Everyone needs the Seaside reissue!
We seem to have gone from "Where To Start?" to "Where To End?" The answer being, of course, everywhere.
Everything is easy, yeah?!
Those 2 would be the 2 I would recommend to you first as well.
But after that you should investigate Tim's albums without Cardiacs' personnel:
1. Tim Smith's Extra Special OceanLandWorld - All Tim, except for Sarah on sax on one track.
2. Spratley's Japs - Pony
Despite the name Spratley's Japs, it was not really a band becasue they never played live or existed for longer than it took to make the album. The name and concept weres created by Tim and it was basically Tim Smith and Jo Spratley in the studio with some other musicians.
I don't think I agree with that actually. I would pick up the work from "A Little House" and going forward first. The reissue is great but with the lesser sound quality it's something to get after the rest IMO. It is better than the previously available issue though.
I don't know, I think the lo fi sound is part of the irresistible charm
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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
Also the songs are superb! It is a must!
Not sure I agree with this "lo-fi" or less sound quality on this Seaside remaster....
Some of the tracks sound pretty stellar to me sonically speaking, especially RES. The bass is fat, the drums are rich and really resonate, the analog keyboards sound great, etc......fuck, the whole thing sounds good! I'll take the sonics of Seaside over Heaven Born and Day is Gone EP easily. Musically I love those records to death of course. I love this reissue - it is truly a more than worthy Cardiacs album that can easily stand alone. Great photos too in the booklet.
Should have known better than to try to say anything non-100% positive. Anyway, I stand by my opinion. It's a nice reissue for us fans but most of the best stuff has better versions on Little House or Sings To God.
Oh I basically agree that a newbie should start with Little Man, but as a dyed in the wool fan, I may actually prefer Seaside to Sing to God.
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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
Re The Seaside reissue. I've just got this and they've done a wonderful job - it's just bursting with colour & detail compared to the previous ultra low-fi version. Much as I love the original I found it hard to listen to it all the way through, but can't get enough of this! Granted though, it's not the one to start with - that would be ALMAAH probably.
I hope they give HBAEB & STG a similar overhaul in the future and maybe 'finish off' LSD in some form. One can dream.
OLAITS is currently sold out. That was the case with The Seaside before the new version. It sounds OK but could probably benefit from a new master, not to mention a vinyl reissue!
Still think HB sounds damn good, the original version at least. Not much bass but that's just the way the mix is, there's actually lots of low end on Snakes-a-sleeping.
Right, after 87 pages, I'm taking it back to square one for any viewers new to this thread and wanting to start on a voyage of discovery in Cardiacs music.
These four compilations chart their whole career very well. Original release dates in brackets.
1. Archives (1989) - covers the very earliest period from 1977-79, both Cardiac Arrest and Cardiacs tunes.
2. Songs For Ships and Irons (1991) - covers the classic period. It combines all of the Big Ship mini-album, all of "There's Too Many Irons In The Fire" 12" EP and the B-sides of the "Susannah's Still Alive" 12" EP. Plus a "new" bonus song, "Everything is Easy,"
3. Sampler (1995) - also covers the classic period BUT also the later period and so in addition to several of the same tunes that are on Songs for Ships & Irons, Sampler also includes tracks from the three newer studio albums 1. Heaven Born & Ever Bright, 2. Sea Nymphs and 3. Tim Smith's Extra Special OceanLandWorld. The very interesting thing about Sampler that many people don't know is that the 13 tracks come from 13 different albums and mini-albums.
4. Greatest Hits (2002) - covers the period from 1988 onwards, with a great mix of tracks from 1988 all the way up to Guns in 1999. The irony of the album title is not lost on Cardiacs fans in that the three time recorded song "Is This The Life?" is not on the album, and that was Cardiacs only chart entry and reached No.80 n the UK charts in 1988.
Newbies would not go far wrong by starting with these four compilations to get an overall taste of Cardiacs.
Last edited by PeterG; 01-09-2016 at 01:55 PM.
Exactly, grazie!
"Dinner Time" is my most recent obsession. Whats the deal with its being called "Dinner Time is at Home (Not Here)" on the Garage Concerts, but just "Dinner Time" on The Seaside?
THAT song is one of the best things on The Special Garage Concerts, where the guitars sound more like a small brass section than normal guitars (during the intro theme at least).
Wait for it. Wait…
At around 3:24 one of the coolest Cardiacs passages ever begins (palm muted staccato guitar new wave octave ear candy), which culminates in one of the most underrated guitar solos (at 4:08). A fave of mine. What’s with the name discrepancy? No clue. The whole debacle has “The Consultant” written all over it.
"Dem Glücklichen legt auch der Hahn ein Ei."
I've got the original "lost" version on a cassette of rarities I've had for years, and I noticed years ago that it sounds quite different to the Garage version, with regards to the parts in it, instrumentation and vocal parts. So, it was great to hear the original version on vinyl for the first time, when my box set arrived 2 weeks ago. So possibly, that "big" live Garage version may deliberately have been given a new title.
Garage II last night. The energy, the sheer hook density, the nerve! And it doesn’t let up for a second - it’s full speed ahead for 60 minutes, leaving the poor listener behind in post-coital rainbow-kitten land.
"Dem Glücklichen legt auch der Hahn ein Ei."
Cant let the mighty Cardiacs thread go to page 2!
Anyway --- I was listening to Made All Up --- damn that was going to great places... too bad it had to stop.
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