Hillside sessions 1979
1. Hit the dead 2. Fragments 3. SPG 4. Long distance 5. Relapse time 6. Register of electors
The 4ad Rock Garden gig, supporting Bauhaus
7. Do not disturb 8. Fragments 9. Limit 10. Absolute darkness 11. Long distance 12. Relapse time 13. Register of electors 14. SPG
Blackwing studios (outtake from the 4ad "Pressages" session)
15. Register of electors
This album is dedicated to the memory of Chris Chisnall who is sadly no longer with us.
Spasmodic Recollections from Peter Ashby
The 1979 Hillside session was Spasmodic Caress` first encounter with a recording studio. Indeed it was the first time any of its members had been inside of one. It was equally a new experience for the Hillside staff as they had been used to recording country and western artists and not groups with the kinds of sounds that we wanted to produce. At first they seemed a bit at a loss with how to deal with this rabble that had turned up on their doorstep, upsetting their cosy routine, but things gradually got going and we basically ran through a collection of tunes that represented our current stage set. We played in the same manner as we had on numerous occasions before, be it gig or practice session. This time though there was the luxury of overdubbing and utilising studio effects with the added bonus of actually capturing Pete Master`s Wasp synthesiser on a couple of songs which invariably he would forgot to play at live performances. At the end of the days recording , in autocratic mood, Pete Masters stayed behind with Phil Mister to help mix the tracks and come away with some cassettes of the experience. Chris Chisnall and myself were sent packing, presumably as too many cooks might spoil the broth, (or was it to make sure that the vocals were loud in the mix?).
After the initial elation of our first foray into recording had diminished, the results seemed to us to be a bit weak and we weren`t overly satisfied. We put it down to the studios country music bias and continued the normal routine of gigging and pursuing record deals (whist holding down day jobs I might add - even in those high unemployment times).
I don`t remember how initial contact was made with 4AD. It must have been through the efforts of Pete Masters. Perhaps he sent them a Hillside cassette. Anyway, we went up to see Ivo and Wassisname in London at the Beggars Banquet shop and they took us to lunch to discuss business. Firstly we had to play a gig at the Rock Garden supporting Bauhaus who were either auditioning as well or had just had dark entries released (I can`t remember which). We then had another 4AD sponsored gig at the Moonlight Club playing with In Camera and Modern English. On the strength of these performances we were booked for a recording date at the Archipelago Studios in London. Here I`m pretty sure (though by no means certain) that we recorded 3 songs; Hit the Dead; SPG and Register of Electors. Unfortunately it was an abysmal session. The engineer was a complete dork who was more interested in playing us his own dire compositions than doing a good job for us. I have not heard the results from this session to this day. I don`t know if anyone in the group ever had a cassette copy - I certainly didn`t. I assume that Ivo did. I have no idea if anything at all survives of that day on any format.
Because nothing useable came from Archipelago, 4AD booked us into Blackwing studios in London. There we were treated to near permanent ear damage as guitarist Brian Robertson (recently departed from Thin Lizzy) had just finished using the studios to rehearse with his new band and the staff had forgotten to reset everything for our session. With a frantic effort occurring all around us by Blackwing engineers as they tried to rectify their oversight, we patiently(??!!) waited for our session to start. The delay however, substantially cut into our time and in the end we were only able to record 2 songs that day; Hit the Dead and Register of Electors. It was 4AD`s decision what to record I believe, and I think the track SPG had been causing them some concern due to its strong and uncompromising political lyrics. In the end
4AD decided not to release a single but took just one track - Hit the Dead and put it on their rather strange compilation 12" Presage(s). Shortly before its release I remember Pete Masters telling us with much indignation that someone called Frank "Bucket" had a track directly after ours. This, the rest of us found hilarious, but the truth as it turned out wasn`t quite so amusing.
Included on this release is the entire Hillside session which saw the light of day once before as a Falling A cassette release and is taken and re-mastered from the only surviving cassette copy that we have. In fact, the cassette in question had nearly self- destructed, making this salvage job a timely one. Mostly the quality from this transfer is satisfactory although the occasional wobble has occurred. The recording itself is not as weak as it seemed at the time. That opinion was probably due to the inferior cassette players on which we listened to it at the time.
The second recording on the release is an audience cassette recording from the Rock Garden gig. Although the sound quality suffers from the occasional dropout and other usual cassette related problems it isn`t so awful that enjoyment can`t be had from it. From an historical point of view it is a fascinating recording. Valuable as the only known recording of a Spasmodic Caress live performance and also because of the way the audience is captured as an integral part of the recording . Some of the chatter and comments to be heard are really quite amusing. Unfortunately the recording starts part way through the first number Do Not Disturb and cuts off halfway through the last number SPG. But considering until recently I wasn`t even aware that this recording existed I`m just glad that any track at all from a live performance survives intact. Treats along the way include Pete Masters` microphone failure in Fragments and his constant shouts of "Lets see ya moving about!" between tracks.
Cracking good fun overall .
The last track on the CD- yet another recording of Register of Electors, is the version recorded at Blackwing studios .Again it is taken from a barely surviving cassette copy.
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REVIEWS
Spasmodic Caress were an English post punk/New Wave band that played many gigs along the East coast and in Ipswich, Colchester and London between 1979 and 1984. They recorded a track for the 4AD 12" compilation Presage(s) in 1980 and also released an album on Falling A Records. Talking about 4AD records, they have a good web site that's worth a look (www.4ad.com). Anyhow, Falling A have taken the original cassettes that these tracks were recorded on and re-mastered them for CD. Tracks 7 to 14 are from an audience cassette recording, when the band supported Bauhaus. It doesn't sound too bad although it's obvious that it's a bootleg recording. The band themselves sound like a cross between New Wave and the Ska/Two-Tone movement. The singer almost speaks the words. It is a good example of the embryonic beginnings of the new Wave movement and the notion that there was more to rock than anger, shouting and 3 chords. Saying that, this offering is one for those who are pretty clued up and fans of this era. (Liam) www.modern-dance.co.uk
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Historic recordings from the vaults that capture this cult new wave band in their prime just before and during their time with 4ad. They have enjoyed a resurgence of interest with US Punk band the Spits recording a cover version of "Hit the Dead" as their recent single as well as being featured on the 4ad website as part of the label's 25th anniversary celebrations! Also check out the Harold Beaver site featuring former Spaz guitarist Phil Mister.
Check out the "official" Spasmodic Caress My Space page
