Cardiacs: Classic or Dud?

haha

i prefer cardiacs ;-)

I like the Cardiacs, but does anyone else find their fans a bit creepy, in a new age religious cult kinda way?

Being a Cardiacs fan is like joining a cult, though. Albeit a non-evil one.

I've been through my embarrassing fan-worship period when I used to attempt to convert every soul I met to the cause, usually with little success. These days I try to be a little more circumspect about it, as I've realised this is the kind of music you can't force people to like - they'll either get it on their own or not at all.

STG definitely is mixed a bit too trebly. My ears are normally ringing by the time it gets to "Bellyeye".

I got Heaven born... for like three dollars yesterday at Roadrunner in MNPLS. This is... nuts. Kinda neat. I like it a lot more than I was expecting to.

It's easily their finest, if you ask me. After that, they just upped the "we're completely bonkers" quotient, but not necessarily in a listenable way.

Sing To God 1+2 is alright. Some songs I really like (Fiery Gun hand!) but a lot of it is just too BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA for me these days. Probably ever. Relentless. I can see why Louis likes them.

Lurks buddy, let me hear it some time.

I can't tell how much of their wacky shtick is of that condescending "WE'RE SOO CRAZY AND YOU CAN'T TAKE HOW EXTREMELY OUT THERE AND IN YOUR FACE WE ARE" variety yet, and how much of it is just some goofy dudes having a laugh. That's gonna be the deciding factor, I guess. So far so good, though.

I doubt Cardiacs are putting on much of a 'we're soo crazy' concept, because they've been doing it for about 30 years, and it's not like they've got a huge marketshare to uphold. My bet is they really do have bizarre senses of humor, and dig the shit out of insane chord progressions and song structures. My personal fave is Sing to God pt 2, but judging by their single from last year, they're only getting more dense -- kind of awesome to see a band keep pushing their sound forward, even when it's not really something my ears can take all the time.

Yeah, I hope that's how I feel eventually, 'cause I really like this so far. This would have probably been one of my all time favorite bands if I'd heard them in high school. There's still time, i guess.

Time for a bump. And a C. St3phens progress report. (Yeah, I sent him all their albums.)

Tim Smith apparently suffered a heart-attack a few weeks ago. :(

All autumn gigs cancelled and the release of "LSD" has been delayed once again.

Get well soon.

It's easily their finest, if you ask me. After that, they just upped the "we're completely bonkers" quotient, but not necessarily in a listenable way.

-- Alex in NYC, Sunday, 20 April 2008 23:35 (2 months ago) Link

nooooo it's all about a little man and a house and the whole world window (and earlier stuff). i know this comment makes me sound like indie fuxor but it's true

but anyway i hope tim gets well soon.

Is it true that he's a lot iller than the ABC are making out?

I hope not.

most recent update from organ:

And thing you most want to know about is how is Tim Smith doing and what’s happening with CARDIACS. Well there isn’t that much to add to previous statements, Tim is slowly recovering and we’re all just giving him the time space and privacy he and his family still need. They (and we) thank everyone who’s been asking, leaving messages on the various forums, on My Space pages and such, as soon as there’s any fresh news we’ll let you all know here but don’t be expecting anything for a while yet, situation is still a long way from good. The Cardiacs singles that were due out here on ORG are still on hold, I read somewhere that we had sent some promos of a new single out to radio, we haven’t, when and if there is news, we’ll put it up here and on the Organ forum. If we’re honest then the things that have happened to Tim and Cardiacs have kind of knocked the wind out of our sails here in terms of releasing new things by anyone or anything, our minds haven’t really been focused on releasing new bands and records and such. It was a pleasure to play that magical SEA NYMPHS session on our radio show at Resonance FM last weekend though, first time I’ve been able to just sit and listen to a Cardiacs thing and just enjoy the treasure for ages, we really should see about releasing that session....

all digits still crossed here. I keep meaning to send the smith family a note of good vibes. perhaps the video footage of my tiny baby girl getting giddily excited by 'loosefish scrapegrace'...start 'em young, I say.

listening to possibly far too much cardiacs at the moment. coming to the conclusion that 'will bleed amen' may just be their finest, most intensely focused tune.

and "guns" their most intensely focused, arguably finest album altho i'm not gonna decide on that last point coz tbh this is "best album ever" shit imo, too big for me to call

p.s. what is this "far too much"

i.e. most of my listening for the past few days has been of that stripe, which therefore means I'm developing cardiacs tunnel vision. some may see this as a bad thing.

No, I know what "most of my listening for the past few days has been of that stripe" is, happens to me quite a lot. I was merely passing comment on your moral judgement. :D

I was pre-empting the judgement of others, really...

dammit look at me now i'm listening to it all, all again. how could you.

Since the accident Tim Smith’s body has become his enemy. He is in a great deal of pain and is experiencing difficulty with the finer points of control with regard to his extremities so obviously perfected prior to the unhappy event, but Tim Smith, his family and those so called friends, (with whom he keeps counsel), all assert that his mind, however, has been sharpened by the episode. THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN can confirm that no part of YOUR favourite pop star’s intellect or personality has been found to be absent WHATSOEVER.

So where does that leave CARDIACS and where does that leave YOU?

At this point Tim Smith can neither sing nor play his guitar. THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN, in keeping with its enviable reputation as THE REALISTIC CONCERN, can state that it is extremely unlikely that CARDIACS will perform live for the foreseeable future. THIS IS NOT, IT MUST BE NOTED, THE END OF CARDIACS. YOU must once again be patient before events can reveal themselves as foodstuffs for YOUR greedy little mouths.

