Music
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All the music files available on this page are in the mp3 format. The thought was to give you the opportunity to play them on your computer or on your mp3 player (simply copy them across from the mp3 directory). If you want the cover and the anecdotes, you still have to find the CDs or the LPs......but for now, enjoy the music. The 'rarities' collection is taken from all sorts of media one-offs, recorded in all sorts of situations - so the quality is pretty variable. I am sure you will agree however, that there a few gems in there, and plenty of laughs too. Stackridge
Stackridge Serial Number MDKS 8002 Recorded At DeLane Lea Studios, London March/April 1971 Line-up "Mutter" Slater, James Warren, Andy Davis, Mike Evans, Billy Sparkle Tracks 1. Grande Piano (Davis-Warren) Despite receiving favourable reviews the album initially sold a mere 4,000 copies, largely due to delays concerning the cover artwork (which featured a flock of eyeless seagulls; whether they were intentionally eyeless remains a mystery to this day). At the time the band were receiving plenty of exposure touring as support to Wishbone Ash. A review in Bristol underground magazine "Pre-View" had the following comments to make. "It offers an amazing spectrum of sounds and lyric ideas............ Where Stackridge score is their ability to blend the two and give the material point.......The album's best tracks tell a story about people or creatures. There's the sad saga of Percy the Penguin, doomed to die because he wants to fly; the incredible Marzo, born in 1563 and still plodding the Somerset fields; the monster Slark, evoked by a haunting flute and fiddle theme; Dora, jauntily exploring her way through the world, bolstered by a good time, tub-thumping harp, fiddle and drum backing; and a day or two in the life of starving Stackridge, recalling in a gently barbed way the time they were evicted from their flat in West Mall, Clifton, Bristol, for forgetting about things like rent. In all these songs the highly inventive music never swamps the simple tale-telling. The flute, fiddle, mainly acoustic guitar and tasteful percussion explore intelligently and with maximum light and shade............. it's a fine record and will find favour with everyone with a liking for high grade pop." Following the release of the eponymous album and disappointing sales the band set about building up a larger following through countless one-nighters and appearances on major UK tours as support. The results were favourable, though it took some time for the band's highly stylised approach to sink in with rock punters, particularly when they threw in such items as "She taught me how to Yodel" with vocals by Mike Evans which caused both amusement and bemusement at the same time. With Mike "Mutter" Slater as manic frontman dragging some amazing sounds from his ancient flute the band made a virtue out of their stage eccentricities. Dances, rambling stories by Mutter, long and meandering introductions by James Warren ("If you can't make out the words to the any of the songs it's probably because it's an instrumental.") and props such as dustbin lids (for banging) and rhubarb stalks (for "thrashing") were part of the repertoire and a growing number of dedicated fans turned up to gigs with their own lids and rhubarb. In December 1971 the band ran a wildly successful series of 20 "Christmas Parties" where during a 30-minute rendition of their magnum opus "Slark" violinist Mike Evans would emerge dressed as Father Christmas and drift into a chorus of "I'm Dreaming of A White Christmas" and distribute presents to all and sundry ("Have a present little boy, go on have another one, go on have the lot!"). In March 1972 a Melody Maker article about the band headed "If McCartney really wants to do something for Ireland why doesn't he stop singing about it and come here?" focussed attention on the fact that Stackridge earned their loyal following by playing gigs that many other bands weren't interested in, such as their Irish tour in February 1972. Their second album was eagerly awaited by their fans and was originally scheduled for a July release but it was much later in the year before the album was eventually released. Gerry Prewett Friendliness
Friendliness Serial Number MDPS 2025 Recorded at Sound Techniques and De Lane Lea Studios, London, August 1972 Line-up: "Mutter" Slater, James Warren, Andy Davis, Mike Evans, Billy Sparkle, Jim "Crun" Walter Tracks 1. Lummy Days (Davis) The traditionally "difficult" second album received critical praise in the music press with comments such as "...the cream of their stage repertoire on record as it should be....all the goodies are there...but in the studio version the goodies are even goodier............More so than their last album "Friendliness" puts over the scope of their experiences and musical avenues that are as varied as the personalities of the individual members of the group......The thread that runs through their songs as well as the variety of sound is the Englishness.", "Stackridge are Entertainment Wurzel-rock......the nearest rock has got to genuine music hall in a long time.", "..typical of Stackridge's ability for combining the ...hilarious with the musically stunning", "It really is quite incredible that in the space of two albums Stackridge have achieved more than most groups are likely to achieve in a lifetime". Despite all the favourable reviews chart success seemed to elude the band. Interviews from around the time illustrate that they felt some element was missing that could capture the essence of the stage performance on vinyl. Would their next album be recorded live? Gerry Prewett The Man In The Bowler Hat
The Man In The Bowler Hat Serial Number MCG3501 Line-up: "Mutter" Slater, James Warren, Andy Davis, Mike Evans, Billy Sparkle, Jim "Crun" Walter Tracks 1. Fundamentally
