Buried Treasures Vol. 1 (1992)

 

1. Red Square Dance Lou Nella 3:12
2. Finest Hour Alan Hull 3:47
3. Together Forever (Live) Rab Noakes 2:40
4. Together Crack Lindisfarne 0:41
5. Happy or Sad Ray Jackson/Charlie Harcourt 3:09
6. Way Behind You Simon Cowe 4:23
7. Behind Crack Lindisfarne 1:00
8. Old Peculiar Feeling Rod Clements 5:47
9. True Love Alan Hull 4:07
10. Love Crack Lindisfarne 1:08
11. City Song (Live) Alan Hull 4:25
12. Rock 'n' Roll Town Rod Clements/Marty Craggs 5:32
13. Swiss Maid (Live) R.Miller 5:28
14. Sporting Life Blues (Demo) Carey 3:48
15. Karen Marie (Live) Alan Hull/Marty Craggs 6:16
16. From my window Rod Clements 3:29
17. Window Crack Lindisfarne 0:54
18. Run Jimmy Run Alan Hull 3:13
19. Malvinas Melody (Live) Alan Hull 5:56
20. Let's Dance (Live) Lee 2:09

 Album Cover Info

Red Square Dance ( unreleased on this format ) - The Defectors - A very confusing history to this, where Si does his best 'Hank'. Originally submitted as theme to the Moscow Olympics following a suggestion from Brendan Foster (Honest!) It was completed just as the USSR invaded Afghanistan and later released as a 'one-off' single with the A and B sides reversed. There have been several other recoded versions of the sam track, at various times, but with different titles ... confused ? Also known as 'The Dog Tune' by the band, who for many years used it to open the second half of their shows. Recorded at Chipping Norton Studios Oxfordshire 1980. Produced by Steve & The Defectors.

Finest Hour ( unreleased ) - Lindisfarne - With a title inspired by a certain compilation "put together by someone else", the track ends with an excerpt from Aldaniti's Grand National win, for some reason probably only known to Alan. Recorded at Chipping Norton 1981. Produced by Steve Lipson.

Together Forever ( unreleased ) - Lindisfarne - Recorded live at the Paris Theatre 7.12.71 for BBC Radio One 'In Concert'. Producer Jeff Griffin. Host John Peel.

Happy or Sad ( unreleased ) - Lindisfarne - Demo from the period just prior to the 'Back and Fourth' album. Recorded at Surrey Sound Studios 2/3.2.78. Produced by Lindisfarne, Engineer, Nigel Gray.

Way Behind You ( unreleased ) - Brethren - From the 'Brethren Tapes'. Only previously heard as part of Metro Radio's 10th Anniversary celebration of the band's formation. Recorded at Morgan Studios, London 1969. Producer, Geoff Gill. Engineered by Mike Bobak.

Old Peculiar Feeling ( unreleased ) - Lindisfarne - Recorded live for BBC Radio Newcastle at Newcastle City Hall, 20.12.90. Producer Jake Burns, Engineer, Graham Smith.

True Love ( unreleased ) - Lindisfarne - Demo from the 'Dance your life away' album. Recorded at the Studio, Gosforth, Newcastle July-September 1984. Engineered by Steve Daggett.

City Song ( unreleased ) - Lindisfarne - Recorded live at the Paris Theatre 18.7.71 for John Peel's 'Sunday Concert' on Radio One. Producer Jeff Griffin. Host John Peel.

Rock 'n' Roll Town ( unreleased ) - Lindisfarne - Rod loves working to a remit. In 1990, 'The Geordie Rock Tour' - a coach-based journey around Newcastle to celebrate its musical roots - was put together by Ian Luck, Dave Thomas and some bloke called Hill. Someone suggested that a kind of 'theme song' would be an advantage. Much to everyone's deligh, Rod & Marty came up with this perfect song for the tour. Almost biographical, according to Rod, "it could really be about almost any rock musician". Recorded at Hi Level Studios, Newcastle, Summer 1990. Produced by Steve Cunningham.

Swiss Maid ( unreleased ) - Pacamax - A real stew-up of Geordie musicians, Pacamax got together in 1982 as an occasional band playing 'covers' only. This song always goes down a storm at 'pacas' gigs. Yodels to you too... Recorded at the 'Magnesia Bank', North Shields 6.4.90. Engineered by Mickey Sweeney.

