Cardiacs - Sing to God

oh good god. impossible choice. gut instinct says 'fiery gun hand', but then again...

Would this be a good place to start with the Cardiacs? I always think of these guys as the ultimate ILM band, because I never hear of them in any other context. Maybe its about time I dove in?

this would indeed be a good place to start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLoe4DGT3hk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-dd4fMUhAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbSbTopRm1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek6NZEOMCRo

I would get A Little Man and A House first, which is more or less their debut (excepting a bunch of demo tapes). It too is a really great album. Sing to God is their best but it may be really off putting if you aren't really familiar with the way they work. A lot of it is totally off the deep end.

huh! this is neato! i thought this band was like the cardigans or something

kinda sounds like Sparks meets NOMEANSNO

xp I was the opposite way round. got sing to god long before a little man, and found the latter harder to get into (it's less harsh/dense/violent, I guess, though there's a lot of quieter, subtler stuff on StG too). only recently has its true magnificence revealed itself to me.

glad you like, gr8080!

it's frankly terrifying how much this band have taken over my consciousness since first hearing them over a decade ago.

honestly...i only got into them because an online buddy sent me "in a city lining" on mp3, which I added to my iTunes but never listened to...I only found it because it was next after "Captain Lou Albano's History of Music". He described it as some sort of Devo/Zappa/Genesis/VDGG hybrid and I was like, okay, that sounds interesting, but kinda forgot about it since most band that "totally sounds like x meets y meets z...ON ACID!!" is nowhere near the sound they describe it as, but Cardiacs really do live up to that title

First thought was Dog-Like Sparky, now I'm not so sure.

Far from the pinnacle, but Flap

Then what is the pinnacle??

Well, I don't really know if I could even subjectively say with them Cardiacs. I have beef with the STG adulation, outside of the big hitters it's kinda flawed imho.

Too many weak spots on the second disc.

Unlike LMAHATWWW and SFSAI which are gold front to back. I would even say I rate the Sea Nymphs S/T more than STG.

Put your hands on the holy bible and scream wank

Really like the instrumental version of that. And the instrumental of Insect Hooves.

I'd love an album of Cardiacs songs with the vocals taken out. Not that I dislike the vocals or the lyrics - they are great but those two numbers are really cool.

NURSES.

A friend had lent me their older albums; I'd thought "ok, but, ???", but I decided to buy StG anyway, and Nurses was possibly the track that really sold me on Cardiacs. A bridge into Cardiacs from a less alien place, in a way.

That's interesting because Nurses is a really old track.

hmmm tried to post this before and it rejected me, just saying that yeah this is my favorite album (and has been for about 5 years) so obviously there is gonna be some hyperbole. I don't see disc 2 as weak - it has "Dirty Boy", "Foundling", "Flap", "Nurses", "Bell Clinks", and "Angelworm Angel", all killer...I like pretty much every song on the release besides "No Gold".

I would have loved Spinney to be on the record.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY_ekVg8e0g

xpost Compared to disc one though....it feels like it's padded.

Like, there are two very, very long tracks, two and a half throwaways and a couple of other bits that are kind of self-indulgent. It's quite exhausting to get through.

this album is ok I guess

there you are.

:D

Still in the shire?

disc 2 isn't quite as impeccable as disc 1, but by mere human standards it's still pretty astonishing.

new zealandshire, mm, has a nice ring to it

really though I oughta construct an exhaustive defence of Disc 2. it's the loosest and medley-est Cardiacs have ever been, damn thing's a lightspeed psych-voyage through t smith's brain, chock to the brim with ginormous tuneage, abrasive surprises and earth-shattering drama. the sequencing is perfect, even better than that of Disc 1. obviously both discs have about 3 or 4 of the greatest songs of all time (each) and the whole thing is a terrifying embarrassment of riches, but at no stage does Disc 2 dip below enthralling for me. it's put together so intricately, and out of such differing mechanisms; it's a perfectly-formed musical box or curiosity shop.

as for my choice in this poll? 'dirty boy' is pretty much the greatest piece of music ever made, but it feels wrong voting for something that almost stands aloof from the album. alternatively there's 'dog-like sparky' which was the first Cardiacs tune to blow my fucking brain to pieces. still does it ever time really. thing's a pop opus. but then there's the one I'm voting for, 'flap off you beak'. because...because that sound is coming direct from heaven

how have I never heard spinney before?!

TIS BLOODY DIVINE.

They even did it live a couple of times too MG

holy fuck, this ^^^ xp

it and Pond are Smith's two most obvious bastardisations of traditional song maybe?

See also
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0kEiIEi14M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGCg-g-fw7o

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

Jon Poole had a fairly big hand in STG too y'know.

omg this has given my day an unexpectedly grinsome new dimension

sweet fancy moses!

