Tindersticks : classic or dud

They were enchantment. To such an extent that I don't care that "Curtains" disappointed me and I never even bought "Simple Pleasures". These things don't matter. For a vital period in my mid- teens, the Tindersticks were The Greatest Band In The World. Ever.

*notice that. "Mark Radcliffe". "Mark Radcliffe". "Mark Radcliffe". Not "Mark and Lard". Very important, that.

By the way, what's this Mark Radcliffe, MArk Radcliffe show stuff--is this a Lard diss, or is Robin trying to suggest that they've gone rubbish since they sold out and went to commercial broadcast hours when five million people might get to listen to their show and enjoy them. ;-)

Marc Riley has made a far greater contribution to pop than his mate Redcliffe has or will, by the way.

I like how the Tindersticks embraced soul a little more on the last record. The downbeat end of disco, and the country side of Hi work beautifuuly for them.

Tim

If its more soul tinged I might go for it. Nice to see them doing the theme tune to The Sins though (good What Is A Man cover). On balance classic - but perhaps they have boxed themselves into a corner.

I like some of the music. The backing to 'Can we start again?' is lovely. They're great for sending you off to sleep, too.

I've still got my 'City Sickness' single - is it worth anything?

Actually all I was saying was that, back on the night show, it was customarily referred to on air and elsewhere as "The Mark Radcliffe Show". The phrase "Mark and Lard" only came into common use after they went daytime. And yes, I do think their schtick now is pretty cheesy, with an unhealthy professional Northerners' element coming in. Still the only intelligent and clever thing on daytime R1, though.

When you say that Marc Riley has contributed more to music than Radcliffe, do you mean with The Fall (agreed) or with the Creepers (can't comment because I've genuinely never heard them).

Out of interest, Tim, what will you be doing on Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th March?

No, I don't actually know the difference between parody and pastiche.

i don't know the records at all, but i'd really *really* recommend seeing them live.

i know of: the one with the ballet dnacer on live at bloomsbury curtains that film soundtrack donkeys a simple pleasure the one before simple pleasures

what order did these all come in? my first one was the live album and i only bought curtains which wasnt as good at all.##

'Tindersticks' - '93
'Tinderstick's Second Album' - '95
'Live at Bloomsbury' -'96
'Curtains' - '97
'Donkeys 92-97' - '98
'Simple Pleasures' - '99
'Can Our Love... ' - 2001

I think that's right. They've also done a couple of soundtrack albums as well. And it's all good stuff.

http://www.tindersticks.co.uk/reissues.html

i'm implausibly excited about getting the remastered first album. maybe the 2nd, too, although i already have the bloomsbury set on cd and i never like the 2nd album as much as the first, anyway. but the first album...

I checked the third album and that was nowhere near as good so I just stopped bothering with them.

If they'd released all this bonus material etc. as a boxset then I might well have been tempted (I'm a great big sucker for boxsets at the best of times) but being asked to fork out again for four albums I already own and a Greatest Hits I've already got every track on, to get this stuff just feels like a rip-off.

101's currently cheapest if you're going to buy something else as well, otherwise by the time you've paid a quid for postage & packing it works out the same as Play (£7.99).

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the "old" un-remastered single disc versions of all those albums kicking around extremely cheaply once the new ones come out 'though....

The Bloomsbury Theatre one seems to be the only one that isn't still available in the original version.... if it's that good it might make re-purchasing the 2nd studio album a little more pallatable 'though.

funnily enough the female vocals are by her out of huggy bear, greeham coxon's ex. endearingly nasal.

simple pleasure doesn't sound like the 1st album at all, excepting stuart's very distinctive voice

simple pleasure is their 70s soul album, essentially. lots of philadelphia strings and hi records drum patterns

has this ever happened? I can't imagine it.

Tindersticks albums rankings (not including live albums and soundtracks)

1) Tindersticks
2) Curtains
3) Waiting for the Moon
4) Simple Pleasure
5) Tindersticks II
6) Can Our Love ...

"Simple Pleasure" and "Can Our Love" are uneven, but do feature some outstanding songs (the closers, "CF GF" and "Chilitetime" are the standouts). "Waiting For the Moon" was an incredible return to top form, containing exceptional tunes delivered in every style the band has used throughout their career. It's probably superior to "Curtains", but I'll need some more perspective (=passage of time) before deciding for sure.

- if you're looking for a way out
- (you take) this heart of mine
- cf gf

i think i agree with this but there are individual tracks you need from after that. "Dying Slowly", "Trouble Every Day"...

http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=21814

quite shocked to see my own post from just a year ago where i claim that only I and II are essential. i don't think i could live without any of their albums now.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE SO SAD LOVE LOVE LOVE

Trouble Every Day ~ El Diablo En El Ojo ~ A Night In ~ Buried Bones ~ Tiny Tears ~ If She's Torn ~ Can Our Love ~ People Keep Coming 'Round ~ I Know That Loving ~ Cfgf

yup, it's their best.

Dusted off their first two albums, reminded of why I loved them so much etc.
Also, their cover of Kathleen is something to die for.

New Tindersticks, anyone as excited as I am?

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/10/12/arts/12lars600.jpg

^loved that film.

looking forward to a new tindersticks but it's a bit soon after the last one to actually get excited. i liked the last one a lot though.

Is that the one about the love doll? I did like that movie.

I actually thought the last one was a career lowpoint. The loss of three members including Hinchcliffe did them no favours. I've been a fan since the early days, it was great to see them come back after the split but it's just not the same band I fell in love with anymore.

Loved the last album after a while, this one's a disappointment. Two or three keepers and a lot of dreck.

the idea that i didn't know there was a new album makes me feel oddly sad. any details?

what's the film above?

Lars and the Real Girl but i'm not sure of its significance here.

perhaps it's a pointer to stuart staples current image?

the idea that i didn't know there was a new album makes me feel oddly sad. any details?

You're forgiven – we're getting ahead of ourselves here, it's not actually out yet. Release date 25/1 in Europe and 16/2 for the rest of the wide world.

i can't believe i never contributed to this thread. the first album ruled my world when it came out, after that the returns diminished quickly. i didn't listen to anything past the third album, i think. what attracted me to them was a blood and flesh like quality of the music. i had not heard something like that before. perfect night time music. i also loved the length of the album. it must have been 78 minutes or so, every second of the cd format was used. and additionally there was no inessential song. after that it could only go downhill. i especially got bored by the singer's voice.

i didn't listen to anything past the third album, i think

Sadly for you, you jumped ship at just the wrong time. The fourth album is an absolute delight, brimful of short, snappy and soulful tunes. I love the first album as well but I wouldn't say there were no inessential songs on it. same goes for the second and third albums, both of which top 70 mins if I recall correctly.

