| Rainfall/Jean Renoir (Jan 2000) - Cherry Red CDMRED 162 | |
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Tracklist: (*) Bonus tracks. Disc 1 (Rainfall): Farewell Maria/The Sally Gardens/I Just wasn't Made For These Times/Sirens Call/Rainfall/The Captain's Apprentice/Still Life/A Cloudless Day/The Metempsychosis Song/The dark/Chelsea Bridge/The Corncircle Dance/Shoot!/Sleep* Disc 2 (Jean Renoir): Une Ile/Lazy English Sun/True Men/Hunters/Jean Renoir/Tout Bas/Nowhere Square/So Long, Sailor/Vicky Page/An American Friend/Une Ile (Greenwich Tunnel Secret Choir)/Eusebio* |
A sign this had been one of the most eagerly-awaited Louis Philippe re-releases: this mid-price double-CD has been among the 15 best-selling albums of the Cherry Red label since January 2000. Rainfall (1991) and Jean Renoir (1992) both were the result of the close collaboration of Louis and keyboardist-accordionist-bassonist and much else Dean Brodrick, who had teamed up with Louis immediately after Appointment With Venus (1986). As these were the first albums to be released under Louis' name since Yuri Gagarin (his last él album, 1989), fans had a right to be surprised by the uncomprising approach both musicians had adopted. Produced on a shoestring in the studio that would later become the much-lamented Chiswick Reach, Rainfall gave Dean a (too rare) chance to try his hand at writing "straight"(-ish) pop songs. The only instruments used were a baby grand piano, voices and a positively archaic Prophet sampler. Highlights of the record include an all-vocal reconstruction of Duke Ellington's Chelsea Bridge and a very imaginative and surprisingly full version of Brian Wilson's classic I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, which Louis and Danny Manners have performed in nearly every single one of their gigs since. Collectors will notice the inclusion of Sleep (not on the original record), a 7-minute extravaganza produced just prior to Rainfall for the Trattoria Fab Gear compilation. This is the first time these tracks have been available outside of Japan . The same goes for Jean Renoir, recorded at Momentum Studio a year later; beefed up by the presence of guitarist Richard Bolton and bassist Danny Manners, JR picked up where Rainfall had stopped. "A sampla-delic album" was how it was described by the Japanese press at the time. And so it is, with some great vocal support from Cathal Coghlan (Microdisney, Fatima Mansions) on two of the star tracks, Hunter and True Men. The bonus track is Eusebio, one of the handful of songs Louis has written "to order" for Jim Phelan's Exotica label. Listen and download Sleep from this album |
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