Album Club – Cardiacs – Little Man and a House & On Land and in the Sea
The Cardiacs are a peculiar band to say the least! The band formed in 1977 and led by Tim Smith Noted for their complex, varied and intense and eccentric compositional style, for instance ”Little Man and a House & On Land and in the Sea ” is ment to their most commercial record and the sound lurches from ska to mediaeval music to folk music to heavy metal to corporate pop anthems.Vocally, Cardiacs employ a distinctive singing style centred on Tim Smith’s lead vocals (reedy and high-pitched, with a strong punk-styled Estuary English accent) and choral sections (varying from yelled to falsetto) involving most or all of the band.
Its not easy listening but its alot of fun and no wonder they have been hailed as an influence by bands as diverse as Blur, Faith No More and The Wildhearts!The album was released in 1988 and is there their fourth studio album. The single from the album, “Is This The Life?”, saw brief chart success due to exposure on mainstream radio, and garnered the attention of a wider audience when it entered the Independent Top 10 in the UK.The band followed up this burst of success with another single, a surreal cover of The Kinks’ “Susannah’s Still Alive”
To sum up…..
Fave track: In a City Lining
Fave Lyric: Always calling itself on its own phone, Though it’s never quite at home. From: Is This The Life
