ARTIST: The Hope Blister
TITLE: Underarms/Sideways
LABEL: 4AD
GENRE: Electronic
BITRATE: 198kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 1h 26m total
RELEASE DATE: 2005-12-12
RIP DATE: 2005-12-29
Track List
----------
1. Sweet Medicine 7:46
2. Friday Afternoon 6:40
3. Iota 2:29
4. Dagger Strings 2:00
5. White On White 4:02
6. Sweet Medicine #2 13:39
7. Happiness Strings 4:09
1. Sideways 1 5:20
2. Sideways 2 6:55
3. Sideways 3 5:52
4. Sideways 4 7:27
5. Sideways 5 5:36
6. Sideways 6 6:32
7. Sideways 7 7:52
Release Notes:
Hope Blister - two incongruously paired words, but one unified concept. Put a
'The' in front of them and you have a band. Of sorts.
The Hope Blister began in the fertile mind of Ivo Watts-Russell, who founded 4AD
in 1980 and embarked on one of the most enterprising journeys known to
independent record labels, travelling from The Birthday Party to Cocteau Twins,
Dead Can Dance to The Pixies. In the midst of all this activity, Ivo found time
to conceive This Mortal Coil: a collective of musicians he'd either signed, knew
or admired, playing a heavenly jukebox of his favourite songs. Ivo wasn't a
musician himself, but he had this sound in his head; with help from engineer
John Fryer, he 'conducted' the players, wrote instrumental links, and came up
with three acclaimed albums: It'll End In Tears (1984), Filigree And Shadow
(1986) and Blood (1990).
"When Blood was finished, I said that that would be the third and final This
Mortal Coil album, and that's what it is," recalls Ivo. "It stems from the fact
that groups usually outstay their welcome, and make records that aren't as
essential as their earlier work. I felt happy with This Mortal Coil, and wanted
to leave it feeling happy, and not interfere with its legacy."
Eight years later, and five years after he shifted from London to Los Angeles
(4AD remained in London), Ivo started craving the studio again - hence The Hope
Blister. "I wanted two words that worked together that normally don't. Hope
Blister popped into my head, sitting in a traffic jam one day...it means
different things to me, but the meaning is pretty much contained within the
name, simultaneously positive and negative. Virtually everything in life is like
that."
The principle was the same as This Mortal Coil, banding together cover versions,
handpicked for their melodic ingenuity, and tapping Ivo's devout love of
melancholia. However, this time he assembled a core group of musicians, as
opposed to a revolving line-up. The Hope Blister comprised singer Louise
Rutkowski (who contributed to This Mortal Coil), bassist Lawrence O'Keefe
(ex-Levitation/Dark Star) and string arranger Audrey Riley with Ivo handling
production/spiritual guidance and John Fryer on mixing duties.
Drummer/saxophonist Richard Thomas appeared on two tracks.
"It had been a long time since I'd been in the studio," says Ivo, "so it took me
some time to even realise what I was trying to do. All I knew was, I wanted
things to pretty much revolve around the bass guitar, and some strings. There
were very few people involved, with very little preparation, playing games of
musical consequence, passing ideas around. The whole thing was beautifully
relaxed and easy."
The Hope Blister's 1998 debut, ...Smiles OK, comprised eight songs penned by a
variety of artists, including Brian Eno ("Spider And I"), John Cale ("Hanky
Panky Nohow"), David Sylvian ("Let The Happiness In"), Heidi Berry ("Only
Human") and Mojave 3's Neil Halstead ("Dagger"). The mail-order album Underarms
followed a year later, featuring largely instrumental outtakes from the same
sessions.
Disc 1 is The Hope Blister while disc 2 is Markus Guentner's reinterpretation of
"Underarms" aptly titled "Sideways"