Cardiacs: Classic or Dud?

In all seriousness, I think there'll be a major announcement concerning future releases within a couple of months. But I'm not impatient; I've spent my Cardiacs time of late realising that once you get over the opening track which smells funny, and 'March' which is a teensy smidgen less than perfect, HBAEB is basically as good as the other albums. It's like discovering one of the greatest albums ever written for the first time! And I'd only heard it the 30 or so times before.

I know what it is.

As for HBAEB, it was the first Cardiacs album I heard, it's not my favourite but it has my straight-up two favourite songs March and Helen & Heaven.

HBAEB was one of the first for me, too. love the opening track and 'she hides behind the shed', but do find the rest a bit straightforward in cardiacs terms.

So we all completely disagree! Ha! IMO 'She Is Hiding Behind The Shed', 'Anything I Can't Eat', 'Bodysbad', 'Core', 'Day Is Gone' and 'Snakes A-Sleeping' are massive, and the rest is pretty damn good, opening track aside ('March' is great but I keep getting the feeling it could be greater, given other Cardiacs songs)...the album's a LITTLE bit simpler and grungier than their other works but that doesn't make it bad. Admittedly I listen to the others more (with maybe the exception of the first album which I consider to be on a level SLIGHTLY below perfection, probably because it has 'Is This The Life' and 'Victory Egg' on it)

MaresNest, you can't say that without popping over a cheeky PM now :P

Okay. The Alphabet Business Concern (the song).

Let's not analyse the lyrics in order to demonstrate anything. This is my version of the truth. Besides the lyrics are all but inpenetrable anyway.

Here's my take. The Cardiacs in 1991 were apparently in a pretty fractured state. In August 1990 there was the triumphant Maresnest gig - the highpoint of their best line-up to date. But by the time HBAEB came out they had lost half the members, had difficulties distributing their records due to Rough Trade's distro collapsing, they were in debt and were pretty quiet for about 18 months. Newsletters weren't coming out, they didn't play much and nothing was released. We didn't know what the hell was going on.

When they returned they were a four-piece, playing a lot smaller venues (though thankfully travelling to Scotland for a change). Interest in them had dwindled somewhat, compared with the great hopes that resulted from their various triumphs/continual growth in the 80s. Now for the first time things were scaled back. They looked old for the first time. The gimmicks, costumes, effects, confetti and all the slapstick stuff was discarded. The musically civilizing influences of Sarah's sax, WDD's keyboards and Tim Quy's fairly subtle percussion was gone, replaced with a much fiercer sound.

At the start of the show, they would play "The Alphabet Business Concern", standing in a line at the front of the stage. just the four of them motionless, staring at the audience for four minutes while this relentless, thudding dirge oppressed the room.

The Alphabet Business Concern (the song) is not, as is sometimes mentioned "a hymn about their record company". In the context of the song, The Alphabet Business Concern (the organisation) is the Cardiacs Family, which includes band members past and present, roadies, wives, children, whatever, and most importantly (as they say) YOU.

What was this saying? It was saying "look, we are still here". It was saying "you are still here, we can see you", "we're all together again" "listen, we're still making extreme music", "our music is as powerful and overwhelming as ever" and "get ready because in five minutes Cardiacs will fucking blow you away and there's no gimmicks this time, just loud, insane music".

This huge statement made, they put on their instruments and played a 90 minute set that was louder, faster, more muscular and more exhausting than anything they had done before.

It was an impressive piece of theatre. In some ways it plays the same role as an opener to this album - a statement of existence and continuation, a promise of no compromises and more surprises in the face of some radical changes to the band. The legacy of that however is that there is a brutally ugly piece of music that opens this excellent album.

Whatever. It would not be the same album without it. I think we can all agree on that. Besides, some people love it.

That is an impressive and beautifully-written defence! In that context, it makes perfect sense. The counterblast of affirmation. It's certainly uncompromising. And yeah, they did become even more breakneck as a 4-piece (and then remained just as breakneck even when they expanded again in the latter days). I know some people love it. I'm not one of them, and it irritates me when that song and ITTL are heralded as their most notable tracks by mainstream magazines, because they're by FAR the worst tracks on any of the 5 main albums (IMO). But as a statement 'fuck you, we are Cardiacs', it's utterly singular. Just like Ulver refusing to play any of their more accessible tracks in their first ever UK gig, it's a move which indicates fierce individuality and self-rigour.

