Cardiacs: Classic or Dud?

I was introduced to them by a friend who did their live lights for a short while, he posted a nice thing about Tim on Facebook yesterday.

Here it is:

So sad to hear of Tim Smith, singer of The Cardiacs' passing... aged 59. He suffered brain damage from a heart attack in 2008 and never fully recovered.

The Cardiacs were 'support' band for The Wildhearts when I was doing Wildhearts' merch/lights in 2004, the early formative days of my career.
I'd never heard of the Cardiacs before and I remember when they first kicked in full blast at the first gig. I'd never heard anything like it and it took me about 2 or 3 gigs to get my head fully around it. I ended up doing their lights for the tour including at the Astoria, and they were definitely the first band I lit which didn't follow conventional rhythm rules (or rules in general). It helped shape the way I still work today. Kept me on my toes and ready for anything!

Tim was a kind sweet warm man off stage, clearly a mischievous twisted genius bubbling under which would surface when he was front and centre and screaming to a half bewildered half entranced crowd.

I don't generally do eulogies because the internet is inundated with them but meeting and working with Tim (and his band/music) was one of those moments in time that instantly affected me in a positive way and shaped what I am now. Plus the Cardiacs deserved way more exposure than they got.

Give em a listen if you haven't before. Just don't expect to get it right away!

It's so weird that steve Wright played them loads on his afternoon show for a few weeks after Is This The Life? was released, that was my initial exposure and I guess I must have thought they were a slightly angsty, punky band.

I carried the name around with me until they started popping up in Levitation interviews along with Tim's name, then I bought Heaven Born on a whim when I was visiting London in 1992 and, apart from March and Helen And Heaven which remain two of my favourites to this day, I really wasn't terribly fussed about it.

Then in 1993 after a move from Scotland down to London, I discovered my flatmate had a VHS copy of Maresnest which I watched, equally compelled/repulsed, then watched again and again until the penny dropped and then, of course, the usual Cardiacs mania kicked in, luckily I had not too long to wait before the reissue campaign happened.

god what was it like when STG dropped, already being a fan of theirs

Pretty epic, realising it was going to be a double, Michael(Moke) who taped gigs and sold bootlegs in Camden at the weekends had heard it already and I remember him describing it as the most amazingly epic thing.

I was buying the Organ zine at gigs and they were talking about it long before release and a little later Org put out the Belleye CD single with three tracks, and then there was a bit of an agonizing wait for the album in true Cardiacs fashion.

sad lol

In-fact, Manhoo might have even come out just before the album too, possibly? idk

After it's release, I even recall a little bit of half-hearted dissent from some folks, too much Poole, drum machine etc:

lol, the ships and irons purists :D

Alex In NYC was one who weirdly adored HBAEB and loathed STG, when they're clearly a brilliant continuum imo

Bellyeye had been out for quite a long while before Sing To God showed up. I think Manhoo was played by Mark Radcliffe in advance and I taped it, but it was the less epic single version. I remember playing the CD on a discman on the train to Stirling the day I got it. When the album showed up it took me a while to appreciate it totally, since I got fixated on a handful of tracks like Insect Hoofs on Lassie and Doglike Sparky. I sorta ignored the second disc for a while.

It was tough finding the records in Scotland. There'd be like one copy in one shop. Seriously if there was something being released I'd go round all the record shops every day so no other bastard got it. Other than the Marillion tour I'm not aware of them playing there till about 1992. Thank the stars I went down for the Maresnest filming as that was the only time I saw the full line-up.

Are you the guy shouting 'show us yer bottom!!' in-between songs? :)

No, that guy clearly is English. I'm from Ayrshire.

Actually, now I think about it, I remember hearing the edits in the Manhoo single and thinking it odd, so StG must have been out beforehand.

Totally agree about fixating on certain songs at first and for a long time, Dog Like Sparky, Manhoo, Flap Off You Beak, Wireless, the second side definitely suffered at first.

XP - Just kidding, I know, me too. I think we've maybe talked about this before on an Ayrshire thread. But I do wonder who that guy is from time to time.

on a personal note that little twangy bit on Flap Off You Beak ("they're not alive..") was when I realized this was absolutely the best band in the universe

the climax of that song is probably the 30 seconds of music that, if pushed, i'd ask the aliens to preserve

That Bellyeye CD single was the first thing I ever bought by the band - I found it randomly in the 'C' section of Crash Records one Saturday in January 1996 while looking for the Chemical Brothers' STRICTLY LIMITED EDITION Loops of Fury EP that had come out that week (I also bought lol Spaceman by Babylon Zoo the same day). The previous November some friends and I had seen Cardiacs supporting Chumbawamba - I was 14, it was only the second gig I'd ever been to and we were basically just hoping for something we could pogo to. I have a really vivid memory of them launching into the first song and us all just looking at each other all kind of 'What the hell is this, it's brilliant'. Was genuinely shocked when I went Xmas shopping in London a few weeks later and discovered in HMV that they had loads of albums going back to the late '70s. After buying the single I got that cheap Sampler CD which I played to death, then later Heaven Born and Sing to God when it came out. Didn't get around to the earlier albums until years later!