It's wasn't until Curtains that I really started loving the Tindersticks, Simple Pleasure, Can Our Love, and Waiting on the Man are my favorites. The Hungry Saw sounds almost uninspired, like band just wanted to put an album out. The new one didn't surprise me much either. Not as bad as the last one, but I guess they aren't the same band anymore.

yeah the fourth album is the best, i think. everything after that has been increasingly dull. some of it verging on self-parody (though honestly they were flirting with that with their 2nd album).

and yeah the big change for me was after they lost their drummer, who i think was the best thing about the band.

first is still my favorite. a vague hazy late night bar concept album cohesion maybe based on the cover painting still haunts me the way only some isolated tracks do from the subsequent ones. and i could swear the national, especially the boxer, springs from the brow of that first one. not much difference in the vocal performance between and lyrical sentiment of say "city sickness" and "brainy"

national have much more conventional Rock arrangements though. the whole "chamber pop" thing is a big part of what tindersticks were.

People write off The Hungry Saw at their peril - it's really a pretty neat little album, not really much like any of the others but with lots of memorable songs and mood pieces ("The Other Side of the World," the title track, "Boobar," "The Organist Entertains.")

which is the 4th album? the last one i bought was curtains. i don't even remember listening to it. it was a big deception. always the same sound but without the enthusiasm, the pathos and the exuberance of the first album. just plain dull.

the only time I hear em now is when I see a Claire Denis film.

which is the 4th album?

Simple Pleasure. Naughty but nice cover shot.

they maybe have gone on too long but they haven't offended me in any way. they don't thrill me quite the way they did when the first album came out and it was all I listened to for a year.

the new albums maybe would have been better presented as further stuart staples solo albums since thats what they kind of are (and I like his solo records also).

The Hungry Saw is superb. one of their best records.

new album out.

Anyone seen the Asphalt Ribbons album for sale recently?
Or have a copy for sale, either CD or vinyl?

this dude sings like Basehead

the national guy sings like this dude

saw them last night in SF, accompanying segments of Claire Denis films as part of the SF International Film Festival. They aren't doing many of these shows so if they do another one near you, go, was exceptional.

http://www.filmlinc.com/film-comment/article/claire-denis-and-tindersticks - review of clarie denis sdtks box

LOL @ "we all have our croissants to bear"

New song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v1eFVOj4is

What happened to Staples' voice? It sounds an octave higher. I dig the song though.

This album's terrific. Opening track 'Chocolate' is a clear descendent of 'My Sister' from the second album and has a wicked narrative twist. Staples' voice is sounding great too, less pub singer more proper crooner.

I agree, it's a great album., The songs are just so much better than the last album, I'm really surprised by it!

Who's singing in Chocolate btw?

Well, not singing, speaking. That's not Staples is it?

it's David Boulter

Thanks! Do you rate the new album?

Haven't heard it yet but they just announced two nights in a comfy theatre in my town so I'm very happy. tbh I'm still not 100% convinced by the post-breakup lineup but it's growing on me.

<3 <3 <3 "This Fire Of Autumn"

there is a LOT on spotify. think it's gonna be a tindersticks monday tbh

I missed what happened with the break-up.

Half of them left, including Dickon Hinchcliffe who was the violinist and strings arranger so was key to their sound. They regrouped with a new line-up. AFAIK none of them has ever spoken in public about what caused the split although Staples has made it pretty clear that they needed a new direction at that time. He might have fired them for all I know.

I don't know if it's ironic that this "new direction" sounds like a return to old (great) form? It's why I like this album at least.

Yes, had realised half the band had gone.

What I meant is that I hadn't heard anyone talk about it ... which is rare these days ... and perhaps dignified.

That said, I haven't heard much talk about Staples' facial hair either.

finally a return to form. they had lost me after curtains. they did not seem to evolve anymore, i started to dislike their opulent sound. but here they have reinvented themselves. they sound more minimal, less thick, fresher and clearer. nd even staples voice is less in the foreground. very nice, the first big, positive surprise music-wise this year. somewhere i read they used a drum machine. do they? usually i cannot bear drum machines but here i don't mind.

finally a return to form. they had lost me after curtains. they did not seem to evolve anymore, i started to dislike their opulent sound.

interesting, I always felt that simple pleasure (the one that came after curtains) was the big shift in sound for them. they certainly needed to evolve at that point as curtains was a creative dead end, and I think they did so very effectively with the fourth album. the songs were snappier and had much more of a soulful influence. if you haven't heard it in a while I recommend you give it a listen.

thanks for the recommendation, anagram. i have never listened to "simple pleasures". the first two songs are different from the first three albums. sunnier and not as heavy. but the new album goes into a new direction and i think i prefer it.

This thread is really making me want to hear the new album. I haven't bothered with anything since Waiting For The Moon and haven't loved an album of theirs since Simple Pleasures. Those first four albums still stand up as classics, I'd love to hear an album from them on a similar level to those.

holy shit this new one is good.

great cover too imo:

http://cdn3.pitchfork.com/albums/17468/homepage_large.2ac0c753.jpg

"Chocolate" might be their best opener ever.

And speaking up for On Her Majesty's Secret Service as the best Bond film: instant classic.

Thought Falling Down A Mountain was a good album.

Yeah this new album is brilliant. After ignoring the last two albums when they came out I decided to give them both a go last week to see if I'd been missing out, they didn't really do a lot for me. The Something Rain is solid all the way through, no weak tracks. It's an album thats totally reminded me of why I fell for this band in the first place.

oh i got quite excited reading these posts but i really don't like that opening track. i don't like the sound of the guy's voice and it's kind of a clichéd story, no? the detail doesn't really add up to anything and the resolution is predictable.

i've liked a lot of the more recent records though, i think that "the hungry saw" has some of their very best songs.

"simple pleasure" is an amazing album.

I don't think any of the post-split albums come close to the heights achieved by the original line-up.

they are really a different band now.

i enjoy both old- and nu- tindersticks, i think the current incarnation's stuff is a little less contrived. maybe not the right word but a big part of 90s tindersticks was this sort of theatrically artificial world-weariness that has 15 years later become a legit world-weariness, it feels a lot more natural than like "curtains pt 7" would at this point.

that said i could totally use a couple more records mining that "simple pleasure" vein. prob the best 1-2 opening track combo i've ever heard.

Simple Pleasure isn't that world-weary though, is it? Curtains certainly was and I think they consciously strove for a new direction with the next one. Saying that though, Waiting for the Moon was very bleak for the most part.

"can we start again?" is as blasé a plea for reconciliation as i can imagine. dude's not saying oh i love you i was totally wrong please take me back, he's saying "i'm ready now" for the responsibilities and tedium of a meaningful relationship. it's world-weary, sure, but the deliberate incomprehension in re: how people actually think and feel is where the theatricality comes in. it's a romantic failed romanticism vs nu-tindersticks which to me is mostly and appealingly failed romantic failed romanticism.

Didn't enjoy the new album as a soundtrack to washing up this evening (though the kitchen stereo is a bit ropey and does make some music sound particularly rubbish).

