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Thread: Cardiacs--where to start?

  1. #676
    chalkpie
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    ^ PS - how is "Dirty Boy" treating you?

  2. #677
    Recently Resurrected zombywoof's Avatar
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    Okay, played Heaven Born and Ever Bright. I got to hand it to you, Frankie - I'd never have bought this record without your championing of it. I expected to be underwhelmed by it and I was pleasantly surprised. It's a good set of high energy inventiveness. Not as good as Songs for Ships and Irons, but still tons of fun to listen to. Only major flaw is the production, which I got used to over time and just started enjoying it. I've found that there's two kinds of Cardiacs songs - great ones and amazing ones. There are no bad ones that I've heard. The thing about Tim Smith is that, throughout the catalog I've heard, he has a very original voice. And I'm not talking vocals, I mean writing style. His individual fingerprint is all over everything he does; no one else sounds like him or vice-versa. That's the highest compliment you can give an artist of any kind IMO.

    Still working at "Dirty Boy". I don't hate it (I don't hate anything from Cardiacs), I just don't love it the way others do.

  3. #678
    Member Lieto's Avatar
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    ^ Amen to that!

    What's everyone's thoughts on Flap Off Your Beak? I don't know what it is, but this song almost brought me to tears yesterday. I think its the amazing atmosphere. Sing to God is such an absolute masterpiece. I don't think there are enough words to say about how great the guitarwork is here. It has to be one of the best guitar albums in the universe. And that's just the tip of the iceberg!

    Wireless blew my mind yesterday too.
    "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible"
    -Frank Zappa

  4. #679
    Quote Originally Posted by zombywoof View Post
    So, just finished Songs for Ships and Irons. I've admittedly avoided this one for awhile, unwisely thinking it was a bunch of stuff not good enough for the albums. Boy was I wrong. Very wrong. This thing is just amazingly brilliant, loved every song on it. In fact, during several tracks I was laughing out loud. Really. Not at the music, with the music. I just couldn't believe my ears at how great these compositions are. I see this image of Tim in my head as a guy who is just a musical genius playing around and having blast at seeing what he can do with all of these ideas rolling around in his inventive mind. He could write serious music, but instead he writes music that is fun to listen to, but takes serious chops to play. Just amazing!

    Stand out tracks on first listen (well, all of them were standouts, really) were "Tarred and Feathered", "Too Many Irons in the Fire, Loosefish Scrapegrace, and All His Geese Are Swans. As soon as the last piece started, I thought, 'this better be an instrumental - this NEEDS to be an instrumental, because I want to hear a Tim Smith instrumental!" I wasn't disappointed. Whatever the opposite of disappointed is, that's how I felt about this WHOLE ALBUM. I thought it was a collection of outtakes; I was wrong - it is Tim Smith's "Burnt Weeny Sandwich" or "Living in the Past"; all of the brilliant things that didn't fit the actual albums for one reason or another. Anyway, enough rambling for me. Cardiacs rule.
    Oh yeah, Ships & Irons definitely isn't a collection of songs that didn't quite make the albums. What it really is is a sort of pseudo-album to bridge the gap between The Seaside and A Little Man, as I believe it mainly contains two EPs released in that time.

    Oh, and I assume most here have already seen it, but I think the Tarred & Feathered video needs posting about now.

  5. #680
    Recently Resurrected zombywoof's Avatar
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    Never seen it before today. Brilliant!

  6. #681
    Recently Resurrected zombywoof's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lieto View Post
    ^ Amen to that!

    What's everyone's thoughts on Flap Off Your Beak? I don't know what it is, but this song almost brought me to tears yesterday. I think its the amazing atmosphere. Sing to God is such an absolute masterpiece. I don't think there are enough words to say about how great the guitarwork is here. It has to be one of the best guitar albums in the universe. And that's just the tip of the iceberg!

    Wireless blew my mind yesterday too.
    Great song, but my StG 'special song' is "Manhoo". I don't see it discussed often, but IMO is the closest thing to a proper pop song I've heard from Tim. And it's beautiful.

