3 Loop Music / Cherry Red / Essential are proud to announce the re-release of Longpigs – On And On: The Anthology.
The 32 track, 2CD set includes:
- All the band’s singles
- Five Top 40 hits, amongst them the indie anthems She Said, Far, Jesus Christ and Lost Myself
- Key tracks from their two albums, The Sun Is Often Out and Mobile Home
- Major b-sides most notably Tendresse, an early Richard Hawley penned track, a sign of his glittering career to follow
- Five previously unreleased tracks, including tracks from their two BBC Radio 1 Sessions
- 32 tracks charting almost the full recording career of one of the coolest bands to ever call Sheffield, Steel City home
Crispin Hunt, Richard Hawley, Simon Stafford and Dee Boyle formed Longpigs in 1993 from the ashes and ranks of several Sheffield bands, including The Happening Men, The Lovebirds and Cabaret Voltaire.
Never a band to deliberately court commerciality, Longpigs were a band to inspire and well over a decade later you can still tune that radio dial and hear their songs sounding as fresh and innovative as the day they were crafted.
Life for Longpigs could have been short-lived, literally. Singer Crispin Hunt's near fatal car crash could have spelt the end just as the journey had begun. Once fully recovered and with a deal with Elektra Records, Crispin and the rest of Longpigs could look forward to the release of their first single.
Before this could happen life threw the band another roadblock and Elektra folded. It took U2's Mother Records and a reputed £500,000 to buy the band out of their deal and get them back on track. Extensive worldwide touring, hit singles and gold album, The Sun Is Often Out, lauded in the NME and Q Album Of The Year Charts, all pointed to money well spent. US tours supporting Echo & The Bunnymen and U2 and a second album, Mobile Home, preceded a hammer blow from their old friend fate as the band imploded and their label folded (again!). This final piece of bad luck persuaded Longpigs to call time on an all too brief career.
Following the split Crispin Hunt formed ‘Mayonnaise’ and ‘Gramercy’ before concentrating on songwriting and producing (Jake Bugg, Florence And The Machine, Newton Faulkner, Ellie Goulding) whilst Richard Hawley joined Pulp prior to launching a hugely successful solo career encompassing two Mercury Music Prize nominated albums. Simon Stafford joined Joe Strummer's ‘Mescaleros’ and has worked extensively with Jarvis Cocker.
Review:
“A lush, beautiful, enchanting, and passionately delivered set of
songs”
Clash Magazine 9/10