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PICI 054LP
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After releasing his seventh album The Odd Shower, The Bitter Springs' singer/songwriter Simon Rivers reinvented himself as Poor Performer, whose own debut, Like Yer Wounds Too, followed the same winning formula, widened somewhat by the inclusion of songs with a greater fragile beauty and introspection. Decades of self-releasing compact disc-only albums from the far southwestern suburbs of London, with scant regard for promotion or the normal machinations of showbiz did little to spread the word about Rivers' unique and prestigious talents. A conversational singer with a delightfully warm and convivial stone, Rivers' sense of the absurd and willingness to portray aspects of life generally unrecognised by pop music, one supposes it's not entirely unfair to have expect Top of The Pops to come calling. So what does this new guise -- Oldfield Youth Club -- have to offer? It's partially a revival of Rivers' first "real' band, Last Party, and it displays hallmarks of that band's youthful energy. Including members Kim Rivers and Neil Palmer (both from Last Party), as well as trumpeter/vocalist Alison Targett, Oldfield Youth Club is a band with an obvious musical kinship. There's a connection to the literal style of Vic Godard's Subway Sect (and members have been shared between both acts) or early Go-Betweens. There's an alchemical sensibility shared by all three acts wherein their words and tunes inform each other in a deceptively casual but arresting manner. It's hard not to love, a rare work that earns immediate affection and just grows better from there.
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2CD
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PICI 051CD
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Expanded reissue, originally released in 1982. The original Y Records album with 13 bonus tracks, including rare and unreleased studio material and liner notes from Ian A Anderson. Before hitting twenty, Tymon Dogg had made a single with pre-Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, recorded with Paul McCartney for Apple Records, made a second single for The Moody Blues' label Threshold and then seemingly lost all faith in normal music business machinations. So, he wandered, busking at tube stations and encountering "Woody", who acted as Tymon's roadie and, when trade was slow, Tymon would teach him a few chords. After being assaulted by police, Tymon won a £500 settlement, with which he recorded an album, singing and playing every instrument himself. Dwelling somewhere between avant-garde folk, Weimar cabaret and with an eerie sense of punk's DIY ethos, the 1975 album failed to sell in appreciable numbers. By then, "Woody" was known as Joe Strummer and had formed The 101'ers with Elgin Avenue friends and squat-mates. Tymon sporadically played songs with the band, including his "Dog Dirt On Your Shoe" (the only known recording of which is included here), a forerunner to punk expression if there ever were one. Finding himself in NYC years later, Tymon was ushered into the studio by Mick Jones to record the first song completed for Sandinista!, "Lose This Skin", possibly the most polarizing song on the album. Tymon became a de facto studio member of The Clash through Combat Rock and later joined The Mescaleros. But in 1982, Tymon recorded Battle Of Wills, the last release on Dick O'Dell's Y Records, reissued here with added studio rarities and a 1980 live set. The sole Tymon Dogg album released by an outside label, it got somewhat lost in the collapse of Y, yet it's a singular work: perfectly executed and fiercely unique. Tymon's vocals transcend the limits of "rock" music, weaving their way through a seemingly disconnected array of parts -- incongruous tabla, unsettlingly upfront violin parts, minimal folk drumming. It feels like an exemplar of some obscure, ages-old musical tradition rather than what it is -- a conceptually original work by an artist of rare talent. Unavailable for forty years, the album has been expanded to include a seven-song 1980 live set and six rare studio tracks. With one exception, this extra material has never been available on vinyl, more than half of it was never released at all. Tymon's archives contain bountiful rare and unheard material, and this expanded edition of Battle Of Wills is the first of several planned archival releases.
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2LP
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PICI 051LP
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Double LP version. Expanded reissue, originally released in 1982. The original Y Records album with 13 bonus tracks, including rare and unreleased studio material and liner notes from Ian A Anderson. Before hitting twenty, Tymon Dogg had made a single with pre-Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, recorded with Paul McCartney for Apple Records, made a second single for The Moody Blues' label Threshold and then seemingly lost all faith in normal music business machinations. So, he wandered, busking at tube stations and encountering "Woody", who acted as Tymon's roadie and, when trade was slow, Tymon would teach him a few chords. After being assaulted by police, Tymon won a £500 settlement, with which he recorded an album, singing and playing every instrument himself. Dwelling somewhere between avant-garde folk, Weimar cabaret and with an eerie sense of punk's DIY ethos, the 1975 album failed to sell in appreciable numbers. By then, "Woody" was known as Joe Strummer and had formed The 101'ers with Elgin Avenue friends and squat-mates. Tymon sporadically played songs with the band, including his "Dog Dirt On Your Shoe" (the only known recording of which is included here), a forerunner to punk expression if there ever were one. Finding himself in NYC years later, Tymon was ushered into the studio by Mick Jones to record the first song completed for Sandinista!, "Lose This Skin", possibly the most polarizing song on the album. Tymon became a de facto studio member of The Clash through Combat Rock and later joined The Mescaleros. But in 1982, Tymon recorded Battle Of Wills, the last release on Dick O'Dell's Y Records, reissued here with added studio rarities and a 1980 live set. The sole Tymon Dogg album released by an outside label, it got somewhat lost in the collapse of Y, yet it's a singular work: perfectly executed and fiercely unique. Tymon's vocals transcend the limits of "rock" music, weaving their way through a seemingly disconnected array of parts -- incongruous tabla, unsettlingly upfront violin parts, minimal folk drumming. It feels like an exemplar of some obscure, ages-old musical tradition rather than what it is -- a conceptually original work by an artist of rare talent. Unavailable for forty years, the album has been expanded to include a seven-song 1980 live set and six rare studio tracks. With one exception, this extra material has never been available on vinyl, more than half of it was never released at all. Tymon's archives contain bountiful rare and unheard material, and this expanded edition of Battle Of Wills is the first of several planned archival releases.
