Plan B - No Good

I continued buying Plan B records long after the point when I should have stopped. This is a prime example of one such record. The LP had been out a whole year and I found this 12" of No Good in my local HMV. The song was one I was familiar with from the 7"s and it did little for me - in a lot of ways it was the exact opposite of the Plan B I'd got into; a guy rapping over an acoustic guitar. It wasn't a surprise that the album had gone that way - it was probably going to sell more records, sadly (although I wonder if that wasn't the case in the end).

Anyway, I got this one afternoon in Lancaster. Term had just finished in my last year and I was heading back to Winchester for Glastonbury, before returning to Lancaster a week later to get my final results and get drunk a few last times before leaving university permanently (as it happened, I couldn't get my results when I went back because my result was on the border of two grades, so I had to wait another few weeks. Still, it was fun going back for those last few nights of carnage. I've never returned to Lancaster). Knowing I was going to spend 10 hours on the train over a week, I went to HMV to buy some dvds to watch on my laptop, and found the Die Hard trilogy boxset for a very reasonable price, which certainly made the train journey much less painful.

I also found this 12" and decided to pick it up. I don't know why - it's certainly by no means an essential purchase. I think I'd been in the habit for the past four years of buying whatever vinyl I could get my hands on up there that I felt I had to. It's rather fitting that my last purchase up there was so terrible, in a way.

Like I said, the single itself does little for me. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the two remixes do even less. The second in particular is just mindless in what the remix adds. Chase & Status were pretty popular at the time, but I couldn't see the appeal. It wasn't my thing, I guess. Where Ya From? was another album-track, but here with added vocals by JME and Skepta, which might be of interest to some people, but really means very little to me.

Format: 12"

Tracks: 4

Cost: £3.60 new

Bought: HMV Lancaster

When: 28/06/07

Colour: Black

Etching: none

mp3s: no

Plan B - Live at the Pet Cemetery EP

No More Eatin' was one of the few good songs on Plan B's debut album that hadn’t been knocking around for years on EPs (so here's an EP with it on). I have very strong memories of seeing him play this song at Reading - most of my memories of seeing him play are from the first time at Roskilde, but this is one of my few memories of the other times I saw him. I also saw him at Fabric, which was the least memorable - the only stand up out moment was a friend being shocked that he was rapping about EastEnders.

As a treat (of sorts), we get two new songs, something there weren't many of around that time. The first, My Life, seems to be an attack on the criticisms he must have had about the album. It's nice to hear him angry - it works. I also wonder if it's the closest we've had so far to a song that wasn't written in the third person. Broke takes that further - seems he decided to turn that tap on for a bit. I never heard his subsequent albums, so maybe this was a sign of things to come.

Format: 7", picture sleeve
Tracks: 3
Cost: £2.70 new
Bought: HMV, Lancaster
When: 30/10/06
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Plan B - Mama

This 7" really adds very little to my record collection. In fact, it's definitely one of the most unnecessary vinyl purchases I've ever made. It's something of a comfort that it was only £1, from back in the day when you could buy 7" records for just £1. On the other hand, for £1 you usually got at least two songs, but here we are treated to just one song and an etched b-side - and not a very interesting etching at that.

Mama was one of the singles from Plan B's debut album, Who Needs Actions When You've Got Words - an album that relied heavily on the songs he’d released on EPs and various smaller releases ahead of the major label debut. On top of that, it just wasn't a very good song. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Mama was one of my least favourite Plan B songs. Between the shitty lyrics about crack pipes and that terrible chorus it really did nothing for me. It was too R&B musically and too cliched lyrically - there was nothing to enjoy about either part. I was disappointed by the album in general, and this was the pinnacle of that disappointment. There's really no need to own that song on a 7" on it's own.

Format: 7", picture sleeve
Tracks: 1
Cost: £1 new
Bought: HMV Winchester
When: 12/07/06
Colour: Black
Etching: Laser-etched lyrics
mp3s: no

Plan B - Sick 2 Def / No Good

Sick 2 Def was another song I remember from Plan B's incredible Roskilde set in 2005; it's arguably the pinnacle of what he was doing back then – acoustic and mind-blowingly dense raps, more intricate than a lot of rappers would dare to try. The third verse is of course the real party-piece, where he raps a story in reverse about a man getting stabbed because the attacker heard a Plan B song. He credits Nas with doing it first, but makes it his own. It's hard to not stop what you're doing and listen to the carefully told reverse story reach it's crescendo. I'm still impressed by it, even 12 years after first hearing it.