Sporting Life Blues ( unreleased ) - Downtown Faction - Recorded live by BBC Radio in Manchester for Paul Jones' Rhythmn and Blues Show. Broadcast 1.10.87. Produced by Nick Clark.

Karen Marie ( unreleased ) - Lindisfarne - Recorded live for BBC Radio Newcastle at Newcastle City Hall, 20.12.90. Producer Jake Burns. Engineer Graham Smith.

From My Window ( unreleased ) - Lindisfarne - From the 'Nicely out of tune' sessions Aug. 1970. Recorded at Trident Studios, London. Producer John Anthony.

Run Jimmy Run ( unreleased ) - Lindisfarne - From the 'Sleepless Nights' sessions and originally intended as a single. Recorded at Chipping Norton 1981. Producer, Steve Lipson. Remixed by Steve Cunningham & Paul Campbell at Hi-Level, Newcastle, 21.8.92

Malvinas Melody ( unreleased ) - Lindisfarne - Originally recorded for Alan's "On the other side" album, this is one of several of his 'solo' songs that the band have featured as part of their show over the years.

Lets Dance ( unreleased ) - Lindisfarne - This and 'Malvinas' were both recorded live by David Batchelor at Newcastle City Hall, Dec. 1983. Remixed by Steve Cunningham and Paul Campbell at Hi-Level, July 1992.

It has become very common for bands who began life in the late sixties to celebrate their careers recently. It's an opportunity, apparently, to "close a chapter" - in order to "move on". In that respect, Lindisfarne are no different. But "Buried Treasures" was not conceived for that purpose. It doesn't coincide with any particular anniversary, there's none of the 'greatest hits', well...only two. To the uninitiated, Lindisfarne began with 'Meet Me On The Corner', resurfaced with 'Run For Home' and then once again with 'Fog On The Tyne Revisited' ... Wrong ! This collection features tracks from before, after and all points in-between.

The original idea came about in December 1990. The plan was simple, both studio and 'live' material and unreleased tracks, linked up with "a bit of crack", (translation: learned debate). After all, the band's humour has always been an integral part of what they are. But it wasn't all easy.

The majority of the Radio One sessions, both studio and 'live', had departured this Earth. Even when tapes of sessions were assumed to exist to match our official list, we could only hope that they did. In the end, three broadcasts of the eighteen listed were uncovered. Two from 1971 and one (by the Mk. II band), from 1974. Delighted to confirm their existence, we found that the '71 recordings displayed the band at the very peak of their performing abilities at that period in their career, far superior to the poorly mixed and rush-released 'Lindisfarne Live' album of July 1973.

Around the Spring of 1991, we waded through dozens of reels, cassettes, video recordings (including the band's openeing set for Bob Dylan at the very temple of Newcastle United, St. James' ParkO, outtakes, demos, more radio and countless 'live' recordings, even un-used, finished tracks. Many of these were located in Lindisfarne's own archives. From this source came wonderful rarities such as a 'Downtown Faction' session, broadcast for the BBC 'Rhythmn and Blues' show, hosted by Blues Band front man and former Manfred Mann vocalist, Paul Jones. When checked, the original tapes were believed to have been wiped. We couldn't let the opportunity pass. We mastered directly from the cassette that one of the band had recorded from the radio. A little 'hissy', but a real 'gem'. More 'live' material was discovered from Lindisfarne's 1983 U.K. tour and excellent, as yet unreleased material recorded at Newcastle City Hall during the 21st Anniversary tour of 1990. We now had concert material from each period of Lindisfarne's career to date.

There were excellent demo tracks recorded with Nigel Gray at Surrey Sound in early 1978, just prior to the band reforming permanently. Steve Lipson, now with a sizeable reputation for his work with "Frankie goes to Hollywood", "Simple Minds" and "Annie Lenox", was the band's producer on some 'Beatlesque' 1981 tracks.

Even better was to follow. A deep dig into the archives at Virgin led us not only to a wonderful collection of rough-mixes and outtakes from the band's recorded legacy at Charisma, but also to some of the real 'treasures'. Amongst them, the 'Brethren Tapes', which until then we thought only existed as acetates.