Yours (Davis-Smegmakovitch) (Smegmakovitch = Walter-Warren-Slater) (Wabadaw Sleeve = Walter-Warren-Slater-Davis-Evans-Sparkle) 'The Man In The Bowler Hat' proved to be a tour-de-force for Stackridge. It wasn't the expected live album but something much more exciting than that. In the early stages of work on the album Andy Davis noted, "We decided that the album would be called 'The Road To Venezuela", then decided we'd better write a song of that title. The original idea was to follow a kind of Bob Hope/Bing Crosby road story, with 'The Galloping Gaucho' as the main character." In a later interview "Mutter" Slater explained why the idea was abandoned, "At the time, it seemed like a good idea. We decided to include other related songs.......Although some of these songs will be on the new album we got fed up with the basic idea. Another reason we abandoned the project was the cover. A preliminary sketch came out a bit too similar to previous covers." The interview went on to note 'One person who will evidently be playing a major role in the new direction is their producer whose identity they are for the time being keeping to themselves'. The producer turned out to be none other than George Martin, famous for his work on all the Beatles albums. Maybe there were clues to Martin's identity later in the interview, 'Comparisons with the Beatles have been mentioned since the band's formation. It's the harmonies and sweet melodies that conjure up memories of Lennon and McCartney. "I suppose every band starts out wanting to be the next Beatles," says Davis. "Everyone has stood in front of the mirror with a tennis racket, imitating them." he smiles. "In a way," says Mutter, "the comparison is justified, because we are melodic.".' He might also have added that Davis' experience working on the Imagine album with Lennon may also have rubbed off. Geoff Brown's 'Melody Maker' review of the album opened "This is a difficult record to write about for many reasons. Not the least being, of course, that one third of the personnel is no longer with Stackridge. Mutter Slater and Billy Sparkle left the group early last autumn" the review went on to note various similarities and influences ranging from the Beatles through Zappa to English Classicism (remarking that "God Speed The Plough" was very evocative of Hardy's Dorset.). He finished by writing "A small corner of England will be forever Stackridge." It seemed typical of Stackridge to go through a change of personnel just when hard-won financial success was guaranteed (the album charted briefly soon after its release). The recording had turned out so well that Mutter hated the idea of trying to reproduce the album on stage and he felt that musically he wanted to improve his education. In a long "Melody Maker" interview entitled 'Stackridge: It doesn't Mutter any more' Mutter went to great lengths to explain that there was no animosity. With Sparkle and Slater leaving, Rod Bowkett (keyboards) and Keith Gemmell, ex-Audience (sax) were brought in with Davis taking over drumming duties. The band went on the road with a virtually new set of material, and with healthy sales of "The Man In The Bowler Hat" they were fast creating a popular and not just a cult following. Gerry Prewett RaritiesStackridge Live: 1972-76 This collection of rare recordings (made by avid fans at sound-checks, during gigs or from the radio and TV in the early '70s) is a taster of a five-album project.It is the brainchild of that Thrasher Extraordinaire, Elessar Tetramariner. Since 1997 (with enthusiasm and devotion of towering Stackridgean proportions) Elessar has bullied, begged and cajoled Thrashers World-wide to venture into their dusty attics and fish out all those ancient reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes that languish there forgotten in yellowing cardboard boxes, relics of a misspent youth, when listening to Stackridge was much more important than mundane things like homework or cleaning your room. And just like rubbing the tarnished lamp in Aladdin, what joys those old tapes bring forth! They contain a veritable magical pot-pourri of reminiscence. Here you will find items of total silliness from the '70s Live Show that never made it to the dizzy heights of the gramophone record. Also 'caught in aspic' are partially-developed songs and epics that never quite made the distance due to personnel changes, along with live versions of songs otherwise only available in studio form. Tracks 1. After The Tetracycline
(Walter) Sheffield Polytechnic 'Live'Stackridge Live Sampler was produced for venue organisers in January 2000. Getting gigs for Stackridge was dead difficult. I sent out copies of SFTW, a studio CD..... "Yes," they all said, "Great! It's just not possible to produce that style and quality of music live..." Hence, the sampler.... The tracks were taken from recordings made by fans at live gigs... The Fiddlers, Dec '99 was recorded by Paul Weir and The Ridings Arts Centre, une 1999 from the desk for Elessar Tetramariner Tracks... 1.Something About The
Beatles (Menage/Warren) I used Rosie Upton's review of Stackridge at The Riverside, Bradford-on-Avon, December 1999, which appeared in the Bath Chronicle on Monday, December 13th as the sleeve notes .... "It may be nearly 30 years since west country based Stackridge were hitting the big time, but original band members weren't looking bad for their age and the music was sounding even better than before. The band, which re-formed recently after a 22 year break, lived up to its reputation for combining musical eccentricity with stylish harmonies and a touch of humour. The event, billed as a Christmas Party, took off as soon as the band came on stage, led by ex-Korgis James Warren on guitar and Mike Evans on fiddle in spectacular form alongside Crun Walter's eloquent bass. These were anchored by some equally neat playing from Richard Stubbings on flute, guitar, keyboards and accordion, John Miller on keyboards and Tim Robinson on drums. The memorable old Stackridge tunes were instantly recognisable and the new songs just as good.The sublteties of the music, the quick lyrics and obscure references were not lost on a packed and appreciative audience who preferred to listen rather than dance. Unusual riffs, chord sequences, unexpected twists and diverse musical directions all added to the complexity. They said they would be making an application for cult band status. Well, they've almost achieved it. Just spread the word." Jennie Evans |
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