So after seven years and 3 repressings we had once again sold out of Little Big Head vinyls and I was scrambling around reclaiming CDs to sell from distributors in Germany and Scandinavia. That is when I came across five tracks on my computer which were recorded at the same sessions back in 2012, discarded and promptly erased from my memory.
I was stunned at what I was hearing. You may think me big headed for saying so but …….. they sounded great!
“I have to get these out”, I thought, “but how?”.
After talking to friends who know about these things I learned that three could be added to the original LP without diminishing the sound quality. But what about the other two? Well that was solved by a chat whith our friends at Crocodile Records. “Kelly’s Gone Insane” has always been one of our most popular tracks and deserved to be a vinyl single. This was duly organised with unreleased tracks “Pretty Little Rachel” and “Baby Baby” on the b side, making what is now an EP .
I’ve written about the Kelly vinyl here HERE which includes details of where to get it. (The piece also includes the following stunning photograph which the subject of the song, a volatile but funny woman from San Francisco is thoroughly embarrased by. (Oh well. It is annoying to know me):
And with the other three unreleased tracks the team at Green Square, who did such a fine job with Bombs Away, were commissioned to make a new cover incorporating gig posters from the time which has flown since the Big Heads started, and showing “They’re Dreaming About Me”, “April Fool”, and “They’ve Got it All” as bonus tracks.
My good friend Peter Jones, an Englishman who masquerades as Irish, with an accent thicker than Ed Byrne, Dara O’Briain, and Dave Allen having a very fast conversation together, who plays with Irish chart toppers Paranoid Visions as well as Steve Ignorant, who has the concession for Rebellion tickets in Ireland, promotes shows there and follows the same guilty pleasure as I (not saying what it is), who has almost kept up with Sophie K Powers in a Jaeger drinking race, and who still has time to manufacture vinyls and CDs, was charged with coming up with the most revolting looking vinyl in the history of vinyl.
He didn’t let us down.
So here it is. An improved version of the record which started it. The result of my tutelage at the knee of the master of the shed, Tony Barber, and a testament to great friends who helped me on my journey at a time of great uncertainty, like Vom Ritchie, James Stevenson and David Apps
What strikes me now, listening all these years later is, while we have moved on and our sound become much harder edged, it is a record of great charm. Both visually and aurally I tried to get away from the ubiquitous black leather jacket/hoodie/Les Paul and Marshall amp look and sound (though all of those are popular because they look and sound so good).
The result is a collection of melodic songs with thoughtful lyrics allied to interesting arrangements, provoked and enhanced by Tony Barber. As I say: charming.
I’ll be writing about individual tracks in the weeks and months to come and we have a video to share of “April Fool”.
In the meantime our friends at that excellent establishment, Cherry Red are once more distributing the record and the best place to buy it is through their website here: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/artist/duncan-reid-and-the-big-heads/ (though you’ll also find it on Amazon etc).