Volume VI Side B

Volume VI Side B of the Band of Georges.

These are songs composed by George between November 1985 and January 1986. They were recorded in his bedroom at 31 Cowick Lane, Exeter, in 1986.

We did not wish to fiddle with these recordings too much. The audio was lifted straight from cassette and simply normalised to 0 dB.

Having written these songs more than four decades ago, and having not heard these recordings for at least the last three, we asked George to make a comment on each of the songs.

Here is what he had to say regarding Volume VI Side B of the Band of Georges.

“We used to listen to a lot of music on vinyl albums at this time. A whole vinyl album would – nearly always – fit onto a single side of a 90-minute cassette. When you were recording it, you’d flip the record over at the end of Side 1 then carry on with Side 2. I always thought of these cassettes as being like one whole album per side, rather than being a double album. The first half or so of the tape would be Side 1 of the LP, so that would begin right here.”

You’ve Lost Your Way

Living in thatcher’s uk in the mid 1980s was exasperating. Humanity had the chance to make things better. They still have that chance I suppose. Anyway, this song is about letting off some steam from my various frustrations at what we all saw and felt at that time.

You’ve Lost Your Way was written around mid-day. I remember showing it to my Dad when the ink was still wet. It could have been mixed better, the vocals are way too loud. The guitars sound like a pair of angry wasps in separate biscuit tins. The riffs are not too bad though. However, it’s not really a very good song on the whole. I don’t really like it. And at a snatch under nine minutes it really is a bit much.

Lullaby

Unique. If I had to describe this song in one word, that would be it. When I was writing this, it came quickly, I remember it well. The music was just passing through my fingers as the spirit on the other side revealed this piece to me. I still think of it as one of my most remarkable compositions. I’ve never really composed anything else quite like it.

Lullaby was composed on the Ice Maiden and uses a lot of chords I had never used before, or rarely. There’s something about it I still find musically satisfying. Maybe we could make a video of it sometime?

Graham’s drumkit was set up in the room when I recorded this, it was during the days of The Subterraineans and the first incarnation of The Ug Brothers. So I added some cymbals here and there. Lullaby was always meant to have a minimalist sound, with mostly the guitar speaking, telling its tale.

I wrote this after a few of us had been on an expedition to look for a particular kind of mushroom that grows wild in the uk at that time of year. Dave the Parrot had borrowed a car – it was a Vauxhall Viva – and along with Suzie, Senga, Graham and me we set off to the Blackdown Hills, near Smeatharpe.

After a few hours of foraging we had gathered a decent amount of… food… and set off back home. Graham had a brief stint of driving in a car park and wanted to roll the car over with us all in it, which seemed extremely foolish. He gave it up after a couple of attempts and Dave took over driving again. We all went back to Denise’s house in exeter and brewed up some special tea.

That was a wonderful evening. We went for a walk in exeter cemetery and there were beautiful stone angels. The frost on the cars was glittering in the moonlight. It was a full moon, and there was a ring of mystical light around it. It was magical.

I wrote this song a couple of days after our trip. It was during the days when Laughing Sun were trying to find a good set of songs to play at the college.

What Could It Be?

Oh, haha! I’d forgotten about this one. It’s quite pretty I think. Whimsical. Ethereal. Spiritual even. It uses the filter matrix setting on the Electric Mistress to make the guitar sound like that. It was almost called “Something”, and that’s what it says on the cassette cover. But it says “What Could It Be?” on the lyric sheet, and I kinda prefer that.

So I’d been in a relationship with a new girlfriend for two or three weeks when I wrote this. I played it for her and she hated it! Instant regret. But now, hearing it again? It’s a bit insubstantial and inconsequential, but it’s pleasant. At least potentially!

Song for Ken

This was just a piece of trolling. A diss track! Never did many of those. Zowee.

I’d completely forgotten about this… song. What had Ken done for me to write this, I wonder? Who knows. It was December 1985, not long after the band Wud had folded.

Gary was a name that a lot of trendy young guys seemed to have in the mid 1980s. Garys were young men who were usually keen on drinking and violence, and following the latest trends in fashion very faithfully. Conforming. Generally they had no concept of anything beyond materialism. Gary usually had a girlfriend called Sharon. Hmmm… doesn’t sound at all like Ken.

“This would end Side 1 of the vinyl LP Volume VI Side B of the Band of Georges, and Side 2 would begin from here.”

