DAVID J
Tracks From the Attic Revisited
LP | DL | VINYL
To the initiated David J will need no introduction, to the uninitiated however, David cut his teeth as bass player and one of the principal songwriters for post punk behemoth Bauhaus, David’s words were sewn into the tapestry of the band’s seminal Bela Lugosi’s’ Dead alongside the hit single Spirit and key album tracks such as Hair of the Dog and the scorching Antonin Artaud. David is also one third of the hugely influential Love and Rockets (that saw him join forces with his former Bauhaus cohort’s drummer (and brother) Kevin Haskins and guitarist Daniel Ash)
Tracks From the Attic Revisited sees him dust off ten long forgotten abandoned sketches and revisit them, offering full band treatment to these once discarded demos. This compendium of songs in their original raw form was originally given life, for the most part at least, during what was arguably one of David’s busiest, prolific periods; the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. With only the sublime Leaning Towards the Fall post millennia. I say arguably as the bugger never stops for breath!
The title itself has been floating around his head since 2007 when he began a series of stream only tracks within his then MySpace page, the first of those streams benefits from a new radical overhaul here, the delicious Vincent in the Flames. Let’s rewind though…Three years ago Bruce Licher’s pivotal Independent Project Records gave life to six sides of vinyl, a series of David’s sketches, roughs, demos and half-baked ideas collectively Tracks from the Attic and It’s from this set that David has now hand-picked ten tracks to revisit, rework, in some cases reword and now release. With such a huge, vast treasure trove of high-quality songs to mine he has certainly gone for the jugular here. From the foot tapping opener of I Wish Those Spacemen Would Come, through the gorgeous I Think I’ll Put Off Thinking About You for A While to the unanswerable lust of The Most Beautiful Girls in the World via an incredible piece of early songwriting in 1984’s Punishment by Roses, the LP’s closer.
Given the chasm of time in which these songs were originally sketched this album holds together incredibly well. Benefitting of course from a core of exceptional musicians such as Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction), Robert “Smokey” Miles (Bob Dylan), David Raven (Steve Earle, Keith Richards), Jason Roberts (Spoon) bassist Tony Green, pianist Jon Bernstein (who really excels here), and lap steel player John Courage (John’s work on I think I’ll Put off Thinking About You For a While is something to behold). With Revisited David has honed and crafted an album worthy of something to sit comfortably alongside some of his greatest works; Etiquette of Violence (1983), Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh (1984) and Missive to the Angel From the Halls of Infamy and Allure (2019)
David’s very nature suggests he’s easily distracted from a work in progress idea if something a little more interesting teases his overactive mind and it’s on this new opus here that we thank goodness for that trait, something old has evolved into something new… a revelation.
Tracks from the Attic Revisited is out now via Independent Project Records.
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