SHACK fans: Michael Head & the Red Elastic Band - Artorius Revisited E.P.

Who wants to start a thread on the new album?

 

Michael Head video interview

 

Okay, it seems people would be into a dedicated Señor thread. I'll start one tomorrow unless someone else can't wait that long, lol.

 

Thank you!

 

Mick played a few songs on BBC Radio Merseyside this evening. He's on at 1 hour, 17 mins:
BBC Radio Merseyside - BBC Introducing in Merseyside, 21/10/2017

 

New thread here:
Michael Head & the Red Elastic Band - Adiós Señor Pussycat (2017)

 

I finally completed my Shack vinyl collection. For some reason I had never picked up Zilch. I'm still waiting for HMS Fable to be released on vinyl (but I do have the original artwork)

 

Hope this is an album!!!

 

Live date in Liverpool:
John Head from See Tickets

 

Hi all, good to see some fellow Shack fans here. Criminally underrated band. Posting here as just about every other Shack thread is locked. First heard of them, as did many I suppose, 20 years ago when HMS Fable came out and Michael Head was on the cover of NME. I thought it was an ok album with a handful of excellent tracks but I'm sure it sat on the shelf for a few years unplayed. The building of my Shack collection has been very much like their output itself - sporadic. It was some years later when I randomly saw a used CD of Magical World of the Strands in Piccadilly Records in Manchester. I love that album. Still, they were a band that weren't high on my radar, to the degree that when I spotted used copies of Here's Tom With the Weather & On the Corner of Miles & Gil about 4 years ago, I wasn't even aware of their existence, but bought them instantly upon recalling how much I love the Strands album.

In fact, Adios Senor Pussycat was the first Michael Head album I bought new since HMS Fable. Whilst I was aware of the history & reputation of Waterpistol, and it remained on my want list, it took me quite some time to get a CD copy partly due to the price. In fact it was only a few months ago when I decided I had to get it (12 track Marina CD). Of course, it was well worth the money and I am a massive fan of it. To me it craps all over some of the late 80's / early 90's indie records, such as the overrated Stone Roses debut. How can that album get such legendary status when it seems like about 50 people know about Waterpistol? The opening 4 songs are awesome!

Just been looking at what I don't have: Artorius Revisited (may have to buy on iTunes, can never find the CD), Zilch, and any Pale Foundations stuff. Also don't have any singles. I believe a ton of stuff was on some online archive but may have since been removed? Are there any particular releases I should check out, good b-sides, etc? Also I live 40 mins from Liverpool so will get to any gigs if possible. Am I right in thinking there are a pile of Shack songs waiting to be released? Surely Kickstarter would be the perfect platform to get Michael Head's songs out there?

From what I have, this is a rough ranking:

1. Waterpistol
2. Magical World of the Strands
3. Here's Tom With the Weather
4. HMS Fable
5. Adios Senor Pussycat
6. On the Corner of Miles & Gil

 

The b-sides for the HMS Fable singles Natalie's party and Comedy (cds 1 and 2, 8 songs in total) are very good and I think most of them can be found on the Fable Sessions-cd , but not sure if they are the same versions, since I have never come across a copy of the album. But much more importantly you should get copy of the Pale Fountains debut Pacific Street (a masterpiece if there ever was one, don't miss out on the bonus tracks Thank you and Palm of my hands , which are worth the entrance fee alone)and also of the follow-up From across the kitchen table ( less impressive than the debut but still very good)
P.S.
I like Zilch, but not everyone likes its 80's production

 

I really wish someone would reissue the OOP Shack stuff. Some of it has crept up in price to the point where it's not practical for most people to buy.

 

Thanks. More stuff to add to the list. Will check these out.

This is where I feel for vinyl fans. I'm a CD guy. Waterpistol often goes for £20-25 ish, a lot for an old CD, but nowhere near what vinyl fans expect to pay for old pressings. I know Waterpistol was reissued but I wanted the original anyway, which sounds amazing.

 

Pity us poor U.S. fans. I've got the Strands and Red Elastic Band releases on LP, but only "Corner of Miles and Gil" from Shack themselves. And I had to buy the CDs of their other albums while I was in Ireland - you cannot find them here.

 

Oh boy, I can only imagine whats its like tracking this stuff down.

 

Looks like the last Waterpistol CD was reissued in 2007. I don't think the label "Red Flag Recording Co." is in business anymore either, because their site is full of errors and obviously hasn't been maintained.

 

Just been going out of my mind searching on eBay & Discogs for 'Pale Foundations'. No wonder they don't exist, I should be looking for Pale Fountains

 

If someone introduced me to Rock Music for the first time in my life today and played me The Beatles and The Shack/Michael Head albums I would be enthralled by the magic and beauty of the music. If they told me each band had sold millions of copies of each of their albums I would not be surprised. If they told me only one of the bands had sold millions and the other zilch (pun intended) I would find it difficult to choose which one.

That is how much I admire the music of Shack & Michael Head. That they are known to only a few thousand fans worldwide is a mystery. I feel privileged to be among those people, the music deserved to be known to everyone as that other band* from Liverpool is.

*A band whose music I also love.

 

I got lucky, found Waterpistol as a cheap cut out (cd) in the old Tower Records Annex, and Here's Tom... on vinyl for about 5 bucks in Virgin records on 14th street the year it came out. The rest, Magical World...,HMS Fable and On The Corner... were all purchased as imports on release, and Adios Senor Pussycat was no problem to find at all.

 

There are a couple of ‘Fable Sessions’ CDs on eBay? Is this worth getting? I’m thinking for the b-sides really. Seems somewhat of a bizarre release. Am I right in thinking it’s the HMS Fable tracks, with order mixed up, and the b-sides, with different titles, then 2 alternate versions? Seems rather random

 

I have the Fable Sessions CD as well as the HMS Fable singles. The B-sides sound the same to me. Actually, even the versions of album tracks are not very different. There are two versions of Since I Met You and Cornish Town on the Fable Sessions CD, one that is similar to the album versions and one that is quite different.

The Japanese CDs are worth a look: Pacific Streets features even more bonus tracks (10 instead of four) and on the second album, the tracks Bicycle Thieves and ...From Across The Kitchen Table are different mixes.

I like the B-side of the Oscar singles. IIRC they were recorded for the BBC (Mary Anne Hobbs or Janice Long, not sure).

It's sad that The Olde World by Michael Head & The Strands was never released because I'm lucky enough to have heard some demos of the songs used for The Magical World Of The Strands.

 

True, though readily available online, and well worth the time to search out. Not quite at the same level as the amazing album that we know and love from those sessions, five of the tracks are alternate versions, while the remaining five were all previously unreleased, and the pretty great "Fin, Sophie, Bobby & Lance" from that latter group got reworked for The Corner of Miles and Gil. Anyway, agree it's sad that it never got a release, seems it was almost there, many of us even had the vinyl pre-ordered. Listening right now, and still sounds really nice, a few years and many listens down the line.

 

Count me as a fan of Zilch, have the Japan
mini-lp cover cd, with a raft of bonus tracks.