Releases

With his latest double-disc release - Now That The Horses Have Bolted - Simon London offers up recordings of both aspects of his live work; one very rocking disc from his band the Spirits and another disc of intimate solo acoustic tunes.

With Disc One, recorded live in a remote farmers cottage in the southwest, Simon London + the Spirits fire up the amplifiers for a raw and rocking, yet very succinct delivery of London's songwriting prowess.

What the band disc delivers in punch and power, Disc Two offers as breathy respite as it ambles its way through various acoustic stories and reflections - recorded in studios, farms, backrooms and bedrooms as Simon toured solo around Australia.

The latest release by Simon London + the Spirits, the band's second album is a more rockier affair than their debut. Mixing up some straight-ahead rock songs with some more rootsy ballads, some sparse acoustic tracks with some country-tinged tunes, Highway State Of Mind covers some wider territory and as such shows up the Spirits as a versatile, dynamic band.

While the album shimmers with crunchy guitars and the warmth of hammond and rhodes, it's Simon's vocals that arrest the listener most of all, as he soars, growls, implores and laments with an unprecedented ability and freedom.

Recorded at Blackbird Studio with Dave Parkin, the songs were tracked mostly live in the studio in two hothouse sessions - totalling 22 songs in under 3 days. These were then picked through until the final shortlist of 10 tracks sat together comfortably enough to offer a concise and representative album of the band's workings at the time.

features an interview and three songs from the Highway State Of Mind album played live in the studio. The audio you hear is completely live - no overdubs - so apart from actually being there, this is as close as you can get to being in the studio when the guys play through their tunes.

the performance of 'Bring It Back Again' here is what was used for the Highway State Of Mind video...it was live audio too, which a few networks snubbed the band for as they wanted the lip-synch kind of video instead.

the band for this recording was Simon London, Tim Keady, Tim Stacey and Clem. Chris Edmondson was over in the Netherlands at the time of filming so he missed out.

the short interview has the band explaining why they like to do their recordings live.

see one of the songs below!

DVD featuring 8 songs performed at Mojos bar Fremantle October 2003 plus videos for Flowers and Tropical Sunday/When We Were Young, photo slide show and interview. Songs include:
Across The Black Soil Plains
Spell
Bring It Back Again
Simple Man
Flowers
Maria
Helpless
Tropical Sunday/When Were Were Young

The first recording backed by the Spirits (Tim Keady, Matt Morcombe), many of the 12 songs here were fleshed out and developed during the Clancy's shows. The sound is characterised by earthy tones, an often intimate feel and warm guitars. Produced with Dave Parkin at Blackbird Studios during the summer and winter of 2002. This was one of the first big projects Dave had done in his new studio at the time.

This album was basically recorded in two sessions – about six months apart. Most of it was recorded live in the studio (i.e. all players play their stuff in the same room at the same time) to get a good vibe or feeling in the recording. Simon was more interested in capturing mood more than anything else.

The band was quite at its genesis at the time. Matt (drums) had really come out of quasi-retirement to do the tracking and only after he enjoyed doing the recording did he agree to start doing shows.

Overdubs that were done later were mainly Simon's 2nd electric guitar and vocals, with Derek Parkin (dave’s dad), Dave Parkin and Jules and Suzannah from the Hampdens.

the Shooters Party was this chaotic, ad-hoc, spontaneous band that played loud, loud rock songs, didn't rehearse as such but put on rare yet incendiary live shows. this recording was an attempt to capture that. it was recorded in one afternoon and mixed in another @ blackbird sound studios by dave parkin with the help of laurie mccallum. band line-up ran - tim keady: bass, matt morcombe: drums, simon london: guitars & vocals, dave parkin: guitars

released AllArt Records 2002