Undecided whether the "twist" in Chocolate is nice, tender or forced though I do like some of the detail in the narrative.

chocolate is kind of dumb but the rest of the album is good. I don't hear this as that much of a drastic change from the last two albums (and I think 'waiting' was kind of the 'big comeback' after staples solo records). this album does remind me more of the first two albums than anything else they've done though.

frankly I don't hear that big a difference between the 'new' lineup and the 'old' band, certainly not on this album and I didn't when I saw them live with the clare denis films earlier this year.

well the big difference would obviously be the relative lack of strings (D Hinchcliffe's violin and also string quartets and so on, which he arranged) in the new line-up. they were totally pivotal to the old band's sound and one of the main reasons why I loved them so much. I don't think strings are entirely absent from the last three albums but if they are there, they are certainly used more as incidental colour than to carry the melody. the guitar is more to the forefront now and they sound a lot more like a conventional indie rock outfit than they used to, in my humble opinion of course.

Yeah I agree with you anagram. I get excited hearing there's a new Tindersticks out, but each one has been sort of a let down, too much rock band material. I also really like the other guys vocals, sometime more than staples.

simple pleasures is their best album y'all. i've said it before, i'll say it again.

and each subsequent album has been disappointment of some degree or another. the response to each of them seems to be the same on ILM: no, this one is really good, it's a return to form, not like those previous albums. i guess can our love... is the one album that seemed to garner the most consensus in terms of being a letdown.

i meant to say, the initial excitement (re. each of their albums of the last 10-12 years) seems to settle longer-term into a sense that it wasn't really all that great.

i'll give this one a go i guess.

i guess can our love... is the one album that seemed to garner the most consensus in terms of being a letdown

no I love that one!

My favorite Tindersticks album is still the first one which was always less string heavy than the others.

I love certain songs from Can Our Love, People Keep Coming Around and Dying Slowly both are great upbeat songs with devastatingly sad lyrics, one thing Tindersticks do well.

Dying slowly is funny.

Anyone bought the Singing Skies book of Staples' lyrics?

I so wish this was actually by *the* Stuart Staples:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Not-Normal-Behaviour-Stuart-Staples/dp/1843751364/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_5

Any way, new soundtrack and album coming up in the next month. The former is actually supposed to be out already but has been delayed.

it's on spotify

the soundtrack that is

The album's due on Friday. Re-recordings of back catalogue, done at Abbey Road. It's pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo7i_pHEWNg

"Across 6 Leap Years" streaming at the Quietus on Monday.

http://thequietus.com/articles/13529-tindersticks-across-six-leap-years-album-stream

Started from "She's Gone" ... immediate reaction was kind of recoiling at it not being the version I was used to.

Strangely obsessed by "Ballad of Tindersticks", at the moment.

Les Salauds is an intriguing one - would be easy to hear most of it without thinking "It's Tindersticks!"

Loving "Put Your Love In Me", still.

Having said that I found hearing new versions of classics odd (on "Six Leap Years"), my current sense is that they don't actually sound different enough ...

yes, that was my feeling too. i like them but most are very close to the originals but his voice is sometimes not as good.

Staples can redeem himself, on the current tour, by ditching the suit and dressing as Errol Brown for an encore of "Put Your Love In Me".

i was looking for the "like" button just there.

It didn't happen.

There's a download to the Barbican show at the Tindersticks' website (in the Forum).

Largely ambivalent about "Across Six Leap Years" but loving "What Are You Fighting For?"

"Ypres" isn't doing it for me, at all.

If I hadn't known it was Tindersticks and someone had told me it had been scored by Guy Garvey (or pretty much anyone else, for that matter), I'd have believed them.

Twenty years since the second album was released.

I wish I'd got round to organising a celebratory party (by which I mean getting a decent bottle of red and sitting in a chair by myself; with Twiglets too, maybe).

That 2nd record is still one of my all time favorite records. Fantastic from start to finish. Also one of the best designed LP jackets ever. Made me wanted to get properly tailored.

"Made me want to get properly tailored."

Yes, this completely. It wouldn't have been the same if they'd gone for trackies.

Any one bought the Singing Skies book? Is it a thing of beauty?

Yes, this completely. It wouldn't have been the same if they'd gone for trackies.

A 20th anniversary edition with them getting fitted for trackies on the sleeve would be great though.

Yes, they've earned the right to leisure wear.

Have enjoyed this, this evening:

http://concert.arte.tv/fr/tindersticks-la-philharmonie-de-paris

Perhaps it is old news.

Anyway, who knew you could get foot stands that are a bit like putting your foot on a monitor, eh?

Planning lots of live shows, apparently.

A clip of some new music is on their website.

We Are Dreamers! https://vimeo.com/139451615

immediately recognisable as tindersticks but somehow sounding new. excellent, whets my appetie for the new album. the swiftian video is great too.

Agree this sounds great, really like the droney menacing tone of it. Extensive European tour announced as well:

http://www.tindersticks.co.uk/tomorrows/concerts/

http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2016/01/14/462671036/stuart-a-staples-on-tindersticks-the-waiting-room-track-by-track?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

Picked up 'The Waiting Room' yesterday. It's really good. I liked 'The Something Rain' too, so pleased with a strong follow up. Not watched the DVD yet.

the Lhasa guest vocal makes me sad

It definitely sounds nicer on CD than via that link (possibly just that I'm listening to it differently).

Early thoughts: some good tracks, less "coherent" than their early albums, some tracks sound oddly recorded (particularly the vocals and not in a good way).

Current favourite track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdhJyu1wGXc

a tindersticks song without stuart staples' voice. isn't that a contradiction in itself?

There are a few Tindersticks songs without Staples on vocals. David Boulter sings a few and Dickon Hinchcliffe sang a few in the earlier incarnation of the band.

The only thing I really miss about the earlier incarnation of the band was the vocal interplay between members. I always loved the voices ricocheting off each other on i.e. "People Keep Comin' Around." It doesn't help that Stuart is gradually losing his way with vocal melodies (imo)

I do enjoy this album though, I'd love an entire album of discrete instrumentals like the ones on this album (as opposed to the more unified, theme-based soundtrack work)

As I said upthread, the thing I really miss is the strings, the lack of which seems to be the major difference between old and nu-Sticks. Haven't heard the new one yet.

Any news on a release of the short films? Will they eventually make their way to a DVD/online once they premiere at that festival in February? Should I just get this album now and figure that out later?

The films come on a DVD with the limited vinyl edition of the album.

There's a CD + DVD version too.

Some very good tracks on here ... but quite a few I already skip past.

I couldn't get into this one at all which is a shame as I thought The Something Rain was their best album since Simple Pleasures.

otm. the something rain was so great, this i have problems to get into.

This is a great read

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/rank-your-records-tindersticks-david-boulter

Good tip-off, Kitchen Person. Hadn't seen that.

Really digging this. Some tracks, like Hey Lucinda and How He Entered already feel like old favourites. My ranking of the albums would be pretty similar to David Boulter's - and Waiting Room would place about high mid-table for me at the moment.

Think my order would go something like this

1. Tindersticks
2. Tindersticks II
3. Simple Pleasures
4. The Something Rain
5. Curtains
6. Can Our Love...
7. The Hungry Saw
8. Waiting For the Moon
9. The Waiting Room
10. Falling Down a Mountain

Not really keen on those bottom three. The Hungry Saw is decent but nothing special. Love the top six.

