We’ve been watching the Skafish reissue program unfold patiently over the last handful of years as the artist first obtained the rights to his I.R.S. masters and then set about remastering and rebuilding the package for a stunning reissue that cut no corners. The first album made a splashy return in 2019, and we’ve watched the gears turning for his second album, “Conversation.” The decision was made to not merely reissue the album as it reached stores but to also include the full original album of material that Miles Copeland had balked on issuing for…any number of reasons.
The package now includes 21 songs; the original eleven abetted with the eight rejected songs, and two live tracks which completed the Skafish picture. One of the live tracks is the widely known live recording of “Sign Of The Cross” from “Urgh! A Music War” soundtrack, so this second project will draw a neat and tidy bow on the whole I.R.S. era for Skafish. Here are the contents of the reissue.
DISC 1/LP SIDES 1+2
Secret Lover
Wild Night Tonight
Made Up In The Dark
Victims Of The Night
She Lives For Love
Mother Is Waiting
Lover In Masquerade
She’s Taking Her Love Away
I Might Move In Next Door
Bad Feelings Have Died
In Another Time In Another Place
DISC 2/LP SIDES 3+4
Let’s Play Doctor
You Invited Me Here
Barbie Doll Dream House Single Monologue
Executive Exhibitionist
Home Invader
We’ll See (The Chicago Cubs Baseball Game)
Five O’Clock Face
Barbie Doll Dream House Double Monologue
Beefcake Touch (Live In France)
Sign Of The Cross (Live From URGH!)
I’m happy to report that the Kickstarter campaign began yesterday and the project is already funded at 150% of the modest $1,000 goal, which surely was only the cost of reproduction and not taking into account any of the considerable back end costs [remastering, design, etc.]. That’s not too surprising as people need their challenging to obtain Skafish musical nutrients, but there are 20 days left for all and sundry to pledge for what is an authoritative reissue program with the following levels of rewards. All formats include extensive liner notes and full lyrics and the CD booklet is a digipak™-busting 40 pages which becomes a 44 page PDF booklet with the download version.
CROWDSOURCE PACKAGES
Download album [with 44 page PDF lyrics and liner notes] – $13.00
2xCD [250 edition, original album + Rejects, includes DL album] – $18.00
Autographed 2xCD [250 edition, includes DL album] – $25.00
Autographed test pressing 2xLP [2 edition, includes autographed 2xCD, DL album] – $150.00
The ultrafan test pressing package is already long gone, daddy-o, but the other packages are still plentiful. And the intriguing difference to this Kickstarter campaign is the salient fact that the prices for the reissues will be lower than the retail price of the goods after the campaign. It’s a surprising reversal of the normal crowdsource paradigm of having initial buy-in costs at a premium which are then undercut in the marketplace following the campaign. So it behooves us to get in on the ground floor of a good deal! That CD is the apple of my eye, of course. For numerous reasons, I’m in such a tight period lately that we’re squeaking, but I will try my best to find an extra eighteen… or maybe twenty five dollars in seat cushions to put my money where my mouth is. For your part, you know the deal…D.J. hit that button.
We were gone on travel last week when I got the notification that Fluid Japan had released their new single, “Equilibrium,” on Bandcamp. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that on PPM I’m sometimes privy to music long before it reached the public ear. “Equilibrium” was one such time, and I’ve been waiting patiently for the chance to extol its virtues here on PPM; even a day late and a dollar short.
Right out of the gate, the compulsive drum programming; shot through with sizzling cymbal hits that never let up, established the urgent framework that the song was built upon. The contrast between the frantic percussion and the placid drone chords of the synths and the chorused vocals of Todd Lewis intoning the title, encapsulated the carefully balanced tensions of the song.
Then, the squelchy synth bass and Jan Linton’s eBow guitar entered the mix. Linton’s guitar drone wove an impulsive melody that leapt and darted among the frenetic drum programming like an expert danseur in full flight. Reiko Minamikawa’s crystalline electric piano notes descended on it all like delicate snowflakes as Lewis’ voice soared within the confines of the piece until it all dropped out, save for the pulsating bass in the coda. Let’s all listen.
The poise and dynamism of this song is quite a calling card for the Fluid Japan collective. This time out, prime mover Todd Lewis was abetted by his c0-writers Jan Linton [eBow], Heather Heimbuch [vocals], and performing double duty, electric piano and vocals from Reiko Minamikawa, who also modeled for the cover photos. Building together an impressive Art Rock edifice here that legitimately dazzled the ear with its ability to balance its disparate components marvelously in attaining the qualities of its title. The download is available on Bandcamp for any price you’d care to name, but you know the score. Pony up, not down. D.J. hit that button!
We’ve already discussed Rory Sullivan-Burke’s biography of the crucial Post-Punk guitarist John McGeoch which appeared last year. That was a cause celebre as far as we were concerned, but the book managed to reach the eyes of Scot documentarian and co-director Nicola Black, who then reached out to her friend and fellow co-director Paul Sng to collaborate in bringing McGeoch’s story to film. Mr. Sng has already dazzled us recently with “Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché“so we anticipate great things from the film of “The Light Pours Out Of Me.”
We’ve beaten the drum for the astonishing career of McGeoch for the breadth of the thousands of posts here at PPM. His CV as a guitarist is such that we own every album he played lead on and his important contributions to the body of Post-Punk made him the first “Post-Punk MVP” we honored here at PPM. His music career ultimately saw him step back from the tensions of playing and touring to utterly change his life; ultimately training and becoming a nurse to Alzheimer’s patients in middle age.
When we lost him in 2004, after he died in his sleep, we lost a player who was the measure of any guitarist who strove to modernity following the cleansing fires of Punk. His daughter Emily lost more than that. She lost her father, who ultimately and wisely removed himself from the destructive rock treadmill so that he could be a presence in her life. Long a custodian of his legacy, she has now figured in the cinematic retelling of his story.
KICKSTARTER
The campaign to fund the film will begin today, November 6th, 2023, and continue until Friday, December 8th, 2023 with numerous levels of buy-in for the funding fans. Each level of funding reward gets the title of a McGeoch classic song.