  7. #682
    Member Morpheus's Avatar
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    Manhoo was a Jon Poole song, I think Tim is credited with the string arrangement though.

  8. #683
    Recently Resurrected zombywoof's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Morpheus View Post
    Manhoo was a Jon Poole song, I think Tim is credited with the string arrangement though.
    Huh. Didn't know that.

    Still great though. Has anyone heard Poole's Zappa tribute album?

  9. #684
    chalkpie
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    Quote Originally Posted by Morpheus View Post
    Manhoo was a Jon Poole song, I think Tim is credited with the string arrangement though.
    Poole is also credited with "A Horse's Tail", "Bell Stinks", "Bell Clinks", and "Angleworm Angel". Not bad!

  10. #685
    Recently Resurrected zombywoof's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chalkpie View Post
    Poole is also credited with "A Horse's Tail", "Bell Stinks", "Bell Clinks", and "Angleworm Angel". Not bad!
    Some of my favorites. The chords at the end of Manhoo are very Tim Smith, no? Maybe that's his contribution (my cd says Manhoo is cowritten by Tim).

  11. #686
    Quote Originally Posted by zombywoof
    Has anyone heard Poole's Zappa tribute album?
    I have the cd that was released on Org records and it's quite extraordinary how he manages to recreate all the parts himself. Some of the reworkings sound like remixes of the original tracks such is the painstaking attention to detail. Some of it rocked up a bit, the Flower Punk cover is hilarious!

    Turns out that there's most of it on YT




  12. #687
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    This thread has now officially gone circular. So, new posters, if not the whole thread please read at least the last 3 or 4 pages.

  13. #688
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    This is the greatest thread ever! I've been a Cardiacs fan for a few years now and the reissues couldn't have come at a better time. Some of their titles were fetching huge dollars. Anyway, I am like most of you out there who think that everything Mr. Smith is a genius composer/musician. However, I am having a hard time pulling the trigger on purchasing, "Guns". It doesn't seem to have that magic that the other titles have. In all honesty, it seems very uninspired. What say you.

  14. #689
    Guns was the first Cardiacs I ever heard, so if I hadn't thought it inspired, I wouldn't have gotten to the rest .

  15. #690
    chalkpie
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    Quote Originally Posted by florentine pogen View Post
    This is the greatest thread ever! I've been a Cardiacs fan for a few years now and the reissues couldn't have come at a better time. Some of their titles were fetching huge dollars. Anyway, I am like most of you out there who think that everything Mr. Smith is a genius composer/musician. However, I am having a hard time pulling the trigger on purchasing, "Guns". It doesn't seem to have that magic that the other titles have. In all honesty, it seems very uninspired. What say you.
    Dude - its phenomenal. I sort of view Guns and Pony as sort of companion albums - they display a maturity and advanced palette that could have only came with experience. In other words, I don't think Tim could have made these albums when he was 16, as amazing as his material was even back then.

    "Jitterbug (Junior is a)" is beyond a masterpiece....it goes into realms that usually I only reserve for classical music such as Mahler, Vaughan Williams, Sibelius, Schoenberg, etc etc. It doesn't sound like those guys per se, but it as deep as anything they wrote IMO. The otherwordly chordal shifting about halfway through until the end might be the best stuff he ever wrote, or at least up there.

    A few other tracks like "Wind and Rain is Cold", "Will Bleed Amen", etc are also incredible pieces. A MUST!!

  16. #691
    Member Lieto's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zombywoof View Post
    Great song, but my StG 'special song' is "Manhoo". I don't see it discussed often, but IMO is the closest thing to a proper pop song I've heard from Tim. And it's beautiful.
    LOVE this tune. Pop masterpiece.

