Below is the original vinyl released of the Paley's second and last album "... From Across the Kitchen Table", as re-released in Japan only in 2005 (the British CD features a strange mixture of album and single versions). Also included are the two singles "Jeans Not Happening" and "From Across the Kitchen Table", ripped from vinyl at 192kps:
http://www.protectlinks.com/117460
"... From Across the Kitchen Table" may not attach itself to the "classic" tag quite as strongly as "Pacific Street" does, but it is a fascinating link between the Paleys and Mick Heads next, and more famous, development - the 20-year-long project of Shack. In early 1985, Andy Diagram announced he was leaving the group (although he does appear in a very much a supporting role in some of the tracks on "... Table") and the band lost a great deal of their fantastically airy, breezy quality. The new album was more conventionally "indie" in sound (even though that word would probably be more appropriate for Mick Head's many immitators rather than the man himself) but still contained the fantastic shimmer of "Jean's Not Happening" and the other single "From Across the Kitchen Table" (on this CD included in its original album version, rather than the UK CD which includes the Ian Broudie-produced single mix). The slow build of "These Are The Things" is also one of my favourites.
In 1986, the Paley's bass player Chris McCafferty died while still in his early 20s, and Mick decided that now was the time to split the band. The following year, alongside his brother John, Mick would reappear with his third LP, "Zilch", as Shack. Shack have a long and fascinating history, which I will go on to explore in a later post. Andy Diagram spent some time in the late 1980s as a session musician before joining James (another of my favourites) in the spring of 1989. He remained with the band for three years until their huge success with the "Seven" album, and all the stadium gigs, made him uncomfortable and he left before the recording of James' fifth album, the multi-million selling "Laid" from 1993.
Strangely, in 2007, Andy found himself back in the fold of both bands. After a stadium reunion tour in April, James welcomed Andy's trumpet back that summer, first for a series of small, secret gigs and festival appearances, and then to help record James' 2008 comeback LP "Hey Ma". Also, earlier this year, Andy joined the reformed Pale Fountains on stage for two gigs in Liverpool and London - their first reappearance on the live stage for over twenty years. It has been rumoured that Andy's trumpet will appear on the new Shack album - although things have been disturbingly quiet that next of the woods the last four months, with rumours suggesting that Shack have actually split up. Live DVDs of both Shack and the Pale Fountains are still no further forward, either.
Below, however, is a small collection of 2008 reunion-related tracks. A radio session from Radio Merseyside in January 2008, and live versions of "Reach" taken from the Liverpool and London gigs at the beginning of February:
http://www.protectlinks.com/118128
