Ian Beabout
Mixing and mastering engineer. See ya at ProgDay !
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...m/bakers-dozen
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...-and-holland-3
colouratura.bandcamp.com
What can be said about this one?
One thing i can say is that the less hyper tracks have become the real gold for me over time. Obv City Lining, Dive etc are the ones that grab your bollox at first, but the likes of Icing, Victory Egg and both title tracks are now the ones i enjoy the most. I think this is the band at their proggiest (Icing reeeally reminds me of VDGG) and least impenetrable in terms of lyrics. Not my favourite, but more than likely the ideal place to start for newbies.
I think this album is bookended by two of their best tunes ever. The opening track is a terrific slice of musical paranoia, and the closing song is one of the most poignant moments in their entire career. I know most fans would cite "The Everso Closely Guarded Line" as the best closer to a Cardiacs LP, and that's one hell of a monumental musical piece to be sure, but as a mood setter I'd always pick WWW.
Overall, it's an eternal competition between this one and "On Land and in the Sea" for my favorite Cardiacs album. I play one of them and grow convinced that it's the best album ever, then I play another and find that it's even better. And so it goes for 5 or 6 years already!
This album always (to me anyway), has a dark, paranoia about it. Despite it being hugely uplifting in parts, its an album that, as beautifully put in the lyrics to the first track, is about being a small, insignificant cog in the giant corporate wheel. Being an everyday Joe, lonely and feeling dis-empowered by life. Its sort of the musical equivalant to Eraserhead. This is why the explosion of life, vibrancy and fecundity of On Land and In the Sea is so powerful to me ... its joyful and euphoric, where ALMaHatWWW oozes some kind of dystopian helplessness.
I must confess I missed the Cardiac boat. I just started listening. I can't stop playing "Lilly Whites's Party". I find it absolutely mesmerizing. They are like nothing I've ever heard before.
Hey, I'm in much the same place as you. I only just got their album On Land and In the Sea a week ago, and have not been able to stop listening to them.
Within about 5 days I had already ordered three more albums of theirs.
They are like nothing I've heard before either.
http://www.thegenepool.co.uk/items/597.htm
INCREDIBLE piece of music. You definitely want to order the Tim Smith tribute CD for a multitude of reasons, but one is that the version of "Lilly White's Party" on here with Andy Partridge and Robert White is downright amazing. Possibly my favorite tune on that entire disc which is full of great music. The best reason to order the disc though is that Tim Smith gets the dough.
Ian Beabout
Mixing and mastering engineer. See ya at ProgDay !
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...m/bakers-dozen
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...-and-holland-3
colouratura.bandcamp.com
No, he hates them. Strangest thing that he participated...
Tribute is well worth hearing (and goes to a worthwhile cause)... I rather like the Steven Wilson cover of Stoneage Dinsoaur.
Ian Beabout
Mixing and mastering engineer. See ya at ProgDay !
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...m/bakers-dozen
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...-and-holland-3
colouratura.bandcamp.com
Ian Beabout
Mixing and mastering engineer. See ya at ProgDay !
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...m/bakers-dozen
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...-and-holland-3
colouratura.bandcamp.com
Man what a masterpiece. Little Man is magic from start to finish. Not a bad song on here, and yea Sarah kills it on Dive! Might have both the best album opener and closers of all time! Tim's solo in R.E.S. has become one of those solos I know by heart, and reminds me a bit of Zappa too. It's a knockout that emerges almost out of nowhere in the midst of instrumental fury. I was totally knocked out the first time I heard that, I said What!? Awesome!
The Whole World Window was the tune that got me into Cardiacs. I was taking a walk around near my home, and I was digging a little Cardiacs, saying why don't I try these guys Chalkpie loves em, and this came on. The lyrics and the sober mood of the song struck me like a hammer. I had to play it 3 times in a row. I was sucked in forever.
"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible"
-Frank Zappa
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