Sad Lovers & Giants
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| Sad Lovers & Giants | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Rickmansworth, England |
| Genres | Post-punk |
| Years active | 1980–1983, 1986–1991, 2002-2003, 2009-present |
| Labels | Midnight Music |
| Members | |
| Garçe Allard Tony McGuinness Nigel Pollard Ian Gibson Will Hicks |
|
| Past members | |
| Tristan Garel-Funk David Wood Cliff Silver Juliet Sainsbury |
|
Sad Lovers & Giants are a rock band from Watford, England who formed in 1980.[1] Their sound blends post-punk, atmospheric keyboards and psychedelia and the band has been described as "a pastoral Pink Floyd".
Contents |
[edit] Career
The band's members have included Garçe (Simon) Allard (vocals), Tristan Garel-Funk (guitar), Tony McGuinness (now part of the trance trio Above & Beyond) (guitar), Cliff Silver (bass), Ian Gibson (bass), David Wood (keyboards and saxophone), Juliet Sainsbury (keyboards), Nigel Pollard (drums & percussion) and Will Hicks (keyboards).
The original lineup produced two studio albums, Epic Garden Music (1982) and Feeding the Flame (1983), before splitting in 1983. During this initial period they recorded a John Peel Session for the BBC,[2] and a live concert for the Dutch Radio Hilversum station in 1983, which was subsequently released as the album Total Sound in 1986.[1] Live performances included headline dates at UK colleges and clubs with occasional trips to Europe, although they did support The Sound at a major London venue on the day Epic Garden Music entered the UK independent charts.
European interest in the band began to grow, and with the release of second album Feeding the Flame, they toured Germany and Holland, gaining a dedicated fanbase. Tensions within the band caused a split, with Garel-Funk and Pollard leaving to form The Snake Corps.
Not much was heard for a while; their label Midnight Music released a "mopping up" album entitled In the Breeze in 1984, which included one of their previously unreleased signature tunes, "Three Lines".
They returned in 1986 with an updated line-up (Tony McGuiness on guitar, Juliet Sainsbury on keyboards and Ian Gibson on bass), and new album entitled The Mirror Test.[1]
As interest abroad grew, the band performed extensively in Holland, Spain and France, headlined at the old Marquee club in London's Soho, and with the release of their fourth album, Headland, were a featured band in Melody Maker.
They released a further album Treehouse Poetry before Midnight Music went bust and the band split once again, coming together occasionally for gigs supporting And Also The Trees at the Marquee Club and London's Electric Ballroom. E-mail from Eternity, a 'best of' compilation, was released by the record label Cherry Red in 1996 after the company picked up the Midnight catalogue.
In 2002, the band released an album called Melting in the Fullness of Time. They played two dates in Italy a year later.
Another reformed lineup (Allard, McGuiness, Pollard, Gibson) played several gigs in Italy in April 2009, coinciding with Cherry Red's rereleases of Feeding the Flame and Epic Garden Music. Current keyboardist Will Hicks joined later in 2009.
During 2010, the band played a handful of successful live dates in Athens, Greece, and Barcelona, Spain, reissued The Mirror Test, and recorded a new 7" double single, "Himalaya"/"Happiness Is Fragile." In 2011, they played gigs in Berlin and London, and began writing and recording new material for a future album.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- 1982: Epic Garden Music CHIME 00.01 (Midnight Music) - UK Indie #21[3]
- 1983: Feeding the Flame CHIME 00.03 (Midnight Music)
- 1984: In the Breeze CHIME 00.07 (Midnight Music)
- 1986: Total Sound CHIME 00.22 (Midnight Music)
- 1987: The Mirror Test CHIME 00.30 (Midnight Music)
- 1988: Les Années Vertes CHIME 00.40 (anthology - Midnight Music)
- 1990: Headland CHIME 01.10 (Midnight Music)
- 1991: Treehouse Poetry CHIME 01.20 (Midnight Music)
- 1996: E-mail from Eternity (The Best of Sad Lovers & Giants) CDMGRAM 104 (Anagram Records, distributed by Cherry Red)
- 2000: La Dolce Vita (Sad Lovers & Giants Live in Lausanne) VKR001CD (Voight-Kampff Records)
- 2001: Headland and Treehouse Poetry VKR002CD (Voight-Kampff Records)
- 2002: Melting in the Fullness of Time VKR003CD (Voight-Kampff Records)
[edit] 12" Singles
- 1983: "Man of Straw" (DONG 5) ("Man of Straw," "Cow Boys (Version)," "Close to the Sea")
- 1987: "Seven Kinds of Sin" (DONG 31) ("Seven Kinds of Sin," "The Outsider," "Ours to Kill")
- 1987: "White Russians" (DONG 34) ("White Russians," "A Map of My World," "Life Under Glass")
- 1988: "Cow Boys" (DONG 36) ("Cow Boys (1988 Remix)," "Lost in a Moment (1988 Remix)," "The Best Film He Ever Made," "Things We Never Did (Live)")
- 1989: "Sleep"/"A Reflected Dream" (DONG 40) ("Sleep (Is For Everyone)") *with The Essence
- 1990: "Clocks Go Backwards" (DONG 59) ("Return to Clocktower Lodge," "Seven Kinds of Sin," "Three Lines," "Colourless Dream")
[edit] 7" Singles
- 1981: Clé LM 003 (Last Movement) ("Imagination," "When I See You," "Landslide")
- 1982: "Colourless Dream" LM 005 (Last Movement) ("Colourless Dream," "Things We Never Did") - initial copies were pressed with the labels backwards
- 1982: "Lost in a Moment" DING 1 (Midnight Music) ("Lost in a Moment," "The Tightrope Touch") - UK Indie #48[3]
- 1983: "Man of Straw" DING 5 (Midnight Music) ("Man of Straw," "Cow Boys") - UK Indie #31[3]
- 2010: "Himalaya"/"Happiness Is Fragile" VKR004 (Voight-Kampff Records)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 489-90
- ^ "Sad Lovers and Giants", Keeping It Peel, BBC, retrieved 2011-01-15
- ^ a b c Lazell, Barry (1998) Indie Hits 1980–1989, Cherry Red Books, ISBN 0-9517206-9-4, p. 195
