Jerry Harrison: Casual Gods

Jerry Harrison: Casual Gods - Walk On Water - 1990 - Sire
"Walk on Water" is the third solo album by Talking Heads keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison. If you like Talking Heads and/or The Modern Lovers, you will not surprisingly find many similarities in style from the very underrated Jerry Harrison and his band [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 360 Mb]

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. Flying Under Radar (Harrison/Hartman/Brooks) 3:49
2. Kick Start (Harrison/Weir/Worrell/Brooks) 3:50
3. I Don't Mind (Harrison/Bailey/Currie/Brooks) 3:30
4. Confess (Harrison/Bailey/Currie/Brooks) 3:40
5. Sleep Angel (Harrison/Brooks/Bowden) 6:07
6. I Cry For Iran (Harrison/Weir/Worrell/Brooks/Bowden) 6:12
7. Never Let It Slip (Harrison/Weir/Worrell/Sieger) 3:19
8. Cowboy's Got To Go (Harrison/Sieger/Brooks) 4:52
9. If The Rains Return (Harrison/Weir/Worrell/Brooks) 4:25
10. Remain Calm (Harrison) 2:40
11. Big Mouth (Harrison/Weir/Worrell/Bailey) 3:32
12. Facing The Fire (Harrison/Weir/Worrell/Brooks/Russell) 4:37
13. The Doctors Lie (Harrison/Brooks/Weir/Russell) 5:43

MUSICIANS

Jerry Harrison - guitar, keyboards, vocals
Adrian Belew, Jason Klagstad, Chris Spedding, Alex Weir - guitar
Ernie Brooks, Etienne Mboppe, Arthur Weir - bass
Tom Bailey, Bernie Worrell - keyboards
Dan Hartman - keyboards, background vocals
Rick Jaeger, Brice Wassy - drums
Abdou M'Boup - percussion
Jim Liban - harmonica
Tawatha Agee, Sherrell Harmon, Samuel Llanas, Arlene Newson, Loveless Redmond, Vaneese Thomas, Michael Webb - background vocals
Joyce Bowden - background vocals, vocal arrangements

BIO

Though he's hardly a cult persona, Jerry Harrison has failed to be recognized as a crucial figure in the history of punk rock, a portion of the music which influenced it, and the styles which had grown out of punk more than 15 years later. Best known as the keyboard player and occasional guitarist of Talking Heads during the 1980s, Harrison had begun his career ten years before, playing with Jonathan Richman's seminal Modern Lovers during the early '70s. He recorded several solo albums while on occasional hiatus from Talking Heads in the '80s, but when the band disintegrated in the late '80s, Harrison resumed his busy production schedule, working with some hot alternative acts. Born in 1949 in Milwaukee, Jerry Harrison began playing with bands while in high school, and continued his work after graduation, while he studied at Harvard during the late '60s. By the beginning of the decade, Harrison and bandmate Ernie Brooks were encouraged to form a band by local Boston friend Jonathan Richman. Named the Modern Lovers, the group moved quickly and recorded demos in 1972 with John Cale. Finally released in 1976, the songs proved to be a major influence on underground bands in New York; the Modern Lovers had broken up by that time, though, with Harrison going back to Harvard to teach. In April of 1976, however, he attended a Talking Heads show in Boston and convinced them to let him join. The band signed to Sire just one year later, and became one of the most intelligent alternative bands of the '80s, recording an astounding variety of material and even earning several pop hits. During an extended Talking Heads vacation during 1981, Harrison recorded his first solo album, The Red and the Black. The album was recorded with Bernie Worrell, Nona Hendryx, and Adrian Belew — all of whom had appeared on Talking Heads' Remain in Light. Three years later, he released a hip-hop single on Sleeping Bag, recorded as Bonzo Goes to Washington. His second full solo album, however, appeared three years later. Casual Gods had a similar feel to his debut, with loose funk-rock grooves and an open-ended song structure (which suited Harrison's vocals well) but boasted more tuneful songs. Talking Heads was effectively disbanded by that time, and Harrison had already begun producing in 1986, with the Bodeans and Violent Femmes. During the '90s and early 2000s, Harrison became an important and respected producer, working on popular albums by Live, Crash Test Dummies, the Verve Pipe, No Doubt, and the Von Bondies. He also helped launch garageband.com, an Internet resource for independent musicians. His playing was limited during these years, though he and fellow Talking Heads alumni Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz recorded as the Heads (No Talking Just Head, 1996). In 2002, Talking Heads played together again, if only for one night, to celebrate the band's induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. © John Bush © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jifrxqe5ld0e~T1

BIO (WIKI)

Jerry Harrison (born Jeremiah Griffin Harrison, 21 February 1949, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American songwriter, musician and producer. He was the keyboardist and guitarist for the influential New Wave group Talking Heads and an original member of The Modern Lovers. Harrison played with Jonathan Richman in The Modern Lovers when he was an architectural student at Harvard University. Harrison was introduced to Richman by mutual friend and journalist Danny Fields, and the pair bonded over their shared love of the Velvet Underground. He joined the Modern Lovers in early 1971, playing on their debut album in 1972 (not released until 1976), and leaving in February 1974 when Richman wished to perform his songs more quietly. Subsequent to his work with The Modern Lovers, Harrison joined Talking Heads; the latter band already had a single out when Harrison left the Modern Lovers to join them. Harrison's solo albums include The Red and the Black, Casual Gods, and Walk on Water. After the 1991 break-up of Talking Heads, Harrison turned to producing and worked on successful albums by such bands as Violent Femmes, The Von Bondies, General Public, Live, Crash Test Dummies, The Verve Pipe, Rusted Root, The Bogmen, Black 47, Of A Revolution, No Doubt, Josh Joplin and most recently The Black and White Years, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Bamboo Shoots. He was recently confirmed as the producer of the forthcoming debut album by The Gracious Few. Harrison also had a small part in the 2006 film The Darwin Awards as "Guy in Bar #1" alongside John Doe of the band X.

