CARDIACS
"On Land and in the Sea "
Released 1989 on Alphabet Business Concern
Reviewed by Double De Harrison, 02/06/2003ce.
I was quite surprised to see no entries for Cardiacs on this site, and wasn’t sure
whether no one cared, or whether no one had written anything about them.
A much loved, but also much hated band, they’re pretty much like Marmite on
Vinyl [though evidently no as popular as the aforementioned spread].
I really don’t know about categorisation of Music, but I’d say they are pretty
proggy, loads of odd time signatures and time changes, string and brass
arrangements, speedy-uppy-changey-slowey-downey type of thing. Not
everyone’s cup of tea, sometimes described as speeded up fairground music.
Although this review is dedicated to On Land and In the Sea, my personal fave,
Cardiacs, [by my reckoning] have made 12 albums to date:
Archive
The Seaside
A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window
Rude - Live at Reading
Live - Live at the Paradiso
On Land and in the Sea
Songs for Ships and Irons
All That Glitters is a Maresnest
Heaven Born and Ever Bright
Sing To God
Guns
Sampler - This Album is not a best of
This is my ordering [though not chronological], and covers to two distinct phases
of Cardiacs in my mind:
The Analogue - Guitar/Vocals [Tim Smith], Bass [Jim Smith], Sax [Sarah Smith] and/
or Guitar [Bic Hayes of Levitation / Dark Star], Keys [Duck Drake], Percussion [Tim
Quy], and Drums [Dominic Luckman]. A very tight Live Band with most
participating in Backing Vocals, and some being Married / Divorced / Related to
each other. From Archive to All That Glitters is a Maresnest.
The Digital - Guitar/Vocals [Tim Smith], Bass [Jim Smith], {Sax/Vocals [Sarah
Smith], only on recorded stuff}, Guitar [Jon Poole], Drums [Dominic Luckman, later
to be replaced by Bob Leith], and a sequencer [Television Organ, as they refer to
it]. More of a Studio, than a Live affair - though still very good Live, the ‘backing’
is not the same as an awesomely, spectacularly tight seven piece. From Heaven
Born and Ever Bright to Guns. Sampler being an odd collective.
Anyway, to the album at hand, which for me represents the pinnacle of Cardiacs
tightness and creativity, and dare I say it Power - a very large sound indeed. There
are parts of this album that I swore couldn’t be done Live, the frenetic madness of
Duck and Roger the Horse for example, and what song did they open with when I
first saw them? Yep, they did it, and just as tight as the record. Nuts.
The opener, Two Bites of Cherry, a high octane speed skank, has plenty of Brass
and ska’y type guitar chops, ascending piano arpeggios, synthy highs, and odd
intervals where time changes take place, usually abridged by Tim’s attacky and
fiddly guitar style. Loads of all band backing Vox, and the occasional percussive
ping are all carried by Tim’s annoying Vocal [sounds like the neighbours rowing or
something], presumably taking the subject of some kind of Egg.
Baby Heart Dirt, really sums up all that Cardiacs are, a stupidly complicated, but
beautifully melodic opening that feels like doing the Cresta run whilst you’re out of
your mind on dope and speed. Fantastically punctuated vocal Phrases, and
lightning riffs bridging part to part from almost every member of the band. Taking
the individuals parts and playing them in solo, this just wouldn’t make sense, but
somehow it merges to a cacophony of stupendous wonderment. I’ll shut up now.
Horsehead, breaks up the frenzy, with Cardiacs trademark Military Bass Drum
insistence [to be found all over their music], topped with another trademark sound
which I can only make out to be organish in it’s origin. A soft characature of Duck
Drake, backed by Sarah’s almost Kate Bush Type vocal, and Tim being soft for his Mum.
The [closing] Everso Closely Guarded Line, has quite an epic feel to it, and it’s
where Tim Quy the percussionist really gets to shine. With an almost stage show,
fairground feel to it, dramatic stringy/organy lines draw the whole thing to a close.
Again, tempos are a kimbo, each ascent being perfectly drawn into the next phrase
by a soft vocal. Duck Drake ending it on an answerphone message “I don’t know
what I’m doing ……. You’re not there” and Cardiacs’ calling card the Alphabet
Business Concern Glockenspiel announcing both beginning and end.
I hope this nonsense has managed to get some interest in Cardiacs for you, being
of the Analogue School personally, I’d recommend the above, Maresnest, and
Little Man and a House, containing Is This the Life, their biggest single to date.
Though equally, the sequenced era has plenty of real Gems too, like Nurses and
Dirty Boy.
To me it seems such a shame that such an original, and talented band had to split
because they couldn’t ‘afford’ to carry on. Go and check them out in their current
line up if you can.
Alex