''King of Sweet'' is a compilation album by

His Name Is Alive His Name Is Alive is an American experimental rock band/project from Livonia, Michigan. After several self-released cassettes, they debuted on 4AD Records in 1990, starting a long run at the label. Throughout the band's long history, leader Warre ...

, originally released in a limited run by the Perdition Plastics label in 1993. Most, if not all, of the songs had previously appeared on the band's many self-released cassettes in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and some of them had appeared in different versions on the band's 4AD releases.

History

By 1993,

's albums were generally being released by

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" (after the Hendrix album) by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD af ...

in both the USA and the UK. However, leader

Warren Defever Warren Defever (first name often spelled Warn; born April 30, 1969) is a musician and producer, originally from Livonia, Michigan, and now based in Detroit. He is most known for his chameleonic project His Name Is Alive, though he is active in nu ...

did not have an exclusive contract with 4AD. Defever stated in interviews that the arrangement with 4AD was quite loose; 4AD president Ivo Watts-Russell would release what he was interested in, and Defever was free to release the rest elsewhere. While this mostly resulted in homemade cassettes released through Defever's Time Stereo imprint, a CD called ''King of Sweet'' appeared in the fall of 1993. The CD was made up mostly of songs that had appeared on the self-released cassettes, including several songs that eventually appeared on

Home Is in Your Head ''Home Is in Your Head'' is the second studio album by His Name Is Alive, originally released via 4AD in the UK on September 9, 1991, and on Rykodisc in the United States in 1992. History Like their 4AD debut, ''Livonia'', His Name Is Alive's ' ...

. In particular, there are four songs that are based on ''Home Is In Your Heads "Are You Coming Down This Weekend?", albeit in much longer versions than the 18-second version that had originally appeared. The song "Honey Babe, My Blue-Eyed Babe," was recorded in a different version for '' Mouth by Mouth'' under the name "Underwater". "Underwater", however, didn't make the final cut of the album, and remained unreleased until the 1999 compilation ''

Always Stay Sweet ''Always Stay Sweet'' is a compilation album by His Name Is Alive, released by 4AD on February 23, 1999. History ''Always Stay Sweet'' is one of the rare 4AD albums that was released in the USA only, and not the label's native UK. It is a compil ...

''. The original CD release was a limited edition of 2000 numbered copies, making this a highly sought-after and expensive release. It is now available in a remastered form as a downloadable purchase from the Silver Mountain Media website.

Track listing

# "Take a Look around You" # "A Bird in Every Tree" # "This Weekend" # "Drive the Dreamy Demon Down" # "Lake (Theme for Sweet Hearts)" # "Blissfield (Sweet Corn)" # "Bears (King of Sweet)" # "Ode on a Dave Asman" # "A Dave in the Life" # "Honey Babe, My Blue-Eyed Babe" # "The Shepherd's Flute Is Always Playing" # "Are You Coming Down This Weekend?" # "Soul Resides in the Horse Barn" # "Driftin Blues" # "Meet Me by the Moonlight, Alone"

References

{{Authority control 1993 albums His Name Is Alive albums