Walking Over That Same Old Stony Ground

This was written around the time I was organising a lot of my songs and rediscovered The Concept Album. In a sudden burst of enthusiasm for The Concept Album, I wrote a couple more songs for it. Such as this one. There seemed to be a few glaring holes in the storyline, so I had a go at filling them.

I’m not sure if The Concept Album was ever completed. Most of the music was written in the spring and summer of 1983. At that time I was listening to concept albums such as The Elder by Kiss, the only album of theirs I really liked, as well as In The Court of the Crimson King. There are elements of the King Crimson album in this song, with that section of all those weird noises.

We performed Walking Over That Same Old Stony Ground in the first incarnation of The Ug Brothers. This recording actually features Marc on bass and Graham on drums, rather than myself multi-tracking the whole thing. There’s another version of it on The Ug Brothers recording In Session 20.11.1986.

When The Ug Brothers reformed in 1994, I think the only song we resurrected from their 1986 incarnation was Drowning in Your Eyes. We didn’t revisit this one as it was a bit long and strange for the modern listener of 1994. It could probably kill a young person in 2025 with its lack of hook, rapping, drum machine, autotuner and sub-two minute format!

A few hours after I’d written this, I played it for my girlfriend. Generally speaking, she liked the music I wrote, but not the lyrics. On this occasion she said that this was a “much-needed level up” in lyric writing for me, so I guess it just about passed muster.

As far as I remember, The Concept Album sat in a brown folder and was probably not quite complete. Perhaps we can put together a compilation of its songs here? I might have a look and see what remains sometime, if I can find it.

Overture #113

Oh, that’s my Dad. Not heard that voice in over 25 years…

It seems I must have had an outbreak of re-reading The Hitch Hikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, judging by the amount of 42s in this.

Just like Walking Over That Same Old Stony Ground, this was an extra song written for The Concept Album. In fact, this would be the very first song of that album, hence the title Overture #113. It was the 113th song in my chronological list of songs.

There was a… fiasco when I tried making the very beginning of this song. It wanted somebody walking along a busy promenade, onto a beach, and then playing the guitar at the start. In 1992 I gave it a try.

It was Sidmouth International Folk Festival. I was strapped up with all manner of equipment. The Silent Running DAT machine was recording from a pair of SM58s taped to my ankles. The Boss DR 220A was set to 120 BPM. I wore a pair of Walkman headphones, so I could march along steadily at that tempo. And my Yamaha acoustic. I remember having a baseball cap on, with the peak low and my face down, to be harder to recognise so I wouldn’t need to stop and have conversations with any friends I might happen to meet along the way.

So, looking like some kind of freak, I set off from the western end of Sidmouth sea front. It was busy, the Festival was always a big thing in those days. I marched pretty much the whole length of the promenade, trying to weave between the revellers. I was determined to keep my paces at 120 BPM, which meant that sometimes I had to just march on the spot.

At the far end, I stamped onto the stony beach towards a big rock, sat there, and played a big glorious C chord. It must have looked completely ridiculous, and in the end it was all to no avail.

Ka-dung! Ah. The guitar was very horribly out of tune. It sounded completely frightful. I just laughed. During the walk, I’d literally bumped into a few people, and the guitar tuning had not survived.

Then, after tuning up once more, I walked around in a circle on the stones, sat down again, and played another C chord and then into the beginning of the song.

Having finally managed to get all of that done, The Mermaid was still open in those days. I dumped all of the equipment in the car and went for a beer with my friends. Much better idea!

Growing Up

Although I remember very little about writing this song, I do remember recording the vocal part. It required a bit of volume and I felt conscious that other people in the building or even outside might be able to hear it. It was probably just a single take.

This was written on the day of my sister’s tenth birthday. My Dad asked if I would set my gear up in the front room of the house and perform a few songs for a group of my sister’s friends. So I did! Just as the performance started, my girlfriend appeared at the door and sat watching me with a bit of a smirk.

The room was a seething mass of dancing children, it was rather fun really. They had some paper streamers and I remember that one of the girls was trying to wrap hers around my fingers, so I gave her a look and she stopped.

The set was Drowning in Your Eyes, Walking Over That Same Old Stony Ground and Smoke on the Water. After that I was glad to make a hasty exit with the gear and my girlfriend and the party carried on.

That ends Volume VI Side B of the Band of Georges.
Volume VII Side A is next.