NEW RELEASE

TITLE: "Happy Daze"
ARTIST: Lindisfarne

Released: Sept. 1st 2008
Label: Market Square Records
Format: CD
Via: Proper Music Distribution


FIRST REISSUE FOR GEORDIE FOLK ROCK GIANT’S 1974 SWANSONG WITH DEBUT ARCHIVE BONUS TRACKS

Legacy catalogue release specialists Market Square follow up their acclaimed reissue of Lindisfarne mainman Alan Hull’s 1970’s output ("Phantoms") with a first ever reissue and CD debut for his famous band’s 1974 album for Warner Brothers.

The second release by the Mk II line up of Lindisfarne, "Happy Daze" - which comes with 7 previously unreleased bonus tracks by Hull recorded prior to the band’s formation - features him, Ray Jackson and newcomers bass player Tommy Duffy (ex- Bell & Arc and Gary Wright’s Wonderwheel), guitarist Charlie Harcourt (ex-Cat Mother and Jackson Heights), keyboard player Kenny Craddock (formerly with Ginger Baker’s Airforce) and drummer Paul Nichols. Complementing this line-up are horn players Buddy Beadle and Steve Gregory.

Production duties were handled by Eddie Offord, best known for his work with Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes, and the sound he achieved is full and rounded, complementing perfectly the more commercial, mid-Atlantic direction the band had aimed for.

The album kicks off with the Tommy Duffy-penned "Tonight", a strong and catchy opener that was quickly lifted as a single and one of three songs by Duffy on the album.

Hull, historically the main songwriter, wrote five of the tracks on "Happy Daze", including the memorable and beautiful "River", recorded in the studio garden and replete with the sound of birds and a nearby brook.

"Gin And Tonix All Round", "Dealer’s Choice", "You Put The Laff On Me" and "No Need To Tell Me" are further Hull compositions, the last as with "River" closer tonally to the work of the first line-up.

Indeed, Kenny Craddock’s folky "Nellie" and closer "Tomorrow" showcase a talent for capturing the pastoral colourings of the early band.

Yet the more ballsy, rock direction taken elsewhere in this album is what grabbed the UK music press of the day when it came to reckoning "Happy Daze" and its insistence on comparing it to the sound of the original band rather than judging it on its own merits resulted in a crisis of confidence at home.

The story was different in the US: Billboard summed "Happy Daze" up as the best album released under the name of Lindisfarne. Indeed, Lindisfarne - always a popular live act - found a ready audience Stateside for their new material and played the city of Boston with Traffic, Joe Cocker and Little Feat amongst numerous tours of the day.

Whilst the line-up split in early 1975. Lindisfarne was to re-emerge in the next decade and continue to release further fine material.

Market Square’s reissue benefits from the label’s customary focus on ‘telling the story’ and includes extensive notes by band expert Jim Henderson, track by track analysis by Tommy Duffy, archive images, and lyrics making for this comprehensive overview possible of a fine yet neglected album.

And then there’s the bonus tracks: seven solo demos by Alan Hull, recorded in the late 1960’s prior to the band’s existence, serve to remind why this perennially popular band came to be one of the most seminal in the history of folk rock.

Track listing:

Original album:

Tonight
In Your Head
River
You Put The Laff On Me
No Need To Tell Me
Juiced Up To Lose
Dealer’s Choice
Nellie
The Man Down There
Gin And Tonix All Round
Tomorrow

Bonus tracks:

Dingly Dell
Where is my Sixpence?
Do Not Be Afraid
Smile
Picture a Little Girl
Doctor Of Love
Alright On The Night

ENDS

Information released on behalf of Market Square Records by
Market Square Records

For interviews, promo copies of this and other Market Square or Dusk Fire releases

Contact: Peter Muir; tel + 44 (0)1296 715228 email peter@singsongpr.biz

www.marketsquarerecords.com

Issued August 2008 by Market Square Records.

www.singsongpr.biz

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