I don't know how I'd begin HBAEB otherwise. It's the kind of album where every track feels like a middle-order scorcher. Except Snakes A-Sleeping which is a fucking ENORMOUS closer.

FTR

(there be dragons)

Hail majestic corporate light
Heaven born and ever bright
How our spirit like the waves
As the breath of thine awakes
And now the night of weeping shall be
The morn of song
Ah! We are those whose thunder shakes the skies
The thin spun life

Home of fadeless splendour
Of flowers that bear no thorn
Here may the blind and hungry come
And light and food receive
Here mighty springs of consolation rise
To cheer the fainting mind
And re-creation find

So overcome thy fear
And burst into sudden blaze
Come blind fury with abhorred shears
And slit the thin spun life
Ah! Sobbing with their human sort of wail
Thy justice fear

Walk in shadow, walk in dread
Loosefish walk as like one dead
One drop in a winter sea
No more to rise forever
Anything down there about your souls
Will smash the sun alight
Ah! Yield week in, weak out from morn to night
Feelers from across the sea
Come crawling over thee

One drop in a winter sea
No more to rise forever
One drop in a winter sea
No more to rise forever
Come blind fury with abhorred shears
And slit the thin spun life
Ah! Sobbing with their human sort of wail
The thin spun life
We are those whose thunder shakes the skies
Whose eyes this atom globe surveys
Thy justice fear
Hooray!

That kinda makes the song 5x better, cheers!

Okay, I am willing to play this game of improving HBAEB. Nothing simpler.

Side One

Joining The Plankton
She is Hiding Behind the Shed
March
Goodbye Grace
Anything I Can't Eat
Helen and Heaven

Side two

Ideal
Core
Bodysbad
For Good and All
Snakes-a-Sleeping

Joining the Plankton 12" EP (formely Day is Gone 12")

1a Joining the Plankton
1b No Bright Side
1c Day is Gone
2a Joining the Plankton (Terry Farley remix)
2b Core (Danny Saber edit)
2c The Alphabet Business Concern (Sea Nymphs version)

Limited edition one sided 7" picture disc in a clear sleeve only available at gigs/mail order:

a: The Alphabet Business Concern (Home of Fadeless Spledour)

Aw! I like Day Is Gone! Never heard JTP or Ideal though. If there was one Cardiacs album I'd really fine-tune, it's the debut. The rest is more or less OK.

The challenge of a single-album STG might hurt my head though

(by 'debut' I mean 'major debut, released as a record etc')

'No Bright Side' is great, not heard that in ages - someone did me a CD-R of b-sides, must dig that out...

I think all the songs on the Day Is Gone 12" are great (Joining the Plankton, Ideal, No Bright Side) except for the title track. Day is Gone is okay but I think it's the weakest of the tracks on side 2 and I wanted to make room for Ideal. They seem to have a tendency to make poor choices for singles. Joining The Plankton is a big commercial sounding number somewhere in the same ballpark as Manhoo and would add some appeal to the beginning of the album which, under the regular tracklisting seems to take a long time to get going.

It would be too exhausting to try to condense STG in one album. Did you ever get hold of the Special Garage Concerts?

"No Bright side" is excellent, I agree. The 1st cardiacs disc I bought was the CD single of "Day is Gone", and NBS is the nest thing on it, easily.

I didn't, although as they're on iTunes I might indulge in a little Xmas present to myself. The studio albums plus Ditzy Scene are for me THE pinnacle of recorded sound, and I think that's where they fly furthest (unless you're actually AT a gig), but I'll definitely check it out.

I'm gonna give this STG single-album thing a go. Watch me.

Oh Man. You're going to flip your lid when you hear those live concerts. It's really fast and heavy and doesn't particularly have a "live" sound except when you hear the audience singing along very occasionally. And of course many of these songs were previously just curiosities. These albums turn them all into really essential tracks.

Ah nice. Well, I'm excited to hear them! Will report back here when I do. Cardiacs always did fast and heavy rather well.

I assume you've watched the "rehearsal" footage of "As Cold As Can Be.." and "Gibber & Twitch" on youtube. It sounds exactly like that except there's over 30 tracks. It may take you about a year to wrap your brain around it.

Hahaha, yeah ok. I hope there's LOADS OF SWEARING! And Jim getting abused. I wrapped my brain around STG quicker than you thought I would, mind :P

Ha-ha. I did say that, didn't I? On some levels SGC is even more monolithic that Sing To God, perhaps because every single track is a very heavy riffathon. There's not a lot of light except for the occasional break between songs. Jim-baiting and swearing is minimal too.