It's called Simple Pleasure. The lack of the plural seems particularly suggestive, I think.

I was going to correct you on your previous post but thought better of it ;)

Haha, you are quite right to correct me. There's a good chance I've been calling it that ever since it came out as well. Oh dear.

For a band I love so much I have to say they have very few front-to-back killer albums. Maybe just Can Our Love and Simple Pleasure.

The debut is one of those long and sprawling albums where I wouldn't change a single thing.

Tindersticks II is sprawling greatness from start to finish as well.

Tindersticks I I find just a little too sonically limited to be as sprawling as it is. I need to give II a relisten.

Is the consensus II over the first one? II over everything?

I would say
1.Simple Pleasure
2.Can Our Love…
3.Curtains
4.Waiting For The Moon/Trouble Every Day
5.Ypres
6.The Something Rain
7.l
8.ll
Need to spend me more time with all of the other ones. Ranting the first two last might be unfair but I never want to hear them.

my top four are:

1. Tindersticks
2. The Something Rain
3. Simple Pleasures
4. Tindersticks II

I listened to The Something Rain again last night. That is a great album. This Fire of Autumn is one of the best songs they've ever done.

The first album edges it over the second for me. There's something fearless about it that I like, they weren't afraid of just trying stuff out to see where it would lead them. They became a lot more conservative after II, which is a great shame I think

If I was making a home-made "Best of Tindersticks" CD-R, it would probably include a lot of mid-period tracks and not much from the first two albums ... not because those albums don't include some of the best work but because I tend to see them as "complete albums" from which it would be weird to isolate tracks.

I didn't rate The Something Rain but must revisit it.

top T-Sticks records:

1. Tindersticks
2. Tindersticks 2
3. Simple Pleasure
4. The Bloomsbury Theatre 12.3.95
5. Donkeys 92-97

This was the first poll I ever ran, back in 2009:

Can We POLL Again?: Tindersticks Studio Albums

Still can't believe the second LP did so badly in that poll, I also always thought it was the consensus pick and I'd still vote for it today.

Wow, that is a very surprising result. Always thought it was an even split between the first two albums.

honestly i think simple pleasure makes all their other music semi-redundant!

I wish someone would reissue Simple Pleasure. Vinyl copies are very pricey.

Definitely. I'd like them to do Curtains and Can Our Love as well. I've got the reissues of the first two albums but they're on Plain Records which has a bad reputation. I'm no expert but they sounded fine to me.

not OOP on CD

Driving home from work, I found myself pondering that I'd be intrigued to hear a Tindersticks DJ set/DJ Kicks based around their cover versions (Odyssey, Hot Chocolate etc).

Mind you, tonight I have also embarked on trying to create the perfect Tindersticks/drinking CD-R.

pls report back!

Well, the version I have at the moment is:

Tricklin'
Don't Look Down
Dying Slowly
I've Been Loving You Two Long
let's Pretend
Marbles
Trouble Every Day
(Tonight) Are You Trying To Fall In Love Again?
Can Our Love ...
How He Entered
Another Night In
Dick's Slow Song
Jism
Raindrops
Dancing
Bearsuit

It's definitely not a "best of", more a CD that I ended up with after wine. And didn't even get as far as including the second CD. Or the sound tracks, for the most part.

Looks pretty good! Any drinkin' Tindersticks mix of mine would def have "She's Gone" on it, though.

Yeah ... I reached a point where I had far more songs lined up than there was space on the CD, so didn't include the second album (and featured less from the first than I'd originally thought). I find them a strangely hard band to "compile".

"My Oblivion" should be on there, too. Not sure what goes to make room though.

Their cover of Pavement's "here" should surely make the cut.

But nothing beats the Odyssey cover. I didn't know it was a cover for many years.

I'd have to make room for "Can We Start Again?"

Tellingly, there's nothing here from the second incarnation of the band, which accurately represents the nosedive in quality that took place. The only recent song I would put on this drinking CD would be "Hey Lucinda", which dates from the first period anyway.

re: songs they've covered, I got curious about the full list myself. I think this is all of 'em (at least in terms of the studio recordings):

Pavement, "Here"
Odyssey, "If You're Looking For a Way Out"
David Bowie, "Kooks"
Otis Redding, "I've Been Loving You Too Long"
Townes Van Zandt, "Kathleen"
Lee Hazlewood, "The Girl On Death Row"
Lee Hazlewood, "My Autumn's Done Come"
Four Tops, "What Is a Man"
R. Dean Taylor, "Shadow"
Ann Peebles, "One Way Street"
Tom Waits, "Mockin' Bird"
Hot Chocolate, "Put Your Love In Me"
Psychic TV, "Just Drifting"

the nu-era still produces 3-4 great songs per album but it's definitely a different feel.

There's also the Bond theme "We Have All The Time In The World".

And you could almost have "Take Me" by George Jones, which is on a Chris & Carla album but is effectively a Tindersticks song as they all play/sing on it.

if there's ever anyone else, i'll understand, and kill him

"I've Been Loving You Two Long".

See, I really was drunk.

Could definitely have included more from "Simple Pleasure". "How He Entered" is from the most recent album.

"I've Been Loving You Two Long".

best otis redding song about a ménage-à-trois.

a very, very successful ménage-à-trois,

Post "curtains" I think this band have only had 2-4 good songs per album. But what songs they are! I say that as a huge fan. The hungry saw is pretty great.

New album in June:

https://tindersticks.bandcamp.com/

Weird. Only just heard this:

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

Like it so much more than the version that appeared on the album.

Will they ever tour the states?

i liked em way back when but damn that singer went to the dentist a lot

Great band. After the 2nd album I had the impression they are finished they are just repeating themselves. But somehow they managed to come back. I really enjoyed the something rain.

Tindersticks. Bottle of red. Jazz chair. Quietly contented.

Weird. I love Tindersticks but played "Falling Down A Mountain" and "The Hungry Saw" so little that playing them now feels like playing new albums, more or less.

"Pink Up" on the new Spoon album giving me mildly Tinderstickian feelings.

Are there (m)any more covers that on the list above and the emails that follows? Feels like there should be more.

You'd think so, but not that I'm aware of!

Felt sure that I'd be able to make an awesome CD based on their covers ...

"i liked em way back when but damn that singer went to the dentist a lot"

i don't know what that means

I feel lucky to have caught them live 3 times, once with elliot smith, once with someone else, don't remember; and last doing a film festival gig in front of Clare Denis snippets. would love it if they'd come to the states again. I imagine it's very expensive for them.

New album from Stu-y:

https://tindersticks.bandcamp.com/album/arrhythmia

Giddy with excitement about my Stuart Staples listening party at the weekend.

Me, the cat, a bottle of red. Enjoyed the new album. A curious one.

It is quite curious. Can't say it ranks among Tindersticks/Staples best, but even mediocre Staples is still Staples.

Memories of Love is gorgeous. I love the gamelan-ish end section.