Yeah, these were the rumours, now confirmed. Poor guy. Looks like we won't be seeing them live again. And it's 10 years since the last album. They only hope is that they have tons of stuff archived which may come out. I get the impression that they have been fairly comprehensive about recording and filming live shows etc and there really ought to be some studio stuff, radio sessions etc in the can that will maybe see the light of day.

That proposed DVD of them rehearsing the Garage Concerts never appeared, did it?

I had heard this was the talk too. Great shame. I shall treasure my one concert experience forever.

Their 6th major studio album is apparently more or less in the can, and when Tim's health is slightly improved, it could see the light of day. To ask for more from a band that has already given us more than enough would be unreasonable, but should it emerge, I would be the first to celebrate.

Bearing in mind that the afflicted soul is my single most revered cultural icon of all time (pretty much), this is something of an effort to type.

If Cardiacs never play live again, others must follow their lead. Whether or not I'm in such a band (I hope to be) is irrelevant; all that matters is that the flame is kept alive.

That they were able to produce the (full) text of that announcement in a style entirely consistent with the previous missives from the Alphabet Business Concern surely gives some hope. But really, fucking hell, what a thing to have to write and it's clear that Tim has had a horrific time. I loved Cardiacs from being a callow youth, it must be 18 years now, and all I can really say is that regardless of their future as a band I hope he can make as full a recovery as possible.

Always were a band for the resounding sadness cloaked by stiff upper lip and mischievous twinkle

As a lover of Cardiacs and an admirer of Tim's great and sadly unrecognised talents (outside of the so called pond)
It makes me sick to my stomach that the guy almost dies and is physically buggered for the forseeable future and yet we
still get hit with these stupid ABC/Your Loyalty Demands style bullshit missives, who writes this fucking shit?

I dunno, I think maintaining the house style of ABC announcements is more of a KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON thing than trying to be flippant. They make it abundantly clear how serious things are.

I'm with Bill on this one. But high emotions are understandable, nay, mandatory.

Maybe you are right, I do feel though that they should have dropped the ABC whimsy
years ago, I find the bulletins enormously tiresome to read.

Absolutely convinced that the cosmos is playing some beastly tricks on us all today. Both Swells' final published copy and now this ABC release have formed some sort of teleological mesh from which the King of Pop could not escape.

I mean, look at it from my perspective. Press-release at long last details and discusses the cardiac arrest of my own personal King of Pop. Great, acerbic arbiter of Pop passes on, leaving a King of Pop quotation as his final legacy, his final judgement. The trinity is completed later on. Weird day.

I believe it's Jim Smith who usually writes the ABC announcements (just as he did the YOUsletters back in the pre-internet days). I can't imagine it was easy for him either, so it's hardly suprising it's taken a year for this one to emerge.

The band have always maintained the ABC facade no matter what the circumstances, so I think dropping it now would almost be sign of defeat, which is why I'm glad they haven't done it.

Anyway, if you want more sober coverage of the situation, The Organ pretty much have that in hand.

CARDIACS: A STATEMENT FROM US: One year ago this week, Tim Smith of Cardiacs had a very serious heart attack and stroke, it happened at a my Bloody Valentine concert in London. Cardiacs are, were and will always be out musical fuel. We haven't said much about what happened here at ORG Records, in line with the wishes of Tim's family and Cardiacs family. Today, Cardiacs, via The Alphabet Business Concern have made a statement, so today we shall say a little, there isn't a day that goes by without someone asking us for news.

The band explain the situation in their statement. At the time of Tim's illness we were heavily in to the final plans for new Cardiacs singles here at ORG ahead of the new album. Tim was more animated and excited than ever about Cardiacs music and the new material, we were making plans on almost a daily basis - but the recordings for the single were never quite fnished and all the plans remain just conversations and e.mails between Tim and us. Now we're proud of every single record we've ever reelased on ORG, but nothing really mattered to us as much as releasing Cardiacs music does, Cardiacs have always been our real reason, our real love, our passion. Since the events of last year we've not really felt that desire to put out records, like we've said before, we never have released mere 'product', music matters to us, people matter to us, bands matter to us. Tim's recovery is still a long way off, who knows what's going to happen and who knows if we'll ever release that Cardiacs material or indeed feel like doing anything more with ORG. Maybe we will release that new Cardiacs single one day, maybe we'll release other things on ORG, for now, all we really want is for our friend Tim to recover...

Yeah I read that one as well, and immediately wanted to punch Kevin Shields ;)

You're bang OTM about the ABC missives.

pretty much puts things into perspective when ABC release a statement about Tim's condition a just few hours before Michael Jackson died of seemingly a very similar incident.

Yeah I read that one as well, and immediately wanted to punch Kevin Shields ;)

i thought that too (just a split second after thinking, i bet it happened during 'you made me realise'.

get well soon timmy!

Hadn't spotted this on YT before, the info suggests that a dvd of these rehearsals will be coming out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxhuQWKwbqY

the video is a couple of years old... and unfortunately, no hint of a DVD release soon....

O: Dirty Boy >>> Two Bites Of Cherry >>> Spell With A Shell >>> A Little Man And A House >>> Eden On The Air >>> The Alphabet Business Concern
C: Will Bleed Amen >>> Wireless >>> The Everso Closely Guarded Line >>> The Whole World Window >>> Snakes A-Sleeping >>> Foundling

Have pledged that I'm not starting the much-considered albums poll until a) LSD comes out or b) it is confirmed that there will be no further albums

STG not the best album shocka

Guns =/> STG = On Land And In The Sea > ALMAHATWW >>>> HBAEB where ALMAHATWW = any other album you could care to name, just about

god i miss you, come back Tim Smith & Cardiacs!!!!!!!

Nasty Tim, holding back Jim with his silly illness. WE WANT JIM WE WANT JIM WE WANT JIM

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