1) Dirty Boy
2) Eat It Up Worms Hero
3) Dog-Like Sparky
4) Flap Off You Beak
5) Quiet As A Mouse
6) Fiery Gun Hand
7) Insect Hoofs On Lassie
8) Wireless
9) Fairy Mary Mag
10) Odd Even
11) Bellyeye
12) No Gold
13) Nurses Whispering Verses
14) Foundling

68 minutes! Perfectly manageable. Manhoo released as EP with the Bell songs, Angleworm Angel and Red Fire. Fine, A Horses Tail can come too. As can Billion. Oh all right, and Eden On The Air. I'm such a pushover.

The great thing about my new sequencing is that a) it highlights the piece of songwriting wonder that is 'Flap Off You Beak' and b) brings Fairy Mary Mag and Odd Even together for extra harpsichord solo deja-vu fun. Oh, and Quiet As A Mouse into Fiery Gun Hand is yoga flame.

I wouldn't change that much but sorry, you can't take Manhoo out of this album. That's not right. Also A Horse's Tail is unremovable. OTOH I can easily do without Wireless. I'm pretty indifferent towards Foundling too, but it works as a closer.

1) Dirty Boy
2) Eat It Up Worms Hero
3) Dog-Like Sparky
4) Flap Off You Beak
5) Odd Even
6) Fiery Gun Hand
7) Insect Hoofs On Lassie
8) Manhoo
9) Fairy Mary Mag
10) A Horses Tail
11) Bellyeye
12) No Gold
13) Nurses Whispering Verses
14) Foundling

I'm pretty indifferent towards Foundling too, but it works as a closer.

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. It's not the best song, and apart from the celestial synths in the middle-eight there's nothing out-and-out fabulous about it, but there's a homely, closerish vibe to it that none of the other tracks really nail.

Aw, I'm an Odd Even fan, especially as a companion piece to FMM. Used to actually not like AHT but now I do. It versus Odd Even is probably the toughest sticking-point here. (God, so many Cardiacs polls I've somehow resisted starting! I think it might be a bit sacrilegious tho)

As for Wireless vs Manhoo, well, I think a companion EP would require a strong and catchy track that didn't necessarily fit in with the album, being as it is 'their Britpop song'. Manhoo is that song. Plus, it's SLIGHTLY inferior to most of the other songs IMO (albeit with a ridiculously high prevailing standard). Wireless gets me every time (that tacked piano!!). It's one of the great non-cover covers. (Lauft... is sheer magic, and this does it justice while providing a lovely Cardiacsy spin)

wait, is that common knowledge? wireless is a "cover" of faust? every non-cardiacs familiar person I play that song for instantly loves it

haha yeah it's quite a blatant lift! common knowledge among cardiacs fans i've spoken to here for sure. iirc phill jupitus played 'wireless' on his show, proclaiming it as 'beautiful'...think it might be quite a good gateway drug choice. i normally hit 'em with 'dog-like sparky' which sorts the sheep from the goats pretty nicely. actually most people really dig D-LS. my mum inclusive.

I have been listening to this band a lot over the last week. I got hold of a copy of On Land and In The Sea which is totally brilliant all the way through.

It's strange hearing full albums by them as I've just had that Sampler compilation for years which is all I thought I needed but now I'm kinda becoming obsessed with trying to find all their albums.

don't bother; they're boring

I can't imagine any of their albums are boring.

they're not. he lies. with his face.

they're the most boringest band that ever existed and you are wasting your time and God's trying to listen to their albums

god has an infinite amount of time at its disposal. it won't mind.

Pretends it's Jesus

anyway Kitchen Person I sincerely hope that whoever you are you never hear another note of Cardiacs, because they are the worst and most boring band of all time, and their albums hold numbers one to three and then like 6 and 8 in my worst albums ever ranking. the album I would definitely not get next is Sing To God, and I wouldn't touch Guns with your brother's. neither A Little Man... nor Heaven Born... have any sort of musical worth. this band is a dead loss. avoid.

Please please tell me you have all those albums you mentioned and you will sell/give them to me. They are really hard to get and I just want to hear how bad they are for myself.

Sing to God is the at the very top of my wishlist right now.

I strongly dissuade you from using the ILX email function or sending your address to moc.liamg @ reggaj.siuol, because if you subsequently received a consignment of burned CDs, that would be terrible both for you and anybody you chose to inflict your abysmal gleanings upon

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.