Michael Head and The Strands - The Magical World of The Strands [LP]

Format: LP
Catalogue No.: LPMEGA24
Barcode: 0666017292014
Release Date: 24 Jan 2025
Genre: Singer-Songwriter/Folk/Acoustic

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED VINYL REPRESSES OF THIS STONE-COLD CLASSIC.

NOW COMES WITH NEW GOLD FOIL EMBOSSED ARTWORK. (BOTH VINYL VARIANTS)

PRESSED ON CREAM WHITE VINYL - 1000 COPIES ONLY - FIRST EVER COLOUR VINYL PRESSING - NON-RETURNABLE.

PRESSED ON 180GM BLACK VINYL - 500 COPIES - NON-RETURNABLE.

(CD VERSION ALSO IN STOCK (CDMEGA24 - £6.25) AND INCLUDES 2 BONUS TRACKS: GREEN VELVET JACKET + QUEEN MATILDA (DEMO), THE B-SIDES TO THE 1998 NME AND MELODY MAKER SINGLE OF THE WEEK)

PRESS :

“AN EXTRAORDINARY GEM’’ - 5/5 MOJO.

“ANDMOREAGAIN! A LOVE-LORN MASTERPIECE.IF ANYTHING IT HAS IMPROVED WITH AGE’’ - 9/10 UNCUT.

“ONE OF THE 1990'S GREAT LOST ALBUMS..MORE REDOLENT OF SUMMER-OF-LOVE SAN FRANCISCO THAN BRITPOP MERSEYSIDE...A CLASSIC...” - SUNDAY TIMES 'MUST-HAVE REISSUE'.

“ONE OF THE FURTHEST REACHING GUITAR RECORDS OF THE 90’s’’ - 4/5 THE GUARDIAN.

5/5 REVIEW IN MAIL ON SUNDAY: “CHANNELING A PASSION FOR LOVE AND THE BYRDS INTO BEAUTEOUS CHAMBER-FOLK, HEAD BUILT A SHOESTRING CLASSIC, WINDING MESHING GUITARS AND STRINGS AROUND TIMELESS SONGS”

`LIKE NICK DRAKE STRUMMING ALONG WITH THE STONE ROSES." - 9/10 NM "INCREDIBLY AFFECTING, A STAGGERING ALBUM’’ - 4/5 Q MAGAZINE        

After a couple of demos for the French promoter who paired him with his childhood hero Love’s Arthur Lee in 1992, Pale Fountains and Shack legend Michael Head entered a Liverpool recording studio the following year, with a new project in mind, ‘The Strands’. Michael teamed up with his brother and lifelong companion, John, his long-time drummer Iain Templeton and two new recruits, Michelle Brown on bass and Les Roberts on flute. The recording sessions would last two years and were only halted because Michael was offered a new major label deal. A deal, not for his current work, but for him to record as Shack again.
So it came to be that Stephane Bismuth, the French promoter, was left with 100 or so minutes of a thwarted project, only a third of which had made it to the mixing studio in Sheffield in the summer of ‘95.
Patch-working and weaving rough mixes and sketches – by engineer Steve Powell, made in Liverpool – with completed mixes by producer Mark Coyle who had hired an arranger and string section for sessions in Sheffield, Stephane Bismuth founded a new label Megaphone and finally released ‘The Magical World of The Strands’, in autumn of 1997.

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

More From This Artist: Michael Head and The Strands