    I am geting Guns in the mail this week. I am stoked. Frank Camiola and I skyped this weekend and heard Jitterbug. Wow is that an amazing piece of music. So different than almost anything I've ever heard. Those Jon Poole Zappa covers rule! Where can we get the album?
    "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible"
    -Frank Zappa

  17. #692
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    I love everything I've heard from Cardiacs and all related bands/projects, but Guns hasn't grabbed me like their other albums have. Granted, I've only listened to it a few times, so I'm definitely going to give it several more spins in the hope that it ends up being a grower.

    And those Zappa covers sound absolutely phenomenal!

  18. #693
    Recently Resurrected zombywoof's Avatar
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    Heaven Born and Ever Bright is my favorite Cardiacs album at the moment.

    Oh and I love the production.

  19. #694
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    Heaven Born and Ever Bright is fantastic and quite underrated IMO. I'm not a huge fan of the production, but it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the album.

  20. #695
    chalkpie
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    Quote Originally Posted by zombywoof View Post
    Heaven Born and Ever Bright is my favorite Cardiacs album at the moment.

    Oh and I love the production.



  21. #696
    chalkpie
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    Greatest Hits features one new and otherwise unavailable track, called "Faster Than Snakes With A Ball And A Chain". is exclusive to this album. This is described as having been taken from the then-forthcoming and as-yet untitled album which was to follow Greatest Hits (presumably the "lost" album which was abandoned following a hard disc crash in Cardiacs' studio, and which would have been replaced by the similarly incomplete and unreleased LSD album in the late 2000s).

    Holy shit! I don't even know what to say about that bass playing? Is that Jim? He is the fuckin best!!

    And the tune - oh man.

  22. #697
    Member thedunno's Avatar
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    Found this on the internet:

    http://dfan.org/blog/2010/05/09/card...al-vocabulary/
    http://dfan.org/blog/2010/11/06/cardiacs-odd-even/

    I guess this is an interesting read for all musicians out there. Even I find it interesting and I cant play a single note.

  23. #698
    Those Jon Poole Zappa covers rule! Where can we get the album?
    You won't find it for cheap, that's for sure (it's currently £43 on Amazon UK). Youtube is sadly lacking 'Brown shoes don't make it' which is my favourite thing on there. Jon's on Facebook and twitter, so you could ask him on there in case he has a few spare copies collecting dust.
    It's enjoyable stuff and he clearly loves and respects the music of Zappa, in fact, this is what he says about it...

    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Poole
    People have often asked me WHY?!Why did I do virtual carbon copies of Zappa tracks?Why attempt to re-write the new testament?Well I can only liken my Frank Zappa fixation to the hysteria linked with that of a red-neck Elvis fanatic. I learnt of his death in '93 and was left with a huge gap in my life.How can I humbly pay homage to a musical genius the like of whom has never existed and will more than likely never exist again? It was a labour of love which took place in my old bedroom in my parent's house back in '94 and I was doing it for myself out of respect for the great man himself. I never expected it to get the great reception it did but all this time on it seems to attract a wide range of music fanatics including quite a few people who were never Zappa fans before who have told me that my versions made it more accsesible for them and have since found a pathway into Zappa's world which pleases me more than anything in terms of doing my bit for the Zappa familly trust and makes me jelous of the musical discovories they are about to make for the first time. Some people have described it as having an English twist to it and I can only assume this has something to do with my not very brilliant american accent!Whatever the case it seems to have an identity of it's own and I'm just happy to have helped spread the word of Frank's music to a new audience and raised the odd smile on the face of old Zappa converts...
    Recorded in his Parents bedroom

  24. #699
    Quote Originally Posted by loosefish View Post



    Recorded in his Parents bedroom
    no!

  25. #700
    Quote Originally Posted by thedunno View Post
    Found this on the internet:

    http://dfan.org/blog/2010/05/09/card...al-vocabulary/
    http://dfan.org/blog/2010/11/06/cardiacs-odd-even/

    I guess this is an interesting read for all musicians out there. Even I find it interesting and I cant play a single note.
    That's me! "Jitterbug (Junior is a)" transcription coming soon (finally).

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