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"...Back On The Road..."
I've always struggled big-time with the idea that Alan Hull's debut solo album after splitting from Lindisfarne is some kind of lost masterpiece - it just isn't. And re-listening to it nearly 50-years down the line - despite the gorgeous Remaster from Kathy Bryan from original tapes - I'm still largely unconvinced. Sure there are moments of melodic genius - three of the expert players are his muckers from Lindisfarne anyway (Ray Jackson, Ray Laidlaw and new boy Ken Craddock)...
But to the good - what gets me about this CD Reissue and Remaster is the six extras - two rare B-sides and four from Bob Harris' Radio 1 Sessions that offer Hull unadorned and raw and really well produced too - two of which could easily have replaced the more rowdy cack on the original LP. To the beers and wines and tequila and whatever else is at hand...
UK released 24 October 2005 - "Pipedream" by ALAN HULL of LINDISFARNE on EMI/Virgin/Charisma CASCDR 1069 (Barcode 094633695320) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster with Six Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (56:29 minutes):
1. Breakfast [Side 1]
2. Justanothersadsong
3. Money Game
4. STD 0632
5. United States Of Mind
6. Country Gentleman's Wife
7. Numbers (Travelling Band) [Side 2]
8. For The Bairns
9. Drug Song
10. Song For A Windmill
11. Blue Murder
12. I Hate To See You Cry
Tracks 1 to 12 are his debut solo album (after Lindisfarne disbanded) "Pipedream" - released July 1973 in the UK on Charisma CAS 1069, March 1974 USA on Elektra EKS-75075. Produced by MICKEY SWEENEY and ALAN HULL (mastered by KEN SCOTT) - it peaked on the UK LP charts at No. 29 (didn't chart USA).
BONUS TRACKS:
13. Drinking Song
14. One Off Pat
Tracks 13 are 14 were the Non-LP Alan Hull original song B-sides of the album's first UK 45-single "Numbers (Travelling Band)" released 15 June 1973 on Charisma CB 208.
15. Down On The Underground
Track 15 is a Bob Harris Radio 1 Session for the BBC, first transmission 6 August 1973
16. Gin And Tonics All Round
17. One More Bottle Of Wine
18. Dan The Plan
Tracks 16 to 18 are Bob Harris Radio 1 Sessions for the BBC, first transmission 14 January 1974
Musicians:
ALAN HULL - Guitars, Piano, Harmonium and Lead Vocals
KEN CRADDOCK - Piano, Organ, Harmonium, Electric Piano and Guitars
RAY JACKSON - Harp, Mandolin and Vocals
JOHN (JON) TURNBULL - Guitars
RAY LAIDLAW - Drums
Guest:
Dave Brooks - Saxophone on "For The Bairns"
The UK LP came in a gatefold sleeve with an elaborate 8-page booklet, but clearly neither Hull nor Lindisfarne were making much headway in the USA at that time. The US LP turned up as late as March 1974 on Elektra Records with a single sleeve and no insert. In fact, I suspect it sold so poorly that in 2022 you generally only ever see Promo-copies of the LP up on Auction sites - stock copies being the real rarity. I mention all of this because without saying so, the 12-page booklet reproduces most all of it (photos and lyrics) which in some ways makes up for the complete lack of new liner notes outside of reissue credits.
KEN CRADDOCK - Piano, Organ, Harmonium, Electric Piano and Guitars
RAY JACKSON - Harp, Mandolin and Vocals
JOHN (JON) TURNBULL - Guitars
RAY LAIDLAW - Drums
Guest:
Dave Brooks - Saxophone on "For The Bairns"
The UK LP came in a gatefold sleeve with an elaborate 8-page booklet, but clearly neither Hull nor Lindisfarne were making much headway in the USA at that time. The US LP turned up as late as March 1974 on Elektra Records with a single sleeve and no insert. In fact, I suspect it sold so poorly that in 2022 you generally only ever see Promo-copies of the LP up on Auction sites - stock copies being the real rarity. I mention all of this because without saying so, the 12-page booklet reproduces most all of it (photos and lyrics) which in some ways makes up for the complete lack of new liner notes outside of reissue credits.
Fans have been down the digital rabbit-hole before with "Pipedream" - 1994 and 2000 on CD with no bonuses or Remaster - so the KATHY BRYAN audio on this 2005 sucker will blow them away (done at Abbey Road). Bowie's Ken Scott was the Engineer on the original sessions and clearly Charisma gave Hull enough room and money to produce this LP to buggery - it sounds alarmingly audiophile in most places. It's just sloppy to use the All-Pink Scroll Logo for Charisma Records on the CD label (that's 1970 to 1971) - it was the Mad Hatter Charisma label variant by 1972 and 1973 and that's what should be on here (Virgin is like this at times, slapdash when it's mid-price reissues). To the music...
Before the album hit the shops - Charisma picked what they clearly thought was the most commercially catchy of tunes on the forthcoming LP. "Numbers (Travelling Band)" was released 15 June 1973 in the UK on Charisma CB 208 with two Hull non-LP originals shoring up the B-side - "Drinking Song" and "One Off Pat". The first is awful, but that second is an acoustic winner in my book and one of the genuine highlights on this CD reissue. If you were looking for an example of great sound, you could also go to the out-of-place almost elevator-ish instrumental "STD 0632" from Side 1 - check out that Mandolin break half way through its four-minute duration.
