The Telescopes

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The Telescopes
Origin	Burton upon Trent
Country	United Kingdom
Years active	1987 – present
Genres	Experimental, Space Rock, Shoegazing
Labels	Cheree, What Goes On, Double Agent Records, Antenna Records, Hungry Audio
Members	Stephen Lawrie Jo Doran

The Telescopes were formed in 1987 by Stephen Lawrie and could best be described as a noise/ space rock band - the Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3 being influences and contemporaries.

[edit] Original Line-up

Stephen Lawrie - Vocals And Acoustic Guitars (b. 28 March 1969, East Hartford, Northumberland, England)
Joanna Doran - Backing Vocals And Rhythm Guitars (b. Wednesbury, West Midlands, England)
David Fitzgerald - Lead Guitars (b. 30 August 1966, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England)
Robert Brooks - Bass Guitars (b. 11 April 1969, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England)
Dominic Dillon - Drums And Percussion (b. 26 September 1964, Bolton, Lancashire, England)

[edit] History

Their debut release was a split flexi disc with Loop on the Cheree label in 1988. There followed their debut single, "Kick the Wall", and "7th# Disaster" also on Cheree Records. They moved to What Goes On Records and released their debut LP, "Taste" and "The Perfect Needle" single which is perhaps their most famous song. A live album appeared on Fierce Records and following What Goes On’s bankruptcy they signed to Creation Records. A more laidback, baggy influenced sound followed and the band scraped the lower reaches of the UK singles chart with singles like "Flying", and released "The Telescopes", their second album, in 1992. It was a commercial failure and the band disappeared from the public eye.

They toured again with a different line-up, new sound and all new songs in 1994 and later evolved into Unisex releasing a number of records. Unisex were Stephen Lawrie (Vocals) Jo Doran (Guitars/Backing Vocals) Nick Hemming (Guitars/Keyboards) Dan (Drums) Foz (Bass)

In 2002 they made a surprise return with "The Third Wave" on Double Agent Records. By this time they were a core of just Stephen Lawrie and Jo Doran and were a much more experimental band specialising in electronic soundscapes. In 2005 they released their fourth album "The Telescopes #4" on their own Antenna Records. They continue to tour, release singles and make numerous appearances on compilation CDs.

[edit] Discography

Loop / Telescopes split flexi 7" (Cheree / CHEREE 1) Dec. 1988
The Telescopes - Forever Close Your Eyes, Loop - SoundHead - Live at ULU

Kick the Wall 7" (Cheree / CHEREE 2) Jan. 1989
Kick the Wall, This is the Last of Whats Coming Now
(Ltd editon initital pressing of 1,000 in blue sleeve, followed by a re-press of 500 in numbered red sleeve.)

7th# Disaster 12" (Cheree / CHEREET4) Apr. 1989
7th# Disaster, Nothing, This Planet, Cold

The Perfect Needle 12" (What Goes On / WHAT GOES 15T) Aug. 1989
The Perfect Needle, Sadness Pale, S.H.C. Burn, You Can Not Be Sure

Taste LP/ CD (What Goes On / GOES ON 32 / GOES ON CD 32) 1989
And Let Me Drift Away, I Fall, She Screams, Oil Seed Rape, Violence, Threadbare, The Perfect Needle, There Is No Floor, Anticipating Nowhere, Please, Before You Go, Suffercation, Silent Water, Suicide

Re-released in 1990 on Cheree (CHEREE 9 / CHEREE 9CD)
Re-released in March 2006 on Rev-Ola (CR REV 152) with bonus live tracks: There Is No Floor, Sadness Pale, Threadbare and Suicide.

