Single track (c/w Yeah!) from their 6th album "Clockwise" (1996)

Probably because it was used as an ending track for a TV show that time, this is one of a few by B-flower still to be found on karaoke machines in Japan.

There is a possible world where I disappear.  Somewhere between the Greenwich peninsula and Silvertown, I walk off the map.  And keep walking.  And wherever I my journey ends, I am listening to Grocery Andromeda. 

In my clapboard shed in the woods; on the last train out Lubec; face down in the shingle at Dungeness. 

B-flower make music for the solitary.  Their finest songs speak to me of tangible absence - of empty houses and forgotten rooms. It is music for the sleepless, the single cell, the resolutely alone.  Stay still.  And alone.

Eddie Oxley / Evelyn Tremble

It was March 1997, and I was in New York City for the first time, staying with one Keith D’arcy. One evening we were relaxing in his Hoboken record room -it would be the first of many such evenings- and as was his wont, he was flipping through a stack of records, saying "you don't know this? Ah, you *have* to hear this!" He pulled out a 7" with a wraparound sleeve in a poly bag (that was how we did it in those days), and placed the needle gently on the record.

Four bars of minimalist piano, then in comes the most simple-yet-aching vocal line. It swooned and yearned, ebbed and flowed, but always with restraint and poise. I was instantly transfixed. Two bare minutes and it's gone. Now I understood why Keith was so careful with that needle; "Stay Still" is such a tender song that one jolt from an unsteady hand might have left a bruise.

Whenever I hear it -and I hear it often- I am always transported back to that evening, nearly twenty years ago now. It is one of the perfect songs; as soothing as balm. Thank you Keith, domo arigato Hideshi.

Harvey Williams / Another Sunny Day

The best music is always that which transports you, emotionally, to a particular place or time in your life. For me, b-flower will always be about World’s End Laundry. I hear the opening chords of Lila no saku hibi and I’m back in 1993. I’m 21 years old. Life is rich with possibilities.

My band Pure had met b-flower the year before on The Birth Of The True Tour. From the first pre-tour rehearsal it was clear that b-flower were a cut above. Certainly in comparison to our ramshackle indiepop! Effortlessly accomplished playing, the musical influences (neo-aco, The Smiths, Felt, the best ‘60’s pop) showing obviously, but with Hachino’s voice, clear and keen, lifting the songs way above any pastiche. And, of course, the Japanese language lyrics add untold mystery to a non-speaker.

I was privileged to visit the band as they recorded World’s End Laundry at the palatial Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, England. I was already familiar with many of the songs from our shared tour, and the recordings steeped the songs in the pastoral atmosphere of the English countryside. The production is perfect. It’s a beautiful record from beginning to end.

Of course, b-flower have released many other fine albums and still make wonderful music to this day. Long may they continue. Life is rich with possibilities.

Graeme Elston / Pure, Eva Luna, Love Parade

I was very lucky to interview Hachino-san years ago and tell him how much I liked his music. I wasn't around in the 90s when they released the biggest part of their discography. I was just a kid then. It was only in the noughties when I was to discover their singles and albums. I was (and still am) an indiepop enthusiast and so thanks to the legendary label Sugarfrost I got introduced to such beautiful music.

Language was not a barrier for me. I don't understand Japanese at all. A few words I've learned but just to amuse my Japanese friends. The songs lyrics are a mystery to me. But somehow they connect. A melody like "#1984" doesn't need me to understand anything at all. It is complete as it is. It sounds timeless and I can find myself humming to it any given day. It is also the year I was born. Can't be more special than that.

Years of meeting indiepop friends around the globe. Traveling. In Germany a friend included in every single mix tape she made, "The Last Snow of Winter". She didn't understand the language either, but the song was a classic for her. I find it funny how a song, even from its first chords, can bring you so many memories of people, places, or moments in life. B-Flower has that power on me.

I had Japanese penpal too who was living in the UK. Perhaps she was the biggest B-Flower fan I had met. She introduced to me to songs from B-Flower I've never heard, and then, got me in touch with the master of it all, Hachino-san. From him I learned small details from the band, like that they practiced while drinking coca-cola or oolong tea, or that Hachino-san used to collect stag beetles, made me feel closer to them. They are no vain popstars, they are just like you and me. That is exactly what their songs make me feel, honesty, a sincerity that sends me shivers down the spine every time.

Roque Ruiz / Cloudberry Records

In the days when things mattered, the idea of singing in your own language was important. And different. Why wouldn’t you? It doesn’t work every single time of course (sorry Jurgen) but thank you Hachino.

And so “Stay Still” gets released in 1993 (before you were born) and is issued here for the first time on cd and … tell me that it doesn’t leave you in an exhausted mess and yet feeling warm. Something like the very last of the charcoal embers. It says EVERYTHING and you’ve got nothing more to add. And, get this, you haven’t got a clue what’s just gone on, except you nod and play it again. And then nod some more. Smiling. Again. Knowing. Again. Just the way it should be. Absolutely wonderful.

And then there’s “Strings”, which isn’t on this cd (note to the compiler – how come?) but is the exact moment when I understood what this releasing-records-thing was all about. The outsider brilliance of people better than me. The Paradiso boys’ design intelligence, D’Arcy’s pen and the sort of song for which there is absolutely no answer. You try. Go on – pull it out and listen. There just isn’t a response. Shit, I could cry.

And then there’s “Sad Astronaut”, which is nothing of the sort and, also, isn’t on this cd either (note to the compiler – I’m coming after you with a broken chair leg) but is the greatest Bus Stop song never released on Bus Stop. Besides the obvious attraction, what nailed it for me was the mention of Yuri Gagarin. Not that it matters but my class in junior school was split into four, with my bit called Gagarin. The other three were Leonov, Conrad and Armstrong. Colours or animals would seem so much easier for seven year olds. But there’s a balanced Merseyside education for you, right there.

Thank you B-Flower.

John / Sugarfrost

   Disc 2

1.  Taiyo no shizuku (sample track)

2.  Jet Jet Coaster

3.  Yeah!++

4.  21 seiki no Darwin

5.  Common Love in Suburbia

6.  Grapefruit Spoon Man

7.  Rinkai newtown

from 1996 album Clockwise

8.  Myojo

9.  Jiku no butterfly

10. Hibari ga nakukoroni

single tracks 1996-8, also++

11. Cobalt

previously unreleased

12. Hotaru

13. Okano hito

14. October Song

15. Chino hateyori tatsu

16. On the Eastbound Bus**+

17. The Eternal 59th Second**

from 1998 album b-flower

** new 2014 recordings

Note: version names of each tracks omitted

      Used official English titles where available