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CD
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PICI 048CD
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Early Band Of Holy Joy existed somewhere on the cut-up side of proto-industrial music, resting between Marc Stewart & Maffia, Sonic Youth, and Current 93, and proponents of a more romantic musical language -- Virginia Astley, Dead Can Dance, and Cocteau Twins, among them -- all artists whose work BPHJ's music sat comfortably alongside across on a stream of low-budget vinyl and cassette compilations after the start of the eighties. A great leap in polish led to a deal with Rough Trade and several early '90s albums which flirted with the mainstream, with BOHJ almost an odder, less obvious cousin to Dexys Midnight Runners. When these releases failed to take off as hoped, lost years followed on smaller labels and self-released projects, until the renewed urgency of the 2016 Brutalism Begins At Home EP and increasingly majestic albums on which saw leader Johny Brown's lyricism enter a new phase. The common thread through BOHJ's four decades of recordings is the foundational warmth and humanity of Brown's words. The band's earliest recordings seemed garnered from street-level observations of neighborhood people and sights. By the time of near-hit "Tactless", their songs -- whatever the underlying impulses may have been -- had become immediate enough to overcome the mystery of a line like "Do you remember the swan that was shot in the park?" Over each of their last three albums -- Funambulist We Love You, Neon Primitives, and Dreams Take Flight -- BOHJ has bettered itself, and may now have reached their apex, Fated Beautiful Mistakes. We live in a time of generally justifiable gloom and awkward uncertainty. So, it may appear cavalier to claim this album sounds revelatory in that context, but Band Of Holy Joy's strengths rest largely in Johny Brown and the band's ability to capture a wider societal feeling. One listen to the escapist fantasy of "Our Flighty Season Under The Flighty Sun" and its slightly-haunted ending speaks volumes beyond most of what passes for music in 2023, and it's just one of many perfect moments on this album.
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PICI 048LP
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LP version. Early Band Of Holy Joy existed somewhere on the cut-up side of proto-industrial music, resting between Marc Stewart & Maffia, Sonic Youth, and Current 93, and proponents of a more romantic musical language -- Virginia Astley, Dead Can Dance, and Cocteau Twins, among them -- all artists whose work BPHJ's music sat comfortably alongside across on a stream of low-budget vinyl and cassette compilations after the start of the eighties. A great leap in polish led to a deal with Rough Trade and several early '90s albums which flirted with the mainstream, with BOHJ almost an odder, less obvious cousin to Dexys Midnight Runners. When these releases failed to take off as hoped, lost years followed on smaller labels and self-released projects, until the renewed urgency of the 2016 Brutalism Begins At Home EP and increasingly majestic albums on which saw leader Johny Brown's lyricism enter a new phase. The common thread through BOHJ's four decades of recordings is the foundational warmth and humanity of Brown's words. The band's earliest recordings seemed garnered from street-level observations of neighborhood people and sights. By the time of near-hit "Tactless", their songs -- whatever the underlying impulses may have been -- had become immediate enough to overcome the mystery of a line like "Do you remember the swan that was shot in the park?" Over each of their last three albums -- Funambulist We Love You, Neon Primitives, and Dreams Take Flight -- BOHJ has bettered itself, and may now have reached their apex, Fated Beautiful Mistakes. We live in a time of generally justifiable gloom and awkward uncertainty. So, it may appear cavalier to claim this album sounds revelatory in that context, but Band Of Holy Joy's strengths rest largely in Johny Brown and the band's ability to capture a wider societal feeling. One listen to the escapist fantasy of "Our Flighty Season Under The Flighty Sun" and its slightly-haunted ending speaks volumes beyond most of what passes for music in 2023, and it's just one of many perfect moments on this album.
