Sing to God

Sing to God
Studio album by Cardiacs
Released 1996[1]
Recorded 1996
Genre Art rock, post-punk
Length 1:28:48
Label Alphabet Business Concern
Producer Tim Smith
Cardiacs chronology

Sampler
(1996)		 Sing to God
(1996)		 Guns
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Organ (favourable)[2]


Sing to God is the seventh album by Cardiacs and their first with drummer Bob Leith.

Sing to God was also the band's first double album, due to the sheer amount of material that group leader Tim Smith had written over a number of years with little or no Cardiacs live performances. The album was initially released as a limited run of 3000 double album sets, and later as two separate CDs. It is named after a children's hymn book owned by former Cardiacs keyboardist William D. Drake, although Smith has stressed the album is not a religious work.

Background

"Tim would have drums and rough keyboard chords on tape and would ask me to come up with guitar and bass riffs. I was literally allowed to do pretty much anything I wanted. Tim would then do the production bit and get the best out of me… I remember Tim had programmed the weird bit in the middle of "Odd Even" and left me to find a guitar line amongst the chords so I was sat on my own dropping myself in. When he came back it was done and he was very happy... particularly with my choice of last note! We would both make suggestions then Tim would edit the ideas into something that worked. Tim would chip in with ideas for my songs too like the string arrangement on "Manhoo" which was lovely."

Jon Poole on his contributions to Cardiacs Sing to God album)[3]

The album was preceded by the release of the Bellyeye single on Org Records (the record-releasing wing of long-term Cardiacs’ supporters Organ Magazine).[4] The album featured two further singles, Manhoo and Odd Even, both released (like the album) on the band's own Alphabet Business Concern label. None of the three singles charted.

The album was notable for a change in Cardiacs' working methods. Whereas most previous material had been written and arranged by Tim Smith, the Sing to God sessions saw extensive contributions from Jon Poole who played a strong role in orchestrating Smith's basic material with detailed riffs and keyboard parts (and contributed several songs entirely written by himself). Drummer Bob Leith also made significant contributions to the album's lyrics.

The album also features material from various Cardiacs related projects. The track "Nurses Whispering Verses" had been recorded twice before, once on the band's 1981 cassette album Toy World and once on the original cassette release of the band's 1984 album The Seaside (it was removed from the 1995 CD reissue). "Bell Stinks", "Bell Clinks" and "Angleworm Angel" were all taken from the repertoire of the thrash band Panixsphere (which featured Tim Smith and Jon Poole alongside Christian Hayes and David Francolini of Levitation). "Billion" is allegedly the first song which Tim Smith ever wrote, resurrected and recorded many years after its composition. The song "Wireless" features Tim Smith reading from a children's story called "Peril on the Sea" written by Dawn Staple (who would join the band in 2004 as a percussionist and backing singer).

Track listing

All songs written by Tim Smith unless otherwise indicated.

Disc one

  1. "Eden on the Air" – 2:21
  2. "Eat It Up Worms Hero" (Tim Smith, Bob Leith) – 2:33
  3. "Dog-Like Sparky" – 4:53
  4. "Fiery Gun Hand" – 5:13
  5. "Insect Hoofs on Lassie" – 3:00
  6. "Fairy Mary Mag" – 3:44
  7. "Bellyeye" – 4:09
  8. "A Horse's Tail" (Jon Poole) – 3:47
  9. "Manhoo" (Jon Poole, Tim Smith) – 4:59
  10. "Wireless" (Tim Smith, Dawn Staple) – 8:22

Disc two

  1. "Dirty Boy" (Tim Smith, Bob Leith) – 8:54
  2. "Billion" – 0:41
  3. "Odd Even" – 3:18
  4. "Bell Stinks" (Jon Poole) – 1:19
  5. "Bell Clinks" (Jon Poole) – 2:54
  6. "Flap Off You Beak" – 3:44
  7. "Quiet as a Mouse" – 1:28
  8. "Angleworm Angel" (Jon Poole) – 2:24
  9. "Red Fire Coming Out From His Gills" – 2:14
  10. "No Gold" – 3:31
  11. "Nurses Whispering Verses" (Tim Smith, Bob Leith) – 9:53
  12. "Foundling" – 5:27

Personnel

Additional personnel

References

  1. ↑ Official discography
  2. ↑ Organ review
  3. ↑ "July 2009 interview with Jon Poole on Cardiacs homepage, page 2". Cardiacs homepage. July 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
  4. ↑ Reviews of Sing to God album (archived on Cardiacs homepage)

External Links

Official Cardiacs site