Iain Matthews Appreciation Thread--solo, album by album + track by track (pg. 18)*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by lemonade kid, Jul 19, 2017.

  1. oboogie

    oboogie Forum Resident

    Location:
    U.S.A.
    My top five picks from the solo years are as follows;

    1 - Tigers Will Survive
    2 - If You Saw Thro' My Eyes
    3 - Some Days You Eat The Bear And Some Days The Bear Eats You
    4 - Valley Hi
    5 - Stealin' Home
     
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  2. CybrKhatru

    CybrKhatru Music is life.

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I know it's lightweight, but I love this song. When I heard it in 1978 as a young kid, I had no idea that 30 years later I'd be a HUGE Fairport Convention fan ;)
     
  3. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    I'm rather fond of this period! :)



    (That's me overplaying, stage right.)
     
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  4. oboogie

    oboogie Forum Resident

    Location:
    U.S.A.
    You should be fond... and proud! Well done.
     
  5. The Lew

    The Lew Senior Member

    Probably my 3 fav tracks are
    I'll Fly Away
    Old Man At The Mill
    Seven Bridges Road
    Also really like the opening track Like Dominoes, from the forgotten about album Pure And Crooked.
    And then there's Brown Eyed Girl and...............
     
  6. thematinggame

    thematinggame Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    I think he is a much better interpreter of songs than songwriter .
    Similar to Tom Rush in the U.S. he was the first to cover songs by "new" American songwriters such as Richard Farina and Jesse Winchester who were completely unknown here in Germany/Europe at the time
    I also think the first two Matthews Southern Comfort are true classics in the same as say the two Dillard& Clark albums , they just haven't been rediscovered yet by the "cool" press /media , which in a way is a good thing too.
    I think his best solo album is Journeys from Gospel Oak , everything fits together including the beautiful cover art .
    It is a bit hard to keep track of his recordings over the last 20 years ago, since he has recorded with many different people in different groups and collaborations.
    I'm also a great fan (actually greater) fan of Andy Roberts and I think his solo albums from the 70's are all excellent, I also love his songs on all the Plainsong albums and prefer them to Ian's.

    P.S.
    I also think their version of Woodstock is the definite one and probably one of the best cover versions ever .

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2017
  7. erikdavid5000

    erikdavid5000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    My fave solo albums:

    1. Valley-Hi
    2. Tigers Will Survive
    3. Matthews Southern Comfort
    4. Sometimes You Eat The Bear
    5. Stealing Home
     
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  8. erikdavid5000

    erikdavid5000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Just saw him here in LA a couple years ago.

    He looks about 40 and sounds exactly the same as ever.
     
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  9. oboogie

    oboogie Forum Resident

    Location:
    U.S.A.
    Do you remember any of his set list?
     
  10. erikdavid5000

    erikdavid5000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Mostly recent/new stuff I didn't know.

    Only "old classic" he played was These Days
     
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  11. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    His biggest claim to fame with the general public seems to have been when he covered 'Then He Kissed Me' and didn't change the gender in the title.

    Instant BBC ban!

    I saw him live with the current incarnation of MSC a few years back and he was very good indeed.
     
  12. Beaneydave

    Beaneydave Forum Resident

    Skeleton keys is my favourite album and I like be The Dark Ride too. Seen him live a few times and had a chat with him but it's a few years ago now and would to see him again but it's been a long time since he played in my neck of the woods.


    Dave
    Peace and love✌
     
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  13. chickendinna

    chickendinna Homegrown’s All Right With Me

    I like most of his catalog. Valley Hi, If Saw Thro My Eyes and especially Plainsong's first are standouts to me.
     
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  14. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    My favourite Iain record is Spot Of Interference (1980). Kind of bandwagon-jumping (this being the era of Nick Lowe, Graham Parker, etc.) but, great songs!
     
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  15. Snufkin

    Snufkin Active Member

    I have to agree with most of the above comments, I think Iain Matthews has an astonishing talent and well worth seeing live if you get the chance. How many artists of his age would risk doing an unaccompanied version of Woodstock - completely mesmerising. I have been listening to the early Fairport materiel since about 1970 but after he left, so did much of the magic. I suppose his first solo album is still my favorite but his output is prodigious. I do recommend Joy Mining and some of his other Netherlands based work.

