A blog about Bloomsbury Academic's 33 1/3 series, our other books about music, and the world of sound in general.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Catholic Easter Colours

"Catholic Easter Colours", from 1993, is a song that upset me the first time I heard it, and has upset me every time I've heard it since. Because, when it starts to fade out after 7 minutes, it's only just hitting its stride.

It ambles amiably for just over 3 minutes, then picks up momentum from there, breaking into an effortless jog - kicking off its shoes, skittering along, Bobby Wratten doing his usual repeat/echo vocal trick, then Annemari's harmonies come in, and the typically bleak chorus lyric ("We don't call each other up any more")...but when the piano first appears at the 5:30 mark, it's like the sun bursting through after three days of rain, and it only gets more beautiful from that point on.

If there's a 12-minute version of this song knocking around in a studio in South London, I'd sell most of my records just to hear it once.

You can download this song for free, at the Myspace page for Northern Picture Library.

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