MORE ABOUT JERRY HARRISON

Born in Milwaukee, (21-Feb-1949), Jeremiah Harrison initiated his musical training in the fourth grade, intermittently pursuing piano lessons while also briefly studying clarinet and saxophone. Throughout high school he kept active with a variety of bands, and this activity carried over into his three years at Harvard, where he formed the outfit Albatross with roommate Ernie Brooks. Albatross disbanded in mid-1969, but Harrison continued his partnership with Brooks in Catfish Black and briefly in The Eagles. Harrison's career as a professional musician was finally launched in 1971 as a result of his association with Jonathan Richman -- although it was prevented from getting properly underway until several years later for this same reason. Shortly after their first meeting at a party in Cambridge, Richman invited both Harrison and Brooks to join The Modern Lovers, but -- despite support from John Cale and interest from both Warner Brothers and A&M Records -- the singer's difficult behavior prevented any releases from materializing during the band's three year lifespan. This lack of recorded output did not prevent The Modern Lovers from establishing a dedicated following through their live performances, and a posthumous 1976 album culled from sessions produced by both Cale and Alan Mason (seperately) proved to be a significant influence on the emerging punk/new-wave scene.Upon the dissolution of The Modern Lovers, Harrison joined up with songwriter Elliott Murphy for the album Night Lights (1976) and its associated tour; brief tenures with a handful of other bands followed, but ultimately he chose to resume his study of architecture at Harvard. His schooling was soon interrupted a second time by an invitation to join Talking Heads, and after completing one more semester Harrison was lured, once and for all, into the life of a professional musician. By the time of his membership, the trio configuration of Talking Heads had already established themselves on the New York City club circuit and released the single Love Goes to a Building on Fire on Sire Records; but it was as a four-piece that the band's popularity expanded to an international scale, particularly with the release of their debut full-length Talking Heads: 77 and the single Psycho Killer. Three more albums were released by the onset of the next decade (More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978), Fear of Music (1979) and Remain in Light (1980)), each of which served to increase the band's reputation amongst both critics and fans. During a break from band activity in 1981, Harrison recorded his first solo effort The Red and the Black, an album which featured contributions from guitarist Adrian Belew, former P-Funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell and vocalist Nona Hendryx (all participants in the expanded Heads line-up that had recorded Remain in Light). The release was not given as much attention as his bandmate's extra-curricular projects (David Byrne's Catherine Wheel score and his Brian Eno collaboration My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth's album as Tom Tom Club), and it would be six years before the appearance of his second solo album Casual Gods (1987). The interim between the two was primarily filled by his work on three further studio albums and two film projects with Talking Heads, although 5 Minutes -- a one-off recording with Bernie Worrell and Bootsy Collins working under the name Bonzo Goes to Washington -- was issued in 1984. During this period Harrison also launched a parallel career as a record producer, helming sessions for The Blind Leading the Naked by The Violent Femmes, Milwaukee by Elliott Murphy, and producing several tracks for the Jonathan Demme film Something Wild (all three of which took place between 1985 and 1986). After the release of the Talking Heads' final album Naked in 1988, the focus of Jerry Harrison's activities shifted to his production work (although a third solo album Walking on Water and its associated tour were realized in 1990). In the 90s his credits (and industry standing) as a producer grew to considerable proportions through involvement with platinum-selling releases by acts such as Live, Crash Test Dummies, The Verve Pipe, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. His extensive resume also included albums by Poi Dog Pondering (Volo Volo, 1991), Black 47 (Home of the Brave, 1994), Fatima Mansions (Lost in the Former West, 1995), Rusted Root (Remember, 1996) and Bijou Phillips (I'd Rather Eat Glass, 1999). A short-lived musicial reunion with Frantz and Weymouth came about in 1996 when the three formed The Heads, a project originally intended as a Talking Heads reunion and then altered when Byrne refused to participate; consequently, the group's sole album No Talking, Just Head made use of several replacement vocalists ranging from Debbie Harry to Andy Partridge. A proper reunion of the full band did eventually take place (although only for a single evening) on the occasion of their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Harrision has since continued to concentrate on his career as a producer for other artists, in addition to maintaining his role as Chairman of the Board for Garageband.com (an internet music resource he co-founded in 1999). © 2010 Soylent Communications

Tom Robinson Band

Tom Robinson Band ‎- Rising Free (The Very Best Of TRB) - 1997 - EMI

Many of Tom Robinson's songs contain socio-political, and sexual elements, even if the subject matter is not immediately evident. Songs like "2-4-6-8 Motorway" and "Power in the Darkness" are brilliant mainstream rock songs. Tom is one of England's greatest songwriters and rock musicians but not all his recorded output has received the credit it deserves. Check out his "Last Tango: Midnight at the Fringe", "North By Northwest", and "War Baby: Hope and Glory", (on which Tom does a great cover of Becker & Fagen's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number") [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 151 Mb]

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 2-4-6-8 Motorway - Robinson 3:21
2 I Shall Be Released - Dylan 4:37
3 Don't Take No For An Answer - Robinson 4:40
4 Glad To Be Gay - Robinson 4:47
5 Martin - Robinson 2:50
6 Right On Sister - Robinson, Butterfield, Kurstow, Taylor 3:28
7 Alright Jack (Live) - Robinson, Kurstow 2:37
8 Up Against The Wall - Robinson, Butterfield 3:34
9 Grey Cortina - Robinson 2:10
10 Too Good To Be True - Robinson, Taylor 3:35
11 Long Hot Summer - Robinson 4:44
12 Winter Of '79 - Robinson, Kurstow, Taylor, Ambler 4:30
13 Power In The Darkness - Robinson, Ambler 4:56
14 Waiting For My Man (Live) - Reed 4:25
15 Getting Tighter - Camicia 3:57
16 Alright All Night - Robinson, Kurstow, Taylor, Parker 3:01
17 Bully For You - Robinson, Gabriel 3:30
18 Never Going To Fall In Love...(Again) - Robinson, John 4:38

MAIN CREDITS

Danny Kustow - Guitar
Tom Robinson - Bass, Vocals
Mark Ambler - Keyboards
Ian Parker - Organ, Piano
Charlie Morgan, Dolphin Taylor - Drums

