I don't know how it has taken me so long to discover this album, but I have now and bloody hell. Go to 3:20 to hear a jarring, cut-together masterpiece from Jon Poole:
Apparently cut together from several takes, which explains the utterly bizarre sound, but it's just perfect. A very perverse and masochistic part of me wants to slow it down and see if it's even possible to learn it.
Cardiacs were a band I was always aware of, and knew a few tunes, but didn't really explore them any deeper. Now I've heard "Sing To God" I wish I'd thrown myself headlong into it a good couple of years ago. It's unbelievable. Such a shame they're now out of action after Tim Smith's health problems.
Jon Poole, by the way, went on to work extensively with Ginger Wildheart as a bassist, and then started The Dowling Poole with Willie Dowling, and is a guitarist, singer, bassist AND drummer on their stuff. He's an unbelievable musician.
- "I'm going to write a very stiff letter. A VERY stiff letter. On cardboard."
Comments
mental solo, btw.
This version of "Is This The Life?" has been remixed and remastered. The KORG pad sounds normal but the other synth is brighter than I remember on vinyl. The guitar solo is extended - more like it would have been live, Jim. Jim. Jim. Jim.
Apparently he got a very hard time from the fans on the first Wildhearts tour he did, simply because he replaced Danny McCormack - who at the time was so deep into substance abuse issues that he could barely play. Ginger said that those shows, and the reaction from the crowd, was one of the only times he had ever felt ashamed of the behaviour of his own fans.
I grew up listening to the Cardiacs as my older brother was/is a huge fan. 'All the glitters is a mares nest ' Is a totally sublime live album.
Do you know the Dowling Poole? Saw them recently and met Jon, what a lovely man. They're an amazing, amazing band.
They were a very unusual band and it does take time to 'get' them. Of course a lot of people won't like them at all but I found that if they do start to grow on you, you end up absolutely LOVING them. Very much a marmite band.
Might be a good album title
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/61134/sarge/p1