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CD
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PICI 045CD
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Revisiting a press release for the Nightingales' last album, Four Against Fate, Tiny Global Productions recalled hesitant anticipation for the forthcoming King Rocker, a film documentary of Robert Lloyd and Nightingales, made by Michael Cumming and Stewart Lee. After forty years of activity, Robert and the band had seen hyped recordings go lost, scant commercial success. Royalties? Ha. Yet response to King Rocker was immediately positive. Fab reviews galore, a long process regaining master rights which led to a series of expanded reissues with Fire. A tour postponed three times finally took place, to fully-packed houses. It was a very good year. The band felt a degree of anxiety prior to the sessions, which took place at Valencia's Elefante Studios. With bassist Andi Schmid isolated during Covid, the band had yet begun working out individual rough sketches, typically battered into songs over a period of months. They went into a new studio blind, with a new producer, Jorge Bernabe, without rehearsals . . . and produced a top-to-bottom masterpiece. Thirty seconds in, "Sunlit Uplands", is already a classic showcasing Fliss Kitson's increased songwriting power and the core dichotomy of the group's best songs: perverse as fuck, catchy as fuck. "I <3 CCTV" is highlighted by a fab Jim Smith astral-garage guitar riff . . . and that's a one-two punch few albums ever equal, let alone carry over to the affectionate "Frances Sokolov", Robert's ode to mentor Vi Subversa, the playground riff that underlines "Spread Yourself Out" and then "Bloody Breath", the best encapsulation of all the band's genius in developing a kind of "pop" that no other combo has ever cracked. Other highlights include the lopsided mysterious beauty of "Magical Left Foot", the courtly raver of "I Need The Money At The Time" with a wonderful motorik groove driven by bassist Andi Schmid, and the album closer, "My Sweet Friend", a rockabilly lullaby which sounds like a magical outtake from Robert's one and only solo album It's a corker, it's a marvel, it's the best Nightingales record to date. Try and deny it.
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PICI 045LP
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LP version. Revisiting a press release for the Nightingales' last album, Four Against Fate, Tiny Global Productions recalled hesitant anticipation for the forthcoming King Rocker, a film documentary of Robert Lloyd and Nightingales, made by Michael Cumming and Stewart Lee. After forty years of activity, Robert and the band had seen hyped recordings go lost, scant commercial success. Royalties? Ha. Yet response to King Rocker was immediately positive. Fab reviews galore, a long process regaining master rights which led to a series of expanded reissues with Fire. A tour postponed three times finally took place, to fully-packed houses. It was a very good year. The band felt a degree of anxiety prior to the sessions, which took place at Valencia's Elefante Studios. With bassist Andi Schmid isolated during Covid, the band had yet begun working out individual rough sketches, typically battered into songs over a period of months. They went into a new studio blind, with a new producer, Jorge Bernabe, without rehearsals . . . and produced a top-to-bottom masterpiece. Thirty seconds in, "Sunlit Uplands", is already a classic showcasing Fliss Kitson's increased songwriting power and the core dichotomy of the group's best songs: perverse as fuck, catchy as fuck. "I <3 CCTV" is highlighted by a fab Jim Smith astral-garage guitar riff . . . and that's a one-two punch few albums ever equal, let alone carry over to the affectionate "Frances Sokolov", Robert's ode to mentor Vi Subversa, the playground riff that underlines "Spread Yourself Out" and then "Bloody Breath", the best encapsulation of all the band's genius in developing a kind of "pop" that no other combo has ever cracked. Other highlights include the lopsided mysterious beauty of "Magical Left Foot", the courtly raver of "I Need The Money At The Time" with a wonderful motorik groove driven by bassist Andi Schmid, and the album closer, "My Sweet Friend", a rockabilly lullaby which sounds like a magical outtake from Robert's one and only solo album It's a corker, it's a marvel, it's the best Nightingales record to date. Try and deny it.
