It’s finally really happening.
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions Collected Recordings 1983-1989
5 CDs, 1 DVD and a book, in a box.
We began work on this in February 2014. It’s been a lot of work. There were two product managers. Joe Howard (son of Dr Robert Howard) initiated the project and then moved on. Lewis Robinson took his place. Lewis and I have exchanged hundreds of emails as we tracked down the original tapes, cassettes, u-matics, and Ian Jones at Abbey Road has done a fabulous job in transferring them to CD.
All three studio albums are included, all three are re-mastered, but we did very little to Mainstream other than adjust level. Bob Ludwig’s original work was near perfect and still sounds great almost 30 years later. The original 1/2″ mixdowns of Easy Pieces could not be used as the tape had disintegrated and baking, etc could not save it. We worked from the 1/4″ back up (made the same day as the 1/2″ for this very reason) and to my ears the album is significantly improved. The big news, to my ears, is Rattlesnakes. We were able to use the original 1/2″ tapes and upon hearing a ‘flat transfer’ I was shocked at how far we had strayed from the original recordings over the years. I sent the files to the band to listen to to be sure I wasn’t imagining things. Is this as great as I think it is? They agreed. We decided to make the new CD as close as possible to the original tapes. The trade off would be volume. If we wanted the album to sound loud, then we would lose the dynamics which were what was making it sound better. We chose the sound over the loudness. You have a volume control on your stereo. You can turn it up if you need to.
The first bonus CD is all our collected b-sides, not including live recordings, unless they were songs we hadn’t recorded in the studio – so the 1986 recordings from New York are there. The only remix included is our own extended mix of My Bag, as we all pretty much agreed it was the only decent dance mix we ever made.
The final CD is rarities, from the unreleased 1983 single Down At The Mission, the 1985 Paul Hardiman recordings, the 1986 Paris recordings with Chris Thomas, demos, etc. Pretty much everything we recorded which wasn’t a complete disaster is here. Full track listing below.
The book contains an extensive essay by Pete Paphides, who spent way more time and wrote many more words than was originally the plan. He spoke to all the protagonists. It’s a lovely story, if a little sad, at times.
We are selling this in our shop, and I will be signing these, if you’d like. We are currently accepting pre-orders. We’re importing from the UK and then shipping worldwide, so we won’t be able to compete with your local retailer. If you’d like to buy direct from Universal, this smart url should take you to the nearest distributor.
Disc one – Rattlesnakes
1. Perfect Skin
2. Speedboat
3. Rattlesnakes
4. Down on Mission Street
5. Forest Fire
6. Charlotte Street
7. 2cv
8. Four Flights Up
9. Patience
10. Are You Ready to be Heartbroken?
Disc two – Easy Pieces
1. Rich
2. Why I Love Country Music
3. Pretty Gone
4. Grace
5. Cut Me Down
6. Brand New Friend
7. Lost Weekend
8. James
9. Minor Character
10. Perfect Blue
Disc three – Mainstream
1. My Bag
2. from the Hip
3. 29
4. Mainstream
5. Jennifer she said
6. mr. Malcontent
7. Sean Penn Blues
8. Big Snake
9. hey Rusty
10. These Days
Disc four – B-Sides, Remixes & Outtakes
1. The Sea and The Sand
B-side to Perfect Skin
2. You Will Never Be No Good
B-side to Perfect Skin
3. Andy’s Babies
B-side to Forest Fire
4. Glory
B-side to Forest Fire
5. Sweetness
B-side to Rattlesnakes
6. Perfect Blue (Hardiman mix)
B-side to Jennifer She Said
7. Jesus Said
B-side to My Bag
8. Brand New Friend
1985 Wessex Studio recording. Previously unreleased
9. From Grace
Unfinished 1985 Wessex Studio recording. Previously unreleased
10. Her Last Fling
B-side to Brand New Friend
11. Big World
B-side to Lost Weekend
12. Nevers End
B-side to Lost Weekend
13. Mystery Train (Recorded live at The World, New York, 1986)
B-side to Jennifer She Said
14. I Don’t Believe You or (Recorded live at The World, New York, 1986)
B-side to Jennifer She Said
15. Love Your Wife
B-side to From The Hip
16. Lonely Mile
B-side to From The Hip
17. Please
B-side to From The Hip
18. My Bag (Dancing Mix)
12” single
Disc five – Demo Recordings & Rarities
1. Down At The Mission
Unreleased single A-side
2. Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?
Unreleased single B-side
3. Patience
Demo recording
4. Eat My Words
Demo recording
5. Forest Fire
Demo recording
6. Perfect Skin
Demo recording
7. Poons
Demo recording
8. Old Hats
Demo recording
9. You Win
Demo recording
10. Old Wants Never Gets
Demo recording
11. Another Dry Day
Demo recording
12. 29
Demo recording
13. Jennifer She Said
Demo recording
14. Hey Rusty
Demo recording
15. Everyone’s Complaining
Unreleased recording. Studio Grande Armée (Paris). Produced by Chris Thomas
16. Mr Malcontent
Unreleased recording. Studio Grande Armée (Paris). Produced by Chris Thomas
17. Jennifer She Said (Polished Rough Mix)
Unreleased recording. Sarm Studios (London). Produced by Stewart Copeland and Julian Mendelsohn
18. Hey Rusty
Unreleased recording. Sarm Studios (London). Produced by Stewart Copeland and Julian Mendelsohn
DVD – Promotional videos & television performances
Promotional videos
1. Perfect Skin
2. Forest Fire
3. Rattlesnakes
4. Brand New Friend
5. Lost Weekend
6. Cut Me Down
7. My Bag
8. Jennifer She Said
9. From The Hip
10. Mainstream
Television performances
11. Perfect Skin (Top of the Pops, June 1984)
12. Rattlesnakes (The Old Grey Whistle Test, November 1984)
13. Speedboat (The Old Grey Whistle Test, November 1984)
14. Brand New Friend (Wogan, September 1985)
15. Brand New Friend (Top of the Pops, September 1985)
16. Lost Weekend (Top of the Pops, November 1985)
17. Mister Malcontent (Recorded live in concert at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, June 1986)
18. My Bag (Wogan, September 1987)