Nosferatu Hits The Road - 46 Years After Release!

'The one you've all been waiting for!'
Duncan Poundcake 1979

46 years! I finally get to see the Hugh Cornwell performance that was missing. Cornwell takes the plunge and announces his intention to play Nosferatu in its entirity. Let's call it a spin-off, since rather than a solo album it was a collaboration with Robert Williams. But as spin-offs go it was the best of the bunch, and the competition from his fellow Stranglers has been of a very good quality over the years. 

Dark and brooding as an album it can be quite an uncomfortable listen at times. Cornwell and Williams did not balk at the notion of being experimental in both sound and lyrical contant, the latter of which provides the listener with a rich canvas of imagery from implausible circus freak-show attractions to armoured steam trains traversing the continent menacingly, carrying with it a revolutionary message. 

Fair play to Hugh for finally giving this remarkable album its place in the spotlight (or at least a little eerie limelight) four decades after the original dates failed to materialise.

Needless to say I will be digging up some Nosferatu related material to post in the coming days.

'Amazing!'
Duncan Poundcake 1979

Xmal Deutschland 9:30 Club Washington DC 11th June 1984

 

Very envious this afternoon as I sit in my bombsite of an office looking out on a sodden road in front of the house. Meanwhile, a friend is at present entrained on the Eurostar, replete with chilled white wine, Paris bound to see the extraordinary Anja Huwe play a rare gig at La Marbrerie tonight. The only counter I have to this is to post an Xmal Deutchland gig... and that is poor competition.

Here is Anja, caterwauling as Owen Carne had it (!), in the company of her fellow Xmal Deutschlanders at the famed 9:30 Club in Washington DC. Nice sounding recording this is too.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-gYfirbcV8H

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-MtHxNmGRXJ

Dave Greenfield And JJ Burnel Fire And Water Outtakes

 

One last solo related post today, prompted by an excellent piece of artwork posted on the 'Stranglers IV' Facebook page. Here then is the Rat Zone compilation of the 1983 Greenfield/Burnel soundtrack outtakes for the 'Ecutez Vos Murs' art film.

A great album with some material that would have been a good fit in a Stranglers' set. I have said it on many occasions that the band should have played 'Nuclear Power' live.... Burnel's last punk roar!

Many thanks go still to the folks behind Rat Zone.... would love to see some more. And thanks to the creator of the alternative art... a considerable improvement upon the above I'm sure you'll agree.

WAV: https://we.tl/t-sdtjFZzb7F

JJ Burnel Arts Centre Swindon (30th May 2000) And The Adelphi Preston(3rd December 2000) DVD

 

Following on from the earlier Royal Festival Hall gig, here are two more sets from the 'Songs and Stories' dates, one from the first leg (Swindon) and one from the second leg (Preston). Whilst the filmer(s) (unknown to me I am sorry) was well positioned for both gigs, the image quality has suffered somewhat over the years. However, the sound quality is good. Across these two complete gigs I think all of the 'lost' solo material is included;

'Talkin' 'Bout Me & You'

'Frogs Crossing The Road'

'Norfolk Coast'

'By The Sea'

'Big Thing Coming'

'A Kiss'

'The Girl & The Sea'

... almost enough for an album!

DVD image: https://we.tl/t-yuW3FNIY9G

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-mAFy12moqg

JJ Burnel Purcell Room Royal Festival Hall London 13th December 2000

 

Looking back, an incredible 25 years now, at these solo dates from Burnel in the middle of a crisis period for the band, it strikes me that this was the beginning of the recovery that culminated in the release of 'Norfolk Coast' four years later. It was a fight for the hearts and minds of a tired and disallusioned fan base. The biggest part of the battle was to win back the heart and mind of old Burnel himself! 

Hats off to whoever seeded the idea into the bass players mind, I have no idea whether it was JJ's idea or whether it came from others within The Stranglers' camp. 'Now listen JJ, things have got a bit stale with the band, we need a boost, arm your self with a six-string, a bottle of red and get you arse out into the provincial towns and remind people just what it was that you did in the punk wars and beyond!' And he did, even to the extent of playing Burgess Hill library (my old home town) on a tempestuous Tuesday night, the night before this gig in fact... I think the rest of the band owed him big time for that gig!

