Monday 14 August 2017

SPIRITUALIZED - FEEL SO SAD / I WANT YOU






















Fierce Recordings 1991

01. Feel So Sad
02. I Want You


Now, onto our exploration of releases by the founding members of Spacemen 3 and three singles by Spiritualized that make up an album length suite of their own.

What really interested me about early Spiritualized releases was the different versions of songs across different formats. The themes and melodies of a single song would be explored in different ways, check out the versions of 'Feel So Sad' on these posts as a good example.

This 7" was sold and sometimes given away at gigs.

SPIRITUALIZED - FEEL SO SAD




















Dedicated 1991

01. Feel So Sad (Rhapsodies)
02. Feel So Sad (Glides & Chimes)

Here's the 12" version of 'Feel So Sad'. Extended and strung out.

SPIRITUALIZED - RUN / I WANT YOU





















Dedicated 1991

01. Run
02. Luminescence (Stay With Me)
03. I Want You
04. Effervescent (Chimes)

Both 'Run' and 'I Want You' differ from their 7" and 'Lazer Guided Melodies' versions.

The 12" spookily glowed in the dark.

MYSTERY SPRING - THE GIRL WHO HID BEHIND TREES






















Treehouse Orchestra Recordings. 2017.


01. Nightwalking
02. Can't Put This Fire Out
03. Angel Face You Will Drive Us All To Hell
04. Saint Mary Kills Me
05. Split the Blues
06. What to Do Today
07. Open Water
08. Stone Pickers
09. Slow Moving Cartwheels
10. Last Rites, Maybe


Another release now from the label of me and my friends; Treehouse Orchestra Recordings.

I worked on the artwork for this one.

Here's the notes from the label blog, written by Catherine Reding:


"Me and my dog, Billy (that's him on the CD artwork) looked forward to Fridays last winter. We would go round to Marc's and drink tea, eat biscuits and play music together. What started out as a bit of a jam has turned into this album.

We had a great time making it - despite occasional dog noises and technical problems with Marc's recording kit.

It was quite a spontaneous process and although the album took a few months, most of the recording happened quite quickly.

A highlight for me was playing Marc's Ultranova keyboard on 'Nightwalking' - there was a childlike joy in twiddling the knobs and feeling like you are playing the BBC Radiophonic workshop.

This is our first Mystery Spring album, but we hope there will be more."

After the experimental folk alt. pop first tracks, the album settles into a mellow and dark pastoral vibe. Nice and half remembered woodsy feel.

Limited edition compact disc and free download at Bandcamp.


NICK DRAKE - THE JOHN PEEL SESSION






















Antar Records 2014 (Recorded 1969)

01. Time Of No Reply
02. River Man
03. Three Hours
04. Bryter Layter
05. Cello Song

Once thought lost, the legendary Nick Drake Peel session mysteriously turns up.

It finally saw a release as a bonus 10" record with the signature boxed edition 'Remembered For A While' book.

GENE CLARK - BACK STREET MIRROR





















Unreleased single 1967.

01. Back Street Mirror
02. Don't Let it Fall Through

There has been a lot of unheard Gene Clark material coming through in the last couple of years. It doesn't get much better than this unreleased single.

After the commercial failure of Gene's first album, he quickly recorded a follow up single; 'The French Girl' b/w 'Only Colombe'. Columbia decided this would also fail and cancelled it.

At a later recording session, Gene recorded an albums worth of material and these two tracks were put aside as his new single.

Astoundingly, the label decided that this wasn't really worth it either.

Cloth ears man, this baroque and mariachi masterpiece is wonderful. Both sides were recorded with Hugh Maskela, who had played trumpet on the Byrds 'So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star?' the previous year.

In terms of recorded output, Gene Clark has one of the messiest and puzzling of careers. Hearing missing albums and singles like this provide a clearer picture.

P.S. There was never a sleeve printed, so I made this.