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CD
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PICI 042CD
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These days, Bingo Harry is more often a solo vehicle for songwriter Benny Jones than a band. Benny spent the past few years recording dozens of songs before winnowing them down to fit on second album, Where Do We Go?, not to mention constructing the collage of the album cover. The cosmic inheritor of a certain Marc Bolan-esque knack for simple yet spiritual and thrilling tunes, Benny's songs span seemingly glam-induced groovers to a handful of gentle-but-trippy epics which would be overwrought in lesser hands, but here manage to capture a beautiful bit of the cosmos alongside their relevance to the wearying state of the world today. "Shine If You Can", the album's final track, works as well for an anthem of the times as anything you'll hear in the next few years.
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PICI 042LP
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LP version. These days, Bingo Harry is more often a solo vehicle for songwriter Benny Jones than a band. Benny spent the past few years recording dozens of songs before winnowing them down to fit on second album, Where Do We Go?, not to mention constructing the collage of the album cover. The cosmic inheritor of a certain Marc Bolan-esque knack for simple yet spiritual and thrilling tunes, Benny's songs span seemingly glam-induced groovers to a handful of gentle-but-trippy epics which would be overwrought in lesser hands, but here manage to capture a beautiful bit of the cosmos alongside their relevance to the wearying state of the world today. "Shine If You Can", the album's final track, works as well for an anthem of the times as anything you'll hear in the next few years.
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LP
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PICI 041LP
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After the relative success of The Bitter Springs' last album, The Odd Shower (PICI 025CD/LP, 2020), Simon Rivers promptly disbanded the long-running group and began recording his first solo album, Like Yer Wounds Too, under the name Poor Performer. As Jim Wirth wrote of a recent Bitter Springs reissue, "Weaving the messy threads of suburban life into dense tapestries, he has something of the Go-Betweens' gift for melody, something of Mark E Smith's ear for language, something of Vic Godard's common touch, and almost none of the acclaim that should have been his due." This holds true for Poor Performer's debut album, though the songs seem based around a loose concept of issues dealing with middle-age self-reflection ... though nothing nearly as navel-gazing as that statement might imply! Includes Appropriate Attire EP tracks.
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CD
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PICI 047CD
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The follow-up to 2021's first volume (PICI 028CD/LP), English Primitive II continues the themes introduced previously in a harder, more electric and psychedelic style. The songs were mostly recorded during the same sessions but, if EPI showcased the "songs of innocence", this new set comprises "songs of experience". David Lance Callahan's lyrical themes here are frequently the sleaze and corruption of our "betters", the intentional and unintentional brutality meted out on those weaker and the sometimes perverse ways in which this happens. There are moments of reflection among the broken mirrors, but they allow scant solace or reassurance. Dressed in another of Scottish artist Pinkie McClure's witty and detailed stained glass creations and recorded at home and under a railway arch, EPII rises above its origins and invades the wider world, in all its color, grit, and glory. Each song serves as a monument to its internal tale -- in fact, the whole album is as much a collection of musical short stories as it is an album of songs. Opening with "Invisible Man," the impression of a regular person with hidden grievances, biding his time and waiting to lash out is given. Waves of distant samples ebb and fall as the warped guitars swell and crash behind the main themes.
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PICI 047LP
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LP version. The follow-up to 2021's first volume (PICI 028CD/LP), English Primitive II continues the themes introduced previously in a harder, more electric and psychedelic style. The songs were mostly recorded during the same sessions but, if EPI showcased the "songs of innocence", this new set comprises "songs of experience". David Lance Callahan's lyrical themes here are frequently the sleaze and corruption of our "betters", the intentional and unintentional brutality meted out on those weaker and the sometimes perverse ways in which this happens. There are moments of reflection among the broken mirrors, but they allow scant solace or reassurance. Dressed in another of Scottish artist Pinkie McClure's witty and detailed stained glass creations and recorded at home and under a railway arch, EPII rises above its origins and invades the wider world, in all its color, grit, and glory. Each song serves as a monument to its internal tale -- in fact, the whole album is as much a collection of musical short stories as it is an album of songs. Opening with "Invisible Man," the impression of a regular person with hidden grievances, biding his time and waiting to lash out is given. Waves of distant samples ebb and fall as the warped guitars swell and crash behind the main themes.
