Radish’s Discount Fireworks: The Scattered Official Releases Explained

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The 1990s “sugar metal” band Radish is perhaps best known for what their frontman did after the band’s breakup. Radish frontman Ben Kweller, a California-born, Texas-bound singer-songwriter, released his debut solo album Sha Sha in 2002. The album is made up of new compositions and various Radish outtakes. Many of these songs were previously recorded for an abandoned Radish album titled Discount Fireworks which was planned to be Radish’s fourth full length album following Hello, Dizzy, and Restraining Bolt circa 1998.

Although it was reportedly retitled to Sha Sha itself, both fans and Kweller himself have continued to refer to the unreleased album as Discount Fireworks. Although the album was never officially released at the time, the album eventually surfaced online unofficially in what is believed to be its entirety through low quality 128kbps MP3 files.

Discount Fireworks Tracklist

  1. Launch Ramp
  2. Next Time
  3. Drink Me Away
  4. (How It Should Be) Sha Sha
  5. Silent Scene
  6. What It Is Like To Live In Commerce
  7. Wasted And Ready
  8. Harriet's Got A Song
  9. Here Is Dissonant
  10. Cally
  11. Orange Tic-Tacs
  12. In Other Words
  13. Panamanian Girl (Episode 1)
  14. For Forever
  15. Bill W. Is My Friend
  16. Girl In Between
  17. 4.40 (Episode 2)

*A track titled “Super Neat” is also often grouped with the Discount Fireworks album, however the recording is not of the same studio quality as the other 17 tracks. It is unknown if this or another recording of the song was ever intended for the album. I speculate that the track might come from the set of demos mentioned at the end of this article.

Listen to Ben Kweller's rerecording of "How It Should Be (Sha Sha)," one of five songs on Sha Sha that originated from Discount Fireworks:

Kweller has stated in recent years that the album (now stylized as Discount Fireworx) will be getting an eventual official release. However, many of the recordings from this abandoned album have already been released officially, albeit in a scattered manner on promo CDs, singles, EPs, and independently released demo albums.


Radish Releases

In 1998, a 5-track promo CD for Discount Fireworks was released. The tracklist is as follows:

  1. How It Should Be (Sha Sha)
  2. Cally
  3. Next Time
  4. What It's Like to Live in Commerce
  5. In Other Words

This has sold once on Discogs, although further investigation reveals that it was actually a different promo CD that was sold on this listing. This was a 3-track CD whose tracklist is as follows:

  1. How It should be
  2. Cally
  3. Wasted

Finally, the Radish recording of “Harriet’s Got a Song” appeared on the Sound & Fury Vol. One promo compilation CD in 1999. This CD appears on Discogs and eBay frequently.

That sums it up for Radish releases. Now on to solo Ben Kweller releases…

 

Ben Kweller Releases

Melange, released in 1999, was the first Ben Kweller CD made in the interim between Discount Fireworks and Sha Sha. It features “Here Is Not Dissonant” from the unreleased Radish album. This rare CDr has never been sold on Discogs and is one of the rarest pieces of Ben Kweller physical media.

In 2000, Kweller released a version of Sha Sha that is made up entirely of Discount Fireworks recordings. Despite the name, this is an entirely different album to the identically named one that was released in 2002. It has thus far sold only once on Discogs, in 2012, making this CDr another one of the rarest pieces of Ben Kweller physical media. The tracklist is as follows:

  1. Launch Ramp
  2. Next Time
  3. Drink Me Away
  4. How It Should Be (Sha Sha)
  5. Wasted and Ready
  6. In Other Words
  7. What It's Like to Live in Commerce
  8. Silent Scene
  9. The Girl in Between
  10. Episode 2

Also in 2000, Kweller released Freak Out It’s… Ben Kweller. This pre-solo-fame CD features two Radish recordings: “How It Should Be (Sha Sha)” and “In Other Words.” Although rare, this CD is sold on Discogs and eBay with surprising frequency. It has also been available via download through Ben Kweller’s official fan club membership.

Kweller released EP Phone Home in 2001 which opens with two Radish Discount Fireworks recordings: “Launch Ramp” and “How It Should Be (Sha Sha).” That same year, he was also featured on a split sampler EP with Chris Whitley where the Radish version of “In Other Words” was available.

Listen to Ben Kweller's rerecording of "Wasted and Ready," another song that originated from Discount Fireworks:


Summary

To summarize, here is a list of the official releases that feature recordings from Discount Fireworks:

*EP Phone Home and Freak Out It’s… Ben Kweller have previously been made available through Ben Kweller’s official fan club: https://club.benkweller.com/.

I do not own each of these CDs so I cannot comment on the quality of each of the sources used. For EP Phone Home, the Radish tracks appear to be lossy sourced. That said, they still sound quite a bit better than the unofficial Discount Fireworks release. For Freak Out, “In Other Words” is lossless and sounds wonderful, but “How It Should Be (Sha Sha)” appears to be lossy sourced (it still sounds alright, but I think it sounds better on EP Phone Home). “Harriet’s Got a Song” from Sound & Fury Vol. One is true lossless and sounds amazing.

Here is a list of all the recordings from the album that have been officially released:

  1. Launch Ramp
  2. Next Time
  3. Drink Me Away
  4. How It Should Be (Sha Sha)
  5. Silent Scene
  6. What It's Like to Live in Commerce
  7. Wasted and Ready
  8. Harriet’s Got a Song
  9. Here Is Not Dissonant
  10. Cally
  11. In Other Words
  12. The Girl in Between
  13. Episode 2

While these were released officially, this does not mean that they are easy to come by. As previously mentioned, many of these releases are rarely sold or have yet to be sold through websites like Discogs. Hopefully the official album release that Kweller has been teasing will see the light of day soon. If these scattered preliminary releases are anything to go by, this release will be a welcome upgrade in fidelity.


To close, it is also worth noting that an alternate set of demos has been documented. As previously mentioned, I suspect that the recording of “Super Neat” that is often grouped with the studio album recordings actually comes from this set of demos. This list comes from the Radish pages on www.xanthein.co.uk. The site no longer exists, and the Radish pages are unfortunately not accessible through the Wayback Machine. As such, I cannot confirm any additional information about this set. For posterity, here is that list (saved from when the site was still available):

DISCOUNT FIREWORKS DEMOS - CD (1997/1998?)

  1. For Forever (Demo)
  2. What It's Like To Live In Commerce (Demo)
  3. Silent Scene (Demo)
  4. Super Neat (Demo)
  5. 4.40 (Episode 2) (Demo)
  6. Panamanian Girl (Episode 1) (Demo)
  7. Harriet's Got A Song (Demo)
  8. Half Drummer/Half Lost Boy (Demo)
  9. Goddess Bless The Wave (Demo)
  10. Girl In Between (Demo)
  11. Drink Me Away (Demo)
  12. Wasted And Ready (Demo)
  13. Orange Tic-Tacs (Demo)
  14. Bill W. Is My Friend (Demo)
  15. Enemy Enemy (Demo)
  16. Launch Ramp (Demo)
  17. Solipsist Off (Demo)
  18. Kick Ass Cool (Demo)
  19. Cally (Demo)

Know of any releases of this material I missed? Please leave a comment!

For more information on Ben Kweller's early work, check out my article on the Sha Sha-era songs that were released on later albums. 

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