Nikki Sudden & Phil Shoenfelt: Golden Vanity 2009

NIKKI SUDDEN

                  

Nikki Sudden was born Adrian Nicholas Godfrey in London, England. Adrian Nicholas Godfrey (19 July 1956 – 26 March 2006). The main influences on Sudden's music were artists such as T. Rex, the Rolling Stones, the Faces, Bob Dylan and Johnny Thunders. Following the break-up of Swell Maps in 1980, he started a solo career and also released records with Dave Kusworth as the Jacobites. Sudden collaborated with Mike Scott and Anthony Thistlethwaite of the Waterboys, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, The

Golden Horde as 'The Last Bandits', Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones, Rowland S. Howard, Jeremy Gluck of the Barracudas, Ian McLagan of Small Faces and the Faces, Phil Shoenfelt, Al DeLoner of Midnight Choir, Tom Ashton of the March Violets, members of R.E.M. and Sonic Youth. The Jacobites' tune "Pin Your Heart" was covered on the Lemonheads' 1997 single "The Outdoor Type".[citation needed] Post Swell Maps, Sudden formed and recorded as Bingo Little with Andy Bean and Cally Callomon.
Sudden also wrote for a number of music magazines, such as Spex, INTRO, Mojo, the Birmingham-based fanzine Waxstreet Dive, and Bucketfull of Brains.

PHIL SHOENFELT

                       

Phil Shoenfelt was born in Bradford, England, in December 1952. He moved to New York where he lived and played in several bands, such as Khmer Rouge, and was active on the downtown Manhattan arts scene. Returning to London in 1984, he continued making music until encroaching heroin addiction

brought a temporary halt to all such activity. Finally kicking the habit after eleven years, he embarked upon a solo career and in 1995 moved to Prague, where he currently lives. In recent years he has produced several CDs of his music on various independent labels: solo; with his band Southern Cross; with the Berlin-based Australian group Fatal Shore; and a new performance project, The Bruce Wellie Band. Junkie Love is Shoenfelt's second book. His first, a collection of his poetry and song lyrics entitled The Green Hotel, came out in 1998.

NIKKI SUDDEN AND PHIL SHOENFELT

                       

NIKKI  SUDDEN  &  PHIL  SHOENFELT

It is with very great pleasure that we announce that the Troubadour label will be issuing the Golden Vanity album recorded by Nikki Sudden & Phil Shoenfelt in Berlin in 1998. Ten years later it will see

the light of day with full blessing of the Sudden estate and the brilliant Mr Shoenfelt. Easy Action boss Carlton Sandercock says "this is one f##kin amazing album! Phil Shoenfelt is the author of the highly acclaimed novel Junkie Love. Phil also recorded many albums including "God is the other face of the devil" for Humbug in 1994. Last month an album "Live at the House of Sin" with Pavel Cingl was issued in Europe.
                       

NIKKI  SUDDEN  &  PHIL  SHOENFELT

Nikki Sudden about "Golden Vanity" (Interview with Australian Rock Review, 1998):
"Golden Vanity" contains some of my more T.Rex styled songs: "Hanoi Jane" and "Bang A Gong"; an unreleased song from the ‘Kiss You Kidnapped Charabanc’ sessions, "Jack Ketch", "Teenage Sheets" -

a "Fortune of Fame"-ish rocker, "Jamboree Bag" – a twenty minute Can/Swell Maps inspired jam, "Angel Wings", "Cloak of Virtue", "Broken Glove" (as premiered on my "Egyptian Roads" collection), "Portcullis", "When I Waged A Crown" and "Empty Grave" - these six numbers co-written with Mr. Shöenfelt. The album is completed by two of Phil’s songs, "Waiting For You" and "Love Makes Her Shine". This should be released during the next months, probably by a German label. I find Phil’s guitar playing makes a refreshing/inspiring counterpoint to my own style.

MOJO
by Max Décharné    
Excellent lost studio collaboration released at last...Spring 1998, shortly after the death of his brother Epic Soundtracks, Nikki Sudden and his friend and fellow English songwriter Phil Schoenfelt

NIKKI  SUDDEN

played a string of European shows, then with their touring band recorded this album of specially-written tracks, mostly with the volume cranked up to eleven and few overdubs. The live-in-the-studio approach works well, and the songs themselves really deliver: Cloak of Virtue is a genuine highlight, swapping lead vocals between the two singers, while Bang A Gong is Nikki’s joyous tribute to the lifelong Bolan influence in his work. Teenage Sheets jumps like the New York Dolls, Waiting For You and Golden Door are classic lovesongs, and the acoustics and slide of Jack Ketch recall Nikki’s 1980s Jacobites recordings. The album never appeared, for convoluted reasons outlined in Phil’s excellent sleevenotes. That it’s finally surfaced is a treat indeed.
     