One of my cats from home had passed away that week and I had been listening to 'Flap...' after hearing the news because it always makes me think of her.

I just remembered the track "Faster Than Snakes With a Ball and Chain", fucking ace

god its all so frustrating. I knew if they'd ever made another album it would not only be incredible but it might have a shot at breaking them through to more than just the locals. if I remember there was an album in the works post-Guns that was accidentally deleted? (the one with "Silvery" on it)...but I always assumed that story was bullshit

I love plateau endings, it has a similar feeling to the end of 'No 13 Baby' by Pixies.

'faster than snakes...' is all we have of LSD iirc (unless 'ditzy scene' makes it on there)

the really great unrecorded track is dream dress/vermin mangle, for now only found on a couple of youtube videos from a short solo tour tim did in 2000

XXP - I'm guessing not (to that rumour) as Tim was probably still working on tape at the time.

There's this too - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBDRAqocYlc

that interview is hit after hit of pathos now

A slightly longer edit of the Surbiton video has surfaced - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezc3USYXjCg

It is a regret of mine that I didn't go to see the Cardiacs play in Reading some time in the late 90s after my friend's boyfriend told me I might like them and he was going to see them - I think it was some punk bullshit about aversion to "prog rock" tbh - I didn't actually get around to listening to them for several years after that and I was instantly converted when I did listen to them. RIP Tim

What would be the best place to start?

(I must've been around at the time but don't remember seeing the LP's, or maybe just wasn't looking / listening in the right places. I do remember lots of t shirts at gigs...)

((Actually, I do have that one best-of...))

I've had some success in the last couple of days getting Sund4r off the ground with Guns - the songs tend to stay more or less in one (ish) place while containing all the melodic and sonic inventiveness you'd hope for

https://alphabet-business-concern.bandcamp.com/album/guns

If it helps, here's a mix I made for a friend that asked me where to begin with Cardiacs last month, tracklisting included.

https://we.tl/t-ztUXWzvg8F

I only know StG, and it took me quite a while to get into that. I still feel like I'm not in it completely, but I know I will and can. It just takes time. I will def listen to your mix Maresn3st, thanks so much! Sometimes all it takes - and that's been proven by nearly all here - is the right person/time to be introduced to music.

I can't believe the 1video of Gloomy News, Hope Day and To Go Off And Things from the Garage rehearsals won't turn up. All great songs.

The arrangement of Hope Day that brings out that bass line under the long instrumental section is a highlight among highlights from those versions. You'll know the bit I mean.

XP - Hope you like it LBI, let us know how you get along.

I've just noticed that live recordings are beginning to surface on d1m3ad0z3n (which usually happens there when a musician passes on) including the really early ones that were apparently recorded by Ted Chippington.

If anyone is interested in such things, speak up and I can get download links happening at some point.

it was A Little Man And A House And The Whole World Window that won me over

I've just noticed that live recordings are beginning to surface on d1m3ad0z3n (which usually happens there when a musician passes on) including the really early ones that were apparently recorded by Ted Chippington.

If anyone is interested in such things, speak up and I can get download links happening at some point.

― Maresn3st, Sunday, July 26, 2020 1:57 PM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yes, please do. Happy to share my stash of bootlegs and rarities that's accumulated over the years but I'm sure I've got lots of gaps.

https://mega.nz/folder/paATzQ4R#uKt4MkS0WbTGDX9thnegRg

Steven Wilson on the latest ep of the Album Years podcast he's doing with Tim Bowness was talking about Bill Nelson's Red Noise - Sound On Sound album being an influence on Cardiacs.

It's not hard to see.

https://youtu.be/d3mfKe5KX04

Although really apart from a few cool bits that song sounds more like a parody of what people think Cardiacs sound like.

Sing To God was featured album on the freak zone on sunday night (3 tracks played and a few sentences about tim and the band around the first)

Dog Like Sparky
Dirty Boy
Nurses Whispering Verses

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000lgrb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLGEP2gl2UI

Who are these people??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROBymAeY4MI

following the basslines of Cardiacs songs is a very quick and easy way to redouble your appreciation of Tim AND Jim's genius tbh

dear cardiacs friends just saw on the rob crow thread that he has a new acoustic covers album. nice track selection. first track is a version of "shaping the river" by the sea nymphs. also includes covers of tunes by rudimentary peni, ruins, and other artists who may be of interest to folks here.

https://robcrow.bandcamp.com/album/everybodys-got-damage

https://thequietus.com/articles/28854-cardiacs-vermin-mangle

I just came here to post this.

This is the track that was played on *blanking on the name*'s Tim Smith memorial show a month ago. It sounds like Tom Waits deconstructing "Morning is Broken."

Blank name is Steve Davis.

https://www.phoenixfm.com/2020/07/30/tribute-tim-smith/

I forgot how to embed a link, but here it is: https://alphabet-business-concern.bandcamp.com/track/vermin-mangle

Kavus encouragingly called it the 'first' new release since 2007

Lovely piece by Sean Organ.

https://organthing.com/2020/09/02/organ-thing-a-fragile-beautiful-previously-unreleased-cardiacs-song-a-present-by-way-of-gracious-thanks-has-been-officially-posted-as-a-download/