Fireworks | £10 | Limited edition John McGeoch plectrum
Hong Kong Garden | £15 | Limited edition John McGeoch badge
Melt! | £25 | Named in the Thank You credits
Christine |£50 | Limited edition John McGeoch tote & named in the Thank You credits
Fade to Grey | £100 | Limited edition tote bag, plectrum and badge & named in Thank You credits
Voodoo Dolly | £200 | ‘The Light Pours Out of Me’ authorised biography signed by writer plus all items in the Fade to Grey package
Halloween | £250 | Invite to the film premiere in the UK plus all items in the Fade to Grey package
Castles in Spain | £350 | One-off John McGeogh memorabilia. Set of pins from Banshees tour & named in Thank You credits plus all items in the Fade to Grey package
Night Shift | £500 | John McGeoch unique memorabilia. Tour t-shirt worn by John, provided by the McGeoch family (authenticating photograph of John wearing item) plus all items in the Fade to Grey package
Arabian Nights | £750 |Original, John McGeoch leather jewellery worn during gigs & tour t-shirt, plus all items in the Fade to Grey package
Happy House | £850 | John McGeogh tour t-shirt + authenticating photograph, plus all items in the Fade to Grey package
Spellbound | £1,000 | Presentation box with John McGeoch memorabilia, including John’s tour t-shirt, PiL tour cap, copy of ‘The Light Pours Out of Me’ signed & dedicated by author, plus all items in the Fade to Grey package & Special Thanks credit
Shot On Both Sides | £3,000 | Associate Producer credit
The Light Pours Out of Me | £5,000 | Logo sponsorship in end credits
It’s amazing that some might get some of John’s personal artifacts for a particularly generous contribution. This is a particularly tight time for me right now, but in a perfect world, I would be honored to have the PPM logo onscreen for a £5K pledge. As it is, I’ll be lucky to be able to at least find a spare £25.00 to support at the “Melt!” category and put my money where my mouth is. No matter how it all turns out, I strongly encourage any who held McGeoch in the sort of esteem that I did, to kick in and see that this necessary film gets the widest possible audience.
Was it already four years ago when Rain To Rust released their impressive debut album, “Flowers Of Doubt?” At the time, I was more than impressed with Mert Yildiz’ mastery of the playing and recording process as merely his guitar playing was compelling to the ear; never mind the singing, synths, and the engineering and recording of the music. Near the conclusion of my review, I wondered if he was going to move next in a more commercial if not outright dance oriented direction. I’m happy to state that I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The occasional dance beat was not the thread that I should have been paying attention to. The direction to follow was “No Longer Human;” the song based on the posthumous novel by Osamu Dazai who had committed suicide before its publication. While much of the first album was steeped in dark, difficult emotions that lead to depression and forms of self-destruction, the second Rain To Rust album is eight more songs all touched by the musicians and writers who took self-destruction to its ultimate expression. Adrian Borland. Ian Curtis. Yukio Mishima.
Swiss Dark Nights | SWISS | CD | 2023
Rain To Rust: Martyrdom – Eight Exercises – SWISS – CD [2023]
Tonight I Will Meet My Friends Who Died Untimely
Cutting Moments
The Killing Room
Sleep And Death Are Brothers
The Patriot
Letterfrack Penal Colony
The Big Dive
And The Ravens Left The Tower
Pounding motorik beats over a minor key melody being driven by acoustic rhythm guitar was the basis of “Tonight I Will Meet My Friend Who Died Untimely.” The acoustic flourishes strummed over the top of it were not what I was expecting, but thinking that guitarist Yildiz was interested in exploring the terrain that John McGeoch had established with his sterling work in both Magazine and imperial period Siouxsie + the banshees, this all made perfect sense to hear in that context.
The propulsive urgency of the beat had been selected to echo the train by which the song’s inspiration, Adrian Borland [The Sound] had ended his life with. The acoustics mated the rococo sound that Siouxsie had employed on “Christine” with Krautrock ethos to build a crepuscular mood that was restrained, yet indefatigable.
The rhythms were more complex on the following “Cutting Moments,” but they they were still employed in a loop while the melody was carried on a mournful piano. But the piano gave way to ambient dissonance as vocalist Özüm Özgülgen recited the lyrics in a sprechgesang delivery. Eventually ceding the space in the song to the piano in the relentless song’s coda as the elements of the mix dropped out to leave the last word to the underlying drone.
This high drama of “The Killing Room,” inspired by Ian Curtis, was pregnant with high drama in the implacable thunderbeats overlaid with choral patches and wintry piano. The unremitting tension finally undercut by the sound of broken glass in the coda, leaving Yildiz’ spoke words and the synth drone locked in a fatal dance as sound bites of Phil Shankland speaking on the issue of suicide provided a final word.
After three tracks heavy on piano and atmospherics, “Sleep And Death Are Brothers” finally unleashed the twin krakens of Yildiz’ guitars and Ertan Aslan’s tarpit bass. It felt good to have a sense of the great playing that had thus far been absent in the album. The tight rhythm riffing cutting a serrated path through the song and was matched by the effects on Yildiz’ vocals. Leaving them slurred and distorted while the guitar did the talking.
The second half of the album would take its remit from writers who had taken their own lives. “The Patriot” actually managed to best “Death + Night + Blood” [The Stranglers] as my favorite song inspired by Mishima. Aslan’s bass was ever ready to pull the listener under the waterline at all times. Yildiz affected a phrasing new to these ears; coming close to the feel of Julian Cope from his Teardrop Explodes period. Water torture beats formed a merciless loop as crystalline piano contrasted beautifully with the deep bass vibe and choral patches. Sound bites from Mishima himself added context to the dark beauty of it all.
The assiduous rhythm pattern of “Letterfrack Penal Colony” suggested an unholy blend of “Flowers Of Romance” era PiL with “JuJu” era Banshees. Music for plunging into the abyss, which was a largely instrumental tone poem based on Peter Tyrell’s traumatic childhood. After that corrosive song, the the casual loping insouciance of “The Big Dive” was almost enough to make one forget that this was a thematic album based on suicide. In this song Yildiz had managed to paradoxically find the approximation of a dreamy love ballad within the death of writer Osamu Dazai and his girlfriend.
The closing piece, “And Then The Ravens Left The Tower [Howard’s Dream]” was inspired by the friendship between H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard where Howard comes in death to Lovecraft’s dream and tells him that they will soon be united in death. With Matt Loftin’s spoken word performance of the dream eventually subsuming the sustained drone chords of the track as the speech fractalized into multi-crystalline fragments of chaotic reverb as the piece ultimately broke down.
The album was not at all what I was expecting. For an accomplished guitar/bass unit such as Rain To Rust, the lack of reliance on these strengths of playing, called out to the spirit of experimentation that was at the core of “Martyrdom.” This album reminded me of the rigor that Bill Nelson brought to his late 70s-early 80s work where he deliberately eschewed guitar to see what he could accomplish without his pillar of strength.
