Cardiacs: Classic or Dud?

It's not on Gracenote yet, boo!

Any word on Tim's condition? It's been such a long time...just realized that Guns is going to be 12 years old :()

Well sadly, he's still in an extremely dependant state. The record they were working on before Tim's attack (LSD) will likely remain unreleased because his vocals had yet to be added.

Did you know about this frogbs?

http://www.thegenepool.co.uk/items/597.htm

It's pretty great in the main and all proceeds go directly to Tim.

I'm working w/Moe Staiano (ex Sleepytime Gorilla Museum percussionist) on a Tim Smith benefit in San Francisco for May. Several bands who want to cover Cardiacs will play (and if your band is in the bay and wants to play, let me know)

sometimes, every now and then, I wish I lived in the uk america

― Dominique, Wednesday, 31 October 2007 02:55 (3 years ago)

also I need to get my mitts on that album - my bank account has been empty since I got my ticket to NZ so as soon as I'm next paid that thing is en route chez moi. refuse point-blank to d/l it without paying.

Although if you could titillate me with some descriptions, MN... :P

Wow MaresNest really is our source on the ground...but it's still very sad to hear of his state of course.

Supposedly Tundra covers Will Bleed Amen. Prepare yr ears :p

that is the single thing I am most looking forward to tbh

DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH-BAB-BA-BA-DAH-DUH-DUH

I think those Duhs match up with the Will Bleed Amen riff...maybe..possibly...

Loved a lot of 2010 music, but this makes the '10 ILM poll look just feeble.

ah man I am trying to imagine an alternate ILX reality where Guns is released in our messageboard's lifetime, and its subsequent appearance in the year-end poll

hell, Sing To God

Well for one, The North Sea Radio Orchestra do a version of March which is one of my favourites and NSRO are beyond awesome.

And here is a mild derail to prove it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR6axzyFX-k

44 Cardiacs - Sing To God (Parts 1 and 2) 348 points, 7 votes, 6 first-place votes

ooooooh! will listen now :) p.s. on that 'discoveries of 2010' thread I concur w/ you about P-Model

Oh yes, thanks fot that frogbs and for taking the time to answer!

Lex (not having any past knowledge): ooh who're this Cardaics band? (Lex would phrase it better than that)

But they're our little secret, and that's better than horrid ubiquity.

The comp is pretty excellent throughout, the only clunker is Jullianne Regan's phoned in version of a Sea Nymphs track.

Additionally there was a bonus cd of even more covers that might still be available too, or may be a download only thing, but it's pretty high standard.

Lex attempting to listen to Cardiacs would be the best thing ever, especially if we started him on The Sea Nymphs and he declared it awesome, wanting to know more...

...then, BAM, The Duck And Roger The Horse. KO.

I don't think it'd be horrid if Cardiacs were ubiquitous, but they're not going to achieve such a thing (at the moment, I think they have a very bright critical future however). I proselytise them whenever possible! It is nice to have a posse of people as passionate about them as I am. Hence my projected votes-breakdown :P

The bonus CD opens with Silvery <3 and I intend to get hold of it too!

xpI wanna hear Radiohead in triple-guitar mode tear through Signs (and I don't even like Radiohead these days).

Or The-Dream cover 'Eden in the Air', with harmonised auto-tuned backup!

ah man, now I really could post all night

Well sadly, he's still in an extremely dependant state. The record they were working on before Tim's attack (LSD) will likely remain unreleased because his vocals had yet to be added.

Did you know about this frogbs?

http://www.thegenepool.co.uk/items/597.htm

It's pretty great in the main and all proceeds go directly to Tim.

Yeah. I bought it; haven't heard whether its very good or not (I honestly cannot imagine how you cover this band) but I haven't bought any other Cardiacs discs because I haven't found any 'official' release (as they generally fetch > $100 on amazon and ebay), so its the least I could do. I've dealt with the death of some of my musical heroes (Klaus Dinger especially stung) but the thought of Tim Smith being incapacitated is just killing me.

If ilx ever did a year end poll for 1995, Sing to God would have to be #1; it's my pick for best album of all-time

Eden In The Air given a psych-RnB makeover would be INSANE

frogbs, we do not appear to have met much, and yet we are curiously in agreement on a number of important topics!

A few of the covers from the comp are on YouTube.

Oh and has anyone seen these guys? Gilliam.