Yeah, the b-sides for Mahoo and Odd Even are pretty essential to the whole thing. IIRC the advertised scheme was to have four eps, each one with a song from Sing To God and some exclusive tracks. For whatever reason that never happened which became a little bit frustrating considering the quality of what was out. I'm not sure how the single for Bellyeye fits in with this. It has three tracks from the album but I remember it did come out quite a bit in advance of the album and the artwork wasn't uniform with the rest and it appeared to be more of a taster. Perhaps some sort of gesture to Org Records?

I would get A Little Man and A House first, which is more or less their debut (excepting a bunch of demo tapes).

Um....what? This is just a bizarre thing to say. Four studio albums and a live album cannot be dismissed as a bunch of demos. The Seaside and especially Big Ship (or Songs for Ships and Irons as it's called now with the 12 inch of Too Many Irons thrown in) are totally essential if you are a Cardiacs fan. There are some of the most classic, idiosyncratic Cardiacs songs there: Big Ship, Tarred and Feathered, Loosefish Scapegrace, RES, To Go Off And Things and tons more.

Toy World and The Obvious Identity represent a low-fi prototype of what they would become but contains many great songs. The fact that the band returned to those albums in later years is a testament to the quality of the songwriting. Get the Garage Concerts discs to experience them at their best.

Rude Bootleg is fantastic - beats the Cardiacs Live album hands down.

A Little Man and a House is one of my favorite records but this one still hasn't clicked for me. it's neat but i can't forge any emotional connection to it.

nevertheless, i will give it a listen through now for the purposes of this poll

There are some of the most classic, idiosyncratic Cardiacs songs there: Big Ship, Tarred and Feathered, Loosefish Scapegrace, RES, To Go Off And Things and tons more

seriously I got a lot of love for Tarred And Feathered but the fact it's the first Youtube hit for the band probably does them wayyyyy more harm than good

the other songs listed there are obviously stone-fucking-dead amazing

wanna know how ciderpress got on with this record. for me it's *ridiculously* emotionally intense. it's intensity overload. I guess that means for some people it will come off as completely over the top and not emotionally-charged at all, but for me it dives straight into the heart with more gusto than anything else I've heard. just such a manic, loving record. think of it as the sheer madness of staring into the sun on a spring morning surrounded by a zillion prancing rabbits. it is the next level of intensity. it is my kinda record.

also, to quote a wiser man than I, 'you can hear angels in the mix'. listen close, puppies.

Um....what? This is just a bizarre thing to say. Four studio albums and a live album cannot be dismissed as a bunch of demos. The Seaside and especially Big Ship (or Songs for Ships and Irons as it's called now with the 12 inch of Too Many Irons thrown in) are totally essential if you are a Cardiacs fan. There are some of the most classic, idiosyncratic Cardiacs songs there: Big Ship, Tarred and Feathered, Loosefish Scapegrace, RES, To Go Off And Things and tons more.

Well yeah Songs for Ships and Irons is great too but it was released after A Little Man wasn't it? That release is much easier to find than the original 12". And most of the demo tapes are kind of useless since the Garage Concert discs came out since those performances are generally much better. The Seaside is quite good, I'd agree with that. But I wouldn't start there. To make it clear I'm not advocating skipping all that stuff, just saying you should probably start with A Little Man and then maybe later go back to The Seaside and Songs for Ships and Irons. I would think you would then go to On Land and then Sing to God

When I asked at the Cardiacs merch stand at Nottingham Rescue Rooms where I should start, I was advised to start with On Land And In The Sea. "That's what I usually tell people", she said. So there you have it.

My first exposure (other than Steve Wright playing 'Is This The Life' on R1 back in the day was Heaven Born, then it was the 'All That Glitters..' video of all things

Yeah On Land And In The Sea is pretty excellent as well, but I kind of wonder what people unfamiliar with the band do when something like "The Duck and Roger the Horse" comes on.

Dirty Boy is my favourite Cardiacs song but I want to vote for Manhoo as it was the first song by them that really clicked and made me a fan. Bellyeye is a really great song, hope that picks up a vote or two.

I think this would be just behind On Land And In The Sea as my favourite Cardiacs album. The second CD just isn't as strong, especially after it starts with such an amazing song everything else seems to pale in comparison.

Yeah, the greatest album of all time.

However, this covers project can't be dismissed. I think it took me around 15 seconds of their Fiery Gun Hand before realising this as the insane and beautiful labour of love it truly is

and by 'their', I mean 'his'. What a guy

Am trying to get these guys to do a show on STG, it's a little left of their general criteria but they gots my money now, so I hope they'll go for it.

http://www.digmeoutpodcast.com/

How did Dirty Boy not win this?? I feel like if more people had heard it, we could have just skipped the end of the 90s and started at the millennium.

Is that the one that sounds like a Queen song? Do they all sound like Queen songs minus the riffs and hooks?