The material was certainly intriguing for it and while I can accept the lack of guitars, there was one other factor that concerned me; namely the tendency to bury the vocals into the mix; sometimes in perversely obscure ways that were deliberate obfuscation. I like Mert’s approach to vocals and really, only on “The Patriot” and “The Big Dive” were they readily discernible in the mix. Given the morose thematic impetus for the album, perhaps that was a small mercy, though.
For an album that has congealed around the suicides of a handful of musicians and writers, it doesn’t have what I would call an impenetrable funereal pall cast over it. There’s too much vigor in the pacing and tempos of the songs. With nothing too plodding and quite a few songs possessing highly energetic, Krautrock-derived rhythms. And ultimately, this balance makes for a compelling listen, even for subject matter as stygian as this.
Going forward, I will admit that I would like to hear more of the powerful bass, guitar, and vocals that Rain To Rust are very capable of contributing. This album was almost them tying one hand behind their backs to see how it would turn out. That it did as successfully as it did, was cause for [black] celebration. And this time, the album is available not only as a DL but the band were signed to Swiss Dark Night Records, who have pressed up 500 glass mastered CDs for purchase. I’m thrilled and amazed that there are still concerns that will do this in 2023. The DL is €12.00 but the physical CD is only €14.00. Mr D.J. hit that button.
Blow Monkeys: Time Storm Greatest Hits Vol. 2 – UK – CD [2023]
Said Too Much (New Version)
Time Storm
Crying For The Moon
More Than A Miracle
Each And Every One
The Wild River
One More Time
OK! Have It Your Way (Single Mix)
Chained (Youth Mix)
The Sound Of Your Laughter (Youth Mix)
Save Me
The World Can Wait
Dust At Her Feet
Teardrop Rock
It’s been a long time coming for the second volume of The Blow Monkeys Greatest Hits as “Time Storm” was released last Friday. Their first assay of their singles arrived with “Choices” in 1989. Probably the optimum time for The Blow Monkeys to have released a first greatest hits album. The band were still in the thick of things, chartwise. The next year would bring their bleeding edge ambient chillout album a year or more in advance of the market for such things, and then they called it a day.
Then, in 2008, the band reconvened and have been busy with making music ever since. We’ve covered the albums from which the songs are drawn from in great depth. Still, as with “Choices – The Singles Collection” in 1989, there are some variations here to pique the interest of those who have all of the albums of this period. We’ll start with one of those.
The album got off to a flying start with a newly recorded version of “Said Too Much” from “Feels Like A New Morning.” The bluesy shuffle of the original has been given a dramatic makeover with Dr. Robert’s guitar getting a dose of watery tremolo that matched the reverb on his vocal. The middle eight was the dividing line in this new version of the song as the original seemed to stop its forward movement there, Instead we were delivered three fiery stabs of emphatic chords by the players; matching Dr. Robert’s urgent delivery. Then at the point the original version simply ended came a new coda where the band were channeling vintage Santata with a hot serving of Latin percussion, congas, and some aching sustain solo from Robert’s guitar that served to emphasize the hurt embedded in the song in a far more memorable manner.
The sumptuous sophisticated Soul of the title track was a clear high point from the embarrassment of riches that was their last album and its presence here was a must. It stands as a fitting title track for this collection. “Crying For The Moon” immediately put across the intimate power of 2017’s “The Wild River.” The sort of Soul song that bestows its healing grace on all who listen to it.
The Disco dusted Soul of “More Than A Miracle” gave us the best of both worlds as it showed that we can have both styles coexisting happily within a single song. “One More Time” followed with the vibe of Cheryl Lynn’s “Got To Be Real” employed in something diametrically opposed to the Lynn song as Dr. Robert conducted a post-mortem on a love lost that was compulsive listening as it veered close into psychedelia.
The Memphis Soul of “Each And Every One” gave the album a sunny Sunday afternoon vibe guaranteed to lighten one’s load upon listening. Neville Henry’s brass was multi tracked here for incredible impact. “The Wild River” was a soulful ballad that began its journey with Dr. Robert’s evocative guitar; eventually taking flight on the efforts of the string section as arranged by Ben Trigg. Coming home on the accomplished sax solo from Neville Henry in the coda.
When I spoke to Dr. Robert about the “If Not Now When” album, he cited “OK! Have It Your Way” as a “Stonesish Northern Soul Stomp” where I was hearing mainly T-Rex boogie, but that was a case of me failing to recognize the stylistic debt to Bobby Keys in Mr. Henry’s brash sax playing. The single mix present here trims the possibly unnecessary buildup to drop us right into the groove from the starting blocks. Dr. Robert’s vocal is even more dominant in the mix to hold court here with authority.
The “Chained” remix by Youth used here was a download single that I had missed back in the day – to my detriment! It was a case of Mr. Glover leaning even harder into the Bacharach stylistic flourishes already present in the song to make it positively glow with the added piano and backing vocals. The effects on the chanted title refrain made the hypnotic qualities of the song even stronger. The french horn made an immediate showing in the mix instead of being held back unnecessarily. Youth certainly delivered a glorious mix that capitalized on the latent Burt contained in the song to make it into an aural feast.
“The Sound Of Your Laughter” was one of the few songs here that was never a single, but the new Youth remix present here for the first time, should have been a single all along. Not that the album version was in any way lacking, but Youth really knows how to polish a gem! For instance, the piano glissando doled out only twice in the original mix was duly used here as the hook it was in the intro, with the infectious “bob bop sha-doobys” of Dr. Robert making an early appearance in advance of the first verse. Then, when they appear later, they’re heralded by string glissandos as well they should be!
Another song that wasn’t a single, but couldn’t have been a better choice for inclusion was the LP version closing track “Save Me,” from “Devil’s Tavern.” It’s a widescreen, atmospheric Discofunk masterpiece with a Morricone-meets-Love-Unlimited-Orchestra feel that never fails to captivate for its nearly eight minute running time. Its spell was so strong, that it took me nearly a decade to notice that it was eight minutes long! It really gives the final word to the excellent band with generous instrumental stretches to sweep us away.
The final three CD bonus tracks only enhance the program with personal fave “The World Can Wait” showcasing the band’s Punk Jazz roots magnificently with Mick Anker moving to double bass and a Jazz breakdown coda that was spellbinding in its deconstruction of the song. One more actual single made its appearance here with the glorious “Dust At Her Feet” from “Journey To You” sounding like Gospel that never was. Finally, the near-instrumental “Teardrop Rock” from “Journey To You” was an outlier to new destinations with its flirtations with Dub laced with scorching Morricone guitar and funky clavinet!
