Cardiacs: Classic or Dud?

That's very sweet but actually my brother is a massive fan and has most of their albums, I'm sure he would copy them for me.

I'm actually one of those strange people that still wants real copies of albums so if you or anyone has a spare copy of Sing to God (1 & 2) they want to get rid of then I would be interested for sure!

You're a lucky man; the very idea of a spare copy of STG is slightly laughable, given how treasured they are (by imbeciles). As someone who has never possessed proper physical copies of Cardiacs albums either, I am grateful they are so hard to find, and would like absolutely nothing to do with anyone who has spares to sell.

there's been talk of rereleases for a while now... hopefully they'll come to pass this year.

otherwise, you're talking maybe 80 quid for a second-hand copy of STG on CD. which is obviously nuts.

I would very much like some rereleases as I don't have real copies of most of the 80s stuff. They had CDs I thought were well out-of-print for sale when I saw them a couple of years ago, but the merch desk was moving verrrrry slowly and I had to leave if I wanted any way of getting home. Which is probably as well for my bank balance because otherwise I could have spent way too much in one go.

By sheer chance (ie. I bought it when it was in the shops for about a week in the 90s) I have a nigh-on-pristine CD of the original Rough Trade issue of Heaven Born & Ever Bright. Does this command good loot still?

On Amazon.co.uk Sing to God is 70 pounds, Heaven Born is up for around 35.

I'm actually selling my CD copy of On Land & In the Sea on there as I found the vinyl which will do for me. I would directly swap it for a copy of Sing to God if anyone was interested?

I've asked about them in several record shops and the people that have heard of them have pretty much said they never get their records in.

I have a CD single from "Sing to God", I wonder what it goes for (can't remember title) also, 35 quid for "Heaven Born", eh? Hmmm... I got that one as well.

If it's Manhoo thats about 15.

Yes I realise I've got quite obsessed with them now as I can tell you all the exact prices of their records without looking at Amazon.

A gig I'm going to has one of the supports listed as 'Bad Black Dots featuring Jon Poole of the Cardiacs' - anyone know anything about this? Any good? Google search didn't come up with much.

no idea but he defected to wildhearts and has been with them for quite a long time! his cardiacs ties were cut some way back. damn good guitarist tho

Ach, oh dear. I loathed the Wildhearts. Never mind, then.

we just don't know which side of jon poole will turn up! it's so tense!

i rather rate some but not all wildhearts - fishing for luckies is a masterpiece imo, and they DID name a song on their last album 'tim smith' but i can understand how one might dislike extended prog-pop-metal workouts

It's nothing against the principle, it's the actuality I dislike.

fair enough, there's better music from the extended cardiacs family

I have nothing to add, except to mention that cardiacs are godlike and I listen to them every single day.

I wonder if there's any Brighton bands Jon Poole hasn't played in at some point? The guy does get around.

Marc Riley mentioned something a little while back about some kind of Cardiacs get-together in the near future, he wasn't very specific though. It'd be nice it was something along the lines of the other bandmembers minus Tim getting together to bang some tunes out, but who knows. Autumn seems a little sadder every year without the traditional London shindig to look forward to. I even miss going to the Astoria, for god's sake.

I have heard rumblings about something exciting happening later this year...

It'd be nice it was something along the lines of the other bandmembers minus Tim getting together to bang some tunes out

would not be able to go to this

Prob not this year.

no, i mean i would not be able to go to it emotionally, it would be bad karma and unfun

Agreed. Also, what is the nature of these rumblings? New material? I could see a little boxset of live stuff being okay. Although they've had what, four live albums so there's not a lot that hasn't been covered already. Radio sessions, b-sides etc are all out there. Demos I could live without. Unless they have secretly been hoarding completed tracks?

well they did pretty much complete a whole new album

Unreleased material? God, where to start? There's the "LSD" album, which was apparently finished bar the final mix. Then there's the Garage Rehearsals DVD, the Maresnest DVD, that Astoria show they filmed back in 2005, loads of stuff that was mentioned over the years. Not to mention the second Sea Nymphs album, etc etc.

Of that, the only stuff that really gets me excited is the LSD album. I've watched and listened to Maresnest about a million times (and I was at the show). I've seriously burned out on it now. The Garage live album is brilliant but the music itself is where the genius lies - pictures are not much of an enhancement. Not mad for the Sea Nymphs. I like them okay but I know it's not going to blow my mind. I apologise for my lack of ABC-spirit about all that.

Anyway, tell me what you know about LSD? I'm completely in the dark here.

LSD is the only one I'm really holding out for, but like I say I'd be happy with this band if they didn't release another note. Happy-ish, at any rate. Decent run.

xpost!!!

I befriended a musician (singer lass from a band called Spiritwo) who's mad keen about Cardiacs, and claims to have visited Tim Smith and heard some unmixed tracks off LSD - affirmed that they're mindblowing, awesome etc - then mere weeks later our poor dude stood a bit too near the amps during You Made Me Realise :(

(every legend needs embellishing)

Why stop there? Can the rumour at least say that it's a double album too?

