MenswearThe Menswear Collection (Limited Signed Edition)

On hearing the news that Menswe@r were to release a 4 CD career spanning box set a few of my friends scoffed, not Menaswea@r, is there enough material, you know the type of dismissive comments, pretty much like the type of dismissive comments Menswe@r received from many quarters in 1995, they were not treated as a serious band by many at all.Forget any preconceptions you have of Menswe@r because this 41 track box set is nothing short of wonderful for it's outstanding value for money price tag of just £22. For starters you get 4 CDs re-mastered in nice, loud sound quality, there's a really comprehensive 28 page book, a delightful signed photo & in typical Britpop style you even get 5 badges. This is before you even get to the bounty of tracks & what a bounty.At the time Menswe@r were heavily slated as Britpop latecomers, hanging on the coat tails of the heavyweights, despite a huge bidding war to sign them, their music was slightly dismissed as lightweight & somewhat basic & to an extent I wouldn't disagree that the 1995 debut album "Nuisance" does sound that way in the main but the songs are strong, 125 West Street is as good an opener as any album track, I'll manage somehow is a top notch single full of power & melody, indeed a Britpop classic as are Hollywood girl & Around you again which still hold up extremely well & the band also show a mellower, more interesting side on the slower ballads including Being brave & Piece of me.Disc 2 is a completist's dream, all of the single B-sides all compiled neatly in order in one place, this is why I like CD box sets, the tracks are not throwaway material either, there's strong stuff here Gentlemen Jim, Back in the bar & Satellite show a heavy Faces, T-Rex & Glam Rock influences, we hear yet another side to the band as they go into total Kinks mode with the plonky piano driven Now is the hour & it's as good as anything on "Nuisance", 26 years takes on an Ennio Morricone Western style instrumental which is also totally unexpected but Sunlight on the moon takes the listener into another dimension again, a huge Felt driven type ballad, it's a thing of beauty. Crash takes us back to the familiar punky Sex Pistols style they are renowned for but again Hanging in the sky takes us on another journey, a trippy psychedelic acoustic strum, once again totally unexpected.Disc 3 is where the real magic happens, the band's 1998 follow up album "Hay tiempo!" was deemed unacceptable by their record label & consequently only saw a release in Japan where the band had a huge fan base, I tracked a copy of the CD at the time & could not believe what I was hearing, the band had totally transformed their sound & the maturity of the writing & arrangements demonstrated the sound of an almost different band, I told as many people as I knew about "Hay tiempo!" but most shrugged, Menswe@r, no thanks, they had been dropped by as many listeners as well as their label but they were all totally wrong....The opener Every sounds a melody is a huge acoustic driven, almost Eagles sounding track full of space & harmony, it forces the listener to stop & pay it the attention it richly deserves. Wait for the sun is a typically Menswe@r sounding guitar driven rocker but it has more maturity, keys, strings & harmony, it could given mid Suede a run for it's money, it could have easily made a big charting single. Silver tongue is a thing of absolute beauty, the heavily harmony driven verses remind me of later Teenage Fanclub doing their Byrds thing, Lower loveday takes us on a psychedelic trip, it's like Temples but 20 years earlier (was this really 20 years ago?) The remainder of the album offers yet more of the same variety, experimentation & indeed quality, listen to Holding tight the acoustic, country twang could be any band, the casual listener would never say this was Menswe@r for a minute. "Hey tiempo!" is THE lost album of the Nineties, I said it at the time & it holds up, sounding equally magnificent today.Disc 4. I wasn't sure where the final disc would go but the jewel of "Hey tiempo!" has been equalled, not so much by the early demos or the delightful cover of Barry Manilow's "Can't smile without you" but the excellent mid period demos including You're never alone in Tokyo, We love you & While he slept.After this something totally unexpected happens, there are 11 brand new tracks labelled as "Hay tiempo!" session tracks but what we are presented with here is surely a third album because these 11 tracks are very strong indeed, Start a fire is good enough to be on any album, once again it has that more mature sound, Why I love her, is outrageous, it's a sure fire indie chart top 10 single, pure bubblegum pop, harmony driven magic. The box set could be worth the money for this track alone. The piano ballad Is this the way, is a beauty, beautiful sliding chords, switching direction giving way to brass & swirling guitar. The Hammond driven Something for nothing & You're not alone takes us to a grown up Supergrass sound but with way more maturity & harmony, these are album tracks that could grace any album without question. Weekday people has that kinksy/Zombies feel with delightful choppy bass, brass & a little nod to Care of cell 44 but it's wonderful, the harmonies on Menswe@r's later work are an absolute joy. Pick me up on your way down is frankly another delight, a beautiful keyboard driven, Sixties influenced big ballad, we close with Make a start, it's astonishing, it's all Beach Boys & Bay City Rollers, full of big harmonies, pop chart accessibility & a brass solo of the highest order, it's ridiculously good. I am sat here opened mouthed listening to the instrumental part, it's as good as anything served up by anyone, it really is.To say I've been shocked by the quality, variety & quantity of unreleased material within this box set would be an understatement, it displays sides to Menswe@r that no one in their wildest dreams would have thought possible. It is likely to be the box set of the year & for £22 it's almost giving it away.

Britpop. Often remembered as just 'Blur versus Oasis', and the soundtrack to New Labour getting into power. As it was, of course, far more than that. Indeed, it's the more fondly remembered minor players - such as Menswe@r - that, now, deserve to be revisited, and relistened to, with more appreciative ears, and far more open minds. So, for those of us who recognised their talent the first time round, you get - here, with this mini-box set - two albums, singles, B-sides, and a mighty bunch of extras. Oh, and let's not forget the signed pic, and pin badges adorned with the band's record sleeve artwork of old. So, 'breathe deeper ... daydreamer', and enjoy!

I won't review the music or the box set because it's almost perfect but CD2 is faulty. Sleeping In (Live) track 20 skips at 3mins 42.The CD itself doesn't skip as the track time runs normally but the source disc must've skipped twice during the copying process,I'm surprised no-one else has mentioned this in their reviews unless they either haven't played the disc or not noticed it.Hopefully someone at the record label picks up on this and corrects the disc.

I love this box set, it looks beautiful and you can see alot of love and heart has been put into it.Really interesting to read the band interviews inside and I loved the badge set that came with.I love their music and this is a treat for fans old and new

One of the ones that got away I missed Menswe@r play Southampton. I missed buying I'll manage somehow. I missed ¡Hay Tiempo!. I wasn't going to miss this. Nice package with badges! Remember getting badges with stuff and on this purchase signed.

Loved Menswe@r since the 90's so this is a brilliant box set to have, not just for the die hard fans but for new music lovers. Thank you Menswe@r.

So glad i bought this box set, nuisance, of course, was a classic of the britpop era and imo they and blur really epitomised this period. Very surprised by iHey Tiempo!, i had not bought it at the time, but its a strong album, quite different from their debut and shows menswear to be much more than how they were hyped. This is a great box set and sooo glad this was released.