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CD
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PICI 038CD
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The release of NME's C86 cassette heralded a new generation of artists who'd emerged since the preceding C81 assembled a set of acts who'd coaxed new dialects out of punk, rhythms, reggae and the avant-garde. What of another of the best from C86 -- the Servants, David Westlake's band Ambivalent about the invitation to be on C86, Westlake gave the NME a wrong-footing B-side, before keeping a distance from the noise around the compilation. Subsequent releases from Westlake and The Servants and Westlake attracted fine reviews but settled quietly into relative obscurity, despite musical involvement from various Housemartins, Go-Betweens, and Triffids, a quest by Stuart from Belle & Sebastian to find Westlake and form a band; not to mention Luke Haines's own five-year presence in the Servants before forming The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof, and Black Box Recorder. Westlake went first into the law, then spent years in literary academia. Now the surprise arrival of My Beautiful England. The album is a masterpiece of concept, composition and performance, a conceptual work of truths and reflections of difficult but deft and unflinching expression. "It is not only fashionable now to denigrate England and its past; it is heresy to recognize good in it. The place that made me is disappearing. Its values and traditions. Among them: good manners, humility and clemency, resilience and perseverance, good humor. History is being refashioned -- in spirit and material fact -- by ideologues unshakably certain they are in the right, and people are being distanced from their pasts. Some find themselves forced into passive acceptance of new distortions of the past, out of imitativeness or cowardice. I resist. This album is a memorial. Intentionally, a museum piece. It is a personal tribute to the England I knew."
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LP
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PICI 038LP
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LP version. The release of NME's C86 cassette heralded a new generation of artists who'd emerged since the preceding C81 assembled a set of acts who'd coaxed new dialects out of punk, rhythms, reggae and the avant-garde. What of another of the best from C86 -- the Servants, David Westlake's band Ambivalent about the invitation to be on C86, Westlake gave the NME a wrong-footing B-side, before keeping a distance from the noise around the compilation. Subsequent releases from Westlake and The Servants and Westlake attracted fine reviews but settled quietly into relative obscurity, despite musical involvement from various Housemartins, Go-Betweens, and Triffids, a quest by Stuart from Belle & Sebastian to find Westlake and form a band; not to mention Luke Haines's own five-year presence in the Servants before forming The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof, and Black Box Recorder. Westlake went first into the law, then spent years in literary academia. Now the surprise arrival of My Beautiful England. The album is a masterpiece of concept, composition and performance, a conceptual work of truths and reflections of difficult but deft and unflinching expression. "It is not only fashionable now to denigrate England and its past; it is heresy to recognize good in it. The place that made me is disappearing. Its values and traditions. Among them: good manners, humility and clemency, resilience and perseverance, good humor. History is being refashioned -- in spirit and material fact -- by ideologues unshakably certain they are in the right, and people are being distanced from their pasts. Some find themselves forced into passive acceptance of new distortions of the past, out of imitativeness or cowardice. I resist. This album is a memorial. Intentionally, a museum piece. It is a personal tribute to the England I knew."
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CD
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PICI 045CD
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Revisiting a press release for the Nightingales' last album, Four Against Fate, Tiny Global Productions recalled hesitant anticipation for the forthcoming King Rocker, a film documentary of Robert Lloyd and Nightingales, made by Michael Cumming and Stewart Lee. After forty years of activity, Robert and the band had seen hyped recordings go lost, scant commercial success. Royalties? Ha. Yet response to King Rocker was immediately positive. Fab reviews galore, a long process regaining master rights which led to a series of expanded reissues with Fire. A tour postponed three times finally took place, to fully-packed houses. It was a very good year. The band felt a degree of anxiety prior to the sessions, which took place at Valencia's Elefante Studios. With bassist Andi Schmid isolated during Covid, the band had yet begun working out individual rough sketches, typically battered into songs over a period of months. They went into a new studio blind, with a new producer, Jorge Bernabe, without rehearsals . . . and produced a top-to-bottom masterpiece. Thirty seconds in, "Sunlit Uplands", is already a classic showcasing Fliss Kitson's increased songwriting power and the core dichotomy of the group's best songs: perverse as fuck, catchy as fuck. "I <3 CCTV" is highlighted by a fab Jim Smith astral-garage guitar riff . . . and that's a one-two punch few albums ever equal, let alone carry over to the affectionate "Frances Sokolov", Robert's ode to mentor Vi Subversa, the playground riff that underlines "Spread Yourself Out" and then "Bloody Breath", the best encapsulation of all the band's genius in developing a kind of "pop" that no other combo has ever cracked. Other highlights include the lopsided mysterious beauty of "Magical Left Foot", the courtly raver of "I Need The Money At The Time" with a wonderful motorik groove driven by bassist Andi Schmid, and the album closer, "My Sweet Friend", a rockabilly lullaby which sounds like a magical outtake from Robert's one and only solo album It's a corker, it's a marvel, it's the best Nightingales record to date. Try and deny it.