I'd be happy with a cracking good hour-long single, tbh. Or even a 45-minute one like Guns which is still one of their most spectacular achievements

If you've stumbled on this thread for no reason, don't come back until the music stops -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zvCKKw_DQk&feature=PlayList&p=FFE33A2F7A065655&index=0&playnext=1

Ahh, I still think the rehearsal film would've been amazing, based on the tantalising clips that were released. I liked the fact it was all part of the same elaborate meta-gag as the "diary" that was posted on the band website(shame they didn't bother updating it after 2005).

I could happily put up with a whole disc of this kind of nonsense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AC8Z9uGe0A

dammit um erm ok well the entire Sing To God album is on a Youtube playlist - connect the dots - play all -

http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=3zvCKKw_DQk&feature=PlayList&p=FFE33A2F7A065655&index=0&playnext=1

Acoleutic, are you yet on-board with the fact that Come Back Clammy Lammy is awesome?

YES TOTALLY

if I ever dissed that song, it is a 5/4 time romp through all that is joyful about music, horrendous about war and amazing about cardiacs

Ha-ha. Somewhere upthread you said something vaguely non-commital about it and that has always bothered me.

Guns and OLAITS are their most flawless records, STG their most incredible, HBAEB their rockingest and ALM... their cutest

...but the first three are the desert-island ones for me (given a top 10)

Guns doesn't have a single moment that drops beneath awesome, but CBCL is probably one of the best 5 songs

argh I'm posting about Cardiacs again! coals to Newcastle

'will bleed amen' is the killer on guns for me. I love the whole album but that track just floors me every time.

Wait, what do you consider to be their first album? I usually think of The Seaside as their first, even though it was really their third. And Big Ship as their second. Toy World and The Obvious Identiy I don't really need, and rarely listen to, especially now all those songs are redone in fine fashion on the Garage Concerts. Big Ship is cool though.

^^^YES, that's top 2 or 3 along with Jitterbug and Spell With A Shell and Signs

um

maths, eh

xpost

I consider their first albums to be things I haven't heard, which I ought to change but feel weirdly unmotivated to, mostly because I have this baseless suspicion they're not as good as the albums-proper (which aren't the albums-proper, but seem that way)

Basically there was this long gestation period where they became the greatest band ever, then they released ALM.

Now thinking I should at least hear The Seaside, even if their journey away from still-very-awesome Tarred And Feathered twee-freaky-circus music into serious compositional brilliance is to my taste

I mean, R.E.S. kinda marks the moment where twee-freaky-circus music JUST GOT REAL

RES was on the Seaside too. There's some great stuff on The Seaside, (To Go Off And Things! Its A Lovely Day!) and the production is pretty good. I totally caned it back in the day but it pales compared to A Little Man. That material sounds so awesome on the Garage Concerts though. It's totally obvious that it's not so much the compositions that's at fault, so much as the way it's played and the production. Fuck, 2005 version of RES on that album kills all other previous versions. Hard to believe it, but it's true.

ok what I am sensing here is a need to acquire the Garage concerts - you're not the only one to tell me this

"Will Bleed Amen" is a great ending track, but always a bit disappointing live I felt. I think I would say "Signs" is my killer. The way it just builds and builds in the final chorus - gets me every time.

The Seaside should definitely be heard, but try and find a download of the cassette version if possible, as the CD reissue was short of four tracks and "Dinner Time" should really be included.

Cardiacs did songs that built, built and then fucking flew better than anyone - opening tracks of Guns and OLAITS especially start at quite a lick and then just accelerate and soar and jesus christ (that's a verb, I think) until all is ecstatic in the purest sense

Signs does this too, but into an ectasy of torment rather than euphoria - Cardiacs knew light AND dark, the sweeties

Yes my friend. Yes you do need to acquire the Garage concerts. Everyone needs this album. It's got a horrible title, a bad cover and the concept behind it sounds pretty lame. I grant you all of that. But it's a couple of dozen awesome Cardiacs songs you don't know yet, plus a handful you do know, performed with ferocious intensity.

It's like one of those Zappa albums where it's live with tons of overdubs so you barely register the liveness except here and there or when there's a distant cheers at the end of the song. They should've packaged it like Zappa did- without all the "LIVE IN CONCERT! - US DOING OUR ANCIENT MATERIAL YOU DON'T REALLY CARE FOR". The marketing of the album really sucked. The contents are great.

My favourite, play-it-three-times-in-a-row-almost-every-time song on Guns is "Sleep All Eyes Open". Especially the last bit. I can never work out how the hell they do what they are doing without fucking up. After that it's Clammy Lammy, then all the rest.

oh look, the Garage concerts are on iTunes

Sleep All Eyes Open is amazing but for some reason it's the one song that never gets stuck in my head *rechecks* oh wait no it does, sometimes. The bit starting at 1.45 especially. Another slow-builder! Mixes minor and major chords in a quite ridiculously good way

God, the synths in Clammy Lammy...and when the bass drops as the sax piles in...and the key-changes...

Arghh, now I want to hear the weird extended dirge bit at the end of "Jitterbug" again. Fuck it, I'm just going to have to put the whole album now, aren't I?