This album may have taken 40 odd years to come to fruition, with the band disbanding in 1985 having recorded a session for John Peel the previous year and come so close to signing a record deal, but despite the gap, Tales of Innocence is an absolute triumph, finally bringing together that 1984 Peel Session alongside two long-lost songs and four songs which the band wrote back in the early eighties but never recorded until now. The release of this stunning album finally closes out that circle that was started all those years ago, the story of a band who split before the promise of that coveted record deal was fulfilled, with five of their number departing, three of them going on to form The Crows, finally being told, and acting as a great tribute to one of their missing members, the late Indira Sharma. It’s a shame we haven’t had the last forty odd years to enjoy these songs, but better now then never, and let’s hope this isn’t the end of their tale.
During their original incarnation only one of the band’s songs was released, I Heard Catherine Sing. Two different versions of this appear on Tales of Innocence, a track which for any listener is a great place to start in that it wholly demonstrates their roots in the burgeoning independent post-punk scene of the early 80’s, with an inherently addictive timeless quality apparent in the hugely earnest and epically bombastic sound of the song. The insistence and tenacity of Billy Bowie (bass) and Keith Falconer’s (drums) powerful rhythm section taking in elements from goth and post-punk, with Allan Dumbreck’s sweeping synth sound and Ross Thom’s chiming guitars coming together to create their own sound, a huge part of which comes from the quality of the vocal performances, a pleading urgency in Billy Leslie’s vocal complemented by the two part harmonies provided by Indira (Sharma) and Lisa (Cameron).
The other songs which formed the Peel Session – Innocence, The City and Give it Time, which opens the album in style with a smouldering slow burn which explodes into an energetic jagged danceable anthem – are all equally as impressive, The City being a personal favourite of mine, a tensely tumultuous post punk riot of sound carrying with it a calamitously acute feeling that an explosion of violent energy could be released at any moment.
There is not a weak track on the album, every song giving something slightly different than its predecessor while throughout retaining an epic soaring sound which has Autumn 1904 written all over it. The use of church/pipe organ in the instrumental Kyrie brings an additional layer and emotional texture, effectively and affectingly mixing with Thom’s guitar sound, while Motherland opens with a thunderous energy, the tribal drumming building with the synths and agitated guitars to a stormy crescendo. The insistent driving beat of Sister Tears gives off a vibrant urgency, which continues into The Blessing, one of the songs sung by Billy Bowie as well as Sister tears and Motherland.
Before the album closes with the radio edit of I Heard Catherine Sing, the penultimate song on the album is What’s in Yor Eyes? which includes another emotional vocal performance, during which at points I hear shades of the late great Cathal Coughlan (“I see people crying for you”), which can never be a bad thing in my book.
The band are playing their first gig in 40 years in The Poetry Club in Glasgow on the 25th of May, with special guest appearances from Tippi from The Hedrons and Haydn from Ninth Wave and support from The Joshua Hotel.
Order the album now from Last Night From Glasgow