The Features - God Save Rock n Roll

posted 6 hours ago #

A few weeks back I was browsing the bootleg archives of TheFeatures.live and ran across this show from 2000 where the band played the song "God Save Rock n' Roll." This was before they were signed to Universal, before they had released their EP The Beginning but were strongly established as a fan favorite. You can hear the crowd singing along with every word.

Eventually the band did release The Beginning, which caught the ear of Universal and got them signed. In 2003, they headed down to Oxford, MS to make their major label debut with producers Mike McCarthy (Spoon) and Craig Krampf. They recorded 17 songs during that month of sessions. Together, they mixed the record and turned it over to the label - including a proper version of "God Save Rock n' Roll."

The label made some changes to the track listing, got the band to re-record some things and even had a new mix done. It's not unusual major label behavior and it was intended to be helpful; to give the band the best shot at breaking through to an audience. The band eventually released that album, entitled Exhibit A, in 2004. It launched their career and gained them much a bigger fanbase than the tiny capacity crowd back in 2000. But that recording of "God Save Rock n' Roll" was never released.

Until now.

After twenty-six years as a fan favorite, "God Save Rock n' Roll" is available as part of a reissue aptly entitled Exhibit A (Original Sweet Tea Mix). This twenty-seven track collection is exactly what it sounds like, the original mixes that the band and the producers created back in 2003 (bundled with a ton of demos, including a demo for "God Save Rock n' Roll." We liked it so much, we're releasing it twice!). This is their sonic vision of what the major label debut would have sounded like, sourced directly from McCarthy's mixes.

The album is available in my shop, on Bandcamp and on Ampwall. It will be streaming Friday, Apr 10.

This is already a massive post so I will refrain from adding too much else but I have been working on this for two and a half years. Not all day, every day, but steadily for years. I am overjoyed that it actually exists and is available for others to enjoy. I hope you'll partake.