BIO

Although his career had pretty much flamed out by the start of the '80s, there were few punk-era major-label performers as intensely controversial as Tom Robinson. Cutting his teeth with folk-rockers Café Society (who released a Ray Davies-produced record on the head Kinks' Konk label in 1975), Robinson roared into the spotlight in 1978 with a great single ("2-4-6-8 Motorway") and a much-ballyhooed contract with EMI. What was remarkable about this was that Robinson was the kind of politically conscious, confrontational performer that major labels generally ignored: he was openly gay and sang about it ("Glad to Be Gay"), vociferous in his hatred for then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, helped form Rock Against Racism, and generally spoke in favor of any leftist political tract that would embarrass the ruling ultraconservative Tory government. His debut album, 1978's Power in the Darkness, was an occasionally stunning piece of punk/hard rock agitprop that, along with being ferociously direct, was politicized rock that focused more on songs than slogans. However, by the release of the second album, the Todd Rundgren-produced TRB Two, the songs were getting weaker and Robinson began sounding like a boring ideologue. Similarly, the band, even terrific guitarist Danny Kustow, sounds as if on automatic pilot. By the end of the '70s, Robinson had been dropped by EMI and signed to maverick major IRS as a solo act. In a wise move, he ditched the hard rock polemics of TRB for a more sophisticated pop/rock sound, but found his audience dwindling. A brief period of silence ended with him, somewhat surprisingly, signing with Geffen and releasing Hope and Glory. It was a politically tinged but mostly mainstream rock record that featured a cover of that decidedly non-punk song, Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," with Robinson deftly exploring the song's homoerotic subtext. Still, it wasn't enough to resuscitate his career and for the remainder of the decade Robinson released England-only albums that tried the patience of even longtime fans. As to his current whereabouts, Robinson is (amazingly) rumored to be married to a woman and raising a family in England. He's still writing songs and occasionally performing, also working as a DJ for BBC6. © John Dougan © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3ifoxqr5ldje~T1

BIO (WIKI)

Tom Robinson (born 1 June 1950) is an English singer-songwriter, bassist and radio presenter, better known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson Band. He later peaked at #6 in the UK Singles Chart with his solo single "War Baby". Tom Robinson was born into a middle-class family in Cambridge on 1 June 1950. He attended Friends School Saffron Walden, a co-ed privately funded Quaker school, between 1961 and 1967. Robinson has two brothers and a sister: Matthew (former executive producer of BBC One's EastEnders, currently running Khmer Mekong Films in Cambodia), George and Sophy. At the age of 13, Robinson realized that he was a homosexual when he fell in love with another boy at school. At that time, same-sex activity was still a crime in England, punishable by prison. Wracked with shame and selfhatred, he had a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide at 16. A head teacher got him transferred to Finchden Manor, a therapeutic community for disturbed teenagers in Kent, where he would spend his following six years. At Finchden Manor, Robinson was inspired by John Peel's The Perfumed Garden on pirate Radio London, and by a visit from Alexis Korner. The legendary bluesman and broadcaster transfixed a roomful of people with nothing but his voice and an acoustic guitar. The whole direction of Robinson's life and career became suddenly clear to him. In 1973, Robinson moved to London and joined the acoustic trio Café Society. They impressed Ray Davies of The Kinks enough for him to produce their debut album, though it sold only 600 copies. The working relationship with Davies supposedly ended when, infuriated by Davies' lack of punctuality, Robinson sarcastically performed The Kinks' hit "Tired of Waiting for You" to him when he finally arrived at the studio. Davies retaliated with the less-than-complimentary Kinks single "Prince of the Punks", about Robinson. In London, Robinson became involved in the emerging gay scene and embraced the politics of gay liberation, which linked gay rights to the wider issues of social justice. Inspired by an early Sex Pistols gig, he left Café Society in 1976, and founded the more political Tom Robinson Band. The following year the group released the single "2-4-6-8 Motorway", which peaked at #5 in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks. The song alludes obliquely to a gay truck driver. On February 1978, the band released the live extended play Rising Free, which peaked at #18 in the UK Singles Chart and spawned the hit "Glad to Be Gay", originally written for a 1976 London gay pride parade. The song was banned by the BBC Radio 1. On May 1978, the band released its debut album, Power in the Darkness, which was very well received, peaking at #4 in the UK Albums Chart, and receiving a gold certification by the BPI. Their second album, TRB Two, however, was a commercial and critical failure, and the band broke up four months after its release. In 1980, Robinson co-wrote several songs with Elton John, including his minor hit "Sartorial Eloquence (Don't Ya Wanna Play This Game No More?)" which peaked at #39 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Robinson organized Sector 27, a less political rock band that released a critically acclaimed but unsuccessful album produced by Steve Lillywhite. The band nevertheless received an enthusiastic reception at a Madison Square Garden concert with The Police. However, their management company went bankrupt, the band disintegrated, and Robinson suffered another nervous breakdown. Desolate and in debt, Robinson fled to Hamburg, Germany. Living in a friend's spare room, he began writing again and ended up working in East Berlin with local band NO55. In 1982, Robinson penned the song "War Baby" about divisions between East and West Germany, and recorded his first solo album North By Northwest with producer Richard Mazda. "War Baby" peaked at #6 in the UK Singles Chart and at #1 in the UK Indie Chart for three weeks, reviving his career. His following single, "Atmospherics (Listen To The Radio)", peaked at #39 in the UK Singles Chart and provided him further income when it was covered by Pukka Orchestra in 1984. The Pukkas' version was a top 20 hit in Canada under the title "Listen To The Radio". Robinson's return to Britain, led to late-night performances in cabarets at the Edinburgh Fringe, some of which later surfaced on the live album Midnight at the Fringe. His career enjoyed a resurgence in the mid 90s with a trio of albums for the respected folk/roots label Cooking Vinyl. In 1986, a BBC producer offered him his own radio show on the BBC World Service. Since then, Robsinson has unusually presented programmes on all the BBC's national stations: Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4 5 Live and 6 Music. He has presented The Locker Room, a long running series about men and masculinity, for Radio 4 in the early 1990s, and later hosted the Home Truths tribute to John Peel a year after his death in 2004. In 1997, he won a Sony Academy Award for You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, a radio documentary about gay music, produced by Benjamin Mepsted. He currently presents his own show on 6 Music, featuring live music sessions, on Monday and Tuesday nights, and freelances on Radio 2's Mark Radcliffe Show and Radio 4's Something Understood, and Pick of the Week. In 1994 he wrote and presented Surviving Suicide, about his suicide attempt. Currently, Robinson rarely performs live, apart from two annual free concerts, known as the Castaway Parties, for members of his mailing list. These take place in South London and Belgium every January. In the Belgian Castaway shows, he introduces many songs in Dutch. The Castaway Parties invariably feature a wide variety of established and unknown artists and groups who have included Show Of Hands, Philip Jeays, Jan Allain, Jakko Jakszyk, Stoney, Roddy Frame, Martyn Joseph, The Bewley Brothers and Paleday alongside personal friends such as Lee Griffiths and T. V. Smith. Although widely assumed from his public posture at the time to be homosexual, Robinson is indeed bisexual. A longtime supporter and former volunteer of London's Gay Switchboard help-line, it was at a 1982 benefit party for the organization that he met Sue Brearley, the woman with whom he would eventually live and have two children, and later marry. In the mid-1990s, when Robinson became a father, the tabloids ran stories about what they deemed as a sexual orientation change, running headlines such as "Britain's Number One Gay in Love with Girl Biker!" (The Sunday People). The gay press reviled him, but Robinson continued to identify as a gay man, telling an interviewer for the Manchester Guardian: "I have much more sympathy with bisexuals now, but I am absolutely not one". "Our enemies do not draw the distinction between gay and bisexual", he added. Robinson eventually added an additional verse to "Glad to be Gay", in which he sings: "I won't wear a 'straight jacket' for you". In a 1994 interview for the Boston Globe, Robinson asserted, "We've been fighting for tolerance for the last 20 years, and I've campaigned for people to be able to love whoever the hell they want. That's what we're talking about: tolerance and freedom and liberty—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So if somebody won't grant me the same tolerance I've been fighting for for them, hey, they've got a problem, not me". In 1996, Robinson released an album about his bisexuality, titled Having It Both Ways. In 1998 his epic about bisexuality Blood Brother won three awards at the Gay & Lesbian American Music Awards in New York. Peter Tatchell criticized an article by Vanessa Thorpe about Robinson published in The Independent. In his view, "Tom Robinson has behaved rather commendably" since his relationship has been revealed by the press, once he still calls himself a gay man. "I'm campaigning for queer rights because people should be able to love who they wish, without fear of prejudice or discrimination. I don't have a problem with people switching their affections from one sex to the other. It's their life", he added. Robinson has been a strong advocate of liberty for all. He is a supporter of Amnesty International and Peter Tatchell's Outrage! human rights organization and a leader of the Rock Against Racism campaign. He is also an enthusiastic proponent of Apple computers, which he has used extensively since the mid 1980s. In 1999 and 2000, Robinson was involved in a celebrity seminar work for Apple to promote their home video editing software iMovie. A 31-year-old fictionalized vesion of Tom Robinson (portrayed by Mathew Baynton) appeared in the last episode of the first series of the BBC One drama Ashes to Ashes, as the leader of a Gay Liberation Front protest in London. He is later incarcerated with the other protestors and sings "Glad to Be Gay" in his cell. Over his career, Robinson has released more than twenty albums either as a solo performer or as a member of a group. He has also released fanclub only bootlegs known as the Castaway Club series.

