Sidi Bou Said were a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band, who existed during the 1990s, formed by Claire Lemmon (guitar and vocals), Gayl Harrison (bass guitar) and Melanie Woods (drums and vocals). Their music combined an

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

/folk sound with complex arrangements and literate lyrics. They were often compared to

Throwing Muses Throwing Muses are an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, United States, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects. The group was originall ...

and

the Pixies Pixies is an American alternative rock band formed in 1986, in Boston, Massachusetts. Until 2013, the band consisted of Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim Deal (bass, vocals) and David Lovering ...

, with whom they shared a taste for sometimes uncomfortable lyrical themes - murder, religion, the workings of the human body and surrealist stories and films. Their name comes from a town in Tunisia. Sidi Bou Said's debut album was produced by

Tim Friese-Greene Timothy Alan Friese-Greene is an English musician and producer. He worked with the band Talk Talk from 1983 to their breakup in 1991. He currently releases solo albums under the name "Heligoland". He is the grandson of filmmaker Claude Friese-Gre ...

. Their next two

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s were produced by members of

Cardiacs Cardiacs are an English rock band formed in Kingston upon Thames by Tim Smith (lead guitar and vocals) and his brother Jim (bass, backing vocals) in 1977 under the name Cardiac Arrest. The band's sound fused circus, baroque pop and medieval mu ...

, and they were regular contributors to their stage shows and recordings. In 2001, they briefly reformed, with an additional guitarist under the name Tetra, and played a one-off reunion gig as Sidi Bou Said on 15 December 2005 at The Water Rats, London.

Discography

Albums

*''Broooch'' (1993 Ultimate Records TOPPLP005/TOPPCD005) The first 1000 LPs came with a free 7 inch "Vapona" / "River Man" - TOPPLP005S **"Urge" / "My Cat is my Bridesmaid" / "Handstand" / "Goblin Market" / "Thing" / "Glassmouth" / "Taste" / "Terrible Secret" / "Mary Mary" / "Dracula" / "Three Sides" / "Fallow" *''Bodies'' (1995 Ultimate Records TOPPLP034/TOPPCD034) The first 1000 LPs came in a gatefold sleeve with lyrics - TOPPLP034S **"Hyde" / "Practise Walking" / "Wormee/Magnet" / "Bovary" / "Big Yellow Taxidermist" / "Ode To Drink" / "Brittle" / "Lefthanded" / "Slitty Gap" / "Nurse" / "Sicky Vomit" *''Entertain'' (1995 Ultimate Records TOPPMLP040) Limited edition LP recorded live at The Garage, London 31 August 1995 **"Buzz" / "Magnet" / "Slitty Gap" / "Goblin Market" / "Ode To Drink" / "Big Yellow Taxidermist" *''Obsessive'' (1997 Ultimate Records TOPPLP053/TOPPCD053) **"Obsessive" / "Like You" / "Stopper" / "Funnybody" / "Zazie (Dans Le Metro)" / "Minotaur" / "Harold and Maude" / "Bridge Song" / "Bella" / "Rat King" / "Seams Undone" / "20,000 Horses" **The CD was packaged in a jewel case that has a small six-sided die in the spine. The CD booklet folds out so that the lyrics & album information are on one side, and on the back is a game board for "OBSESSIVE: A game of death and paranoia for 2 to 6 players". There is also an insert with 6 rat-shaped playing pieces you can cut out for playing the game.

Singles

*"Twilight Eyes" (1993 Ultimate Records TOPP014) *"Buzz" / "Faster" on limited edition 7 inch/CD; c/w Buzz/Faster/Glow-Worm (live) on 12 inch *"Three Sides" (1993 Ultimate Records TOPP017) ''c/w Romp on 7 inch; c/w Romp/Wild on 12 inch/CD'' *"Thing" (1994 Ultimate Records TOPP023) *''c/w Lukewarm on 7 inch; c/w Lukewarm/These Things on CD'' *"Wormee" (1995 Ultimate Records TOPP031) ''c/w Throwing Myself Off A Building (acoustic)/On My Tongue (acoustic)/My Secret Garden (acoustic) on 10 inch; c/w Slitty Gap/Throwing Myself Off A Building (acoustic) on CD'' *"Ode To Drink" (1995 Ultimate Records TOPP037) ''c/w Faster (acoustic) on 7 inch; c/w Blood/Faster (plus vite) on CD'' *"Funnybody" (radio edit) (1996 Ultimate Records TOPP050) ''c/w Red Bus Rover on 7 inch picture disc; c/w Fishy/Funnybody on CD'' *"Like You" (1997 Ultimate Records TOPP057) ''c/w Obsessive/New Skin/Long, Long, Long on CD1''; c/w ''Obsessive/Head in Sand/Sylvie on CD2''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidi Bou Said English alternative rock groups English rock music groups