Cardiacs--where to start?

**Mr.Flower** · 01-28-2015

FYI - for anyone in the UK, i've just read of a potential Tim Smith Benefit Night at The Prince Albert in Brighton at the end of May. No further details confirmed and don't know if it an 'official' one. I'll post more information once it becomes available.

**Mr.Flower** · 01-28-2015

Also, the same place is doing a benefit for Daevid Allen from Gong early in February.

**doh** · 01-28-2015

Loosefish, I could easily be wrong. That's just my impression from seeing the rehearsal videos.

**loosefish** · 01-28-2015

Tim is a proper eccentric, that much i know, but if you were to assume he's like he is in live videos...... well, i wouldn't basically. Do you think he beats Jim up in private?
Can't really speculate further it feels wrong to lift the veil somehow.

**Steve F.** · 01-28-2015

Originally Posted by doh

One thing that comes across to me through the posted videos and stories is that Tim could be extremely demanding, maybe even insufferably so. T/F? He's also extremely loved, and I think more than just for his genius. How do those two things go together so well? What's the rest of it that fills it out?

Umm....the part where he physically beats his band?

It's a joke. Also the tooth fairy isn't real.

Sorry to ruin it for those who still believe wrestling is real too.

**loosefish** · 01-28-2015

Originally Posted by Phlakaton

I think a saying Frank was a dick is a bit strong but then again I've never been in his band to know if he was that - or just a serious person with a mission. Players knew going in what his band was about. No surprises about how regimented and serious it would be.

I was thinking more about him sacking most of the Mothers without a care purely because he decided he'd outgrown them. Afaik he never pushed a band member down the stairs like Beefheart did though. Doesn't stop them both being genius musicians. I love Miles Davis despite the fact he was a complete tosser. Tim is a big fluffy poodle in comparison.

**loosefish** · 01-28-2015

Originally Posted by Steve F.

Umm....the part where he physically beats his band?

It's a joke. Also the tooth fairy isn't real.

Sorry to ruin it for those who still believe wrestling is real too.

Ha, and to think i was trying to be diplomatic

**Steve F.** · 01-28-2015

Originally Posted by loosefish

Ha, and to think i was trying to be diplomatic

**zombywoof** · 01-28-2015

The scene in the opening of Mare's Nest is pretty obviously a fake punch, IMO.

chalkpie · 01-28-2015

It's a really small glimpse of Tim in the "real" world, but in the video of his surprise 40th birthday party, you can tell that Tim radiates a genuine love and warmth for the people that were there, and vice versa. You can really see how much his friends and family appreciate him, even in that small amount of time. There is no doubt in my mind he is a beautiful person, and as an added bonus he also just happens to be a true original musical genius. He would be one of the few people I would love to have the honor of meeting someday; probably won't happen, and that is OK.

**Lieto** · 01-28-2015

Originally Posted by chalkpie

It's a really small glimpse of Tim in the "real" world, but in the video of his surprise 40th birthday party, you can tell that Tim radiates a genuine love and warmth for the people that were there, and vice versa. You can really see how much his friends and family appreciate him, even in that small amount of time. There is no doubt in my mind he is a beautiful person, and as an added bonus he also just happens to be a true original musical genius. He would be one of the few people I would love to have the honor of meeting someday; probably won't happen, and that is OK.

Once again, amen my brotha!

**loosefish** · 01-29-2015

Chalkpie put it better than i could. Here's some more brief 'real world' evidence that he wasn't a violent psychopath. He just grins like a maniac (who's that daft sod stood behind him?)

Tim Smith: officially a lovely man.

**at least 100 dead** · 01-30-2015

Hi! Been lurking some time, but The Sea Nymphs– dutifully delivered by the stern, yet creepily avuncular bureaucrats running The Alphabet Concern’s omnipresent online center of commerce with more efficiency than the blessed NSA– have just arrived and on second listen must unbiddenly report:

If you have a thing for Cardiacs’ more mellow musings such as “Eden on the Air,” “The Safety Bowl” or “Blind in Safety and Leafy in Love,” you need to hear this one; Mr. Smith and Mr. Drake joining forces to create something like Bartok on acid meets Eno and Pet Sounds’ era BB in church.

**Gazoinks** · 02-03-2015

So Tim's Facebook page just posted this:
nEifrcel.jpg
Mysterious happenings appear to be in the works!

chalkpie · 02-03-2015

Originally Posted by Gazoinks

So Tim's Facebook page just posted this:
nEifrcel.jpg
Mysterious happenings appear to be in the works!

Wow! Autobuy or autowhatever!

**Lieto** · 02-03-2015

Too excited! The date is now on my Cardiacs calendar. I wonder what this happening will be. Either way, it will be worthy of laudation.

**thedunno** · 02-04-2015

Rehearsal DVD!!!!

**Gazoinks** · 02-04-2015

I reserve the right to scream uncontrollably if it's about the second Sea Nymphs album!

**Mr.Flower** · 02-04-2015

I have a feeling its likely to be The Sea Nymphs, but, i feel most of us on here wouldn't give a shit what it was ... its something new and interesting (maybe visual, maybe musical) and we must all bow down and thank the ABC for their generosity.

On a slight tangent, i was just reading this brilliant quote from Tim from a 2000 interview with a French magazine. They asked about whether Tim did all the solos and he replied, "Jon and myself are responsible for the ‘solos’ if you can call them that. Jon does the ones that sound like a thousand tiny birds pecking and pecking at an eye, while I am responsible for the ones that sound like a worm that can’t be stretched any longer."

what a description ... but it got me thinking what my favourite solo actually was - Day Is Gone?, Fiery Gun Hand?, Is This the Life? R.E.S.? Anything I Can't Eat? I really, really can't decide. Cardiacs are as much about the (anti)riffs for me as about solos - i still love me a good solo though - so, does anyone else have a definitive favourite 'solo'?

**Lieto** · 02-04-2015

Mine is R.E.S. That solo is pure magic

**Gazoinks** · 02-04-2015

Definitely Fiery Gun Hand, even if that one was "doctored". R.E.S. is probably my favorite straight solo, although Is This The Life is close.

**Mr.Flower** · 02-05-2015

I think mine is Fiery Gun Hand too - particularly the 'duelling' solos towards the end. Even though the main one was edited down in the studio, its still awesome and possible to play live, so i've never really considered it as not a real solo.

chalkpie · 02-05-2015

"Fiery" for me too, although "RES" is close and is Tim's "Inca Roads" solo , if you catch my drift.

Re: May 2 - I pretty much couldn't be more excited for anything musically related in the world. The lads done good, real good.