E – All Night *
The band S K Y T O N E are not only a staple at the beautiful music, but the two brothers Rod and Darius, who make up the band, are one of the main reasons we started the beautiful music label, to share their songs while they were in the band Tremolo. Since then we have released 3 full length albums by them and several singles and joint projects and even a remix EP. Recently they self-released a 4th album “Adrift” which caught the attention of the cool Japanese label Galaxy Train who released a version on collectible cassette. The song “All Night” is taken from an even more recent digital single which has yet to be on a physical release of any kind but is very worthy of inclusion here. If you haven’t discovered S K Y T O N E yet, you are in for a treat as there is quite a wealth of wonderful music to discover and no doubt more coming soon.
( https://skytone1.bandcamp.com/music )

20.  Rachel Love – Far Away *
We have kept the best gem for the closing track, and what a beautiful gem of a song it is by Rachel Love and the perfect closing track. It’s possible that some of you reading this have heard this song before, as it was included on her self-released “Picture In Mind” album on Bandcamp, but I’m sure for many it will be the first time you are hearing this song, so you are in for a real treat. Rachel Love really should be a household name, and it’s quite likely you have even heard her beautiful voice before as she once was one of the backing singers for Captain Sensible on some huge worldwide hits he had. Rachel was also one third of the band Dolly Mixture, who recently have been having a bit of renewed interest with several reissues and compilations of their wonderful music.  Her Bandcamp bio says it well: “Rachel was guitarist and singer in the seminal 70/80’s band Dolly Mixture who were signed to Paul Wellers’ ‘Respond’ label and championed by The Undertones & John Peel. She was the singer in the band ‘Spelt’ and has released her first solo album ‘Picture in Mind’ in 2021. Also half of the Light Music Company.’ She has recently also worked with Martin Newell of The Cleaners From Venus fame and we are certainly hoping that there will be more music by Rachel in the near future.
( https://rachellove.bandcamp.com/music )