|    |    |    |    |    |    | 
              





FATAL SHORE
SETTING THE SAILS FOR EL DORADO



Releases:



CD
2011 Moloko + (D) / Cat.No. PLUS 074
Download
2014 Fuego (D) / Cat.No. 2544


Tracklist:

01
Wild Is The Wind
02
If You Go Away
03
Dolphins
04
Bird On A Wire
05
My Death
06
Preachin' Blues
07
Who's Bin Talkin'
08
Friday's Child














     

 


 



Credits

Bruno Adams
vocals, electric guitar, electric bottleneck guitar
Phil Shoenfelt
vocals, electro-acoustic guitar
Chris Hughes
drums, percussion, electronics


"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




Press Release

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.




Liner Notes

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





Reviews

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








fatal-shore.de
IMPRESSUM (IMPRINT) | DATENSCHUTZ (DATA PRIVACY POLICY)