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Now that's worth the effort of getting to Brighton for. Wonderful news!

Also saw them last year in the tiny Borderline club in London, with their Grand Guignol performance (all nine current members on stage at once) .... best encore ever, even though Dave sat down for...

I think there's some tracks off Weld that surpass the recorded versions ... that album is arguably my favourite live recording, blows me away every single time.

I adore The Colour of Spring. It gets overlooked a little, due to the immense shadow cast by what followed, but it was the perfect bridge between their earlier, more new-wave incarnation and the...

Oops...Mark RILEY, not Radcliffe.

I thought Jo's voice sounded far, far better on those tracks last night than previous live events or recording. Really strong. Very impressed.

Spratleys Japs live in session for Mark Radcliffe on 6Music last night ... sounded great and good to hear Jo talking about plans for the year (EP due out in late Spring, LP ready by the end of the...

No, i'm not a fan of recording songs whilst watching them usually (i take the odd photo though) ... but i was close to the front and felt i could record and watch at the same time without it...

So, the 21st December at the Garage. What a night! An all-star spectacular with Tim in attendance. Zofff were amazing - Terry Bickers was brilliant as guest guitarist. Knifeworld - as great as...

Is that your clip or did you get it from somewhere else? I've got the full (well first five minutes) film of Dirty Boy from almost the same position.

That was my first thought. The original wasn't all that, but this does look a little cobbled together ... but never mind, i think the song is one of the greatest of their latter years. Powerful yet...

Bizarrely, this (and Buds and Spawn) popped up on my i-pod yesterday ... both awesome tracks. Perish the thought of ABC's greasy mitts scrabbling at my windows in the middle of the night...like some...

It should be up there. I don't have FB, i just went via a link on Twitter. Seems legit.

Hey guys, check out the Spratleys Japs Facebook page - NEW track (or at least part of it) available for listening. Let me repeat that ... NEW SPRATLEYS JAPS!!!

I'd heartily recommend seeking out Common People (originally by Pulp) and covered brilliantly by William Shatner (with the help of Joe Jackson and Ben Folds). It shouldn't work, but it does ... and...

A little off-topic (but not much), but i went to see Pere Ubu last weekend - they were still brilliant live, of course - and i got around to thinking how much Dave Thomas reminds me of Tim. Not...

Awesome ... come pay day i'll be getting the HBaEB original and a few B-sides i've not yet got.

It was the Freak Zone show with Stuart Marconie that Kavus was initially on, discussing Tim's health and the Just Giving campaign. Last night's show promised an 'update' on Tim's health, so i...

Did anyone happen to listen to Stuart Marconie on the Freak Show (BBC 6MUSIC) last night? They had Sing to God as the featured album (played Eden on the Air, Fiery Gun Hand, Nurses Whispering Verses...

THEY'VE ONLY GONE AND DONE IT!!!

i dropped another £20 in as they were on about £99 500 and some wonderful people immediately threw in another £500 from a marathon sponsorship.

Congratulations...

Less than £1500 to go to achieve Tim's revised target of £100 000. Wonderful work to all involved ... let's hope they get to 100k by the end of the week.

My favourite quote from Renegade ... just sums the great man up:

"I've got three chairs in my house. One for me, one for the wife and one for a guest. No more. One guest at a time, that's my...

Contender for gig of the year ... even at this early stage. The Lexington was as full as i've ever seen it and the band was on fire and really looked like they were enjoying themselves. Both...

Just noticed another interesting and valuable point about this situation and that is the number of people who've donated and stated that they were compelled to listen to Cardiacs for the first time...

.... and another mention over at www.louderthanwar.com along with their original article on Tim from a few years ago. Well worth a read if you haven't seen it before.

Most decent music sites are...

Another little snippet of an interview our leader gave to Sean Kitching over at The Quietus .... http://thequietus.com/articles/23830-tim-smith-cardiacs

There's mention of an official Cardiacs...

I'm sure it will - it's gone up to £28 000 since i posted less than an hour ago!!!

Jesus, when i logged in this morning, it was on about £3000 and i was trying to work out how many people at the average donation at that point it would take to reach the goal - and i wasn't hopeful....

I was noticing the slippage.