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/22/e7/73/22e7731c2b2cce035c0f99759a4fec5a.jpg

Dirty Boy is one of the greatest achievements in rock history obv obv but c'mon Flap Off You Beak and Dog-Like Sparky are two of the most utterly, intensely beautiful pop songs conceivable. The three are my favourite three tracks on my favourite album so it's hard to speak about them rationally but I don't have too much problem with the result here. One more Dirty Boy vote would have perfected it

it's no De Futura

they're just a bit too "vacuum head tree" for me to get into

I say this as a staunch Magma fan and, when necessary, apologist: Dirty Boy is better than De Futura

we can have both, maybe. although let me extend hearty cheers to dominique & #teamtim

i think Dominique was also a fan of the "vacuum head tree" style

xp -- were you around for that hilarious episode in the annals of Sp0ckm0rgue?

no, but vacuum head tree sounds about right

basically, it was a classic example of narcissism of small differences and involved Paul C0stur0s mis-naming and maligning a band beloved of another poster, and then more people jumped in and took sides.

team not-Paul: we don't see why you dislike this band, they are totally like your bands and other bands you like
team Paul: we may be nerds and dorks, but we aren't so nerdy and dorky to get into vacuum head tree, sorry bro

which band?

vacuum head tree!!! (except with words two and three reversed)

The idea that someone could listen to say, Bellyeye, and think "This has no hooks" is fucking crazy to me.

I've tried listening to some vacuum tree head and they sound like an improv jazz ensemble clumsily attempting to prog out. Two things you could never accuse Cardiacs of being was loose and jazzy.

If anything it's hard to notice how complex rhythmically and melodically they are, since they're so catchy.

And I have no idea where this Queen comparison comes from, I mean Eat it up Worms Hero could possibly be compared to Bohemian Rhapsody if it was compressed to 2:30 minutes and melted in the microwave, idk.

proncke

think nakh and sarah might be prodding the tiger here tbh ultros

Don't tease the octopus, kids

Hey all, so there's a Podcast called 'Dig Me Out' where they analyse and discuss a lot of lol 90s US and Brit indie/college rock type albums, you can donate money to make a request and I did this a few months back nominating STG.

They had never heard or heard of Cardiacs before (I guessed they might not have) I thought it would be good fun and potentially interesting. It's just been released.

http://www.digmeoutpodcast.com/

Listening now and they're getting it, I'm quite heartened

Direct link for the Flash-less: http://digmeout.podbean.com/mf/web/wq5ktj/225-cardiacs.mp3

:D they're grappling well

one of them has Eden On The Air as his favourite - he's the one who's struggling a bit more, though

& then he suggests that Dirty Boy could stand to lose its second half :O :( :'( X(

"There's a lot of instruments on this record, and I think they all play on every song"

hah

this is really great. seems like they're at a loss to explain how the album is even possible. I think they nailed it beyond the whole "wow this is crazy!" angle which is awesome. yeah that comment about "Dirty Boy" is pretty wtf but I think they mostly got it. thanks for doing this!

also lol @ the guy saying "there's that one song that's really really cool, but then there are these clanging syncopated guitars that don't even sync up, does that really need to be there?" with respect to "Fiery Gun Hand" I believe

I think Vacuum Tree Head is an excellent band, actually. Bro.

I'm not sure we'll ever resolve whether that's true

You know why the bump, don't you?

The 180Gs' astonishing 'a capella' cover version of the entire Sing To God double album, "Singin' To God" was finally released yesterday (young Tim Smith's birthday I believe.)

David Minnick has recreated the album down to some very tiny details. At times you can almost forget it's not the original you're hearing, yet all the 'instrumentation' is created bodily (apart from a Kazoo on one track.)

Most songs are incredibly faithfully rendered and a few have been reinterpreted in inventive ways; Wireless and Bell Stinks / Bell Clinks in particular stood out on first listen.

https://davidminnick1.bandcamp.com/album/singin-to-god

oh my god it's here

Yay, I was hoping the bump would be about David..!

Looking forward to hearing how he deals with Tim's Gran's appearance.

Oh wait, it was his Mum...ah well.

this is the most glorious undertaking

Just laughing my head off with pleasure at Flap off You Beak right now, it's so amazingly lush and he takes liberties on the fade with the melodies, little bluesy licks.

this is unbelievable

Oh man... Sorry guys I find this revolting and even if I didn't I'd struggle to fathom what the actual point is.

probably didn't need to post that

Not at all, I can completely see why it would provoke such a strong feeling and wondering what the use of such a project would actually be.

I was listening to a Terrence McKenna recording and in it he started gabbing about an old science fiction tale concerning "angel worms," which he wrongly attributed to Robert Heinlein.

It is in fact "The Angelic Angleworm" by Fredric Brown, first published in 1943 and included in a 1954 collection called "Angels And Spaceships" that incidentally also includes a story entitled "Daisies."

Not from this album, but there's a Cardiacs song that takes it's title from a line in this 1972 Sesame St song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irCkaVmcWO8

25 years old today, I'm told!

play it loud play it proud

So many Dirty Boy covers surfacing recently, but I think my favourite is still the gender-flipped Cellular Chaos one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E27s9ZluDQ8