American alt-rock band Cracker have had an interesting relationship with compilation records, at least greatest hits/best of collections. The first Cracker compilation, 2000’s Garage d’Or issued by Virgin, excelled with a limited edition version which included an extra disc of rarities and previously unreleased material. Six years later in 2006 two competing compilations were released on the same day (21 February): Get On With It: The Best of Cracker, released by Virgin without the band’s cooperation repeating eight of the tracks from Garage d’Or, and in competition Greatest Hits Redux, released by Cooking Vinyl with cunningly rerecorded versions differentiated by new lyrics or arrangements. The two albums “shared” nine of these same-same-but-different songs. Greatest Hits Redux surely won the fan vote through band allegiance plus the new song “Something You Ain’t Got”, which would be released later in the year on Greenland, and a reduced price on iTunes.
The band continued to record and play live in the years that followed – Greenland (2006), Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey (2009), Berkeley to Bakersfield (2014) and live albums. During this period 2010’s Live at the Rockpalast Crossroads Festival was bundled with Greatest Hits Redux and issued for direct sale by the band as the double CD Welcome to Cracker (2019), but effectively all of the record company collections were now historic. This new release, Alternative History, a Cracker Retrospective, attempts to bring things up to date, as well as challenge algorithmic streaming playlists which have pointed listeners towards Cracker’s early albums. As the name suggests, Alternative History is not a traditional studio collection, but uses re-recordings, demos, outtakes, collaborations and live tracks, bypassing the cost of licensing tracks from the Virgin and Concord catalogue.
There’s much included, with 24 tracks across two CDs or triple vinyl. There’s nine live tracks, five from Live in Madrid (2022), three from Live at the Rockpalast Crossroads Festival (2010) and one from website/merch table release Berlin (2007). The choice of live tracks should appeal to fans, with the relative rarity of “River Euphrates”, originally from the Tucson EP (1992), and performances which show the band’s versatility from full volume on “Movie Star” to the unexpectedly sedate version of “Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey”.
Six tracks are from Greatest Hits Redux (2006) and three from Cracker’s bluegrass re-interpretation album with Leftover Salmon, O’ Cracker, Where Art Thou? (2003). Perhaps surprisingly there’s only one studio track from the later albums, “I Need Better Friends” (from 2006’s Greenland), but anyway what will be of most interest to fans is the previously unreleased material, namely what are billed as two re-recordings, an acoustic version, a new version and a demo.
Of the re-recordings: “Sick of Goodbyes” is a new interpretation of a song originally on 1993’s Kerosene Hat, reframed with members of Drive-By Truckers, Brad Morgan and Jay Gonzales and transformed from the determined guitar rock of the original to regretful country. “Almond Grove” is a new recording of the song originally on 2014’s Berkeley to Bakersfield, but post-coitus, after the album was released; David Lowery initiated this new recording with producer John Keane who lived close by, as Lowery was not satisfied with the vocals and banjo playing on the album version. The new version features Keane playing a number of instruments as well as engineering and mixing the track. To these ears the original sounded good but the song is certainly enhanced in this new recording with its subtle instrumentation. Also in a new version and originally from Berkeley to Bakersfield is “King of Bakersfield”, a “recent mostly acoustic performance” with accordion work by Jeremy Lawton. This gentle warm arrangement brings out the humour of the song.
”Emily’s version” of Cracker’s Christmas song “Merry Christmas Emily” turns what was a raucous full-on seasonal nightmare from 2002’s Forever into melancholy, with a country arrangement featuring Jeremy Lawton (Big Head Todd and the Monsters) and a vocal counterpart by Megan Slankard. And then finally long terms fans will be delighted with an inside view into the early stages of the musical partnership between Cracker founders Lowery and Johnny Hickman by the inclusion of the demo of “Father Winter”. This was recorded in the years BC, Before Cracker, with a Hickman lead vocal. Although this particular song remained destined for a solo release on Hickman’s 2005’s Palmhenge, it may well have inspired the continued adventure to come.
Available on 3LP LTD Edition Yellow, White & Orange Vinyl with 12 page booklet, and 2CD digisleeve with 28 page booklet.
Label: Cooking Vinyl
Release Date: 22 NOV 2024
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