Cardiacs

Absolutely essential to include this English punk/prog cult band on your site. Formed in 1980 and still recording and touring, this band sounds like a bastard hybrid of Gentle Giant, The Sex Pistols and Primus. Undoubtedly post punk, this band always offers traditional prog goodies: extended songs, mellotrons, unbelievably complex time changes and chord progressions and a majesty and sometimes genuinely terrifying aura. This is music which divides listeners - I have emptied tourbuses by playing this! But I fail to see how many subscribers to Prog Archives could not be attracted to this band.

Recommended first listening would be their 1988 release 'A Little Man and a House and the World World  Window', or their live video 'All That Glitters is a Mare's Nest'. Just to ram it home, this band are in my top ten alongside King Crimson, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Yes and Gryphon. Visit their website at http://www.cardiacs.com/

Hope we can see their albums reviewed here soon.

From the first minute or so of "clean that mud"? it sounds fairly proggy, or at least more so than punky.

The Cardiacs are undoubtedly prog. They've released so many good CDs, too many too mention. My favorites are The Seaside, The Little Man and the House, On Land and in the Sea and Sing to God. If "Stoneage Dinosaurs" and "The Everso Closely Guarded Line " aren't prog, you can scrap the whole Genesis catalogue as well. Another mark of greatness: they were booed off the stage by Marillion-fans!  

 

Wot, hasn't anybody listened to that RealAudio-sample so far? I'm rather interested to hear what those unfamiliar with the output of these toiling slaves of the Alphabet Business Concern have to say about their work. To make it easier I've uploaded two MP3 samples off their "Ships and Irons" CD.

The tracks are the IMO Genesis like http://www.flatearth.demon.nl/cardiacs_blind_in_safety_and_l eafy_in_love.mp3

and the powerful instrumental closer http://www.flatearth.demon.nl/cardiacs_all_his_geese_are_swa ns.mp3

And here's an excellent history of the Cardiacs: http://members.tripod.com/~keverteller/cardiacs.html

Edited by Saskia

If you folks like Cardiacs, but wished they sounded a bit more like Mumrah, then I have a treat for you. We ARE Mumrah! Proggy-punky-ska-jazz-metal-blobs and blobs and blobs. Odd-jobs and corn-cobs with knobs on.

www.mumrah.com

I've never been quite so astounded by a musical performance as I was by seeing the stint Cardiacs had at the Garage, London, UK, at the end of 2003. Utterly astounding. The fact that the three sets they played were ALL different, and drawn solely from the first 8 or so years of their career, makes me feel like I'm slacking in the writing department. Jebus, Tim Smith has more crazy and terrifying ideas than a KKK rally. But, you know, GOOD crazy terrifying ideas. Unlike a KKK rally. I wish I hadn't used that simile now.