We need help rescueing and restoring some of the following which exist on cassettes, Tascam tapes etc and need digital restoration.
WATERMELONS ‘You Just Touch And Walk Away’
Searing song that hints of flirtation and bitterness but actually turns on the take-the-money-and-run approach of multi-nationals to Valley communities.
THE PIER ‘The Pier’
A searing indie classic with a strength and subtlety all its own, a suicide ballad bleak and passionate as any folk song, and a vocal tour de force with ‘hints of Harriet Wheeler and Ma Bates from Psycho’ (Melody Maker) - this wonderful song is all these and more. Side 2, Track 1 Meltdown album.
KATELL KEINEG ‘One Hell of a Life’
Gloriously life enhancing song about death. Best version recorded as a demo at Chariot with various Howling Sleepers and River Ghosts backing. Easiest to obtain version on Katell’s album ‘?’. In the States it became a well deserved College radio hit.
SIAN DONOVAN ‘Someone’s Crying in Japan’
At once personal (Sian trying to comfort her sister from half world away), contemporary (the cold abstraction of a telephone call) and timeless (statues crack with age, Fuguyishi sunsets) - a beautiful, profound song with a melody to match. Exists on ancient cassettes.
CHRIS RIDGEWAY ‘It’s Not So Much That Its Over’
Hard to choose from Chris’s catalogue of gems but this, particularly when performed by the Vinegar Flies with Guto’s poignant accordion touches, just haunts me. As affecting as the McGarrigle sisters Heart Like a Wheel. That version exists solely on an old cassette.
THIEVES ‘Slap Your Head’
ARGONAUTS ‘Mount Pleasant Lane’
BANANA CAT ‘Fantasy Boutique’
JULIE MURPHY ‘Touch Like This’
RAILROAD BILL ‘Some Small Mercies’
SODA MEN ‘Moon’