An Israeli band playing really great, faintly Klezmerish versions of Cardiacs songs gawd bless 'em.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exVrxNuMeOE

p.s. on that 'discoveries of 2010' thread I concur w/ you about P-Model

i really ought to start a thread for them...

xp hehheh. Saying that, one important element of being into Cardiacs (+parts of the family) for me was being quite measured in my listening; not burning myself out on the frenzied amazingness. They are too intense or concentration-dependent to burn out on - your brain says 'enough' - unlike XTC who I'm on a huge break from. But that's just me..

I remember we've had some discussion like this before, with you favouring this continued exposure..for me, they are a treat, like a bottle of champagne.

NSRO were lovely, MORE MORE MORE (I'll have a little snuffle around) and now yeah that cover calls...

btw, THE MAGIC OF POLLZ FREEFORM 1990's ALTERNATIVE ALBUM POLL - THE RECKONING (TOP TEN COUNTING DOWN NOW)

Cardiacs are a kinda go-to for me - I rarely go 2 or 3 days without a fix. Recently I've been mad discovering other shit. Hasn't stopped me, of course. Complete listens-through are a rare and delightful treat, of course :)

frogbs, we do not appear to have met much, and yet we are curiously in agreement on a number of important topics!

StG your #1 all time too?? That album was like my destiny. I discovered Cardiacs by accident!! Someone sent me a tune and I completely forgot about it, but listened to "Captain Lou Albano's History of Music" (love this tune) and next up was "Cardiacs - In a City Lining". I think like 3 minutes in I had this feeling of, whoaaaa, this is going to be one of your new favorite bands. After hearing the first two albums and reading all about StG I had a strong feeling that it could become my favorite album of all time. I remember giving it that first listen, getting to "Dirty Boy" and cranking it up so loud it made my ears ring for a good half hour after.

Big <3in in this thread! Dirty Boy is one of the few pieces of music that makes me actually feel *faint*. It's so overpowering, nothing can follow it. It absorbs (most) rock music.

Oh, I knew StG was going to be my favourite album ever before I heard it. This didn't even remotely prepare me for how good it actually is, of course. I discovered them (well, I'd seen their name in some Oceansize liner notes and thought nothing of it) here: Forgotten 90's alternative rock masterpieces WANTED

^^^third post, as if 'everything' had been waiting for me to start the thread

This RES cover is doooope!

Have previously described 'Dirty Boy' as my favourite song ever. Have since downgraded it to 'joint first' alongside 'Moon In June' by Soft Machine and 'Fanny' by Cardiacs-in-all-but-name Spratley's Japs.

Also, this is freaking immense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pf-bLAppC4

If we were to poll StG I'd probably vote Flap Off You Beak, however, for being joy itself

oh my word they do All His Geese Are Swans oh my word

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sq0nTW6RpE

^^^have already heard that, dude's a Cardiacs forum regular. and yeah it's absolutely incredible, last 3 minutes especially

covering Dirty Boy on an acoustic guitar I mean hell Mahler on a piccolo but it WORKS

Dirty Boy is one of the few pieces of music that makes me actually feel *faint*. It's so overpowering, nothing can follow it. It absorbs (most) rock music.

I totally get this. I almost wish they made it the last song on the album (no disrespect to "Foundling" which is also great); you can't really follow it up with anything.

Oh, I knew StG was going to be my favourite album ever before I heard it. This didn't even remotely prepare me for how good it actually is, of course.

Had to have a glance at the tracklist again - can't believe how many top quality tunes there are on this thing. Stuff like "Bellyeye", "Horse's Tail", "Insect Hoofs on Lassie", "Bell Clinks", "Red Fire", "Foundling"...none of those even make up my top 5 on this album but they would be highlights on practically any other album.

I almost wish they made it the last song on the album (no disrespect to "Foundling" which is also great); you can't really follow it up with anything

I make it the opening track on every Cardiacs compilation I've ever created. Instead of ending everything (the universe, time, life etc), for me it comes outta the gate saying 'there's other music, then there's this, if you liked that here's some more awesome stuff'. I generally follow it up with Anything I Can't Eat which is so delirious it really doesn't care if it's following up The Almighty itself :D

and yeah, 'Billion' is a perfect, unassuming follow-up. So like Tim Smith to pull that kinda move - and so fitting too :)

As I've said elsewhere on this thread, Foundling is one of the comparatively weakest tracks, but it's also the only one that absolutely, definitively sounds like a closer, so it's a perfect fit for me. Although my favourite Cardiacs closer is still Snakes-A-Sleeping, my fucking god...

