The Enid

The Enid are a British rock band founded in 1973 by Robert John Godfrey, Stephen Stewart and Francis Lickerish.

The Enid's membership has since undergone several changes, always with Godfrey at the helm. Godfrey has diabetes, and has also described bouts of depression associated with periods of writer's block.^{[citation needed]} The band is still recording sporadically. There were no full-length album releases between 1997 and 2010, when Journey's End was released, although 2009's Arise and Shine featured newly remixed and partly re-recorded tracks from previous albums plus one preview of a Journey's End track.

History

The Enid at a live show in 1979 on the Touch Me tour (L-R: Dave Storey, Terry Pack, Steve Stewart, Tony Freer, Willie Gilmour, Francis Lickerish, Robert John Godfrey)

The Enid began recording at about the same time as punk rock burst upon the scene. Godfrey has said that he always regarded The Enid's ironic takes on classical music as being just as anarchic as anything by the Sex Pistols, but this did not translate into either musical or commercial recognition, despite their work being played frequently by Tommy Vance on BBC Radio One's Friday Rock Show.^{[citation needed]} In 1981, the band played most of the music for Kim Wilde's self-titled debut album.

In the 2001 the band formed a marketing agreement with Inner Sanctum that saw most of the band's back-catalogue being reissued on that label. However, in 2009 they announced that Inner Sanctum was illegally attempting to take control of the band's name and copyrights.^[1] As a result of the ensuing legal action the Journey's End album was released on the band's own Enidiworks/Operation Seraphim label.

The Enid's official website later carried further details of the dispute as it concerned some of the band's earlier recordings. The site states that in 2010 Inner Sanctum released illegal bootlegs of the original EMI versions of In the Region of the Summer Stars and Aerie Faerie Nonsense. As a result of this EMI took action against Gerald Palmer to stop the bootlegs and agreed to grant a Worldwide License to Operation Seraphim, (the band's own record label) for the three albums they own (In The Region, Aerie Faerie Nonsense, and Godfrey's 1974 solo album The Fall Of Hyperion).^{[citation needed]}

Marketing innovations

In addition to traditional vinyl and CD releases, in the late 1990s the band also pioneered the production of "Bespoke CDs" - mail-order custom compilation CD-Rs containing rare tracks chosen by listeners from a catalogue. This service was discontinued after a couple of years.

In March 2006 Godfrey announced on the band's website that he would shortly be making its entire back catalogue available for free download as high-quality mp3s.Godfrey wrote: "The purpose of this is to make sure that The Enid's music reaches as many people as possible and does not entirely disappear when I am dead. The Enid represents my life's work and I want it and what it contains to live on in those who warm to it. Having taken this decision it may well influence the way I think about The Enid and may drive me to do some more."^[2]

In 2012 The Enid released their 12th studio album Invicta, which celebrated top 10 success in the Guardian readers' poll.

Personnel

Members

Current members

• Robert John Godfrey - keyboards (1973–1999, 2007–present)
• Dave Storey - drums, percussion (1974–1975, 1976–1979, 1984–1988, 1998–1999, 2007–present)
• Max Read - guitars, bass (1997–1999, 2007–present)
• Jason Ducker - guitars (2007–present)
• Nicholas Willes - bass, percussion, guitar (2009–present)
• Joe Payne - vocals (2011–present)

Former members

Lineups

Discography

Albums

• In the Region of the Summer Stars (1976) (BUK BULP 2014)
• Aerie Faerie Nonsense (1977) (EMI International INS 3012)
• Touch Me (1978) (Pye NSPH 18593)
• Six Pieces (1979) (Pye NH 116)
• Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) (ENID 3)^[3]
• Live at Hammersmith (Vol 1) (Recorded 1979) (1984) (ENID 1)
• Live at Hammersmith (Vol 2) (Recorded 1979) (1984) (ENID 2)
• Aerie Faerie Nonsense (Recorded 1983) (ENID 6) - Band's own rerelease
• In the Region of the Summer Stars 1984 (1984) (ENID 7) - Band's own reissue of debut album
• The Spell (1985) (ENID 8) (originally released as a double-45 rpm album) (UK Indie No. 24)^[4]
• Salome (1986) (ENID 10)
• Lovers And Fools (double retrospective compilation) (1986)
• The Seed and the Sower (originally released as by Godfrey and Stewart) (1988)
• Final Noise (live album) (1988)
• Tripping the Light Fantastic (1994)
• Sundialer (1995)
• Anarchy on 45 (singles compilation) (1996)
• Members one of Another (compilation, fanclub's choice) (1996)
• Healing Hearts (compilation by Matthew Manning) (1996)
• White Goddess (1997)
• Tears of the Sun (1999)
• Arise and Shine (2009) (remixed and re-recorded tracks, plus preview of "Malacandra" from Journey's End)
• Journey's End (2010)
• Arise and Shine Volume 2 - Risen (2011) (re-recordings of early tracks)
• Arise and Shine Volume 3 - Shining (2012) (re-recordings of earlier tracks with added vocals)
• Live with The CBSO at Symphony Hall (2012) (double CD)
• Invicta (2012)

Some albums have been issued on CD two or three times, sometimes with different bonus tracks and cover artwork.

Special & fanclub releases

• The Stand (1984)
• The Stand (1985)
• Fand (Special Extended Re-recording) (1985)
• Liverpool (1986)
• The Music of William Arkle (1986)
• The Enid at Hammersmith 17 October 1986 (Official Bootleg)
• The Enid at Hammersmith 30 October 1987 (Official Bootleg)
• Joined By The Heart (1987)
• Reverberations (Robert John Godfrey Solo recording) (1987)
• Inner Pieces (Compilation) (1987)
• Inner Visions (Compilation (1988)
• The Story of The Enid (Told in words and music by Robert John Godfrey) (1991)

Singles

• "The Lovers"/"In The Region Of Summer Stars" (1976) (Buk BUK 3002)
• "Jubilee"/"Omega" (1977) (EMI International INT 534) release cancelled
• "Golden Earrings"/"Omega" (1977) EMI (BUK) INT 540
• "Dambusters March"/"Land Of Hope & Glory"/"The Skyeboat Song" (1979) (Pye 7P 106)(PS, Blue vinyl with RAF roundel design)
• "Fool" (with Malcolm Le Maistre)/"Tito" (1980) Pye 7P 187 (PS)
• "Golden Earrings"/"665 The Great Bean" (1980) EMI 5109 (PS)^[5]
• "When You Wish Upon A Star"/"Jessica" (1981) (Bronze BRO 127)(PS)
• "Heigh Ho"/"Twinkle Little Star" (1980)(Bronze BRO 134)
• "Then There Were None"/"Letter From America" (1982) RAK 349 (PS)
• "Then There Were None"/"Letter From America"/"Raindown" (1984) (PS, 12")
• "Itchycoo Park"/"Sheets Of Blue" (1986) (7": Sedition EDIT 3314)(PS) - (12" - Sedition EDITL 3314, blue vinyl)
• "Salome"/"Salomee" (1990) (7" - Enid ENID 7999)(PS) (12"- Enid ENID 6999)(PS)

References

• The Enid at AllMusic

External links

• The official Enid website
• The official Enid Myspace
• The Enid at Facebook
• Robert John Godfrey youtube channel
• The Lodge Recording Studio website
• The Enid: A Brief History - part 1
• The Enid: A Brief History - part 2
• Talking Elephant The Enid Page
• Secret Green - Francis Lickerish's band
• BBC feature about The Enidi and Robert John Godfrey