The Whisky Priests - Timeless Street (CD, Album, RE)

Media Condition: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Sleeve Condition: Very Good Plus (VG+)

Comments:
Great shape

General notes about this release (please note: our version may differ a little. see the comments above):
Together, the two of us formed The Whisky Priests in August 1985, after our final year at Gilesgate Comprehensive School in Durham, playing our first gig on 4th October 1985 at Fowlers Yard, Durham City. Our mutual interest in music and our native North East England formed the initial basic template for our ideas and, in the years since, we have had to battle against a variety of set-backs just to keep that basic idea alive and kicking. Constant line-up changes have led to over thirty different members along the way, which has made things far from easy for us, plus we make no secret of the endless recording and publishing agreement disputes and the overall music media and industry apathy towards our cause. This has only made us more determined in the pursuance of our vision to its ultimate conclusion, through good times or bad, for better or worse. Perhaps one of the largest obstacles we have had to overcome has been the fact that we have been somehow forced into the position of achieving our goals almost totally unaided. It would have seemed inconceivable at the start that all these years down the line we would be running the band as a self-managed, self-financed, self-motivated and self-contained business, making all our own decisions as well as running our own fan club and mailing list, plus much more. And yet, here we are! And in spite of everything, we firmly believe we have got to this stage with our integrity and self-esteem intact. Now that our four-year term with Celtic Music is finally at an end and ownership of all our own material has reverted back to us, we are proud to be able to reissue our first three albums on our own Whippet Records label, in special new editions, with repackaged booklets and bonus tracks. We have always prided ourselves in our independence, as well as the special relationship we seem to share with our following. It is difficult to imagine that we could have reached this far without the enthusiasm and sheer loyalty of those who have stuck with us through it all and helped drive us on through all the difficult times. You have left us with many truly wonderful memories and experiences – long may they continue! This special reissue is dedicated to you… The intervening years between the recording of our debut album, ‘Nee Gud Luck’, and our second studio album, ‘Timeless Street’, proved to be an extremely turbulent period for the band, due largely to the beginning of our four-year (on and off) legal dispute with Celtic Music, which initially lasted for 18 months, during which time we were unable to record any new material, plus the constant and highly frustrating line-up changes we underwent at this time. It seemed as though we were constantly taking one step forward and two steps back all the way along the line, and we experienced a number of stressful low points and periods of virtual inactivity, during which time our creativity, progress and morale suffered. The ‘Aal Faal Doon’ Tour of 1990 in fact marked an all-time low for us, with what turned out to be the most disastrous and ill-conceived line-ups we had ever had. Bass player, Mick Tyas, had actually temporarily left the band for the period of this particular tour and there was a severe personality clash between various band members, with the two of us stuck in the middle of it all. This was probably the closest we ever came to actually packing it all in, due to the extreme pressure relating to the internal line-up problems, but we managed to turn things around and come back stronger than ever, with a fresh determination. The first step in this latest rebirth of the band was the recruiting of Kevin Wilson on Mandolin and Bouzouki. Our previous mandolin player, Gary Price, had announced in the middle of the ‘Aal Faal Doon’ tour, his intention to leave the band immediately the tour was over. We therefore made the spontaneous decision, in the middle of the tour, to telephone Kev, who we knew as a decent chap and capable guitarist, at the musical instrument shop where he worked back home in Durham, from our hotel room in Vienna. We explained our dilemma to Kev, asked him if he fancied ‘joining-up’ he immediately answered in the affirmative, and handed in his notice at the music shop, before heading off to purchase all our recordings from the local record shop, in order to learn the songs at home, while we completed the tour. Kev was a guitar player, who had never played mandolin before in his life, but none of us gave that any thought at the time! Anyway, as soon as we returned home, Kev was drafted in for the UK leg of the tour, learning the set as he went along. Apart from the original line-up, of course, Kev was, with the exception of current member Paul Carless, the only band member we knew personally prior to him joining the band, through his work in part-time local Durham bands and his ‘day job’ in the local Durham music shop where we bought our tour spares. Kev was with the band for almost two years but sadly ‘Timeless Street’ was the only recording he made with us. He was a lively character and was very popular with the fans. We felt quite sad in the end when he finally left the band. Shortly after Kev joined us, Mick came back and then, in a surprising move, ‘Nee Gud Luck’ members Pete French and Steve Green also returned to the fold together, for a brief second spell, and just in time to help us out for our completely unrehearsed, yet now legendary, show-stealing performances at the 1990 Cambridge Folk Festival, where we were described by Colin Irwin, writing for ‘The Guardian’, as the ‘stars of the weekend’. It seems remarkable in hindsight that we managed to be so successful at Cambridge Folk Festival, considering that the line-up of the band, which also included Clive Cavanagh on harmonica and washboard, making this our first ever seven-piece line-up, had been hurriedly put together at virtually the last minute, with no time at all in which to rehearse a set. Before the ‘Timeless Street’ line-up was established, however, a few more personnel changes occurred over the next couple of years, which included a spell in the band from the eccentric Mark