At the end of the day, picking fourteen tracks from the glorious sweep of material that The Blow Monkeys have produced in the last 16 years would be a fool’s errand. There’s almost no way to not inflict wounds from songs passed over, but the upside is that one could probably compile the playlist for such a greatest hits album randomly and still get close to the incredibly journey that this album takes us on! I’m personally gratified that so many songs I would have definitely picked for inclusion were here, and sometimes in stunning new form. It also served to remind us that though the marketplace is no champion of diversity, the band have never shirked from exploring any style they wanted to and doing it at an astonishing level of accomplishment.
Much of this music has flown close to ground level commercially in spite of soaring musically. Fans have known how vital and powerful this “80s band” really were, but to the world at large, “Time Storm: Greatest Hits Vol. 2” serves as a peerless overview of a musical group that always have something compelling to say and take the pains to do so in an always gratifying manner. They are capable of employing a plethora of styles like the masters they are. One hopes that this album will serve it’s secondary purpose of reaching a greater number of ears so that more can follow the next stages of their journey; due out soon next year on the Last Night From Glasgow label. If you have the need [you wouldn’t have read this far if you haven’t] then DJ hit that button.
BM L-R: Mick Anker, Robert Howard, Crispin Taylor, Neville Henry
BM L-R: Mick Anker, Robert Howard, Crispin Taylor, Neville Henry
BM L-R: Mick Anker, Robert Howard, Crispin Taylor, Neville Henry
[…continued from last post]
HAVING IT YOUR WAY…
Post-Punk Monk: I really enjoyed the deep dive into Bolanesque Pop Rock on “If Not Now When?” That was an immediate grabber and a real delight for me to hear. I mean, it’s not the sort of album that I expect from musicians in their 50s, and what was your inspiration for how you made that record?
Dr. Robert: I think it was the last record with Tony still drumming, right? It was because he had family issues [to deal with] that he had to move on. Tony’s a real rocker. He’s got that thing. And I noticed that in sound checks we were jamming on Boogie. Just doing Canned Heat and things like that in sound checks, and I thought, “no one’s doing this really.” I mean, I didn’t want to do like a pastiche, but there’s something in the feel of the guitar and the drums and everything. I just gravitated towards that, and it felt like somewhere that I could go.
So it just felt like the right thing to do at that time with the way we were feeling and the way we were playing, really. I wasn’t sitting there going, “let’s make a sort of Glam Rock Boogie record.” It wasn’t really that. I think the first tune was “OK! Have It Your Way,” which was more like a Stonesish Northern Soul stomp kind of thing. Especially the way we’re playing then, so it just grew from there really. And somebody loaned me their Gibson SG so, I mean… what more can I do? I had to had to boogie on, baby!
P: [laughs] Exactly. You go with the flow.
And somebody loaned me their Gibson SG so, I mean… what more can I do? I had to had to boogie on, baby!
Dr. Robert
R: Yeah. It’s not a guitar that you can play Funk on particularly. It just responds to that kind of digging in and finding a groove, so that’s how the songs came about.
Monks Road Social has been an active music thread for Dr. Robert apart from The Blow Monkeys
Monks Road Social has been an active music thread for Dr. Robert apart from The Blow Monkeys
Monks Road Social has been an active music thread for Dr. Robert apart from The Blow Monkeys
P: Interesting. Because that’s a really fun record to listen to. You’ve also got a lot of side work like the Monks Road Social project which seems to have spilled into the Blow Monkeys thread recently, so you got Crispin Taylor who joined the band and Jacko Peake added his lonely funky flute, which I really love to hear. The Monks Road project hasn’t diluted the Blow Monkeys and I’d say the opposite has happened. But do you keep the whole thread separate or you just write what moves you and then sort it out when it’s done?
R: Well, with the Monks Road it came to me from Richard Clarke with this idea of having a kind of collective thing and because I was the connection to a lot of the musicians; to bring them in. And I also had lots of songs, so it felt ideal, and it got my production chops up a little bit. It took a lot of organizing and a lot of work, but I really enjoyed those three or four albums that we did. I’m taking a little break from it at the moment, because I’m doing other stuff, but it was great and a lot of those people that were new singers coming in…I’ll be honest… it’s a thrill to hear someone else sing your song. I love that. That’s one of the great thrills.
There’s one called “On The Wings Of The Morning,” [on the third Monks Road Social album, “Humanism”] that Belle McNulty did, who sings it great, and I think that’s got Jacko playing flute and stuff like that. And Crispin and Ernie McKone; the bassist and the drummer, are just the best at doing what they do! So, it was quite easy really. And getting Mick Talbot in. I mean, Mick’s a genius, you know? I’ve known Mick for 30 years. It just kind of rekindled my love of the community of music making and of trying things in production and all that sort of stuff. It fed into what I do solo and with the Blow Monkeys, so it’s all music you know.
P: Well, it works very, very good.
R: Yeah, it’s good fun.
Monks Road Records | UK | CD | 2017 | MONKSROAD101
Monks Road Records | UK | CD | 2017 | MONKSROAD101
Monks Road Records | UK | CD | 2017 | MONKSROAD101
P: I was really impressed with “The Wild River,” and more importantly, my wife was also impressed. After I played it she said, “I want to take that to work tomorrow,” so you know that’s the ultimate accolade there. When your spouse has to play the record.
R: That’s a hit!
P: That was a really supreme Soul Music vibe that I didn’t think could be bettered. And it’s also the one that you went to the expense of having real strings on, so the vibe is palpable when I play it. And it really takes me right back to 1973, but what was it about the material on that album that made you think, “all right, I’ve got to get a real string section on this one?”
R: To be honest with you, a lot of those kind of things are dictated by budget. So Rich is from Monks Road [Records]. We put that out on Monks Road at the time and Richard paid for a guy to do the strings. Ben Trigg, who’s brilliant. He did the strings and there was only couple of tracks; I think “Crying For The Moon.” I think the title track, “The Wild River.” There’s a few tunes on there like that, yeah.
And then conversely we come to this new album that we’re making now and we’re sort of making it without a budget, although we have a we’ve got a label that are going to put out and so it makes sense to me to say “let’s cut right back down, let’s not have any of that stuff.” Let’s just have bass, drums, guitar, voice. Sly And The Family Stone. In your face, you know? And no effects on the voice. Let’s see if we can do that.
