MY LIFE STORY - Announces 25th Anniversary of 'Joined Up Talking'
MY LIFE STORY
ANNOUNCES 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF:
‘JOINED UP TALKING’
OUT 28 NOVEMBER 2025, VIA REPUBLIC OF MUSIC
REMASTERED AND RELEASED ON VINYL FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME
AVAILABLE ON DOUBLE COLOURED VINYL AND 3XCD INCLUDING B-SIDES AND DEMOS
PRE-ORDER HERE
CHECK OUT JAKE’S PATREON HERE
WATCH CLASSIC TOP 40 SINGLE:
“IT’S A GIRL THING”
WITH REMASTERED VIDEO HERE
PLUS, WINTER UK TOUR DATES
Twenty-five years since its release - My Life Story - are reissuing their classic album ‘Joined Up Talking’.
A nostalgic glance back, delivered with fresh perspective, the Britpop band’s third album has been lovingly remastered and will be released on vinyl for the first time ever this Autumn.
Available on double coloured vinyl, there will also be a 3xCD package on offer, full of B-Sides, rarities, and period gems collected in a deluxe bells-and-whistles set for the first time.
Far from a relic, ‘Joined Up Talking’ feels like an essential document of a unique time in history: witty, ambitious, and unmistakably My Life Story. Featuring the singles “It’s a Girl Thing”, “Empire Line”, and “Walk/Don’t Walk”; standing as a landmark of those rapidly evolving times, the release also featured the world’s first ever downloadable single: “If You Can’t Live Without Me Then Why Aren’t You Dead Yet?”.
You can watch the remastered video of “It’s A Girl Thing” here: https://youtu.be/62REsFhfIV4
Brimming with the confidence of its Top 40 denting predecessor ‘The Golden Mile’, the album proves to be equally ambitious and lyrically as dextrous. Like a Y2K time capsule, lyrical references to Monica Lewinsky, Tamagotchis, Pret A Manger and the dot-com boom reflect the everyday vocabulary of the turn of the century with Shillingford’s typically irreverent style.
Across the album, in tracks like “The New New Yorker”, Shillingford stitches together topical newspaper headlines into surreal narratives, while “I Don’t Believe in Love” — originally written when Shillingford was 17 — reveals the band’s roots in classic songwriting traditions.
Influenced by records of the era such as Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’ and Beck’s genre-bending albums, ‘Joined Up Talking’ was recorded in 1999 at Parkgate Studios in Battle with producer Pete Gleadall, and released the following year on it Records. While My Life Story would decide to call it a day with a series of concerts shortly after its release, the timing of their farewell is by no means a reflection of the quality of the music here. Filled with timeless songwriting and the contemporary experimentation of an intrepid, transitional era for music, ‘Joined Up Talking’ has never connected better.
Fast forward to 2025 and frontman Jake Shillingford has been revisiting and remastering the release in anticipation of its 25th Anniversary. Sharing a personal archive of memories from the album’s original 2000 release, including digitised cassette tapes, DATs, press cuttings, and photo contact sheets, My Life Story fans have been joining-in the journey with their own reflections. Check them out via Jake’s Patreon page now.
Due to be released on coloured vinyl and as a 3xCD set from 28 November 2025 (via Republic of Music), pre-order ‘Joined Up Talking’ (25th Anniversary Edition) via the official MLS site here or be part of the journey on Jake’s Patreon here.
Around the new release, fans will also be able to catch My Life Story celebrating the record with a series of special tour dates performing ‘Joined Up Talking’ in its entirety, alongside a “best of” set. Catch the band at these dates as follows:
MY LIFE STORY UK TOUR DATES 2025
16th November: Minehead - Shiiine On Weekender, Butlins
5th December: London Dingwalls
6th December: Brighton Hope & Ruin
11th December: Manchester Gullivers
12th December: Kendal Brewery Arts Club
Tickets on sale here: https://mylifestory.band/
‘JOINED UP TALKING’ 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION -
TRACK LISTING
CD 1
1. Empire Line
2. If You Can’t Live Without Me Then Why Aren’t You Dead Yet?
3. It’s a Girl Thing
4. Sunday Tongue
5. Yes to Everything
6. Walk / Don’t Walk
7. There’s Nothing for Nobody and Everybody Wants to Be Someone
8. The New New Yorker
9. Neverland
10. Stalemate
11. I Don’t Believe in Love
12. Two Stars
CD 2 - B Sides of the era
1. Cherries
2. Holy Deadlock
3. Emerald Green Blah Blah Blah
4. My Sweet Little Death
5. The History of the World on Ice
6. I’m a Statistic
7. Sleep
8. Florence’s Theme
9. Self-Defence Mechanism
10. Paint It Emerald Green
11. It’s a Boy Thing
12. Walk / Don’t Walk (Parts 1 & 2)
13. E.G.M.C.M.X.C.I.X.
CD 3 - Demos and rarities
1. Neverland (RAK Demo ’97)
2. The New New Yorker (RAK Demo ’97)
3. Emerald Green Blah Blah Blah (RAK Demo ’97)
4. Walk / Don’t Walk (Battery Demo ’97)
5. Florence’s Theme (RAK Demo ’97)
6. It’s a Girl Thing (Matrix Demo ’98)
7. I Don’t Believe in Love (Matrix Demo ’98)
8. Sunday Tongue (Matrix Demo ’98)
9. Empire Line (Single Version)
10. Grieve (Matrix Demo ’98)
11. Here Comes the Big Weekend (Matrix Demo ’98)
12. If You Can’t Live Without Me Then Why Aren’t You Dead Yet? (Matrix Demo ’98)
13. Stalemate (Matrix Demo ’98)
14. Two Stars (Matrix Demo ’98)
15. There’s Nothing for Nobody and Everybody Wants to Be Someone (Demo ’97)
16. It’s a Girl Thing (D-Bop’s Boys Mix)
MY LIFE STORY
NEW ALBUM: ‘JOINED UP TALKING’ 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
OUT 28 NOV 2025, VIA EXILOPHONE/REPUBLIC OF MUSIC – PRE-ORDER HERE
FOR MORE INFORMATION