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PICI 045LP
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LP version. Revisiting a press release for the Nightingales' last album, Four Against Fate, Tiny Global Productions recalled hesitant anticipation for the forthcoming King Rocker, a film documentary of Robert Lloyd and Nightingales, made by Michael Cumming and Stewart Lee. After forty years of activity, Robert and the band had seen hyped recordings go lost, scant commercial success. Royalties? Ha. Yet response to King Rocker was immediately positive. Fab reviews galore, a long process regaining master rights which led to a series of expanded reissues with Fire. A tour postponed three times finally took place, to fully-packed houses. It was a very good year. The band felt a degree of anxiety prior to the sessions, which took place at Valencia's Elefante Studios. With bassist Andi Schmid isolated during Covid, the band had yet begun working out individual rough sketches, typically battered into songs over a period of months. They went into a new studio blind, with a new producer, Jorge Bernabe, without rehearsals . . . and produced a top-to-bottom masterpiece. Thirty seconds in, "Sunlit Uplands", is already a classic showcasing Fliss Kitson's increased songwriting power and the core dichotomy of the group's best songs: perverse as fuck, catchy as fuck. "I <3 CCTV" is highlighted by a fab Jim Smith astral-garage guitar riff . . . and that's a one-two punch few albums ever equal, let alone carry over to the affectionate "Frances Sokolov", Robert's ode to mentor Vi Subversa, the playground riff that underlines "Spread Yourself Out" and then "Bloody Breath", the best encapsulation of all the band's genius in developing a kind of "pop" that no other combo has ever cracked. Other highlights include the lopsided mysterious beauty of "Magical Left Foot", the courtly raver of "I Need The Money At The Time" with a wonderful motorik groove driven by bassist Andi Schmid, and the album closer, "My Sweet Friend", a rockabilly lullaby which sounds like a magical outtake from Robert's one and only solo album It's a corker, it's a marvel, it's the best Nightingales record to date. Try and deny it.
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2CD
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PICI 036CD
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The reimagined and reworked version of Band Of Holy Joy's Dreams Take Flight album, plus a full concert recording from the band's 2021 UK tour on two CDs. Band Of Holy Joy have mutated endlessly since their origin as a kind of trash bin industrial folk collective, through early experiments in an intensely poetic form of ambient post-punk which produced cult faves like "Rosemary Smith", to near chart-contenders on a then-failing Rough Trade with songs as beautiful as anything by The Pogues, free of bitterness but with greater heart... and more recently onward to a series of albums of gently anthemic social culture and political critique. A new album in the making will add another dimension to the work of Johny Brown and his ever-evolving band, but until those sessions see the light of day, the band have created two albums from recent work, a compelling audio verité remix of the last full-length, Neon Primitives (PICI 021CD/LP), and a fine live show from their last tour dates. Both sets are available here alone, on a double compact disc with magnificent art from Inga Tillere. Unreleased material. Edition of 300.
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LSE 003CD
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The second single from the album The Last Glam In Town by John Rossall (PICI 026CD/LP, 2020). Founding member and songwriter of The Glitter Band. It contains the hit song from Rossall's album The Last Glam In Town as well as six other songs -- Alan "I Love Rock And Roll" Merrill's original NYC demo of "Equalizer", the previously-unreleased version of "You Know You Should Be Glad" from the album sessions, an early instrumental version of "Fear Of A Glam Planet" and three rough mixes of songs from the album by Simon Ding Archer.
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PICI 040CD
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Blue Orchids created a singular sound of intellectualized psychedelia on their first 7" singles, The Flood (1980) and Work (1981), and despite their historically infrequent outings -- the band has released more new music in the last six years than in the whole of the thirty-five years prior to it -- the subtle originality of their sound permeates each of their releases, down primarily to original member Martin Bramah's singular vision. Yet each new release presents subtly directed changes to their work. Once at the brink of possible pop stardom that Bramah tossed aside by refusing to move down south to London -- which he did a few months later anyhow! -- his music has always had a rather perverse commerciality. Relative to the size of their respective catalogs, Bramah's songs have been covered by credible artists roughly as often as those by his first band, The Fall. The hazy oddness and off-kilter sound of Blue Orchids' debut LP, The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain) (1982), did not offset its popularity of the cognoscenti. It sold over 15,000 copies and saw its songs covered by the likes of Aztec Camera and pioneering American indie bands such as Slovenly, Dustdevils, and Fish & Roses, and it's still a cult classic today. The album recalls Blue Orchids' classic debut more than any other chapter of Bramah's catalog -- just take a look at the song titles! The lyrics were written in a freer verse than typical song lyrics allow, the music written later. John Paul Moran -- Bramah's longest-serving musical partner -- evokes the same eerie atmosphere from his keyboards as Una Baines did years before, with new member Tansy McNally (ukulele) and rhythm section Vincent Hunt (bass) and Howard Jones (drums) holding it all together. Angus Tempus Memoir is Bramah's most beguiling work in decades Forty years on, Martin Bramah's Blue Orchids revisit the darker side of The Money Mountain in their most captivating work since their 1982 debut album.