The Beautiful South

The Beautiful South - 0898 Beautiful South - 1992 - Go! Discs

0898 Beautiful South, was TBS's third album, reaching number 4 on the UK charts, unlike their previous two albums which reached number 2. The record company blamed this on the cover showing ladies' faces on the back of terrapins' shells. In the UK at the time, 0898 was a premium rate dialling code associated with sex hotlines, hence the cover. The first two singles, "Old Red Eyes is Back" and "We Are Each Other", charted in the UK at No.22 and No.30, respectively, the third single "Bell Bottomed Tear" was the only Top 20 hit from the album, reaching No.16. "36D" was an even bigger disappointment after this success, only reaching No.46 in the singles charts. "We Are Each Other" was also a success on American alternative rock radio stations and in 1992, peaked at No.10 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart . It was the band's biggest hit in the US Inside, there were a number of illustrations by artist David Cutter, including a picture per song. The album was well received, especially amongst the fans

There are no big poses or walls of crunchy guitars on 0898. Instead, the group -- which includes three lead vocalists -- deals in fragile melodies and harmonies, soulful but low-key instrumentation, and lyrics full of subtle social commentary and humor. In North America, where mainstream audiences have been well trained to salivate to very obvious musical bells, the Beautiful South may be too clever for its own good. At times, the group even couches itself in the guise of a smooth lounge act, rebelling against current trends by having something to say while not making a racket about it. Producer John Kelly (Peter Gabriel) has contributed an incisive and full-bodied production to 0898, a great improvement over the rather thin sound of the group's previous Choke. © Roch Parisien © 2012 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/album/0898-r71026

It was 1992's 0898 Beautiful South that had the most bubbles bursting. With 0898 being the English equivalent of America's 1-900 sex lines, the album opened with "Old Red Eyes Is Back, a lush and airy tale of alcoholism. Labeled a "pop album with fangs" by Stereo Review's Puterbaugh, he also declared "Old Red Eyes Is Back" as his nominee for song of the year, and commented on the song being "compassionate while noting the waste of a life. It is this kind of juxtaposition of serious themes and sunny music that makes the Beautiful South stand out from the pack, and 0898 Beautiful South contains a dozen songs that can equally be hummed, pondered, and puzzled over." Heaton, in an interview with Stuart Maconie of England's Q magazine, discussed "Old Red Eyes," asserting that it wasn't a morality tale. "It's looking at the more humorous and sad side of being drunk.... It sold respectably but the radio didn't really play it. I don't suppose they like songs about alcohol abuse." Another song from 0898, "36D," caused even more furore. Written about England's Page 3 girls, women who appear topless on the third page of some London tabloids, Heaton and Rotheray's intention was to attack the industry that supports it, not the women themselves, but mixed messages in the song reflected otherwise. "We all agree that we should have targeted the media as sexist instead of blaming the girls for taking off their tops," Hemingway admitted to Eric Puls of the Chicago Sun-Times. "It was a case of rushing headlong into the recording of the song." Vocalist Corrigan refused to sing on the song and when she left the band after the album's release, rumors intimated that it was the sexist lyrics of "36D" that prompted her exit. Corrigan said that may have been an impetus, but not the reason. "I left really because it was the right time for me to go, " she told Gary Crossing of England's The Big Issue. "My reservation about some of the lyrics became like a trigger to spur me on." Creative growth played a role as well, Corrigan admitted. "I'd always written songs for myself, but I knew there wasn't going to be an opportunity for that in the band. As a woman in this business you're always in a much stronger position if you perform your own stuff." © Brian Escamilla © 2011 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-musicians/beautiful-south-biography