Did not know he released a new album, here's a selection of albums that inspired it. Great read.
http://thequietus.com/articles/24862-stuart-a-staples-interview-tindersticks-favourite-albums

Listening to the most recent Thomas Belhom record based on the blurb here - extremely cool, definitely shares a lot of DNA w/ Tindersticks

Lots of those make absolute sense in the context of the new album. 'Music For A Year in Paintings' reminds me a lot of 'He Loved Him Madly'.

I took a stab at making a decent 'sticks retrospective that could feasibly fit onto one CD80. It's basically impossible, even with "Trouble Every Day" not being on Spotify.

https://open.spotify.com/user/suckerblues/playlist/6MrId9bvkrLkQorrk1Q3YJ?si=q37N7NQdQiKiseMQsLU0tg

where the fk is Travelling Light, you madman?

I only had room for one duet in that style and I slightly prefer "Buried Bones"!

madman!

There's a genuine risk that I might get drunk and order all Staples' favourite albums (that I haven't got already).

It's a Tindersticks night. *Opens second bottle of red*.

Put on the second album tonight and happened to pay attention to the lyrics on “My Sister” for the first time. Dark.

to say the least!

Does anyone have some guidance on the best way to acquire the first two albums, at least, on vinyl? Per Discogs, there are a ton of editions and reissues just of those two records and some can be quite expensive.

did stuart et al do the score for the new claire denis? i don't recall seeing this mentioned in the reviews, but they've been working together consistently for 20 yrs.

I have and am happy with the Music on Vinyl pressing of the second album. Don’t have the first so can’t comment on that. I think there are versions on Plain; the label has a poor reputation so would avoid those.

I also have the MOV pressings of ‘Curtains’ and ‘Simple Pleasure’. Both have been expanded to include the full contents of the deluxe CD versions. Fine for the latter, the original album was a single LP, but a bit awkward for ‘Curtains’ as the original was a double LP at 45rpm. The reissue sounds ok, though I’d rather they’d replicated the original.

the full contents of the deluxe CD versions.

jeez, are they like five LP sets or something?

Both doubles! There’s a lot squashed into the ‘Curtains’ reissue. Given that the last two copies of the original pressing to sell on Discogs went for €150 and €160 I’ll stick with the £20-whatever reissue.

Gummy, The High Life score is by Stuart, rather than Tindersticks.

It’s been a long time coming - Stuart began work in 2014 - but finally 'High life' is ready to meet the world.
Starring Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche, and set on a prison ship travelling through space, the film has an extensive original score written by Stuart, and includes a new tindersticks song, ‘Willow’, which is beautifully sung by Robert himself.

Toronto International Film Festival

More details soon.

Thank you for the input!

i couldn't be more excited to see that shit.

xpost

I can't wait!

just be prepared...apparently it's *very* unpleasant

I have to confess that I gave up on "Trouble Every Day" for its grim-ness ... but the soundtrack is one of my favourites.

Is there a better song to be listening to when you open your second bottle of red?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q9MY-tQbpw

Possibly the 'Can Our Love' EP, or Travelling Light, but you make a pretty strong case.

Just testing out the theory that *this* might be the right track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXmHvU8w6hQ

I don't think you have the right to cut off one track from their first album. It is of one piece, one long trip into a night soaked in red wine and fogged in fume.

That's a good point, well made. But this isn't about "best track" or anything like that - it's about the track that would seem right when you were opening your *second bottle of red*.

Travelling Light for me, in that case!

* Opens second bottle of red, pours a glass, plays "Travelling Light" *

No, not quite right.

City Sickness?

The first album is the only example of an 80-minute album that completely justifies its length

Can anyone inform me on these recent re-issues? If I understand well there are vinyl re-issues of the first three albums or so? Funny thing is that I saw a cd-reissue of the first album with a second disc that contains demos. Amazon lists a cd re-issue of "Curtains" as well from last year but it's only a single disc, whereas at one point (2004?) there was a 2cd version. So I guess the conclusion is that there are different cd and vinyl re-issues here?

the second album is better. xp

^ God, I could see this turning nasty.

the truth is that from the first three albums there's everyone's favourite T album and they can decide which tracks they'd add to what is their preferred album to make it actually the best for you.

Unless you think Simple Pleasure is the best.

Yeah ... but ... I'm testing out the "you've just opened a second bottle of red, what Tindersticks song should be playing?" question.

'Until the Morning Comes' might work.

If You're Looking For A Way Out.

no

Dying Slowly.

Mistakes
My Oblivion
Blood
Factory Girls
How He Entered
Tiny Tears
Another Night In
Can Our Love
No Man in the World
Kathleen

all immediately spring to mind

That's a good list but I can't make a judgement. Am well beyond "just opened a second bottle of red".

My first Tindersticks album story: I'd been travelling in Australia (99 into 2000) and while I was there my folks came to visit. We were in a hotel room in Melbourne and my mum called her doctor. Unbeknownst to us, she'd been having tests for breast cancer and the doctor told her, over the phone, that they'd need to see her urgently when they got back. They left two days later, and I caught the bus back to Sydney where I was living. I was in a weird state of fragile delirium anyway, reeling from the news, and the understanding that I wouldn't see them again for six months, and for whatever reason decide to play the first Tindersticks album. I'd had it for a number of years and sort of knew it - more like I knew certain streets on a city map rather than the totality of the city itself. Well, the journey was 24 hours or so, and I played it pretty much the whole way, letting auto-reverse deal with switching sides as I drifted in and out of sleep. I think we all emerge from journeys like that changed anyway, but I'm sure I walked off the bus in Sydney forever altered. Something had shifted in my understanding of mortality and my relationship to my parents, and somehow the album had become woven into that process, become something approaching metabolised, incorporated. I still see the album as architectural, and certain sections are like stumbling along obscure corridors and alleyways, others like walking into sunlit courtyards, light doubling water-caught in pools. For all that, in 25-odd years of listening to it, I don't feel like I've ever reached its centre. It's a glorious enigma.

now that is a post.

x-posts.

"Factory Girls" is one of those great "missed [by me]" Tindersticks songs (These are generally from Hungry Saw and Falling Down a Mountain) ... Thanks for pointing it out ... though I think it would be better placed around 2/3 down the second bottle.

I may set myself the mission of creating a themed first bottle/second bottle of red double disc compilation of Tindersticks songs.

First CD: uplifting/going out music. Second CD: drunken, sad songs.

It's completely pointless but, my God, I'll fucking enjoy it.

Not sure I am hard enough to compile a third CD.

I'd love to hear your (or anyone else's) nominations for a post-Curtains compilation for those of us who loved this band's first few albums immensely but for whatever reason checked out after that. Surely I'm not the only poster in this category!

hi

My Sister for CD3, for sure.

that was @djh

my stab at a post Curtains comp:

What are you Fighting For?
Dying Slowly
Say Goodbye to the City
If You're Looking for a Way Out
Harmony Around my Table
The Other Side of the World
The Organist Entertains
Can We Start Again?
People Keep Comin' Around
Hey Lucinda
Can Our Love...
Trouble Every Day
Factory Girls
Follow Me
Until the Morning Comes

it took me a decade to discover that "If You're Looking For A Way Out" is a cover of an odyssey song.