Often those things, it’s as prosaic as just the budget that dictates what you’ve got and you just end up using what whatever tools that you have around you. And if someone’s there in the room that is willing to say, “oh I think I can pay for some strings for that,” then I’ll go, “okay, yeah that’s great…thank you so much.” I mean, in the Blow Monkeys days I could get 18 string orchestras because to a point, but of course I’m still paying that off, you know? [laughs]
P: Exactly!
R: And all the cabs home for the guy who played bassoon, or whatever! So, you know that’s the way it goes.
P: Yeah, I know. The record industry is just like a loan sharking operation, basically.
R: Terrible!
BACK TO THE USA
P: So in that regard, it’s interesting so your next album is going to be released on a nonprofit label; Last Night From Glasgow. So how did you link up with them? I mean, with your Socialism this seems like a match made in heaven.
R: Well, they work on a kind of Patreon model. They’ve got so many people paying a monthly subscription and the like. He’s [Ian Smith] just a proper Socialist from Glasgow and his model is really working. He seems to be in favor of musicians, so I’ll tell you in about a year’s time if it’s working or not, but so far so good! I really enjoyed doing it. I’ve also been working with Peter Capaldi on a new album. On the second album of his that’s going to go through the same label, so you know there’s stuff happening there, and that’s been really exciting.
Dr. Robert has worked with Peter Capaldi on both of his albums as well as Monks Road Social’s “Humanism.”
Dr. Robert has worked with Peter Capaldi on both of his albums as well as Monks Road Social’s “Humanism.”
Dr. Robert has worked with Peter Capaldi on both of his albums as well as Monks Road Social’s “Humanism.”
We’ve got Alan McGee [Creation Management Limited] is now helping with management, which is a big help for us, so let’s see what happens over the next year or so with this. Because it feels like a good time for us. I mean I have no… as Bob Dylan would say, I’m not looking for anything in anybody’s eyes, you know? I have no great expectations. I don’t even know what success means anymore. All I know is that to make enough out of a record so that everybody gets paid, and we can make another one, and continue to play gigs to enough people so everyone gets paid. Well, that’s success. Because you ain’t going to make it out of streaming.
All I know is that to make enough out of a record so that everybody gets paid, and we can make another one, and continue to play gigs to enough people so everyone gets paid. Well, that’s success.
Dr. Robert
P: Right.
R: It sorts the men out from the boys. What do you really want out of this? Everything that I used to find quite tiresome about being in a band… you know… the drudgery. The travel. The hanging about. The sound checks… I kind of love it all now, because I know that this experience is finite and we’re still musicians. We’re working on coming to The States. We haven’t been for a long time. We’re very hopeful that we’ll get there next year because we’ve had some proper interest. So that would be nice and things like that are really exciting again you know to get out and play to people that we haven’t done for ages and that’s really the best thing.
I mean, the juice of it all. I love making records and I love talking to people like you, but the best thing is playing live to people and seeing some kind of communal joy that just music can provide, and we learned about that during the Covid time. That how important that that is. And it’s not even about the band and who they are on stage. It’s not about the star or any of that crap. It’s just about channeling that feeling so that people get some kind of elevated experience that makes us connected. I mean, I know that sounds slightly high faluting, maybe a little bit too kind of far out, but really, that’s the conclusion that I’ve come to at the end of it. Where I am now.
P: No there’s nothing pretentious about that at all. In fact that’s getting down to brass tacks of what life is really about.
R: Yeah!
P: This is great to hear that you’ve got maybe an offer to come to The States and someone’s interested, because as far as I know, you’ve only toured over here for “Animal Magic” back in ’87 right? So that would have been it.
R: Yeah. ’86, in fact. We played with Robert Palmer. The first gig was Red Rocks with Robert Palmer, and then we played with The Psychedelic Furs, and then we did a whole bunch of clubs ourselves. So yeah, we haven’t been here in a long time. I mean, I was in New York for quite a while afterwards recording and doing stuff at BMG and all that, but we haven’t played for a long time so we’ve got some genuine interest. We’re just putting it together now, so I’m pretty certain that we’ll be there next year, yeah?
P: Well that’s fantastic news because I never got the chance, and what’s irritating to hear for me was that you opened up for Robert Palmer and The Psychedelic Furs, because I saw their tours in that period and you were not the opening act that I got to see in Florida at the time so, I would have really loved that.
R: No, we didn’t play in Florida. They did, but we didn’t do that. Anyway we’re coming!
P: That’s great to hear because I’ve had some of my some of my friends who also have their names in your CD booklets …they asked me to ask you this. This was the one question I got from my crew on that. I asked, “any questions for Dr. Robert?” And got, “yeah, are they coming to The States?”
R: Yeah, I mean we are. And it’s helped us have having Alan McGee on board because obviously that’s opened a few doors with him calling and speaking to promoters and stuff. But because we haven’t been for so long, you know? There is interest and we are already talking about specific days and stuff, so I think I think it’s going to happen.
P: Great! I’ll look forward to any news on the mailing list.
R: The minute it’s confirmed it’s going out.
The whole mixture of those three elements: that jazz rhythm section, that punky guitar, and the sort of Afro horns is still something that I’d like to do. That I really want to get back to one day. It probably is a Blow Monkeys album. I think we’d need to get some players in to do something with that one, but that would be that would be high on my list of directions to take in the future.
Dr. Robert
DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
P: Excellent. I have to say I was very happy to see that “The World Can Wait” got on the CD of “Time Storm,” because that was possibly the most exciting song the band could have restarted their career with. The fluid vibe and the tempo shifts between Jazz and Pop were very exciting for me to hear, and Mick Anker’s double bass work was the best I had heard since Danny Thompson on [David Sylvian’s] “Brilliant Trees,” and the whole band took it home in the coda. So I’ve got to ask you, is there any chance you might ever do a full-on Jazz record? Because that was just supremely good to hear.
R: Oh yeah, well you know I’d love to. Mick is amazing. Mick’s bass playing is amazing. That influence was something that was there in the very early Blow Monkeys. When I was a teenager in Australia, the bands that I was kind of watching were very early versions of things like the Laughing Clowns, or Birthday Party and later on I found out where their influences were coming from. Bands like Can or Captain Beefheart or whatever it was, and that whole kind of world opened up to me. I mean, I’m a sucker for that kind of shuffling BeBop based thing, but with a guitar. That mixture still excites me and I still love that Laughing Clowns thing where you’ve got these kind of out of tune Fela Kuti type horns. The whole mixture of those three elements: that jazz rhythm section, that punky guitar, and the sort of Afro horns is still something that I’d like to do. That I really want to get back to one day. It probably is a Blow Monkeys album. I think we’d need to get some players in to do something with that one, but that would be that would be high on my list of directions to take in the future.
