Friday 15 January 2016

The Seahorses: Minus Blue (Unreleased Album Sessions)

TREON082
The Seahorses had a lot of success with their debut album "Do It Yourself". It reached No2 in the UK album charts in May 1997 and would produce three top 20 singles but dispite the stand alone single "You Can Talk To Me" also getting top 20 status (reaching 15) there would be no more official releases from the band.

In January 1999 the band began recording their second album (under the working title of Minus Blue/Motocade) at the Olympic Studios with producer David Bottrill but the sessions were abandoned after guitarist and songwriter John Squire walked out of the studio and didn't return. The band's split was officially announced on 23rd January 1999, with a press release citing musical differences. It would later become apparant that it was tensions between lead singer and songwriter Chris Helm and Squire that came to a head which lead to the walkout and the end of The Seahorses.

Check out this great interview with lead-singer Chris Helme about his time with the band and his working relationship with John Squire. 

Notes:
Way back in 2005 I purchased a CD-r of 10 tracks from the unreleased 2nd album sessions from a friend of a friend. I have no idea where these tracks were sourced but they do appear to be slightly different source than the tracks found on john-squire.com but I do wonder if that is simply down to differing compression rates. After comparing the two sources I decided to use the mp3 source as the base for my "remaster" as the CD-r source definitely sounded softer to my ears.

Tracklist: 
Remastered & Original Source
01 - Night Train
02 - 700 Horses
03 - Anamorphosis
04 - I Want You
05 - Cocksucker Blues
06 - Reach Out
07 - Dolphin
08 - Something Tells Me
09 - What Can You See? (Into The Light)
10 - Tombraid

Bonus Tracks Live Stuff:
01 - 1999 (Shepherds Bush Empire 09.12.97)
02 - City In The Sky (Ashton 30.03.98)
03 - Kill Pussycat Kill (Den Bosch 27.11.97)
04 - Love Me And Leave Me (Chris Solo Version, Key 103 '97)
05 - Tombraid (Ashton 30.03.98)
06 - Won't Let You Fall (Ashton 30.03.98)

Password: MinusBlue



10 comments:

  1. Great! I downloaded the songs years ago from Squire's website. I like your remaster and thanks for the bonus.

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  2. Oh man! For years I've been hoping for someone to remaster these recordings. ;_; This is one of my favourite albums albeit being bunch of demos and clearly missing lots of Squire's guitar work. Personally I think this is a better album as is than Do It Yourself was... but that's maybe because I judge music mostly by the atmosphere / the mood. Keep up the good work!!


    By the way thanks for The La's Kitchen Tape! It's a kind of a treasure, too. I think I'm gonna cover Tears in the Rain someday...

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  3. I had no idea these tracks existed! This makes me very happy, thank you for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. Just discovered this it’s brilliant
      Cheers

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    2. Just discovered this it’s brilliant
      Cheers

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    3. I have always wanted these songs, i k ew there was a second album out there just didn’t know where. Being from the states we dont get alot of what you guys have. I cant even download the shining quick silver from itunes. Anyone has it sent it to me rocksteadyrob@gmail.com

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  4. Never knew of this until watching James Hargreaves youtube video on the seahorses tother day. Nice one for this, been enjoying listening to it on youtube, respect

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  5. Thanks!!! I'm looking for DIY in 320 Kbps...

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  6. I saw them live 5 times and loved the new stuff they introduced in later setlists. Rock city was a memorable gig as was temple neesam 3days later . The verve were special thst night too.
    Always wanted to hear the tracks again so massive Thankyou for your efforts on this

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