PHIL  SHOENFELT

 
BUCKETFULL OF BRAINS
#72 spring 2009, by Nick West    

NIKKI  SUDDEN

Very much a case of 'that which was lost ...' this little piece of legend was recorded in Berlin in early 1998. Both Nikki and Phil had mentioned it me on more than one occasion, adamant as to its quality, but no one seemed to be able to turn up the complete recordings, and with Nikki's death, it seemed they were likely gone for good. Over its absence settled a patina of romance, and as with so much of Nikki it

PHIL  SHOENFELT

seemed fleeting, evanescent, now forever beyond grasp. Sometime last year Phil told me all the tapes had turned up and I guess I hoped to get a burn of it at some point, and then would arise the question of how the reality would match the myth. Well better than that it's got itself a proper release, through Troubadour, and, bless them both, they were right about it because it's a magnificent meeting of talents.
                     

Nikki Sudden & Phil Shoenfelt – Golden Vanity
Label: Troubadour – TRBCD009
Format: CD, Album
Country: UK
Released: 2009
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock

TRAXS

                       

01. Hanoi Jane   6:02
Backing Vocals – Joe Armstrong, Mark Mulholland
Written-By – Sudden
02. Cloak Of Virtue   4:53
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
03. Jack Ketch   6:21
Acoustic Guitar – Nikki Sudden
Mandola – Mark Mulholland
Percussion [Ghost Percussion] – Dugald Jayes
Slide Guitar – Phil Shöenfelt
Written-By – Sudden, Howard
04. Portcullis   1:34
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
05. Love Makes Her Shine   4:04
Backing Vocals – Joe Armstrong, Mark Mulholland
Keyboards – Phil Shöenfelt
Written-By – Shöenfelt
06. Bang A Gong   5:18
Written-By – Sudden
07. Waiting For You   5:41
Mandola – Mark Mulholland
Written-By – Shöenfelt
08. Jamboree Bag   10:39
Guitar [Space Echo Guitar] – Phil Shöenfelt
Written-By – Picot, Sudden, Shöenfelt, Schmidt
09. Golden Door (Early Version Of Broken Door)   7:20
Written-By – Sudden
10. Teenage Sheets   3:55
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
11. Wage A Crown   1:31
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
12. Hangman's Daughter   5:15
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
13. Angel Wings   5:10
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
14. Cullisport   1:33
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
15. Master Sampson   0:35
Written-By – Sudden

NOTES

Recorded At – Interzone Studio
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – Carl Eugene Picot
Drums, Percussion – Robbie Schmidt
Engineer – Dugald Jayes
Mixed By – Dugald Jayes, Nikki Sudden, Phil Shöenfelt
Producer [Produced by] – Nikki Sudden, Phil Shöenfelt
Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Phil Shoenfelt
Vocals, Electric Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion – Nikki Sudden

MP3 @ 320 Size: 162 MB
Flac  Size: 491 MB

Nikki Sudden on Urban Aspirines HERE
Phil Shoenfelt on Urban Aspirines HERE

Nikki Sudden: The Last bandit - The Best Of Nikki Sudden 2001

 

English singer-songwriter and guitarist, born 19 July 1956 in London, England, UK and died 26

March 2006 in New York, USA. His Real Name was Adrian Nicholas Godfrey. Together with his brother, Epic Soundtracks, Nikki Sudden formed what was to become Swell Maps, releasing 4 singles and 2 albums on Rough Trade (UK) between 1977 and their break up in 1980. All these releases hit #1 in the UK Independent Charts. Swell Maps are remembered, particularly by similarly minded US based bands such as Sonic Youth, as pioneering exponents of the 'DIY Punk' school.
                                    

After the post-punk band Swell Maps dissolved in the early '80s, lead singer Nikki Sudden began a

diverse and restless solo career, during which he worked with a number of different bands and side projects. Sudden released his first solo record, Waiting on Egypt, in 1982, followed closely by The Bible Belt in 1983; both records recalled the music he made with Swell Maps. In 1984, Sudden formed the Jacobites with drummer Epic Soundtracks (his brother, who was also a member of Swell Maps) and guitarist/vocalist Dave Kusworth, who co-wrote the material with Sudden.
                          