Sitting in work with my cherry red Little Man and a House T-shirt on, satisfied that i've secured my tickets for Knifeworld (acoustic/electric) at the Lexington in...

Happy Monday everyone.

For anyone interested, there's a new Twitter account which looks like its run by the ABC - Cardiacs Fans (@CardiacsBand).

It was through this i've seen that Spratleys...

It was Bob's drumming that first caught my eye too ... what a player!

As for the rest it's funny, strange (Jim trying to plug his bass in ... for two minutes!!!) and needless to say brilliant.
...

Just had an email from Mary saying the DVDs have been despatched ... hopefully i'll have it today or tomorrow then. Will feedback on my thoughts (although there's little doubt it will be brilliant)...

hatchet. buried.

https://www.jambase.com/article/adrian-belew-robert-fripp-put-king-crimson-drama-behind

Belew now back in the fold (sort of), although Fripp still being cryptic about the cause...

Not really mentioned on these boards, but i'd add a guy called Dave Narcizo from Throwing Muses. Small kit, but rhythmically astonishing.

Yup, it's definitely up there.

As with most of their tracks though, the writing is so complex and unconventional, identifying a standard riff is fairly difficult - they often seem to start then...

The Joy of the Riff.

This was on BBC recently and was a fairly entertaining look at the 'riff', what it does, how it affects a song and what it should do for the listener. As a non-musician, i've...

Let's bump this back up to page 1!!!

Tonight on Gideon Coe's show on BBC 6MUSIC, they're playing an old session (don't know which one) from Cardiacs and Gong live.

Should be a good show.

Wonderful record. For newbies, i'd recommend all three of the last (and by far best) Talk Talk albums - The Colour of Spring, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock (and to a lesser extent Mark Hollis'...

If that makes you feel old, i've still got my original 7" of Is this the Life - bought from Kestrel Records in Abergavenny (sadly no longer with us) back in '88.10490

What would be an analogue in other art forms that inspires people love them or hate them? Not comparing artists or art forms, but is there anyone else out there that inspires the same feelings music...

Trust me, it's a VERY GOOD THING!

Worth of laudation in fact.

I think with Cardiacs, you need an 'in'. A song that grips you, then fascinates you (even if you don't understand why). Then the...

It's also VERY difficult to get bored of. The songs, as with much of Tim's ouevre, are interesting and structured in a non-traditional way. So, new versions, weird and fascinating song structures...

The Garage Concerts could be my favourite live album of all time. Most live albums you get are effectively greatest hits collections, you know all (or most) of the songs and that's why, with the odd...

Slipping off the front page again!!!

In that case, i'd like to talk a little about a very important, but not often discussed track on this thread, Ditzy Scene. Wow! What. A. Song! I liked it a...

The Clash's two best singles, Complete Control and White Man (in Hammersmith Palais) were non-album singles, appearing between their eponymous debut and Give 'em Enough Rope. For many of you in the...

Don't disagree with you on this one...but sometimes, just sometimes, something awesome pops up and this year it's the first new The The for years. Hopefully, it's the first release of what may be a...

First one that crossed my mind was Jumpin' Jack Flash by the Stones. It preceeded Beggars Banquet by a few months, but was never included on a studio album, just live and compilations.

Beggars...

For anyone wanting a primer or introduction to Krautrock, i would recommend the following two compilations, curated and released by Soul Jazz Records.
...

I was wondering, for future gigs, what other Cardiacs tracks would be suitable for Spratley's to cover. What songs could 'fit in'? Obviously, the rockier/heavier end of the spectrum wouldn't really...

Really, really good. Very psychedelic and true to the sound of Pony. The band were great and Jo Spratley gets your undivided attention on stage. It was pretty moving seeing those songs done on...

Doctor Doctor - Thompson Twins

I no longer have access to YouTube in work, so can't provide a link, but if anyone's interested, there's a brief clip of Spratleys Japs from the Lexington gig uploaded - including Flap Off You Beak...

Dog Eat Dog - Adam & the Ants

Hole in the Ground - Bernard Cribbins

Twisting by the Pool - Dire Straits

Dreamtime - The Cult

Brass Band in African Chimes - Simple Minds

Disco 2000 - Pulp

Too Many Sandwiches - Stereophonics

Heroes and Zeros - Clawfinger

Brave New World - New Model Army