Michael Head and The Strands – The Magical World of The Strands

Description

After a couple of demos for the French promoter who paired him with hischildhood hero Loves Arthur Lee in 1992, Pale Fountains and Shack legendMichael Head entered a Liverpool recording studio the following year, with anew project in mind, The Strands. Michael teamed up with his brother andlifelong companion, John, his long-time drummer Iain Templeton and two newrecruits, Michelle Brown on bass and Les Roberts on flute. The recordingsessions would last two years and were only halted because Michael wasoffered a new major label deal. A deal, not for his current work, but for him torecord as Shack again.

So it came to be that Stephane Bismuth, the French promoter, was left with100 or so minutes of a thwarted project, only a third of which had made it tothe mixing studio in Sheffield in the summer of 95.Patch-working and weaving rough mixes and sketches by engineer StevePowell, made in Liverpool with completed mixes by producer Mark Coylewho had hired an arranger and string section for sessions in Sheffield,Stephane Bismuth founded a new label Megaphone and finally released TheMagical World of The Strands, in autumn of 1997.

Tracklist

1. Queen Matilda
2. Something Like You
3. And Luna
4. X HitsThe Spot
5. The Prize
6. Undecided (Reprise)
7. Glynys and Jaqui
8. It’sHarvest Time
9. Loaded Man
10. Hocken’s Hay
11. Fontilan