Skeletons: On and On

Another track from 'Bluer Skies Than This',
the previously unreleased demo/album from the early 90s.
'On and On': I think that the title refers to the sax solo...

Skeletons: Heartbeat on Sick Street

'Heartbeat on Sick Street' is another tune from 'Bluer Skies Than This' that didn't see the light of day.
I like the guitars on this though; Steve Davis on slide, stylishly wearing Lowell George's shirt and me (on the Strat) trying to squeeze into Nils Lofgren's leather pants (an obvious misfit...)

Skeletons : Early Songs: (Early 90s): 'Not For This Boy'

'Not For This Boy' was the first MM song that ex Haircut 100 bassist Les Nemes played on.
We had already been introduced to Phil Smith (sax) by our then A&R man at Zomba,  Mark Fox (ex H100 percussionist) and those boys were pretty tight back then; rallying against Nick Heyward and the disappointments of the Haircut's enforced split just before the potentially money spinning 2nd album was about to be released. The music was in the can; Nick only had to commit his vocals; he chose instead to go solo; producing the very fine 'North of a Miracle'. Mark Fox threw his hat in the ring as lead singer briefly, before realising he best rest with his bongos; the album never saw the light of day, which was a shame; I heard a few of those mixes and they elaborated on the early sound of Pelican West with an urgency that reminded me of a poppy Talking Heads.
Here's a Nickless promo shot of the boys at the time (seemingly caught on CCTV) waiting for a bus.

Les and Phil recorded with Miracle Mile extensively and stayed with the gigging band , working not only on these early demos, but also on the debut 'Bicycle Thieves' and the follow up 'Candids', both leaving the band when we stopped gigging, just before the release of 'Slow Fade'.

For this track Les listened through once and then nailed the song first take. His big hero at the time was Ronnie Lane of the Faces and I think that you can hear it in his playful fretwork. Our Les was no backseat bassist... I believe that he currently resides in Spain and still plays with the Haircuts when they get together for the odd 80s review tour with T'Pau, Howard Jones and other lesser talents...

Skeletons: Early Songs: Early 90s Demos: 'Tap Room Tales'

One of my favourite albums at the time of recording 'Tap Room Tales' in the early 90s (sorry that I can't be more specific, that decade remains a blur) was 'Rattlesnakes' by Lloyd Cole. I love the guitar solo at the end of the magnificent 'Forest Fire' and tried to emulate it here; failing pretty miserably as you can hear. I guess that you could call the song a pean to the muse; a nod to my then fledging musical career that brought me to London, all the way from... Skipton. In the song we replaced the (not very rock and roll) Skipton; Gateway to the Dales, with the city of Manchester, partly to affiliate ourselves with The Smiths or any number of shoe gazing bands from that fair city that were hogging the musical headlines at the time, but mainly because I needed that extra syllable.
My main memory of the song's recording (at Steve Davis's Brixton Studio) was my vocal, done whilst demolishing the prop of a bottle of Jack Daniels with Steve. We were going for a relaxed Tom Waits and ended up with a pissed poor Pogues/Shane MacGowen drawl; so much for 'the method'...
After finishing the vocal that you hear here, I stumbled back down Acre Lane towards the tube and thought I'd celebrate with a Chinese. Sitting on the last tube home, I used my guitar case as a picnic table and tucked into my sweet and sour chicken/prawn fried rice combo. As we went through the first tunnel nausea struck; I would surely puke. Being a good citizen and not wanting to soil the carriage I did what any like minded Londoner (who'd just imbibed a pint of bourbon) would do: I dutifully took my guitar out of its case and used the case (beautiful red velvet lining) as my... receptacle. That guitar was never the same again. It currently rests under the stairs in Corsica, a silent reminder of my rock and roll years; it still gently hums in a soiled velvet embrace; lending a unique resonance to the term 'feedback'...

Skeletons: Early Songs: Early 90s Demos: Showboat Sam and the Mystery Man

'Bluer Skies Than This' was a collection of recordings that were never meant for release; it's function was to get us gigs and possibly a deal in the days when we were tempted to do the corporate dance. 

Of its ten tracks three went on to feature on 'Bicycle Thieves' (Bluer Skies/Whiskey Kisses/The Killing Time) and one finally made it onto 'Candids' (Shoot the Moon). Please remember that this was the late 80s so the production values are of that time; DX7s and chorus pedals ruled the day. There's a whiff of Deacon Blue about a lot of this; I was quite taken with the band after seeing them support The Bible in some east London church, and had their debut 'Raintown' on permanently. 

This first offering is 'Showboat Sam and the Mystery Man'. 

Showboat Sam?

Who's he? 

Why, he's the devil and the deep blue sea.

And the mystery man?

 Ask my analyst...