Muzical Mystery Tour

The Associates  were a Scottish post-punk and pop band, formed in Dundee in the late 1970s by singer Billy Mackenzie and guitarist Alan Rankine.  The group first gained recognition after releasing an unauthorized cover of David Bowie's " Boys Keep Swinging " as their debut single in 1979, which lead to a contract with Fiction Records. They followed with their debut album ' The Affectionate Punch ' in 1980 and the singles collection ' Fourth Drawer Down ' in 1981. The following year they scored hits with  " Party Fears Two " and " Club Country ", during which time they were associated with the New Pop movement. Rankine left the group that year, leaving MacKenzie to record under the Associates name until 1990. I've also included their cover of ' Heart of Glass ' made famous by Blondie.

Belle and Sebastian were formed in Glasgow, in the mid 1990s by Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David, both of whom had enrolled in a  programme for unemployed musicians. Together, with music professor Alan Rankine (formerly of The Associates), they recorded some demos, which were picked up by the college's Music Business course that produced released one single per year on the college's label, Electric Honey.  As the band had a number of songs already and the label was extremely impressed with the demos, Belle and Sebastian were allowed to record a full-length album, which was recorded mostly live over three days, entitled ' Tigermilk '.  The warm reception the album received inspired Murdoch and David to turn the band into a full-time project, recruiting Stevie Jackson (guitar and vocals), Isobel Campbell (cello/vocals), Chris Geddes (keys) and Richard Colburn (drums) to fill out the group. Their second album ' If You're Feeling Sinister '  was released in 1996...