I have gone through phases of calling OLAITS and Guns joint #1 album evah, btw. Right now I think it goes StG, Pony, Guns, OLAITS. Then all other music ever made.

Dirty Boy IS however either opening or closing track. It cannot possibly be anything else. The same thing, from two perspectives. :)

The quality of both tribute CDs is really high thankfully, only a couple of duff tracks to my ears. I really love The Gasman's glitch-pop reworking of Gloomy News, and Knifeworld doing The Stench Of Honey is splendid.

Anyway, don't know if I should be sharing this link, but here's a handful of tracks that didn't make either disc, including a splendidly ramshackle version of The Duck & Roger The Horse.
http://www.genepoolrecords.com/TIMSMITH/

Ooooh! Who by?

Steven Evens & The Gilchrist Family Band - Duck & Roger
Local Girls - Odd Even
Ham Legion - Dead Mouse

thanks :)

Have previously described 'Dirty Boy' as my favourite song ever. Have since downgraded it to 'joint first' alongside 'Moon In June' by Soft Machine and 'Fanny' by Cardiacs-in-all-but-name Spratley's Japs.

― acoleuthic, Thursday, February 3, 2011 10:50 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

finally heard the spratleys japs album for the first time today. just beautiful. and 'fanny' was certainly one highlight among many.

I've always believed STG to be my favourite cardiacs album, but I'm obsessively thrashing ALMAAHATHWW on a daily basis here... the latter half of 'breakfast line' has wrapped itself around my brain like a serpent made of glass. or something.

This is my current Cardiacs CD-80, btw -

Dirty Boy 8:55
Anything I Can't Eat 3:25
Dog-Like Sparky 4:54
Fiery Gun Hand 5:13
The Duck And Roger The Horse 3:57
Fanny 6:23
Jitterbug (junior is a) 7:31
Two Bites Of Cherry 3:20
Come Back Clammy Lammy 4:07
Flap Off You Beak 3:45
Buds And Spawn 6:46
Core 2:32
R.E.S. 5:16
Signs 4:26
Snakes-A-Sleeping 8:25

(78:46)

ALM... is awesome but for me it's just the beginning. There's a STRONG case for replacing Fiery Gun Hand with In A City Lining in my CD-80 but I just...can't do it. You're right that the album is superb, almost from start to finish (I can't really get with Is This The Life - I'm Eating In Bed forever!) and that its sheer heart is something wondrous to behold.

Pony is next-level music. I'm convinced his 'shadow band' were a group of wandering angels. 'Oh' and 'Flash The Sea...' and 'Vine' especially are brainblowers, but yeah 'Fanny' is *perfection*

these dudes did 'like a g6' rite

Only track I'd definitely find a way to add is "All Spectacular"; its pure magic

This thread is good for reminding me to check out Spratley's Japs...I don't remember what the Cardiacs connection is exactly but I hear them mentioned a lot whenever they pop up...

My list:

1. StG
2. On Land/A Little Man (tie...can't figure out which is better)
3. Guns
4. Songs for Ships & Irons
5. Heaven Born & Ever Bright - could be higher but I don't like the mastering; there is just no bass level at all...songs are great though

There was a piece about Tim in yesterday's Guardian, but I should warn you it's quite upsetting to read. Poor, poor guy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb/03/cardiacs-tim-smith-stroke-tribute-album

This thread is good for reminding me to check out Spratley's Japs...I don't remember what the Cardiacs connection is exactly but I hear them mentioned a lot whenever they pop up...

Made concurrently with Guns. Comprises Tim and his girlfriend Joanne Spratley and some of their mates and a broken-down mellotron in the New Forest. Is *fucking amazing*, slightly different vibe to Cardiacs (more...rootsy? Nah, that's not it. More mossy) but obviously the same songwriter.

Thanks for that piece, will read now...

is it bad that my first reaction is 'haaaa, J Spratley is now dating Bic Hayes'? oh you bedhopping psychpoppers...

The thing about Spratleys was, if you believe the rumours, the band was just Jo & Tim, the others didn't really exist! It really was inspired by a malfunctioning mellotron, though.