I guess you might as well stick "Sometimes it Hurts" in there somewhere too.

xp to myself

to that end, i'd include another cover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3hHYUlu9DY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyRVTNsp2gs

Can anyone inform me on these recent re-issues? If I understand well there are vinyl re-issues of the first three albums or so? Funny thing is that I saw a cd-reissue of the first album with a second disc that contains demos. Amazon lists a cd re-issue of "Curtains" as well from last year but it's only a single disc, whereas at one point (2004?) there was a 2cd version. So I guess the conclusion is that there are different cd and vinyl re-issues here?

― EvR

Plain reissued the first two albums on vinyl in 2011, but the quality isn't great. Plain have a really bad reputation of low quality vinyl that is from the same source as the CD/digital. Music On Vinyl just did Curtains and Simple Pleasure. They are much more consistent with the quality of the record itself and the artwork. I picked these both up and they sound fantastic. As for the CDs, the 2004 reissues were indeed doubles but I'm not sure what the difference is with the recent reissues. I don't see much about them on Discogs.

Right ... will compile CDs on the basis of

a) post Curtains.

b) Bottle of red one.

c) Bottle of red two.

The first of those feels quite straight-forward. I will enjoy research into the latter two.

At this exact moment, really enjoying "Piano Music" (suspect suits end of bottle 2).

Particularly curious to see whether you think "Hey Lucinda" is a 1st bottle of red or a 2nd bottle of red type of song; i mean, it starts "come out drinking with me tonight" but quickly descends into "I only dance to remember how dancing used to feel" and other musings on how shit it is to grow old.

Would anything from "Minute Bodies" find its way onto any of those comps?

x-post: It could be the opening track, it could be two-thirds of the way through the second disc (and it might not even get on there at all). I need to do wine/song matching.

CDR-80, post-Curtains:

Fear of Emptiness
Tricklin'
Waiting for the Moon
The Other Side of the World
Hey Lucinda
Peanuts
Can Our Love
A Night So Still
Dying Slowly
Mother Dear
How He Entered
What Are You Fighting For?
Trouble Everyday
Put Your Love In Me
Piano Music
Factory Girls.

On a different day, I'd have found space for My Oblivion and 4:48. If we'd gone for post-Dickon, I might have found space for a more curious compilation (eg. Minute Bodies ... but probably not Ypres).

Right, the wine double disc compilation ...

thank you, djh! I will search these out.

Mother Dear from The Hungry Saw has amazing guitar work.

I find it hard to pluck songs out of the context The Hungry Saw (beyond "Other Side of the World" which is one of Stuart's best weepers), it's probably their most cohesive album and I just love the closing run so much

"b) Bottle of red one.

c) Bottle of red two."

I am taking my research seriously.

Good God. I have a cluster of songs for disc 2. Would welcome suggestions for the first disc ...

So, here's where I'm up to (should my liver fail).

Bottle 1

Hey Lucinda
City Sickness
(Tonight) Are You Trying to Fall In Love Again?
Marbles
This Fire of Autumn
Rented Rooms
Peanuts
Buried Bones
Let's Pretend
Help Yourself
Can Our Love ...
Put Your Love in Me?
How He Entered
Paco de Renaldo's Dream

Bottle 2

Trouble Everyday
Piano Song
Dick's Slow Song
Waiting for the Moon
Factory Girls
Tyed
Don't Look Down
Piano Music
Raindrops
The Other Side of the World
Dancing
The Waiting Room
Sleepy Song
Tea Stain
The Organist Entertains.

(It needs to be hacked back).

Trying to make disc one more "going out" ...

Disc one needs more Simple Pleasure.

Good call.

No love for 'Chocolate'? Ideal accompaniment to red wine surely.

That's a really mundane story and the twist at the end is just silly.

I think there's quite a lot of warmth and decency in "Chocolate" ... but I'd rarely put it on a compilation.

"Sometimes It Hurts" has to be on there somewhere. Probably my favourite Tindersticks song.

Right, this is the version I'm going to save and come back to:

Bottle 1:
Hey Lucinda
(You Take) This Heart of Mine
Can Our Love?
City Sickness
Marbles
Can We Start Again?
This Fire of Autumn
Help Yourself
Rented Rooms
Travelling Light
How He Entered
Talk To Me
Paco de Renaldo's Dream

Bottle 2:
Mistakes
Trouble Every Day
Piano Song
Dick's Slow Song
Waiting for the Moon
Factory Girls
Tyed
Don't Look Down
If She's Torn
Piano Music
The Other Side of the World
Dancing
The Waiting Room
Seaweed
Sleepy Song
Tea Stain
The Organist Entertains
Raindrops
Cherry Blossoms

(It currently fits on two CDs but not equally; haven't really captured "first bottle", I don't think).

uh the "Robert Pattinson fronting Tindersticks" song I've been hearing about since High Life premiered at TIFF is finally out and it's fucking beautiful, even though it's clearly R-Patz imitating Stuart as closely as possible

link?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xNSN6Kd8rI

It's on Spotify too: https://open.spotify.com/track/4CYvguDQISEhomCtNkfPCj?si=7CVdReU4SHyk30Csjy79bg

was just looking at pattinson's upcoming projects and holy shit this guy (and/or his agent) knows how to pick 'em

he really did turn out to be improbably cool

The Twilight movie franchise gave us two of the best actors of our current generation imo

i haven't seen the last of stewart's acclaimed performances, but she still seems to me to be basically hesitant expression + halting speech + running hand through hair.

oh wait, did you mean taylor lautner?

Kristen Stewart was magnificent in the two most recent Olivier Assayas films.

also great in Kelly Reichardt's Certain Women

she's good but there's something depressing about her.

is Pattinson singing that track? or only playing the guitar?

depressing about her performances, i'm sure she's not depressing irl.

that's Pattinson singing, "in character" apparently

as stuart staples?

New album No Treasure But Hope out November 15.
Apparently laid down in just 5 weeks, as per this interview with Stuart at the Aquarium Drunkard. "The Amputees" sounds lovely.

There's a second track, "Pinky In The Daylight":

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

Not really doing it for me, at the moment. Perhaps it will grow on me?

if you water it daily there is hope...

Actually, it sounds better when you just ... hear it, listening to the album, doing the washing up ... rather than thinking "I hope this is a good!"

There's one song which should be amazing - "See My Girls" - but which is one of the rare occasions his voice is a bit unlistenable.

2020/02/29 Nantes, FR, online until 2020/08/28 (don't know if it's geo-limited)

https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/095603-001-A/tindersticks-live-from-nantes/

dope, thanks!

New album Distractions on the way, two songs from it out already:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uQ7CDO4_GA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCOM30iRd7k

Not feeling either of these at the moment, I have to say. And I never thought I'd hear my favourite band go electronic :(

Album only has seven tracks of which three are covers. This is shaping up to be an inessential release, but let's see.