With "0898 Beautiful South", the great songwriting duo of David Rotheray & Paul Heaton once again managed to blend melodic pop, soul, R&B, and light jazz to create twelve beautifully crafted songs, many with sardonic, wry, witty, cynical but always intelligent lyrics. As is the case with so many albums, many critics compared it to the band's debut album, "Welcome to the Beautiful South", an album that was very hard to live up to in terms of songwriting, and musicianship. Some critics also moaned that the songs were becoming too cynical and clever for their own good. The songs ARE "cynical and clever", and that was part of The Beautiful South's quality. Paul Heaton & David Rotheray are two of Britain's greatest songwriters, although they are not always given the credit they deserve. Songs like "Don't Marry Her", "Little Time", "Perfect 10", and "Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)"are now regarded as pop classics, and the band's classic "Welcome to the Beautiful South" album is full of great pop songs. "0898 Beautiful South" is HR by A.O.O.F.C. The Beautiful South's "Choke", "Blue Is The Colour", and "Painting It Red (Bonus Disc)" albums can also be found on this blog. Buy the band's classic "Welcome to the Beautiful South" album. Compare it with the "pop" music of today [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 122 Mb]

TRACKS

1 Old Red Eyes Is Back 3:35
2 We Are Each Other [Album Version] 3:39
3 The Rocking Chair 4:43
4 We'll Deal With You Later 4:07
5 Domino Man 2:40
6 36D 5:16
7 Here It Is Again 3:27
8 Something That You Said 4:20
9 I'm Your No. 1 Fan 4:28
10 Bell-Bottomed Tear 4:35
11 You Play Glockenspiel, I'll Play Drums 5:06
12 When I'm 84 4:32

All songs composed by Paul Heaton & David Rotheray

BAND

Paul Heaton, Dave Hemmingway, Briana Corrigan – Vocals
David Rotheray – Guitar
Sean Welch – Bass
David Stead – Drums

BIO

Following the disbandment of the British indie pop group the Housemartins in 1989, vocalist Paul Heaton and drummer David Hemmingway formed the Beautiful South. Where their previous group relied on jazzy guitars and witty, wry lyrics, the Beautiful South boasted a more sophisticated, jazzy pop sound, layered with keyboards, R&B-inflected female backing vocals and, occasionally, light orchestrations. Often, the group's relaxed, catchy songs contradicted the sarcastic, cynical thrust of the lyrics. Nevertheless, the band's pleasant arrangements often tempered whatever bitterness there was in Heaton's lyrics, and that's part of the reason why the Beautiful South became quite popular within its native Britain during the '90s. Though the group never found a niche in America -- by the middle of the decade, their records weren't even being released in the U.S. -- their string of melodic jazz-pop singles made them one of the most successful, if one of the least flashy, bands in Britain. Their popularity was confirmed by the astonishing success of their 1994 singles compilation, Carry on Up the Charts, which became one of the biggest-selling albums in British history. Heaton and Hemmingway formed the Beautiful South immediately after the breakup of the Housemartins, who were one of the most popular and well-reviewed British guitar pop bands of the mid-'80s. The Housemartins had earned a reputation for being somewhat downbeat Northerners, so the duo chose the name Beautiful South sarcastically. To complete the lineup, the pair hired former Anthill Runaways vocalist Briana Corrigan, bassist Sean Welch, drummer David Stead (formerly a Housemartins roadie), and guitarist David Rotheray, who became Heaton's new collaborator. In the summer of 1989, they released their first single, "Song for Whoever," on the Housemartins' old record label, Go!. "Song for Whoever" climbed to number two, while its follow-up "You Keep It All In" peaked at number eight in September, 1989. A month later, the group's debut, Welcome to the Beautiful South, was released to positive reviews. "A Little Time," the first single from the group's second album, Choke, became the group's first number one single in the fall of 1990. Choke was also well-received, even though it didn't quite match the performance of the debut, either in terms of sales or reviews. In particular, some critics complained that Heaton was becoming too clever and cynical for his own good. The Beautiful South released their third album, 0898, in 1992; it was their first record not to be released in the United States, yet it maintained their success in Britain. Following the release of 0898, Corrigan left the group, reportedly upset over some of Heaton's ironic lyrics. She was replaced with Jacqui Abbot, who made her first appearance on the band's fourth album, 1994's Miaow. While both 0898 and Miaow were popular, they were only moderate successes. Their respectable chart performances in no way prepared any observers, including the band themselves, for the blockbuster success of Carry on Up the Charts, a greatest-hits collection released at the end of 1994. Carry on Up the Charts entered the charts at number one. It was one of the fastest-selling albums in U.K. history and its success outlasted the Christmas season. The album stayed at number one for several months, going platinum many times over and, in the process, becoming one of the most popular albums in British history. Its success was a bit of a surprise, since the popularity of the Beautiful South's previous albums never indicated the across-the-boards success that greeted Carry on Up the Charts. The album wasn't released in America until late 1995, after it broke several U.K. records. The Beautiful South released their follow-up to Miaow, Blue Is the Colour, in the fall of 1996. Quench followed three years later, then Painting It Red in fall 2000, and Gaze in 2003. © Stephen Thomas Erlewine © 2012 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-beautiful-south-p3647/biography

