The Seaside (album)

The Seaside
Original cassette cover
Demo album by
Cardiacs
Released1984[a]
Recorded1980–1983
StudioCrow (London)
Length57:06
LabelAlphabet
Producer
Cardiacs chronology
Toy World
(1981) 		The Seaside
(1984) 		Rude Bootleg
(1986)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[9]
Record Collector[10]
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music[11]

The Seaside is the third demo album from English rock group Cardiacs. The album originally featured the second recording of what would become the band's only hit single, "Is This the Life?". It is the last of the band's releases to feature keyboard player/drummer/singer Mark Cawthra and the first to feature keyboard player William D. Drake (as well as being the only album to feature two other musicians who were briefly Cardiacs members - Graham Simmonds and Marguerite Johnson).

The album is composed of material the band had written and performed between 1980 and 1983. Initially The Seaside was only produced on cassette (as with earlier Cardiacs album releases), and was only made available through the band's fan club and at concerts. It is notable for having been the first formal release on the band's own label, the Alphabet Business Concern, and a showcases a much cleaner, fuller sound than their previous cassette tapes. The cassette has three known versions - the first featuring a stamped sleeve, the second a black and white picture of bass player Jim Smith, and the third a coloured version.[12]

Several tracks on the cassette album were re-recorded for subsequent releases. "Is This the Life?", "A Little Man and a House" and "R.E.S." were all re-recorded and released five years later on Cardiacs' 1988 album A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window. "Nurses Whispering Verses" was eventually re-recorded a decade later for the band's 1996 album Sing to God (albeit with different lyrics). Earlier recordings of "Nurses Whispering Verses" and "Is This the Life?" had previously appeared on the Toy World cassette.

The album captures the band in a transitional phase, with two distinct lineups of the band featured. Both featured Mark Cawthra (who moved between drums and keyboards during different recording sessions) and his voice is featured prominently on the album, occasionally sharing lead vocals with Tim Smith. Cawthra would leave the band amicably during the sessions for The Seaside in order to pursue his own projects.

  1. ^ Phillips, Lance (2003). "The Cardiacs". In Buckley, Peter (ed.). The Rough Guide to Rock (3rd ed.). London: Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1-85828-457-6.
  2. ^ Ewing, Jerry (22 July 2020). "Cardiacs singer Tim Smith dead at 59". Prog. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  3. ^ Benac, Eric (27 August 2021). The Cardiacs: Every Album, Every Song. On Track. Sonicbond Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-78952-131-3.
  4. ^ Voorvelt, Martijn (April 2004). "The Cardiacs". Perfect Sound Forever. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  5. ^ Lawson, Dom (22 July 2020). "Kavus Torabi's Guide To Cardiacs". Prog. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  6. ^ Lawson, Dom (2 March 2021). "Cardiacs' best albums - a buyers guide". Classic Rock. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  7. ^ Sgrignoli, Marco (20 July 2022). "Cardiacs - biografia, recensioni, streaming, discografia, foto". Ondarock [it] (in Italian). Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  8. ^ "The Seaside - Cardiacs | Album". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  9. ^ Larkin, Collin (2006). "Cardiacs". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music: Brown, Marion - Dilated Peoples. Muze. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4. Note: Search "Alphabet 1983" (with quotation marks).
  10. ^ Hamnett, Alun. "Album Reviews" (PDF). Record Collector. p. 96.
  11. ^ Larkin, Collin (1997) [1992]. "Cardiacs". The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music. London: Virgin Books. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-7535-0159-7. Note: Search "Alphabet 1983" (with quotation marks).
  12. ^ "Discography". The Cardiacs. Archived from the original on 19 February 2002. Retrieved 25 May 2023.


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