P: Well, that’s good to hear because that was really exciting to me.
R: It’s not particularly commercial. I mean, by the time when we had a hit with “Digging Your Scene,” we were still that band that was playing those kind of songs from the first album. so when the teenyboppers turned up because they’d see me on Top Of The Pops or whatever, and they were hit with this band that, okay, we had “Digging Your Scene” and a few others, but still our set was based around “Limping For A Generation.” And songs from before then. And they were a little bit taken aback. They weren’t getting Haircut 100, you know? [laughs] So we failed on that level! We weren’t very good at being Smash Hits type pop stars.
P: I know, but you failed magnificently. There’s so much so much diversity in your canon of songs but I also have to ask you about how the Blow Monkeys were the for my ears, the only British pop act that really made House Music that was fantastic! How did the rest of the band adapt to those sort of wild stylistic shifts that your songwriting was putting them through? Did you ever have to have to hard sell the band on a direction?
R: No. It was a benevolent dictatorship. I mean the thing was “Wait” was a big hit in the UK and Europe and that’s enough to satisfy everybody. I mean the thing about “Springtime For The World,” the last album, is that I probably should have made it a solo album, because I do think that was difficult for the band at that point, but there was a period in the 80s anyway where it was the Linn drum took over. If you listen to “Digging Your Scene” or “It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way,” that’s not the band on the rhythm section that’s the Linn drum triggering the bass. And so that made it very difficult to go back, because the pressure is on to have hit singles. To continue this thing, you know?
P: You get on the treadmill and you lose control of it.
R: Yeah, exactly and you know it wasn’t until the end of the ‘80s when sampling came in that traditional drum sounds started to be re-introduced to pop music like James Brown’s “Funky Drummer” and all that kind of stuff that was used so often. So it was difficult for the boys but we were so busy touring and playing and having a great time, that everyone went along with it and they trusted me. But I realized when we got back together there’s no point in doing any that. There’s no fun for anyone. Mick is a great bass player. Tony was a great drummer. Crispin is a great drummer, so let’s use that. Let’s put that out front.
The house thing… I was living with the DJ Hector [Heathcote] in Brixton. I was exposed to this kind of music and I was just digging it and I wanted to do I wanted to experiment. I wasn’t very happy particularly with “Whoops! There Goes The Neighbourhood.” I thought it was too clean. I thought it was too antiseptic and it lost something in the kind of spirit of it, and so the very last song I did for it was “Wait.” It wasn’t meant to go on there, I just said, “look give me two days to do a quick solo record,” and then because it blew up, and then we had to put it on that album, which help sell that album, but I wasn’t really happy with “Whoops.”
So I was talking to someone yesterday going, “oh that was the first proper UK House record, you know, that was a hit.” I never thought that way but in a way I guess it was, because it was so homemade. What I loved about the early House records coming out of Chicago where they were trying to make these, kind of Philly disco records from the 70s, but with primitive gear. It had a kind of punk ethic. I loved that and that’s what I was after really. It was short lived. I didn’t I didn’t want to stay in that world because I needed more, but I still love those records from that time. It was an authentic kind of feeling.
LOOKING TO THE NEXT GENERATION
P: I actually love the “Whoops! There Goes The Neighbourhood” record. I appreciated the fact you worked with Leon Sylvers III. That was a big surprise for me, and for “It Pays To Belong” on the video for that, you look forward to the era of the EU and now it’s over for Britain. Could you have ever imagined the future we’re living in now? It’s just gone from bad to worse over time. Given that we’re in such a mess right now, where do you find hope looking to the future? What gets you through the day?
R: In young people. I sit and listen to people of my kids’ generation – they’re not children they’re in their early 30s now, and I hear them talking about mental health. I hear them talking about ecological issues, and I think, “god, you really are way ahead of where I was at that time.” And I can’t wait until your generation get rid of this generation that are in power now, because I think there’s more enlightenment. People call it “woke.” Woke is just aware, you know? It’s just being aware. It’s like what they used to they used to call “political correctness” as a put down, but it’s the same thing. It’s awareness, it’s empathy for your fellow human beings… for animals, for the way we produce food… everything.
So this is the last hurrah, I think. The Boris Johnsons. The Putins. The Trumps. Those kind of psychopathic blonde leaders. They know that their time is limited and they’re thrashing about. I just hope that they don’t take us all with them. It’s unbelievable what’s happened in the UK, but that’s a whole other argument because the power of social media to spread lies and do what they’ve done. Because they’re so lost that they wrap themselves in nationalism instead of seeing themselves, but younger people, they see themselves as part of Europe. They’ll go back. They are already gradually sort of shrinking back. It’s depressing in the short term. In the long term I do have a lot of hope.
P: That’s sort of my attitude. I’m always very cynical in the immediate present but I have a long-term view of the future that’s much more hopeful. It’s how you have to be, otherwise you’ll never get through this life.
R: Well, we’ll never get out of this alive, but the thing is the natural process is to continue to get more and more conscious. More and more enlightened. And we just have to keep putting our faith in that and there are plenty of good people out there as well who are helping that process and we have to support them. The old politics is based on this kind of survival the fittest capitalist wet dream. Within, it has the seed of his own destruction, and we have to fight that. Music’s a great way of fighting it.
We thank Dr. Robert for his time and assistance with this interview. We’ve been riding this bus for a long time and its gratifying to see how the band have grown and flexed their creative muscles over their 42 year history in vivid ways. Coming next, we can sit back and await the next Blow Monkeys album, due out next year on Last Night From Glasgow. There is also the tantalizing prospect of The Blow Monkeys gigging in America instead of just the UK and Spain [where Dr. Robert lives]. For that we won’t be sitting back, but instead, will be on pins and needles. I can think of a few friends and commenters who we might have to have a meet up with should that occur. Speaking of tour dates…
BLOW MONKEYS UK TOUR | LATE 2023
Nov 23, 2023 | Liquid Room | Edinburgh, UK Nov 24, 2023 | Slay | Glasgow, UK Nov 25, 2023 | Brickyard | Carlisle, UK Nov 30, 2023 | The Globe | Cardiff, UK Dec 1, 2023 | The Crossing Digbeth | Birmingham, UK Dec 2, 2023 | 229 | London, UK
Before we check out there’s also the matter of the band’s last UK tour dates for 2023 to mention. Look for the band at these venues and dates. Finally, when we next return, we’ll have a close look at the new “Time Storm” greatest hits volume two album for the band that’s due on Friday. When sleeping fits in there is beyond me at this point.
