Tribute album
Phelan nevertheless had no difficulty in putting together a full hour of Best tribute songs in 1997, under the title 'Georgie The Best Album,' interspersed with commentaries, interviews and goal celebrations.
In 1995 another of Exotica's tribute albums, to Eric Cantona, received rare praise from Britain's leading music journal, the New Musical Express. 'Nothing can compete with this lovingly compiled silliness,' waxed the review.
Phelan was not at all offended. Football music is supposed to be 'bad pop,' he insists. 'Anything that tries to be up to date just falls spectacularly flat. The typical football song is usually at least ten years behind musical trends.'
Phelan is now offering an opportunity for United supporters to appear on the next Red Album. He often takes a microphone into pubs in the Old Trafford area before games, to record fans' chants, many of them penned by Peter Boyle, the unofficial poet laureate of United's K Stand (the Stretford End).
But he also wants to hear from creative United fans abroad. 'What I'm seeking are chants or songs from different parts of the world, in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Norwegian or any non-English language. If there's a group of fans in Kuala Lumpur or Calcutta who want to get together around a tape recorder to sing United chants in their own language or to their own types of music or accompaniment - bhangra, bagpipe, or whatever - or perhaps a tribute to David Beckham, then I want to hear from them.'
Phelan promises that you won't become a star. But you might just achievemusical immortality.
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