The Cardiacs Society

SaltyJon wrote: Which other album did they "lose," some of the tracks from The Seaside?

No, those were all present on the original cassetterelease, but were left off the CD version. Not sure why that is, actually, but either way they're 'out there', so to speak.

The "lost" album was the original attempt at a follow-up to Guns. The song "Faster Than Snakes With a Ball and a Chain" which was included on the 2002 "Greatest Hits" compilation was allegedly taken from a "forthcoming" album which never actually materialised. Apparently that work-in-progress album was lost in a hard drive crash. The files hadn't been fully backed up and Tim said in an interview that he tried to "fix" the unfinished songs but eventually abandoned them in favour of starting afresh on what would've been LSD, the current not-quite-finished album. There's a brief (unreferenced) mention of it on the wiki page for Greatest Hits and a few references in interviews, but I can't think where I would've read them right now.

Yeah, not a lot of information regarding Tim's condition, sadly, but that's a conscious choice his friends and family are making and we have to respect that. The general impression I've gotten from various slight comments on all manner of forums, facebook groups etc. is that he is improving but it is a slow and difficult process. We certainly shouldn't expect any more live performances from Tim, sadly.

Regarding the lack of new material, one of the great tragedies is that they were so so close to putting out a new album back in 2008/9. All the instrumental tracks had been completed and all that remained was for Tim to record his vocal parts before his health problems struck. My sincere hope is that one day, even if it's twenty years from now, that album sees the light of day. Ideally it would be wonderful for Tim to add his vocal contributions but if that isn't a possibility then perhaps through a combination of guest vocalists and/or reworked instrumental versions. They already "lost" one album, it would be the worst damn luck to lose two!

^ I wish I knew anything, but he's keeping his health under wraps pretty much. I think he's pretty much OK (though I can only assume), but isn't well enough to actually go and play live. I'm not sure if he'll ever be.

Listening to the version of Wireless now - pretty great stuff so far!  May pass up the a capella covers of some Magma stuff as my favorite a capella cover. 

Just popping in to share these wonderful a capella covers of Wireless and Bell Clinks.

I like this general-purpose Cardiacs thread more than the other one. 

Where has this thread been????

daslaf wrote: fxdregs wrote: Briny Hooves is a brillaint, yet little known record (at least here anyaway) by William D Drake.   My advice is do not hesitate to get this. You cannot buy the disc at Drake's site but you can buy the download.   Did this last week and it's been at the top of my playlist ever since.   Great record!!!! Well I finally got it for my birthday, best present I've given myself in a long time, hehe...  I'm glad Briny Hooves is more song oriented than Will's first solo record, which sounded a lot like another Sea Nymphs release, BH sounds more original and gosh, Bill is such a great composer, pianist and singer... Hooray for himl!

EchidnasArf wrote: That's a shame. Seems the most recent incarnation of the band might be the lineup I enjoy the most. Is the drummer from the Garage Concerts the same drummer from the original Cardiacs lineup? "To Go Off and Things" is extremely rad.

Bob Leith (their most recent drummer) has been with them since Sing to God, so you can hear him playing on that album, Guns (their final studio album), and the aforementioned Special Garage Concerts live albums on which you'll find similarly killer renditions of Gibber and Twitch and As Cold As Can Be In An English Sea. Their previous drummer, Dominic Luckman was also superb, IMO, and for several years they had a full-time additional percussionist (Tim Quy).

If you like their hard-edged sound then Sing to God's the one to get. Maybe get that and the Garage Concerts, as they're a great introduction to a lot of their early material but with much better sound production and incredibly tight performances from the most recent line-up. Please make sure to buy 'em from iTunes - currently the only place to get their stuff legally, and with Tim still recovering from serious health problems he could really really do with the money!


Edited by The Hemulen - July 06 2011 at 08:39

That's a shame. Seems the most recent incarnation of the band might be the lineup I enjoy the most. Is the drummer from the Garage Concerts the same drummer from the original Cardiacs lineup? "To Go Off and Things" is extremely rad.