BM L-R: Mick Anker, Robert Howard, Crispin Taylor, Neville Henry
BM L-R: Mick Anker, Robert Howard, Crispin Taylor, Neville Henry
BM L-R: Mick Anker, Robert Howard, Crispin Taylor, Neville Henry
One of the real pleasures of the 21st century has been the occasion of favorite bands reforming and giving it another try before it’s too late to bother. In the case of groups like OMD, it was a sense of correcting a trajectory that they might not have wanted to have been the last word on their legacy. But not every band who regroups is trying to atone for missteps.
When The Blow Monkeys called it a day in 1990, it was for the best of possible reasons; they felt the band had run its course in the marketplace. As the 90s were dawning, the changes were coming fast and furious; Manchester Baggy and Hip Hop were rising in the US/UK markets. Rave and grunge were bubbling up to a position of dominance. Even as their final album [“Springtime For The World”] prefigured the Ambient World/Ibiza chillout vibe to the utmost, it was about a year or more too early to market to capitalize on that emerging scene. Not many bands have a sense of their own mortality, but The Blow Monkeys did, and wisely decided to step out of the limelight; leaving us wanting more.
When singer/songwriter Dr. Robert re-emerged in full solo flight in 1994 with “Realms Of Gold,” he had consciously moved away from the glamsoul roots of The Blow Monkeys for something a little more grounded and less consciously fabulous as he sought to hone his songwriting in a more classic direction. Five solo albums and a collaboration album with singer P.P. Arnold followed, and after an 18 year break, he had felt that it was the time for The Blow Monkeys to regroup and forge their path anew now that the Pop treadmill would no longer be an issue.
It made all the sense in the world. The band had never really had internal stresses. They all got through it on good terms with one another and were ready to play again. The year 2008 brought forth the “Devil’s Tavern” album and the band had no issues with picking up with the threads of their career and the songs kept flowing. Dr. Robert was a productive songwriter and the band had no problem in continuing at a pace far in advance of their peers with six studio albums over the fourteen year period from 2008 to 2021.
And even in that time span, Dr. Robert kept up with a further solo release, “Out There,” for a place for songs outside of The Blow Monkeys purview in 2016. He also joined the musical collective Monk’s Road Social who have released four albums with him playing, writing, and co-producing. Not to mention producing both of fellow Monks Road Social contributor Peter Capaldi’s albums [the second one is due out soon].
Following their last opus, “Journey To You,” which played like a greatest hits album in 2021 all on its own, the time was obviously right for an overview of this second, fertile period for the band to be captured on a single disc. So the band have worked with Last Night From Glasgow who are releasing “Time Storm: Greatest Hits Vol. 2” this Friday, October 27th. We thought it cogent to have a discussion about this vibrant second wind of material from the band before they prepare their next album for release next spring; also on Last Night From Glasgow. Ladies and gentlemen; let’s hear it from the man called Dr. Robert.
TRAVELING SOULS
Post-Punk Monk: So you’ve been back for now for 15 years it’s been incredible run. Your debut album of the Blow Monkeys was a real consistent piece but after that I’ve noticed that the albums that followed quickly began to stylistically sprawl, so you’ve never made the same album twice. So what spurs your writing process? Is it more internal or external, and how has that changed over time?
Dr. Robert: I’d say it’s both internal and external… it’s just whatever comes up. I take whatever the universe offers whether it be something somebody said or something that I’ve just thought or a melody that’s come to mind when I’m just strumming in the bathroom. I love to strum the guitar in the bathroom. Great acoustics… the best place for it! All that kind of stuff really. I don’t really have any set method you know, but the only thing I know is that you can’t just sit and wait for it. You have to conjure it. You have to want to, right? And then things start to flow, so I’m lucky I’ve not ever had a block in that sense. I don’t see the point of making the same album twice if youcan do it.
Obviously there are things in it that are a continuum, you know? The style of writing and whatnot, but I try to do something new and we’ve just about finished a new one, which is often a reaction to the last one. So “Journey To You” was kind of… quite orchestral … sort of big. Sort of sweeping. Kind of what the Blow Monkeys would have been known for in the 80s in a sense and so we just made a new one that’s coming out next year, which is very stripped down. Very kind of raw. I’m really happy with it and it’s kind of opposite to where we were going on “Journey To You,” and I like doing that. It keeps it interesting.
P: Oh yeah. One of my favorite albums of yours is “Flatlands” which is as raw and intimate as it gets, really. So that one…that’s when I really stood up and took a notice and said, “wow, he’s really entered a new phase of his songwriting here… this is completely apart from the type of music he was known for in the 80s.”
R: That’s great ‘cos that’s one of my favorites too, and I’ve got a little machine here… I’ve still got it. It’s an eight track tape machine that I had ever since 1986 and I used to demo on, and in the end I thought, “well I like the sound of that I just want to put that out, you know?” And I could do that on “Flatlands” and there was a theme going through the songs. And yeah I’m really happy with that. That’s one of my favorites and to be honest, my wife Michelle, was really the co-producer on that because every time I tried to put a compressor on the voice or an effect on this and she said, “oh what’s that noise… take it off… it’s in the way.” Which I interpreted as okay, just strip it back and be as real as possible. I’m glad you like that one because that’s one of my faves.
P: I’m glad you listen to your wife because she obviously knows what’s going on!
R: Not always! [laughs]
P: One of the things I like about your approach to music is also one of the things you don’t maybe don’t get credit for like your guitar playing. Because you single-handedly rehabilitated the wah wah pedal on “Animal Magic” after it being exiled for like a decade, and the guitar playing on “Animal Magic” was really the point of entry for me where I said, “wow this is a real pleasure to listen to.” Do you feel like sometimes that you’re writing overshadows the playing in your mind because you’re an excellent player as well?
R: I think it has done in the past. I mean, when I started going solo and I was playing acoustic guitar on my own, they would come and go, “well I didn’t realize you could play guitar.”
P: Right.
R: That’s partly my fault because on the big exposure programs in the UK, especially on TV and that, I would often just sort of ponce about on that with a guitar you know? We’re miming right?
P: Exactly. Everyone does it.
R: I started as a guitar player. It’s gradually come to the fore and even when we play now, there’s only the four of us on stage. Drummer, bassist, me playing the guitar, and Nev playing saxophone and often it’s just the three of us when he’s not playing, so you know, it’s very stripped back and there’s always been a connection between my singing and my guitar playing. I like the connection. Even when I do vocals in the studio I used to have a guitar there. It just seems to form a special connection for me.