The band developed a laid-back, wasted, romantic classic rock and pop style with acoustic guitars and a

rolling rhythm section. The Jacobites released four albums and three EPs between 1984 and 1986, when Kusworth left the band. Sudden continued using the Jacobites' name, releasing Texas on the Creation label in 1986. During the late '80s, Sudden ditched the Jacobites moniker and began making music that strongly recalled early Rolling Stones, including Texas and Dead Men Tell No Tales.
                                     

1990 found Sudden in Athens, Georgia, where sessions with Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry

from R.E.M. became the album 'The Jewel Thief' — later reissued as 'Liquor, Guns & Ammo'. Kusworth and Sudden reformed The Jacobites in 1993, releasing three albums, 'Howling Good Times', 'Old Scarlett' and 'God Save Us Poor Sinners'.
                           

While none of his albums ever attracted a large audience, Sudden remained a cult favorite throughout his career. High-profile guests began appearing on his albums: Wilco's Jeff Tweedy lent a hand on

1999's Red Brocade, and the Faces' keyboardist Ian McLagan played on the 2004 release Treasure Island. On March 26, 2006, Sudden passed away after a gig in New York City. He was working on a new album, The Truth Doesn't Matter, which was released in October. In the spring of 2011, Easy Action released Playing with Fire, a carefully curated compilation of unreleased songs recorded and left off his last two studio albums; the collection featured liner notes by Sudden's bassist and friend, John Barry.
                          

Sudden's death in New York followed a number of solo performances in the USA after which a short

European tour by The Jacobites had been scheduled. The first of these dates, on 29th March 2006 at London's '12 Bar Club', took place but was transformed into a tribute to Nikki Sudden's memory and featured a number of musicians with whom he had played.
                            

A box set that included his first two solo albums, two Jacobites offerings, Kiss You Kidnapped

Charabanc with Rowland S. Howard, Texas and Dead Men Tell No Tales -- plus a re-press of Sudden's first solo single -- packaged in a deluxe slipcase, were released as a strictly limited, Black Friday exclusive in December of 2014.

Nikki Sudden – The Last Bandit - The Best Of Nikki Sudden
Label: Wagging Dog – WAGG004
Format:    CD, Compilation
Released: 2001
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative, Folk

                                  

This best-of collection, which draws from various Sudden releases, would work a heck of a lot better for neophytes if there was any indication whatsoever in the liner notes as to where and when these tracks first appeared. He hits home more on the slow and sluggish songs, like "Jangle Town" or the wholly acoustic "When I Cross the Line," although there are exceptions, like "Back to the Start," which has much more riveting riffs than the typical Sudden tune, and the straight-ahead punkish rock of "Bethlehem Castle." As a nice addition, a second disc adds seven previously unreleased solo acoustic tunes, none of which are found in different versions on the first (and primary) CD, adding up to almost a half hour. Again, however, there's no information as to when and why this material was recorded. Sigh.
[By Richie Unterberger]
                         

  

CD1.  ORIGINAL CD

                                                             

01. It's Gonna Be Alright    4:45
02. Jangle Town    4:04
03. I Belong To You    3:27
04. When I Cross The Line    4:20
05. Too Bad For You    2:55
06. Back To The Coast    2:58
07. Countess    2:59
08. Grievous Angel    6:14
09. Captain Kennedy    4:00
10. When I Left You    7:43
11. Behind The Lines    3:48
12. Broken Door    5:53
13. The Road Of Broken Dreams    3:50
14. Back To The Start    2:31
15. Bethlehem Castle    3:40
16. Evangeline    3:09
17. The Last Bandit    3:57
18. Scarred    4:48
19. Curfew Island (The Low Bridge)    1:48

MP3 @ 320 Size: 175 MB
Flac  Size: 526 MB

CD2.  SOLO ACOUSTIC       

                                  

  
01. One More String Of Pearls
02. Still Full Of Shocks
03. Crossroads
04. When Angels Die
05. Hanging Out The Banners
06. Hello Wolf
07. She Never Believes
08. Angels In My Arms
09. In Your Life
10. Kiss At Dawn
11. One Inch Rock
12. Before I Leave You
13. Up There In Heaven
14. Bed Woman Blues

MP3 @ 320 Size: 12 MB
Flac  Size: 284 MB