Posted: 04 Mar 2007, 18:34
Just an update. With Steve's help, I've come up with a rough draft of the sleevenotes. At Jeff's suggestion I thought it might be worth putting them up here prior to publication to see if anyone's got any additions/corrections. Please PM me or comment on here if you think anything is amiss . . .
Play Dead ? Resurrection
Some albums have torturous histories. Well, this one has had more time on the rack than most. When Play Dead?s 1984 album From The Promised Land was reissued in the early 90s, it was re-titled Resurrection, for no good reason that anyone can remember. But it seems to have stuck . . .
Play Dead formed in Oxford in November 1980, the original line-up featuring singer Rob Hickson, formerly of Special FX, the Exits and Squares, with Pete Waddleton on bass, Barry Turnball (aka Re-Vox) on guitar and Mark 'Wiff? Smith on drums. Their debut single, ?Poison Takes A Hold?, was released in the summer of 1981, via Fresh Records, after being recorded the previous December.
By the advent of their second single, ?T.V. Eye?, Turnball had departed (though he did play on the original version of ?Final Epitaph) to be replaced by Steve Green. ?T.V. Eye? became their final single for Fresh. Green: ?I got a visit from Pete one day telling me that their guitarist had left and would I consider joining the band? I had known Pete for some years and we had been in a band together before (nothing worth mentioning, believe me). A hasty jam session was arranged and that was that. To my knowledge things had just started happening for the band and Re-Vox [who returned to his concurrent occupation as a health inspector] had to make a choice - job and mortgage or band - I never complained about his choice.?
1982 was largely spent building their fan base through concerted tours of Europe, though there were no releases aside from the first of three Peel sessions in January. They eventually re-emerged with the re-branded Jungle Records at the start of 1983, releasing The First Flower, a six-track mini-LP, shortly thereafter. Another shift of record label saw them move first to Situation 2 and thence to Clay in 1984, after further extensive touring through Europe. ?After Fresh (who later changed their name to Jungle) we had a short deal with Situation 2 then on to Clay. Why did we leave one for another? This boils down to thinking you know it all and the grass always being a little greener.?
Sure enough, the album they produced for Clay, From The Promised Land, did not go to plan. ?After we recorded a single with him, we decided we got on well with John Fryer, and we went on to do the album. From The Promised Land all went well, until the final mix. We were a band that insisted on having control over what we produced. This works when you all agree and work with an engineer rather than a producer. We had spent too long in the studio there were far too many ideas floating around. It got to a point where the original vision got a bit hazy and lost. After some time, a great deal of debate, studio costs rising, a final mix was achieved - we thought! When the white labels arrived, it sounded shite. A phone call from the guy at Clay Records, Mike Stone, and it was decided that a remix was very necessary.?
With that resolved, they all returned to the studio, eager to sign off on the project. ?End of, you would think - but to everybody?s horror, when the album went to press, the original masters were used and not the remix. Great time to find out when there?s thousands sat in boxes in the office! Clay could not afford to write this off, as the album had already gone over budget. Against the band?s wishes, it was released and the new masters were used in the second pressing and the remixed sticker put on the sleeve.?
It only caused confusion among fans and the press, who generally reviewed the inferior product. There were some long faces, understandably. ?As a band we hated this. Not only was the album out and sounding bad, but when the remix was released, we were accused of ripping people off by trying to make them buy another copy. It was a situation we were far from happy with, as people had already bought an album that we never wanted to be released. Needless to say we parted company with Clay as soon as the contract allowed. Many moons had passed when somebody noticed that From The Promised Land was back in the shops, and now called Resurrection. What the fuck?s going on, we all cried. It transpired that Clay Records had gone bust sold its catalogue to Sanctuary, and they pasted on the end a load of singles and b-sides, and re-titled it. Once again we were powerless to stop another album going out in a format that was never meant to be. The rest, as they say, is history, and it looks like it?s repeating itself again, although I don?t get as pissed off as I used to.?
Despite the tumultuous gestation, Green can at least think warmly of some of the material. ?My personal favourite tracks ? from the original eight-track album that is ? are ?Walk Away?, ?Return To The East? and ?No Motive?. I always liked stuff that also sounded great live.? As depressing as this all was, he and Hickson embarked on a side project, Mankind?s Audio Development, resulting in a sole single, ?Sunfeast?, though others releases were planned but abandoned.
Tired of botches and keen to regain full artistic control, Play Dead inaugurated their own independent Tanz label in 1985. Finally, their moment seemed to have arrived. The album Company Of Justice was recorded with Conny Plank, who had turned down working on U2?s The Unforgettable Fire to free himself for the project. It was by far the band?s most cohesive statement, but it was to be their final studio recording. Green: ?The Tanz thing was a bit of a joke. A guy whose name escapes me gave us the money to start our own label. Needless to say, we spent it working with Conny.? Green still sees this as the band?s finest moment. ?The final album was, I feel, our best, in all ways. Working with the great Conny Plank was a dream come true, we had wanted to for some time. So when he was contacted, we sent over tapes of what would be done. We then had to fly him over from Germany. He sat in on demo recording sessions and agreed to do the album. He had just refused to do Unforgettable Fire, so we felt good. It?s the only time we allowed someone else almost total control over our stuff.?