No Good is to Sick 2 Def on this 7” what Kidz was to Dead and Buried on the first 7" – annoyingly produced rather than acoustic, but still with interesting raps. The raps themselves pale in comparison to Sick 2 Def, but almost any song would, so I guess using a song that sounds entirely different is the best trick to make them stand apart without that comparison.

I don't know exactly when this 7" came out, but I found it in my local HMV when I was back from Australia for Christmas. I was pleased at the time to add it to my collection – I suspect I would have gone to some effort to get a copy had I known it was coming out. Of course, now, I'm less fussed, but it is worth the money alone to have that incredible acoustic rendition of Sick 2 Def.

Format: 7", gatefold sleeve

Tracks: 2

Cost: £2.50 new

Bought: HMV Winchester

When: 09/01/06

Colour: Black

Etching: none

mp3s: no

Plan B - Kidz / Dead and Buried

Before you judge me for owning a Plan B record (or five, as it happens), it's very important to explain just how incredible he was live the first time we saw him. I use a lot of hyperbole on here, but that show was so, so great that I still think quite highly of him for that gig alone, despite the fact I probably shouldn't.

In 2005 some friends and I went to Roskilde for the first time. On the Friday we'd seen quite a mixture of bands - including Snoop Dogg, Isis, Audioslave and Black Sabbath (that festival really knew how to have a varied line-up). After Sabbath we went back to the tents and some of the group went to sleep. Hugh and I saw there were some British hip-hop acts playing a late-night showcase in one of the smaller tents so figured we might as well check it out. First up was an act called Plan B, who we knew basically nothing about.

He came on stage with an acoustic guitar (which was unexpected) and proceeded to spit the most jaw-dropping rhymes over this angry acoustic music. It was captivating - the stories and characters he strung together over the dense verses had the crowd hanging on his every word. Given that a large percentage of them didn't have English as their first language, it says a lot that a rapper can tell such clearly engrossing stories to such an audience and wow them all equally (I guess it helps that the music was acoustic, as it made it easier to hear what he was saying). The tent was quite empty to start with, but I turned around at the end and it was nearly full; everyone giving him their full attention.

I distinctly remember a few of the songs he played, and a lot of them ended up on his first few 7"s and the first LP. The stories and characters he sang about were so detailed that hearing them again instantly took me right back to that night at Roskilde. In 2005 he released his first 7", a double a-side of Kidz and Dead and Buried, both I remembered vividly from the Roskilde show from the song titles alone. This version of Kidz is musically a world apart from the acoustic show – it's entirely beeps and electronic noises, which is shame – but lyrically still tells us about arrogant, aggressive, modern youths, sung from the first-person. It's hard to not hearing it as the words of Plan B himself, meaning the pairing with Dead and Buried is key – hearing him switch between multiple first-person characters in one song reminds you these are just characters. I remember that night in Denmark he had to remind the audience that they weren't his words, but those of the characters. Given how despicable the character in Kidz is, it's good to be reminded.

Dead and Buried is a welcome return to an acoustic-led song, where he sings about three people who in different ways have found themselves in situations that appear hopeless (HIV, in trouble with dangerous people, in prison for shooting an abusive partner). The last tale is particularly disturbing and told brilliantly. When you listen to that song objectionably, it's easy to see why I was so impressed.

I was living in Australia when this record was released, so I bought a copy on eBay and had it sent over (for a very reasonable £4, including postage to send it halfway around the world). The first two 7"s came sealed, so required careful opening. Evidently, demand for the 7" wasn't high, so it was easy to find a sealed copy online. Part of me wondered if it was worth getting two, and keeping one sealed, but I'm glad I didn't – as an investment, that wouldn't have done much.

The LP eventually came out, but was underwhelming – too many of the songs had been on EPs or singles ahead of the release, and I didn't care much for the new ones. I can see why the album wasn't acoustic, but I wonder if he'd have had a better shot by making an acoustic rap album that would have really set him apart. As it was, the album didn't sell well and his next venture was entirely different, realising that perhaps rap wasn't going to his way to make millions. I never really listened to the music he released later, knowing it wasn't going to be my bag, but it's a shame he gave up on writing and telling stories like he did that night in Denmark.

Format: 7", gatefold sleeve

Tracks: 2

Cost: £4 new

Bought: eBay

When: 09/08/05

Colour: Black

Etching: none

mp3s: no