    For example if you are a fan of the SACD format you should try and get this:

    The Iain Ad Venture - Ride The Times
     
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  16. Beaneydave

    Beaneydave Forum Resident

    I've just ordered that - thanks for the tip.


    peace and love✌Dave
     
  17. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Not in the US where he had two actual top 40 singles with "Woodstock" and "Shake It", the latter a Top 20. Which probably gives him the best chart history of anyone in Fairport by some distance, unless you count Dave Mattacks' many sessions.
     
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  18. SquaRoots

    SquaRoots The North Star Grassman

    Location:
    AM✫dam.nl
    New MSC album "Like A Radio" out Feb 23, 2018.



    (from teamrock.com):

    New line-up, single and album.

    The album, Like A Radio, will be released on February 23, and is the follow-up to 2010's Kind Of New.

    “The original Matthews Southern Comfort was a vehicle for my musical concepts and forty years on the ideas and songs are still coming," says frontman Ian Matthews, who released the first Matthews Southern Comfort album in 1969 after leaving Fairport Convention. "With this new line-up, Like A Radio continues that ongoing journey."

    The new line-up is completed by Dutch musicians Bart Jan Baartmans, Bart de Win and Eric De Vries. The band have also released a video for Bits And Pieces, the first track to emerge from the new sessions.

    "Bits And Pieces is a song about being transient, or displaced," says Matthews.

    "I have several compositions in my catalogue that have morphed from being something else into their final identity. This is an example. It began life more than fifteen years ago as a song called A Fool For You. Andy Roberts and I recorded it for a six-track Plainsong EP called A To B.

    "I could never quite get behind that version of the song and consequently never bothered playing it again. I always had the feeling it was unfinished.

    "During preparations for the new Matthews Southern Comfort album I rediscovered the tune and worked on the lyrics extensively. When I first recorded it I’d only just moved to my new home in the Netherlands. Now I had some perspective on it.

    "The sentiment of the song is about being in any particular place and trying to fit in, knowing you never will. Always sensing that no matter how well you think you blend in, you’ll always be that songwriter guy that married a local girl and stayed."
     
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  19. Beaneydave

    Beaneydave Forum Resident

    Thanks for posting that. He still sounds great and I'm looking forward to this new album
    Cheers

    peace and love✌Dave
     
  20. Dennis Metz

    Dennis Metz Born In A Motor City south of Detroit

    Location:
    Fonthill, Ontario
    I have them all....great CDs:cheers::cheers:
    My favourite is Go For Broke
     
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  21. Beaneydave

    Beaneydave Forum Resident

    My favourite is skeleton keys


    peace and love✌Dave
     
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  22. klaatuhf

    klaatuhf Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    Very pleasantly surprised. This is one of his best songs in a very long time. Hopefully the rest of the album is equally strong. I personally thought his last excellent album was the "Hamilton Pool" one and everything since has had barely one memorable song on each album with his jazz excursions being practically unlistenable as was his "last" solo album.. man was that utter rubbish. So hopefully Ian is back!
     
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  23. thematinggame

    thematinggame Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    The song sounds good, although I must say the last MSC album Kind of new was a major letdown , not really sure why he thought it necessary to resurrect the MSC name again considering there was nobody from the original line-up in the band . I think it was one of the weakest albums he has ever released (at least from the ones I know) and gave the band who released the two classic albums Later that same year and Second spring in the early 70's a bad name - so hopefully the new one sets the record straight again .
    I might have mentioned this before , but I think one major problem of his "career" has been the amount of different names under which he has released records over the years
     
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  24. PretzelLogic

    PretzelLogic Feeling duped by MoFi? You probably deserve it.

    Location:
    London, England
    My Mum certainly took a shine to him when we saw him with Fairport doing their early years set at the Barbican a few years ago.

    Glad to hear he's still creating music, though I have a cut-off point of Some Days You Eat The Bear. Haven't heard anything after that, though I'm keen on exploring more of his work with Hi-Fi.

    Interestingly, he talked of retiring and doing some memorabilia boxes a few years ago from his past musical endeavours, but I guess that didn't pan out too well. His voice is remarkably well-preserved, so he's got no reason to stop.
     
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  25. thematinggame

    thematinggame Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    I remember these were available from his website some years ago , but at a ridiculuous price
     

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