The Blow Monkeys give it up live in the modern era
The Blow Monkeys give it up live in the modern era
The Blow Monkeys give it up live in the modern era
I have no reputation as a guitar player except amongst fellow musicians who I’ve played with because, you know, I played bass with Paul Weller and stuff like that like that. He was a big influence on my guitar fan when I was growing up, but then, so was Marc Bolan, and so was Hendrix, though I could get nowhere near that. I still like Curtis Mayfield… you know the Curtis Mayfield style of playing and all that. You know it’s just it’s all in there and Ernie Isley talking about the wah wah [guitar] you know. And the folk musicians as well, later on. People like Tim Hardin and Fred Neil.
BACK TO THE ROOTS
P: Yeah, the early Blow Monkeys material was was more fabulous and ornate in its orientation with the Glam Rock and camp that you like to dip into. But over time of course, the material’s gotten more sophisticated and holistic and “Oh My” on “Feels Like A New Morning” really united the personal and political within a folk context. Would you say looking back, that the “Other Folk” album was where you really said, “okay this is where I’m going to get serious about moving into more of a classic songwriting tradition.” Being less glib and showbiz about things?
R: I don’t think that I would have thought in that way. I’m not that calculating, you know? I suppose the big change was from was the first solo album, “Realms Of Gold.” That would be the period where I had couple of years off and I had left the band and we had moved out of London and I had a young family. And everything had changed and as they say “the cars stopped coming and the phone stops ringing,” and all you’re left with is an acoustic guitar in my case and the music.
And so I had done a lot of a kind of archaeology. I’d really gotten into the whole Greenwich Village thing and I’d dug deep into the Harry Smith Folk Anthology, and you keep going back and you keep going back, and you end up somewhere in the 16th century in South Carolina, you know. Which is where, funny enough, a lot of my family went to from Scotland and Ireland. When they do those DNA searches it comes up there, so there is a connection for me with that kind of Scottish folk music and all that. So I had to absorb and relearn all that because you know in the Blow Monkeys I didn’t set out to be deliberately glib or glam. It’s just that’s who I was. That’s where I was at. I was doing my best, but I didn’t really have the grounding and I had some far-off notion.
I was kind of making it up, which is in some way special because you know that’s what makes it interesting. Because the guy who was writing “Limping For A Generation” had no idea how to construct songs or sing or any of that really. So you know, I don’t like it when it gets too learned, but none of those moves are kind of deliberate. They’re just sign posts. That was a difficult period for me; the early 90s, because everything had changed and people weren’t really listening but I was making albums and it was important to me to put them out whether or not they were kind of getting a lot of coverage or not, because they were sign posts for me and “Other Folk” was a kind of tip of the hat to the things that really inspired me post-Blow Monkeys, the first incarnation. And having played a lot of solo acoustic gigs I knew how important it was to really inhabit the material. To really be inside the song, because then it’s impenetrable. Whether then people clap or like it or don’t like it or whatever, it’s authentic.
P: Yeah, it’s a move to towards integrity and I totally understand that because that’s the kind of thing that you can only do over time as you mature and gain wisdom, going through this whole process.
R: Yeah, but there’s an authenticity to the early stuff too because I generally didn’t know what I was doing. It’s not contrived, it’s just me being a fan. “Oh I think I’ll write a soul song,” so you know that “Animal Magic” starts to appear and things like that, because you know it’s all part of my upbringing. And my kind of memory and the things that I was exposed to. So it’s all in there, but yeah, obviously as you go along the bullshit detector is more active and it’s more accurate. And I can I can sense a good idea earlier on in sense of if I’m really believing in this song. If I’m inhabiting it and whatever’s going on lyrically. I’m not really a storyteller. I’m more a kind of impressionist. I write about what’s going on in my life and try to abstract it and try to pick up the universal themes within it.
So then I thought “well I’m really missing being in a band.” I enjoy that. I enjoy being a band leader and so it was obvious that the thing to do was to get the band back together
Dr. Robert
REFORMATION PERIOD
P: How did it feel to reform the band 18 years later? Was it simply down to a case of “okay the kids are grown… I’ve gone through my period of solo music… I’ve refined my songwriting processes in different ways?”
R: Yeah, partly. It was partly to do with the fact that it was 18 years later. That’s no coincidence that everybody in the band had reached that point where their kids were no longer fully dependent on them, which is a big one. So then I thought “well I’m really missing being in a band.” I enjoy that. I enjoy being a band leader and so it was obvious that the thing to do was to get the band back together, because we’ve got history. We’ve got that, but I just made sure. And I said to them that at the time that the whole thing was about making new records. And that we would be making a lot of new records. Obviously, we’re going to play things that people know us for, and there will be sometimes when we might do “80s festivals” and things like that, but we’re not going to just do nostalgia. We’re not just gonna do that. And that’s kind of what we did.
P: Yeah, and you’ve done a very amazing job of that. I would say that I actually prefer to your second phase to your first phase. You know… the one that made me a fan. Because you just go from strength to strength. The last album was like a greatest hits record in and of itself! I can’t help but notice that on the CD of “Time Storm,” there are six tracks from it. That’s no coincidence, you know?
R: That’s right. They wanted to do a new compilation of the best of stuff and I thought well that is the “best of” really. To be honest. You know there were things I really like about “The Wild River.” There were things I really like about “Feels Like A New Morning,” in particular, but I think I think “Journey To You” is the best of what we’ve done since we’ve been reformed… except for the new one! Well that’s what you always think, you know? I mean, that’s not for me to say, but that’s what I feel. So anyway you’ll find out soon, because it’s coming, but yeah…there are a lot of tracks from that album. You’re right.
P: The one thing that did surprise me though, was that there were no songs from “Staring At The Sea.” If it were up to me, I would have said “put ‘Seventh Day’ on there,” because you really stick the boot in on your guitar playing! It’s very fiery.
R: That’s more a label thing. That’s to do with the fact that it’s on a different label. We’re working on it, but I would have probably put “Staring At The Sea” the song as well on there.
P: “Staring At The Sea” is beautiful.
R: Yeah, but we’re working on getting that one back so that we can use it.
P: I thought that was done on Cherry Red and I saw you that you license it to them, so I thought all of your modern albums were band owned?
R: No, we got all the stuff back. That wasn’t on Cherry Red. That was on… that was on something called…
P: Oh, that’s right FOD Records [pronounces it like a word]; the Canadian label.
R: Field Of Dreams or whatever they call themselves. F.O.D. – FOD Records. [laughs] So we’re going to get to work on that one. The rest of it we do own.
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