Berselius wrote:Do we have any reliable sources claiming that "Play by Numbers" has guitars on it, apart from the one minute of WYLTBF? The only source I know of is the review of the early albums on that italian (?) site, claiming e.g. that "Catalog 3" has 5 tracks on it, so I guess that one is far from reliable.
The “Boards of the Underground” article by Richard Southern in Jockey Slut (2000) describes Play By Numbers as “boasting a My Bloody Valentine influence in places, shifting further into electronics in others.” I think that strongly implies guitars used in a shoegaze fashion.
I think Richard Southern’s descriptions are by far the most reliable we have of pre-Twoism material, as he’s actually met BoC and interviewed them in person. Far more reliable than Scaruffi’s “reviews.”
As for the OP... it’s just a mislabeled fake put on a mix by a podcaster who didn’t know BoC well enough to catch it. Not surprising, but disappointing nonetheless (after reading the title of the thread).