I love Garden Shed but that new album (Box Of Circles) is not good.
The Prog Corner
When you listen to Box of Circles you must forget Garden Shed. Robert Webb makes completely different music, although he still uses a lot of Mellotrons.
Box of Circles is for me an ear-opener, especially when you listen to it with the lyrics-sheet in hand: cleaver art-pop/rock, with sometimes almost Monty Python-like humor, but also with a couple of concepts, both in lyrics as in musical themes.
So don't think - when you listen to it on Spotify - the man can't sing: he's often playing a role.
But the cover is one of the most ugly ones I know, so that's not a good starting point.
Definitely give Box some time and effort. It was worth it for me. Webb is a talented songwriter and arranger and once I got past some of the idiosyncrasies I enjoy it. Shame about the cover, particularly after the absolutely brilliant Garden Shed cover. But it is what it is; don't let it sour you on the music.
I only became an England fan about 5 years ago after hearing so much about the album here on PE. I have yet to hear anything by them that I don't grow to like.
Yes and No.
Yes, because a couple of tracks from "Liquorish Allsorts", as mentioned in the wonderful booklet, are "from the forthcoming CD "Box Of Circles":
- Destiny (one of my favourite tracks)
- Carmina Burana (O Fortuna).
No, "Liquorish Allsorts" is a compilation-album, with tracks Robert Webb recorded between 1974 and 2014 with different groups and as solo-artists, while "Box Of Circles" is - despite different styles of music - a kind of concept-album.
Hi All, my name is Russ Wilson, I'm the Drummer with the new live line-up for England. It's really great to see the enthusiasm for the project on here. I've just arrived home from the second rehearsal this week with the new line-up and it's sounding great. I chatted with Robert Webb today about writing something here covering what we are up to, and he was very supportive. Today we had original members, Frank Holland and Martin Henderson joining us. Frank is playing a key role in the band both with guitar and vocals, although Martin is recovering from back surgery, so is limited in his involvement - although he did play bass on the whole of "Poisoned Youth" with us today, as well adding some vocals. At the moment we are investigating other opportunities for appearances both in the UK and abroad, as all of this work for one gig would be very wasteful. Jode Leigh will not be joining us for health reasons, although he is very supportive of the new project. I have spoken with him twice on the phone to exchange ideas and keep him involved, it is hoped we can continue that link with Jode. Thanks for all the support and look forward to hearing from you all.
Regards
Russ Wilson
www.russwilsonuk.com
In the photo - left to right - Mike Morton (vocals), Myself (drums), Jordan Brown (bass), Frank Holland (Gtr/Voc), Robert Webb (keys/voc), Martin Henderson (voc/bass) & Andy Thomson (keys). Absent form the photo are Gabry Baldocci (keys) and Dave Lloyd (guitar)
Thanks Russ for your kind words, information and great photo! Good luck!
Hi Russ, thanks for joing PE and for your comments.
Just listened to Garden Shed again Friday night and it's such a wonderful album. Robert's mellotron and minimoog work on it is simply amazing, warms my heart to listen to it, the vocals, writing and the whole band gives it life.
You've got a great gig playing with such talented people.
thanks again for stopping by, keep us posted, ok?
Soundcloud page: Richard Hermans, musical meanderings https://soundcloud.com/precipice YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@richardhermans4457
Thanks Guys, actually Poisoned Youth is my fave track to play, such a great drum groove at the start and way ahead of it's time. Midnight Madness is another favourite, but very difficult to master - especially the "stabs" - we're pretty much there with everything, arrangements and individual parts - now it's just a case of polishing it. Three to four more rehearsals planned before the "Fusion Festival". I agree Top Cat - Garden Shed is up there with the classic prog albums. I've played in both Genesis and Yes tributes and the England material is more involved from a drum point of view. Jode's playing just amazing and so unique. Agreed, it's a great gig and a lovely group of people. Robert will be using an original Mellotron (not sawn in half this time!) and a Mini Moog in his setup, so authentic! Will keep you posted.....by the way, did anyone see the England feature in the UK's Prog Magazine in Nov 2018? Unfortunately, myself and Jordan Brown, the rhythm section don't get a mention :-) but otherwise, it's a good article. Try this link
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/prog/...81535112039201
All the best. Russ x
^^Thanks for the link to the Prog Magazine article.
It mentions that Garden Shed was re-released on CD in 2005. That's correct, but the first CD-release was in 1988, a Japanese LP-transfer. The band released the album on CD for the first time in 1997.
Speaking of Poisoned Youth (the song, not the mod.): when I heard the drum-intro back in 1977 on the radio-program Super Clean Dream Machine I was hooked and bought the album the moment it was released: May 3rd 1977. I'm still hooked!
In general its good publicity to have that sort of coverage for the band in the biggest Prog publication in the UK is great. I own the latest (2005) CD version of Garden Shed and think that version sounds great - in particular Poisoned Youth and that intro :-D
The latest CD version is from 2015 (the so called Golden Edition) for which Robert did some additional remastering ("minor, and manually-determined adjustments"), while the booklet also contains some unseen pictures.
This one sounds very good too (well, I have about all versions and the only one I don't like is the Japanese - I'd rather play the LP).
Speaking of Poisoned Youth: in 1977 the band asked me if I had worked out the whispered word spoken during the storm sequence at the end of this track. Did you?
(PS Robert gave me the answer in 2008.)
Never heard Super Clean Dream Machine. The only radio-show I always listened to was De LP-show.
Found Garden Shed in my local library and taped it. Some one on this forum ordered the CD for me (that was a long time ago). It's a Korean edition, with a booklet in Korean, which I can't read.
What I love on the album next to the Mellotron, are the high drum parts.
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
^^Thanks for the link. Part of the story was published on the gardenshedmusic.com site, but that one is only available on https://web.archive.org/web/20160109...shedmusic.com/ and the story seems to be disappeared.
Hi All, well the England gig came and went - with the usual sound challenges that bands face at festivals, but we can safely say it was a success. The crowd enjoyed it almost as much as the band!! Here's a short snippet of Midnight Madness (the tricky bit) from the drum cam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJcU68TGNxk
There was a camera crew present, so there may be some official footage released - as usual it depends on how well the audio was captured. Even Jode Leigh was there and he got up and sang a couple of lines in Poisoned Youth. I think we are all hopeful there will be more gigs, it just depends on the demand.
All the best
Russ Wilson
This is amazing footage, and to think Robert is performing this music in 2019 is even more amazing.
Hoping good things come from this show and interest in ENGLAND is increased enough for more activity from Robert and the band.
Thank you so much for your report and link, wishing the best of success for this great band.
Soundcloud page: Richard Hermans, musical meanderings https://soundcloud.com/precipice YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@richardhermans4457
For the record, England were fantastic at the festival - much much better than I was expecting after all these years
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