Stuart's voice seems uniquely ill-suited to the sort of thing he's going for on "Man Alone"

Agreed.

Looking upthread I realise I never said anything about No Treasure but Hope. It seems to have slipped under the radar somewhat. Anyway I'm listening to it now and it sounds lovely.

Man Alone is really quite bad, Simon otm. It's hard to judge whether it could be a successful song with another singer because I haven't managed to make it to the half way point so far. I rather like the other one, though.

From those two songs ... I might not buy the album ... and anyone who knows me will know that feels quite weird!

this is kind of rad imo

referring to "man alone"

especially when the rain starts

idk i love hearing a voice like this in atmosphere of techno so minimal it's eroding into electro, it's very dissociated

I do love when the rain comes in...idk maybe it's just because I've been listening to them since I was in junior high, I can't not hear the degradation of Stuart's voice and it bugs me hearing it so prominently. it almost makes me wish he'd go full Lambchop and dive into vocal manipulation. "You'll Have to Scream Louder" is really nice though and No Treasure But Hope was rock solid. I'm glad they're branching out and I'm sure good things will come of it.

"And I never thought I'd hear my favourite band go electronic."

I do love this from a few years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo7i_pHEWNg

i guess no one's bumped this thread since the record came out but it's really fantastic imo

I meant to post here! it's better than I was fearing and "man alone" does make more sense in context, and I love how "lady with the braid" blooms so gradually. I need to spend more time with this and the previous album too.

that bit where the bass and strings play in unison >>>>

the "man needs a maid" cover is revelatory

Lady with the Braid is one of my favourite songs. I'm not sure I'd like any cover of it but I really don't like this one.

I've not got the new album at all (it's the first album by them I've not bought but it has sounded ignorable when I have played online) but I accidentally played the last Stuart A Staples album (I was playing something alphabetically before on my MP3 player) and it sounded incredible/just right.

i guess no one's bumped this thread since the record came out but it's really fantastic imo

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, March 16, 2021 3:28 PM

Oh man, it really is! Haven't kept up with their releases in the last decade or so (except for The Waiting Room, of which a cutout was handed to me) but this is gorgeous. I agree that the Staples' vocal loop in the opening track doesn't work (for me) but it turns out there's a Charles Webster (!) Mix that doesn't use the loop and is vastly superior. So I created an album playlist that swaps the original Man Alone with the CW Mix and ends with the CW Dub Mix and that's about perfect

Solo album

https://www.normanrecords.com/records/187737-david-boulter-lovers-walk

^ Liking this a lot on a couple of plays.

Bleak but nice.

It's captured me more than "Yarmouth". That might be words sucking me in a bit.

Tindersticks "Across Six Leap Years" included a couple of re-recordings from Staples' albums and ... some of the tracks here could as happily sit on their albums. That said, its very conceptual (by which I mean there is an over-arching narrative) and personal. It's beautiful.

Found a random compilation I'd made and put it on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7kSYlZUZL66QSicP4dVPeB

I'm not sure if there was any criteria/rhyme/reason.

A CD-R worth rather than the "Bottle 1, Bottle 2" extravaganza posted further up. I do spend a lot of time on this thread talking to myself, drunk, don't I?

Seems amazing that 1000 copies of the Boulter album haven't just flown out of the shops.

It’s a very good album. I notice Monorail are stocking it too now.

Yeah, that's what made me notice that it hadn't just sold out.

idk I'm a massive Tindersticks fan but I'm not really interested in hearing this since Staples isn't involved.

I'm not absolutely sure how the work is divided (never actually checked the credits) but it is worth hearing.

I've been less keen on Staples' voice on more recent recordings (though I think he's been trying to be creative and do interesting things).

oh? I have to check that out then - what does he do, death metal growls? Belting tenor?

Anyway, there's a tour with orchestra booked for next spring which I'm super looking forward to. The write-up on the website suggests that the sets may have a retrospective feel, which would be welcome. A "career-spanning" compilation is also planned.

Enjoying this tonight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t3iOjLIDPI

I like the bits where the drummer is a bit "Animal from the Muppets". I'm guessing they disliked each other by this point.

I play "Ballad of Tindersticks" a lot. Best song about burn out, I think.

dud

Pondering a "rowdy" Tindersticks play list - "Fast One" and "4:48 Psychosis" being the obvious starting points.

What should be on there?

"Her" off the first record?

"City Sickness"?

whiskey and water could be done in a pretty rowdy style

So far ...

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2xkrEf49hQpLCMZyyFoWnZ

gotta say, some beautiful Tindersticks energy on this new Liminanas/Laurent Garnier record (don't be put off by the cover)

https://theliminanas.bandcamp.com/album/de-pel-cula

There's a new David Boulter Xmas-y thing here:

https://claypipemusic.greedbag.com/

There's a lot of red.

New career-spanning box set now up for pre-order:

https://shop.cityslang.com/products/past-imperfect-the-best-of-tindersticks-92-21-4lp-box-set-exclusive-7-inch

There's also an ultra-limited run of 300 clear vinyl copies via Rough Trade.

It's a bit difficult to be very excited about that. And I love Tindersticks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SfAu_MmvEw

An instrumental playlist (draft/early version):

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/20d7vs21rgUxh8vS9fGJjt

Need to go back to the soundtracks with red wine.

Not sure if the recent David Boulter mini-CD has been posted on other threads:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwLM-b5kHJI

My Tindersticks Spotify playlists:

Songs for the cat
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7kSYlZUZL66QSicP4dVPeB
Named on the highly twee idea that my cat is happy listening to Tindersticks. A single CD best of.

A Tindersticks Disco
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0bemoNJ96EBMOhClH4ZJ27
The original versions of some songs covered by the Tindersticks interspersed with Tindersticks songs - think I'd originally meant to create a sort of imaginary Tindersticks DJ Kicks but got too drunk. (Curiously, I was pondering what would be the inspiration for their first album songs, the other day).

Bottle 1, Bottle 2
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6qyrg5nOGWRfDofEbvF0fJ
Self-explanatory. Supposed to cover the arc of an evening.

Closing Titles
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/20d7vs21rgUxh8vS9fGJjt
Instrumentals (Could do with being edited to include more soundtrack recordings).

A drunk shouts outside your window
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2xkrEf49hQpLCMZyyFoWnZ
Rowdier tracks!

I was just thinking about the first timr I met their one time manager James Endicott sitting in a van talking to Norman from Boy Hairdresser after the Primal Scream gig that had been Dinosaur (jr)'s London debut because of a Teenage Fanclub t-shirt somebody shared a photo of earlier.
Like just a couple of minutes before I saw the thread revival.

Saw them in the Olympia in Dublin in the late 90s. Do enjoy the records too.

Thanks for the playlists, djh! Been curious about Tindersticks for a while but never checked them out, will have a listen to that cat one when I have a moment

Are there obvious influences on "Her"? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS50FPRMiQ8

By which I mean ... If I like this what (non-Tindersticks) music would I enjoy with my bottle of red?

