Here are some good finds from the past weekend. Hope you like some of them!
Pia Fraus: Here is a wonderful digital single for “Sweet Sunday Snow”. It comes with three remixes on Bandcamp, “Picnic Remix”, “Ligthships Remix” and “Astrobal Remix”. The Tallin, Estonia, band sounds gorgeous in this recording. Just makes me wish that I’ll see them live one day.
Blue Tomorrows: this Portland band has graced the blog in the past. Sarah Nienaber’s project sounds ace. And her latest is a 9 song album called “Without Color” that is available in limited quantities on tape. Definitely check the track “Crescent Moon Blues” which is great.
Special Friend: Hidden Bay Records has been releasing good music since they started. The latest is this French-American duo formed by Guillaume Siracusa on guitar and Erica Ashleson on drums. The release is a self-titled EP of 5 songs that will be available on vinyl on September 27.
Alice Hubble: I have known Alice for many years now, and I was a big fan of her older band Arthur & Martha and also of the wonderful Seven Inches from Leeds. Nowadays she’s gone solo and will be releasing the album “Polarlichter” sometime this month (some issues with the pressing plant). It will be available on 12″ vinyl as well as on CD. So that’s good news. Terrific synth-pop.
The Leaf Library: the London ensemble is releasing their new album “The World is a Bell” on October 25th! At the moment we can only preview one out of 10 tracks that will be on the record, “Hissing Waves”, and it leaves me wishing to listen to the rest of songs! The record will be out on vinyl and CD.
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Here is yet another record I am looking to find a copy for my collection. Maybe there will be luck in the next weeks, months, or years. It has happened to me that I’ve been lucky tracking some of these records I want after writing about them. Maybe it will happen again!
Kicking the Image is an obscure band of course. There is very little I know about them. I don’t think there are any blog posts about them on the web. This may be the first one. I will try to find any other mentions or any valuable information. I cross my fingers.
Big Bus Records released their record in 7″ and 12″ formats in 1990. The 12″ had a cool sleeve whereas the 7″ didn’t come with one. Both have the catalog number IMAGE 002. I don’t know what was IMAGE 001. Discogs doesn’t list any other records for this label. May as well have been a one off, a sole release by the label? Perhaps it was even the band’s own label?
The 7″ had two songs, “When the Loving Comes” on the A side and “The Truth” on the B side. The 12″ added another song to the A side, “So Long”. “When the Loving Comes” and “The Truth” were recorded at Coach House Recording Studios in Bristol, England. They were engineered by Allan Keen. “So Long” on the other hand was recorded at Chariot 16 Track Studios in Cardiff, Wales. This song was engineered by Alex Silva. All songs were produced by Danny Chang.
We also know that additional vocals are credited to Samantha Howard and the band thanks Cranes Musical Instruments for loaning them the equipment for the recording. The photo of the sleeve was taken by Andrew ‘Syb’ Newman.
Most importantly we know the band members:
Steve Williams – vocals/guitar
Mike Thomas – bass/vocals
Dan Jones – guitar/vocals
Linus – drums/percussion
I also notice an address on the sleeve…. Penarth, in Glamorgan. So the band was Welsh? Or the label?
I notice that Steve Williams still performs. He does mostly covers it seems. Something interesting I find out is that Kicking the Image played the West Wales Blues festival, closing the festival in front of 9000 people. Then I find out that he was originally from Cardiff. Safe to assume now that Kicking the Image hailed from Wales’ most important city?
I can’t seem to find any other information about the rest of the band members. But at least I feel I’ve gone further than I expected. I am sure there are people reading me that know even more details. Why not share them with everyone on the comment section?
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2 Responses to “:: Kicking the Image”
Just to let you know I have the 12″ record and the cover which has been signed by the band members.
Happy to sell if anyone’s interested.
Alan.
I have this on 12″ signed by the band. They played at a small festival in Llanrumney a district in Cardiff. They played a cover of Precious by The Jam so i knew they were cool!. Saw them once more in Sam’s Bar Cardiff i think.
That’s all i know about them. Absolutely love this record!