Ray Laidlaw recalled how the band had travelled down to London for a recording test for Island Records with legendary producer Guy Stevens, known for his work with "Free", amongst others. "Guy said that we had a similar sound to "Creedence Clearwater Revival" - a band who we hadn't heard of at the time, although I loved their records when I got to hear them. The test was not successful as Guy felt that we had potential but were not quite ready to make records. As we were packing up, the house engineer said that he really liked our music, and would be interested in making an album with their company." The band agreed and over the next nine months, "Downtown Faction", as they were known at the time, travelled back and forth to London to record what was bacically their 'live' set which included embryonic versions of 'Road To Kingdom Come' and 'Uncle Sam' later to be found on Lindisfarne albums.

Ten tracks were completed, mostly written either by Si or Rod. By the end of the recordings, the name had changed to "Brethren", singer Richard Squirrel had left, and Ray Laidlaw's pal from Art School, Ray Jackson - 'Jacka' - had joined the fold.

Coincidentaly, another reel from the same era came to light featuring some fascinating early versions of what would later be regarded as Lindisfarne classics. Amongst them, a version of ''Lady Eleanor' sung by Graham Bell, who released his own albums for Charisma in the early 70's. The musicians that performed on these tracks, recorded at Impulse Studios, Wallsend were Alan Hull, Ray Laidlaw, Graham Bell, Terry Morgan and John Turnball (later of Ian Dury's Blockheads). They were collectively known as 'Gift' and only ever performed live once at the Newcastle Arts Lab in early 1969.

It was late July 1992 before the physical existence and condition of the material contained in the lists from Virgin's archives could be confirmed. There had been some exciting teasers on the lists, such as three unreleased songs from the 'Nicely Out Of Tune' sessions. The band were particulary looking forward to hearing these again, recalling how producer John Anthony - who also produced the debuts for "Van Der Graf Generator", "Genesis", "Queen" and 'How Long' by "Ace" (front by 'Mechanic', Paul Carrack) - had asked Lindisfarne run through everything they knew in the studio. These songs had been recorded but not used. Lindisfarne had not heard the tracks since then.

So what about the gems we haven't found yet ? Like Alan Hull's first solo single for Transatlantic Records in 1969, 'We Can Swing Together' ... Yes it's the same song ! Or a BBC session from another Lindisfarne off-shoot, 'Dust On The Needle' with Northumbrian piper, Kathryn Tickell, last heard on Sting's 'Soul Cages' album. Or the Radio One material we had to leave out or even the tunes that Rod recorded at his house in Finchley with his mate Mark Knopfler in 1974 ... and what about the same time Rod, Ray, Mark and Jeff Sadler jammed at Jeff's wedding in 1991 and nobody had a tape running ... ?

Through it all, the one interesting aspect of this whole project was that almost all of the material unearthed had actually been rejected for one reason or another. All of these diverse songs, recorded over twenty-odd years, covering every element of the band's character, when heard together actually create a collection that succeeds on it's own terms. Something a committed fan or casual listener can enjoy. Lindisfarne have a great heritage, one they are justly proud of and one which has been rightly acknowledged, but despite their history, always looked forward - they've always 'moved on'.

I first met Lindisfarne when they came to London on one of their early tours, prior to singing for Charisma Records, when I was the young agrent fresh out of college. I took them to the Terry King agency who looked after a number of other Charisma artists and got my first booking for them as support at the Marquee, for a fee of 5 pounds. Everywhere they played they were booked back and competition, especially in the North-East became intense. As a southener I had quickly learn about the venue of Redcar, Kirklevington, Whitley Bay etc.

For the first time I saw Lindisfarne I thought they were a brilliant band with loads of great songs. It was a pleasure to go out on the road with them and it became a thrill as they moved up the bills at various festivals in the early seventies. I remember helping the legendary Fred Munt, who ran the Charisma management side, ensure they had the best sound and best spots at many a festival.

One of the happiest tours we did were the Charisma 50p tours which featured "Van der Graf Generator", "Genesis" and "Lindisfarne". A strange collection of bands but the package worked, as we travelled the country with yours truly as the 'on the decks compere', sharing the stage with the 'Living Jukebox' Andy Dunkley. The tunes on 'Buried Treasures' bring back distant memories from all those years ago, as they will, I'm sure, to many ex-students who will remember nights struggling home from gigs at Alsager College, Exeter University, Kingston Poly ...

Long may Lindisfarne play, giving so much pleasure to so many.

P.S. I also sang on the chorus of 'Fog on the Tyne' in Trident Studios ... happy days.