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PICI 040LP
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LP version. Blue Orchids created a singular sound of intellectualized psychedelia on their first 7" singles, The Flood (1980) and Work (1981), and despite their historically infrequent outings -- the band has released more new music in the last six years than in the whole of the thirty-five years prior to it -- the subtle originality of their sound permeates each of their releases, down primarily to original member Martin Bramah's singular vision. Yet each new release presents subtly directed changes to their work. Once at the brink of possible pop stardom that Bramah tossed aside by refusing to move down south to London -- which he did a few months later anyhow! -- his music has always had a rather perverse commerciality. Relative to the size of their respective catalogs, Bramah's songs have been covered by credible artists roughly as often as those by his first band, The Fall. The hazy oddness and off-kilter sound of Blue Orchids' debut LP, The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain) (1982), did not offset its popularity of the cognoscenti. It sold over 15,000 copies and saw its songs covered by the likes of Aztec Camera and pioneering American indie bands such as Slovenly, Dustdevils, and Fish & Roses, and it's still a cult classic today. The album recalls Blue Orchids' classic debut more than any other chapter of Bramah's catalog -- just take a look at the song titles! The lyrics were written in a freer verse than typical song lyrics allow, the music written later. John Paul Moran -- Bramah's longest-serving musical partner -- evokes the same eerie atmosphere from his keyboards as Una Baines did years before, with new member Tansy McNally (ukulele) and rhythm section Vincent Hunt (bass) and Howard Jones (drums) holding it all together. Angus Tempus Memoir is Bramah's most beguiling work in decades Forty years on, Martin Bramah's Blue Orchids revisit the darker side of The Money Mountain in their most captivating work since their 1982 debut album.
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PICI 032CD
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21st Century pop is curiously irrelevant: autotune, twelve "writers" on a single song, sensationalist yet skin-deep social commentary . . . with none of the joy, excitement and surprises of pop's lengthy heyday, from the Brill Building through the new wave era. Where did it go? That would be an apt introduction to an album of calculated throwbacks to a three-minute pop ideal . . . but No Place Like Home isn't that record. Tiny Global Productions doubt even Gemma could tell you where this collection of beguiling jewels came from exactly, each fully-formed, complete and satisfying, no two quite alike, and each devoid of Wet Leg or Dry Cleaning's crafty calculation, but with every bit of those acts' charm. The first single, "Stop", is based on an idea so simple that it's nearly unfathomable why no one had come conjured it earlier. Like toilet paper or a pair of scissors, the song feels entirely obvious until one ponders its late arrival. "Stop"'s motorik beat propels verses to a chorus of pure delight, bested by a bridge occurring so late in the tune that it comes across like a surprise second dessert. "My Idea Of Fun", a tale of frequent drunken regret, comes with a video of minimalist humor and visual brilliance. On other songs, Gemma channels acts Delta 5, Au Pairs, and The Raincoats, along with the humor of Ian Dury and a similar verité of London life found in the best of Madness. The more serious fare is equally compelling. "Rabbit Hole" projects a daring newness of young freedom, "Dance Of A Thousand Faces" veers into "Sprechstimme" and expands into a swooping chorus, the feel of which subtly conveys present-day tensions reminiscent of the Weimar era. "Tailspin" captures the dark feeling which comes burdened with real-time consciousness of a loss of control, while the album closer, "Frida", a tale of the loss of a dear friend manages to end in a guardedly upbeat tone. Gemma's debut album is sure to stir up deep interest.
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PICI 032LP
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LP version. 21st Century pop is curiously irrelevant: autotune, twelve "writers" on a single song, sensationalist yet skin-deep social commentary . . . with none of the joy, excitement and surprises of pop's lengthy heyday, from the Brill Building through the new wave era. Where did it go? That would be an apt introduction to an album of calculated throwbacks to a three-minute pop ideal . . . but No Place Like Home isn't that record. Tiny Global Productions doubt even Gemma could tell you where this collection of beguiling jewels came from exactly, each fully-formed, complete and satisfying, no two quite alike, and each devoid of Wet Leg or Dry Cleaning's crafty calculation, but with every bit of those acts' charm. The first single, "Stop", is based on an idea so simple that it's nearly unfathomable why no one had come conjured it earlier. Like toilet paper or a pair of scissors, the song feels entirely obvious until one ponders its late arrival. "Stop"'s motorik beat propels verses to a chorus of pure delight, bested by a bridge occurring so late in the tune that it comes across like a surprise second dessert. "My Idea Of Fun", a tale of frequent drunken regret, comes with a video of minimalist humor and visual brilliance. On other songs, Gemma channels acts Delta 5, Au Pairs, and The Raincoats, along with the humor of Ian Dury and a similar verité of London life found in the best of Madness. The more serious fare is equally compelling. "Rabbit Hole" projects a daring newness of young freedom, "Dance Of A Thousand Faces" veers into "Sprechstimme" and expands into a swooping chorus, the feel of which subtly conveys present-day tensions reminiscent of the Weimar era. "Tailspin" captures the dark feeling which comes burdened with real-time consciousness of a loss of control, while the album closer, "Frida", a tale of the loss of a dear friend manages to end in a guardedly upbeat tone. Gemma's debut album is sure to stir up deep interest.