Robertson, son of Morning TV personality, ‘agony aunt’ Denise Robertson, on drums. During this time, we kept up a continual assault on Europe, with countless tours to the Continent, particularly to Germany. The unfortunate, yet inevitable, result of this, however, was that although the band’s profile was now expanding considerably, on an underground cult level throughout various European countries, we were tending to neglect the UK, a fact that we are now coming to terms with, having realised the enormous damage caused to our profile on home soil over a number of years, through lack of attention. Towards the end of 1991, we had, in fact, reconciled our differences with Celtic Music, in an attempt to save our floundering careers, after an 18-month nightmare of legal wrangling, during which we recorded note one note. This led, first of all, to Celtic Music re-releasing our 1988 EP’s ‘No Chance’ and ‘Grandfatha’s Fatha’, in the form of a compilation album package, imaginatively titled ‘The First Few Drops’ by Mick Tyas. By this time, Simon ‘Boy’ Chantler and Piers Burgoyne had joined the band, and we had the line-up which would record our second full-length studio album ‘Timeless Street’, more than two years after our debut album, ‘Nee Gud Luck’. ‘Timeless Street’ was the first recording we made with Fred Purser at Trinity Heights, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, where we would later mix ‘Bloody Well Live!’ (1993) and record and mix ‘The Power and The Glory (1994). All sixteen tracks from the session were recorded and mixed in ten days for £2000. This admittedly miniscule sum was the largest budget we had had up until then for a studio recording. It was the second time we had used the brass sound courtesy of members of ‘Bearpark and Esh Colliery Band’, who had previously appeared on ‘Nee Gud Luck’, and who we would use again on ‘The Power and The Glory’. ‘Timeless Street’ also marks the first recording appearance with the band of current member Paul Carless, appearing here as a guest musician, being then a casual part-time member of the band on and off since 1989. Despite our efforts at the time, there are a number of glaring technical imperfections on this album, as a result of poor performance technique in places, particularly regarding the drums. At the beginning of ‘Perfect Time’, for example, the drums are drastically out of time, but by the time we all noticed, it was too late to do anything about it, so we had to ‘make do and mend’ and compromise all the other instruments around it. We were still, even at this stage, very naïve and inexperienced at studio work, as the above example shows, but ‘Timeless Street’ proved to be a good learning process for us and the lessons we learned would stand us in good stead for when we would come to record and mix ‘The Power and The Glory’ at Trinity Heights in 1994. The four extra tracks, available for the first time on this special reissue, were recorded at the same session as the rest of the album. A total of sixteen tracks were recorded, all of which are included here as a complete package for the first time. Our intention at the time of the recording was to release a single, ‘Easington’, from the album, which would include the four album tracks. Everything was prepared for the single’s release, including the artwork, when, at the last minute, Celtic Music inexplicably changed their minds, and the single was never released. Being our first new album for some time, we had reasonable high hopes for ‘Timeless Street’. Unfortunately, however, the album did not receive the promotion and backing we had been hoping for and, as a result, the album was largely ignored, despite some notable praises in ‘Dirty Linen’, ‘Folk Roots’ and ‘Rock ‘N’ Reel’ magazines, among others. At the end of 1993, we would regain recording and publishing rights to our entire catalogue, allowing us to reissue ‘Timeless Street’ in this specially repackaged format. When we were sitting in the studio at Trinity Heights, listening to the various master tapes available for the re-mastering of this album, to include additional tracks, the first thing that struck us was the sheer difference in the quality between the original studio master and the Celtic Music production master, which the Celtic Music engineers had mastered from the original D.A.T. master using analogue output. This is most definitely not the best method to employ in transferring masters, in order to obtain the highest quality pressing, as this is certain to cause a sharp deterioration in sound quality from the original. We therefore made the obvious decision to work from the original studio master, in mastering this reissue, and as a result the pressing available with this reissue is of superior sound quality to the original issue, and finally presents ‘Timeless Street’ to the standard it should have been, but wasn’t, first time round. Also, unlike ‘Nee Gud Luck’, for which the original 24-track masters no longer exist (see ‘Nee Gud Luck reissue), and like all other Whisky Priests albums since, the 24-track masters for all sixteen tracks from the ‘Timeless Street’ session still exist, which means, for future reference, they can all be remixed at any time, for potential future reissues. Please note, however, that to maintain the historical context of this particular reissue, a conscious decision was made by us not to remix the tracks or alter the original running order in any way (although we did initially consider it), apart from adding the four bonus tracks at the end. Those of you who missed it the first time round now have the benefit of hindsight with which to judge it this second time round. (Gary Miller & Glenn Miller, August 1994)

1. Susan's Song 4:46
2. Old Man Forgotten 2:37
3. Easington 5:10
4. Goblins 4:15
5. Jim Jones 4:52
6. Perfect Time 4:01
7. Aall Faall Doon 5:03
8. Bonnie Gateshead Lass 4:01
9. Poor Johnny Coal 3:45
10. The Raven 5:04
11. Pride 2:35
12. William's Tale 4:34
13. The Hills Of Alva / The Lads Of North Tyne 3:26
14. Rio Grande 3:06
15. The Recruited Collier 3:49
16. The Waggoner 1:55

Barcode and Other Identifiers:

Barcode 5025705100065

Record Company Whippet Records
Phonographic Copyright (p) Whippet Records
Copyright (c) Whippet Records
Published By Copyright Control
Recorded At Trinity Heights
Engineered At Trinity Heights
Produced At Trinity Heights
Mixed At Trinity Heights
Mastered At Trinity Heights