The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History is a compilation album

LP album

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

 by the indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 band The Vaselines

The Vaselines

The Vaselines are an alternative rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. Formed in 1986, the band was originally a duo between its songwriters Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, but later added James Seenan and Eugene's brother Charlie Kelly on bass and drums respectively from the band Secession. McKee had...

, released May 1992 on Sub Pop Records, catalogue SP145b. The album compiles every previous release by the band, the two EP's

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 Son of A Gun

Son of a Gun (EP)

Son of A Gun was the debut extended play single by Glasgow alternative rock group The Vaselines. The title-song of this EP came to a wider audience after Nirvana covered it, along with "Molly's Lips", on their compilation album Incesticide...

and Dying For It

Dying for It (EP)

Dying for It was the second release by Glasgow alternative rock group The Vaselines, like its predecessor an extended play single. The EP was later included on their career retrospective collection The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History....

, as well as their only long-playing album Dum-Dum, in chronological order of release. Three additional tracks are included are "Dying for It (The Blues)", "Let's Get Ugly", and the previously unreleased "Bitch."

The band had broken up around the time that Dum-Dum was issued, and had never gained a huge following. However, covers of their songs by Nirvana

Nirvana (band)

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

 had brought them new exposure, which prompted Sub Pop to put together this compilation. The song "Molly's Lips" was named in tribute to Molly Weir

Molly Weir

Mary Weir, better known as Molly Weir, was a Scottish stage actress, most notable for her role as the long-running character Hazel the McWitch in the BBC TV series Rentaghost. She was the sister of naturalist and broadcaster Tom Weir.Born in Glasgow and brought up in the Springburn area of the...

, a well-known Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 personality. Production credits are to The Vaselines in collaboration with Stephan Pastel on the tracks from Son of A Gun and Dying for It, and with Jamie Watson on the remainder.

Track listing

All songs by Eugene Kelly

Eugene Kelly

Eugene Kelly is a Scottish musician who is a member of the group The Vaselines, a founding member of the now disbanded Eugenius and has had a number of solo releases....

 and Frances McKee

Frances McKee

Frances McKee is a singer and songwriter known best for her work in the Scottish indie band The Vaselines.The Vaselines formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1986. Following the release of two EPs, Son of a Gun and Dying for It, the first and only full length album, Dum-Dum, in 1989, the band split up...

 except "You Think You're A Man" by Divine.

1. "Son of A Gun" – 3:46
2. "Rory Rides Me Raw" – 2:28
3. "You Think You're a Man
   You Think You're a Man
   "You Think You're a Man" is the fifth single from the album The Story So Far by Divine. It was also covered by The Vaselines in 1987 and appeared on the EP Son of a Gun.-Chart performance:...
   
   " – 5:43
4. "Dying for It" – 2:22
5. "Molly's Lips
   Candy/Molly's Lips
   "Candy"/"Molly's Lips" is a vinyl-only split-single from the American rock bands The Fluid and Nirvana. It was released in January 1991 on Sub Pop records and includes the live versions of "Candy" by The Fluid, and "Molly's Lips" by Nirvana....
   
   " – 1:44
6. "Teenage Superstars" – 3:28
7. "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam
   Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam
   "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" is a song originally recorded by Scottish alternative band The Vaselines for their EP Dying for it. It is a parody on the Christian children's hymn, "I'll Be a Sunbeam", which has the opening line "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam".The song was a hit only in indie-pop and...
   
   " – 3:31
8. "Sex Sux (Amen)" – 3:10
9. "Slushy" – 2:00
10. "Monsterpussy" – 1:43
11. "Bitch" – 2:42
12. "No Hope" – 3:21
13. "Oliver Twisted" – 2:49
14. "The Day I Was a Horse" – 1:29
15. "Dum-Dum" – 1:57
16. "Hairy" – 1:48
17. "Lovecraft" – 5:37
18. "Dying for It (The Blues)" – 3:09
19. "Let's Get Ugly" – 2:19

Personnel

• Eugene Kelly
  Eugene Kelly
  Eugene Kelly is a Scottish musician who is a member of the group The Vaselines, a founding member of the now disbanded Eugenius and has had a number of solo releases....
  
   — vocals, guitars
• Frances McKee
  Frances McKee
  Frances McKee is a singer and songwriter known best for her work in the Scottish indie band The Vaselines.The Vaselines formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1986. Following the release of two EPs, Son of a Gun and Dying for It, the first and only full length album, Dum-Dum, in 1989, the band split up...
  
   — vocals, guitars
• James Seenan — bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Charlie Kelly — drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  

Additional personnel

• Aggi Wright — keyboards on "Son of A Gun"
• David Keegan — lead guitar on "Dying for It"
• Sophie Pragnell — viola
  Viola
  The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
  
   on "Jesus Wants Me for A Sunbeam" and "Oliver Twisted"
• Jamie Watson — slide guitar
  Slide guitar
  Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
  
   on "Bitch," "The Day I Was A Horse," and "Dying for It (The Blues)"
• Gordon Rintoul, Ian Beveridge, Peter Haigh, Jamie Watson — engineers
• Jane Higgins — design