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PICI 028CD
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Uniquely of the many acts which came to public awareness through the lauded C86 compilation, David Lance Callahan has pursued a career of consistent brilliance and stark originality. After a run of fine albums with The Wolfhounds, outstanding work with Moonshake and collaborations with members of Stereolab and PJ Harvey (among others), Callahan has outdone himself on this long-awaited solo album, the results of which merit the sort of deep dive best explained with ample time and a quality turntable. Whether English Primitive I is a product of the past year's isolation or of a long-simmering brew only now ready for dissemination is something Callahan has yet to reveal. Whatever its origins, English Primitive I is the work of a massive talent. Wolfhound-ian riffage offered enough ramshackle charm to somewhat obscure Callahan's darker, more penetrating writing. Likewise, Moonshake's musically bi-polar approach disguised his underlying political impulse. Here Callahan's lyricism finally, indelibly, proves him to be among the finest British pop craftsmen. This is his masterwork, a mélange of what has been called "mutant Eastern, West African, folk, blues and post-punk influences" . . . an improbable cross-cultural gumbo, yet one which coalesced into a swirling, kaleidoscopic psychedelia of emotion unlike any other record in this era. As with any recording favoring the avant-garde -- works like Balaklava, Brian Jones Presents The Pipes of Pan at Joujouka, and The Heart Of The Congos -- one might expect that the impact of English Primitive I will be revealed slowly, over a much longer span of time than the too-often workaday product of today's independent music scene. With this album, Callahan takes his place alongside cult heroes Robert Wyatt, Scott Walker and Cathal Coughlan as a prime example of seemingly limitless artistic expression.
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PICI 028LP
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LP version. Uniquely of the many acts which came to public awareness through the lauded C86 compilation, David Lance Callahan has pursued a career of consistent brilliance and stark originality. After a run of fine albums with The Wolfhounds, outstanding work with Moonshake and collaborations with members of Stereolab and PJ Harvey (among others), Callahan has outdone himself on this long-awaited solo album, the results of which merit the sort of deep dive best explained with ample time and a quality turntable. Whether English Primitive I is a product of the past year's isolation or of a long-simmering brew only now ready for dissemination is something Callahan has yet to reveal. Whatever its origins, English Primitive I is the work of a massive talent. Wolfhound-ian riffage offered enough ramshackle charm to somewhat obscure Callahan's darker, more penetrating writing. Likewise, Moonshake's musically bi-polar approach disguised his underlying political impulse. Here Callahan's lyricism finally, indelibly, proves him to be among the finest British pop craftsmen. This is his masterwork, a mélange of what has been called "mutant Eastern, West African, folk, blues and post-punk influences" . . . an improbable cross-cultural gumbo, yet one which coalesced into a swirling, kaleidoscopic psychedelia of emotion unlike any other record in this era. As with any recording favoring the avant-garde -- works like Balaklava, Brian Jones Presents The Pipes of Pan at Joujouka, and The Heart Of The Congos -- one might expect that the impact of English Primitive I will be revealed slowly, over a much longer span of time than the too-often workaday product of today's independent music scene. With this album, Callahan takes his place alongside cult heroes Robert Wyatt, Scott Walker and Cathal Coughlan as a prime example of seemingly limitless artistic expression.
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PICI 026LP
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LP version. Remember The Glitter Band? Original songwriter/leader John Rossall is back with his best album ever, abetted by glam-era friends, plus Nightingales and Membranes. Contrary to the old blather, it was The Glitter Band, and glam rock in general, that pointed to possibilities which exploded during punk, not -- let's be honest! -- the dirty beard-wearing post-hippie meanderings of pub rock. GLAM! Those outfits! The endless soaring choruses! Outer space futurism! At its best, it couldn't be topped. Even famed glam fans The Ramones couldn't match the perfect minimalism of The Glitter Band, adding a "ho!" where "hey!" was already perfection. But it's not quite remembered that way. Glam's audacity was gummed up by over-reliance on early rock covers, stingy recording budgets, endless tours eating up writing time, and the showbiz machinations of jealous stars -- damaging enough to prevent The Glitter Band from seeing their records released in America. Despite further hits, the band stumbled when John Rossall left, after their second album, to start a solo career that never quite took off the way his many fans had hoped. A small but niggling rock 'n roll question is, what might have happened had Rossall and group been given the time, budget and freedom to record an album of their own creation? It's been nearly half a century since Rossall left the band he started, but -- unbelievably -- that question has now been answered by the release of the best start-to-finish album by The Glitter Band or any of its alumni. Recorded by Simon "Ding" Archer and mixed by Dave Trumfio, Rossall's The Last Glam In Town is a near-perfect album of soaring tunes, energy and fun, capturing the spirit of The Glitter Band audaciously accurately. Though ably assisted by longtime collaborator Mark Standley, members of his touring band, as well as The Nightingales (whose leader, Robert Lloyd sings two songs), and arch-fan by John Robb of The Membranes (who also sings two), it's John Rossall front-and-center, clearly having the time of his life. Bob Bradbury contributes the mighty "Got My Groove:", and tragically, Alan Merrill of The Arrows, writer of rock standard "I Love Rock And Roll", gifted Rossall a potential hit in "Equalizer", shortly before his death due to COVID-19 complications. 2020 is the perfect year for the joyous rock abandon and soaring optimism of The Last Glam In Town.