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2LP
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LSE 001LP
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Tiny Global Productions present the vinyl debut of The Nightingales' No Love Lost. In 2012, Martin Goldschmidt, recognizing both the band's genius and the commercial struggles their unique sound engendered, saw to it that Cooking Vinyl released it as a CD, rightly regarding it as an act of public service. Martin and Cooking Vinyl allow Tiny Global Productions to the release of the album to raise money for what will be the busiest period in the band's history, with a plethora of projects on the way. Originally released only on CD, it's too long to fit on a single LP. So, Tiny Global Productions added five tracks recorded back then -- cover versions of songs by Joanna Newsom, TLC, The Lovely Eggs, and two by The Troggs -- none of which have ever been issued on any physical format -- and turned it into a double vinyl album. Whatever profit is made after production costs will fund the Nightingales' eventual American trip to support the release of the documentary film about them, King Rocker. There they'll play a few incredibly rare American dates here, followed by the usual conquest of the UK and Europe. Playing the States is cost-prohibitive. Performance visas alone cost many thousands of dollars, not to mention flights, hotels, lots of petrol, backline rental, you name it. America is a big, scary land, each moment fraught with unexpected calamities, grotesque and unpleasant oddities, hidden dangers -- there is an ever-present risk that Robert will get "cut" in a vicious bar fight, or Andi sold into slavery and forced to pick berries in the blistering heat of West Texas. Gatefold sleeve featuring another classic David Yates collage, smashing in its 12x12" glory. It's also the recorded debut of the superb Kitson/Schmid rhythm section. Edition of 500.
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CD
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PICI 020CD
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It's unusual for an act to hit its peak after four decades; yet Perish The Thought is evidence to the contrary. The Nightingales have notoriously had a new label for each new album, a fact which might reasonably call for consumer caution, but they don't fit in with anything like a scene, they speak their own musical language, and while they bust out slogans about being "slightly superior to others of their ilk", the truth is, they have no ilk. Faust's Hans-Joachim Irmler adds keyboards and The Lovely Eggs's Holly Blackwell's languid voice features on one song. John Peel noted, "their performances will serve to confirm their excellence when we are far enough distanced from the 1980s to look at the period rationally and other, infinitely better known, bands stand revealed as charlatans". It's doubtful he would have bothered with such a pre-emptive defense if he'd been able to witness the explosive growth of the band during their second incarnation.The Nightingales were formed by vocalist Robert Lloyd, formerly of The Prefects (part of The Clash's "White Riot Tour," John Peel favorites, etc.), and feature Andreas Schmid on bass, former Violet Violet drummer Fliss Kitson, and original Prefect Alan Apperley on guitar. Specially commissioned artwork by the David Yates.
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LP
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PICI 020LP
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LP version in gatefold sleeve,180 gram pressing, includes download. It's unusual for an act to hit its peak after four decades; yet Perish The Thought is evidence to the contrary. The Nightingales have notoriously had a new label for each new album, a fact which might reasonably call for consumer caution, but they don't fit in with anything like a scene, they speak their own musical language, and while they bust out slogans about being "slightly superior to others of their ilk", the truth is, they have no ilk. Faust's Hans-Joachim Irmler adds keyboards and The Lovely Eggs's Holly Blackwell's languid voice features on one song. John Peel noted, "their performances will serve to confirm their excellence when we are far enough distanced from the 1980s to look at the period rationally and other, infinitely better known, bands stand revealed as charlatans". It's doubtful he would have bothered with such a pre-emptive defense if he'd been able to witness the explosive growth of the band during their second incarnation.The Nightingales were formed by vocalist Robert Lloyd, formerly of The Prefects (part of The Clash's "White Riot Tour," John Peel favorites, etc.), and feature Andreas Schmid on bass, former Violet Violet drummer Fliss Kitson, and original Prefect Alan Apperley on guitar. Specially commissioned artwork by the David Yates.