Sadly, being on an independent meant it was difficult to get the kind of press support to do the album justice. The band?s break-up is rather different to the tale perpetuated; though perhaps one for another day. Waddleton did, indeed, head east for India, but that occurred later and was not the reason behind the band?s demise. The remaining members formed Beastmaster Generals, with Bob Brimson on bass and keyboard player Julian Silvester. Demos were recorded but the band fizzled out. ?Beastmasters was a project that Rob and Wiff were putting together,? remembers Green. ?I joined in, but it was too soon. I never had the urge to get on with it. Stupid name for a band, anyway!?
These days Hickson runs a painting and decorating business in Brighton and a gardening agency, while Wiff Smith is a tour manager based in London. Barry Turnball lives in Cornwall. Waddleton played with Deluca Triangle and Huckleberry Finn, before hanging up his bass in 1996. And as for Steve Green? ?Teaching music technology, or rather Qbase, to the high and hopeful.?
Alex Ogg 2007
(with thanks to Steve Green and Jeff at Play Dead?s website, companyofjustice.com)
UK Discography:
Poison Takes A Hold/Introduction 7-inch (Fresh 29 June 1981)
T.V. Eye/Final Epitaph 7-inch (Fresh 38 October 1981)
Propaganda/Propaganda (mix) 7-inch (Jungle Jung 2 January 1983)
The First Flower mini-LP (Jungle FREUD 3 April 1983)
Time/The Tenant/Propaganda/Sin Of Sins/In Silence/Don?t Leave Without Me
Shine/Promise Single 7-inch (Situation Two SIT 28 September 1983)
(also released on 12-inch, SIT 28T, with bonus track ?Gaze?)
Break/Bloodstains 7-inch (Clay 31 April 1984)
(also released on 12-inch, 12 Clay 31, with bonus track ?Bloodstains Pleasure?)
>From The Promised Land LP (Clay LP 11 May 1984)
Isabel/Torn On Desire/Walk Away/Pleasureland/Return To The East/No Motive/Holy Holy/Weeping Blood/Weeping Blood (remix)
(1,000 copies released with original mixes, before being replaced at the band?s insistence ? and marked with a ?Remix? sticker on the jacket)
Isabel/Solace 7-inch (Clay 35 July 1984)
(also released on 12-inch, 12 Clay 35, featuring extended version of ?Solace?)
Propaganda (1984 mix)/Sin Of Sins 12-inch (Jungle Jung 17 October 1984)
Conspiracy/Silent Conspiracy/Conspiracy (Saigon Mix) 12-inch (Clay 12 Clay 40 October 1984)
Sacrosanct/Pale Fire (Clay 42 February 1985)
(also released on 12-inch, 12 Clay 42, with bonus tracks ?Holy Holy (Catholic Mix)? and ?Sacrosanct (Heretic Mix)?
This Side Of Heaven/This Side Of Heaven (serious mix)/Last Degree 12-inch (Tanz 1 1985)
(also available as an unreleased white label test pressing)
Burning Down (Mezcal mix)/Still In Chains/Burning Down 12-inch (Tanz 2 1985)
Company Of Justice LP (Tanz LP 1 1985)
Witnesses/Caught On The Thorns/Company Of Justice/This Side Of Heaven/Judgement/Chains/Celebration/Sacrosanct/Treason/Reward
Archive Releases:
The Singles 1982-85 LP (Clay LP20M 1985)
Break/Conspiracy/Solace/Propaganda/Isabel/Bloodstains/Pale Fire/Shine
The Final Epitaph ? Live LP (Jungle FREUD 15 May 1985)
This Side Of Heaven/Last Degree/Witnesses/Burning Down/Company Of Justice/Break/Caught On The Thorns/Judgement Day/Sacrosanct/The Tenant/Propaganda
Into The Fire ? Live LP (Clay LP 16M 1985)
Walk Away/Return To The East/Break/Torn On Desire/Shine/Sin Of Sins/The Tenant/No Motive
In The Beginning - The 1981 Singles 12-inch EP (Jungle Jung 26 1986)
(reissue of first two singles)
Caught From Behind: Live In England, France, Germany And Switzerland LP (Castle DOJOLP 34 1986)
Break/Last Degree/Solace/Shine/Isabel/Sin Of Sins/Torn On Desire/This Side Of Heaven/Sacrosanct/The Tenant
(also released on CD)
The First Flower CD (Cleopatra CLEO 751902 1993)
(contains bonus tracks: ?Shine?, ?Gaze?, ?Promise?, ?Propaganda (mix)?, ?Propaganda (1984 mix)?, ?Sin Of Sins (1984 mix)?, Poison Takes A Hold?, ?Introduction?, ?T.V. Eye?, ?Final Epitaph?)
Resurrection CD (Clay CLAYCD 111 1992)
(reissue of From The Promised Land LP with revised track-listing: Break/Isabel/Walk Away/Bloodstains/Solace/No Motive/Pleasureland/Pale Fire/Sacrosanct/Torn On Desire/Holy Holy/Return To The East/Conspiracy/Sin Of Sins (live)/Bloodstains Pleasure (12-inch mix)/Solace (12-inch mix)/Holy Holy (12-inch mix)
Company Of Justice CD (Jungle FREUDCD 041 1993)
(reissue of LP with bonus tracks ?Last Degree?, ?Burning Down (long version)?)