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PICI 026CD
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Remember The Glitter Band? Original songwriter/leader John Rossall is back with his best album ever, abetted by glam-era friends, plus Nightingales and Membranes. Contrary to the old blather, it was The Glitter Band, and glam rock in general, that pointed to possibilities which exploded during punk, not -- let's be honest! -- the dirty beard-wearing post-hippie meanderings of pub rock. GLAM! Those outfits! The endless soaring choruses! Outer space futurism! At its best, it couldn't be topped. Even famed glam fans The Ramones couldn't match the perfect minimalism of The Glitter Band, adding a "ho!" where "hey!" was already perfection. But it's not quite remembered that way. Glam's audacity was gummed up by over-reliance on early rock covers, stingy recording budgets, endless tours eating up writing time, and the showbiz machinations of jealous stars -- damaging enough to prevent The Glitter Band from seeing their records released in America. Despite further hits, the band stumbled when John Rossall left, after their second album, to start a solo career that never quite took off the way his many fans had hoped. A small but niggling rock 'n roll question is, what might have happened had Rossall and group been given the time, budget and freedom to record an album of their own creation? It's been nearly half a century since Rossall left the band he started, but -- unbelievably -- that question has now been answered by the release of the best start-to-finish album by The Glitter Band or any of its alumni. Recorded by Simon "Ding" Archer and mixed by Dave Trumfio, Rossall's The Last Glam In Town is a near-perfect album of soaring tunes, energy and fun, capturing the spirit of The Glitter Band audaciously accurately. Though ably assisted by longtime collaborator Mark Standley, members of his touring band, as well as The Nightingales (whose leader, Robert Lloyd sings two songs), and arch-fan by John Robb of The Membranes (who also sings two), it's John Rossall front-and-center, clearly having the time of his life. Bob Bradbury contributes the mighty "Got My Groove:", and tragically, Alan Merrill of The Arrows, writer of rock standard "I Love Rock And Roll", gifted Rossall a potential hit in "Equalizer", shortly before his death due to COVID-19 complications. 2020 is the perfect year for the joyous rock abandon and soaring optimism of The Last Glam In Town.
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PICI 019LP
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2023 repress. LP version. Much has been written about Young Marble Giants' small, perfect catalog, which contained roughly two-dozen songs, nearly each one a perfect gem. Less is known about his long wilderness years after the break-up of his first professional band. Stuart Moxham's next project, The Gist, chopped YMG's minimalism into a new sound. "This Is Love", "Public Girls", and "Fool For A Valentine" showed his songs to be razor-sharp, but the album's fragmented pieces were a step too far for some, though even the strangest, "Carnival Headache", when cast in sunlight by Alison Statton's combo Weekend, was as fine a song as any he'd written -- and "Love At First Sight" became a million-seller when covered by Etienne Daho. Then Stuart disappeared. A mid-90s resurgence led to fine albums done on low budgets, before more silence followed. The Devil Laughs, recorded a few years back, is a compelling addition to the canon of the 21st century songwriting. Stuart's generally unadorned musical presentation does not hinder his appreciation for the skills of Louis Philippe, whose iconic arrangements across an array of Él label albums inspire the fierce devotion of aficionados around the world. Nor does the unvarnished solidity of Stuart's arrangements deter Louis from hearing possibilities for their presentation in styles which take inspiration from the perfection of 1960s studio technology that led to the rise of Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, along with less-recognized names such as Bones Howe and Roy Halee. "Tidy Away" is Young Marble Giants redux, though the backing vocals hint at maturity which band didn't live to see. "Fighting To Lose", written with producer Ken Brake, would pass as a worthy B-side to "Bridge Over Troubled Water", and although the songs are otherwise Stuart's, Louis fans will delight at several, like "Love Hangover" and "Sky Over Water", which display his style and production genius as succinctly as anything on his own albums. The Devil Laughs is as out of its time as Colossal Youth (1980) was -- its subtle but immediate beauty, devoid of "rock", is a recording best understood in the light of those obscure groundbreakers who inspired it -- the faux barbershop vocals of Smile-era Beach Boys, the studio luster of Tom Wilson's work with Simon & Garfunkel, a dash of The Swingle Sisters and French chanson -- along with enough hints of Young Marble Giant's modernist folk abstraction to satisfy longtime fans. The Devil Laughs is a small masterpiece of pure expression.
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