The LP opens with loveliness - "Breakfast" - but a heavy-handed Rock-Guitar break soon wrecks it for me. With the album having spent nearly a month on the UK LP charts, Charisma tried another 45 in early September 1973 (Charisma CB 211) with Track 2 on Side 1. But "Justanothersadsong" b/w "Waiting" did no business (despite being Non-LP at the time of release and therefore a shoe-in for a Bonus Track on this CD, "Waiting" would eventually show up on his second studio album "Squire" in 1975 - so its on the CD Remaster of that). I think their mistake was not to issue the gorgeous "United States Of Mind" as a 7" single - it's more suited to Radio and the one I play most in retrospect. Despite the obvious wit in "Country Gentleman's Wife", I find it kind of insufferable game nowadays.
You can hear why the guitar-boozing "Numbers (Travelling Band)" was picked as 45 number one - cool Production values - getting-drunker-by-the-minute harmonica punctuating the acoustic strums. But then that's followed by the unbearable jaunt of "For The Bairns" - awful stuff - itself flowing into crystal clear acoustics picking out misery in "Drug Song". Again great audio for "Song For A Windmill" - but they are all bettered by "Blue Murder" - fuzzed-up electric guitar siding with acoustic and layered voices in one Production wallop. The album ends on Hull vs. Piano on the unbearably sad "I Hate To See You Cry". The bonuses feature songs (not surprsingly) about boozing, but the admittedly short "One Off Pat", the beer-stained hurt in "Down On The Underground" and especially "Pat The Plan" are shockingly good acoustic ditties and elevate this CD up majorly in my books.
Ray Jackson and Ray Laidlow made their presence felt on "Pipedream" while the multi-instrumentalist Ken Craddock had come up through Ginger Baker's Airforce and alongside John (Jon) Turnbull (also on "Pipedream") came via the obscure one-album band Bell + Arc who were also on Charisma Records.
The bottom-line is that any Hull/Lindisfarne fan who has affection for the band or him will have to own this wonderful sounding EMI CD Remaster. And then whilst listening to Alan Hull's so-English melodies, raise a glass to their hero who's moved on to a better watering hole - bendy nose and all...
Before the album hit the shops - Charisma picked what they clearly thought was the most commercially catchy of tunes on the forthcoming LP. "Numbers (Travelling Band)" was released 15 June 1973 in the UK on Charisma CB 208 with two Hull non-LP originals shoring up the B-side - "Drinking Song" and "One Off Pat". The first is awful, but that second is an acoustic winner in my book and one of the genuine highlights on this CD reissue. If you were looking for an example of great sound, you could also go to the out-of-place almost elevator-ish instrumental "STD 0632" from Side 1 - check out that Mandolin break half way through its four-minute duration.
The LP opens with loveliness - "Breakfast" - but a heavy-handed Rock-Guitar break soon wrecks it for me. With the album having spent nearly a month on the UK LP charts, Charisma tried another 45 in early September 1973 (Charisma CB 211) with Track 2 on Side 1. But "Justanothersadsong" b/w "Waiting" did no business (despite being Non-LP at the time of release and therefore a shoe-in for a Bonus Track on this CD, "Waiting" would eventually show up on his second studio album "Squire" in 1975 - so its on the CD Remaster of that). I think their mistake was not to issue the gorgeous "United States Of Mind" as a 7" single - it's more suited to Radio and the one I play most in retrospect. Despite the obvious wit in "Country Gentleman's Wife", I find it kind of insufferable game nowadays.
You can hear why the guitar-boozing "Numbers (Travelling Band)" was picked as 45 number one - cool Production values - getting-drunker-by-the-minute harmonica punctuating the acoustic strums. But then that's followed by the unbearable jaunt of "For The Bairns" - awful stuff - itself flowing into crystal clear acoustics picking out misery in "Drug Song". Again great audio for "Song For A Windmill" - but they are all bettered by "Blue Murder" - fuzzed-up electric guitar siding with acoustic and layered voices in one Production wallop. The album ends on Hull vs. Piano on the unbearably sad "I Hate To See You Cry". The bonuses feature songs (not surprsingly) about boozing, but the admittedly short "One Off Pat", the beer-stained hurt in "Down On The Underground" and especially "Pat The Plan" are shockingly good acoustic ditties and elevate this CD up majorly in my books.
Ray Jackson and Ray Laidlow made their presence felt on "Pipedream" while the multi-instrumentalist Ken Craddock had come up through Ginger Baker's Airforce and alongside John (Jon) Turnbull (also on "Pipedream") came via the obscure one-album band Bell + Arc who were also on Charisma Records.
The bottom-line is that any Hull/Lindisfarne fan who has affection for the band or him will have to own this wonderful sounding EMI CD Remaster. And then whilst listening to Alan Hull's so-English melodies, raise a glass to their hero who's moved on to a better watering hole - bendy nose and all...