Is it just me that thinks that its a shame that some of the solo material, including the stuff that wound up on 'Norfolk Coast' was not pursued and turned into his next solo album? OK, so these songs are perhaps not as finessed in the same way as the 'Fire & Water' or 'Un Jour Partfait' songs are (but who knows how they could have turned out with a bit of studio attention lavished upon them). I think that it is a little regrettable that the record of these songs is limited to a VHS video (a defunct entertainment medium that few can still play these days) and a handful of bootlegs.

Anyway, here he is on the second leg of the 'Alone & Acoustic, Songs & Stories' tour in the prestigious Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank.

Many thanks to yesican for replacing by knackered copy!

WAV: https://we.tl/t-YRZipbgT75

Alternative artwork: https://we.tl/t-mUOy2JwZlp

The Adverts Basement Tapes 1977 Demos

 

OK, if you are looking at this page from the UK, the weather is shite, the best that February has to offer, so I would recommend that you retrieve a copy of 'Crossing the Red Sea With The Adverts' put it on the turntable and grab a beverage of your choice and give it a critical listen.

As an accompaniment piece, here's an album of demos recorded in 1977 that go by the name of 'The Basement Tapes. Six of these tracks in a refined form made the album cut whilst 'Quick Step' and 'We Who Wait' appeared as the B-side contributions to the 'One Chord Wonders' and 'Safety In Numbers' singles respectively.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-6ZuRvmG8jb

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-tgdUXSjJcY

The Advert's 'Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts'- The Press Reaction

It's no secret, I love The Adverts. Use the search facility on this site and you will find quite a bit of stuff on one of the most important bands of the first wave of UK punk.

Once again looking through some old misic press I saw and reread the NME review of the band's debut album, the snappily entitled  'Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts', a name born out of a comment made by NME's Jane Suck, words to the effect that for The Adverts to make an album would be a task comparable to 'crossing the Red Sea'. Such a journey was said in the Old Testament to have taken place when Moses lead the tribes of Israel through the parted waved of the Red Sea in order to deliver them from Egyptian bondage.... it short very hard work!

In his NME review, Charles Shaar Murray spent most of his review bemoaning the fact that in his opinion, from a perspective of musical ability, The Adverts were an unworthy vehicle for songwriter T.V. Smith's powerfully sophisticated lyrics. Murray contends that whilst their contemporaries had moved on in leaps and bounds in terms of musical virtuosity (excluding The Stranglers, The Damned and The Jam, who he states could play from the outset), The Adverts, despite a year of full on gigging were still no masters of their instruments. I would counter-contend that i) as I listen to the album as I type this, musically it sounds fine to me. OK, Gaye's bass may sound a bit plonky if you are looking hard for critisism and the drums are a little 'crash, band, wallop', but ii) this is exactly what I would expect from a rhythm section looking to deliver this material. It's all about underpinning the exitement of the moment of experiencing The Adverts and carrying the urgency and rage involved in Tim's lyrics and his delivery of them.

Record Mirror's Rosalind Russel was on thin ice before she even put pen to paper! She may have a point regarding the wisdom of putting four tracks (of an eleven track LP) that had already been available in single form. She comments that whilst as songs they have a natural home on the 'Red Sea' album 'They should be past the stage of doing this "introduction to The Adverts" stuff and heading towards the future. But hang on a minutes Rosalind, this is a debut album which is by definition something of an introduction to a band. No?

The 'thin ice' referrence relates to a less than favourable review from the same journalist that appeared in Record Mirror's issue of 28th January 1978.

The review provoked a robust response from the band's 'fumbling bass player' who basically offered the unfortunate reviewer out. Record Mirror's editor, Alf Martin, ever with an eye for an angle on a story arranged a photo session for Gaye and Ros, involving an enactment of the threatened retribution with boxing gloves. 

Apparently no teeth were lost in the encounter!

So here then are the two reviews that I have. What's your opinion on the album?

New Musical Express 25th February 1978

Record Mirror 4th February 1978

Postscript:

I posted a couple of weeks ago that T.V. Smith is taking an Adverts' set to the Americas later this year when he provides tour support for The Damned once again. Back in 2021, Steve Lamacq featured the 'Crossing the Red Sea' album on his BBC 6 Music show. In this programme, Tim provides his perspective of the album in a 2015 interview, some 37 years after its release. The show can be found here.