029667005517
029667077125

Bob Stanley And Pete Wiggs Present English Weather (Gatefold Double Vinyl Album) (Jewel Case)

Various Artists

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Format: 2LP

Cat No: XXQLP2049

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Format Details: Gatefold Double Vinyl Album

Format Details: Jewel Case

Release Date:  27 January 2017

Label:  Ace Records

Packaging Type:  Gate Fold

No of Units:  2

Barcode:  029667005517

Genres:  Rock  Rock  

Release Date:  27 January 2017

Label:  Ace Records

Packaging Type:  Jewel Case

No of Units:  1

Barcode:  029667077125

Genres:  Rock  Rock  

  • Description

    The autumnal sound of Britain at the turn of the 70s, looking out through wet window panes to a new decade with a mixture of melancholy and optimism for what might come next. With the Beatles gone and the pound sinking, a new and distinctive sound emerges, led by flutes and mellotrons. Available in 18-track CD and 19-track double LP formats. The LP version is pressed on 180g vinyl in heavy-duty gatefold sleeve. It's hard for me - and I'm guessing I'm not alone here - to shake the Get Carter theme from my head whenever I cross the Tyne rail bridge on a journey up from London. The city may have changed dramatically since the film was shot at the turn of the 70s, but the weather hasn't. One day last autumn I was working in Newcastle. With an afternoon to kill, I did what I usually do with a couple of spare hours in an unfamiliar town - I sought out a record shop. It would at least protect me from the rain, which was getting steadily heavier. As I flicked through the racks I was trying to identify the record that was playing, an album with a hint of Crosby, Stills and Nash but an identifiably British pall hanging over the sunny harmonies. It was by Shape Of The Rain, and had a sepia sleeve which was an attempt to suggest the Old West even though it was clearly a shot of a post-industrial Britain that still felt closer to the War than it did to punk, just six or seven years down the line. Outside the Newcastle rain was getting ridiculous. I was stuck in the shop. There was no one in there apart from me and Craig, the lad behind the counter. Once he'd twigged that I was genuinely interested in the Shape Of The Rain LP he pulled out T2's "It'll All Work Out In Boomland"� and stuck it on the Hacker turntable. The sound was warm but slightly awkward, slashing guitars that recalled 1966 and frenetic drums hemmed in by warm brass, minor chords, and the kind of hazy nonchalant English vocals reminiscent of Caravan, or More-era Pink Floyd; not an easy listen, but absorbing. Then he revealed albums by the Parlour Band, Aardvark and Spring. All of them were melodic, melancholy, with jazz and folk touches and the same similar shrug of resignation, their collars turned to the wind of 1970 and the end of the Aquarian dream. Enveloped in this post-psychedelic cocoon, sheltering from the rain, these records made a lot of sense together. I had childhood flashbacks of cafes with steamed-up windows, occupied by workmen in donkey jackets; hippies and bikers on Box Hill; odd music on Radio 1 on a Sunday afternoon that had a sense of serious intent but without knowing what for. While America may have licked its wounds at the turn of the 70s by turning to singer-songwriters, purveyors of homilies like "teach your children well"�, Britain wasn't so ready to give up the trappings of psychedelia. And while the UK counter culture may have shed its "faith in something bigger"�, it wasn't about to chuck out the mellotron. This is how the day after the 60s felt: damp, fuzzy

