FATAL SHORE
SETTING THE SAILS FOR EL DORADO
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Releases:
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CD
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2011 Moloko + (D) / Cat.No. PLUS 074 |
Download
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2014 Fuego (D) / Cat.No. 2544 |
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Tracklist:
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01
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Wild Is The Wind
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02
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If You Go Away
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03
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Dolphins
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04
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Bird On A Wire
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05
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My Death
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06
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Preachin' Blues
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07
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Who's Bin Talkin'
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08
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Friday's Child
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Credits
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Bruno Adams
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vocals, electric guitar, electric bottleneck guitar
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Phil Shoenfelt
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vocals, electro-acoustic guitar |
Chris Hughes
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drums, percussion, electronics
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"Wild Is The Wind" written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington
"If You Go Away" written by Jacques Brel / Rod McKuen
"Dolphins" written by Fred Neil
"Bird On A Wire" written by Leonard Cohen
"My Death" written by Jacques Brel / Mort Shuman
"Preachin' Blues" written by Robert Johnson
"Who's Bin Talkin'" written by Chester Arthur Burnett "Howlin' Wolf"
"Friday's Child" written by Lee Hazlewood
Recorded at Delta Club Studio, Prague, Czech Republic in spring 1997
Produced by Fatal Shore
Engineered by Marek Stastný
CD Artwork: Robert Schalinski
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Press Release
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The recordings on this CD date from spring 1997, and were recorded at
the Delta Club studio in Prague. They were intended to be demos for what
ended up as the first Fatal Shore CD, and some of the songs are early
versions of the ones that made it onto that album, as well as onto the Real World CD of 2007.
This CD is fondly dedicated to the memory of Bruno Adams.
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Liner Notes
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2004
started with a feeling of optimism for Fatal Shore. Bruno Adams, Chris
Hughes and I had been playing together for more than seven years at
that point, and finally our luck seemed to be changing for the better.
The music had certainly come a long way from the time when Bruno and I
had played as a duo. Living in Prague in the summer of 1996, I'd been
offered the chance to do a tour of war-ravaged Bosnia, and I'd invited
Bruno along for the ride. That tour was part of a package organized by
the People In Need Foundation, and we found ourselves playing to
music-starved teenagers in bombed out, end-of-the-line towns like
Goražde. We hadn't had time to write any original songs, so in between
avoiding unexploded mines in Sarajevo, being shot at by snipers as we
travelled with the UN convoy, and being run out of town by Mujahedeen
in Zenica, we played songs by Lee Hazlewood, Jacques Brel, Howlin' Wolf
and Robert Johnson.
Back in Berlin, with Chris Hughes now in the drummer's seat, we worked
on original material, some of which ended up on the first Fatal Shore
album. This eponymous first CD also included several of the cover songs
that Bruno and I had played on the Bosnian adventure. With the addition
of Chris' drums and electronics, the music changed dramatically.
So when we set off on a ten day tour of Czech Republic and Slovakia to
promote it, the mood was high and the open road beckoned. The good
vibes didn't last long. During a late night drinking session after the
Brno gig, Bruno was attacked by a couple of psycho-thugs, an attack
which put him in hospital with concussion. True to form he insisted on
finishing the tour, even though looked like he'd just gone sixteen
rounds with Mike Tyson.
Over the next few years the band survived on its customary shoe-string
budget. Drunken shenanigans and chaos abounded. From lost passports on
the border, to journeys by train when the car broke down, no tour was
complete without some new disaster intervening. We managed to do a
couple in my old Škoda 120, until it finally gave up the ghost with a
melted cylinder head. A twenty year old Ford Taunus that Bruno had
rented literally fell to pieces, leaving us stranded in the Slovakian
mountains.
And then at the end of 1999 the impossible happened: a rich American
producer called Dan May had heard the first CD, and wanted to produce
the new one at his studio in Cincinnati. I remember Chris announcing
the news as we skidded our way over a frozen mountain pass, somewhere
between Chemnitz and Plzeň. Bruno and I just laughed, but it turned out
Chris was correct: May was offering a month of free studio time in
Cincinnati, with food, accommodation and return air tickets thrown in.
The story of how "Free Fall" got made is too long and bizarre to go
into here. But when the CD was finally released at the end of 2003, and
reviews like the one quoted above [MOJO, 2004] started to appear, it
seemed that the Fatal Shore ship had at last come in.
The optimistic mood didn't last long. Halfway through 2004 Bruno
dropped a bombshell when he announced that he'd been diagnosed with
cancer. He'd been complaining of stomach pains for several months, but
his GP had put it down to an ulcer, telling Bruno that he had to stop
drinking. When the pain persisted, and Bruno was tested again, he was
pronounced positive for colon cancer.
A heroic five year struggle for life ensued, but in the end it was all
too much, even for a man of Bruno's physical and mental strength. He
never gave up fighting, though. I was at his bedside right up until a
few hours before he died. Family and friends were gathered round, and
though he couldn't speak, I was sure that he knew what was going on. A
twinkle came into his eyes when we were alone for a moment, and I
quietly thanked him for all the good times we'd had, for all that he'd
taught me about music, about working together, about living life to the
full, about having fun. For a moment, in spite of all the pain, he
looked amused. It was as if he were saying to himself, in his comical
way: "So at last, Shoenfelt, you admit it, I was the guv'nor all along!"
That's the reason why Chris and I have dedicated this CD to him. Even
though Fatal Shore was a three-way deal, it was always Bruno at the
helm, his energy and charisma providing the fuel. It certainly was one
hell of a trip, and I wouldn't have missed any of it, not for all the
tea in China. So all I can say is enjoy this final voyage of the Fatal
Shore, and may God bless all who sail with her.
Phil Shoenfelt, Prague, 2011
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Reviews
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This
CD is fondly dedicated to the memory of Bruno Adams” says the booklet,
with Bruno and Phil Shoenfelt both contributing guitar and vocals and
Chris Hughes providing drums and percussion. The Fatal Shore have
released 3 CDs but "Setting The Sails…" predates them all, consisting
of covers recorded at the Delta Club in Prague in Spring 1997. With
Adams dying recently this CD is his epitaph. The vocal on Wild Is The
Wind is more convincing than when Bowie crooned it on Station To
Station. If You Go Away demonstrates the clarity and precision of the
bands under-stated production, and emphasises Phil and Bruno’s
contrasting vocals and some vintage ‘50’s clean-cut electric guitar.
Fred Neil’s Dolphins gets a respectful treatment but Bird On A Wire
suffers from being the fourth song in row taken at the same medium-slow
pace. The verses of My Death benefit from a bit more oomph, knocking
the overcooked Bowie version into a Belgian waffle. Who’s Bin Talking
leads with some vintage Duane Eddy guitar and reminds me of Thunders’
similar Copy Cats (A Very Good Thing). Simple, subtle and never
overstaying its welcome, "Setting The Sails…" is both a worthy way to
remember Bruno Adams and a good way to greet The Fatal Shore.
ONLY ROCK'N'ROLL, September 2012
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