To Kill A Slow Girl Walking 12"/ CDS (What Goes On / What Goes 18T / What Goes 18CD) Jan. 1990
To Kill A Slow Girl Walking, Treasure, Forever Now,Pure Sweetest Ocean

Trade Mark Of Quality LP/ CD (Fierce / Fright 039 / Fright 039CD) 1990
There Is No Floor, Sadness Pale, The Perfect Needle, 7th# Disaster, Threadbare, Violence, Anticipating Nowhere, Please, Before You Go, Suicide

Precious Little 7"/ 12"/ CDS (Creation / CRES 081 / CRES 081T / CRESCD 081) Apr. 1990
Precious Little, Deep Hole Ends, Never Hurt You, I Sense

Everso 7"/ 12"/ CDS (Creation / CRES 092 / CRES 092T / CRESCD 092) Dec. 1990
Everso, Never Learn Not To Love, Wish Of You

Celeste 7"/ 12"/ CDS (Creation/ CRES 103 / CRES 103T / CRESCD 103) Feb. 1991
Celeste, All A Dreams, Celestial

Flying 12"/CDS (Creation / CRES 108T / CRESCD 108) Jul. 1991
Flying, Soul Full Of Tears, High On Fire, The Sleepwalk

The Telescopes LP/CD (AKA Higher'n'Higher) (Creation / CRELP 070 / CRECD 070) May 1992
Splashdown, High On Fire, You Set My Soul, Spaceships, The Presence Of Your Grace, And, Flying, Yeah, Ocean Drive, Please Tell Mother, To The Shore

Re-released in 2004 on Rev-Ola as "# Untitled Second" (CR REV 81) with bonus tracks dnaanb and tornado,br>

Third Wave LP / CD (Double Agent / DA017LP / DA017CD) Apr. 2002
A Cabin In The Sky, 3D Jesus Ashtray, Tesla Death Ray, My Name Is Zardak [Drop Your Weaponz], A Good Place To Hide, When Nemo Sank The Nautillus, Winter #2, Moog Destroya, The Atoms Of The Sea, You And I Are The Foxboy Noises

As Approved by the Committee CD (Bomp / EVIL 10) Jun. 2003
I Fall She Screams, There is No Floor, Threadbare, Anticipating Nowhere, Please Before You Go, Silent Water, Suicide, Pure Sweetest Ocean, Everso, Never Learn Not to Love, Celeste, Flying, The Sleepwalk, Celestial

Where The Sky Is Low 7" (Mind Expansion Records) 2003
Where The Sky Is Low
Split w/ Füxa. Limited to 500

Mooga Destroya 7" (Jonathon Whiskey Records / Brian Whiskey 37.) 2003
Mooga Destroya
Split w/ Lo Casta. Ltd to 250 copies.

Premonitions 1989-1991 CD (Midsummer Madness) 2003
S.H.C. Burn, You Can Not Be Sure, Please Before You Go, Oil Seed Rape, Threadbare, To Kill A Slow Girl Walking, Forever Now, Precious Little, Everso, Celeste, Flying, High on Fire, The Sleepwalk, Splashdown

Altered Perception CD (Space Age Recordings / ORBIT014CD) 2004
The Perfect Needle, Sadness Pale, 16T#4, Violence, And Let Me Drift Away..., Treasure, Deep Hole Ends, Extended Intro Piece, Wish of You, All A Dreams, Soul Full of Tears, 16T#3, From the Inner Void I Fear..., You Set My Soul, And

Winter 7" (Hungry Audio / YUMS1) Nov. 2004
Winter #7, The Perfect Needle #4

The Telescopes #4 CD (Antenna Records / Antenna 004CD) 2005
The Hypnotic Pulse of the Motor Driven, Link #1, On a Dead Man's Bones By the Light of the Moon Skeletons Dance a Demon Dance of the Doomed, All the Leaves, A Measure of Imbalance, Singularity, Fear the Eye Became the Tone, The Yearning, Winter #4, It Bleeds

Hungry Audio Tapes CD (Hungry Audio / YUMCD6) 2006
Another Sky, Where It Comes From Where It Goes, Household Objective #2, Demon Landscape, Winter #7, The Perfect Needle #4