Bizarre 2-record set
Jeff Hansen
During a recent visit to Toronto, I picked up a boxed set of
two records - the box was labelled "Spacemate," and after much
searching through the box's contents (to be described below), I
found that the group's name was "Sudden Sway." Does anyone have
any information about this group or this boxed set? It purports
to raise your conciousness to a higher state of being; there are
three brouchres, a quiz, and other assorted junk. The reading
is very interesting, but at the same time, it is mindless drivel.
It was recorded/printed in 1986, and from the dust found on the
box, I'm assuming it's been in the record store since then. The
problem I'm having with this release is how incredibly costly this
must have been to put out, and yet, this is the first I've heard
of it. At the very least, it is very impressive/bizarre, and I
must know more about it...
"...and it turned into a MOUSE"
jeffhansen
x87ha...@gw.wmich.edu
Rudolf Hersen
Jostins: Bass, Michael McGuire: Keyboards/Vocals, Lee Shale:
Percussion. This is from a twelve-inch single released in 1987 by
Strange Fruit Records. The catalogue number is SFPS005. I recommend
that you buy it if you happen to stumble on it. It's quite good.
--
d86...@nada.kth.se
Rudolf Hersen, Valhallavagen 5-208, S-114 22 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
Jeff Hansen
Okay, a lot of Spacemateish questions have been answered by two
people, one who can't get to the net, and the other whose
address I lost! So if Keith Richards is reading this, could he
please fire off a quick note so I can fire back a big hearty
thanks. To sum up the articles below: interesting...
From: Ian Dickinson [stli...@uk.ac.cov.cck]
I don't know much about Sudden Sway themselves except they're British.
But I know they have a penchant for weird formats for their releases.
They released one single (can't remember title) as a boxed set of
eight versions. Much of their work is in "mindless drivel" arena but
is good fun. If you can get hold of them look out for the following:
"Let's Evolve"
"In The Park For The Hypno-Stroll"
"Party Political Broadcasts"
_ _ ___ ___ _ PERSON: Vato (Ian Dickinson) VOICE: +44 203 525225
| | | \_ \ | | / \ PAPER: 73 Vine Street, Coventry CV1 5NH, ENGLAND
| | | / . | | | | o | JANET: stli...@uk.ac.cov.cck
\_/ \__/ |_| \_/ UUCP: ...!uunet!mcvax!ukc!uk.ac.cov.cck!stliaise
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From: Keith Richards [unknown net address]
SS are a wacky bunch... I first heard them about 5 years ago on
the John Peel show (one of our few decent djs here in the UK if
you don't know of him). They did a session (Peel sessions are
the essence of good music...) consisting of two long songs. In
fact the one that made such a tremendous impact on me wasn't a song
for the first few minutes, but a weird conversation which develops
only slowly into melody. `Relationships' it was called, and the
other (slightly weaker, but still brilliant) offering was a sort
of `Music and Movement' thing called `Let's Evolve'. I dashed
out to see if I could find these gems on disc, but they didn't
exist! I got their only 12" of the time (called Hallelujah or
something - I forget) but it was disappointing. I gave up hope
of hearing those tracks again... A couple of years later, a
deal was set up between the BBC and Strange Fruit records to
release Peel seesions on disc and amazingly, of the thousands
of sessions they could have released, the first batch of releases
included the Sway sessions!!! Wheee!!! They were as brilliant
as I remembered, and Relationships is still one of my faves.
Try to get hold of it (probably on import only?)
I also have the Spacemate box. Weird innit! Obviously a dig
at those that take that sort of thing seriously, and very clever
too. I too was struck by the apparent expense of the package:
it was sold at standard single album price here (still is).
The track SingAlong on one of the records was also a single here.
It was released in 8 (yes *eight*) different versions, not just
different mixes of the same thing, but completely different
recordings, some sounding quite different from each other. They
were released on different labels too (I think) so it was easier
to get hold of some versions... Again, Peel played them all
(or most of them) one per night. The version on the album is
ok (I think) but not as good as some of the other versions. It
was called Sing Song I've just remembered, not SingAlong.
The next offering was a couple or three years ago, when they
released a 7" ep with 8 (I think?) very short (<1 min) tracks
on it. Autumn Cutback Joblot Offer I think it was called, and
the inserts suggested it was like a bunch of ads for some rather
strange looking things, with the disc being musical jingles for
the ads. (At least I think this is what it was about, it's not
clear...) Supporting this, the band appeared at London's ICA
in a large peepshow box thing. Coin in the slot, press the button
for the song you wanted, and they'd play it (all 50 secs of it...)
for you. (Art...)
Recently, they changed tack yet again, with an album called
'76 Kids for Ever (I think...) and a 12" of extracts from
it called Sat'day Morning Episode. It's a soap opera (more
along the lines of Brookside or Coronation St than Dallas
or Dynasty) and the songs tell the lives of the characters over
a day or two. Character biogs on the sleeve. It's ok, but
not stunning.
Apart from that first session, I've always found the music itself
a bit secondary to the wacky ideas, though that said, some of the
other stuff is still really quite good (Specially some of the
Sing Songs which I wish I'd got...) Move mountains to get hold
of the disc of the session though. I can get hold of the labels
and cat nos. if you want them (when I get home).
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Keith Richards.
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x87ha...@gw.mwich.edu
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