MORE ABOUT TBS

A band as well known for their gin-soaked cynicism as their catchy and lush pop melodies, the Beautiful South have had enormous impact in their native England, while success in America has been limited to cult status. Music critics on both shores and beyond, however, have praised the South and in particular, lyricist and singer Paul Heaton, for his cockeyed views on love, the music business, and whatever else comes up, as well as his and songwriting partner Dave Rotheray's innate ability to invent hummable tunes with irresistible pop hooks. Named for the not-so-beautiful debilitated neighborhoods of South London, their name, like their songs, is an exercise in irony. As Spin's Jonathon Bernstein observed, their music consists of "intricately constructed melodies serving as safe houses for bilious attacks on men and women—and that dumb, doomed dance they do together." Formed from the remnants of the breakup by the House martins, another cynical band, albeit with a more political bent, singer/songwriter Heaton, along with Housemartin drummer Dave Hemingway started the Beautiful South in 1989 in their hometown of Hull, a gray, working-class city in the north of England. With guitarist/songwriter Rotheray, bassist Sean Welch, drummer David Stead, and vocalist Brianna Corrigan, the South presented a more expansive musical playing field than what was offered in the Housemartins. With Hemingway, now a singer not a drummer, Corrigan, and Heaton, the band was able to move seamlessly through the vocal characterizations of three quite different lead vocalists. "Their voices," Parke Puterbaugh observed in Stereo Review, "one a croon of limited range [Heaton], the other more of a sing-speak [Hemingway]—are joined by Corrigan's girlish mouse-squeak and backed by a crack three-piece band of guitar, bass, and drums." SONGS FOR WHOEVER - The Beautiful South stormed out of the gate with their debut single, "Song For Whoever," a magnificently sardonic view of syrupy love songs which feature women's names as a protaganistic prop. Released in May of 1989, the song went to number two on the charts in the UK and marked a stellar introduction to the new band. The next single, "You Keep It All In," also a hit, featured all three vocalists bemoaning the stodgy, reserved tendencies of the British. Both songs appeared on their debut album, Welcome to the Beautiful South, released in October of 1989. "Make a list of qualities that define great pop music," People magazine's Michael Small suggested in his review, "and you've got a pretty fair description of the Beautiful South." The album did exceptionally well in England but received a cooler response in America, despite praise from the likes of Small and his colleagues. "They aren't yet a classic pop band," Spin's Tony Fletcher asserted, "but Welcome to the Beautiful South remains exactly that—a warm introduction to an enticing new proposition. Here's to the sequel." The sequel turned out to be 1990's Choke, an album that cemented their reputation as biting ironists. Stereo Review's Puterbaugh describes the album as a "mix of lyrical quirks and music-hall andcabaret-influenced pop.... [which] stops just shy of being cute and charming, however, and gives the songs here a devilishly droll edge." For their part, just before the album's release in an interview with Melody Maker, Heaton and Rotheray expressed some regret to being thought of as mere cynics. "It's just the way I write. Unfortunately," Heaton offered. "I'd like to be able to write just straight in some ways.... I think there's a bit of immaturity in the way I write actually." Hemingway confessed he didn't like that people saw the band as cynical. "I don't think we are," he said. "It's just that the bubble of unreality is there and there are not many people bursting it. So we took it upon ourselves to burst a few bubbles." ALCOHOLISM, NUDITY, ETC. - It was 1992's 0898 Beautiful South that had the most bubbles bursting. With 0898 being the English equivalent of America's 1-900 sex lines, the album opened with "Old Red Eyes Is Back, a lush and airy tale of alcoholism. Labeled a "pop album with fangs" by Stereo Review's Puterbaugh, he also declared "Old Red Eyes Is Back" as his nominee for song of the year, and commented on the song being "compassionate while noting the waste of a life. It is this kind of juxtaposition of serious themes and sunny music that makes the Beautiful South stand out from the pack, and 0898 Beautiful South contains a dozen songs that can equally be hummed, pondered, and puzzled over." Heaton, in an interview with Stuart Maconie of England's Q magazine, discussed "Old Red Eyes," asserting that it wasn't a morality tale. "It's looking at the more humorous and sad side of being drunk.... It sold respectably but the radio didn't really play it. I don't suppose they like songs about alcohol abuse." Another song from 0898, "36D," caused even more furor. Written about England's Page 3 girls, women who appear topless on the third page of some London tabloids, Heaton and Rotheray's intention was to attack the industry that supports it, not the women themselves, but mixed messages in the song reflected otherwise. "We all agree that we should have targeted the media as sexist instead of blaming the girls for taking off their tops," Hemingway admitted to Eric Puls of the Chicago Sun-Times. "It was a case of rushing headlong into the recording of the song." Vocalist Corrigan refused to sing on the song and when she left the band after the album's release, rumors intimated that it was the sexist lyrics of "36D" that prompted her exit. Corrigan said that may have been an impetus, but not the reason. "I left really because it was the right time for me to go, " she told Gary Crossing of England's The Big Issue. "My reservation about some of the lyrics became like a trigger to spur me on." Creative growth played a role as well, Corrigan admitted. "I'd always written songs for myself, but I knew there wasn't going to be an opportunity for that in the band. As a woman in this business you're always in a much stronger position if you perform your own stuff." Following the exodus of Corrigan, the band took some time off and returned with Miaow, a 1994 album featuring new vocalist Jacqueline Abbott, whom the band discovered singing at a party. While only available as an import in America, the album didn't fare well in England despite critical praise. After hearing the album Peter Paphides of Melody Maker declared "Heaton (not the smug, flat-capped curmudgeon we'd have you believe) oozes more humanity from his tiniest cuticle than any of the lemon-faced irony-challenged Americans we blindly laud."The small reception didn't seem to bother Heaton, however, confessing to Melody Maker's Sylvia Patterson, "Sales figures certainly aren't important to me, that's a dangerous way to think.... People know what I look like , they stilllike me and that's more important.... I'm genuinely happy I've enough money to go into a bar, buy another gin and tonic and people have enough time to give me a smile—that seems like a fair enough agreement." CARRYIN' ON UP THE CHARTS - Heaton and company wouldn't have to worry about record sales much longer. In November of 1994 Carry on Up the Charts-The Best of the Beautiful South was released and became the third fastest selling UK album of all time. At the same time, Heaton was questioning how much further he could go with the band. "I was feeling a bit unconvinced about me own future in music, " he told Patterson. "Because I just feel a bit old for it....I was just thinking how I'm not sure, as a singer-songwriter in a band, how long you can go in the pop industry. There are four songwriters I can think of, and they're all better than me, who started off in bands and went solo: Paul Weller, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, and Van Morrison. If I was gonna be like that I'd have to be a lot stronger in terms of personality and security than I am now. Right now, I can't even imagine going to New York by meself. I'm just Paul Heaton, I'm not able to do it. I haven't got the confidence." FOR THE RECORD. . .Members include Paul Heaton, vocals and song writer; Dave Rotheray, guitar and songwriter; Dave Hemingway, vocals; Brianna Corrigan (left band 1992), vocals; Sean Welch, bass; David Stead, drums; Jacqueline Abbott, (joined band 1993), vocals. Formed 1989 in Hull, England. Heaton and Hemingway had previously been in the band, the Housemartins, which disbanded 1989; released first album, Welcome to the Beautiful South, 1990; album received good reviews and the band toured America, 1990; released 0898 Beautiful South which contained the controversial song "36D," 1992; Corrigan left band, 1992; compilation, Carriy on Up the Charts-The Best of the Beautiful South, became third fastest selling album ever in the UK, 1994: Addresses: Record company—Polygram Records, 825 Eighth Ave., New York, NY 10019: Towards the end of 1996 the band released Blue is the Colour, another album available only as an import in America. Jennifer Nine of Melody Maker described it as, "charming, subversively luscious business as usual." So it seems Heaton will carry on with the Beautiful South admitting to Patterson in 1995 that he's, "starting to write really good lyrics now. I'm starting to get proud." Not that he'd ever describe himself as a good songwriter, however. "Because I'm not," he told Patterson. "Because I'm not Otis Redding and I never will be." But Heaton does confess that the Beautiful South, aside from exploring the undiscovered hooks and melodies of pop, is furthering the mission begun by The Clash, The Jam, and the Sex Pistols. "It's all a question of putting people on the right train," he told Patterson, "telling them to watch out, there's things in people and society to be angry about." Additional information for this profile was obtained from the Beautiful South page from Polygram Records, www.polygram.com. © Brian Escamilla © 2011 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-musicians/beautiful-south-biography

Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin

Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin - Spin - 1991 - Broken Records/Line Records (Germany)

In contrast to the dense, layered textures of The Big Idea, Spin is a lighter album with more of a pop sensibility. Opening with a mad re-imagining of Rufus Thomas' R & B classic 'Walking The Dog', it also features reworkings of the great '60s singles 'Eight Miles High' and 'Cast Your Fate To The Wind' and a haunting version of Joni Mitchell's 'Amelia'. Dave Stewart originals include the tender ballads 'Star Blind' and 'The Cloths Of Heaven' (based on a poem by W.B.Yeats), and a tribute to the legendary record producer Joe Meek, 'Your Lucky Star', presented here for the first time in its full-length form. © Broken Records, UK http://www.davebarb.demon.co.uk/dsbgcds.html

You would never in your wildest dreams guess that Dave Stewart led progressive rock bands like Egg and National Health from listening to the rubbery 80s synth funk on this album. Not that this is 80s pop. With cover tunes and some originals, the duo mine both an elegant pop and rubbery funk that is complex. This is not art rock, but you can tell by the tricky rhythms and layered arrangements, this is no pop album either. But the ironies go deeper and get better. Art rockers expanded rock in the 1960s and 70s. Stewart and Gaskin are covering tracks here like "Walking The Dog" and "Eight Miles High." Redefining the rock--with radically different treatments-that prog tried to escape from. In doing so, the master has become the apprentice, and by msking parts of classic rock cannon into something completely different, becomes the master, once again. ****/5 Excellent February 25, 2010 By & © Bill Your 'Free Form FM Handi Cyber Print DJ ... (Mahwah, NJ USA) © 1996-2012, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates

Having spent most of the eighties cooped up in the studio, Dave & Barbara resumed live performance in 1990. After a short tour of the US East Coast and Midwest the duo returned to the UK and recorded Spin, which (as a result of a new, live-based approach and relatively short recording schedule) has a somewhat more direct and pop-based approach than its predecessor The Big Idea. "A Customer" on Amazon.com said that "This is an album not to miss. It's a creative mix of covers with very hip arrangements allowing Dave's technology to be tempered by the warm humanity of Barbara's voice. If I had to knock it, I'd say it didn't have enough rough edges, yet Eight Miles High is a brilliant rethinking of the Byrds' classic. This and others have a way of staying with you, and you'll find yourself humming, if not singing along outright". The instrumental "The Curve of the Earth" is more progressive rock than pop (Prog-Pop!), and was originally composed as an overture to The Byrds' classic "Eight Miles High". This is not your average crap commercial "pop" music, but intelligent and original music which has been dubbed "pop music for adults". Check out Bill Bruford's "Gradually Going Tornado" album and also Hatfield and the North's classic "The Rotters' Club" album both featuring Dave and Barbara. For more good "Prog-Pop", listen to Scritti Politti's "Cupid And Psyche" album or Thomas Dolby's "Aliens Ate My Buick" album [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: 2 x rar files: Pt 1 (Tracks 1-6 80.6 Mb), & Pt 2 (Tracks 7-13 83.9 Mb]

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Walking The Dog - Rufus Thomas 6:16
2 The Cloths Of Heaven - David L. Stewart 3:39 **
3 8 Miles High - David Crosby, Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn 4:40
4 Amelia - Joni Mitchell 6:05
5 Trash Planet - David L. Stewart 5:55
6 Golden Rain - David L. Stewart 5:36
7 Your Lucky Star - David L. Stewart 5:13
8a Cast Your Fate To The Wind - Vincent Anthony Guaraldi / 8b Louie Louie - Richard Berry [Medley] 5:02
9 The 60s Never Die - David L. Stewart 6:34
10 Star Blind - David L. Stewart 6:28
11 Fear Is The Thief - David L. Stewart 5:47 *
12 McGroggan - David L. Stewart 3:34 *
13 The Curve Of The Earth - David L. Stewart 3:56 *

N.B: * Bonus Tracks (Not on the 1991 US Rykodisc CD issue): ** Lyrics based on a W.B.Yeats poem

MUSICIANS

Dave Stewart - Keyboards, Rhythm Programming
Andy Reynolds - Guitar on Tracks 1,2,3,5,7,8,9
Gavin Harrison - Drums on Track 3: Percussion on Tracks 2,6
Jimmy Hastings - Bass Clarinet on Track 10: Flute on Tracks 6, 10
Barbara Gaskin - Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals
Roger Planer - Voice [Deep Bass ] on Tracks 1,5
Sam Ball - Voice on Track 5: Victor Lewis-Smith - Voice on Track 1
Dexter James - Voice [Shouting] on Track 5

DAVE STEWART BIO (WIKI)