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CD
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LTW 008CD
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The Nightingales were formed by vocalist Robert Lloyd, formerly of The Prefects (part of The Clash's "White Riot Tour," John Peel favorites, etc.), recorded a bunch of albums and 45s in the 1980s, and played shows throughout Europe as headliners and in support of acts as diverse as Bo Diddley and Nico, but stopped working when Lloyd decided to combine a solo career with money-earning manual labor. In 2004, Lloyd reformed the band, not as a nostalgia act performing old material for the entertainment of the affluent and aging ex-punk/indie brigade, but as an uncompromising, confrontational contemporary group. After much coming and going of various mercenary, starry eyed, wastrel and/or part time musicians, Lloyd met Andreas Schmid during the recording of Insult to Injury in 2008; Schmid joined the band and the group, as Lloyd says, "got good." The Nightingales then "got great" when former Violet Violet drummer Fliss Kitson joined the group before the recording of No Love Lost in 2012. This lineup (completed by original Prefect Alan Apperley on guitar) became a top-notch live unit and, following the sold-out, self-released For Fuck's Sake LP (2014), the streamlined four-piece Nightingales embarked on their most successful UK tour to date before writing and recording Mind Over Matter in September, 2014, at the end of a short tour of Germany and Austria. Mind Over Matter is a short, sharp blast of melody, rhythm, irritation, and humor. The group might play around but does not fuck around. They may indulge themselves but do not waste your time. They could be insane but are most certainly diligent. The album is released to coincide with a session for Marc Riley's BBC 6 Music show on May 13, before a tour of the UK and Ireland and trips to West Coast USA and mainland Europe. A compilation of covers of 'Gales songs by various fans/artists is also scheduled for release in 2015 or '16. Like the band's three preceding albums, Mind Over Matter was recorded in Germany at Hans-Joachim Irmler's Faust Studio and produced by the 'Gales bassist and Faust Studio house engineer Andreas Schmid.
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LTW 008LP
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180-gram gatefold LP version.
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MRSSS 528LP
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"Around 1980/1981, The Nightingales had released a single -- 'Idiot Strength' on Rough Trade Records -- and promptly lost half of its members (Joe Crow -- ego clash, Eamonn Duffy -- victim of Lloyd megalomania, or so he tells me), leaving me on the mic and Paul Apperley on the drums. We had a bit of a repertoire created from the Duffy/Crow improvisation period, plus I had written a new song called 'Use Your Loaf.' We tried out a few guitarists and carried on doing gigs and Peel Sessions but when, out of the blue, Mike Alway, then A&R at Cherry Red Records, got in touch about a possible record contract, the group was basically just me and Paul. We had been playing with two guitarists (Andy Lloyd and Nick Beales), who I genuinely cannot remember how we had met, plus a Bobby Charlton lookalike from Hull, Steve Hawkins, who I had met at a Birmingham Music Co-op meeting and who, I had discovered, liked a drink and played the bass. However, these three and us two weren't hitting it off, again I can't remember why, and were it not for the intervention of Mr. Always, I dunno what would have happened next. But, somehow, he tracked us down and said he wanted to see us live. He came to Birmingham to watch us play and told me beforehand that he was going to sign either Moe Tucker or the 'Gales. I dunno why he couldn't do both. When he saw us at our regular haunt, the Fighting Cocks in Moseley, he liked us. Me and Paul (still undecided about the others) signed to Cherry Red for a specific, but forgotten, amount of albums. For perennial losers like me and Apperley we were on the first rung of the ladder. Well, necessity dictated that Lloyd, Beales and Hawkins were kept on board and in spite, or because, of our differences, we started writing a bunch of good material and playing live regularly enough to become half-decent. We recorded a couple of singles at Sinewave Studios in Brum with a chap called Cris "Yus" Williams. After the two singles Cherry Red released a 12" EP of a Peel session we had done and then reckoned it was time for an album. Mike Alway thought we should have a producer. How Richard Strange came about, I don't know. Whether he made POP any better than it would have been? I dunno. As per usual by now, the LP was very well received in the music papers. Our main champion, Dave McCullough in Sounds, made it his 'album of the year' and also got a photo of me on the front cover of the paper with one of his 'Gales articles. After the LP's release, Hawkeye left the group to go straight. A housemate of mine called John Nester was roped in and away we went to promote it, including a, sort of, memorable jaunt to Holland. The evening before we got on the ferry we guested at one of Richard Strange's multi-media extravaganza type do's in Brixton, London. At the end of the night when the gear was being lifted down from the stage to be loaded in to the van, there was a terrible stink to be sniffed. And, truly, it was discovered to be a human shit, done on the floor right in front of the stage, obviously freshly laid during the evening's performance." --Robert Lloyd
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