Linda Smith announces two new vinyl reissues, shares Young Marble Giants cover

Singer/songwriter and lo-fi pioneer Linda Smith has announced reissues of two of her albums from 1996, Nothing Else Matters and I So Liked Spring. They’ll be released on vinyl for the first time and on streaming services for the first time via Captured Tracks. She’s also released her cover of the Young Marble Giants track “Salad Days,” which you can hear below.

Smith said in a statement:

“My cover of ‘Salad Days’ was originally intended for a Young Marble Giants tribute album that was to be released by a small label called Landspeed Records. For unknown reasons, it never happened and the label ceased operating. Other contributors included The Magnetic Fields, I’m told.

“I first heard the album Colossal Youth by Young Marble Giants before I had attempted to make music myself. It was the late ‘70s when I rediscovered pop and rock music after years of listening mostly to classical music. The new music was fresh and challenged notions of how good one had to be to play an instrument in public. Among the many exciting records I bought almost weekly, Colossal Youth was singular; it simply did not sound like any other at that time (or since). Later, in the ‘90s, when the idea of the tribute album was proposed, I immediately thought of the song “Salad Days.” It seemed to sum up everything I felt about rediscovering music back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, all in a mere 4 short lines.

“Think of salad days

They were folly and fun

They were good

They were young“

Linda Smith is featured on our list, A History of Indie Folk in 45 Essential Albums.

Linda Smith Nothing Else Matters tracklist:

1. To Answer Your Question
2. In No Uncertain Terms
3. I’ll Never See You Again
4. For Here Or To Go
5. In The Hospital
6. Bright Side
7. All Of The Blue
8. Only A Moment
9. I See Your Face
10. It Seems To Me
11. Little To Be Won
12. Nothing Else Matters
13. Salad Days (Young Marble Giants cover)

Linda Smith I So Liked Spring tracklist:

1. Fin De Fete
2. Again
3. The Pedlar
4. Rooms
5. Afternoon Tea
6. I So Liked Spring
7. From A Window
8. Absence
9. A Quoi Bon Dire
10. In The Fields
11. May 1915
12. Not For That City