Dave Stewart (born David Lloyd Stewart, 30 December 1950, Waterloo, London) is an English keyboardist and composer who has worked with singer Barbara Gaskin since 1981. He played in the progressive rock bands Uriel, Egg, Khan, Hatfield and the North, National Health and Bruford. Stewart is the author of two books on music theory and wrote a music column for Keyboard magazine (USA) for 13 years. He has also composed music for TV, film and radio, much of it for Victor Lewis-Smith's ARTV production company. Having joined local band The Southsiders while still at school, Stewart's musical career began in earnest at the age of 17 when he played organ in Uriel with Mont Campbell (bass, vocals), Steve Hillage (guitar, vocals) and Clive Brooks (drums). After a summer residency on the Isle of Wight in the summer of 1968, Hillage left the group to go to university. Uriel continued as a trio, later changed their name to Egg and subsequently recorded two albums for Decca. In 1969 Hillage briefly rejoined his former bandmates to record a one-off psychedelic album under the pseudonym Arzachel. In 1972 Stewart guested on Hillage's new band Khan's first album. After the break-up of Egg in 1973, Stewart joined Hatfield and the North, described by author Jonathan Coe as "probably the best-loved of the so-called 'Canterbury' bands". (Coe's novel 'The Rotters' Club' takes its title from the band's second album.) Hatfield broke up in 1975 and after guesting with the Steve Hillage-led Gong on a few French gigs Stewart founded National Health with fellow keyboardist Alan Gowen and ex-Hatfield guitarist Phil Miller. Finding a permanent drummer proved difficult; Bill Bruford played with the group for a few months and was eventually replaced by Pip Pyle, thereby reuniting three of the former Hatfield musicians. Stewart subsequently guested on Bill Bruford's debut solo album Feels Good to Me (1977) before joining his band Bruford. Having recorded three albums and played two successful US tours, the Bruford group was discontinued in 1980. Stewart immediately formed Rapid Eye Movement with his friends Pip Pyle (drums), Rick Biddulph (who had been a roadie and sound engineer for Hatfield and National Health) on bass and Jakko Jakszyk (guitar & vocals). The UK REM (not to be confused with the contemporaneous American band of the same name) was conceived primarily as a live band and never recorded an album, although poor-quality tapes of live concerts in France survive. In 1981 Stewart changed musical direction and began experimenting with pop arrangements and songwriting. His first solo release, a heavy electronic reworking of Jimmy Ruffin's Motown soul classic 'What Becomes of the Brokenhearted' featuring guest vocals by The Zombies founder and vocalist Colin Blunstone, reached #13 in the UK Singles Chart. For a follow-up, Stewart recruited friend and former Hatfield backing vocalist Barbara Gaskin to record a version of the '60s teen lament 'It's My Party'. Released in the autumn of 1981, the single reached #1 in Britain and Germany and topped the UK charts for four weeks. Stewart and Gaskin have worked together ever since and have released five albums. The duo occasionally play live gigs augmented by Andy Reynolds on guitar and in September 2001 performed in Japan as a quartet with Gavin Harrison on drums. The keyboardist's side projects include reforming National Health in 1981 to produce a memorial album for keyboardist Alan Gowen, producing the hit single 'Hole In My Shoe' and 'Neil's Heavy Concept Album' for comedian Nigel Planer (well known for his hippie character in 'The Young Ones' TV series) and producing the first album by Bill Bruford's electro-jazz outfit Earthworks. Stewart has also composed TV music – in the mid-'80s he wrote the new title theme to the revamped BBC Television AOR show 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' and later wrote, produced and performed much of the soundtrack to the TV drama series 'Lost Belongings', set in Northern Ireland. From the 1990s on he has written music for programmes made by British production company Associated Rediffusion. These include the Channel 4 series 'Inside Victor Lewis-Smith' (1995), 'Ads Infinitum' (BBC2, 1999) and the 2003 documentary on the BBC Radiophonic Workshop 'Alchemists of Sound'.

BARBARA GASKIN BIO (WIKI)

Barbara Gaskin is a British singer (born 1950 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire) who, with her musical partner, the keyboardist Dave Stewart, formed a duo in 1981. In September of that year they had a number one single in the UK with a cover version of the song "It's My Party". Subsequent singles "Busy Doing Nothing" (1983), and "The Locomotion" (1986) also entered the UK Singles Chart, without reaching the heights of their debut release. Five albums followed, released on the duo's own Broken Records label. Gaskin and Stewart continue to work together and occasionally play live concerts with Andy Reynolds on guitar. Gaskin was formerly lead vocalist in British folk-prog band Spirogyra (1969–1974). In the 1970s she also sang backing vocals in Stewart's band Hatfield and the North. Gaskin has sung with Egg (The Civil Surface), National Health, Peter Blegvad (The Naked Shakespeare), Phil Miller, Nigel Planer (Neil's Heavy Concept Album), Jane Wiedlin (Tangled), Rick Biddulph and Mont Campbell (Music from a Round Tower). Barbara Gaskin was born and grew up in Hatfield (SE England). She had formal training in piano and cello from the age of 10. In her early teens she taught herself very basic acoustic guitar (Lesson 1: The strings face outwards) and performed in local folk clubs. In 1969 she moved from Hatfield to Canterbury to study for a degree in Philosophy and Literature at Kent University, but immediately became involved in the Canterbury music scene, joining folk rock group Spirogyra as vocalist. Spirogyra quickly procured a recording contract and subsequently made 3 albums, namely:- 'St Radigunds' B & C Records (CAS 1042), 'Old Boot Wine' Pegasus Records (PEG 13), and 'Bells, Boots, & Shambles' Polydor (2310 246), while gigging extensively on the UK college circuit, as well as completing numerous successful tours of Europe. During the same period, Barbara met guitarist Steve Hillage (also a student at Kent University) and via Steve, the members of Canterbury band Caravan, and Steve's old friend and musical colleague Dave Stewart. Barbara guested both live and on record with Dave's band 'Hatfield & The North', and was a member of the 'Ottawa Music Company', brainchild of Dave Stewart and `Henry Cow' drummer Chris Cutler. The intricate, largely instrumental music of bands such as Egg, Hatfield & The North and Henry Cow, and by contrast, the more spontaneous, lyrically driven approach of Spirogyra, were both powerful formative musical influences on Barbara during the six years she lived in Canterbury. When Spirogyra split up, Barbara left England to travel in Asia for nearly three years, following her interest in Eastern philosophy and culture while earning money by teaching English. She continued to sing - in Japan, professionally - and while living in Java and Bali became very interested in gamelan music. She also lived in India for a total of 18 months. On returning to England, Barbara was invited by drummer Germaine Dolan to play keyboards and sing in the all female band Red Roll On. Based in Canterbury, the band played in clubs and art colleges in the London area. But Barbara also renewed her musical association with Dave Stewart by contributing vocals to his compositions on Bill Bruford's "Gradually Going Tornado" album. In 1981 Dave & Barbara joined forces and recorded the hit single "It's My Party". The collaboration has continued to this day with a series of singles and albums on their own Broken Records label and Rykodisc Records.