    Description

    The autumnal sound of Britain at the turn of the 70s, looking out through wet window panes to a new decade with a mixture of melancholy and optimism for what might come next. With the Beatles gone and the pound sinking, a new and distinctive sound emerges, led by flutes and mellotrons. Available in 18-track CD and 19-track double LP formats. The LP version is pressed on 180g vinyl in heavy-duty gatefold sleeve. It's hard for me - and I'm guessing I'm not alone here - to shake the Get Carter theme from my head whenever I cross the Tyne rail bridge on a journey up from London. The city may have changed dramatically since the film was shot at the turn of the 70s, but the weather hasn't. One day last autumn I was working in Newcastle. With an afternoon to kill, I did what I usually do with a couple of spare hours in an unfamiliar town - I sought out a record shop. It would at least protect me from the rain, which was getting steadily heavier. As I flicked through the racks I was trying to identify the record that was playing, an album with a hint of Crosby, Stills and Nash but an identifiably British pall hanging over the sunny harmonies. It was by Shape Of The Rain, and had a sepia sleeve which was an attempt to suggest the Old West even though it was clearly a shot of a post-industrial Britain that still felt closer to the War than it did to punk, just six or seven years down the line. Outside the Newcastle rain was getting ridiculous. I was stuck in the shop. There was no one in there apart from me and Craig, the lad behind the counter. Once he'd twigged that I was genuinely interested in the Shape Of The Rain LP he pulled out T2's "It'll All Work Out In Boomland"� and stuck it on the Hacker turntable. The sound was warm but slightly awkward, slashing guitars that recalled 1966 and frenetic drums hemmed in by warm brass, minor chords, and the kind of hazy nonchalant English vocals reminiscent of Caravan, or More-era Pink Floyd; not an easy listen, but absorbing. Then he revealed albums by the Parlour Band, Aardvark and Spring. All of them were melodic, melancholy, with jazz and folk touches and the same similar shrug of resignation, their collars turned to the wind of 1970 and the end of the Aquarian dream. Enveloped in this post-psychedelic cocoon, sheltering from the rain, these records made a lot of sense together. I had childhood flashbacks of cafes with steamed-up windows, occupied by workmen in donkey jackets; hippies and bikers on Box Hill; odd music on Radio 1 on a Sunday afternoon that had a sense of serious intent but without knowing what for. While America may have licked its wounds at the turn of the 70s by turning to singer-songwriters, purveyors of homilies like "teach your children well"�, Britain wasn't so ready to give up the trappings of psychedelia. And while the UK counter culture may have shed its "faith in something bigger"�, it wasn't about to chuck out the mellotron. This is how the day after the 60s felt: damp, fuzzy-

  • Tracklisting

      Disc 1

      Side 1

      • 1. Love Song With Flute - Caravan
      • 2. Moon Bird - The Roger Webb Sound
      • 3. Early Morning Eyes - The Parlour Band
      • 4. Pamela - Scotch Mist
      • 5. The Prisoner (Eight By Ten) - Spring

      Side 2

      • 1. Last Cloud Home - The Orange Bicycle
      • 2. JLT - T2
      • 3. Til The Christ Come Back - Bill Fay
      • 4. Refugees - Van Der Graaf Generator
      • 5. Very Nice Of You To Call - Aardvark

      Disc 2

      Side 1

      • 1. Big White Cloud - John Cale
      • 2. Bottles - Belle Gonzalez
      • 3. Watching White Stars - The Way We Live
      • 4. Windfall - Offspring
      • 5. Never Let Go - Camel

      Side 2

      • 1. Wise Man In Your Heart - Daevid Allen
      • 2. O Caroline - Matching Mole
      • 3. Edge Of The Sea - Prelude
      • 4. Evening Shade - Alan Parker and Alan Hawkshaw

    Tracklisting

      Disc 1

      Side 1

      • 1. Love Song With Flute - Caravan
      • 2. Moon Bird - The Roger Webb Sound
      • 3. Early Morning Eyes - The Parlour Band
      • 4. Pamela - Scotch Mist
      • 5. Last Cloud Home - The Orange Bicycle
      • 6. JLT - T2
      • 7. Til The Christ Come Back - Bill Fay
      • 8. Refugees - Van Der Graaf Generator
      • 9. Very Nice Of You To Call - Aardvark
      • 10. Big White Cloud - John Cale
      • 11. Bottles - Belle Gonzalez
      • 12. Watching White Stars - The Way We Live
      • 13. Windfall - Offspring
      • 14. Never Let Go - Camel
      • 15. Wise Man In Your Heart - Daevid Allen
      • 16. O Caroline - Matching Mole
      • 17. Edge Of The Sea - Prelude
      • 18. Evening Shade - Alan Parker and Alan Hawkshaw