Cardiacs, eh?

Now, I know they're not everyone's cup of tea. Nor, are they even all THAT proggy (Tim Smith utterly despises the use of the term prog OR punk in connection with their music) but for me, they are simply extraordinary. Not since I discovered Gentle Giant has one band lit up so many bits of my brain at once. I've spent the last year or so in a kind of musical daze, with nothing I've discovered subsequent to finding them really holding my attention. I'll give it a few spins, then dive straight back into my Cardiacs collection.

So, what do other folks here think? There was a thread on them ages ago but that's well and truly died. I wonder how many Cardiacs fans we have on PA nowadays...

I'll have to check them out. Any recommendations?

Ghandi 2 wrote: I'll have to check them out. Any recommendations?

A Little Man and A House and the Whole World Window is usually touted as the best starting point, especially for proggers. It features a fair amount of mellotron and has a slightly "proggier" feel than some of their earlier, and indeed more recent stuff.

I'd also say On Land and In The Sea is a great way to get into them if you like hard-edged avant-prog.

If you like a refined, polished sound and don't mind an almost pop-like quality to your music as long as it's still weird and outlandish then Sing To God might suit you.

Ultimately, it really all depends on your own tastes. All their albums are 100% Cardiacs and 100% brilliant, but each has a unique flavour to it. Personally I'd stick to one of those three for starters though.

And as for availability... Their music is self-released and consequently quite scarce, with much of their back catalogue currently out of stock. However, fresh crops are apparently on their way.

In the meantime, don't feel too guilty about getting mp3s whilst you're waiting for the albums to be re-released. I reckon the band would prefer that than you wasting money on e-bay, none of which will reach them.


Edited by Trouserpress - May 05 2007 at 20:18

cuncuna wrote: Ghandi 2 wrote: I'll have to check them out. Any recommendations? The "Sing to God" double album. But mark my words: they sound like a punk and a prog band mixed in a really high speed blender.

Mmm... Pronk smoothie...

they're a pretty cool band, but yeah, their albums are really tough to find

AMAZING BAND!!!!

When I first heard the Cardiacs I couldn't (under)stand them. The music was all over the place and I couldn't follow it. And that xylophone/glockenspiel/whatever - as irritating as the worst of Frank Zappa. The way they looked didn't help much either!

When I heard Is This the Life my opinion changed slightly. It's a great song, more linear than other stuff I'd heard.

Then I heard Van der Graaf Generator. Parts of A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers sounded exactly the same to me as the Cardiacs. Weird!

A while later I heard Bellyeye on Mark Radcliffe's radio show and was absolutely stunned! I bought the CD single and loved the title track but wasn't too keen on the other tracks.

Then a couple of years ago I spotted the Sing To God CD really cheap and thought I'd take a chance. I'm glad I did, it's a superb album!

Anyone got some links to some Mp3s, I'd really like to listen.

^^^ It's them, no doubt. Long live The Cardiacs.

Aww c'mon chaps! This thread doesn't deserve to die yet!

More images:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIB_9YvJAFo