God idk. I love that album so much. Whenever I feel like listening to Nick Cave or The National I mostoften just switch over the Tindersticks instead

Enjoying this, by David Boulter: https://davidboulter.bandcamp.com/album/five-nights-in-maine-soundtrack

A friend asked if I'd make a compilation of what I thought Tindersticks would play on their tour later this year - they've not really followed them after their third or fourth album:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6iU2G4AnPQ16fXelETcfVx

This is based on what they were playing in 2023 ... and doesn't include anything from "Distractions" (which I don't really know) or their new album. Threw in some recent tracks I like. Imagine that they play "Her" or "Marbles" or something as an encore.

Enjoy with red wine.

(As I did).

Another new David Boulter album coming up as well as a Tindersticks album this year.

Does anyone keep up to date with Dickon's projects? Or others?

I thought his music for The Lost Daughter was excellent.

Thanks for the tip-off, bbee.

The new Boulter album sounds really decent - very "Clay Pipe Music".

New album, Soft Tissue, announced:

https://tindersticks.bandcamp.com/album/soft-tissue

Two new tracks on Spotify (and, presumably, other places) - both seem decent.

Haven’t kept up with or listened to a Tindersticks album in yonks. Saw they’re playing stateside (first time in 16 years!) and was surprised to find they have a new album out and that said album is unexpectedly fantastic on first listen.

Was surprised to see a lead review in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/sep/12/tindersticks-soft-tissue-review-abundant-with-lovely-subtle-details

Much as I love them, would have guessed a half-hearted small review, at best.

Anyone seen/seeing the current tour?

Thinking about it when it gets here next year.

Booked my tix for Antwerp date in March. Haven’t listened to any of their stuff beyond Curtains but I’m excited

Mentioned this upthread, if you use Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6iU2G4AnPQ16fXelETcfVx

For some reason I've never really got into Distractions but Soft Tissue has some decent tracks.

Apparently, they're not playing much "old stuff" on this tour, which I'm kind of pleased about (in a perverse way ... I love early Tindersticks).

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/13KyBXzWf3PYW4PFYCSBY2?si=T5grklMCSq-nrFK3xDYFrA&pi=JAYYbtIMQF6Bx
My improved version of Distractions, including the Charles Webster remixes instead of the original Man Alone.

gave this a partial listen last week and like most of their work after the first three albums, it's good, but it doesn't draw me in like earliest stuff. that said I'll certainly go see them again, I always do (they come to the US rarely enough)

They're a very different band.

Apparently, they're not playing much "old stuff" on this tour, which I'm kind of pleased about (in a perverse way ... I love early Tindersticks).

Yeah. Here's a recent setlist:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/tindersticks/2024/tivolivredenburg-grote-zaal-utrecht-netherlands-353e58f.html

I'm on the fence about the upcoming US tour, but maybe they will throw in a few oldies because it's been so long?

“always a stranger” off the new one felt immediately to me like a tindersticks track that’s always existed

It's a good track.

How to put it? I was at their Bloomsbury Theatre gig and ... I'm not hoping for that night.

Wasn't going to look at that set list but curiousity got the better of me (possibly wine-related). Dead excited for Manchester tomorrow.

"Short set" then "Main set" tonight, apparently.

Update: it was very good!

Decided to actively not mention songs from their live show just because the curious timings of the sets added an intrigue/excitement to events that I didn't want to spoil but think the tour is over. First set - songs to be sung sat down - included Staples' solo track "Memories of Love" which was very good and made me re-visit his album (Feel a bit weird that Staples solo tracks are seen as interchangeable with Tindersticks tracks but enjoyed it nevertheless)

hrm, I'm definitely a 'the first two albums are the best' person so not sure how I feel about going to see them play only things from what I consider a 'post reunion' period (which is now at least 20 years long). will probably go anyway.

They're definitely worth seeing. I love the first two albums (and other releases, beyond) but there was definitely something about seeing a band play the stuff they want to play. And, I guess, I was at Bloomsbury Theatre and I'm never going to see a show like that again, even if they play the same set list.

Not sure where you're based akm but I imagine the Royal Albert Hall show (and that tour) will cover more of their career (though I don't really know what basis I'm assuming that on).

yeah I'm in california. I mean I've seen them like 4 times already, including back in the classic years, so it's not like I never got to experience it.

I wonder who the "special guests" will be at the Royal Albert Hall? (The advertising seems to imply they mean "special guests" joining them rather than being kind in their description of the support band but perhaps I am misreading that).

Probably just Terry Edwards on horns and Gina Foster on b/vox, they're with them this week for the European dates.

Well, I was hoping for Isabel Monteiro or Niki Sin at a minimum ...

Strangely, I’d imagined the Royal Albert Hall show to feel more of an event, billed as it was: “with strings and special guests” but it didn’t seem vastly different to last year’s Manchester show.

Willow, from Staples’ soundtrack for High Life, is an absolute blinder live.

(I slept on that soundtrack, and when I saw them two weeks ago, that was the one song I didn’t know, and the highlight of the show)

Btw for those planning to see them, they’re not playing anything older than The Something Rain. Not an issue at all, but worth mentioning for those who care.

I generally like that they play largely new stuff and aren't just trading off old glories. That said, having seen them late last year, I'd have been happy to hear anything last night.

They did play "Travelling Light" at the RAH. Can't remember the oldest song at the Manchester show - I think something off "Waiting For The Moon".

Saw them in Glasgow on Friday night. My first time, near two hour set and as per others’ experience it was nothing pre ‘The Something Rain’ apart from a wonderful “Travelling Light” and I was quite alright with that. Thought they were excellent.

I have an ahem patchy knowledge of the more recent work but really enjoyed the RAH show. Playing a lot of 'How he entered' and 'Lady with the braid' since (and Dory Previn from there, who's new to me)

Oh man this show in SF last night was beautiful. I too have only patchy knowledge of the last .... six albums or so, and they def didn't play anything from the first four (and I still think the first two are the best things they ever did), but live these songs really worked. So beautiful. Guy playing guitar is fantastic.

cosign on the Tindersticks show at the Fillmore last night. I think the only "old" song they played was Medicine off "The Something Rain". Would have loved to hear something of the first two LPs as those are my favorites too. But have to respect them wanted to play new material, especially with the stripped down lineup. Willow was a highlight for me, but everything sounded incredible. For the Beauty, indeed.

I also appreciated lack of an opener and the place only being 3/4 full. I mean, I do hope tindersticks make back their money on this tour, but compared to the last time I saw them at the Fillmore (with Elliot Smith opening, in 1999!!!), which was packed to the gills, it was nice to be able to breathe and walk around.

someone commented on the way out that the average age of the audience was 55.

"Guy playing guitar is fantastic."

Neil Fraser? He's been a constant figure but he does somehow look different. Older but not unhealthier, maybe?

i have literally no idea who is or has been in tindersticks for the past 25 years other than Stuart

ha, ok, looked this up. for some reason I was under the impression there was more of a turnover in the band than two members.

It was three original members who left after the sixth album – the violinist, bassist and drummer.